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A Belgian military intelligence officer told VICE World News Jurgen Conings had been demoted over apparent far-right ties, but still had access to an armoury from which he stole firearms and anti-tank rockets. Belgian police and special forces, backed by armoured vehicles, are hunting for a rogue soldier with ties to violent right-wing groups for a third day. Jurgen Conings, 46, disappeared earlier this week after making a series of social media threats related to COVID restrictions. A former military shooting instructor, Conings stole body armour, an automatic weapon, and at least two anti-tank rockets before disappearing. The search currently centres around a national park in northern Belgium close to the border with the Netherlands. Members of the public have been urged not to approach Conings but to report any sightings to police immediately. Conings had been a top marksmanship instructor for the Belgian military before revelations about his ties to extremist groups came to...

They had a real beef. An Ohio woman has been arrested after using a 10-pound log of ground beef to assault another woman with a protective order against her. Maneka Garner, 25, has been charged with assault and violation of temporary protection after beating Precious Jackson, 36, with the prepackaged meat, according to the South Euclid Police Department’s incident report obtained by The Smoking Gun Thursday. The incident occurred Tuesday in the potato chip aisle of a Walmart in South Euclid, about 15 miles east of Cleveland. Jackson, according to the document, told authorities she and her daughter, 7, “were assaulted” by Garner. Garner told authorities “she thought the protection order was no longer in effect,” according to the document, which noted she had been arrested for violating the order and hitting Garner “a couple of times in the face with a ten pound log of prepackaged ground beef.” The beef was listed as a “blunt object” in the “weapons used” section of the...

Update 9:00pm ET: The US government declared a state of emergency late on Sunday, lifting limits on the transport of fuels by road in a bid to keep gas supply lines open as fears of shortages spiked after the continued shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline. “This Declaration addresses the emergency conditions creating a need for immediate transportation of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other refined petroleum products and provides necessary relief,” the Department of Transportation said. White House Press Sec Jen Psaki added that "as the Administration works to mitigate potential disruptions to supply as a result of the Colonial Pipeline incident, @USDOT is taking action today to allow flexibility for truckers in 17 states." The move lifted limits on the transport of fuels by road to ease the fallout from the continuing closure of the Colonial pipeline, which carries almost half the fuel consumed on the US East Coast, following a ransomware cyber attack on Friday. The decision...

New guidance from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is causing contractors to change their COVID-19 vaccine requirements, and many of them criticize the guidance as diametrically opposed to the Biden administration's stated desire to increase vaccinations. On April 20, OSHA released the new guidance in the frequently asked questions section of its website for COVID-19 safety compliance. The question asks whether an employer should record adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccination if the employer requires the vaccine. OSHA states that if a vaccine is required, then any adverse reaction is considered work-related and therefore it must be recorded. In response, several large contractors said they have changed or will change their vaccination policy to only recommend—not require—a vaccine. "We, sadly, had to back off our (employee vaccination) mandate because OSHA did something I don't understand at all," said Bob Clark, founder and executive chairman of Clayco...

oh god! i sure hope i didnt miss out on some old washed up musicians pretending to be hip again!

Washington (CNN) — The Biden administration is considering using outside firms to track extremist chatter by Americans online, an effort that would expand the government's ability to gather intelligence but could draw criticism over surveillance of US citizens. The Department of Homeland Security is limited in how it can monitor citizens online without justification and is banned from activities like assuming false identities to gain access to private messaging apps used by extremist groups such as the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers. Instead, federal authorities can only browse through unprotected information on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and other open online platforms. The plan being discussed inside DHS, according to multiple sources, would, in effect, allow the department to circumvent those limits. A source familiar with the effort said it is not about decrypting data but rather using outside entities who can legally access these private groups to gather large...