Author: Russia Today

A secret detention center run by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) was under the spotlight at a first-of-its-kind hearing Tuesday. While protesters demonstrating against police brutality blocked city streets, elected officials from Chicago’s Cook County held the first public hearing about Homan Square, an ‘off-the-books’ interrogation facility revealed earlier this year by The Guardian. The investigation found that CPD denied constitutional rights to at least 7,000 victims, some of whom were tortured and sexually abused. Detainees, activists, and legal advocates testified, while invited CPD representatives were no-shows. The inquiry by Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin follows the firing of Chicago’s police … Continue reading →

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A road in Santa Clarita, California, turned into an asphalt mess in just three days, and no one knows exactly why. What started off as a small ripple on Vasquez Canyon Road soon turned into a scene from a post-apocalyptic blockbuster: the asphalt torn, utility poles dangerously tilted. Local authorities were quick to close the road on November 19, attracting curious on-lookers as well as extreme sports daredevils. Despite danger warnings, skateboarders have used the opportunity to explore the naturally-made ramp, and one man was seen riding his dirt bike on the newly-formed ripples. Officials with the Los Angeles Department … Continue reading →

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Washington needs “boots on the ground” in Syria in addition to its air campaign against ISIS, which is not fruitful despite some progress. US Air Force secretary has admitted that “ground forces” is a must in order to “occupy” and “govern” parts of Syria. In her comments, Secretary Deborah Lee James stressed the importance of the US-led air campaign, but admitted that airstrikes need to be backed by ground forces. “Air power is extremely important. It can do a lot but it can’t do everything,” James said, just two days after Secretary of Defense Ash Carter supported President Obama’s “willingness … Continue reading →

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The US 2016 presidential race is mass entertainment orchestrated by the media, three-time presidential candidate and former congressman Ron Paul told RT, as he discussed frontrunner Donald Trump, the government and the “bubble-making” US economy. Paul told RT’s Ameera David that billionaire presidential hopeful Trump, who earlier vowed to build a massive border wall and end birthright citizenship for babies born to undocumented immigrants, is nothing but an authoritarian. “He is an authoritarian and he brags about it: ‘I’m the boss, I tell people what to do.’ The government happens to be a little different than that. The only thing … Continue reading →

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has once again shrugged off Catalan independence plans after separatist parties won regional elections. However, he said that he is willing to collaborate with the next Catalan government, but only “within the law.” Rajoy’s center-right government had repeatedly blocked the Catalan referendum on secession in court, adding that plans for independence are “nonsense.” “There are many things that can be discussed. But while I am the president of the government, I will not discuss the unity of Spain, the national sovereignty or the freedom of all Spaniards,” Rajoy said on Monday after pro-independence parties claimed … Continue reading →

At least 1.4 million of Catalans have filled the streets of Barcelona, calling for secession from Spain, as the region prepares to go to the polls in what local politicians say will serve as a proxy vote for independence. The massive pro-independence rally, called under the title “Gateway to the Catalan Republic” (Via Lliure cap a la República Catalana) is taking place in Barcelona, the regional capital, on Catalonia’s national Day, September 11. About 500,000 people registered on social networks to participate in the pro-independence event, Jordi Sanchez, the president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), told Sputnik news agency … Continue reading →

Russian President Vladimir Putin has drafted a bill that aims to eliminate the US dollar and the euro from trade between CIS countries. This means the creation of a single financial market between Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and other countries of the former Soviet Union. “This would help expand the use of national currencies in foreign trade payments and financial services and thus create preconditions for greater liquidity of domestic currency markets”, said a statement from Kremlin. The bill would also help to facilitate trade in the region and help to achieve macro-economic stability. Within the framework of the … Continue reading →

