The Raw Story

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Thursday, 6 November 2014

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.6 - 72km NNE of Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea

© USGS Event Time2014-11-07 03:33:54 UTC2014-11-07 13:33:54 UTC+10:00 at epicenterLocation6.044°S 148.210°E depth=43.2km (26.8mi)Nearby Cities72km (45mi) NNE of Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea154km (96mi) ENE of Lae, Papua New Guinea214km (133mi) NE of Bulolo, Papua New Guinea218km (135mi) NE of Wau, Papua New Guinea392km (244mi) NNE of Port Moresby, Papua NewScientific Data...

BEST OF THE WEB: The New York Times doesn't want you to understand this Vladimir Putin speech

© Reuters/Yves Herman Give me a sec to count. In my lifetime the Soviet Union and latterly the Russian Federation have had nine leaders. Stalin's death elevated Malenkov and then Khrushchev, and the banishing of Khrushchev led to Brezhnev. Then came a pair of forgettables, then Gorbachev and on to the ever-inebriated Yeltsin (whom one wants dearly to forget). For 15 years, counting the Dmitry Medvedev interval, Vladimir Putin has held the wheel...

Sunspot AR2205 is crackling with M-class solar flares hurling multiple CMEs into space

© SOHO Sunspot AR2205 is crackling with M-class solar flares. The blasts have hurled multiple CMEs into space, but so far none poses a threat to Earth. This movie from SOHO shows several storm clouds billowing over the sun's eastern limb on Nov. 5-6.Because AR2205 is not yet directly facing Earth, the CMEs are sailing wide of our planet. In the movie, Venus appears to be enveloped by the CMEs, but not really. The second planet from the sun is behind...

Trekkies rejoice: Star Trek communicators are finally here

© OnBeep Much like old-school Star Trek communicators are often credited for being the inspiration of the smartphone, the devices used by Captain Picard and his crew on have apparently given rise to a new wearable communication gadget developed by San Francisco startup OnBeep.The device is known as Onyx ($99), and links up to a smartphone via Bluetooth, according to Dan Seifert of The Verge. At about 2.5 inches in diameter, this hockey puck-shaped...

Brussels hit by protests over government austerity plans, clashes with police

© ReutersBelgian police and a few hundred protesters, including many dockers, clashed in central Brussels on Thursday after a largely peaceful march against reforms and austerity measures of the country’s new government Belgian police used water cannons and tear gas on protesters on the fringes of a march against austerity plans set out by the country's new government, with dozens of riot police deployed Thursday near the capital's Midi Station,...

Brussels hit by protests over government austerity plans, clashes with police

© ReutersBelgian police and a few hundred protesters, including many dockers, clashed in central Brussels on Thursday after a largely peaceful march against reforms and austerity measures of the country’s new government Belgian police used water cannons and tear gas on protesters on the fringes of a march against austerity plans set out by the country's new government, with dozens of riot police deployed Thursday near the capital's Midi Station,...

Magic mushrooms create a hyperconnected brain and might offer a new treatment for depression

© Reuters/Jerry LampenBoxes containing magic mushrooms are displayed at a coffee and smart shop in Rotterdam November 28, 2008. The active ingredient in the psychedelic drug, psilocybin, seems to completely disrupt the normal communication networks in the brain, by connecting "brain regions that don't normally talk together," said study co-author Paul Expert, a physicist at King's College London.The research, which was published Oct. 28 in the ,...

With Republicans taking over control of Congress, America's moribund democracy is a harbinger of more war

The US mid-term elections, which saw the Republican Party take control of the Senate and extending their hold over the House of Representatives, proves one thing: money can buy an election, but it can't buy democracy. That indictment of eviscerated democracy in America, however, is a portent of more foreign aggression and wars.Congressional elections this week saw $4 billion being poured into media campaigns - a record high. But even with this...

Healthy Texas girl confiscated from parents who smoked pot, given to murderous foster mother

© Police State USAAlex Hill, age 2, was taken from her natural parents and put into the deadly custody of the state. Round Rock, - A little girl was confiscated from her loving parents because they smoked marijuana, and given away to a foster mother who put her into a coma and killed her. Alexandria "Alex" Hill, age 2, succumbed to her injuries after being "thrown to the ground.""We never hurt our daughter. She was never sick, she was never in the...

Merde! Protesting French farmers dump 100 tons of manure at government buildings

© AFP/Sebastien BozonA farmer passes by the main entrance of the DDT (Direction Departementale des territoires) with a manure stacked outside during a protest in Vesoul, France on November 5, 2014 Dumping some 100 tons of manure and rotten vegetables in Chartres was part of a wave of protest by French farmers, who are angry with overregulation, sluggish economy and lack of protectionism.France was gripped by a series of protests on Tuesday and Wednesday,...

