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Andre Vltchek
Counterpunch 2015-08-14 00:00:00
I don't really know, I don't understand how it feels: to live in a rich European country, which is rich mainly because it has been directly plundering many poor nations around the world. Or it has been plundering by association, through its membership in some extremist organization like NATO. To live there, refusing to acknowledge why it is rich, how it became rich. Palaces, theatres, railroads, hospitals and parks in that rich country are built on broken skeletons and restless specters, on lakes of blood and shameless theft.When one looted country after another begins to sink, when there is nothing left there, when children begin dying from hunger and when men commence fighting each other over tiny boulders and dirty pieces of turf, then pathetic boats or dinghies begin crossing the waterways, bringing half starved, half-mad refugees to the European sea-fronts decorated with marble. | |
Comment: Nearly half the population of Syria (11 million people) have been displaced from their homes. Global Trends report shows that many of the world's poorest countries are hosting huge refugee populations brought to them by the West's resource wars. As of the end of 2014, 59.5 million people were displaced...and that number increases daily. Countries neighboring conflict zones are suffering the brunt of human displacement, rather than the instigators and perpetrators of these 'hells on Earth'. It is only a matter of time before these host countries deteriorate and are crushed as well. The atrocities of Western pathocracy are on the rise, and Westerners remain largely oblivious of the human tsunami heading their way.
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| Puppet Masters |
Major transnational corporations, including Kraft, Motorola, Lenovo, Tyson and HTC have announced mass layoffs in recent days amid a boom in mergers and acquisitions, which are on track to hit a record this year. Processed foods maker Kraft Heinz Co said Wednesday that it would cut 2,500 jobs in North America, amounting to 5 percent of its global workforce. The announcement is the result of last month's $49 billion merger between Kraft and H.J. Heinz Co, in a deal orchestrated by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The announced layoffs will include 700 at the company's headquarters in Northfield, Illinois, near Chicago. Thousands more layoffs are expected as a result of the deal, as the company said it was "confident" that it would meet its estimated cost savings from the merger of $1.5 billion through 2017. On Thursday, Chinese computer maker Lenovo announced 3,200 layoffs, or 5 percent of its global workforce. The layoffs will be concentrated in the company's Motorola Mobility subsidiary, which this week announced an initial round of 500 layoffs in its Chicago-area headquarters. Another three hundred employees will lose their jobs with the closure of the company's facility in Plantation, Florida. Lenovo purchased Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014. Also Thursday, Smartphone maker HTC announced that it would slash 2,250 jobs, or 15 percent of its global workforce, by the end of the year. The company is seeking to cut costs by 35 percent. These layoffs follow last month's announcement by Microsoft that it would eliminate 7,800positions, mostly from its Nokia mobile phone division that it acquired in 2013. Only weeks later, San Diego-based semiconductor company Qualcomm Incorporated announced 4,700layoffs. | |
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Sputnik News
2015-08-16 05:16:00
The recently disclosed documents unveil that the National Security Agency owes its successful internet surveillance to its most devoted partner - AT&T Inc. It turns out that the NSA harbored especially warm feelings for its most fertile and "highly collaborative" partner, AT&T, even taking the trouble to remind its representatives to be nice to AT&T employees. "This is a partnership, not a contractual relationship," one of the documents reads. | |
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Grant Smith
Bloomberg 2015-08-14 02:23:00
If crude's slump back to a six-year low looks bad, it's even worse when you reflect that summer is supposed to be peak season for oil. U.S. crude futures have lost 30 percent since the start of June, set for the biggest drop since the West Texas Intermediate crude contract started trading in 1983. That beats the summer plunges during the global financial crisis of 2008, the Asian economic slump in 1998 and the global supply glut of 1986.
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Comment: Look out below. Looks like greed is triumphing over sensibility. Unfortunately these lower gas prices won't be able to help drive an economic recovery. It is another signal of the desperation of psychopaths to grab what market they can while they can.
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Lisa Abramowicz
Bloomberg 2015-08-14 22:11:00
Credit traders have an uncanny knack for sounding alarm bells well before stocks realize there's a problem. This time may be no different. Investors yanked $1.1 billion from U.S. investment-grade bond funds last week, the biggest withdrawal since 2013, according to data compiled by Wells Fargo & Co. Dollar-denominated company bonds of all ratings have lost 2.3 percent since the end of January, even as the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 5.7 percent. "Credit is the warning signal that everyone's been looking for," said Jim Bianco, founder of Bianco Research LLC in Chicago. "That is something that's been a very good leading indicator for the past 15 years." Bond buyers are less interested in piling into notes that yield a historically low 3.4 percent at a time when companies are increasingly using the proceeds for acquisitions, share buybacks and dividend payments. Also, the Federal Reserve is moving to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006, possibly as soon as next month, ending an era of unprecedented easy-money policies that have suppressed borrowing costs. | |
Comment: We continue to see warning signs that something is not right with the economy and something big is due to happen.
