The Raw Story

A non-profit news blog, focused on providing independent journalism.

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Blatant censorship: Kiev orders crackdown on Russian TV channels

© AFP Photo / Viktor Drachev Ukrainian cable providers could face heavy fines or have their licenses revoked if they broadcast leading Russian channels - including RT - which were earlier "suspended" by a series of court orders."Ukraine is a sovereign state and must defend its media space from outside aggression from Russia, which is purposely inciting hatred between different groups of Ukrainians within the country," said interior ministry adviser...

Semantic aphasia: Fighting continues during 'truce' in Gaza, IDF kills 5-year-old girl

© AFP Photo / David BuimovitchAssuming these are really Hamas rocket launches (photo taken 19 August), it shows the fraudulence of the videos of Iron Dome shooting non-existent 'rockets' out of the air. Israeli-Palestinian rocket fire resumed on Tuesday after Gaza truce talks broke down. A 5-year-old girl and a woman became the first victims of renewed Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Hamas launched around 50 rockets at Israel, hitting as far as Tel...

Mystery humming noise is giving England residents sleepless nights

© Herald Express, UKNoise annoys. Claims that Paignton residents are having their sleep disturbed by a humming or droning noise coming from the giraffe house have been denied by Paignton Zoo.Peter Thorne, of Brantwood Drive, Paignton, has, along with 20 other residents, handed in a petition to Torbay Council asking them to ask the Zoo to soundproof a oil gas boiler in the giraffe house that they believe is causing the humming or droning sound.This...

Australian amateur Terry Lovejoy discovers new comet

© Alain Maury and Joaquin FabregaThe fuzzy object at center is new comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy. It's confirmed! Australian amateur astronomerTerry Lovejoyjust discovered his fifth comet,C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy). He found it August 17th using a Celestron C8 fitted with a CCD camera at his roll-off roof observatory in Brisbane, Australia. © Terry LovejoyImage triplet taken by Terry Lovejoy of his...

What I did after police killed my son

After police in Kenosha, Wis., shot my 21-year-old son to death outside his house ten years ago - and then immediately cleared themselves of all wrongdoing - an African-American man approached me and said: "If they can shoot a white boy like a dog, imagine what we've been going through."I could imagine it all too easily, just as the rest of the country has been seeing it all too clearly in the terrible images coming from Ferguson, Mo., in the aftermath...

Emerging solar plants scorch birds in mid-air

© AP Photo/John LocherNew estimates for the plant near the California-Nevada border say thousands of birds are dying yearly, roasted by the concentrated sun rays from the mirrors. Ivanpah Dry Lake, Calif. - Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant's concentrated sun rays - "streamers," for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair.Federal wildlife investigators...

County will not pay medical bills for toddler hurt in Habersham, Georgia raid

Habersham County officials say they do not plan to pay for the medical expenses of a toddler seriously injured during a police raid.Bounkham Phonesavah, affectionately known as "Baby Boo Boo," spent weeks in a burn unit after a SWAT team's flash grenade exploded near his face. The toddler was just 19-months-old and asleep in the early morning hours of May 28. SWAT officers threw the device into his home whileexecuting a search warrant for a drug suspect.Habersham County officials are defending their decision not to pay, but the child's family isn't...

Nigerian woman traveling to India dies in UAE: Ebola suspected

Nigerian woman suspected of Ebola dies in UAE on way to India The national airline of the United Arab Emirates said Monday it has disinfected one of its planes after health authorities there announced that a Nigerian woman who died after flying in to the capital, Abu Dhabi, may have been infected with the Ebola virus.The health authority in Abu Dhabi said in a statement carried by state news agency WAM that the 35-year-old woman was traveling from...

Jellyfish sting captured by microscope for the first time

You've heard of a jellyfish sting, maybe you've even experienced one. But have you everseenone?When a jellyfish actually stings someone or something, the action is often too small and too fast to see with the naked eye. This video, however, captures a real-life sting in slow motion!Destin fromSmarterEveryDayvisited toxinologist Dr. Jamie Seymour, one of the team members present when Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile Hunter," was fatally stung by a stingray in 2006.At James Cook University in Australia, researchers used a microscope and high-speed camera...

Masters of the internet: GCHQ scans entire countries for vulnerabilities

© he.wikipedia.orgGovernment Communications Headquarters GCHQ is scanning servers in multiple foreign countries for vulnerable ports, according to German newspaper Heise. Using a tool called Hacienda, the intelligence agency seeks to 'master the internet' for sources of espionage.Spanish for estate, Hacienda canport scanall of the servers in a country to provide information on user endpoints and scan for potential vulnerabilities. The ability to...

Police State USA: Dozens arrested, reporters detained, assembly rights restricted

© AFP Photo / Getty Images / Scott OlsonPolice attempt to control demonstrators protesting the killing of teenager Michael Brown on August 18, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Confrontation resumed on Monday night in Ferguson, Missouri, as police used tear gas to disperse protesters. Live ammo was shot in the altercation, with two people injured. Over 70 people, including a journalist, were reportedly arrested.Protests over the killing of teenager Michael...

Revision to 400-year sunspot record makes current solar cycle weakest in 200 years

© Spaceweather.comRare spotless day observed on July 18, 2014 A rare spotless day on the sun on July 17-18, 2014 triggered public speculation that an already stunted Cycle 24 was nearly over. Such is not the case. Defying the odds for so late in a sunspot cycle, another solar sunspot maximum was set last month. Another one is coming this month.In other major news, a long needed revision to the 400-year sunspot record was proposed. It'll be the first...

