RT

The California gas company responsible for the storage site where methane has been leaking from a damaged well for over two months has promised action to stop the breach, while a Los Angeles County supervisor has branded the situation a “mini-Chernobyl.”

SoCal Gas said it was working on a plan to siphon off and safely burn some of the leaking methane, a crisis which has led to months of protests and the displacement of thousands of families in the Los Angeles County community of Porter Ranch. The gas has also leaked into homes and schools.   Continue reading “‘This is a mini-Chernobyl’: LA County supervisor on California methane leak”

RT

A Pennsylvania constable fatally shot a 12-year-old girl during an attempt to evict her family from their home. The bullet was fired at the girl’s father, passed through his arm and hit the child, who died instantly.

Ciara Meyer was pronounced dead in her home in Duncannon, north of Harrisburg, where a police constable arrived with a“legal and valid” eviction order on Monday morning.   Continue reading “Pennsylvania officer kills 12-year-old girl when firing at her father”

KOMO News

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Seattle police raided a suspected burglar’s Bellevue home on Monday and found a cache of stolen guns, ammo and body armor.

Police originally responded to a commercial burglary on New Year’s Eve in the 500 block of Colorado Avenue South. The thief, who made off with dozens of guns and suppressors, was long gone by the time officers arrived, but detectives learned that the prime suspect was a white man driving a late 1990s Toyota Forerunner, according to the Seattle Police Department.   Continue reading “Police find cache of stolen guns, ammo in suspected burglar’s home”

BATR – by James Hall

When the international financial press presents their standard explanation for the panic decline in the Chinese stock market, most want to tamp down the acute apprehension that the long awaited global depression is now at hand. Well, the International Business Times in their account on the China Stock Markets, makes a very insightful appraisal.

“Some analysts say the acceptance of the Chinese yuan into the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights basket of reserve currencies late last year may have strengthened China’s determination to allow the exchange rate to be set by the market — as it seeks to make the currency fully convertible within the coming years.”   Continue reading “The Chinese Market Crash”

Political Blindspot – by M.B. David, June 29, 2013

A report by Jeremy Scahill in The Nation revealed that the largest mercenary army in the world, Blackwater (later called Xe Services and more recently “Academi“) clandestine intelligence services was sold to the multinational Monsanto. Blackwater was renamed in 2009 after becoming famous in the world with numerous reports of abuses in Iraq, including massacres of civilians. It remains the largest private contractor of the U.S. Department of State “security services,” that practices state terrorism by giving the government the opportunity to deny it.   Continue reading “Yes, Monsanto Actually DID Buy the BLACKWATER Mercenary Group”

BBC News

Iran has detained 10 US sailors after their vessels were stopped in the Gulf, a US official told the BBC.

“We lost contact with two small US naval craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain,” the official said.   Continue reading “Iran detains 10 US sailors after vessels stopped in the Gulf”

Post Technology

International accountant and shipping adviser Moore Stephens has said that it expects the shipping industry to remain volatile in 2016.

Moore Stephens Shipping artner Richard Greiner said: “The ultimate definition of an optimist has been characterised as an accordion player with an answerphone. Such extreme optimism might be difficult to find in shipping today, but the portents for 2016 are not all bad.   Continue reading “Shipping Outlook ‘Volatile’ in 2016”

Sea News

TOKYO-based research firm Teikoku Databank Ltd is predicting that the number of Japan’s shipping industry companies exiting the market may start rising again going into 2016 given that “cargo movements are expected to remain sluggish amid a slowdown in the China economy and a global ship oversupply is still continuing,” it said.

The number of shipping industry players withdrawing from the market, including as a result of voluntary closures and bankruptcies, has been declining since fiscal 2011, standing at 28 in fiscal 2014, which ended in March.   Continue reading “Gloomy outlook for Japan’s shipping industry, says Tokyo research house”

USA Today

An advisory committee will vote Tuesday on whether to recommend the Food and Drug Administration approve an implant designed to reduce addicts’ cravings for heroin or prescription painkillers.

The implant, probuphine, provides a steady dose of a medication called buprenorphine, which has been shown to ease withdrawal symptoms, decrease cravings and cut the risk of relapse. Probuphine’s manufacturer, New Jersey-based BraeburnPharmaceuticals, says it has the potential to eliminate risks associated with pills or dissolvable strips.   Continue reading “FDA considers new, implantable treatment for heroin, painkiller addiction”

Raw Story – by Travis Gettys

An Oregon judge says he will bill Ammon Bundy up to $70,000 a day to reimburse Harney County for security costs related to the ongoing occupation of a wildlife refuge.

Local schools reopened Monday for the first time since Bundy and other militants seized a visitors center Jan. 2 at the Malheur National Wildlife Preserve and demanded the transfer of federally owned land to the county, reported KTVZ-TV.   Continue reading “Oregon judge plans to bill Ammon Bundy up to $70,000 a day for security costs to county”

Yahoo News

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group has bought U.S. film studio Legendary Entertainment for about $3.5 billion, turning its chairman into a Hollywood movie mogul as China’s richest man steps up a drive to diversify his business empire overseas.

At a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday, Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin said he plans to package Legendary, behind hits like “Jurassic World”, with existing movie production assets in China and sell shares in the merged operation in an initial public offering (IPO).   Continue reading “Wanda goes to Hollywood: China tycoon’s firm buys film studio Legendary for $3.5 billion”

CNN

Sen. Ted Cruz’s citizenship status could end up before the Supreme Court, Sen. Rand Paul said Monday, because it’s still undecided if he qualifies as a “natural-born” American.

The Kentucky Republican hit his colleague and fellow presidential candidate on Fox News on Monday for being born in Canada and perhaps not fitting the constitutional requirement that a President be a natural-born citizen.   Continue reading “Rand Paul: Ted Cruz ‘natural-born Canadian’”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Even as Obama takes his anti-gun crusade to new highs with every passing week, having recently started dispensing executive orders, the president conveniently continues to ignore the state of affairs in his native Chicago – a city in which guns are banned – yet where the shooting epidemic has never been worse, and is truly emblematic of the “gun problem” America has.

Judging by the most recent developments, Obama will have nothing to say about Chicago gun violence either during tonight’s state of the union address, or ever for that matter, because recent developments are downright disastrous.   Continue reading “Meanwhile In Chicago, 120 People Shot In First 10 Days Of 2016”

Planet Free Will – by Joseph Jankowski

Someone give Vice President Joe Biden a pocket constitution because he is in desperate need of a review.

In an interview with CNN’s Gloria Borger on Monday, Joe Biden made the ridiculous claim that “the Second Amendment says you can limit who can own a gun.”   Continue reading “Vice President Biden: ‘The Second Amendment Says You Can Limit Who Can Own A Gun’”