The European Union Times |
- Germans invent revolutionary elevator, going up and sideways
- France flooding forces 1500 people to evacuate their homes
- Feds tell police to stop “domestic terrorist” Oath Keepers providing free security
- Russia dispatches new humanitarian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine
- Hundreds demand independence at Scottish Parliament
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Posted: 30 Nov 2014 11:34 AM PST
 An elevator every 30 seconds will be a feature of future skyscrapers, promises German tech giant ThyssenKrupp. They have unveiled technology that allows more than one car in a single shaft and the lifts can go sideways as well as up and down. The company says its invention will revolutionize modern architecture, because central blocks of elevator shafts, a necessary element of today’s buildings, will no longer put constraints on design. Residents will enjoy reduced waiting times and owners will get smaller elevator footprints, freeing up space for apartments, offices and other facilities. Key to the promised breakthrough is a linear motor, which ThyssenKrupp adapted from the Transrapid magnetic levitation train it built for Shanghai in collaboration with Siemens. Each car would need only one motor for both horizontal and vertical movement, the company said. The cars will move in a looped path much as cars in a Ferris wheel do, which allows for greater passenger traffic and reduces waiting time to as low as 15 to 30 seconds. But each car will be able to stop independently to allow passengers to enter and exit safely, unlike paternoster lifts, popular in the first half of 20th century. Paternosters actually never stopped and passengers had to hop on and off. ThyssenKrupp says replacing cable drives with maglev technology and the use of lighter carbon materials for cars would require smaller shafts. Combined with a large number of cabins, it would occupy up to fifty percent less space than current systems, depending on height. The German company is aiming high with the technology, saying the ideal height for applying it would start at 300 meters. ThyssenKrupp says the option for horizontal movement would make their elevators useful in shorter, broader buildings. The company hails its technology called Multi as the greatest innovation in the field since Elisha Otis and his demonstration of emergency breaks in 1854. The first building to use a prototype will be a 240-meter tower now being built in Rottweil in Germany. The public will be able to try the system in 2016, the company says. Multi faces competition from Japanese producer Hitachi, which is currently developing an upgraded version of the old paternoster system. The Hitachi system is a traditional cable-driven elevator, with cars that move up and down in pairs in two adjacent shafts. The German giant is also working on adopting maglev train motors to other applications. Earlier this year it revealed its speed passenger walkways. Every pallet on it is expandable, has its own motor and moves slower at places where passengers board and leave the walkway, but accelerates to 7 kilometers per hour in between. ThyssenKrupp is targeting walkways in airports and short-range transit system in urban areas. Source           |
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Posted: 30 Nov 2014 11:28 AM PST
 According to French officials, between “800 and 1,000 people” were evacuating their homes along the Agly river in the Pyrenees-Orientales area on Sunday, while another 250 were evacuating from Sigean, south of Narbonne. Reports say nearly 400 others had already left their homes in Canet, Argeles-Sur-Mer and Barcares along the Mediterranean coast. So far, at least four people have been confirmed dead and several others remain missing after flash flooding uprooted trees and destroyed a number of homes. Hundreds of rescue workers have been searching for the missing people in the region. Over the past weeks, France’s southern regions have been hit by storms and flooding. Source      |
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Posted: 30 Nov 2014 11:24 AM PST
 Police in Ferguson, Missouri, have been pressured by the federal government to stop members of Oath Keepers from guarding local homes and businesses targeted by arsonists. Oath Keepers, an organization consisting of former and current military, police and first responders, dispatched several members to Ferguson the day after the Grand Jury announcement to provide free security to those in need. Almost immediately after receiving praise in a local paper for protecting vulnerable residents, Oath Keepers standing watch on top of a locally-owned bakery witnessed a three-man sniper team exiting a silver Suburban on the ground below. The three men were then seen setting up sniper hides in a nearby building before aiming their rifles directly at the group. Across the street, on top of the fire hall, a seperate sniper team began setting up as well. A Missouri Oath Keeper named Sam Andrews, who spoke briefly with Infowars, immediately called Unified Command to find out why snipers had taken up an aggressive position against them. According to Andrews, local police, a large portion of which have been supportive of the Oath Keepers, were completely unaware of the feds movements. Shortly after, a St. Louis County police officer appeared on scene and began telling Andrews that business owners wanted them off their roofs. After calling the store owners, Andrews and his team quickly confirmed that no such request was ever made. That is when the officer admitted that his chief was being pressured by the feds to keep Oath Keepers from protecting buildings. Further reports revealed that the feds had told police earlier that day that Oath Keepers were “domestic terrorists,” an unsurprising claim given the federal government’s baseless targeting of the group. The owner of a Chinese restaurant receiving