The Raw Story

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Thursday, 21 August 2014

Bárðarbunga volcano getting ready to erupt? 1000 earthquakes as magma moves into ice covered caldera

From the Icelandic Meteorological Office: A summary of seismic activity, written Tuesday evening 19th August 2014 at 20:00 Around 1.000 small earthquakes were detected in the Bárðarbunga region from midnight (18/19) until Tuesday evening 19th August at 20:00. All of them were smaller than magnitude 3 and most were located in the cluster east of Bárðarbunga. While the northern cluster close to Kistufell has calmed down significantly following the M4.5 earthquake on early Monday morning, event rates in the eastern cluster are still high. Similar...

Staged provocations ahead possible US-Syrian War

With the alleged brutal murder of American journalist James Wright Foley, a wave of anger and aggression across Western audiences has been generated. Upon that wave rides two objectives. One is to create plausible deniability for the West which created the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS), the other is to create a further pretext to justify a resurgence of direct US military intervention across the region. While the focus has been on ISIS in Iraq, there is still another war -linked directly to Iraq's current conflict - being waged across...

Video of deadly St Louis police shooting raises questions: Kajieme Powell was mentally ill

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has released mobile phone footage that seems to be at odds with parts of its story surrounding the officer-involved shooting of Kajieme Powell in the weeks after Michael Brown's death. According to St. Louis Public Radio, the police released the video Wednesday evening as part of an effort to be more transparent when it comes to violent incidents involving law enforcement. In addition to the cell phone footage, the department also released security camera footage of the alleged robbery, as well as the...

Series of five tornadoes sweep through northern Italy

A series of five tornadoes swept through northern Italy on Tuesday, prompting flights to be diverted and causing millions of euros worth of damage. The tornadoes hit around the port city of Genoa, with some eyewitnesses stating they came close to hitting the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship. Flights to the city's airport were diverted and those leaving delayed, while trains were also interrupted and roads closed, La Repubblica reported. Damage is said to amount to millions of euros, with roofs ripped off buildings in the Prà neighbourhood...

U.S. journalist: Police militarization aggravated tensions in Ferguson

The increased militarization of local US police forces is an alarming trend in America that contributed to rising tensions in Ferguson, Missouri, according to Cheryl Chumley, author and news writer for The Washington Times. "Police are supposed to be tasked with serving and protecting the American public - not treating the streets of America as if they're military war zones," Chumley told RIA Novosti on Monday. Chumley, author of Police State USA: How Orwell's Nightmare is Becoming Our Reality, noted that "the trend in America is alarming." Chumley...

Traces of marine plankton discovered attached to ISS outer hull

Russian scientists say they made a "unique" discovery while analyzing samples from the exterior of the International Space Station - traces of tiny sea creatures on the station's windows and walls. It remains unclear how marine plankton ended up in space.The results of the recent experiments prove that that some organisms are capable of living on the outer surface of the International Space Station (ISS), Vladimir Solovyev, head of the Russian segment of the ISS, has revealed. Some studies suggest that these organisms may even develop in the hostile...

Illuminatus! Soviet-era Tesla Tower restarted with spectacular lightning bolts

A massive Soviet-built generator - once used for testing the resistance of aircraft to lightning, but now largely mothballed due to prohibitive costs - has staged a striking demonstration test at the behest of RT. The 6-Megavolt device, one of the most powerful in the world, is capable of generating 200 meter-long lightning bolts, and was constructed in the 1970s at a closed facility outside Moscow, but fell into disuse after the collapse of the USSR. The futuristic complex of entangled metal coils hidden in a secured virgin forest made it a cult...

Discredited global warming still kicking: Why global warming is taking a break?

© Trace Project / NASAThe number of sunspots (white area here) varies in multi-year cycles. As a result, solar irradiance, which influences the Earth's climate, also fluctuates. The photo shows a UV image of the sun. (Image: Trace Project / NASA) The number of sunspots (white area here) varies in multi-year cycles. As a result, solar irradiance, which influences the Earth's climate, also fluctuates. The photo shows a UV image of the sun. The average...

Fighting the genocide: Lugansk self-defense fighters shoot down another Su-25 jet sent by Kiev

© MOD of UkraineDPR self-defense forces have downed a Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 Independence supporters have downed a Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 Frogfoot attack plane over the Luhansk region late on Wednesday, a spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said.Earlier a number of media reports suggested that a war plane had been shot down in the region."Today a Su-25 attack aircraft has beenshot down while on a combat mission....

