Texas to execute man for triple murder in San Antonio home

Texas to execute man for triple murder in San Antonio home

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas plans to execute on Wednesday a man who was convicted of stabbing three people to death with a screwdriver, including his great-uncle and great-aunt, in a San Antonio home robbery in 1993.

Russia has 9,000 troops on Ukrainian soil, Poroshenko tells Davos forum

Russia has 9,000 troops on Ukrainian soil, Poroshenko tells Davos forum

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told the World Economic Forum on Wednesday that Russia had 9,000 troops on Ukrainian soil and he called on Moscow to withdraw them.

In a speech to the forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said the Russian troops were backed by a range of heavy weapons including tanks and artillery systems.

"If this is not aggression, what is aggression?" Poroshenko asked. He called on Moscow to comply with a peace plan and cooperate in closing the long joint border with Ukraine and withdrawing Russian forces. 

Source: news.yahoo.com

Obama to focus on middle class in State of Union address

Obama to focus on middle class in State of Union address

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will challenge the Republican-led Congress with tax-raising ideas for helping middle-class Americans in a State of the Union speech on Tuesday that will set up a tough debate and may impact the 2016 campaign to replace him.

Obama will push a plan in his speech to increase middle class benefits by hiking taxes by $320 billion over 10 years for the wealthy and financial firms.

Obama and Republicans had signaled after the November midterm election that they saw tax reform as a potential area for compromise. But Republicans who control of both houses of Congress are in no mood to raise taxes on anyone and were quick to pan Obama's proposal.

"This plan that we'll hear about tonight appears to be more about redistribution, with added complexity, and class warfare, directed at job-creating small businesses, than about tax reform," said Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, the Senate's top tax law writer, in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

IS THERE NO ONE WHO WILL STAND UP FOR UKRAINE?

Seems the West will do anything these days to avoid a confrontation with Vladimir Putin.

IS THERE NO ONE WHO WILL STAND UP FOR UKRAINE?

Oleksander Turchynov, the secretary of Ukraine's national defense council, told the country's parliament something startling last week. He said that there were 8,500 Russian regular troops now deployed in eastern Ukraine and that another 52,000 were poised just on the other side of its eastern border.

The figures are dramatic-and so much larger than what has been reported during the months of Russian attempts to destabilize Ukraine, while Vladimir Putin 's denials of his troops' presence continue with stubborn ridiculousness. I asked a Western security expert if the numbers sounded plausible.

He responded: "It would be difficult to believe that the Ukrainians could have such hard numbers on Russian troop presence without that also being visible to Western intelligence." A day later, Alexander Vershbow, NATO's deputy secretary-general, described the situation in Ukraine as deteriorating.

Europe needs to better integrate Muslim communities: Obama

Europe needs to better integrate Muslim communities: Obama

Washington (AFP) - Europe must do more to better integrate its Muslim communities, and not "simply respond with a hammer," US President Barack Obama said Friday in the wake of last week's terror attacks in France.

"Our biggest advantage, major, is that our Muslim populations -- they feel themselves to be Americans," Obama told a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"There are parts of Europe in which that's not the case. And that's probably the greatest danger that Europe faces... it's important for Europe not to simply respond with a hammer and law enforcement and military approaches to these problems."
Taken from: news.yahoo.com

President Obama Takes on Cyber Security Threats

President Obama is turning his sights on becoming a cyber crimefighter.

President Obama Takes on Cyber Security Threats

Coming in the wake of several high-profile and costly attacks, the president discussed cyber security today with the new congressional leadership at the White House.

"With the Sony attacks that took place, with the Twitter account that was hacked by Islamist, jihadist sympathizers yesterday, it just goes to show how much more work we need to do, both the private and public sector, to strengthen our cyber security," Obama said today.

How many Muslim extremists are there? Just the facts, please.

ACT! for America's president and founder Brigitte Gabriel is a media favorite of conservatives concerned about terrorism. 

How many Muslim extremists are there? Just the facts, please.

