| Puppet Masters |
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RT
2015-08-25 18:59:00
Rewriting history shatters the pillars of the world order perpetuated by the UN Charter, Russia's foreign minister said in an article published in Russian and Chinese media. The world's fate cannot be held in the hands of just one state, he added. Sergey Lavrov's article 'History Lessons and New Frontiers' has been published in RussianRossiyskaya Gazeta and the Chinese People's Daily along with a piece by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi. "Today we see barefaced craving to falsify the history of war (WWII) and equalize victims and slaughterers. This urge does not only revolt feelings of our people, but also undermines the basis of the modern world order perpetuated in the United Nations' Statute," Lavrov wrote. It is highly important that Russia and China present a united front in persistently presenting the historical truth, Lavrov stressed, paying special attention to the significance of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visit to Russia on the Victory Day and the march of Chinese soldiers on Red Square during the celebrations. | |
Comment: It's easy to see why Russia and China are painted as villains by the West when you read Lavrov's words. The U.S. believes in the exact opposite of what they do. Since the leaders of the U.S. are bound and determined to hold full hegemonic control of the world, they cannot let either country get enough control to change the global geopolitical makeup. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for humanity, they are failing.
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Catherine Shakdam
RT 2015-08-25 18:47:00
Blanketed by its wealth and protected by political alliances, Saudi Arabia has covertly run and promoted a new movement in the Middle East: religious eugenics, under the false pretense of opposing the rise of Iran. From Syria to Bahrain and Yemen the evidence is overwhelming. Earlier this August, the Red Cross added its voice to those of other humanitarian and rights groups in its condemnation of Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, lifting the lid on Riyadh's little house of horrors in southern Arabia. In no uncertain terms Peter Maurer, the head of the international Red Cross told reporters he had seldom witnessed such degree of devastation. He said: "Yemen after five months looks like Syria after five years ... The images I have from Sanaa and Aden remind of what I have seen in Syria." He stressed "the firepower with which this war is fought on the ground and in the air is causing more suffering than in other societies, which are stronger and where infrastructures are better off and people are wealthier and have reserves and can escape." A country in ruins, Yemen is also a nation in permanent mourning, as every day its people are relentlessly slain - casualties of a violent and murderous colonial war - the latest victims of Riyadh's expansionist military campaign in the Middle East. | |
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Pepe Escobar
Sputnik News 2015-08-25 16:58:00
Not a week goes by without the Pentagon carping about an ominous Russian "threat". Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey entered certified Donald "known unknown" Rumsfeld territory when he recently tried to conceptualize the "threat"; "Threats are the combination, or the aggregate, of capabilities and intentions. Let me set aside for the moment, intentions, because I don't know what Russia intends." So Dempsey admits he does not know what he's talking about. What he seems to know is that Russia is a "threat" anyway — in space, cyber space, ground-based cruise missiles, submarines. And most of all, a threat to NATO; "One of the things that Russia does seem to do is either discredit, or even more ominously, create the conditions for the failure of NATO." So Russia "does seem" to discredit an already self-discredited NATO. That's not much of a "threat". All these rhetorical games take place while NATO "does seem" to get ready for a direct confrontation with Russia. And make no mistake; Moscow does view NATO's belligerence as a real threat. | |
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Finian Cunningham
RT 2015-08-24 16:25:00
In the latest atrocity in Yemen, Saudi warplanes bombed a residential area, killing at least 65 people. Most of the victims are reported to be civilians from the Salah district of Taiz, Yemen's third largest city. The apparent war crime committed has tragically become an almost daily occurrence during five months of relentless aerial bombardment of Yemen by a Western-backed coalition of foreign powers. In recent days, there were similar air strikes on civilian centers in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida and the northern province of Saada. In the Hodeida strike, which killed several dock workers, the British charity Save the Children said it believed the attack was a deliberate bid by the Saudis to sabotage aid supplies to the civilian population. Surely, this should be front page news, with CNN, the BBC and France 24, among other big Western media outlets, splashing it as their top story. The onus is on them because their governments are implicated in grave crimes. However, there has been no news coverage of the tragic events. Aside from some brief, vague reports of a generalized humanitarian crisis, there has been a wall of silence as to how the Western-backed Saudi-led coalition is pulverizing Yemeni civilians and creating the crisis. That suggests a deliberate blackout by Western media.
