Home Blog Page 115

New York Payphones to Become Wi-Fi Hotspots

-
0

New Yorkers may soon have access to $200 million worth of free Wi-Fi hotspots, thanks to a Google supported startup called Sidewalk Labs. The company hopes to improve city life through technology and said it plans to make Wi-Fi hotspots out of the city’s existing payphones.

Sidewalk is one of several investor groups purchasing two New York companies that are leading the charge to turn 11,000 existing and disused payphone sites into information kiosks and Wi-Fi hotspots which would supply Wi-Fi connections within a 150 ft circumference. The kiosks would also provide free phone call ability nationwide and have interactive screen access to local services and information.

The free service would be paid for by advertisements displayed on the interactive screens with part of the projected $500 million advertising revenue going to the City.

Dan Doctoroff,CEO of Sidewalk Labs said former deputy mayor of New York said “by integrating new technologies into existing infrastructure, cities can reinvent these assets – providing not just more modern, free services to citizens but even more revenue to cities.”

Google CEO Larry Page whose company is helping bankroll the project said Sidewalk Labs was similar to Google X, the lab within Google that was concentrating on “moonshot” projects like self driving cars and a network of internet-connected balloons to provide communication access networks to remote areas.

It is expected the New York Sidewalk Labs project will take 12 years to complete. The company has plans to roll out similar projects in other cities.

Physically Healthy Young Belgian Gets Court Permission To Die

-
0

A 24 year old physically healthy Belgian has been given permission to legally commit suicide because she claims to have had suicidal thoughts right from childhood.

She has no life threatening diseases but has been told she qualifies for euthanasia after she told doctors, “life, that’s not for me.”

Assisted suicide has been legal in Belgium since 2003 and it is estimated that each day five people die with the help of medics. The number of Belgians who have chosen to commit suicide has risen 27 per cent over the past year .

The woman identified only as ‘Laura’ has told reporter she has wanted to die since she was a child. She said she was from an unplanned pregnancy and because of a troubled home life with an alcoholic father, had been raised by her grandparents who were the only people who had ever given her ‘security, peace, and structure,’ .

Laura said she has enjoyed the process of planning her funeral and has enjoyed the process even though she knows her grandparents and her mother will be distressed by her death.

She has been in a psychiatric institution since aged 21 where she had been befriended by a suicidal girl who had committed assisted suicide 18 months ago.

“Even though my childhood certainly contributed to my suffering, I am convinced that I had this death wish even though I grew up with a quiet, stable family,” said Laura.

“Death feels to me not as a choice. If I had a choice, I would choose a bearable life, but I have done everything and that was unsuccessful. I played all my life with these thoughts of suicide, I have also done a few attempts. But then there is someone who needs me, and I don’t want to hurt anyone. That has always stopped me.”.

New Nintendo Video Game Will Feature Same Sex Marriage

-
0

Nintendo is catching up and allowing same-sex relationships in at least one of its games, the 3DS game Fire Emblem Fates, due to be released in 2016.

The Nintendo 3DS game Tomodachi Life arrived last year, and many players criticized the lack of same-sex relationships permitted in the roleplay (life simulations). Nintendo claimed it “never intended to make any form of social commentary,” though many saw the exclusion has far more than neutral.

The company said in a statement:

“We believe that our gameplay experiences should reflect the diversity of the communities in which we operate and, at the same time, we will always design the game specifications of each title by considering a variety of factors, such as the game’s scenario and the nature of the game play. In the end of course, the game should be fun to play. We feel that Fire Emblem Fates is indeed enjoyable to play and we hope fans like the game.”

Nintendo has not said whether or not this inclusiveness will occur in other games, but many recognize it as a step forward, much like the variation in skin tone in Animal Crossing.

The announcement that Nintendo would permit same-sex relationships in its game arrive just prior to the Supreme Court’s decision to recognize gay marriage all over the U.S.

Sneak Attack On Net Neutrality Picks Up Steam In The House

-
0

The house voted on Friday against two amendments removing anti-Net Neutrality from an important government funding proposal. One amendment was by Rep. Jose Serrano, the other Rep. Nita Lowey.