And in the wake of the attacks on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a video of Ms. Gabriel's comments  about "Muslims dedicated to the destruction of Western civilization" at a Heritage Foundation forum last June has been revived by bloggers and passed around social media. 

"The radicals are estimated to be between 15 to 25 percent, according to all intelligence services around the world," she said, in part, when asked by an American University head-scarf wearing law student about waging an ideological war with Muslims.  "You're looking at 180 million to 300 million people dedicated to the destruction of Western civilization..." Gabriel said.

Dianne Feinstein: Terrorist sleeper cells are in the U.S.

Dianne Feinstein: Terrorist sleeper cells are in the U.S.

 A Senate leader said Sunday she thinks terrorist sleeper cells are in the U.S. — a claim sure to spark even greater fears of a strike on the homeland as the White House launches new efforts to confront growing Islamist extremism around the globe.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and her party’s ranking member on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, flatly stated that she believes terrorist cells are hiding in Europe and the U.S., waiting to be activated and carry out attacks similar to the ones that claimed 17 lives in France last week.

26 measles cases reported with ties to Disney theme parks26 measles cases reported with ties to Disney theme parks

26 measles cases reported with ties to Disney theme parks

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Health officials are reporting seven more cases of measles in an outbreak tied to visits to Disney theme parks in California last month.
The new cases confirmed Monday by the California Department of Public Health brings the total to 26 people in four states.

Officials say 22 of the cases are in California and two are in Utah, with one apiece in Colorado and Washington.

Most of the patients visited Disneyland or Disney California Adventure between Dec. 15 and Dec. 20, but some may have contracted the illness from others who visited.

F.B.I. Is Broadening Surveillance Role, Report Shows

F.B.I. Is Broadening Surveillance Role, Report Shows

WASHINGTON — Although the government’s warrantless surveillance program is associated with the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has gradually become a significant player in administering it, a newly declassified report shows.

In 2008, according to the report, the F.B.I. assumed the power to review email accounts the N.S.A. wanted to collect through the “Prism” system, which collects emails of foreigners from providers like Yahoo and Google. The bureau’s top lawyer, Valerie E. Caproni, who is now a Federal District Court judge, developed procedures to make sure no such accounts belonged to Americans.

 Then, in October 2009, the F.B.I. started retaining copies of unprocessed communications gathered without a warrant to analyze for its own purposes. And in April 2012, the bureau began nominating new email accounts and phone numbers belonging to foreigners for collection, including through the N.S.A.’s “upstream” system, which collects communications transiting network switches.

That information is in a 231-page study by the Justice Department’s inspector general about the F.B.I.’s activities under the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which authorized the surveillance program. The report was entirely classified when completed in September 2012. But the government has now made a semi-redacted version of the report public in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by The New York Times.

The Times filed the lawsuit after a wave of declassifications about government surveillance activities in response to leaks by the former intelligence contractor Edward J. Snowden.

Kerry in Pakistan to shore up counterterror cooperation

ISLAMABAD (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Pakistan on Monday to press the country’s leadership to step up the fight against extremists and eliminate safe havens for terror groups along the Afghan border.

Kerry in Pakistan to shore up counterterror cooperation

 He was welcomed by Pakistan’s foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz and headed directly into meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Kerry is making the case for more robust efforts against all extremist groups in the country, particularly after last month’s devastating Taliban attack on a Peshawar school that killed 150 people, most of them children.

US Investigating Civilian Casualties in Airstrikes Against ISIS

The Pentagon gave its most upbeat assessment to date Tuesday on progress in the fight against ISIS while acknowledging for the first time that U.S. Central Command was investigating "credible" incidents of civilian casualties from airstrikes.

US Investigating Civilian Casualties in Airstrikes Against ISIS

U.S. military officials have previously disputed reports of airstrikes killing civilians from human rights and Syrian opposition groups, but Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said that CentCom was now looking into several "credible allegations of possible civilian casualties" from the airstrikes.

Taken from: military.com

At a Pentagon briefing, Kirby was not specific on where or when the incidents occurred, other than to say that CentCom was investigating allegations made in recent weeks.

