The European Union Times |
- NASA Pluto probe wakes up after 9-year slumber in space
- Fattest man in the world, Keith Martin, dead at 44
- Factory Farm Whistleblower Unveils Disturbing Video
- Fresh fighting claims 5 lives in east Ukraine
- EU will have to transport Russian gas from Turkey on its own
- GCHQ spying “doesn’t breach human rights” – UK tribunal
- Obesity may cut life expectancy by 8 years
- Bankster Lobbyists Try to Sneak Derivatives Bailout in Budget Legislation
- Russia warns France over Mistral-class warship delivery
- National independence under attack – Hungary’s PM answers McCain’s remarks
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Posted: 07 Dec 2014 01:38 PM PST
 The New Horizons’ onboard computer was programmed in August during its latest system check to make a “wake-up call” on December 6, at 3 PM. Some 90 minutes later, it sent a signal to control center on Earth, informing that it is in ‘active’ mode. It took 4 hours and 25 minutes for the signal to cover 4.7 billion kilometers and reach the mission operations team at Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), where the New Horizons was designed and manufactured. At the moment the probe is a ‘mere’ 260 million kilometers from Pluto. “We’ve worked years to prepare for this moment,” said Mark Holdridge, New Horizons encounter mission manager at APL, as quoted by the University’s HUB news network. “New Horizons might have spent most of its cruise time across nearly three billion miles of space sleeping, but our team has done anything but, conducting a flawless flight past Jupiter just a year after launch, putting the spacecraft through annual workouts, plotting out each step of the Pluto flyby and even practicing the entire Pluto encounter on the spacecraft. We are ready to go.” The current wake-up has become the 18th for the New Horizons, from mid-2007 to late 2014. The probe spent in hibernation about two-thirds of its flight time, most of it after its fly-by of Jupiter in February 2007. Hibernation mode, when almost all systems aboard are unpowered, helps preserve energy and systems wear. The sleeping periods lasted between 36 and 202 days. At least twice a year the probe was awakened for systems check, instrument calibration and course correction. Otherwise the only signals coming from the New Horizons were weekly beacon beeps. Launched by an Atlas V rocket booster on January 19, 2006, the 478 kilogram piano-sized spacecraft is expected to make its closest approach to the dwarf planet on July 14, when the New Horizons will pass at only 10,000 kilometer distance. On January 15, the probe will start distant observations of the Pluto system which will continue until late July 2015. For the next six weeks the New Horizons will be getting prepared for the job. Scientists will be checking probe’s memory, navigation and other systems, communication equipment, sensors and cameras.  All this payload as well as telecommunication equipment, flight computer and other systems are powered by a single radioisotope thermoelectric generator. The spacecraft consumes less electricity than two 100-watt light bulbs, but that is enough to get the job done and beam data to Earth. Apart from making high resolution photos, the probe will explore Pluto’s atmosphere and the way it interacts with the Sun. The mission is set to gather information about geology and topography of Pluto and its large moon Charon, measuring and mapping their surface temperatures and compositions, and studying Pluto’s smaller moons. The probe is also going to search for new moons and possible rings. “This is the first look at this new zone of rocky, icy planets,” Michael Buckley, a public information officer for John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory told ABC News. “This is what New Horizons is supposed to do.” The spacecraft will finally give exact measurements of Pluto’s size, which were difficult to ascertain from a greater distance due to its atmosphere. So space scientists will be able to tell whether Pluto is bigger or smaller than Eris, another dwarf planet, the discovery of which in 2005 led to Pluto’s demotion from a regular planet to a dwarf one. New Horizons’ post-Pluto mission is expected to include the study of other Kuiper belt objects. It is to end in 2026, but may be extended into 2030s, if the spacecraft remains operational at that time. Source           |
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Posted: 07 Dec 2014 01:34 PM PST
 Martin, who was officially registered as the heaviest man in the world, had a two-year battle to lose enough weight in order to have a drastic weight loss surgery. Martin’s death comes just eight months after he had undergone a successful gastric sleeve which removed three-quarters of his stomach. “If he had lived he would have lost hundreds of pounds and regained his ability to walk and live a normal life,” said head surgeon Kesava Mannur, who operated on Martin at Homerton Hospital last year. “I’m a lot more confident than I used to be. I feel a lot happier. In a few months time I want to be up and walking,” a hopeful Martin had said about his surgery. Martin explained his life in 2012 as being unemployed and spending his days playing video games and watching TV. He reportedly ate up to 20,000 calories a day from foods such as pizzas and kebabs. Source      |
