Mainstream News

Pentagon linked to Iraqi torture centers by Central American ‘dirty war’ veteran

"The Pentagon sent a US veteran of the 'dirty wars' in Central America, Colonel James Steele, to oversee sectarian police commando units in Iraq, that set up secret detention and torture centres to get information from insurgents. These units conducted some of the worst acts of torture during the US occupation and accelerated the country’s descent into full-scale civil war. A second special advisor, retired Colonel James H Coffman (now 59) worked alongside Steele in detention centres that were set up with millions of dollars of US funding." Continue reading →

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Think New York Is Costly? In New Delhi, Seedy Goes for 8 Figures

"Real estate prices in the heart of New Delhi, especially for the bungalows built nearly a century ago during the British Raj, are among the highest in the world. The obvious question about the prices, in a country where hundreds of millions of people still live on less than $2 a day, is: Why? To a large degree, India is experiencing the sort of real estate boom common to big, emerging economies. When Japan’s economy was soaring in the 1980s, prices in Tokyo were so frothy that the 845-acre compound of the Imperial Palace was valued at more than all the real estate in California. More recently, China has seen a boom, with values rising in some cities by 500 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThink New York Is Costly? In New Delhi, Seedy Goes for 8 Figures

‘Cannibal cop’ says torturing and eating women nothing more than his fantasy

"Prosecutors wrapped up their case on Monday, saying Valle should be found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap women that he discussed abducting and eating. They showed the Manhattan federal jury gruesome pictures downloaded onto Valle’s computers, including women apparently being burned. It was not always clear when a picture had been staged or not. Lawyers for Valle, who faces up to life in prison if found guilty on the kidnapping conspiracy charge, hope to persuade the jury that he is guilty of nothing more than unusual sexual fantasies." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Cannibal cop’ says torturing and eating women nothing more than his fantasy

High School Student Disarms Gunman…Gets Suspended

"The 16-year-old Cypress Lake High student in Fort Myers, Fla. told WFTX-TV there was 'no doubt' he saved a life after grappling for the loaded .22 caliber revolver being aimed point-blank at another student on Tuesday. Authorities confirmed to WFTX the weapon was indeed loaded, and the arrest report stated the suspect, identified by WVZN-TV as Quadryle Davis, was 'pointing the gun directly' at the other student and 'threatening to shoot him.' That’s when, the teen told the station, he and two others tackled the suspect and wrestled the gun away. The next day, all three were suspended." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHigh School Student Disarms Gunman…Gets Suspended

8-year-old girl handcuffed, jailed for two hours

"An 8-year-old girl was handcuffed and held by Alton Police for two hours after throwing a tantrum at school. Jmyha Rickman was hauled in the back of a police squad car. Her guardian said she was treated like a criminal, all 70 lbs. of the young girl. Rickman’s ordeal began at Love Joy Elementary School late Tuesday morning when she apparently had a bad tantrum. At some point, school officials called the Alton Police to handle the situation." Continue reading →

Continue Reading8-year-old girl handcuffed, jailed for two hours

Can police collect DNA when someone is arrested? Supreme Court to decide.

"The US Supreme Court heard argument Tuesday in a case testing whether government officials can routinely collect a person’s DNA at the time he or she is arrested and then use that DNA sample to try to link the individual to unsolved crimes. At issue in the case is whether taking a DNA sample from an arrestee without first obtaining a court-authorized warrant is an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. DNA material contains a plethora of highly personal information bound within a person’s genetic code. DNA might someday reveal information about an individual’s susceptibility to future diseases and perhaps even personality traits." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCan police collect DNA when someone is arrested? Supreme Court to decide.

Italian Elections: Europe’s Lost Generation Finds Its Voice

"They are the latest example of an uprising of the lost generation, that mass of people on Europe's periphery who are under the age of 40, desperate, unemployed and who have very little left to lose. The public outrage in Europe came to a boil in tent camps in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. It inspired the Occupy Wall Street activists. And it continued in Greece, where youth unemployment has reached 59.4 percent, and where there are no jobs and no economic recovery. In the eyes of many, the power of the politicians only serves their own interests." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingItalian Elections: Europe’s Lost Generation Finds Its Voice

Ireland is the poster-child of EMU cruelty and folly

"It has stabilized the colossal debts left from taking on the gambling losses of Anglo Irish Bank at EU behest, that is to say from shielding German, British, Dutch and Belgian lenders from systemic contagion at a critical moment. Deo volente, it will be the first of the EMU victim states to escape control of the EU-IMF Troika, though it will answer to inspectors for another 20 years and the yet unborn will be paying off the €67bn of Troika indenture until 2042. A mass exodus of 40,000 to 50,000 each year to the four corners of the Irish Diaspora have kept unemployment down to 14.1pc, 'What we need here in Ireland is a good dose of inflation,' confided one official." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIreland is the poster-child of EMU cruelty and folly

Fears of Return of Euro Crisis Plague Central Bankers and IMF

"Last year, the ECB supported ailing Greece for months, because the EU couldn't agree on a bailout package for so long. It recently looked the other way when the Irish central bank came to the aid of a bank, and the prohibition on directly funding public budgets was cunningly circumvented. If the ECB were now forced to help an Italian government that is unwilling to institute reforms, its credibility would be destroyed once and for all. Many central bankers are no longer willing to cooperate with the lawmakers behind Europe's rescue programs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFears of Return of Euro Crisis Plague Central Bankers and IMF

Bank of Japan governor nominee Kuroda sets out aggressive policy ideas

"The Japan government's nominee to be the next central bank governor outlined more forceful policy prescriptions on Monday to finally defeat deflation, saying he would not set any limits on the amount of cash the Bank of Japan pumps into the economy. Haruhiko Kuroda told lawmakers the BOJ's current policies were not powerful enough to boost inflation to 2 percent, a target he said the central bank should strive to achieve in two years. Kuroda suggested the most natural central bank stimulus for the economy would be through huge purchases of longer-dated government bonds. The BOJ should also consider kicking off its open-ended asset purchases early." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBank of Japan governor nominee Kuroda sets out aggressive policy ideas