News You Can Use

[mes5464]

Mexican Gangs Could Be Making Up To $250 Million A Year By Abusing And Extorting Migrants

REYNOSA Mexico (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Central American migrants are being kidnapped, abused and extorted by Mexican gangs just yards from the United States in a growing racket that may be worth up to $250 million a year.

Arriving in ragtag border towns like Reynosa, Mexico's migrant kidnapping capital where police in armored vehicles patrol the streets and daytime shootouts are commonplace, migrants are picked off buses by gangs who federal authorities say are in cahoots with local officials.

[mes5464]

Defying the dollar Russia & China agree currency swap worth over $20bn

The central banks of China and Russia have signed a 3-year ruble-yuan currency swap deal up to $25 billion, in order to boost trade using national currencies and lessen dependence on the dollar and euro.

On Monday, China’s Central Bank announced the 150 billion yuan (815 billion ruble) currency swap between the Russian ruble and Chinese yuan. In terms of the Chinese currency that is $24.5 billion, and in Russian rubles, $20.1 billion.

"We need to expand the practice of using national currencies in trade. Currently they only account for 7 percent of turnover,” Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at the 18th annual Russian-Chinese Commission, also attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

[mes5464]

Kansas City repeals open carry prohibition following veto

Last week Kansas City rolled back its ban on the open carry of firearms voted into effect earlier this year after Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of an expanded gun rights bill was overridden by the state legislature.

The Show Me State’s largest city had in August passed a moratorium on open carry by a 9-0 unanimous vote. Introduced by Mayor Sly James (D), the bill was championed by the city’s chief executive saying that “aggressive open carry” can cause public disturbances and prevent “gun education learned on the streets” from “those who may choose to stretch the limits of responsible gun ownership.”

However statewide gun rights legislation that protects and expands lawful open carry in Missouri passed into law last month after overcoming the governor’s veto. This left Kansas City with a prohibition that was unenforceable. As such, the city council repealed its ban to comply with state law. Now those who have a current concealed carry permit can open carry in the city.

[mes5464]

NSA 'Core Secrets' leak points to spies working within companies

Summary: The latest Snowden leaks suggest the NSA has access to well-placed staff whose mission is to infiltrate companies to gather secret and sensitive corporate data.

[mes5464]

Ebola death rate rises to 70 percent

[mes5464]

Rats! Official says NYC is failing at rat control

Citizen complaints about pests to the 311 hotline plus online reports went from 22,300 in fiscal year 2012 to 24,586 the next year, city Comptroller Scott Stringer said Sunday.

[mes5464]

[mes5464]

US Army drafts blueprint for World War III

With US politicians and the American media engaged in an increasingly acrimonious debate over the strategy guiding the latest US war in the Middle East, the United States Army has unveiled a new document entitled the Army Operating Concept (AOC), which provides a “vision of future armed conflict” that has the most ominous implications. It is the latest in a series of documents in which the Pentagon has elaborated the underlying strategy of preventive war that was unveiled in 1992—that is, the use of war as a means of destroying potential geopolitical and economic rivals before they acquire sufficient power to block American domination of the globe.

[mes5464]

Nuclear War could be near, according to Nobel laureate

The United States and Russia are dangerously close to stumbling into a war over Ukraine that could go nuclear and kill hundreds of millions of people in a single day, a Nobel laureate who is one of the world’s leading experts on the dangers of nuclear weapons warned in Washington this week.

“It’s an incredibly dangerous situation. … If there’s a nuclear war tonight, that’s the Northern Hemisphere (of the entire world) gone, Dr. Helen Caldicott told a National Press Club Newsmakers news conference on Wednesday. She was speaking on the topic: “Ukraine: Is Nuclear Conflict Likely?”

Caldicott is an Australian physician who founded the International Physicians against Nuclear War, a group that under her leadership won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. She is the former president of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute based in Washington

The expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders is “very, very dangerous,” Caldicott said. “There is no way a war between the United States and Russia could start and not go nuclear. … The United States and Russia have enormous stockpiles of these weapons. Together they have 94 percent of all the 16,300 nuclear weapons in the world.”

“We are in a very fallible, very dangerous situation operated by mere mortals,” she warned. “The nuclear weapons, are sitting there, thousands of them. They are ready to be used.”

[mes5464]

Condoleezza Rice named as killer of New York Times’ story on CIA

“She had a legal yellow notebook on her lap with lots of notes on it, and once I had taken a seat across from her, she barely looked up,” she said during a “60 Minutes” interview. “She basically read in a very stern manner from her notes on this legal pad, which were just point after point about why this story would be damaging to the national security.

[mes5464]

NC mayor faces federal prison term in scandal

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Charlotte's former mayor is being sentenced in a federal corruption case that stunned North Carolina's largest city.

Forty-seven-year-old Patrick Cannon pleaded guilty in June to accepting $50,000 in bribes between January 2013 and February, 2014 - three months after he was elected.

An affidavit in the case says Cannon sought more than $1 million in kickbacks.

[mes5464]

Facebook and Apple now paying for women to put motherhood on ice by freezing their eggs

Two Silicon Valley companies will now cover egg-freezing as an incentive for top female talent in their prime fertility years who don't want to sacrifice motherhood for work.

Apple and Facebook say they'll shell out out as much as $20,000 for women to put their parenthood plans on ice.

The firms also hope the incentive will help women balance child-rearing and work life. However, even as success rates continue to rise, there are no guarantees the method will lead to conception down the road.

[mes5464]

Sayreville football parent reveals sexual nature of alleged locker room hazing ritual (Exclusive)

It came without warning.

It would start with a howling noise from a senior football player at Sayreville War Memorial High School, and then the locker room lights were abruptly shut off.