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RT
2015-08-24 20:49:00
Baltimore PD, like many other US police forces, increasingly employs indiscriminate 'Stingray' surveillance technology for common, petty crimes while concealing that usage from suspects, their attorneys, and judges, according to a new report. Long billed as a groundbreaking tool to thwart terror plots or other major crimes, a suitcase-sized cell-site simulator was used by the Baltimore Police Department to nab a phone thief, catch a woman who sent "threatening and annoying" text messages, and someone who stole credit cards to pay two months' rent at a self-storage unit. Surveillance records show that Baltimore police used stingray technology in 837 criminal cases identified by USA Today. In addition, Baltimore authorities routinely hid proof of stingray usage in court, with about a third of cases ending up in dismissal and only about a 50-percent conviction rate. Maryland state law requires defense lawyers to be told about any use of electronic surveillance. | |
Comment: See also:
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teleSUR
2015-08-22 15:46:00
The Guardian's columnist David Hill wrote an article on recent opposition riots in Ecuador. It is one-sided and full of misrepresentations. Here is why. A recent article by The Guardian's environment writer David Hill on the recent protests in the Ecuador was titled "Protests by 1,000s of Ecuadorians met with brutal repression." It claimed the police were teargassing and clubbing protesters in capital Quito, while in other regions the police were "specifically targeting female protestors' 'intimate parts.'" While Hill's bio on The Guardian states that he is a "freelance writer based in the Amazon," teleSUR English is based in Quito and has been covering the protests in the country over the past few months and was on the ground and witnessed and reported significantly different scenes from this week's protests in Quito. teleSUR English's team put together a video that demonstrates how Hill's article was riddled with errors and misrepresentations and how The Guardian got Latin America wrong, yet again.
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Gordon Duff
New Eastern Outlook 2015-08-25 04:31:00
Israel's broad air assault on Syria has nothing to do with retaliation, no more than the massive assault on Gaza had anything to do with Hamas rocket assaults on Israeli villages, assaults confirmed only by Israeli sources. There is a real purpose to the timing of this Israeli attack and that is the promise of Russia to deliver a fully upgraded S300 system to Iran, one that totally nullifies Israel's air advantage and even Israel's ability to hit Iran with nuclear armed ICBMs. The recent attack on Syria is, in actuality, an attempt on Israel's part to discredit President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. What few if any in the west understand is how thoroughly Putin has humiliated Netanyahu, a man whose mental stability has long been in question. Comment: Yes, Russia is a big thorn in the side of the world's real terrorists: | |
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RT
2015-08-25 04:25:00
The idea of partition for Iraq would never be agreed by Moscow, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said, stressing that this kind of 'state structure manipulation' is obsolete and Iraqis should define the future of their country themselves "We would never adopt a position voiced without any constraint by US Vice President Joe Biden, who said directly that Iraq should be split into Shia and Sunni parts and that the Kurds should be given what they want," Lavrov told the participants of the youth forum 'Territory of meanings' near Moscow. Lavrov labeled Biden's position as "highly irresponsible and what's more important - unacceptable," because someone from overseas is lecturing Iraqi people on what to do with their country. | |
Comment: Also see: Why Israel is in love with Kurdistan
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Stephen Lendman
Global Research 2015-08-25 04:28:00
A year after Israel launched premeditated aggression on Gaza last July, the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement said: Unemployment exceeds 40% - for youths around 60%. "(N)o significant rebuilding is taking place and civilian infrastructure has not even been restored to its state prior to the operation. Poverty and aid dependence are rampant." Widespread destruction was overwhelming. | |
Comment: Also see: The historical perspective of the 2014 Gaza Massacre
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Andrew Tilghman
Defense News 2015-08-21 01:16:00
U.S. military officials in Iraq have issued preliminary confirmation that Islamic State militants used mustard gas in a mortar attack on Kurdish forces in August, a Defense Department official said. After an Aug. 11 attack that reportedly sickened dozens of Kurdish troops, the Kurds provided U.S. officials with fragments of shells that later tested positive for the presence of "HD, or what is known as sulfur mustard," said Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Killea, chief of staff for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. The attack occurred in the town of Makhmour in northern Iraq near the front lines of the Kurdish forces' fight against the Islamic State, according to Killea, who briefed reporters at the Pentagon on Friday. Killea cautioned that this was a "presumptive field test," and further analysis is needed to possibly determine the source of the chemical weapon. Both Iraq and Syria have in the past maintained stockpiles of chemical weapons, and U.S. officials say it is unclear whether the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, has seized any of those weapons. | |
