Kim Dotcom at the Dotcom Mansion in Auckland in 2013. Photo: AFPSent to us by a reader.

South China Morning Post – by Lana Lam

Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom won the right to get his hands on HK$330 million in assets frozen in 2012 by the Hong Kong authorities – but the victory was short-lived as a High Court judge immediately reimposed an order to keep the assets under lock and key.

Negotiations will now take place between Megaupload founder Dotcom’s legal team and the Department of Justice in Hong Kong on the terms of conditions of the new order. The assets freeze was imposed by Hong Kong authorities on behalf of the administration of US President Barack Obama.   Continue reading “Kim Dotcom sees HK$330m assets unfrozen by court – before judge locks them up again”

A villager shows a bucket of of crude oil spill at the banks of a river, after a Shell pipeline leaked, in the Oloma community in Nigeria's delta region November 27, 2014.(Reuters / Tife Owolabi)RT

Fishermen and the environment of Niger Delta continue to suffer the consequences of a massive Shell oil spill in the Niger Delta – one of the worst in years. The oil giant says 1,200 barrels had been recovered as of Tuesday.

Traveling to the affected areas of the Niger Delta in Nigeria, Reuters witnessed the devastation in the delta which covers 20,000 km² within wetlands of 70,000 km².   Continue reading “Nigerian communities reeling from massive Shell oil spill”

Attorney General Eric Holder (AFP)Raw Story, Reuters

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday the Justice Department was launching a federal civil rights investigation into the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after New York police put him in a chokehold.

Earlier on Wednesday, a New York grand jury decided not to charge a white police officer who applied the chokehold as police tried to arrest Garner in July in the New York borough of Staten Island on suspicion of illegally selling cigarettes.   Continue reading “Justice Dept. announces civil rights investigation into Eric Garner’s death”

image55Concealed Nation

This guy looks sad because his ‘victim’ was able to defend herself.

An Alabama man was surprised when his intended victim pulled out a shotgun and began firing at him. The man, 55-year-old Horace Johnson, went to the house of a woman with whom he had a previous relationship with and threatened to kill her.

According to AL.com, the woman was ready with a shotgun and when Johnson started walking up to the house, she fired a few shots and hit him on the side of his neck. Johnson then retreated in his vehicle and once he was down the street, dialed 911 to report his injuries. Oh how quickly the tables can sometimes turn.   Continue reading “Man Is Shot By Woman He Was Stalking Then He Dials 911 To Come And Save Him”

Prevent Disease – by Mae Chan

People with the worst vitamin D deficiency are highly susceptible to illness and suffer respiratory infections than those with sufficient levels. Vitamin D supplementation could reduce flare-ups of lung disease by more than 40% in patients who are deficient, say researchers.

We know that in the absence of vitamin D from sunlight, disease increases more than 1000 percent. Data from systematic reviews of several population-based studies shows that more than a third of populations worldwide may suffer from low levels of vitamin D.   Continue reading “Vitamin D Reduces Lung Disease By More Than 40 Percent”

Panic Button - Public DomainEconomic Collapse – by Michael Snyder

Could rapidly falling oil prices trigger a nightmare scenario for the commodity derivatives market?  The big Wall Street banks did not expect plunging home prices to cause a mortgage-backed securities implosion back in 2008, and their models did not anticipate a decline in the price of oil by more than 40 dollars in less than six months this time either.  If the price of oil stays at this level or goes down even more, someone out there is going to have to absorb some absolutely massive losses.  In some cases, the losses will be absorbed by oil producers, but many of the big players in the industry have already locked in high prices for their oil next year through derivatives contracts.    Continue reading “Plummeting Oil Prices Could Destroy The Banks That Are Holding Trillions In Commodity Derivatives”

Reuters/Adam Tanner PNRT

The US Air Force will begin a court-martial in January in the case of a nuclear missile launch officer charged with drug use and obstructing justice following a criminal probe that exposed an exam-cheating scandal involving nearly 100 nuke officers.

According to the Associated Press, Second Lt. Nicole Dalmazzi of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana is believed to be the first nuclear launch officer, or missileer, charged amid the drug investigation that was made public last January on the same day US Department of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel visited Malmstrom, one of three nuclear-missile land bases in the country.   Continue reading “Nuclear missile launch officer to be court-martialed on drug, obstruction charges”

Tamir RiceReason – by Robby Soave

Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice within two seconds of encountering the boy, was deemed “unfit for duty” while serving on another police force. Supervisors specifically cited his “dismal” handgun performance and emotional instability when they forced him to resign in December 2012.

Loehmann was previously employed by the City of Independence. During a training exercise at a gun range, he became “distracted and weepy,” according to information obtained by The Guardian:   Continue reading “Cop Who Killed Tamir Rice Was Previously Kicked off Force for ‘Dismal’ Gun Performance, Emotional Instability”