The Raw Story

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

Thursday, 29 January 2015

Syriza's shame: Greece backs extension of Russian sanctions

© Reuters/Alexander ErmochenkoA man walks past a shop which was recently damaged by shelling, at a local market in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, January 29, 2015. European Union foreign ministers extended existing sanctions against Russia on Thursday, holding off on tighter economic measures for now but winning the support of the new left-leaning government of Greece, whose position had been in doubt.The ministers agreed to extend until September travel...

Loophole USA: The vortex hole in global financial transparency

© www.tovima.grReciprocity adrift in upcoming storm, an offshore problem! If people stash their wealth or earn income overseas, that is fine with us - just as long as their tax authorities get the information they need to tax that wealth or income according to the law, and as long as money laundering and financial crimes can be effectively tracked, and so on. Where there are cross-border barriers to the instruments of democratic societies, then...

Hackers claim to reveal true number of Ukrainian army casualties, official censorship

© Sputnik/Andrei Stenin Ukraine's subversive hacker group CyberBerkut has published documents allegedly exposing dreadful situation with the Kiev's troops attacking separatist forces in the East: war crimes, tremendous loss of lives and wholesale desertion of entrapped troops.The anti-government activists claim they have hacked personal computer of Ukraine's Judge Advocate General and copied a number of classified documents. These documents are...

White House official says Afghan Taliban not a terrorist group but an 'armed insurgency'

© ReutersTaliban fighters A White House spokesperson preferred to talk of the Taliban as "an armed insurgency" rather than a terrorist organization during a press briefing, when a reporter pressed him about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's release.Responding to a question posed by chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, deputy press secretary Eric Schultz argued the US can swap prisoners with the Taliban because the group is not a terrorist organization...

Swedish office puts chips under staff's skin

[embedded content]Want to gain entry to your office, get on a bus, or perhaps buy a sandwich? We're all getting used to swiping a card to do all these things. But at Epicenter, a new hi-tech office block in Sweden, they are trying a different approach - a chip under the skin.Felicio de Costa, whose company is one of the tenants, arrives at the front door and holds his hand against it to gain entry. Inside he does the same thing to get into the office...

Skin patches to turn people into batteries

© National University of Singapore In the sci-fi classic one of the film's most bananas moments reveals that futuristic machines are using cocooned human bodies as a kind of bioelectric power source. Those rascally science fiction writers - always with the crazy concepts.Well, it turns out the people-as-batteries scenario is actually well on its way. A new device unveiled last week at a European research conference is designed to do just that -...

Siberia town frozen over as water mains break in -40C weather

© National PostIt's very cold for residents in Dudinka, Siberia. This may come as a surprise but it gets very, very cold in Siberia during the winter. A state of emergency was declared in Dudinka, Siberia earlier this month after a major storm knocked out power amid -40C weather.A water main later broke, causing several streets to flood and then freeze over. Social media has shown images of cars stuck in ice almost up to their windows.Dudinka is...

Afghan children bear brunt of NATO's unexploded bombs

© Reuters / Omar Sobhani International troops pulling out of Afghanistan have left behind a lethal legacy of unexploded bombs and shells that are killing and maiming people at a rate of more than one a day. The vast majority are children.Bombs dropped from the air coupled with munitions left behind in makeshift firing ranges in rural Afghanistan have made parts of the countryside perilous for locals who are used to working the land for subsistence...

New dashcam video shows white Seattle cop arresting 70yo black veteran for walking with golf club

© Reuters/Elaine Thompson The Seattle Police Department is reviewing the conduct of an officer after she arrested an elderly black man who was using a golf club as a cane. Posting online, the officer also characterized civil unrest in Ferguson, Mo., as "chronic black racism."Seattle police released dashcam footage of the July encounter on Wednesday."You swung that golf club at me when I turned the corner at 11th and Pike," Officer Cynthia Whitlatch...

Missouri police-public meeting turns into brawl over Ferguson tensions

© Reuters/Jim Young A meeting aimed at healing mistrust between the black community and police in St Louis descended into a brawl Wednesday evening, underlining the tension that is still simmering in the area since the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in August.Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown on August 9, sparking months of protests.Protesters say that the incident is one of many across the state...

Stand back! Hysterical Seattle police pepper-sprays black teacher in face for walking too closely after leaving MLK rally

© Youtube A high school teacher and activist sued the city of Seattle after a police officer sprayed chemical irritant directly into his face as he left a peaceful rally on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.Jesse Hagopian, who spoke at the event about how black lives matter, was making arrangements by cell phone with his mother to attend his son's second birthday party when he passed a Seattle police officer screaming at passersby.Video of the Jan. 19...

Foreign troops in Ukraine? Of course! But they're not Russian

US-backed president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, was among the elites gathering in Davos, Switzerland this week to attend the 2015 World Economic Forum. During his speech he made the remarkable claim that 9,000 Russian troops were currently fighting in Ukraine on behalf of the independence-seeking areas of the country. These 9,000 troops have brought with them tanks, heavy artillery, and armored vehicles, he claimed. "Is this not aggression?"...

SOTT FOCUS: Holocaust 2.0: Welcome to the jungle

Fritz Gerlich was a German journalist during Hitler's rise to power. He was well known for his biting criticism of der Führer. One of his most controversial moments was turning Hitler's image into a composite where his facial features were exaggerated and he was arm in arm with a black woman.In the article, Fritz suggested that readers apply Hitler's own science of physiognomy to Hitler himself, and when applied, it's clear Hitler isn't even Aryan,...

Video Surveillance shows cops assault and kill young woman who was seeking help

© Courtesy of Heather RobertsonKristina Coignard A 17-year-old girl walked into the Longview, Texas police station. Then, only minutes later, police say they were "forced" to shoot and kill her, Thursday night. Now, the police have released surveillance footage that captured the final moments of Kristiana Coignard's life. Cognard walked into the empty lobby and approached the after-hours assistance phone."We don't know how she got here," Longview...

Mummified remains of '200 year old man in lotus position' found in Mongolia

Forensic examination to be made on well preserved remains of possible Lama teacher.This extraordinary picture shows the mummifed male body which is believed to be several centuries old. It was found at 6.30 pm 27 January 2015 in Songinokhairkhan province, reported Mongolia's . © 'Өглөөний сонин'A 'meditating mummy' found on 27th of January in Mongolia. 'The mummified body sits in a lotus position, as if still meditating.'Experts that only had time...

GMO agri-businesses invade Ukraine's bread basket

© unknown At the same time as the United States, Canada and the European Union announced a set of new sanctions against Russia in mid-December last year, Ukraine received US$350 million in US military aid, coming on top of a $1 billion aid package approved by the US Congress in March 2014.Western governments' further involvement in the Ukraine conflict signals their confidence in the cabinet appointed by the new government earlier in December 2014....

The forgotten 1961 massacre of Algerians in Paris who demonstrated against a discriminatory curfew imposed only on Muslims

1961 Paris massacre A colleague of mine in Cairo told me a story a few years ago about a massacre in the streets of Paris. He was a news service reporter at the time of the violence in the French capital - Oct. 17, 1961 - and saw tens of bodies of dead Algerians piled like cordwood in the center of the city in the wake of what would now be called a police riot.But his superiors at the news agency stopped him from telling the full story then, and...
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