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| Society's Child |
An Alabama woman was beaten over several days until dead when she refused to give three women access to her boyfriend's food stamps, authorities say. A 911 call over screams heard inside of a mobile home in Birmingham led to the discovery of Miranda Michelle Lynch's battered body on a bathroom floor Friday, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. The 34-year-old woman's housemate, Karen Kirby, 57, was the only one found with her body. But it wasn't long before authorities say Kirby's daughter and a friend were collared in the monstrous crime too. Kirby, her daughter Susan Otts, 39, and Tamara Giarrusso, 43, were later arrested and charged with kidnapping and capital murder for the heinous attack that was described by one deputy as "driven by pure greed." "I didn't think this story could get any worse but obviously as we have learned, it can and it did,'' Chief Deputy Randy Christian told AL.com. | |
Comment: The economy hasn't truly collapsed yet. Imagine the chaos once it does.
Should one prepare for a collapse or not? | |
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RT
2015-08-16 15:53:00
One person has been killed and another injured after a light aircraft crashed onto a railroad track in Hicksville, Long Island, on Sunday morning. A small fire was reported at the scene of the incident. The plane crashed onto the tracks of South Oyster Road, according to Nassau County police, as cited by NBC New York. The Hawker Beechcraft BE35 light aircraft crashed at 07:48 ET (11:18 GMT). The plane had taken off from Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach and was heading towards Morristown in New Jersey, Nassau County Police Department spokesman Gary Shapiro said. However, the pilot had radioed to say that the aircraft was experiencing altitude difficulties before the crash took place.
A woman who works in the area said one of her co-workers heard the plane coming down, ran outside and pulled at least one person out of the plane. "My co-worker saw the plane upside down and said that plane's going down. He told me to call 911 and then I saw him pulling somebody out of the plane and putting them on the ground," said eyewitness Luz Perez, according to ABC New York. She said the person told a co-worker that there was one other person still in the plane. | ||
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Eric Draitser
New Eastern Outlook 2015-08-15 00:00:00
In yet another sickening display of ecocide and neocolonialism, an American dentist has set social media ablaze with his reprehensible killing for sport of Cecil, a majestic lion long since one of the major attractions in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Condemnations have poured in from all corners of the globe as animal rights activists, environmental justice advocates, and people of conscience have publicly condemned Cecil's killer, an dentist from Minnesota named Walter Palmer, for his despicable and illegal slaughter for sport of this powerful symbol of Zimbabwe, and the natural wonder of Africa. Palmer, a self-described "lover" of hunting, paid $55,000 to his local guides to aid in his killing of the beloved lion who lived on protected nature preserve land. Palmer has now become the target of an angry social media campaign that has gone mainstream as millions have directed their outrage at his disgusting act. However, in the midst of this firestorm of anger, it seems no one has paused to consider the symbolic and historic significance of this heinous act. While condemning Palmer individually, no media outlets deem it worthy to consider the fact that Palmer's crime is, in microcosm, an example of the sort of colonialist exploitation that the allegedly civilized West has perpetrated on Africa for more than five centuries. Indeed, the symbolic resonance of this episode goes far deeper than just the killing of a powerful emblem of Zimbabwe's independence. | |
Comment: Western nations would do well to consider that their policies may ultimately backfire. China is now investing in education and development in South Africa.
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Frank Cottrell Boyce
UK Independent 2015-08-15 21:00:00
Only 25 per cent of the population earns more than £30,000 a year. Most media commentators (including me) do. For people like me, the country basically works. Politics doesn't affect me. Politics, for me, is about how other people are treated. It's easy inside my echo-chamber to believe that I am the norm, or the middle. Easy to forget that there are voices outside. | |
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Imogen Calderwood
Daily Mail, UK 2015-08-16 10:10:00
Indonesian search and rescue agencies are hunting for a passenger plane that went missing over the remote eastern region of Papua, with 54 people on board. The Trigana Air ATR 42-300 turboprop plane failed to arrive at its destination of Oksibil as scheduled after contact was lost with the plane, according to the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS). According to the agency's official Twitter account, the domestic aircraft, belonging to the Indonesian Trigana Air Service, was carrying 44 adult passengers, five crew and five children and infants. | |
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Nicole Morley
Metro 2015-08-15 16:30:00
At least 40 people have died after apparently suffocating in the water-logged hold of a fishing boat in the Mediterranean. The boat, which was carrying migrants fleeing Libya, took on water and it's believed that victims suffocated after inhaling fumes from fuel. Italian Navy Commander Massimo Tozzi described the tragic scenes witnessed after his men boarded the boat. They found the dead in the hold 'immersed in water, fuel and human excrement'. Migrants who have arrived in Italy say human traffickers based in Libya charge them between $1,200 (£767) and $1,800 (£1150) for a place on the deck of boats. Those crammed in the hold pay about half as much as those above. Admiral Pierpaolo Libuffo, head of Italy's rescue operations, said 312 survivors had been taken on board, including 45 women and 3 children. He added that seven dead bodies had been recovered, but around 30 others were still in the hold. The boat was being towed to the Italian island of Lampedusa. 'Either the international community does something to resolve the Libyan situation or this will not be the last tragedy,' Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said. | |
Comment: This appalling and escalating humanitarian crisis has been created by years of Western exploitation and wars. Why are these men, women and children so utterly desperate to flee Libya? A once prosperous, peaceful country now devastated by NATO's version of 'freedom and democracy'.