"We're very mindful" of the impact that so-called collateral damage can have on efforts to defeat insurgencies following the previous U.S. experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kirby said. "It matters to us" to avoid civilian casualties, Kirby said.

John Kerry urges stronger India-US ties

US Secretary of State John Kerry has called for stronger US-Indian trade ties at an international investor conference ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to India this month.

Mr Kerry described Mr Modi as a "visionary" prime minister

Mr Kerry said better economic ties would help boost India's growth and fight climate change.

BUK missile which downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was brought from Kursk

 MH17 was downed by a ground-launched BUK missile – launched by a unit of the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade from Kursk, which was operating on Ukrainian territory in mid-July.

 The investigation unveiled a clear chain of evidences. MH17 was downed by a ground-launched BUK missile - launched by a unit of the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade from Kursk. The brigade unit, tasked with protecting Russian tank units, was operating in mid-July on Ukrainian territory without displaying national emblems.

U.S. Navy's new super gun

The U.S. Navy's Electromagnetic Railgun is capable of launching projectiles at 4,500 mph and hitting targets 100 miles away, faster and farther than any other gun.

2 dead, 2 injured after shooting at southeast Wichita bar

WICHITA, Kansas – Around 1:40 a.m. Saturday morning, Wichita police were called a to Harry and Oliver for a disturbance with a weapon at “The Place” bar. Upon arrival, police found two men outside of the bar in critical condition, suffering from gunshot wounds.

A 25 year old man was transported to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg and has since been released. A 36 year old man was taken to the hospital by private car with a gunshot wound to the chest and is still receiving treatment.

Sgt. Mark Jackson confirmed that two men, a 28 and 32 year old, died in the shooting this morning. Police are withholding the names of the victims to notify the next-of-kin.

Emmet Kimberlin has lived in his home, right next to the bar, for three and a half months.

The Ultimate Cold Warrior: 5 Weapons Russia Could Use in an Arctic War

Over the past decade, nations bordering on the Arctic have found themselves with a big new security problem. The melting of the arctic ice has opened up shipping lanes and opportunities for the exploitation for undersea resources, but has also exposed vulnerabilities for countries that have long considered their northern frontier secure.

It’s not surprising that Russia has prepared its military for arctic operations better than any other country. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union prepared to fight across the Arctic, both in the air and at sea. Many of the weapons and much of the expertise from that era have remained, leaving the Kremlin with a lethal set of capabilities. Here are five systems we can expect Russia to use in order to defend its interests in the Arctic Ocean, in case the unthinkable ever occurred.

Charlie Hebdo attack: Extra troops for Paris

 Officials say all necessary measures are being taken to protect France and its citizens

  

Some 500 extra troops are being deployed around Paris after three days of terror in the French capital killed 17 people. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said all necessary measures were being taken to protect the country. Police in France are hunting for any accomplices of three gunmen killed by police on Friday after two sieges. Tens of thousands of people have taken part in silent marches to remember the victims in Nice, Pau and Orleans. President Francois Hollande has warned the danger was not over yet.

The Tragedy of the American Military

The American public and its political leadership will do anything for the military except take it seriously. The result is a chickenhawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly combine to lure America into endless wars it can’t win.

In mid-September, while President Obama was fending off complaints that he should have done more, done less, or done something different about the overlapping crises in Iraq and Syria, he traveled to Central Command headquarters, at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. There he addressed some of the men and women who would implement whatever the U.S. military strategy turned out to be.

The part of the speech intended to get coverage was Obama’s rationale for reengaging the United States in Iraq, more than a decade after it first invaded and following the long and painful effort to extricate itself. This was big enough news that many cable channels covered the speech live. I watched it on an overhead TV while I sat waiting for a flight at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. When Obama got to the section of his speech announcing whether he planned to commit U.S. troops in Iraq (at the time, he didn’t), I noticed that many people in the terminal shifted their attention briefly to the TV. As soon as that was over, they went back to their smartphones and their laptops and their Cinnabons as the president droned on.