New solar power plant is scorching birds out of the sky

© Ethan Miller / Getty Images / AFPA solar receiver and boiler on top of a tower is seen between the backs of heliostats reflecting sunlight towards it at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert in California near Primm, Nevada. Next generation solar plants are generating more clean energy than ever before, but one in California is torching birds as they fly through the facility's powerful rays, raising concern over a new...

Obama administration sued yet again, this time for stonewalling FOIA requests

© UnknownThe comparisons made between the Obama and Nixon administrations' drive for secrecy are actually a misnomer. Many believe that no administration comes even close to the amount of extreme control the Obama administration tries to exercise over the release of information that is even produced by other Federal agencies. The administration that vowed to be the most transparent in history now must defend itself against a federal lawsuit accusing...

California protesters prevent Israeli cargo ship from docking to unload its cargo over Gaza offensive

Picketers gathered at the Port of Oakland in California this weekend to prevent an Israeli shipping vessel from unloading its cargo in protest over the situation in Gaza, where the death toll has topped 2,000. In what was a community-wide effort, dock workers that showed up for the evening shift on Sunday did not disturb the integrity of the picket line, which was there in anticipation of the ship, operated by Zim Shipping Services Ltd. Because the line wasn't crossed, no unloading could take place. Organizer Lara Kiswani confirmed that"they're...

UK activists occupy govt building over excessively redacted fracking report

A group of campaigners from Reclaim the Power are currently occupying the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (DEFRA) headquarters in London, following the government's decision to censor a report on the potential impacts of fracking. Three anti-fracking and climate justice activists superglued themselves to DEFRA's main doors at approximately 8 am this morning, using reinforced arm tubes to prevent access. Another scaled the building and unfurled a large banner inscribed with the message: "What's to hide DEFRA? - Don't frack with...

Russian MP: U.S. criticism of Bolotnaya case hypocritical in light of Ferguson police shooting

A Russian ruling party MP has reacted to Washington's criticism of the sentences given to participants of 2012 Moscow riots, saying that under similar circumstances the US police would use lethal force against protesters. Alyona Arshinova of the United Russia parliamentary caucus emphasized that the sentences in the so called Bolotnaya Square case had been given only to those who had attacked law enforcement officers, and US laws provide that police can use firearms in such circumstances. "US law enforcers can use firearms even in less straightforward...

British government lobbied U.S. politicians to hide their involvement in CIA torture and rendition program

Records published under Britain's Freedom of Information (FOI) Act have compounded concerns that the UK government lobbied US officials to keep Britain's role in CIA torture and rendition out of a soon-to-be published Senate report. Newly-released data reveals Britain's ambassador to the US, Peter Westmacott, engaged in at least 21 separate meetings with members of the US Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) prior to its publication of this report, heightening existing allegations that the British government may be seeking to sanitize...

The surprising impact of weight loss on the emotions

A new study of almost 2,000 overweight and obese adults in the UK has found that those who lost weight were unhappier than those who remained within 5% of their original weight (Jackson et al., 2014). Although they were physically healthier four years later - with lower blood pressure and reduced risk of heart disease - those who lost weight were likely to be less hap...

Kiev refuses to talk; situation around missing Russian journalist Stenin "unprecedented"

With over two weeks since his disappearance in eastern Ukraine, the whereabouts of Russian photojournalist Andrey Stenin remain unknown. His colleagues suggest that he may soon be freed as part of a large exchange of captives. Stenin's employers at Rossiya Segodnya news agency (formerly RIA Novosti), said that they have so far failed to get any information on their journalist from the Kiev authoriti...

Addicts' Symphony: Addiction 'rife' among classical musicians

Performance anxiety, odd hours, working weekends and post-concert socialising often leads classical musicians to use drugs and alcohol. Addiction is blighting the lives of many classical musicians as they grapple with performance anxiety and anti-social hours, a cellist has said. Rachael Lander features in a new British documentary which brings together classical musicians whose careers have been derailed by drug and drink problems. The cellist, who was addicted to alcohol and prescription pills, said the problem was rife in the classical music...

What's in your gut? Certain bacteria may influence susceptibility to infection

The specific composition of bacterial species in a person's gut may protect against or increase susceptibility to Campylobacter, the most common cause of human bacterial intestinal inflammation, according research published this week in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The study also found that Campylobacter infection can yield lasting changes to one's gut bacteria composition. "It has been known for a long time that the microbiota, or microorganisms in the gut, can protect a person from colonization...

Human-Cosmic connection? Siberian elders vote to bury 2,500 year-old mummy to stop quakes, floods

A council of elders in Russia's Altay Region voted to bury the mummy of a woman who lived in the region in the 5th century BC. Altay locals believe that her excavation from her tomb back in 1993 angered her spirit and causes natural disasters. The mummy, dubbed the Siberian Ice Maiden in English-language sources and the Princess of Ukok, the Altay Princess or Ochi-Bala domestically, was unearthed from a subterranean tomb at the Ukok Plateau, close to borders with Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia. The remains have spent most of the time thereafter...

The Netherlands: Is this summer? This August is one of the coldest since 1980

This August is the second coldest in 34 years with an average afternoon temperature of 17 Celsius at the De Bilt weather station. In the average year, the temperature is around 22 Celsius in mid August, according to forecasting bureau Weerpla...
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)