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Posted: 07 Dec 2014 01:20 PM PST
 Does ‘sustainable’ farming really mean what you think it does? We’ve all seen the concerning images and videos depicting abused and sickly animals set for sale for the lowest possible price point, but very few have seen inside of a major ‘sustainable’ factory farm that even the USDA says passes its standard of care. A North Carolina contractor for meat processing giant Perdue has now unveiled what truly happens behind these ‘better’ farming operations that we are made to believe are the much better option for ourselves and our families. The result: a very disturbing reminder to eat a high quality organic diet: As a contractor for Perdue, farmer Craig Watts says he is contractually obligated to ensure that the chickens destined for your dinner table do not receive any form of sunlight or fresh air. In addition, the chickens are forced to lay not only on their own bed of feces, but feces that has accumulated for around the past year. This is because the floors are not cleaned between each import of new chickens, leading to thick layers of feces, other bodily fluids, limbs, and other items accumulating to the point where the underbellies of the chickens are worn red and their feathers are rubbed clean off. Is it any wonder that around 97% of all chicken products have been found to be tainted with harmful bacteria? This is what millions around the world are paying for with their hard earned dollar, and it’s what major factory farms are selling off as ‘organic.’ Always remember that whenever corporations can use natural-style ‘buzz words’ to draw in customers without actually staying true to these labels, they most certainly will. It’s up to you to purchase high quality organic items for you and your family, and to support initiatives to retake words like ‘natural’ away from corporations that would rather pay animal cruelty fines than change their practices. Perdue farmer Craig Watts is likely in for a round of contractual lawsuits, however if Perdue is smart, they will not publicly sue Mr. Watts in order to avoid public backlash. I would expect, rather, for the company to issue a statement that Mr. Watts is in fact the individual responsible for the poor treatment, and that they are ‘evaluating’ their procedures. Source      |
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Posted: 07 Dec 2014 01:10 PM PST
 Renewed fighting between government troops and pro-Russia forces in the violence-scarred eastern regions of Ukraine has left a total of five civilians dead. Three people were killed and ten others were injured overnight Sunday in the Donetsk region, which is considered as a stronghold of pro-Moscow activists. Explosions and gunfire were also heard in the volatile region this morning, according to local authorities. Furthermore, two civilians were killed after a shell hit a house in the village of Kryakivka in the eastern Lugansk Province, said the provincial pro-Ukrainian governor. The latest casualties come despite a recent agreement between the Ukrainian government and the pro-Russians to stop fighting from December 9 under the terms of a Kremlin-brokered ceasefire. The representatives of Kiev, Moscow, and self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics signed a truce deal in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk on September 5. The two mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk have been the scene of deadly clashes between the pro-Russians and the Ukrainian army since Kiev’s military operation started in mid-April in a bid to crush pro-Moscow protests. Violence intensified in May after the two flashpoint provinces held local referendums in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation. Some 4,300 people have reportedly lost their lives in eight months of deadly conflict in east Ukraine. Source      |
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Posted: 07 Dec 2014 12:56 PM PST
 With the end of the South Stream project, Russia will have to adapt to a new market where it will not provide gas delivery to end users, Aleksey Miller, the head of Gazprom said in an interview confirming South Stream will not be resumed. Russia’s Gazprom energy giant has given up the long-cherished South Stream gas pipeline to Europe because of the EU blocking its realization with the Third Energy Package, which prohibits one company to do the full cycle: extraction, transportation and sale of energy resources. Now Gazprom is going to use already constructed South Stream infrastructure on the Russian territory to build a new gas pipeline across the Black Sea to Turkey, with an annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters. That move is going to become a game changer for the European energy market. “Our strategy towards the European (gas) market is undergoing fundamental changes. The decision to halt the South Stream marks the beginning of the end of our previous market model, when we aimed at ultimate customer delivery in Europe,” the head of Gazprom, Aleksey Miller, told Rossiya 1 Channel in an interview.  “Shopping will now be done at the tie-in facility,” which will be the trading platform on the Turkish-Greek border, indicated Miller. Unlike the South Stream, the new project does not fall under the EU’s Third Energy Package. South Stream is definitely over The head of Gazprom confirmed that the South Stream project is closed once and for all, because of the EU “openly blocking” its construction by prohibiting Bulgaria from constructing its part of the pipeline. On April 17 the European Parliament adopted resolution banning the South Stream, while in June the European Commission prohibited Bulgaria to fulfill its obligation within the project. “The project has been stalled for six month now,” acknowledged Miller. “To say now that the ball is on the Russian side is nothing else but shifting the blame.” Russia wasted years and “some money” promoting the South Stream project, yet acquired certain knowledge and experience, Miller said. “Now we can say that we do know European bureaucracy very well. There’s no guarantee that the same [attitude] won’t recur in a month or two, or half a year’s time,” he added. Turkey will now control the EU ‘gas valve’ The new gas contract with Gazprom endowed Ankara with economic and political benefits, while Europe and primarily Bulgaria lost billions in investments, shared Miller. More specifically, Bulgaria lost more than 6,000 new jobs and over $3 billion of investment, leaving alone a profitable status of a transit entity that promised the country a guaranteed annual income. All this now goes to Turkey – together with all gas volumes being transported via Bulgaria (after Ukraine) right now. Once the construction of the new pipeline is over – the transit through Bulgaria will be discontinued, stressed Miller. “The EU and the European Commission simply presented Turkey with a ‘gas valve’. I believe Turkey might use it in its dialogue with Europe. And we got a new strategic partner in the gas business,” the Gazprom CEO concluded, noting that as of year-end results Turkey is becoming the monopoly’s #2 partner in Europe, after Germany, which gets Russian gas via the exclusive Nord Stream gas pipeline.  No big losses for Gazprom Withdrawal from the South Stream project causes no great losses for the Russian gas producer. The $4 billion-worth renovation of the gas transportation system in Southern Russia and construction of unique ‘Russkaya’ gas compression station on the Black Sea shore will be effectively used for the new Russian-Turkish gas project. The pipes stocked for the South Stream project in Bulgaria will also be used for constructing the Turkish pipeline. However, Gazprom will probably have to write off about $1 billion spent on designing, geological exploration and obtaining approval documents. The $2 billion contract with Italian Saipem pipe-laying company also remains undecided. Source      |
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Posted: 06 Dec 2014 02:07 PM PST
 Surveillance conducted by British intelligence agency GCHQ does not contravene human rights, a tribunal has heard, despite warnings from civil and internet liberties activists. The decision was made by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), after the case was brought to British courts by a collection of civil liberties groups including Privacy International, Amnesty International and Liberty earlier this year. According to the IPT, it could only find one area of surveillance procedures that they were concerned about, regarding whether they would breach internet users’ right to privacy. The groups claimed their private communications may have been monitored by GCHQ’s electronic surveillance program, Tempora, and that international programs, including PRISM – exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden – may have shared their confidential information with British intelligence services. According to the rights groups, spy agencies may have unlawfully collected data – including metadata that fell outside their legal parameters under the controversial Regulation and Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), and in turn may have breached the Human Rights Act and the Intelligence Services Act regarding surveillance. Summarizing the judgment, the Tribunal said: “Save in one possible (and to date hypothetical) respect, we have ruled that the current regime, both in relation to PRISM and Upstream [intercept programs] … when conducted in accordance with the requirements which we have considered, is lawful and human rights compliant.” “Technology in the surveillance field appears to be advancing at breakneck speed. This has given rise to submissions that the UK legislation has failed to keep