The Raw Story

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

Monday, 23 February 2015

New normal: Florida cops taser elderly man with his hands up

© YOUTUBE/PrisonPlanetLice (Screenshot) A disturbing video has emerged showing an elderly man being tasered by Florida police.[embedded content]The video shows officers yelling at people to get out of their minivan. As the elderly man exists the passenger seat, the officer grabs his hand and twists it. Another officer came and told the first officer to "let him go." After he did, the second officer tased the old man.The man who filmed the video...

EU may block Russia-Hungary nuclear power deal

Think EU members are sovereign? Think again. originally appeared in Financial Times.Hungary's deal to award up to €12bn in nuclear power contracts to a Russian state-owned company is facing a growing threat from EU regulators who have the power to block the project.A veto or prohibitive fine from Brussels would be a bruising setback for Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, who has made the project the centrepiece of his strategy to forge deeper...

Mossad files show Netanyahu lied to UN about Iranian nuclear threat

© AP Photo/ Richard DrewI drew it myself! In Sept. 2012, Netanyahu stood before the UN General Assembly with a cartoonish diagram of a bomb and warned that Iran was about a year away from completing its "plans of building a nuclear weapon," calling for action to halt the process and justifying Israel's rights to act militarily if necessary."By next spring, at most by next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment...

Gasp! Leaked Mossad cables reveal Netanyahu lied to UN about Iran's nuclear program

© Lucas Jackson/ReutersNetanyahu and his "red line" In Sept. 2012, Netanyahu stood before the UN General Assembly with a cartoonish diagram of a bomb and warned that Iran was about a year away from completing its "plans of building a nuclear weapon," calling for action to halt the process and justifying Israel's rights to act militarily if necessary."By next spring, at most by next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the...

South Carolina inmates given solitary confinement for using social media

© TheAntiMedia.org South Carolina inmates will continue to be given solitary confinement for accessing Facebook and other social networking sites, but the number of days they serve there will be reduced, South Carolina Department of Corrections Deputy Communications Director Stephanie Givens told Sputnik."Prisoners will now receive 60 days of solitary confinement for accessing social networking sites through contraband," Givens said on Monday.Givens...

Dozens of new craters suspected in northern Russia

© Marya Zulinova, Yamal regional government's press serviceB1 - famous Yamal hole in 30 kilometres from Bovanenkovo, spotted in 2014 by helicopter pilots. Satellites show giant hole ringed by 20 'baby craters'.Respected Moscow scientist Professor Vasily Bogoyavlensky has called for 'urgent' investigation of the new phenomenon amid safety fears.Until now, only three large craters were known about in northern Russia with several scientific sources...

Cannabis 114 times less deadly than alcohol

Research published in the journal Scientific Reports finds that alcohol is the deadliest recreational drug, followed by heroin, cocaine, and tobacco. Cannabis, at the bottom of the list, is 114 times less deadly than alcohol. Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post writes:[I]ndividuals and organizations up in arms over marijuana legalization could have a greater effect on the health and well-being of this country by shifting their attention to...

Ukraine to Counterbalance RT With New Channel 'Ukrainian Tomorrow'

Maxim Stulov / VedomostiUkraine earlier this month moved to deny accreditation to more than 100 Russian media outlets as threats to national security. Ukraine next month will launch a television channel called Ukrainian Tomorrow, partially funded by U.S. sources, in an effort to counterbalance the Kremlin-funded network RT, Ukraine’s information policy minister told reporters in Lviv.“They have only today, but we have tomorrow,” Minister Yury Stets...

Israel vs. Israel: 'Being leftist in Israel is dangerous' say Israeli antiwar activists

Being an antiwar activist in Israel is dangerous. Israelis who protested against the 2014 Gaza offensive were threatened, harassed and attacked. Some even lost their jobs. Yoav Eliassi, also known as "The Shadow," is a right-wing rapper and driving force behind a movement to stamp out dissent in Israeli society.[embedded conte...