Comment:
The Facts About Mustard Gas
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Sputnik
2015-08-25 12:25:00
The United States continues to flex its muscles and provoke Russia - the US Air Force announced it would deploy its F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to Europe to "enhance regional security." Officially, the move is to show US allies in Europe Washington's "commitment to the security and stability" on the continent, linking it to the Ukrainian crisis. "Russia's military activity in the Ukraine continues to be of great concern to us and to our European allies," the air force secretary, Deborah James, told a news conference at the Pentagon. Comment: Great concern? What about US military activity in the Ukraine? Does Russia have military advisors and trainers in Ukraine? Putin's economic advisor spells out joint Nazi-NeoCon strategy in Ukraine: 'U.S. militarizing Ukraine to invade Russia' The exact details, such as the specific number of planes, date of deployment or location were not revealed, but the F-22 deployment will be in line with "a strong and balanced approach to Russia," the Guardian reported. Although the Americans tried to justify the deployment as providing security to their European allies, the move in itself is provocative and may trigger counter measures from Russia. Battle-ready US aircraft flying in the immediate proximity from Russian borders is akin to Russian war planes patrolling the Gulf of Mexico or the coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia, right next to the US border. | |
Comment: See also:
Analyst warns Russia will respond to F-22 deployment in Europe | |
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Paul Buchheit
Common Dreams 2015-08-24 00:00:00
To followers of Ayn Rand and Ronald Reagan, and to all the business people who despise government, 'community' is a form of 'communism.' Even taking the train is too communal for them. Americans have been led to believe that only individuals matter, that every person should fend for him/herself, that "winner-take-all" is the ultimate goal, and that the winners have no responsibility to others. To the capitalist, everything is a potential market. Education, health care, even the right to water. But with every market failure it becomes more clear that basic human rights can't be bought and sold like cars and cell phones. The pursuit of profit, when essential needs are part of the product, means that not everyone will be able to pay the price. Some will be denied those essential needs. | |
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John W. Whitehead
The Rutherfod Institute 2015-08-25 04:33:00
There's an ill will blowing across the country. The economy is tanking. The people aredirectionless, and politics provides no answer. And like former regimes, the militarized police have stepped up to provide a façade of law and order manifested by an overt violence against the citizenry. Despite the revelations of the past several years, nothing has changed to push back against the American police state. Our freedoms—especially the Fourth Amendment—continue to be choked out by a prevailing view among government bureaucrats that they have the right to search, seize, strip, scan, spy on, probe, pat down, taser, and arrest any individual at any time and for the slightest provocation. Despite the recent outrage and protests, nothing has changed to restore us to our rightful role as having dominion over our bodies, our lives and our property, especially when it comes to interactions with the government. Forced cavity searches, forced colonoscopies, forced blood draws, forced breath-alcohol tests, forced DNA extractions, forced eye scans, forced inclusion in biometric databases—these are just a few ways in which Americans continue to be reminded that we have no control over what happens to our bodies during an encounter with government officials. Thus far, the courts have done little to preserve our Fourth Amendment rights, let alone what shreds of bodily integrity remain to us. Indeed, on a daily basis, Americans are being forced to relinquish the most intimate details of who we are—our biological makeup, our genetic blueprints, and our biometrics (facial characteristics and structure, fingerprints, iris scans, etc.)—in order to clear the nearly insurmountable hurdle that increasingly defines life in the United States. In other words, we are all guilty until proven innocent. Worst of all, it seems as if nothing will change as long as the American people remain distracted by politics, divided by their own prejudices, and brainwashed into believing that the Constitution still reigns supreme as the law of the land, when in fact, we have almost completed the shift into fascism. In other words, despite our occasional bursts of outrage over abusive police practices, sporadic calls for government reform, and periodic bouts of awareness that all is not what it seems, the police state continues to march steadily onward. Such is life in America today that individuals are being threatened with arrest and carted off to jail for the least hint of noncompliance, homes are being raided by police under the slightest pretext, and roadside police stops have devolved into government-sanctioned exercises in humiliation and degradation with a complete disregard for privacy and human dignity. | |
