Almost 18,000 people have now fled their homes as a volcano violently erupts in western Indonesia, an official said, as it spewed more red-hot gas and rocks Monday. Authorities at the weekend issued the highest safety alert for Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra after it erupted spectacularly,...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Thousands of Indonesians flee erupting volcano
↧
Oil prices drop thanks to historic U.S.-Iran nuclear deal
World oil prices slid on Monday after a US-led deal was struck between world powers and Iran on the Islamic Republic’s controversial nuclear programme. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January shed $1.82 to stand at $109.23 a barrel in London midday deals. New York’s main contract,...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
U.S. security advisor Susan Rice to meet Karzai over Afghanistan security pact
The US national security advisor is to meet President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, officials said Monday, as Washington presses Afghanistan to quickly approve a deal to allow some US forces to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Karzai has hedged on when he will sign the deal despite a four-day...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Israel sends security advisor to U.S. for Iran nuclear talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he will send his national security advisor to Washington for talks on a pending agreement with Iran on its nuclear programme. “I spoke yesterday with President (Barack) Obama and we agreed that in the coming days an Israeli team led by...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
France’s top medical expert: No evidence linking Gardasil vaccine to multiple sclerosis
One of France’s top medical experts appealed for calm Monday as a scare over a widely administered vaccine that prevents cervical cancer gathered momentum. Daniel Floret, the chair of the national committee that oversees vaccinations, said there was no evidence to link Gardasil, a vaccine...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
It’s The Sex. It’s Always The Sex.
What’s the minimum salary requirement to rub your feet on another person’s, stock photo-style? Why is maternity care specifically becoming such a focal point for conservatives who have decided they object to the concept of health insurance? (Yes, I realize they’re framing it as...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Hertz and Facebook sued for threats made by Hertz employees on social media network
A black man from Maui is suing Hertz and Facebook after he discovered Hertz employees denigrating him and sharing his financial information on the popular social network. According to a lawsuit filed by Maurice Howard in U.S. District Court of Hawai’i, six Hertz employees referred to Howard...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Judge accepts peppermint oil mishap as valid defense of taking out penis during airplane flight
A federal court judge accepted the excuse last week of a man who was accused of exposing his genitals on an airplane and cleared him of wrongdoing. Stuart Ronald Clarke told investigators he’d applied peppermint oil to his head in an airport bathroom Nov. 17, 2012, to treat a headache. The...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Grand jury indicts superintendent and three others in Steubenville rape case
A grand jury has indicted a school superintendent and three others in connection with the rape of a teenage girl last year in Steubenville, Ohio. Superintendent Michael McVey was charged Monday with one count of tampering with evidence and two counts of obstructing justice, as well as two...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
Afghanistan considers public stoning for adulterers
Kabul — Afghanistan is considering bringing back stoning for adultery, Human Rights Watch and the justice ministry said Monday, possibly restoring a punishment in force during the Taliban’s brutal regime. The penalty for married adulterers, along with flogging for unmarried offenders, appears...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Atheist drops golfer’s sponsorship over fears Ted Cruz, Glenn Beck could taint business
An atheist businessman in Virginia has ended his sponsorship of a professional golfer because he did not want his business associated with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) or conservative radio host Glenn Beck. The Blaze reported on Monday that David Reynolds, golfer Jeff Cochran’s agent, received a...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Woman sues officer who repeatedly applied mace to her genitals
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Marlene Tapia against Blanca Zapater, the corrections officer that Tapia alleges subjected her to cruel and unusual punishment while violating her right to due process. According to the suit, on...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Karl Rove’s dark money group spent more on politics than it reported to the IRS
On its 2012 tax return, GOP strategist Karl Rove’s dark money behemoth Crossroads GPS justified its status as a tax-exempt social welfare group in part by citing its grants of $35 million to other similarly aligned nonprofits. (Here’s the tax return itself, which we detailed last week.)...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
Fox News host: Obamacare ‘touches so many people’s lives’ unlike ‘Katrina or the Iraq war’
Fox News host Martha MacCallum on Monday suggested that President Barack Obama’s health care law was even worse than devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina or the Iraq War because it “touches so many people’s lives.” In a segment on America’s Newsroom, MacCallum...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Yale University on lockdown as police search for alleged gunman
Yale University announced Monday it was on lockdown following reports of an armed person on the loose at one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. A series of alerts on its website ordered all staff and students to shelter in place until further notice, as teams of police...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Christian American Patriots Militia leader: We now have authority to shoot Obama
An apparent threat made against President Barack Obama’s life posted on Facebook has caught the attention of the Secret Service. Agents declined to comment on the post, which has been removed but was preserved in screen captures by Social News Daily, made Tuesday by Everest Wilhelmen, leader of the...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
WATCH: Seth Rogen and James Franco are ‘Bound 2′ each other in hilarious Kanye West parody
On the set of their new film, The Interview, Seth Rogen and James Franco found themselves so inspired by Kayne West’s video for “Bound 2” that they decided to recreate it, as the introduction announces, “Shot. For. Shot.” The friends, who met while working on the...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
Archaeological discoveries suggest the Buddha was born hundreds of years earlier than thought
Evidence of a previously unknown wooden structure unearthed at the Buddha’s birthplace suggests the sage might have lived in the 6th century BC, two centuries earlier than thought, archeologists said Monday. Traces of the ancient timber structure was found under a brick temple that is itself...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
‘Ghost-hunters’ allegedly burn down historic Louisiana plantation
On Saturday, the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested seven men for the fire that destroyed the historic LeBeau Plantation House in Arabi. The plantation is famous for its ghostly presence, most notably a woman in a white dress. It is also rumored to have been the site of some of the...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Mississippi woman struck by bullet shell after man ignores ‘no guns’ sign at church
A Mississippi man with an “enhanced” concealed carry permit was arrested over the weekend for discharging a firearm inside city limits after he accidentally hit a woman with a shell in church when his gun discharged. Churchgoers at Pinelake Church in Rankin County were preparing for...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