Rep. Jose Serrano said, “Maybe every so often we can be on the side of the American people and not corporations.” However, the House majority does not appear to be in agreement when it comes to Net Neutrality.

The 158-page bill has anti-Net Neutrailty built in, and would take money from the FCC, which it needs to keep up internet protections. These would also stop regulations from being in effect until after the courts have made a decisions, which would stretch on for years.

A federal court has rejected attempts by cable, phone, and wireless lobbies to delay the rules, and Serrano said,  “You’re not supposed to legislate in an appropriations bill.”

Despite the widespread demand for open internet in the U.S. and both political parties, some members of Congress are pushing to eliminate FCC protections for which millions called, mostly due to large campaign contributions by telecom providers.

“Blocking Net Neutrality means blocking the open Internet. My colleagues are trying to give corporations more freedom … while putting more restrictions on individual citizens,” said Serrano.

Members of Congress are involved with major internet service providers and are not heeding the public. Instead, they are pressing to stop open internet and open fast and slow lanes to specific websites, despite the FCC’s appropriate actions to call on the public.

More than 60 groups for social rights and justice urged the chairman of the House appropriations to eliminate anti-Net Neutrality language. Only Rep. Lowey paid attention.

The Free Press Action Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Media Justice, ColorOfChange.org, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, and Writers Guild of America West are just a few of the groups who signed petitions.

People are calling for citizens to contact their Congress before the vote on funding, and tell them to get rid of the anti-Net Neutrality language completely.

Study Shows Consumers Confused About E-cigarette Health Risks

-
0

A small study says Electronic cigarette consumers are finding themselves confused; most purchase the devices to quit, but find themselves simply beginning a new habit.

In Scotland, 64 smokers were interviewed about the benefits of e-cigarettes, and no agreement could be found about the harm or help the devices provide. This may signify some division in the medical realm about how helpful e-cigarettes are, the authors said in Tobacco Control.

Amanda Amos, a researcher at the Center for Population Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh’s Medical School, and author of the study, said “Because e-cigarettes are relatively new products we are only beginning to learn about the health risks.”

E-cigarettes imitate real cigarettes with a lighted tip and a cloud of vapor. They contain a batter and heating, and a cartridge that contains nicotine and flavor.

The fact that e-cigarettes don’t burn tobacco may be a health benefit, however, the nicotine inside is still addictive.

Amos and other researchers held 12 focus groups and 11 interviews with individuals. All had quit smoking in the last year.

Almost all of them had used e-cigarettes, and most of them agreed that smoking is an addiction that requires strength of will to overcome.

Most of them thought e-cigarettes were like patches and gum–replacements designed to help them quit. Many also consider them medical resources because general practitioners recommend them to quit.

However, users were less sure about what the precise use was, and e-cigarettes were viewed as less likely to help people quit than the other methods.

A professor of medicine at the University of Catania in Italy, Dr. Ricardo Polosa, said, “This paper shows that the public’s view of e-cigarettes is far from being clear, with a great deal of ambiguity around the product and its intended use.” Though the doctor wasn’t part of the study, he said, “Really, it’s not complicated at all. E-cigs are a much safer alternative to smoking and are intended for smokers who are unable to quit using other methods.”

The study is not large enough to reach real conclusions, but it does suggest that the health benefits of e-cigarettes are not clear for anyone.

Greek Contagion Spreads As Italian Banks Fail To Start Trading On Monday

-
0

Just a few hundred miles west of Greece lies Italy, where banks have aggressively courted Greek business over the years. This may now make them among the first to feel any effects of a Greek default. This reality sunk in Monday morning as several Italian banks failed to start trading due to fears over a Greek debt default. Investors, wary of Greek contagion, shed peripheral stocks and it appears Italian companies, and particularly banks, were of greatest concern.

At the start of trading sell orders were so numerous that the computer controlled trading system couldn’t process them all, a rare event that only happens when specific news causes a sell-off of a particular stock.

UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo managed to start trading before accumulating losses of around 6% from Friday’s closing prices.

The panic came just after comments by Italy’s banking lobby head Antonio Patuelli on Sunday, in which he dismissed fears of contagion on Italian lenders, saying the country’s banks’ direct exposure to Greece was under $1 billion.

Italian financial stocks saw losses of six to eight percent, showing very clearly that the market does not share Mr Patuelli’s confidence.