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Tony Cartalucci
AltThaiNews 2015-08-22 22:13:00
The investigation continues into a powerful bomb that tore through downtown Bangkok Monday, killing 20 and injuring over 100 more. The attack was timed as the current government reshuffled top positions, the new national charter prepared to move forward, and ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra faced the loss of his police rank. The investigation faces many technical challenges but as the government, police, and military attempt to carry it out, the Western media has attempted to "take over" and begin its own investigation, carried out by unqualified pundits and subjected to public opinion rather than actual fact. The objective of the Western media is not truth, but rather to undermine the current government while attempting to exonerate Thaksin Shinawatra - leader of an ousted client regime groomed by and in the service of Western interests since as early as the 1990's. To confront this intentional, politically motivated manipulation, it may be useful to examine several key questions facing any investigation and answer them with what real evidence now stands. | |
Comment: The mainstream media does not exist to provide objective reporting or analysis of current events. Rather, they use current events as the 'raw material' for constructing stories that support the grand narratives their masters in the corporate/political/banking world would like to see propagated. It's the same story over and over. Case in point: MH17. It doesn't matter what actually happened; the question is simply, "How can this be framed to support our current anti-Putin campaign?" So, was this Thai 'raw material' just utilized as a 'media crime of opportunity', or was it purposefully planned for just that purpose? The result is the same either way: destabilizing Thailand and discrediting the pro-China Thai government.
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Middle East Online
2015-08-23 00:00:00
PLO leadership asks Palestine National Council to meet in one month to elect new executive committee. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas resigned Saturday as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Executive Committee in a bid to force new elections for the top body, an official said. Wassel Abu Yussef said that more than half of the 18-member committee had also stepped down. "The resignation of the president of the executive committee Mahmud Abbas and more than half of its members has created a legal vacuum, and therefore the Palestine National Council has been asked to meet in one month to elect a new executive committee," Yussef said. Yussef added, however, that the resignations will take effect only when the PNC meets. The PNC, or Palestinian parliament, has 740 members who live in the Palestinian territories and in the diaspora. It has not met in nearly 20 years. The executive committee is the PLO's highest decision-making body and acts on behalf of Palestinians in the occupied territories and the diaspora, namely in the peace process with Israel. | |
Comment: "The Palestinian National Authority will not turn a blind eye to the shedding of the blood of our people and our children. We can never accept opening fire at our children who pose no danger at all." Abbas said the Palestinian children "are as precious to their parents as the Israeli children to their parents."-April 9, 2006
Mahmoud Abbas has been a crucial figure in Palestine's struggle and survival. He opened the way for Palestine to pursue Israel for war crimes with the ICC. Mr. Abbas authoredThe Secret Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement andThe Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism. | |
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| Society's Child |
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RT
2015-07-21 19:30:00
Around 22 percent of American children lived below the federal poverty line in 2013, up from 18 percent in 2008, according to a new report. Black, Hispanic, and American Indian children were twice as likely to live in poverty as whites. The 2015 Kids Count Data Book ‒ released Tuesday by the non-profit group Annie E. Casey Foundation ‒ was compiled using federal government data collected from 2008 to 2013 to determine state-based trends pertaining to 16 factors related to quality of life for young children. Those factors include health, family life, community, and education. The 16.1 million children living in poverty in 2013 counts for nearly 3 million more than those living in poverty in 2008, the beginning of the Great Recession. More than two million more children live in areas of concentrated poverty compared to 2006 to 2010, the report found. The federal poverty line in 2013 was considered to be $23,624 income for a family with two adults and two children. "Although we are several years past the end of the recession, millions of families still have not benefited from the economic recovery," said Patrick McCarthy, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation. "While we've seen an increase in employment in recent years, many of these jobs are low-wage and cannot support even basic family expenses. Far too many families are still struggling to provide for the day-to-day needs of their children, notably for the 16 million kids who are living in poverty." | |
