The US Hostages Killed in January Are Among 38 Westerners to Die by US Drone Strikes

Source: VICE

Westerners killed in US drone strikes:
10 US
8 UK
7 Germany
4 "Western"
3 Australia
2 Spain
2 Canada
1 Italy
1 Switzerland or Belgium

FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decades

Source: Washington Post

The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.
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The cases include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death. Of those, 14 have been executed or died in prison, the groups said under an agreement with the government to release results after the review of the first 200 convictions.
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The admissions mark a watershed in one of the country’s largest forensic scandals, highlighting the failure of the nation’s courts for decades to keep bogus scientific information from juries, legal analysts said.
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Oklahoma Recognizes Role of Wastewater Injection in Earthquakes

Source: New York Times

Oklahoma Geological Survey that it “considers it very likely” that wastewater wells are causing the majority of the state’s earthquakes.

... The Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association disputed the Geological Survey’s conclusions, saying in a statement that further study of the state’s quakes remained necessary.
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Oklahoma oil and gas regulators have taken steps to ensure that newly drilled disposal wells do not create seismic risks. But they say they have no authority to impose a moratorium, and only limited powers to address the existing wells that are behind the increase in tremors. Neither the governor nor the Legislature has pushed to increase their powers.
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Get ready for an explosion of mining on the ocean floor

Source: VICE

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De Beers Marine has been dredging for diamonds off the coast of Namibia at depths of around 400 feet for a decade — and at shallower depths for longer than that. An enormous 280-tonne "crawler" on tracks is deployed off the side of a ship where it sucks up diamond-rich material off the seabed. It's just like an M1 tank. Except four times the size. And underwater ...
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Next up will probably be Nautilus Minerals' Solwara-1 project in Papua New Guinea, which will use similarly massive seabed cutters and collectors to extract copper-gold ore from mineral-rich volcanic vents 5,000 feet down

Once Again The FBI Is Protecting Us From The FBI

Source: The Intercept

on April 2 the Department of Justice announced that Noelle Velentzas, 28, and Asia Siddiqui, 31, both of New York, had been arrested and charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. ...

Like other recent sensational “terror plots,” however, the criminal complaint unsealed yesterday demonstrates the key role of an undercover law enforcement informant in both formulating and facilitating the alleged plot. 

Former Iranian Ambassador: Historic Nuclear Deal has Prevented a New War in the Middle East

Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former nuclear negotiator for Iran. He served as Iran’s ambassador to Germany from 1990 to 1997.

Source: Democracy Now

Iran is member of the Nonproliferation Treaty and Israel has never been ready to accept it. ... During last 10 years, Iran has given more than 7000 mandate inspections to International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA.

Israel has about 400 nuclear bombs... Israel, during last 50, 60 years, has not given even one inspection to the IAEA.

TSA BDO Manager Says SPOT Program Is Bullshit

Source: The Intercept

TSA has trained and deployed thousands of Behavior Detection Officers, and the program has cost more than $900 million since it began in 2007, according to the GAO.
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... former Behavior Detection Officer manager, who also asked not to be identified, told The Intercept that the program suffers from lack of science and simple inconsistency, with every airport training its officers differently. “The SPOT program is bullshit,” the manager told The Intercept. “Complete bullshit.”