abreast of the consequences of these advances and is ill-fitted to do so; and that in any event parliament has failed to provide safeguards adequate to meet the developments.” The Tribunal said assumptions that UK spy agencies were able to monitor everything without oversight was incorrect. During the Tribunal, the government’s senior security officer Charles Farr explained how the UK government could monitor emails or phone calls made abroad, deeming them as “external communications,” although Farr said he “could not confirm or deny” that a spy program called Tempora existed. “The proceedings forced the government to disclose secret policies governing how foreign intelligence agencies, including the NSA, share information with GCHQ,” said Carly Nyst, Privacy International’s legal director. “Privacy International believes that the fact that these secret policies are only now public because we have forced their disclosure in court means that such rules could never make the actions of GCHQ in accordance with the law,” she said. “The IPT must find that secret law is not law, and should at the very least rule that all UK access to PRISM was unlawful prior to today.” Earlier this month, a damning report produced by the Intelligence and Security Committee revealed that GCHQ was receiving more information from the internet than it could feasibly process. Source      |
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Posted: 06 Dec 2014 01:49 PM PST
 Researchers found that overweight people, who had a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 29.9, were estimated to lose between zero and three years of expected life, according to a paper that appeared in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal on Friday. According to the research, people in the obese category, with a BMI of 30 to 34.9, lost between 0.8 and 5.9 years of life expectancy. The extremely obese, with a BMI of 35 or more, also lost between 0.9 and 8.4 years of life. However, the biggest area of concern is for young people who become obese, the study suggests. “The pattern is clear…The more an individual weighs and the younger their age, the greater the effect on their health…They have many years ahead of them, during which the increased health risks associated with obesity can negatively impact their lives,” said Steven Grover, a professor of epidemiology at Canada’s McGill University in Montreal. Grover and his team analyzed the risk of early death and ill health among adults of different body weight from data by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which monitored thousands of people over years. According to a study by the UK-based consulting firm McKinsey Global Institute, nearly half the world’s adult population will be overweight or obese by 2030 should present trends continue. Limiting the size of portions in packaged fast food, parental education, and introducing healthy meals in schools and workplaces are among some ways to prevent obesity. Source      |
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Posted: 06 Dec 2014 12:24 PM PST
 More evidence Congress is a subsidiary of Wall Street and the banks. On Friday Michael Krieger, the editor of Liberty Blitzkrieg, wrote about a behind the scenes effort by banksters to include a provision in government funding legislation that would make the Federal Deposit Corporation responsible for financial derivatives losses. Last October, Krieger wrote about a similar push to put American taxpayers on the hook for bankster gambling losses: Five years after the Wall Street coup of 2008, it appears the U.S. House of Representatives is as bought and paid for as ever. We heard about the Citigroup crafted legislation currently being pushed through Congress back in May when Mother Jones reported on it. The main backer of the bill was Goldman Sachs operative Jim Himes, a Democrat member of the House of Representatives. Himes, Krieger wrote, “discovered lobbyist payoffs can be just as lucrative as a career in financial services.” At the time, Himes and his colleagues launched a campaign to roll back 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, legislation showcased as a corrective for bankster abuse. Instead, Dodd-Frank codified “too big to fail,” hammered small business, protected bankster investors, jacked up the prices consumers pay for bank services, interfered with basic market functions, and set the stage for the next economic disaster planned by the financial elite. The effort by Himes and crew, according to Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform, would do “Wall Street’s bidding” and allow it to “write the law to its own benefit in ways that harm the public.” “After inflicting so much pain and suffering on the American people, now is not the time to let the largest banks back into the casino,” Representative Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement as legislation moved through the House. The bill was shot down and never made it into law, but that has not stopped the banksters and their operatives in