In the darkness, a freshman football player would be pinned to the locker room floor, his arms and feet held down by multiple upperclassmen. Then, the victim would be lifted to his feet while a finger was forced into his rectum. Sometimes, the same finger was then shoved into the freshman player’s mouth.

This disturbing hazing within the storied Sayreville football program, as told to NJ Advance Media on Wednesday by the parent of a player in the program, happened almost every day in the locker room this fall, he said.

[mes5464]

Reporters Removed, Restrained At World Health Organization Meeting On Global Tobacco Tax

Washington Times editorial writer Drew Johnson told The Daily Caller that he was physically escorted out of the meeting’s convention hall by a guard while another reporter was physically restrained from entering the room, even though WHO never formally voted to restrict the media from the event.

[mes5464]

Are you among the world's wealthiest?

If you have $3,650, you’re among the wealthiest half of people in the world, according to Credit Suisse's new report on global wealth. In numbers and charts, we break down the need-to-know stats

Global wealth grew by 8.3pc - its fastest rate ever - over the last year, reaching a worldwide total of $263 trillion, according to Credit Suisse's Global Wealth Report for 2014. From average worth to millionaire growth, here are the other numbers you need to know.
• Over the past 12 months, the world got $20.1 trillion richer, growing at record pace to $263 trillion. That’s the first time household wealth has surpassed the $250 trillion mark.
• In 2013, global wealth increased by $21.9 trillion - the largest annual growth since 2000. That’s more than the total loss from the financial crisis in 2007 to 2008, which knocked $21.5 trillion off global wealth.

[mes5464]

Police Investigate Fight On Train Captured On Video

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Chaos on board the Baltimore Metro. A group of attackers tried to push a man out of a moving train—and it’s all caught on tape.
Christie Ileto has more on the video that’s gone viral and the investigation that’s underway.
A man fought for his life while being pushed out of the doors of a moving Metro car. Cell phone video shows the man—who says he’s 51—fighting with two others before passengers finally intervened.
MTA police are now investigating how it escalated.
“You know to know why this is just now coming out via someone’s Facebook video,” said Councilman Brandon Scott. “But also, if no one reported, this is a shame.”

[mes5464]

Marriage rates hit new, all-time low

New data shows more young people are waiting to marry - and there's no shortage of opinions on why that's happening.

According to the latest available census data, the percentage of U.S. adults who have never been married has hit a new, all-time high.

In 1960, about one in ten adults over the age of 25 fell into that category.

By 2012, the number had jumped to one in five.

[mes5464]

BOY, 10, CHARGED WITH KILLING WOMAN, 90, IN BED

TYLER HILL, Pa. (AP) — A 10-year-old boy apparently angry that a 90-year-old woman had yelled at him held a cane against her throat and repeatedly punched her, killing her, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Tuesday they have charged the boy as an adult with criminal homicide in the death of Helen Novak, a woman who was being cared for by his grandfather.
The beating occurred Saturday when the boy was visiting his grandfather's home in northeastern Pennsylvania, state police said.
The boy denied hurting the woman when he told his grandfather that the woman was "bleeding from her mouth," the prosecutor said. The grandfather checked on her, and the woman said she was OK, investigators said.

[mes5464]

Richest 1% of people own nearly half of global wealth, says report

Credit Suisse study shows inequality accelerating, with NGOs saying it shows economic recovery ‘skewed towards wealthy’

The richest 1% of the world’s population are getting wealthier, owning more than 48% of global wealth, according to a report published on Tuesday which warned growing inequality could be a trigger for recession.

According to the Credit Suisse global wealth report (pdf), a person needs just $3,650 – including the value of equity in their home – to be among the wealthiest half of world citizens. However, more than $77,000 is required to be a member of the top 10% of global wealth holders, and $798,000 to belong to the top 1%.

“Taken together, the bottom half of the global population own less than 1% of total wealth. In sharp contrast, the richest decile hold 87% of the world’s wealth, and the top percentile alone account for 48.2% of global assets,” said the annual report, now in its fifth year.

The report, which calculates that total global wealth has grown to a new record – $263tn, more than twice the $117tn calculated for 2000 – found that the UK was the only country in the G7 to have recorded rising inequality in the 21st century.

[mes5464]

Mexico violence flares as fury grows over fate of missing students

Hundreds of students and teachers have smashed windows and started fires inside a state capital building in southern Mexico, as fury erupted over the disappearance of 43 young people believed to have been abducted by local police linked to a drug cartel.

[mes5464]

Crude settles down 4.6%, lowest since June 2012

Crude oil futures settled down 4.6 percent at $81.84, the biggest percentage drop since November 2012 and the lowest settlement since June 28, 2012.

In the minutes before the settle, crude deepened losses to 4 percent in the biggest one-day loss since 2012, falling as low as $81.54.

[mes5464]

Historic: Feds Notify 7 Americans of Their Removal from No-Fly List

[mes5464]

Can Voting Be Saved? BitCongress Hopes So

One man is hoping to change the corruption with a new cryptographic tool known as BitCongress. Morgan Rockwell is the mind behind growing Bitcoin company Bitcoin Kinetics, which focuses on bringing the popular cryptocurrency into real world applications. Rockwell’s newest project takes the technology behind Bitcoin and applies it to voting. Rockwell says that “BitCongress is a decentralized blockchain platform for voting, tax allocation & creation of legislation allowing anyone to create law & vote.”

[mes5464]

[mes5464]

Why Republicans Could Have A Pro-Gay Marriage Presidential Candidate In 2016

The Supreme Court’s recent decision not to take up challenges to state amendments banning same-sex marriage has had two significant effects – it has expanded marriage to five states (potentially more, bringing the total to 30) and reignited the political conversation around marriage equality in the 2014 midterms.