World’s Largest Private Piece Of Land Is Now For Sale

-
0

The world’s largest private piece of real estate, which is down-under in Australia, is up for grabs.

The land, which is made up of 10 working cattle ranches, takes up 11 million hectares and has a price tag of $325 million. It is listed as the “largest private, non-monarchical, non-state landholding on earth.”

Potential buyers wanting to inspect the combined territory, which also includes a stud farm and a feedlot, will have to spend several days flying across four Australian States: Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia.

One of the stations, Anna Creek, is the largest cattle station/ranch in the world. It is larger than Ireland taking up over 30,000 square miles.

Selling agent Don Manifold of Ernst & Young South Australia, which is the official selling agent for the land, said offers would start to be taken next week and would be open for a month. From the offers a serious bidders list of six to 12 will be drawn up.

“There has been a lot of interest, and we’ve been quite overwhelmed,” said Manifold.
“Over half of the interest has come from Australia and there’s also a number of other bidders from Asia, North America and Europe.

It is a large tract of land and it’s certainly quite rare that an opportunity like this would come on the market, having been under family ownership for 100-something years.”

The land comes with approximately 170,000 head of cattle and is on the market as a debt-free concern.

Texas To Allow State Workers to Deny Marriage Licenses to Gay Couples

-
0

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas says lawyers are on standby, ready to defend any Texas State worker, free of charge, who refuses to grant a marriage license to same sex couples.

Patrick’s comments come after he had reviewed a legal opinion on last week’s Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage prepared by his conservative Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton

Paxton labeled the Supreme Court decision a “lawless ruling” saying it meant that any state administrator, justice of the peace or clerk who refuses to issue a marriage license to same sex couples could be prosecuted. He also said the ruling does not eliminate rights of religious liberty.

“This newly minted federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage can and should peaceably coexist with longstanding constitutional and statutory rights, including the rights to free exercise of religion and freedom of speech,” he wrote.

Paxton said the Supreme court “weakened the rule of law” and “fabricated a new constitutional right.”

Governor Abbott said Texans would not be forced to act against their religious beliefs.

“Despite the Supreme Court’s rulings, Texans’ fundamental right to religious liberty remains protected,” he said ordering that no one in the Government take “adverse action” against State workers acting on their religious beliefs in the grating of marriage licenses.

However a federal district court in Texas over the weekend prohibited Texas from enforcing state laws that define marriage as exclusively a union between one man and one woman.

Two Uber Managers Detained In France Over Illegal Ride Sharing Service

-
0

According to a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, two French executives of taxi-hailing app Uber have been arrested and are being questioned about “illicit activity” linked to the ride sharing company’s service.

Spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre would not identify the two Uber managers detained on Monday.

The notoriously scofflaw company has sparred with the French government over its lowest-cost service, one of the many available options it offers in France.

After last Thursday violent riots in Paris Uber continued to maintain it would keep operating the service until a ruling was handed down by the country’s top court.

French officials are upset that Uber pays lower wage rates and social taxes than traditional taxi services.

Uber, as it does in so many markets, argues that the existing taxi system is outdated and is in need of modernization.

It was not clear as of late Monday morning whether the executives would be held overnight or were actually under arrest.

Puerto Rico Entering Financial Death Spiral

-
0

While the world’s attention has been focused on Greece’s financial crisis, Puerto Rico’s is entering what its Governor has called a financial “death spiral”. The news comes almost exactly around the time we predicted back in April.

Over the weekend, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said his state can no longer make loan payments on the $73 billion it owes.

“The debt is not payable … there is no other option. This is not politics, this is math,” he said. “But we have to make the economy grow. If not, we will be in a death spiral.”

Padilla is expected to today release a report prepared by World Bank International Monetary Fund former officials outlining Puerto Rico’s grim financial picture brought about by years of debt dependence, high energy costs and overspending by the Government.

Like Greece the Government is asking for creditor concessions which include extending repayment periods and deferring payment of debts.

One of the largest debts, $400 million, which has a July 1 payback deadline is owed by PREPA, the government owned and run electricity provider. Experts say it is highly unlikely PREPA which has been given the lowest possible ranking by Moody’s can pay the loan which is only part of the $9 billion debt it carries.