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RT
2015-08-25 17:07:00
Although the US accounts for just 5 percent of the world's population, it was home to almost one-third of the world's mass shootings between 1966 and 2012. A new study says the rate is due to shattered "American dreams" and the ease of gun ownership. The research - titled 'Mass Shooters, Firearms, and Social Strains: A Global Analysis of an Exceptionally American Problem' - is the first quantitative analysis of all reported public mass shootings around the world. The study was presented at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in Chicago on Sunday. Analyzing data from 171 countries between 1966 and 2012, study author and University of Alabama Criminal Justice Professor Adam Lankford found that the US had by far the most public mass shooters, totaling 90 in the 46-year period - or 31 percent of the world's shootings. That figure is five times more than the second-placed country, the Philippines, which had 18 mass shootings. | |
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Araz Hachadourian
YES! Magazine 2015-08-17 14:28:00
Jerry Ashton and Craig Antico spent decades hounding debtors to pay their bills—until an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street inspired them to find a way to pay struggling people's debts. When Paola Gonzalez received a phone call from RIP Medical Debt, she was certain what she heard was a mistake. A prank, maybe. The caller said a $950 hospital bill had been paid for in full: It would not affect her credit and she wouldn't have to worry about it again. "They wanted to pay a bill for me," she said. "I was just speechless." The 24-year-old student from Roselle Park, New Jersey, has lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that in 2011 put her in and out of hospitals for a year. Even with insurance she faces a barrage of medical bills that often get pushed aside. "I can't always work," Gonzalez said. "I'll be fine today and sick tomorrow. It's really amazing that people would help out like this. Gonzalez is one of many people who have had a debt paid by RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit founded by two former debt collectors, Jerry Ashton and Craig Antico, that buys debt on the open market and then abolishes it, no strings attached. In the year since RIP Medical Debt started, the group has abolished just under $400,000, according to Antico. On July 4, it launched a year-long campaign to raise $177,600 in donations, which it will use to abolish $17.6 million of other people's debt. Millions of people are, in Ashton's words, "sitting at the kitchen table and you have to decide, 'Do I buy medication today or do I pay the water bill or do I pay the debt collector?'... We decided we should take the debt collector out of the equation." | |
Comment: Ashton and Antico, led by the example of Occupy Wall Street have shown the system can be bucked by creatively using its own rules.
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Josh Mur
Natural Blaze 2015-08-24 00:00:00
The fact that the general population is unfit to properly diagnose serious illnesses and identify certain injuries makes the trust between the doctor and patient virtually sacred. Today, over 12,000 different diseases, deformities, and injuries have been identified ─ giving people good reason to want to trust their doctors. Though a great deal of practitioners can be trustworthy, it is always wise to ask questions during checkups, for the untrustworthy are still capable of becoming doctors. Dr. Sean Orr is the former head of neurology for Baptist Health and one of the doctorsaccused of violating that sacred trust on multiple occasions. In 2013, Dr. Orr's license was suspended for a year after he faced allegations of sexual misconduct with one of his patients from 2011. Dr. Orr used his position of authority to trick his patient into having sexual relations with him, even claiming that the relationship would benefit her health. | |
Comment: If the medical-pharmaceutical industry wasn't so corrupt, this doctor and many like him would not be given a free pass to prey on unsuspecting patients. What ever happened to 'First do no harm"?
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RT
2015-08-25 07:33:00
A petition calling on the UK government to arrest Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes in Gaza when he arrives in London has garnered more than 80,000 signatures. But David Cameron's government says no way: Netanyahu has diplomatic immunity. The petition, posted on the UK government's website, has already been signed by some 81,000 Brits. Its initiator, Damian Moran, claims that under international law, the Israeli prime minister can be detained when he comes to the British capital in September "for the massacre of over 2,000 [Palestinian] civilians" during the 51-day offensive by the Israeli Defense Force in Gaza last year. The number of signatures has doubled in the last two weeks.
