The Raw Story

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

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

White House exempts ISIS strikes from civilian casualty guidelines

The standards, which Obama spelled out during a high profile address last year, were meant partly to allay concerns many Americans felt toward lethal drones. President Obama said at the time the drone strikes were used with far greater frequency than his predecessor in going after militants -- including in his fight against ISIS.But while officials in Washington insist there are strict standards to prevent civilians from dying in Iraq and Syria, the rules Obama said last year would stem civilian deaths aren't being applied in the new war against...

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.8 - Southern East Pacific Rise

© USGS Event Time2014-10-09 02:14:31 UTC2014-10-08 19:14:31 UTC-07:00 at epicenterLocation32.154°S 110.815°W depth=10.0km (6.2mi)Nearby Cities570km (354mi) SSW of Hanga Roa, Chile3428km (2130mi) W of Lebu, Chile3434km (2134mi) W of Ancud, Chile3444km (2140mi) W of Chonchi, Chile2039km (1267mi) ESE of Adamstown, PitcairnScientific Data...

Hawaii scraps plans renaming Sandy Beach to 'Obama Beach'

An initiative to rename a popular Hawaii beach for President Obama has faced criticism and was dropped following a public outcry over "historic and cultural sensitivity" and the fact that the high-profile but rare visitor has "done nothing" for the venue.After hearing from the public, Honolulu council members have dropped their plans to rename a beach, popular with both President Barack Obama and the public, as a tribute to the first Hawaii-born...

Attorney behind CUFI warns Israel losing its base - Christian evangelicals increasingly support Palestinian human rights

An article in Middle East Quarterly, a pro-Israel publication, reports that support for Israel is eroding among American evangelical Christians, with only 30 percent in a recent survey stating support for Israel above Palestinians.This trend is even more pronounced among youth, according to an article by David Brog, Jewish-American executive director of "Christians United For Israel (CUFI), a major pro-Israel organization. Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu has called CUFI "a vital part of Israel's national security" and columnist Charles...

Smart move: Germany looks to Chinese markets as EU economy struggles

© APA struggling euro zone economy has intensified the pressure on the German government to look towards Asian markets like China Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will co-chair the "China-Germany Governmental Consultation" in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his visit to Germany that begins on Thursday. The meet is aimed at drawing a new blueprint for Sino-German cooperation in economy, technology and environment protection.Official...

Disney World employees live in motels and cars because Florida politicians oppose a living wage

If you haven't been to Disney World near Orlando, Fla., lately, it will cost you, your wife and three kids about $1,500 for a four-day pass.However, that's a price that many Disney World employees can't afford.According to data from the U.S. Labor Department, the Orlando-area has a 18.4 percent poverty rate, notes Bloomberg News.It's not because people aren't working, but rather their wages are not keeping up with the cost of living in Central...

Astronauts may hibernate for Mars journey

© newsonia.com A Nasa-backed study is exploring the feasibility of lowering the cost of a human expedition to Mars by putting the astronauts in deep sleep. The deep sleep, called torpor, would reduce astronauts' metabolic functions with existing medical procedures."Therapeutic torpor has been around in theory since the 1980s and really since 2003 has been a staple for critical care trauma patients in hospitals," said aerospace engineer Mark Schaffer,...

Fracking disaster: California aquifers polluted with billions of gallons of wastewater

© Sinisha Karich After California state regulators shut down 11 fracking wastewater injection wells last July over concerns that the wastewater might have contaminated aquifers used for drinking water and farm irrigation, the EPA ordered a report within 60 days.It was revealed yesterday that the California State Water Resources Board has sent a letter to the EPA confirming that at least nine of those sites were in fact dumping wastewater contaminated...

Psychopathic teen admits to killing, raping mother - 'Guess I lost my virginity to a dead corpse'

© Rawstory.com A Texas man who admitted to killing his mother and raping her corpse clowned around for jurors who are considering his sentence. Kevin Davis pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder, just as his trial began.Prosecutors played a videotaped confession Tuesday to jurors, who heard the 18-year-old admit he tried to strangle Kimberly Hill with the power cord from a video game console on March 27, but when she did not stop screaming,...

Ramping up the fear: If Ebola reaches Central America, 'there will be mass migration into the U.S. 'sez General

Those looking for good news on the fight against Ebola will not find much encouragement from Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, the commander of the U.S. Southern Command. As Jim Garamone of Department of Defense News reports, Kelly told an audience at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday that, if the disease reaches Central America, "it's literally, 'Katie bar the door,' and there will be mass migration into the United...