Puerto Rico’s dismal financial situation has seen a mass exodus of people. Immigration figures show that from 1980 to 2000, on average 12,00 Puerto Ricans left for mainland USA annually. That figure between 2010 and 2013, when the economy began to tank, has risen to 48,000 annually.

Every time a Puerto Rican jumps ship by immigrating, it adds to the problem because the island’s tax base shrinks, meaning less money for the Government to repays its debt.

Hundreds Of ISIS Terrorists Now Living In Great Britain

-
0

ISIS isn’t just a problem affecting the middle east as according to British Police there are now over 350 known battle hardened ISIS terrorists living in Great Britain.

All have traveled and returned from Syria or Iraq where they either fought or offered support for jihadist terror groups, mainly ISIS.

Police said the terrorist were part of at least 700 British residents known to have gone to the middle east to engage in terrorist actions. Fifty are known to have been killed and 20 have been arrested and convicted of terrorism.

The majority of the British terrorists hale from England, mainly from areas around London, with the remainder from Wales and Scotland. Security expert say they are only a part of the thousands of young Muslims from around the western world who are fighting with various jihadist groups battling for supremacy in Syria and Iraq.

Western and Turkish security forces have faced much criticism for not doing enough to stop people entering Syria from neighboring Turkey, while the Obama administration has admitted that it has no proper strategy to deal with the problem, though it continues to conduct air strikes on high value targets from time to time.

Despite International Ban, Iceland Will Slaughter 150 Rare Fin Whales For Meat

-
0

While the civilized world maintains strict bans on hunting rare and endangered wildlife, the tiny nation of Iceland stubbornly refuses to halt the centuries-old practice of killing endangered whales for food.

The practice continued on Sunday as two Icelandic whaling ships headed for the open seas to slaughter 150 finback whales.

The ships, Hvalur 8 and Hvalur 9, belong to the legally licensed Icelandic whaling company Hvalur and have permits to kill 150 finback whales this year. Last year’s quota was 154, but poor weather conditions resulted in ‘just’ 137 whales being caught. 2015’s quota is up from the 134 authorized in 2013.

The hunted whales will be brought to the western Icelandic region of Hvalfjörður where approximately 150 people are employed in hunting, processing and freezing the valuable meat.

In 1982 the International Whaling Commission, the world-wide body that had managed whale stocks, agreed to a moratorium on killing whales due to their extremely low numbers.

Russia, Japan and Iceland refuse to honor the ban and instead push the endangered marine mammals closer to extinction each year through large-scale commercial whale hunts.

SpaceX Rocket Explodes On Trip To International Space Station

-
0

An unmanned rocket by American rocket startup SpaceX, on a mission to resupply the International Space Station, exploded Sunday just minutes after liftoff.

It is unclear what, precisely, caused the rocket to fail and SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Administration will now conduct an investigation into the disaster in order to determine the cause.

The launch is the third resupply mission to fail since last October, meaning the three astronauts living aboard the space station now have four months worth of supplies, according to NASA.

Sunday’s launch would have brought 1,500 pounds of food and provisions to the orbiting crew, along with a new docking device and a water filtration system.

The next resupply missions are scheduled to be Russian flights on July 3rd and July 22nd while a Japanese rocket will launch on August 16th. SpaceX will then try again in early September.

NASA’s Scott Kelly, current aboard the space station along with two Russian cosmonauts posted a tweet from space Sunday afternoon, saying that “Space is hard.”

SpaceX, headed by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, has made seven successful trips to the ISS under a NASA contract, including one mission completed on May 21st. It is the first private company to complete a return trip to the space station.

Government Closes Greek Banks As Country Nears Default

-
0

Greek officials scrambled over the weekend to prevent the country’s financial system from collapsing in panic, with banks in the eurozone nation staying shut on Monday.

The capital controls, designed to prevent badly needed currency from leaving the country, means account holders are only able to withdraw small amount of money from ATMs and trading on the Greek stock market was also suspended.

The new measures mean nobody in Greece can withdraw more than 60 euros, or $67 from bank machines.