If the petition garners 100,000 signatures by February 7, 2016, the UK parliament is required by law to debate it. However, Moran, the petition's author, said he "doesn't expect him [Netanyahu] to get arrested because of the universal jurisdiction laws." He added: "It is a clear message to him that there's a massive amount of people who don't want him here." | |
Comment: Sott focus article: Israeli Collaborators, Provocateur Rocketeers and Cynical Ceasefires
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Charles Topher
Addicting Info 2015-08-24 16:30:00
An off-campus house full of male college students, (calling them 'men' would be inappropriate), in Norfolk, Virginia is under fire and facing disciplinary action for displaying signs about what the culture of college rape has been teaching these kids for years: It's not about learning not to rape women, it's about women learning to not get raped. The signs, displayed proudly just down the street from Old Dominion University, directed parents to the "freshman daughter drop off," with an arrow pointing to their door. Another said, "Rowdy And Fun - Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time." One last sign said, "Go ahead and drop off Mom too." These extremely disturbing signs were hanging from the house as freshman girls were coming into town to start their new lives. Most likely anxious about the start of something so exciting, their first impression is now one of sexual harassment; a confession from their fellow students that what they've heard about campus rape is very much true. A Virginia man took a photo of the signs and posted it to Facebook. Since deleted, the image is now circulating via a story in the Huffington Post: University President John R. Broderick wrote a letter to the college community denouncing the signs on Saturday, saying: "I am outraged about the offensive message directed toward women that was visible for a time on 43rd Street. I said at my State of the University address that there is zero tolerance on this campus for sexual assault and sexual harassment. This incident will be reviewed immediately by those on campus empowered to do so. Any student found to have violated the code of conduct will be subject to disciplinary action." | |
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| Secret History |
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| Science & Technology |
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Aaron Krumins
Extreme Tech 2015-08-24 12:16:00
Amidst the staggering diversity that is life on earth, there is a surprising thread of commonality. That shared ground is the language of genetics. Prior to the discovery of DNA, few suspected that a single molecular code could underpin such a panoply of biological forms - everything from viruses to talking apes. Even more startling was the discovery that this code consisted of a molecular language only four base pairs in length. It took evolution a billion years to devise this four-letter chemical code. Now for the first time in recorded history, organisms with a new, expanded, genetic code are taking shape in the laboratory. It's no exaggeration to say that life on earth will never be the same. While the playboy of biology, Craig Venter, has stolen many of the recent headlines in regards to synthetic biology, the more interesting advances in the field are occurring with surprisingly little fanfare. And not without good reason: many of the corporate labs pursuing synthetic biology have little cause to draw excess attention to themselves. They've learned all too well from the disastrous backlash against genetically modified foods that the public is not necessarily the wisest arbiter of scientific advancement. If we were to ban GMO crops tomorrow, half the population of the world would starve in short order. Yet this seems to be precisely what a large percentage of the "well-fed" in places like the United States are angling for. But I digress. In a development sure to have far reaching repercussions, scientists working at the drug discovery company called Synthorx quietly announced that it is using an expanded version of the genetic alphabet, one that includes two novel base pairs dubbed X and Y, to create a type of E. coli bacteria never before seen on the face of the earth. While the potential for using these new, hybrid life forms to create wonder drugs is indeed enormous, that is merely the tip of the iceberg. The addition of two base pairs to the four letter DNA code effectively raises the number of possible amino acids an organism could use to build proteins from 20 to 172. | |
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| Earth Changes |
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kgw.com
2015-08-25 20:16:00
Hundreds of birds are washing ashore either dead or dying along the Oregon and Southwest Washington Coast. The majority of them are common murres, which are a type of large auk bird. Researchers say that the die-off started about three weeks ago. Since then the Wildlife Center of the North Coast, which helps rehabilitate sick or injured sea-birds, has been getting calls daily about the problem. Right now - they are caring for close to a hundred birds- with about ten common murres coming in daily. Almost all of them are starving. "They're totally emaciated, sometimes there's injuries, other times there's not," said Laurel Berblinger, a volunteer at the center.