One year on from the 'EuroMaidan Revolution': What next for Ukraine?

© Press AssociationAlexander Zakharchenko Today is the first anniversary of the deal made between Yanukovich and the "opposition" and guaranteed by foreign ministers Radosław Sikorski of Poland, Laurent Fabius of France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany. As we all know, the deal resulted in a withdrawal of the security forces from the Kiev city center immediately followed by an armed insurrection which overthrew the government. Predictably,...

Drone film of Niagara Falls frozen over

E-mails sent to Sott.net become the property of Quantum Future Group, Inc and may be published without notice.Reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views of the volunteers, editors, and directors of SOTT.net or the Quantum Future Group.Remember, we need your help to collect information on what is going on in your part of the world! Send your article suggestions to: Some icons appearing on this site were created by: Afterglow, Aha-Soft,...

Ice-breaking tug boats operating on the Delaware River

Ice-breaker on the Delaware river The icy weather doesn't just cause trouble for the roads but for the waterways as well.Every day when ice starts forming, the crew of the Coast Guard icebreaker casts off the lines and head out into the Delaware River - never knowing what they'll find out there."We look forward to the winter every year. This is what the boat is built for, this is what we are out here to do," said US Coast Guard BM1 Matt Bailey.The...

UK govt adviser warns aging nuclear reactors vulnerable to terrorist drone attacks

© Reuters / Suzanne Plunkett / FilesHinkley Point B Power Station in Bridgwater, southwest England. Britain's aging nuclear power plants are vulnerable to terrorist attacks by unmanned drones that could kill thousands of people, a government adviser has warned.John Large, an engineer for Britain's Atomic Energy Authority, says ministers are ignoring risks posed by nuclear terror assaults.Nuclear power stations around the UK suffered 37 security...

Rare razorbill from northern latitudes seen in Bermuda

© Andrew DobsonThe rare razorbill on the Great Sound The Island's first sighting of a razorbill was reported yesterday.Audubon Society member Paul Watson spotted the bird on the Great Sound in the morning.He was soon joined by the group's president, Andrew Dobson, to get photographic evidence of the sighting. He said: "It is the first time this species of bird has been seen in Bermuda. "It was sitting on the surface of the water and making regular...

Councillor says 'Vladimir Putin is advised by Aliens' and blames space reptiles for Ukraine crisis

© NORTH NEWS GETTYSimon Parkes and Vladimir Putin Alien-obsessed Simon Parkes, a councillor in Whitby, North Yorkshire, blamed hostilities in troubled eastern Ukraine on a group of alien reptiles he calls the 'Nordics.'The 53-year-old, who claims to have been visited by extra-terrestrials ever since being inside his mother's womb, said the correspondence between Putin and the Nordics "is on par with America" during a Q&A session in Wallsend,...

Florida fireball with boom

The American Meteor Society received over 90 reports so far about a bright fireball event in northern Florida just east of Jacksonville. Observers from as far north as August GA reported seeing a bright light in the sky. Over 15 of the reports described a window rattling delayed boom. Below is a heat map of the witness reports.The estimated trajectory plotted from the witness reports shows the meteor was traveling from the south west to the north...

'Tiny houses': California homelessness gets new $40 solution

Image from http://bit.ly/1Fko3MS An Oakland artist is ingeniously battling homelessness in Oakland, California: he builds small houses out of materials he can find in the streets, with each edifice costing around forty bucks.The tiny homes are made of pallets, bed boards, washing machine doors, and other bizarre objects that catch Greg Kloehn's attention. Mr Kloehn first noticed that homeless people built shelters from whatever they find in the...

James Petras: The assassination of Greece

Yánis Varoufákis and Aléxis Tsípras The Greek government is currently locked in a life and death struggle with the elite which dominate the banks and political decision-making centers of the European Union. What are at stake are the livelihoods of 11 million Greek workers, employees and small business people and the viability of the European Union. If the ruling Syriza government capitulates to the demands of the EU bankers and agrees to continue...
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