Names of paedophiles with links to the British establishment may be opened

© The Independent, UKFile rumoured to be locked in archives at Oxford University's Bodleian Library. A secret file which is said to contain the names of paedophiles with links to the British establishment and which is rumoured to be locked away in archives at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, could be made public as part of the Government's child abuse inquiry.Inquiry panel members Barbara Hearn and Sharon Evans, along with Ben Emmerson...

Election judges in Chicago told to vote Republican then fired when objecting to dirty tricks

© WBBMCook County Republican Party Committeewoman Charon Bryson Election judges in Chicago said this week that the Republican Party removed them because they objected to being forced to vote for GOP candidates.Two Republican Party committee members who had been selected as election judges told WBBM's Pam Zekman that campaign workers called them to report to campaign headquarters for additional training related to their election day duties, which...

Strike Back: Russian government may ban circulation of US dollar

Source: APA The State Duma has been submitted a relevant billMoscow. Farid Akbarov – APA. Russia may ban the circulation of the United States dollar.The State Duma has already been submitted a relevant bill banning and terminating the circulation of USD in Russia, APA’s Moscow correspondent reports.If the bill is approved, Russian citizens will have to close their dollar accounts in Russian banks within a year and exchange their dollars in cash...

FBI accused of pressuring Islamic leaders to become informants

© Reuters / Stephanie Keith The FBI is pressuring law-abiding Islamic community leaders throughout the United States to spy on fellow Muslims in an effort to sniff out extremism in the US in what amounts to religious profiling, a top Muslim civil rights organization has alleged.Mosques in California, Florida, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, and other states have been targeted for surprise visits by FBI agents seeking Muslim leaders to act as informants...

People Power! Global Million Mask March as it happened around the world

© John Harvey/TwitterSan Francisco Million Mask March at Justin Herman Plaza Protests against mass surveillance, govt austerity and social injustice have taken to the streets in over 400 cities worldwide. Dubbed the Million Mask March, the third annual act of mass civil disobedience was organized by the activist group Anonymous.United in face and values, hiding behind the stylised Anonymous masks popularized by movie, activists flocked the streets...

72-year old man charged with murder in mercy killing his wife of 37 years

© Rawstory.comJerry Canfield A 72-year-old California man was charged with murder after placing a dozen roses beside his ailing wife and then shooting her in the head.Joann Canfield had been allowed to return to her Alameda home Oct. 25 from a nursing home facility where she was being treated for dementia.Neighbors told KGO-TV that Jerry Canfield left every day at 7 a.m. to visit his wife of 37 years at the nursing home and stayed with her until...

EU diplomats tell it like it is: 'US wants EU on the hook, sanctions favor no one but Washington'

© Reuters / Francois LenoirEuropean High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. The EU's policy towards Moscow would have been completely different if the US was not so keen on having the Union on the hook, and sanctions which favor no one but Washington were imposed, Willy Wimmer, former Vice President of the OSCE Assembly told RT.The EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini says the Union must look harder at ways...

Heads up! Giant steel bolts fall from London's 'Cheese-grater' building

© AFP Photo / Carl Cour"Cheese-grater" building (c). Two heavy steel bolts broke off one of London's tallest skyscrapers, prompting urgent ultrasound tests on more than 3,000 'mega-bolts' on the City's 'cheese-grater' tower.The 47-story landmark building was cordoned off from pedestrians after the incident. The bolts are reportedly around the size of a human arm.Contractor Laing O'Rourke, who constructed the tower, and structural engineers Arup...

Robot makes people feel like a ghost is nearby

© Alain Herzog/EPFL In 2006, cognitive neuroscientist Olaf Blanke of the University of Geneva in Switzerland was testing a patient's brain functions before her epilepsy surgery when he noticed something strange. Every time he electrically stimulated the region of her brain responsible for integrating different sensory signals from the body, the patient would look back behind her back as if a person was there, even when she knew full well that no...

Largest sunspot in over two decades unleashes barrage of solar flares

© nasa.gov The Earth's biggest sunspot in over two decades has unleashed a barrage of solar flares, including five in the strongest, X-class, over a period of eight days, a NASA video shows.The sunspot, called Active Region 12192, the size of the planet Jupiter, was caught on camera producing flares between October 19 and October 27, when the phenomenon was visible from Earth. It's one of the biggest sunspots of all time, ranking 33rd out of almost...

The silence of the Israelis on ISIS

A curious silence in the U.S.-led battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is coming from Israel, which has advocated the overthrow of Iran's ally in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad, but has had little to say about the brutal Islamists seeking to oust Assad.In the war on the Islamic State, the alleged scourge of humanity, little is heard about the position of America's much-ballyhooed greatest ally in the Middle East, if not the world,...
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