Congress from reintroducing the legislation. “According to multiple Democratic sources, banks are pushing hard to include the controversial provision in funding legislation that would keep the government operating after Dec. 11. Top negotiators in the House are taking the derivatives provision seriously, and may include it in the final bill, the sources said,” Zach Carter wrote for Huffington Post on Friday. Many Democrats, however, fearing a political backlash, have stepped away from supporting “derivatives perks,” at least for now. They voted 2-to-1 against the bill in the House and it also appeared doomed in the Senate where Majority Leader Harry Reid failed to bring it up for a vote. Obama, FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, former House Financial Services Committee Chairman, and Democrats Barney Frank and Rep. Maxine Waters, currently the top Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, oppose the bill. Krieger, however, added an advisory to his Friday commentary: “Remember what Wall Street wants, Wall Street gets. Have a great weekend chumps.” Source      |
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Posted: 06 Dec 2014 11:52 AM PST
 Russia has warned France its failure to act on a bilateral contract to deliver a warship ordered by Moscow poses risk to Paris’ reputation. France has delayed taking the vessel to Russia, citing the situation in Ukraine. Ukraine’s eastern regions have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia protesters and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations there in mid-April. Kiev and its Western allies accuse Russia of arming the pro-Russia forces, an allegation Moscow denies. “I am a little fed up with this question. It is not our problem anymore. It is a problem of France’s reputation. They have to fulfill all the obligations under the contract,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. In line with the contract, France has to deliver to Russia two Mistral-class helicopter carriers it has built for Moscow. The first of the two assault ships, which can carry 16 helicopters, four landing crafts, 13 tanks, 450 soldiers and a hospital, was supposed to be delivered in November, according to the original deal signed in 2011. Source      |
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Posted: 06 Dec 2014 11:38 AM PST
 Hungary’s national sovereignty had come under US attack said the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban after Senator John McCain earlier criticized Budapest’s relations with Moscow and called the top official a “neo-fascist dictator.” “Hungary’s national independence is under attack here,” said Orban speaking on state Kossuth Radio on Friday. The prime minister added that McCain’s statements were “extreme manifestations” which only “reflect on the person who said them”. McCain’s comments on Tuesday came as a response to President Barack Obama’s appointment of Hollywood producer Colleen Bell as the new US ambassador to Budapest. During a highly charged speech at the US Senate, McCain said that he is “not against political appointees… I understand how the game is played, but … [Hungary] … is on the verge of ceding its sovereignty to a neo-fascist dictator getting in bed with Vladimir Putin, and we’re going to send the producer of ‘The Bold and The Beautiful’ as the ambassador.” Following McCain’s remarks, Hungary’s Foreign Ministry summoned the US charge d’affaires, Andre Goodfriend for an explanation of the senator’s statement. In turn Orban said that “the country’s independence in terms of energy, finances and trade relations is unappealing to those who profited from Hungary’s dependence prior to 2010.″ He added that the “the file on the South Stream gas pipeline is now closed” but Hungary’s interest has remained “to have a gas pipeline that arrives in Hungary avoiding Ukraine”. In the interview he pointed out that he “would not be a viceroy in Hungary commissioned by some foreign state”. Washington has been exerting heavy pressure on Hungary over the country’s decision to support South Stream gas pipeline and “fearing Moscow’s rapprochement with Budapest,” admitted Orban last month. Meanwhile, relations between Russia and Hungary were “entangled in geopolitical and military and security policy issues” he said as cited by AFP. The deal that would see Russia’s Rosatom expand Hungary’s nuclear power has also come under criticism from the US, the PM added. Under the €10 billion deal between the two countries, Rosatom will build a 2,000 megawatt addition to Hungary’s state-owned nuclear power plant MVM Paksi Atomeromu. Hungary is highly dependent on Russia’s energy and Moscow remains Budapest’s largest trade partner outside of the EU – in 2013 exports were worth $3.4 billion. Nevertheless Orban has said that Hungary seeks to lower dependence on external energy resources and the expansion of the nuclear plant was the “only possible means” to do it. “We don’t want to get close to anyone, and we don’t intend to move away from anybody,” Orban said. Source     |