A former Arizona police officer, who killed six people during his 12-year career before it ended after the latest shooting, is now selling firearm training simulators that jolt people who hesitate to shoot. James Peters, former police officer with the Scottsdale PD, applied for “accidental disability retirement” in 2012 after he shot a 50-year-old man in the head with a rifle. The deceased, John Loxas, who was holding his baby grandson in his arms at that moment, had a record of threatening neighbors with firearms. Peters reported seeing a black object in Loxas’ trouser pocket, believing it to be a handgun. … Continue reading →

News Corp Australia has obtained a previously unknown video allegedly taken minutes after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was downed in Ukraine exactly one year ago. The voices cited by the transcript of the full footage claim a warplane shot down the Boeing. The four-minute clip posted by News Corp Australia is an extract from what is claimed to be a longer 17-minute video, which allegedly depicts the immediate aftermath of the MH17 Boeing crash. The clip shows rebel fighters who arrived at the scene, first looking to get things under control. Their commander is heard ordering them to clear the … Continue reading →

Some 800 people have been evacuated from the area immediately surrounding the Colima volcano in Western Mexico due to increased volcanic activity and large amounts of ash being spewed from the crater, falling from the skies onto surrounding communities. The number of people living in the 12-kilometer, now sealed off, area around the crater is “very small and don’t exceed 800 inhabitants,” a national civil protection coordinator Luis Felipe Puente told AFP. “They have all been evacuated,” he announced. Meanwhile, authorities have closed the airport in the state of Colima, due to the high amount of volcanic ash “falling in … Continue reading →

US scientists have found a way to estimate the time of the next eruption of the dormant volcano in Yellowstone National Park from 10 months to 10 years beforehand. They promise it won’t be cataclysmic, yet its lava and ash could cause a volcanic winter. A new Arizona State University research focused on past eruptions at Yellowstone volcano, with the most recent happening nearly 70,000 years ago, in order to learn more about the time when its sleep is over. The study on the supervolcano’s giant chamber of hot, partly molten rock was published on Wednesday in the journal Geology. … Continue reading →

Gazprom has confirmed the suspension of gas supplies to Ukraine from 10:00am MSK on July 1. Russia’s gas monopoly will not supply gas to Kiev without prepayment, no matter what price, said company CEO Aleksey Miller on Wednesday. After trilateral Russia-EU-Ukraine gas talks in Vienna failed on Tuesday, Ukraine’s Naftogaz reported it would cease purchases of Russian gas starting from Wednesday as it didn’t agree on the price. The three parties gathered in Vienna to discuss the terms of the gas deal for the next three months as the previous ‘summer package’ expired. The Ukrainian company stressed that Kiev would … Continue reading →

Austrians have launched a petition to quit the EU, arguing that the nation will be better off economically if it leaves the union. To force the national parliament to consider the initiative activists need to have gathered 100,000 signatures by July 1. The petition was started by a retired 66-year-old translator, Inge Rauscher, who has collected enough signatures to launch an official campaign. The plea seeks to request that the national parliament debate the idea of a referendum on quitting the EU. However, to get that issue even discussed, the petition must gather 100,000 signatures. “We want to go back … Continue reading →

The Pentagon has released a book of instructions on the “law of war,” detailing acceptable ways of killing the enemy. The manual also states that journalists can be labeled “unprivileged belligerents,” an obscure term that replaced “enemy combatant.” The 1,176-page “Department of Defense Law of War Manual” explains that shooting, exploding, bombing, stabbing, or cutting the enemy are acceptable ways of getting the job done, but the use of poison or asphyxiating gases is not allowed. Surprise attacks and killing retreating troops have also been given the green light. But the lengthy manual doesn’t only talk about protocol for those … Continue reading →

The world needs alternatives to the US-dominated ‘corroded’ World Bank and the IMF, investment guru Jim Rogers told RT at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. The BRICS countries could compete and replace them, he added. “The world needs something to compete with the US-dominated institutions, some of them – the World Bank and the IMF- have become corroded and ineffective. So, if BRICS offer any new structures that can compete with these long-standing decomposed institutions, it will be very good. Good for the whole world, including Russia and China,” Rogers said. Speaking about the lessening economic influence of … Continue reading →