The Raw Story

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

Saturday, 30 May 2015

Mysterious bangs heard in Auckland

© www.stuff.co.nz What was the unexplained bang heard in Auckland on Saturday night?      A mysterious loud explosion has stumped residents of Auckland's central suburbs as to what it could be. The banging was reportedly heard on Saturday around 11.30pm. Police say they had no reports of anything that may have caused such an explosion, other than fireworks being let off. The noise was heard in the Mt Albert, Mt Roskill and Three...

American Express President Ed Gilligan dies after becoming ill on flight to New York

© @edgilligan/Twitter Ed Gilligan, president of American Express, died Friday.      The president of American Express died on board a plane bound for New York City on Friday. According to the company, Ed Gilligan became seriously ill on a flight home from Tokyo and passed away. No other details about the incident were immediately released. The 55-year-old, life-long company employee was returning from a business trip on a corporate...

Unnecessary death, brutality, unconscionable neglect and medical malpractice at New York's Rikers Island women's jail

© Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images      After Judy Jean Caquias died in Rikers Island custody last year, her youngest sister received a box from her old apartment with all of her personal belongings. Her whole life distilled into a pile of odds and ends: pictures of family, old papers from school, an iron-on patch of a woman with a rainbow flag flying. Yankees memorabilia, an Obama sticker, a political flier: "Demand housing...

Genocide: NATO deliberately destroyed Libya's water infrastructure

Deprived of piped water supply by NATO's bombing of critical infrastructure, a man in post-invasion Libya fills up a bottle of water from a muddy puddle. Photo: British Red Cross.      Numerous reports comment on the water crisis that is escalating across Libya as consumption outpaces production. Some have noted the environmental context in regional water scarcity due to climate change. But what they ignore is the fact that...

Texas farmers facing 'total loss for this year'

     Texas' farmers were among the first to applaud the rain that abruptly halted a grueling multiyear drought that had tormented the region. But what began as a blessing has turned quickly into a disaster, as corn and wheat crops rot in flooded fields. "I think it is not all farmers, but some farmers are looking at a total loss for this year," said Mike Barnett, a spokesperson for the Texas Farm Bureau. "You have some situations...

VIDEO: The five stages of the awakening

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, AntialiasFactory, artdesigner.lv, Artura, DailyOverview, Dellustrations, Everaldo, GraphicsFuel,...

Do our bodies safely break down BPA? Fat chance, study suggests

© Tony Alter/flickr Industry has long contended bisphenol-A breaks down harmlessly in our bodies. New research suggests that we transform it into a compound linked to obesity.      A new study suggests the long-held industry assumption that bisphenol-A breaks down safely in the human body is incorrect. Instead, researchers say, the body transforms the ubiquitous chemical additive into a compound that might spur obesity. The...

China: Silk roads and open seas

© Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon      Beijing's disclosure earlier this week of its latest military white paper, outlining a new doctrine moving beyond offshore defense to "open seas" defense, predictably rattled every exceptionalist's skull and bone. Almost simultaneously, in Guangzhou, the annual Stockholm China Forum, hosted by the German Marshall Fund and the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, was mired in deep thought...

Similac advance infant formula to be offered G.M.O.-free

© Abbott Abbott said parents asked for baby formula that was free of genetically modified organisms.      The maker of Similac Advance, the top commercial baby formula brand in the United States, says it will begin selling the first mainstream baby formula made without genetically altered ingredients by the end of the month at Target. Similac's maker, the global health care company Abbott, said it would first offer a "non-G.M.O."...

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.4 - Izu Islands, Japan region

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, AntialiasFactory, artdesigner.lv, Artura, DailyOverview, Dellustrations, Everaldo, GraphicsFuel,...

SOTT Exclusive: Dead or alive? NATO's Kosovar ISIS militant raised from the grave, assumes new role

Muhaxheri waves a sword, promises to conquer Rome and Spain      A notorious 24-year-old Kosovar ISIS militant beheading people under the name of Lavdrim Muhaxheri has been potentially resurrected from the dead following the release of a video footage where he is allegedly seen killing a Syrian man with a rocket-propelled grenade. It was reported previously that Lavdrim was killed in Syria last year, but it appears that he...

Obama: 'Heaven forbid' a terrorist attack happens after Senate inaction on Patriot Act

© MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images President Barack Obama (R) speaks following a meeting with US Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the Oval Office of the White House on May 29, 2015, in Washington, DC.      President Barack Obama sounded the alarm about what could happen if there is a delay in renewing the USA Patriot Act. "I don't want us to be in a situation in which, for a certain period of time, those authorities go away and...

Thousands of dead bunker fish found dead at Riverhead, New York

© Peter Blasl Dead bunker washed ashore on Simmons Point early in the morning of May 29, about an hour after low tide.      Officials are scrambling to avoid a major fish kill in the Peconic Estuary due to exceptionally low oxygen levels in the water. "We're asking for help from anyone with a haul siene net and permit to get the baitfish out of the water before there's a major fish kill like we had here several years ago," Riverhead...

Taking numerous medications to control blood pressure just as dangerous as uncontrolled hypertension for stroke risk

© GETTY      Untreated high blood pressure, or hypertension, wreaks havoc on the body, leading to heart disease and stroke. New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham published in the journal Stroke shows that, although HBP medications are beneficial, it is as risky to wait for the condition to develop and then treat it to a controlled level. A cohort of 26,785 black and white participants ages 45-plus from the...

Former NYPD cop trashes 14-year-old boy shot by police in psychopathic Facebook exchange

Three former NYPD police officers discussed the murder of a 14-year-old gang member on Facebook and the exchange was awful as one could expect, according to an exclusive report by Mic News. When 14-year-old Christopher Duran left his home in the Bronx for school last Friday morning, a red bandana-wearing gunman shot him to death. Former police officer and current CNN contributor Thomas Verni posted a story of Doran's murder on his Facebook page,...

Swordfish kills Hawaii fisherman trying to reel it in

© Kona patrol      A swordfish killed a Hawaii man on Friday during a fishing accident in Kailua-Kona. At about 10:48 a.m., police received a call about a swordfish being spotted in Honokohau Harbor and a man jumping into the water with a spear gun. Randy Llanes, 47, was then seen being punctured in the chest by the sword fish, which measured about 3 feet long and weighed approximately 40 pounds. The Hawaii County Fire Department...

These ‘Big 6′ Chemical Companies Now Make 50,000 Different Pesticides

In the UK, it has been estimated that enough pesticide is used to account for 420g for every woman, man, and child. In the US, the numbers are similar, if not even more extreme. Globally, there are now more than 50,000 different pesticides being manufactured with over 600 ‘active’ ingredients – and yet we still have pests. How can this be? The alarms have been sounding about the over-use of pesticides and herbicides for years now, and recently,...
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)