The Raw Story

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

Friday, 6 February 2015

Research shows well connected communities are better able to manage in times of crisis

© Barbara Mills/University of ArizonaPinedale Polychrome bowl from the Bailey Ruin, A.D. 1275-1325. This type of vessel was made during the megadrought that hit the Southwest from A.D. 1276-1299. The distribution of this type outside of its area of production was one of the ways that people kept connected during and after the drought. The more you know your neighbors, the better off you may be when disaster strikes, a new study from the University...

Absurd! EU wants to snoop on Skype to combat terrorist threat

© Reuters/Paul Hackett The EU agency for judicial cooperation says the bloc needs to develop a common approach to lawfully intercept services like Skype and Viber, to help keep track of European militants arriving back home from the Middle East.The measures were outlined in a Eurojust report, which was discussed by a committee of the European Parliament on Thursday, said Reuters after they saw the report.Following deadly terror attacks in Paris...

Decades of public spending limitations imposed by IMF may have set the stage for Ebola outbreak

© Unknown As 2015 began, the world received a sobering message. Not only have the number of Ebola cases exceeded 20,000, but in some affected countries, especially Sierra Leone, the virus is still spreading. The death toll now tops 8,000 and the usual answers to how this outbreak got so huge so quickly - poverty, bad governance, cultural practices, endemic disease in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - are giving way to a deeper questioning of the...

Deranged! Family arranges kidnap of 6 year old to 'teach him a lesson'

© unknown Imagine being a 6-year-old boy.You get off your school bus and begin to walk home.You are greeted by a man who lures you to his truck.That man drives off with you and tells you you'll never see your mother again, and that you will be nailed to the wall of a shed.You are terrified, of course, so you start crying.The man pulls out a handgun and threatens to hurt you if you don't stop crying.Then the man binds your feet and hands together...

Mind over matter? Prototype lets humans upload their mind into mechanized 'heads'

© Screenshot from YouTube user Bloomberg Business An Artificial Intelligence pioneer is embracing the controversial idea of uploading the memories, thoughts and feelings of a living person into a computer to create a Mind Clone or "second self." The prototype for this new self is called 'Bina-48'.Entrepreneur Martine Rothblatt has created a new robotic head that she hopes, one day in the future, humans will be able to upload their minds into. Bina-48...

Police raid organic grocery store with guns drawn

© Rawsome Foods Well this is just bonkers...Multi-agency armed raid hits Rawesome Foods and Healthy Family Farms for selling raw milk and cheese.According to a blog posted on the website:Guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome Foods in Venice. Skirting past the arugula and peering under crates of zucchini, they found the raid's target inside a walk-in refrigerator: unmarked jugs of raw milk."I still can't believe they took our yogurt,"...

Pineapple Express brings river of rain to drought stricken California

A so-called "atmospheric river of rain" began falling on Northern California on Friday, bringing worries about flash floods, high winds and mudslides but offering little relief to a state that has been left parched by several years of drought.The storm, also known as a "Pineapple Express" because it develops from a ribbon of moist air moving across the Pacific Ocean, was forecast to dump as much as 10 inches (25 cm) of rain in coastal mountains....

Advent of mandatory vaccines? Unvaccinated students now barred from a New Mexico public school district

© unknown One of New Mexico's largest public school districts, spurred by a measles outbreak that has infected about 100 people in California, will start barring unvaccinated students from class unless they have a valid state exemption, the head of the school board said on Friday.The move by the 14,000-student Santa Fe district came as legislators in California, Oregon and Washington state are considering laws to make it harder for parents legally...

Hundreds of birds mysteriously dying in El Reno, Oklahoma

Birds are mysteriously dying in El Reno Hundreds of dead birds were found in an El Reno parking lot.El Reno citizen Janince Wodrings told Passoth she like to watch the birds fly around near the Walmart on Country Club Drive just off I-40."Have you ever seen a school of fish? They will swirl and swoop, well that's the way the starlings look," Woodring said.In the evening, they cover every tree and telephone wire. Most fly away during the day. That...

FLASHBACK: Greek debt crisis the work of financial terrorists: What next? Default!

Journalist, entrepreneur and Russia Today opinion host Max Keiser traveled to Greece recently for a film project that looks at how the country came to be on the verge of default.The conclusion of his interview subjects, and indeed a large portion of the Greek population, is that Goldman Sachs, perhaps the most powerful financial firm in the world, has engaged in an economic coup against the nation, taking advantage of rife tax fraud to force Greek lawmakers to hand over the country's public assets.His mini-documentary is concise, smart and informative....

New York Stock Exchange sold to derivatives company in $8bn takeover

The New York Stock Exchange called time on two centuries of independence on Thursday, agreeing to an $8.2bn takeover that will hand control of the icon of American capitalism to an Atlanta-based energy trader.The stock exchange's holding company, NYSE Euronext, has agreed to an offer of $33.12 a share in cash and stock from IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). ICE was founded in 2000, NYSE in 1817. The combined company would have headquarters in both...

