The Raw Story

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

Tuesday, 3 March 2015

Italian prime minister begins trip to Kiev and Moscow

© EPAItaly’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who took the office exactly a year ago, is beginning a short tour, which includes visits first to Kiev, and then to Moscow.In Ukraine, Renzi will have a meeting with President Petro Poroshenko, and on March 5 he will come to Russia, where he will have meetings with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Italy's presidential press service...

Presidential candidate Scott Walker plans to sign bill banning abortions after 20 weeks

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he will sign into law a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.Mr. Walker on Tuesday issued what he called an "open letter on life" in which he stated his support for the ban, saying he expects the Republican-controlled Legislature to pass such a bill.Mr. Walker, a likely presidential candidate, also says he supports a federal ban. Putting a ban on abortions after 20 weeks is based on the assertion that fetuses...

Italy threatens military intervention in Libya

Four years after an international coalition intervened to force the overthrow of Libya's long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi, Italy's government is pressing for a new military intervention.This is being sold to the public based on the rising influence of Islamist militias, which are supposedly also threatening Italy. In reality, the drive to intervention is being driven by major Italian oil and business interests in the North African country, where...

Seven tips for survival learned from the Walking Dead

The is one of the most popular post-apocalyptic shows ever seen on television, and while the gripping story focuses on the characters and their travels through the ruined world, there are some lessons to be learned by us along the way.Sure, not everything the characters do is spot-on correct for survival, and honestly much of what they do is the opposite of what you should do in a survival situation, but even bad actions can be learned from, just...

New study shows salt boosts immune response

© Thebubbleblog.comSalt! The dietary tides are once again turning for salt.You may remember a landmark study in 2011 that showed that contrary to what the medical community espoused for years - salt actually lengthens your life; it doesn't cut your life or raise the risk of hypertension. That study found that people actually lived longer if they consumed salt. Notably, they were not studying pink Himalayan salt, but regular old, processed table...

Deputy of European Parliament from Latvia denied permission into Russia

© AP Photo Archive/LUXPRESS/Jean-Claude ErnstSandra Kalniete (right). Sandra Kalniete — deputy of the European Parliament from Latvia, who arrived in Russia to attend the funeral of Boris Nemtsov, has not been admitted into Russia because of her "anti-Russian activities and in retaliation for sanctions taken by the European Union against a number of Russian officials," spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich said on Tuesday."The...

Norway's Nobel Peace Prize Committee replaces Jagland

© APThorbjoern Jagland, former chair of The Norwegian Nobel Committee, arrives at the Nobel institute in Oslo, Tuesday, March 3, 2015. The Nobel Peace Prize awarding Norwegian Nobel Committee on Tuesday elected a new chairman to replace Thorbjoern Jagland, whose six-year tenure has been lined with controversies.Jagland will remain a member of the voting panel but was a contentious leader, attracting criticism for his dual role as committee chairman...

Petition against mandatory vaccination reaches over 100,000 signatures. Will the White House respond?

The petition up on WhiteHouse.gov against mandatory vaccinations — the one the White House tried to bury — has, at the time of writing this, reached well over the 100,000 signatures needed by March 6th in order to supposedly garner a response from our president's administration.The petition is short, sweet, and to the point:No human being should be FORCED to be vaccinated against their will and/or personal/religious beliefs. I petition against...

Netanyahu speech protest: Is public opinion regarding Israel changing?

© ANSWER Coalition/Phil Portluck Outside, in the streets surrounding the U.S. Congress, a strong, spirited crowd of demonstrators denounced Benjamin Netanyahu for committing war crimes against the Palestinian people and for attempting to whip up a war fever against Iran. We were met by police lines and cops who grabbed and shoved people as they attempted to exercise their Constitutional right to protest at Congress.Inside, from within the hallowed...

NSA headquarters damaged by multiple gunshots

© Reuters / NSA / Handout via ReutersNational Security Agency (NSA) headquarters building in Fort Meade, Maryland. Multiple gunshots reportedly struck a National Security Agency office building in Fort Meade, Maryland, where the department's headquarters are located, according to local law enforcement officials.No injuries have been reported at the scene, though the NSA told that one of its buildings was damaged by "what appear to be" several gunshots....

Nuland in Azerbaijan: Another destabilization attempt planned on Russia's southern border?

What is Nuland up to in Azerbaijan? The US' Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland, visited Baku on 16 February as part of her trip to the Caucasus, which also saw her paying stops in Georgia and Armenia. While Azerbaijan has had positive relations with the US since independence, they've lately been complicated by Washington's 'pro-democracy' rhetoric and subversive actions in the country. Nuland's visit,...

Non-drug approaches to caring for dementia patients work better, carry far fewer risks

© Unknown Doctors write millions of prescriptions a year for drugs to calm the behavior of people with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia. But non-drug approaches actually work better, and carry far fewer risks, experts conclude in a new report.In fact, non-drug approaches should be the first choice for treating dementia patients' common symptoms such as irritability, agitation, depression, anxiety, sleep problems, aggression, apathy...

New research validates chronic fatigue sufferers

© Jae S. Lee / The TennesseanEsther Siebert, who has chronic fatigue syndrome, moved to Nashville from California a year ago. She still travels back to California for treatment, having no luck finding an internist locally who can help. Esther Siebert, 67, has been living with a draining and debilitating disease for nearly 30 years, one that is only just recently being widely recognized as something real. Most commonly called chronic fatigue syndrome,...

Netanyahu's Iranophobic talk to U.S. Congress before election campaign

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham. On Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham called the speech a deceitful show and part of the hardliners' political propaganda in Tel Aviv.Netanyahu (pictured below during the address) addressed the Congress earlier in the day, calling on the United States not to negotiate "a very bad deal" with Iran over its nuclear energy program. He said, "We've been told for over a year...

Child Protective Services children found in human trafficking sex trade

Child Protective Services agencies are intended to take care of children with nowhere else to go, but corruption has infiltrated the government custodial system - putting kids at great risk.National Safe Child founder Tammi Stefano takes a look at the problem and reveals cases of CPS children who ended up working in the growing human sex trafficking trade in this short clip from the full length Buzzsaw interview with Sean Stone.[embedded content]Tammi...

Just how Islamic is 'Islamic State'?

© www.commdiginews.comIslamic State and the Qu'ran - mission or excuse? IS not only misreads texts, most clerics say, it also ignores Quranic verses requiring mercy, preservation of life and protection of innocents.Three British schoolgirls believed to have gone to Syria to become "jihadi" brides. Three young men charged in New York with plotting to join the Islamic State group and carry out attacks on American soil. A masked, knife-wielding militant...

Venezuelan president Maduro revokes visa rights for "U.S. human rights abusers" Bush, Cheney, and others on his "anti-terrorism list"

The Venezuelan government has responded to increased pressure from Washington by revoking visa rights for former US politicians such as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, described by President Nicolas Maduro as "terrorists against the peoples of the world" on Saturday."I have decided on a prohibition list for people who will not be permitted visas and who can never enter Venezuela, for a set of chief US politicians who have committed human rights...

China's warning to U.S.: Stop the proxy Ukrainian war against Russia

A much-ignored huge news report from Reuters on Friday, February 27th, was headlined "Chinese diplomat tells West to consider Russia's security concerns over Ukraine."China's Ambassador to Belgium (which has the capital of the EU) said that the "nature and root cause" of the Ukrainian conflict is "the West," and that "The West should abandon the zero-sum mentality, and take the real security concerns of Russia into consideration."By "real security...
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