Just as other cultures in recent times were forced to emigrate as a desperate necessity, these innocent people attempting to flee Africa, a continent raped and ravaged by Western imperialists and regime changers, are preyed upon mercilessly by unscrupulous 'people traffickers' in this morally bankrupt Europe Union.
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RT
2015-08-16 00:07:00
An area near a chemical plant in the Vigo County city of Terre Haute, Indiana has been evacuated and cordoned off, as witnesses reported feeling chemicals burning their lungs and throats. Officials have confirmed a spill of sulfur dioxide. Vigo County Central Dispatch has confirmed that chemicals were spilt at 2400 Erie Canal Road in the southern part of the city, which is where Hydrite Chemical Co. is located. Officials have urged people to stay out of the area, and not to leave their houses if they live near the spill.
While initial reports suggested there had been a sulfuric acid spill in the area, firefighters told News 10 the chemical was in fact sulfur dioxide. Sulfur dioxide is a colorless gas with a suffocating odor, which can cause serious or permanent injury when inhaled. | |
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| Secret History |
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Robin Whitlock
Ancient Origens 2015-08-16 14:54:00
Researchers have discovered unique inscriptions on the wall of a cave in China recording the effects of droughts on the local population over the course of 500 years. The inscriptions were found on the walls of Dayu Cave in the Qinling Mountains of central China by a team of international experts including scientists from the University of Cambridge in the UK. When there was a drought, people from the local area would go to the cave to collect water and to pray for rain. Some of them recorded the impacts of the drought by writing a graffiti-type scrawl on the yellow rock wall. Seven such droughts occurring between 1520 and 1920 were recorded in this way. For example, one of the inscriptions, from 1891, reads:
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Comment: For more information on the effects of long-term droughts on other ancient civilizations, see:
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| Science & Technology |
| No new articles. |
| Earth Changes |
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Joshua Krause
Activist Post 2015-08-16 20:46:00
When Japan decided it was going to begin the process of restarting many of their mothballed nuclear reactors last week, there was certainly cause for alarm. After all, it's not unheard of for a nuclear reactor to run into problems shortly after being started. When Japan made this announcement, The World Nuclear Association noted that "Of 14 reactors that resumed operations after four years offline, all had emergency shutdowns and technical failures." So it's safe to say that when 25 Japanese plants applied for restart permits, the international community was a little worried. Now it appears that some of those fears have been validated, though not in the way most people were expecting. The Sendai nuclear power plant was the first of those reactors to be restarted on Tuesday, an event which couldn't have come at a worse time. A volcano near the plant appears ready to blow its top. | |
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Alex Wakhisi
Standard Digital 2015-08-15 19:19:00
A sombre mood engulfed a village in Lugari, Kakamega County, following the death of five children struck by lightning. The five were among seven children playing at St Luke Lumakanda Secondary School in playground in Tekoa village when lightning struck, killing them instantly on Thursday. Lugari OCPD Benard Macharia said one child who survived the calamity was rushed to Lumakanda Hospital and later referred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret. "Seven children were playing when it started raining. They took shelter under a tree that was struck by lightning, killing five of them on the spot. One survivor is admitted at MTRH. Another did not incur any injuries as he had gone to collect the ball in the rain," said Macharia. Franklin Shoso, a class four pupil, escaped the ordeal narrowly. He had gone to collect the ball they were playing with when calamity struck. A shocked Shosho expressed his sorrow for losing his friends.