Plane wing bursts into flames over Bogota, Colombia

A terrified passenger said there was panic on board when people sat on the right side of the plane reported seeing flames out the window As flames dramatically shoot from the engine of the right wing of a plane, one of the passengers on the window seat had the presence of mind to capture it on a smartphone.The VivaColombia Flight 8023 scheduled to go from El Dorado International Airport in Bogota to Rionegro was forced to make an emergency landing...

Ukraine crisis analysis: Hollande/Merkel trip suggests situation dire - peace prospects dim

News that Hollande and Merkel are travelling to Moscow confirms what previous reports suggested -- that a major diplomatic initiative to end the Ukrainian conflict is underway.What has triggered this initiative is increasing evidence Ukraine is approaching the point of no return.Ukraine's economic situation is in freefall. The dwindling level of the Central Bank's foreign currency reserves has forced Ukraine to float its currency, the hryvnia,...

Man steals purse from dying woman hit by lorry

A man who stole the purse of a dying elderly woman who was lying in the road having been hit by a lorry is being sought by Greater Manchester Police.The 82-year-old was killed when she was struck on Leigh Road, Leigh, at about 11:45 GMT on Wednesday.Police said that after the crash, officers were told a man "was seen to steal her purse before leaving".The man is described as white, about 6ft (1.8m) tall, between 30 and 40 and of medium build with...

US: Just 44% of adults are employed for 30 or more hours per week

Jim Clifton, the Chairman and CEO of Gallup, says that the percentage of Americans that are employed full-time has been hovering near record lows since the end of the last recession. But most Americans don't realize this because the official unemployment numbers are extremely misleading. In fact, Clifton says that the official 5.6 percent unemployment rate is a "big lie". Gallup regularly tracks the percentage of U.S. adults that are employed for...

Bigfoot vs Buffalo: 4 big furry somethings caught on webcam in Yellowstone

Would you risk death-by-buffalo to pull off a Bigfoot hoax? In the following clip taken from a webcam at Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, we see four big, furry somethings (Bigfeet?) approach four buffalo in Yellowstone National Park. Well, one of them does; it's unclear what happened to the other three! All of the lit. on these critters has them just "disappearing into thin air"...Check out ThinkerThunker's great analysis of the...

Israeli detention of Palestinian youth causing widespread trauma and educational neglect

© THOMAS COEX – AFP/GETTY IMAGESIsraeli soldiers arrest a young Palestinian boy following clashes in Hebron on June 20. 2014 was a harrowing and devastating year for many people living in Israel and Palestine. Violations of human rights, racism, and hatred did not stop after the 2014 Gaza war and today are commonplace. Presently, there is imminent concern for the increasing numbers of wrongfully detained Palestinian children from East Jerusalem...

Thousands of starfish found dead or dying on South Padre Island, Texas

© Coastal and Marine Resources Texas Sea GrantThousands of starfish on the beaches of South padre Island after rough weather conditions leave them stranded. Thousands of starfish have been stranded on the beaches of South Padre Island after what investigators are calling a "perfect storm" for starfish.It's thought that high winds and strong currents coincided exactly to wash up the creatures that had been close to shore feeding.It's only the third...

Human soul found? Quantum theory of consciousness 'Orch OR' claims both science and religion are true

© The Inquisitr Has the human soul been found by science? A controversial quantum theory of consciousness called "Orch OR" (which stands for "orchestrated objective reduction") recently had a review, and the scientists supporting this idea are claiming the recent discovery of quantum vibrations in "microtubules" inside brain neurons corroborates their beliefs.In a related report by the , Stephen Hawking fears the movies may actually come true, but...

Two Philadelphia cops arrested after surveillance video proves they lied about brutal attack

Philadelphia Police officers Kevin Robinson(top) and Sean McKnight (bottom) have been charged with the assault of Najee Rivera(right) Two Philadelphia police officers were arrested and publicly criticized by local officials after video proof emerged that they lied about pursuing and beating a man, WPVI-TV reported.The footage shows Officers Sean McKnight and Kevin Robinson chasing 23-year-old Najee Rivera in their unlit patrol car and knocking him...

Troika Trojan horse: Will Syriza capitulate in Greece?

© Reuters/John Kolesidis The 2015 Greek tragedy is a sorry (financial) remix of the Trojan War. But now the troika (ECB, EC, IMF) has replaced Greece, and Greece is the new Troy.It is now crystal clear the ECB will pull no punches to turn Greece into a European failed state. The rationale: others - from Spain to even, in the near future, France - must not entertain funny ideas. Toe the austerity line, or we'll get medieval on you. It was so predictable...

Russia desires peace in Ukraine, America pushes for greater war, more ethnic cleansing

© Mikhail Metzel/TASSRussia's president Vladimir Putin and Alexander Boroda, general director of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Cente Tired by the siege and by intermittent shelling, the rebels disregarded snow and took the strategic Donetsk airport. This airport with its Stalin-built tunnels, a symbol of solid Soviet defence work, presented a huge challenge for underequipped militia. Its many-leveled underground facilities were built to sustain...
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