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A former trigger man who once reportedly boasted he could "fill a cemetery" with his victims, the 60-year-old Messina Denaro is believed to have become the mafia's "boss of bosses" following the death of Salvatore "The Beast" Riina in November 2017. Messina Denaro was detained at a private clinic in Palermo, where he was undergoing treatment for an unspeci fied illness, the Carabinieri's commander Pasquale Angelosanto told reporters. A photograph released by police showed Messina Denaro in the back seat of a vehicle, wearing a cream hat, sunglasses and a brown leather jacket with a cream sheepskin lining. Before that,...

Ed Buck, 67, was convicted last year of nine felony counts stemming from the deaths of Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean. Former Democratic political donor Ed Buck who supplied drugs to two men who overdosed in his West Hollywood apartment was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in federal prison. Ed Buck, 67, was convicted last year of nine felony counts stemming from the deaths of Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean. In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors said he lured young Black men who were often experiencing homelessness, addiction, and/or poverty to his apartment for sexually charged sessions in which he...

CHINA’S leader has laid out his ambitious plans for a superpower in a three-hour speech with huge implications for Australia. BEIJING has outlined plans to become the world’s biggest superpower within the next 30 years. Opening a five-yearly national congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping set out his time frame for the country to become a “global leader” with international influence. In his 3 ½ hour speech, Mr Xi urged a reinvigorated Communist Party to take a stronger role in society and economic development to better address the nation’s “grim” challenges. Speaking in the massive Great Hall of the People near...

The Obama administration has been better for Israel than the last eight administrations, Vice-President Joe Biden told a large crowd at the AIPAC conference Monday. “We've stood shoulder to shoulder over the past 40 years defending the legitimate interests of Israel,” Biden told an enthusiastic audience, “but no administration, no President has done as much to physically secure the State of Israel as Barack Obama,” Biden said. In the midst of what Biden called “the Great Recession,” the U.S. has upped its aid to Israel, providing $1.3 billion in military aid in 2012. In addition, Biden said, President Obama has...

Over the weekend I was challenged on Twitter to do a graphic of what Debbie Wasserman Shultz and Rachel Maddow would look like in 30 years. I gave it a shot, and added a couple more libs to the mix...    

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Some 80 percent of Arctic ice may disappear in 30 years, not 90 as scientists had previously estimated, according to a new study on the impact of global warming. "The amount of the Arctic Ocean covered by ice at the end of summer by then could be only about 1 million square kilometers, or about 620,000 square miles," said US researchers who authored the study published Thursday. "That's compared to today's ice extent of 4.6 million square kilometers, or 2.8 million square miles," they added, warning the development "raises the question of ecosystem upheaval." The scientists made...

Suddenly wishes Viagra was harder to come byNotorious spammer Christopher "Rizler" Smith was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a federal judge on Wednesday. US District Judge Michael Davis called Smith a "drug kingpin" before throwing the book at him. Smith was convicted on charges of conspiracy, illegal distribution of drugs, money laundering and operating a continuing criminal enterprise. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the judge was somewhat hesitant about the length of the prison term recommended by sentencing guidelines, but in the end, decided it was reasonable. Smith hasn't exactly been a darling to the court...

Vietnam will celebrate next Saturday the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, a defining moment that sealed the catastrophic failure of US policy in Indo-China and cemented the communist victory in the long war. . A little after midday on April 30, 1975, a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gates of the presidential palace in Saigon, the defeated South Vietnamese regime's capital, since renamed Ho Chi Minh City. . The war thus ended a few hours after the last Americans left by helicopter from the roof of the US embassy. The defeated South Vietnamese troops shed their uniforms...

Nicole DeHuff, an actress who played Teri Polo's sister in Meet the Parents, has died of causes related to pneumonia. She was 30. The actress died Feb. 16 in Hollywood, four days after she reportedly checked into a Los Angeles hospital, was misdiagnosed and sent home with orders to take Tylenol. When her condition worsened, she returned to the hospital and was prescribed antibiotics for bronchitis and again sent home. Two days later, paramedics were called to her home after she collapsed, gasping for breath. By the time she reached the hospital, she was unconscious and passed away soon after....

"If you don't build it, they won't come." That philosophy, courtesy of the administration of former Gov. Jerry Brown, has corrupted California's growth both at the state and local level for the last three decades. This is the idea that if we stopped building freeways, water projects, universities and power plants, we wouldn't be able to sustain future growth and people would stop coming here. They didn't. As a result, we are now facing massive shortages and deterioration of our state's infrastructure, even as the population continues to grow beyond the capacity of our roads and freeways. And yet in...