Not so settled science: Gravity rivals join forces to nail down Big G

© DK/UIG/SPLA mock-up of a torsion balance used by British natural philosopher Henry Cavendish to measure G in 1798. Metrologists meet to design the ultimate gravitational-constant experiment.It is one of nature's most fundamental numbers, but humanity still doesn't have an accurate value for the gravitational constant. And, bafflingly, scientists' ability to pinpoint G seems to be getting worse. This week, the world's leading gravity metrologists...

Oldest art found in Indonesian cave

Analysis of images discovered in 1950s counters Eurocentric view of creativity's origins.Artwork in an Indonesian cave has been found to date back at least 40,000 years, making it the oldest sign yet of human creative art - likely pre-dating art from European caves.The findings, published on 8 October in , undermine a Eurocentric view of the origins of human creativity and could prompt a 'gold rush' to find even older art on the route of human migration from Africa to the east.The analysis hints at "just what a wealth of undiscovered information...

Dallas county sheriff's deputy exhibiting Ebola symptoms

© CBS An afternoon news conference has been called in Frisco, a suburb of Dallas, to discuss a possible second case of Ebola.According to a statement from the City of Frisco, the patient claims to have had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, referred to as Dallas 'patient zero.'The Frisco patient has been identified as a Dallas County deputy Michael Monnig, who was not one of the 48 people being monitored by federal, state and local health officials...

"Non-Official Cover" - Respected German journalist blows whistle on how the CIA controls the media

"I was bribed by billionaires, I was bribed by the Americans to report...not exactly the truth." - Udo Ulfkotte, former editor of one of Germany's main daily publications, © Wikimedia Commons Some readers will see this and immediately dismiss it as Russian propaganda since the interview appeared on RT. This would be a serious mistake.Whether you want to admit it or not, CIA control of the media in the U.S. and abroad is not conspiracy theory, it...

Comet Siding Spring: Close call for Mars, wake up call for Earth?

© NASA,ESA, ISROFive orbiters from India, the European Union and the United States will nestle behind Mars as comet Siding Springs passes at a speed of 200,000 km/hr (125,000 mph). At right, Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts on Jupiter, the Chelyabinsk Asteroid over Russia. It was 20 years ago this past July when images of Jupiter being pummeled by a comet caught the world's attention. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 had flown too close to Jupiter. It was captured...

Ninety-nine in quarantine after Uganda Marburg death

8 people develop Ebola-like Marburg disease in UgandaWorld Health Organization (WHO) representative said Tuesday. Preparations are underway to quarantine the eight, the country's Health Ministry said. WMUR 9 News reported the number of people exhibiting symptoms was as high as eleven. A 30-year-old radiographer who had worked at Kampala's Mengo Hospital died of the Marburg virus on September 28. Nearly 100 people who had been in contact with the...

Prehistoric paintings in Indonesia may be oldest cave art ever

© Kinez RizaEuropeans may not have been the first cave artists. Some prehistoric paintings in Indonesia, such as the hand stencils shown here, could be more than 40,000 years old. Paintings of miniature buffalos, warty pigs and human hands covering the walls and ceilings of caves in Indonesia could be among the oldest examples of cave art in the world, a new study finds.The paintings - some of which might be more than 40,000 years old - challenge...

Bad moon rising: Is blood moon one more omen world spiraling is towards greater peril?

© Theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation says bodies of Ebola victims have been left in the streets because of a strike by burial teams, who complain they have not been paid. Health Ministry spokesman Sidie Yahya Tunis says the situation is "very embarrassing" and said money was available to pay the teams. He promised to provide more information on Wednesday. The World Health Organization says Ebola is believed...

4 dead following floods in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

The eastern provinces of North Kivu and Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have experienced severe flooding over the last 3 days after heavy rainfall fell in the region.Three people have been killed in flood related incidents in North Kivu. Two people are still missing and around 8 have been injured. Local media report that 50 houses have been destroyed in the flooding.In Katanga province, one person has been killed by floods that...

Brittany Maynard: Why I scheduled my death for November 1st

Brittany Maynard with her husband on their wedding day Brittany Maynard carries a prescription in her wallet. It was written by a doctor in Oregon, one of five states with legal protections for terminally ill patients who want to end their suffering. And in three weeks, she plans to use it to die.Maynard has chosen to die Nov. 1 in her bedroom in Portland, Ore., surrounded by family - her mother and stepfather, her husband and her best friend, who...
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