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RT
2015-08-25 20:01:00
Nearly 2,000 tons of sewage has polluted Honolulu's renowned Waikiki Beach due to heavy downpour brought by Tropical Storm Kilo. Flooded with rainwater, the local sewer system spilled out onto the streets and drained into the surf. Wastewater erupted in fountains from manholes and streamed down into the ocean through the beach area of the popular tourist destination hosting some of Hawaii's biggest hotels, Lori Kahikina, Honolulu director of environmental services, told reporters according to NBC affiliate KHNL. The now-closed beach area is nearly 6.5 kilometers long, stretching from Kapahulu Avenue in Waikiki to Point Panic in Kakaako. | |
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news24.com
2015-08-25 20:06:00
A Zimbabwean man has been trampled to death by an elephant in the top resort town of Victoria Falls, the authorities announced on Tuesday. The 32-year-old man was a curio seller in the town. The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said in a statement that he was killed on Sunday. The man, who was with a friend, came face-to-face with a female elephant with a calf. "It is reported that the elephant charged at them and the two tried to escape, [but] unfortunately one was attacked and killed," said the parks authority. The state-run Chronicle newspaper identified the dead man as Member Ncube. | |
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cbc.ca
2015-08-25 19:22:00
Fisheries and Oceans Canada is investigating after a bowhead whale was found dead on the Northwest Territories' Arctic coastline. The cause of the whale's death is so far undetermined but there is no reason to link it to 30 dead whales found this summer in Alaska and six found off British Columbia, said a spokesperson for the department in an email. Fisheries and Oceans Canada received a report of a beached bowhead whale near Toker Point, about 25 kilometres north of Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., last Thursday. The spokesperson says beachcast bowheads are not uncommon in the area, with 24 events on record between 1987 and 2014. | |
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Andrew Hamilton
Irish Examiner 2015-08-25 19:14:00
A Minke whale, washed ashore in north Clare 13 days ago, will be allowed to decompose naturally rather than being removed by the authorities. The mature whale was roughly six metres long and was estimated to weigh in excess of six tonnes. The female mammal came in with the tide on August 12, at an area known as Hayes Hole between Doolin and Liscannor. Located at a difficult-to-reach spot, it is close to a popular bathing area at Clahane. The county council said it would be impossible to remove an animal of that size from an inaccessible location. Experts from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) have examined the whale and advised that the carcass did not currently pose a risk to public health. | |
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Euronews
2015-08-25 11:39:00
The state of Washington, in the North-west of the United States, is battling its largest wildfire on record. The flames have devoured more than 1,000 square kilometers of land so far, burning over 200 homes and now threatening thousands more. Heavy smoke has grounded firefighting airplanes and helicopters, making it difficult to contain the flames. At Okanogan county, near the Canadian border, Incident commander Todd Pechota said firefighters were gradually making progress against the fires.
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Comment: It is not only volunteer firefighters from Australia and New Zealand who are assisting with these unprecedented US wildfires. In California, 4000 PRISONERS not firefighters have been tasked with putting out raging wildfires there!
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RT
2015-08-25 16:34:00
The death of 30 whales off the coast of Alaska may be linked to a rapid growth of toxic phytoplankton in the local marine environment that can paralyze as well as kill, a University of Alaska scientist told RT. While a federal investigation has been opened into the giant mammals' mysterious demise - a situation that's been labeled an "unusual mortality event" - one of the leading theories is that an algal bloom is to blame, as they have been the cause of many similar events in the past. "It's a bloom of phytoplankton in the ocean that actually releases toxins," Dr. Bree Witteveen, a marine mammal specialist at the University of Alaska, told RT. "Those get accumulated into various preys and it works its way up the food chain, and can cause paralysis and death." She added that these whales were not beaching themselves, but had died at sea and were washed ashore. It's not exactly surprising for dead whales to wash ashore, but the number of instances recorded this year is particularly unusual.
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Comment: There has been a spate of whale deaths recently. Something is certainly up in the oceans;
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Colin Packham
Reuters 2015-08-25 08:00:00
An intensifying El Nino may bring the worst drought in 20 years to Papua New Guinea, the country's prime minister said, raising fears that production of the country's critical agricultural commodities may drop. Dry weather has gripped much of Papua New Guinea in recent months, while frosts in the last fortnight in the country's highland regions have destroyed vital food supplies, the government said late on Monday. The El Nino is typically linked to dryness and frosts are often an early symptom of the phenomenon, weather experts say. Prime Minister Peter O'Neill warned of an escalation of unfavorable conditions across the rest of Papua New Guinea as the El Nino strengthens over the next few months. | |
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