Electrical sparking may alter evolution of lunar soil

© Credit: Image not to scale. Courtesy of Andrew Jordan.This illustration shows a permanently shadowed region of the moon undergoing subsurface sparking (the "lightning bolts"), which ejects vaporized material (the "clouds") from the surface. Subsurface sparking occurs at a depth of about one millimeter. The moon appears to be a tranquil place, but modeling done by University of New Hampshire and NASA scientists suggests that, over the eons, periodic...

Sponsor of state terrorism: Hollande publicly says France recently armed Syria Takfiris which are the same as ISIL

© UnknownFrench president Hollande publicly admits sponsoring state terrorism. France President Francois Hollande says his country has recently supplied weapons to the foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants operating against the Syrian government.The French leader said on Thursday that Paris delivered weapons to the Takfiri terrorists in Syria "a few months ago," stressing, "We should not stop" supporting the anti-Damascus militants.Hollande also called...

Cop threatens to kill peaceful protestors with assault rifle in Ferguson

“I will f**ing kill you — get back!” says the officer (armed with an assault rifle), in the direction of a camera capturing the entire death threat. Asked for his name, the officer responds, “Go f### yourself.” An officer who pointed a semi-automatic assault rifle at a Ferguson, Missouri, protester and threatened to kill him -- a tense episode caught on video and posted online -- is off the job, at least for now.The St. Louis County Police Department...

Water crisis can't get any worse? Wait until the aquifers are drained!

© Peter Essick, National GeographicIn ten years, the Colorado River Basin has lost the equivalent of two Lake Meads, the largest reservoir in the U.S., pictured here at dusk with Las Vegas in the background. We're pumping irreplaceable groundwater to counter the drought. When it's gone, the real crisis begins. Aquifers provide us freshwater that makes up for surface water lost from drought-depleted lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. We are drawing down...

Kiev's meeting with Putin will leave Ukraine with some tough choices

© Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesPeople stand inside a makeshift bomb shelter in Makiyivka Tuesday. Pro-Russia rebels said seven civilians died when the eastern Ukrainian town was shelled by Kiev forces. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart will meet next week for the first time in two months, officials in both countries said, intensifying a diplomatic push that could force Kiev to choose betweencontinuing its military...

9 die in Panama after Chiriquí Viejo River flood

The flooding of the Chiriquí Viejo in the province of Chiriquí, western Panama, on Monday 18 August has left 9 people dead and several injured, according to local media reports. Many of the victims were children. Sistema Nacional de Protección Civil (SINAPROC) in Panama say that the flooding has destroyed 27 houses leaving 116 people homeless. The homesless are curently being housed in temporary accomodation, inclidung a local gym and hotel. Around 40 other homes have been damaged. The flooding left the village of Cerro Punta completely cut-off...

Missouri governor calls for "vigorous prosecution" of Darren Wilson

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon Not content with a regular prosecution or a vigorous investigation, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said he hopes that Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson will receive a "vigorous prosecution" in the shooting death of Michael Brown on Aug. 9."A vigorous prosecution must now be pursued," Nixon said in a five minute video address posted to his website Tuesday."The democratically elected St. Louis county prosecutor and the attorney...

Ebola death toll hits 1350; CDC says there have been 68 scares in US in past three weeks

The World Health Organization says the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is now at least 1,350 people. The latest figures Wednesday show that the deaths are mounting fastest in Liberia, which now accounts for at least 576 of the deaths. The U.N. health agency also warned in its announcement that "countries are beginning to experience supply shortages, including fuel, food, and basic supplies." This comes after a number of airlines...

Hundreds gather outside CNN building in Atlanta to protest coverage of Michael Brown shooting

© A still from a video by YouTube user / Dekalb Kids Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the CNN center in Atlanta on Monday to march in memory of unarmed Missouri teenager Michael Brown who was gunned down by a police officer, many in protest of CNN's controversial coverage of the incident.Demonstrators who had been urged to attend dressed in their "Sunday's best" marched under the slogan: "How good must we look to be considered innocent?"...

California highway patrol officer under investigation for beating mentally ill woman

© David Diaz, File/AP PhotoIn this July 1, 2014 file image made from video provided by motorist David Diaz, a California Highway Patrol officer punches Marlene Pinnock, 51, on the shoulder of a Los Angeles freeway. The CHP announced Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014, that it has forwarded its investigation into the beating of Pinnock to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, and the probe outlines "potentially serious charges'' against the officer....