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The New Indian Express
2015-08-15 19:08:00
At least seven people, including three children, were killed and 21 injured on Saturday in Assam after lightning hit the boat they were travelling in across the Beki river, officials said. The incident took place in Barpeta district, the officials said. The injured people were admitted to Barpeta Medical College and Hospital. Doctors said most of them received burn injuries and the condition of three of them was serious. Source: Indo-Asian News Service | |
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Second persistent heat wave of the summer season has set more temperature records in parts of Europe, during last week. Poland, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Belarus and Lithuania reported new all-time records, while the hot conditions are forecasted to last across most of the eastern Europe until early next week. High temperatures in Poland caused the national power suppliers to cut off the electricity to factories for a few days on August 10, as the period of extended heat caused the water levels to drop, in rivers used to cool the power plants.
A historic record was set in Wroclaw, Poland on August 8 when temperatures hit 38.9 ºC (102 ºF), weather records researcher Maximiliano Herrera reported. Usually, temperatures average 23 ºC (74 ºF) this time of year in Wroclaw. | ||
Comment: Heat waves are being reported all over the world:
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Kiri Blakeley
Daily Mail (UK) 2015-08-15 23:45:00
New Yorkers ran for cover as manhole covers rained down on a busy city street on Friday at lunch time when three manholes exploded into a fiery flame just feet from each other. The explosions all rocked the corner of 45th and 9th Avenue on Manhattan's West Side around noon. Lea Debressey, who was on her way to dance class, managed to take video with her cell phone just as one manhole cover burst into a jet of fire. 'It was really scary. It was shocking, this explosion,' she told PIX 11.
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Comment: This is just the latest of an increasing number of underground explosions - with no sign of 'snow and salt', the typical combination attributed to such incidents!
Only last week a manhole cover blasted through the floor of a moving New York City businjuring a passenger. Last month another Manhattan manhole explosion sent thick black smoke billowing into the air. Could some of these incidents be related to increased 'outgassing' as Earth 'opens up' from a build up of methane and other gases from deep below the planet's surface which isigniting? | ||
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Stamford Advocate
2015-08-16 04:22:00
A 70-year-old woman was killed when she fell while preparing to flee from a wildfire expanding quickly east of Lewiston, the Idaho County Sheriff's Department said Saturday. Authorities said Cheryl Lee Wissler of Adams Grade died Friday from a head injury she sustained when she fell. An estimated 30 homes and 75 other structures were lost to the blaze, the sheriff's department said. The fire is surrounding the small town of Kamiah, about 60 miles east of Lewiston, and burned to the edge of Clearwater River, directly across the water from downtown. The blaze is one of dozens taxing fire crews across the Pacific Northwest. Wildfires have destroyed dozens of homes in Oregon, Idaho and Washington, forced thousands of evacuations throughout the region and left at least 9,000 without power in eastern Washington. Many of the fires were started by lighting from a storm that swept through the region. They grew quickly in hot weather, fueled by bone-dry vegetation. | |
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abc.net.au
2015-08-16 14:12:00
A South Australian woman has filmed the moment she was chased by a seemingly fearless koala while she was riding a quad bike. Ebony Churchill caught the strange experience on camera posted it to her Facebook page. "Far out, it's coming!" she is heard saying. "Get away!" After she stopped, the determined marsupial caught up to her and proceeded to climb on to the rear wheel of the motorbike. "It's on the bike. Piss off!" Ms Churchill said. "I don't know what I'm going to do now."
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Comment: See also: Woman left bloodied after attack by koala in Willaston, Australia
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Express and Star
2015-08-12 13:53:00
There have been nearly 200 dog attacks in Wolverhampton in the last five years, leading to more than 100 animals seized and 65 destroyed. Last year alone, there were 48 attacks, with 32 dogs seized and 14 put down - although this number may increase as some cases are still in the judicial system awaiting decision. A Freedom of Information request revealed the number of dog attacks in the city has seen a sharp increase since 2011, with the figure more than doubling from 2012 when there were 23 attacks. The number of dogs being seized and destroyed has also seen an increase over the past five years, with the number of destructions more than trebling between 2012/13 to 2013/14 as it went from seven to 26. There were 32 dog seizures both last year and the year before. | |
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Lucy Mae Beers
Daily Mail, UK 2015-08-15 13:23:00
A seemingly straightforward rescue mission turned serious after rescuers attempting to free a young humpback whale from netting were paid a visit by its' much larger friend. The animal was in obvious distress and had laboured movements as it dragged heavy netting in the Gold Coast Bay on Saturday morning. The rescue undertaken by a Sea World crew took an exhausting five hours after their efforts were impeded by another larger humpback whale, which protectively breached and rolled over, forcing the boats to retreat.
The creature was initially spotted by whale watchers and again by tourists, who could not believe their luck the whale remained close to their boat, 7 News reported. They realised the animal was in extreme distress after noticing it could not lift its tail out of the water due to a heavy weight pressing down on it.
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