Pittsburgh Cops Sued For Tasering Man Grieving Over Step-Son’s Body – 26 September 2014

The family of a deceased Pennsylvania man has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that police forcefully and unnecessarily ejected the slain gunshot victim’s step-father from a Pittsburg emergency room in June 2012.

Surveillance camera footage recorded from the ER at UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh more than two years ago shows Rev. Earl Baldwin Jr., a local community activist known for speaking out against street violence, crying over the body of his dead 23-year-old stepson, Mileek Grissom.

“I needed to tell him his family was going to be okay,” Baldwin told WPXI this week. “I was going to do everything I could to make sure they were okay.”

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Pentagon Ready Ro Train Up To 15,000 Syrian Rebels – 26 September 2014

Pentagon officials provided an update on Friday concerning the campaign being waged against militants from the so-called Islamic State and said the operation remains a ways from being over.

In a press conference from the United States military’s headquarters near Washington, DC on Friday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said the US-led campaign against the group also known as ISIS, or ISIL is still in its infancy, but continues to garner support from the international community. In order to succeed, however, an infantry of up to 15,000 fighters may need to be trained to take on the extremists.

The US began launching attacks at ISIS strongholds in Syria for the first time this week in addition to targets in Iraq, and Gen. Dempsey said at Friday’s presser that those efforts may have already begun to pay off.

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Brits Happier Amid Austerity? Experts Doubt Optimistic Govt ‘Wellbeing Survey’ – 26 September 2014

Brits are the happiest they’ve been since 2011 as a result of the UK’s “improving economy”, a UK government report claims. But experts argue that austerity, public sector cuts and rising inequality are anything but a recipe for national wellbeing.

As part of the biannual personal wellbeing survey by the government-controlled Office of National Statistics, 165,000 respondents were requested to rate their levels of personal satisfaction, life satisfaction, personal happiness and anxiety on a scale of one to 10. The report, “Measuring National Wellbeing,” claims people’s levels of life satisfaction and general happiness have increased steadily throughout the UK since 2011, while the nation’s anxiety levels have declined over the same period.

James Meadway, a leading economist at the New Economics Foundation (NEF), told RT on Friday it was possible that Britons’ levels of wellbeing have increased as official unemployment figures have fallen. But he argued that the ONS survey may have overestimated UK citizens’ happiness levels, suggesting a more “nuanced analysis” would have yielded a more accurate picture.

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‘Freedom Of Speech In Russia, Not Here!’ German TV Mocks Western Media’s Ukraine Coverage – 26 September 2014

Double standards, distortion of facts and omissions – a German political satire show has made fun of the way the conflict in eastern Ukraine is reported in Western media.

A segment of Die Anstalt program on German ZDF television channel dedicated to the issue was entitled: “The information war in Ukrainian conflict: An essay in black and white.”

The monochrome footage pictured a general dressed in a World War I German uniform, directing the information war as the editor of a fictional newspaper.

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US Softens Position On Iranian Nuclear Program – 26 September 2014

Amid stalled talks with Iran over limiting its nuclear program, the US is reportedly considering a proposal that would let Tehran keep half of its centrifuges while reducing its stock of uranium gas so much that a weapon would take over a year to create.

Now in its eighth day, the latest session between Iran and six world powers – US, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany – is occurring on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, currently taking place in Manhattan.

The foreign ministers of the countries involved were expected to join the discussions this week, yet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told AP on Friday that he and his counterparts will not do so because “there are no significant advances at the moment.”

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EU Ready To Discuss Revisions To Ukraine Trade Deal – Barroso – 26 September 2014

The EU says it is ready to discuss changes to its trade pact with Ukraine if Kiev asks for revisions. The statement came after Vladimir Putin sent a letter to the presidents of the European Commission and Ukraine, calling for changes to the deal.

Brussels is ready to discuss both the implementation of the Association Agreement and its effects on Russia, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission,toldthe Wall Street Journal in an interview Thursday.

“If the Ukrainians, listening to Russian concerns, want to discuss some matters with us, of course we are ready to listen,” he said.

READ MORE: 5 facts you need to know about the Ukraine-EU trade deal

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Police Chief’s Attempt To Join Michael Brown March Provokes New Arrests, Tensions In Ferguson – 26 September 2014

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Tensions in Ferguson, Missouri erupted again late Thursday night when a scuffle broke out near the St. Louis suburb’s police chief, who decided to participate in a march for slain teen Michael Brown. At least four people were arrested.

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson appeared outside police headquarters in civilian clothes to assure protesters calling for his resignation that there would be reforms following Brown’s death and the ensuing protests that took place. Brown was the unarmed black teenager fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, a white man, on August 9.

“I’m sorry, and I said that from my heart,” Jackson said, according to CNN, after joining the crowd gathered in front of the police department. “I had to get that off my chest. It’s been sitting there for two months.”

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Jon Rappoport – Ebola: What Op Is Being Planned For Western Nations? – 26 September 2014

In this article, I’m not going to try to recapitulate everything I’ve written about Ebola so far.

I’ll outline two possible scenarios for the near future in Western nations. Scenario 1 and Modified Scenario 1. Both would be planned ops.

#1: Announcement: a vaccine is available. Authorities will declare who should take it. In an extreme situation, people in certain sectors will be commanded to take it. And if they don’t, they will be quarantined, regardless of their health status.

Kim Jong-Un Unwell, N. Korean Media Reports – 26 September 2014

North Korean media has for the first time acknowledged the ill health of its young leader, 31-year-old Kim Jong-un, following a near-month-long absence from the spotlight.

The news follows several public appearances by the leader where he was seen walking with a limp: the last included a July meeting with his cabinet and now a documentary about the government, recorded earlier and broadcast this Thursday.

“The wealth and prosperity of our socialism is thanks to the painstaking efforts of our marshal, who keeps lighting the path for the people, like the flicker of a flame, despite suffering discomfort,” the narrator can be heard saying in the documentary.

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Ukraine To Pay $3.1Bn Of Gazprom Debt By End Of 2014 – EU Energy Commissioner – 26 September 2014

Ukraine will pay Gazprom $2 billion for gas it has received from Russia by the end of October and an additional $1.1 billion by year’s end, EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger announced.

The amount that Ukraine is expected to pay Russia is far short of the $5.3 billion that Kiev currently owes Gazprom.

Gazprom will resume gas deliveries and send at least 5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to Ukraine at a price of $385 per 1,000 cubic meters after it receives the first tranche of $2 billion, the EU commissioner and Russia’s Energy Minister Alexandre Novak said.

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