free protection was reportedly confronted by federal agents also and told to kick the Oath Keepers out. Failing to remove the businesses’ and homes’ much needed protection, other officers began telling Andrews that his group was in violation of state law. Police claimed the group needed to posses security licenses, despite the fact that the law only applies to paid security, not volunteers. “We’re volunteers. We read the statute. We had three attorneys read the statute,” Andrews told Infowars. Andrews began speaking with other volunteers not affiliated with the Oath Keepers, including a group of young Ferguson residents protecting a local gas station, and learned that none had been approached or told to obtain licenses by police. Stewart Rhodes, founder and president of Oath Keepers, told Infowars that the American people are being presented with a false choice by those running the show in Ferguson. “They want to create a false paradigm… They are presenting a false choice between lawlessness, looting, arson, assault, murder on the one side, unrestrained, or a hyper-militarized police state on the other,” Rhodes said. “They are failing to do the intelligent thing and protect businesses without trampling on rights.” Rhodes’ remarks cause even more concern in light of comments made by Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who accused President Obama of ordering a National Guard stand down as Ferguson businesses burned to the ground last week. Ferguson Mayor James Knowles also stated that his request for National Guard help was turned down by Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat ally of the President. Andrews and the other volunteers, who even spent Thanksgiving pouring water on rooftops in case arsonists and rioters returned, are now shifting tactics in order to continue protecting life, liberty and property in Ferguson. Source      |
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Posted: 30 Nov 2014 10:42 AM PST
 On Sunday, more than 1,200 metric tons of supplies, including construction materials, food and medicines, crossed the border into eastern Ukraine. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry announced that a convoy of 40 trucks has delivered the supplies to the flashpoint city of Lugansk, while 60 trucks were unloaded in the Makiivka suburb of Donetsk. Yuriy Pokintelitsa, the mayor of Makiivka, said the supplies would be prioritized for those who are most in need, such as hospital patients, school children and the poor. He emphasized that more humanitarian aid is needed in the volatile region. “All that we have received is about three to five percent of what the [Donetsk] republic needs. We really need baby food, medicine and of course food products,” Pokintelitsa added. This is the eighth relief aid convoy that Russia has dispatched to the violence-scarred eastern regions of Ukraine since August. Oleg Voronov, a representative of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, has said Moscow would soon dispatch new aid. The humanitarian crisis is deteriorating in eastern Ukraine as the central government in Kiev has suspended funding and services there. Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence the pro-Moscow protests in mid-April. According to the latest figures released by the United Nations, more than 4,300 people have been killed in the fighting. In addition, nearly a million people have been forced to flee their homes. Kiev and its Western allies accuse Russia of having a hand in the chaotic situation in eastern Ukraine. However, the Kremlin has repeatedly denied the allegation as baseless. Source      |
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Posted: 30 Nov 2014 10:25 AM PST
 Hundreds of people have gathered near the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood with St. Andrew’s Cross flags, music and speeches in a celebration of Scottish nationhood, amid continued demands for independence as St. Andrew’s Day celebrations got underway. Poetry recitals, speeches and songs were on the agenda, as people wrapped themselves in flags and “Yes”-related paraphernalia. Even the blue Estelada could be seen among the crowds to show a degree of solidarity between various independence movements in Europe. “Several hundred – even thousands – here today are here to voice Scotland’s dream of independence,” RT’s Harry Fear reported from Edinburgh. “Their message is to the Westminster Parliament in central London that their campaign for independence is still on and still strong,” he said. The push for independence is tantamount to a greater push for social equality, employment opportunities, and welfare support. June Riley, pro-independence activist told RT: “This is just not good enough for Scotland anymore. Scotland is now at the stage where we’ve had enough of being ruled, we’re getting nothing, we’re putting everything and getting nothing back, and it’s time for Scotland to become an independent country.” The Scottish National party has seen unprecedented support since the independence referendum. A YouGov poll for the Times newspaper published at the beginning of November indicated support for independence stood at 52 percent versus 48 percent who wanted to remain in the union. Some of the ‘no’ voters are also feeling disillusioned as their vote was influenced by the vow for extensive new devolved powers. “We were actually promised home rule or devo-max,” pro-independence activist Gordon Johnson told RT. “What we’ve been offered now is nowhere near these conditions.” “We have lost the first battle, but we will go on to win the war,” Johnson added. “We will not stop until we are independent.” On September 18, Scots held a referendum on whether Scotland should break away from the 307-year-old union with the rest of the UK and become an independent country. With a record voter turnout, 55.3 percent voted against independence, while 44.7 percent voted in favor.      |