U.S. puppet regime Saudi Arabia executes four men for smuggling hashish

© Reuters / Andrew Biraj Saudi Arabia has executed two sets of brothers for hashish-smuggling, bringing the number of those suffering capital punishment to 17 in a fortnight. The crackdown has provoked protest from human rights organizations."The recent increase in executions in Saudi Arabia is a deeply disturbing deterioration. The authorities must act immediately to halt this cruel practice," said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's...

College friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev agrees to plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges

© AP/Bill SikesKadyrbayev's Días's father (left) Murat Kadyrbayev and lawyer Robert Stahl (File) A 20-year-old Kazakh citizen and a collegefriendof Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Dias Kadyrbayev, accused by the US authorities of hindering the investigation into the 2013 bombing, has agreed to plead guilty to a number of charges, The Boston Globe reported.According to Kadyrbayev's lawyer Robert Stahl, the young man is expected...

Man mauled by bear in Italian wood

© Hemis /AlamyBrown bears are thriving in Northern Italy due to a successful reintroduction scheme known as Life Ursus. Environmentalists angered by plan to capture bear who mauled a man foraging for mushrooms while it was nursing its cubsEnvironmentalists in Italy have urged authorities in the northern province of Trentino not to capture or kill a brown bear that attacked a man on Friday.Daniele Maturi, 38, was reportedly foraging for mushrooms...

Bank of America agrees to record $17bn settlement over mortgage fraud - amounting to a slap on the wrist

© AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm America's second largest lender has reached a $16.65 billion settlement with US federal authorities for selling toxic mortgages misleading investors, the Justice Department said Thursday."This historic resolution - the largest such settlement on record - goes far beyond 'the cost of doing business,'"Attorney General Eric Holder said in astatementposted on the US Justice Department website on Thursday.The bank will pay out...

Who will stand up for Miriam Carey, executed by Capitol Hill police? Not Eric Holder

© WND.com Justice ignores unarmed woman's slaying by policeAttorney General Eric Holder is in Ferguson, Missouri, ostensibly to investigate the shooting of an unarmed African-American by a white police officer.What he is not investigating is the shooting of an unarmed African-American woman by his own federal officers, in his own jurisdiction, the District of Columbia.And that has the family of the late Miriam Carey so outraged, they announced Wednesday...

Our 'enemies' in Ukraine speak: People from the Donbass describe the atrocities there

WARNING: The following video and screenshots (visible at the original source) contain extremely violent images of the carnage resulting from Kiev's so-called anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine. America's 'news' media do not let the victims of Ukraine's civil war - the people who are dying and being driven out from the southeastern regions of that country by the new Ukrainian Government - speak, and tell their story. Scenes will therefore be posted below from an admittedly overlong amateur video from southeastern Ukraine, in which they...

Government-run internet battle heats up at FCC

A Republican aide claims the federal agency can't overturn state restrictions. © Getty Images If Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler wants to stop states from blocking city-run broadband, he'll likely have to override Republican opposition to do it.In aspeechWednesday, a top Republican FCC aide argued that the agency lacks the authority to overturn state laws on the issue. More than 20 states, at the behest of cable and telecom...

Cover-up? Plane crash that killed Brazilian presidential socialist candidate had black box that 'recorded data of different flight'

The black box recovered from the wreckage of the plane crash that killed Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos did not record his flight, Brazilian Air Force (FAB) says. It said the audio recording FAB experts had analysed was not related to the flight that crashed on Wednesday. A spokesman said they were trying to determine what the recording was. Mr Campos and six others died when his private jet crashed in bad weather in the port city of Santos near Sao Paulo. Experts from the Centre of Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical...

Whales turn up in unusually high numbers in the seas around Ireland

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) reports upwards of 30 fin whales along a 50km stretch of the West Cork coastline in southern Ireland, between the Old Head of Kinsale and the Kedge area, which is unusual for this time of year. Colin Barnes from Cork Whale Watch, who has spent several weeks observing the build-up of this activity confirms there are huge 'fish clouds' comprising small sprat or larval herring in the area and these are likely to be what is attracting the fin whales in such numbers. Combined estimates from land and boat based...

Minke whale washes ashore on Truro beach, Cape Cod

A minke whale spotted bleeding off the coast of Cape Cod on Sunday died and washed ashore at a Truro beach on Monday morning, The Cape Cod Times reported. According to the report, the whale, estimated to be between 20 and 25 feet long and weigh between three and five tons, was found when volunteers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare Marine Mammal Rescue and Research program went looking for it early on Monday. Researchers are planning to conduct a necropsy, but have not yet decided whether it will be performed at the scene or whether...
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