U.S. listed Greek exchange traded fund ‘GREK’, a proxy for the Greek markets, was down a stunning 17 percent, indicating that when markets do open in the country it will be nothing short of sheer panic.

The Greek crisis is the biggest test ever face by the European Union and its leaders. In a phone call on Sunday, President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to take all steps to try to resolve the crisis without Greece leaving the trading bloc.

Monday’s capital controls, effectively paralyzing the Greek financial system, come as a result of the government’s decision late Friday to pull its negotiators from bailout talks.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras categorically rejected a draft proposal from Europe and the International Monetary Fund, yet said he would put it to a vote of the Greek people on July 5th.

Greek officials said late Sunday that both the banks and the stock markets will stay shut until July 6th, the day after the referendum.

Endangered Lions To Return To Rwanda After More Than Twenty Years

-
0

After more than two decades lions will return to conflict ridden Rwanda, wildlife officials have said. Indigenous, and highly endangered, lions were wiped out in the country after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

Two males and five females, seven lions in total, are being moved from South Africa and will arrive by air in Rwanda on Monday after their 36 hour trek. They will be released into the eastern Akagera National Park after two week quarantine.

Park officials in Akagera, a 27,6800 acre park on the border with Tanzania, called the reintroduction “a ground-breaking conservation effort for both the park and the country of Rwanda.”

Lions in Rwanda were stamped out after the 1994 genocide, because fleeing refugees and displaced people occupied part of the park, which saw indigenous lions being driven out or killed to protect their precious livestock.

“It is a breakthrough in the rehabilitation of the park,” said the head of tourism at the Rwanda Development Board, Yamina Karitanyi. “Their return will encourage the natural balance of the ecosystem.”

The South African lions are from parks in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, from “relatively small, confined reserves where it is necessary to occasionally remove surplus lions,” the conservation authority added.

Globally the lion remains listed as a vulnerable species and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said Thursday that it continues to be on the so-called “Red List” of threatened animals.

Eastern Africa, historically a stronghold for lions, has seen rapid declines the IUCN said, due to illegal trade in bones and other body parts for quack medicine in Africa and in Asia.

This pressure has caused the western African lion sub-population to become “critically endangered” as a result of over-hunting and lack of prey.

“The return of lions to Akagera is a conservation milestone for the park and the country,” said Peter Fearnhead, head of African Parks, a group helping conservation efforts in Rwanda.

Russia Masses 54,000 More Troops On Ukrainian Border

-
0

According to Ukraine’s military spokesman, Russia is massing more troops on border with Ukraine as well as in the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk areas.

Roughly 54,000 troops now sit on its border with Ukraine, according to the deputy head of anti-terrorist operation, Colonel Sergiy Galushko. Ukraine’s press office reported the new movements on its Facebook page late Friday.

“Currently, Russia continues to deploy a group of troops in close vicinity to border and in the occupied territory of Ukraine, consisting of 45 battalion tactical groups, 17 company tactical groups, with a total number of servicemen exceeding 54,000 people, with all weapons and equipment” the post said.

In addition to 50,000 or more troops sitting outside Ukraine’s borders another 15 battalion tactical groups and six company tactical groups are actively operating within Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine on March 4th 2014 using thinly disguised Russian troops equipped with the latest Russian military technology. The troops were quickly exposed as being Russian yet the Kremlin has continued to deny involvement.

General Motors Gaining In Electric Cars As Tesla Struggles

-
0

Word leaked this week that Detroit automaker General Motors is testing a new electric prototype at its Milford Proving Ground, details of which suggest that GM may be ahead of upstart rival Tesla in rolling out mass market, long distance capable electric vehicles.

The new Chevy model, the Bolt, is slated for release during 2017, and will be capable of driving 200 miles on a single charge.

That’s the time-frame that Tesla, as well as other competitors, are expected to be launching comparable models, notably the long-rumored Tesla 3. Yet the Tesla 3 has been delayed a number of times as it seeks to achieve the $35,000 price point which will make it viable for mainstream consumers.

Chevy’s Bolt project on the other hand is, according to sources, rolling along smoothly and is undergoing testing well ahead of the Model 3. It will also hit with a price of $30,000. This means that Tesla will face a a vehicle of equal specifications when it launches the Model 3, though it may win in the looks / cool factor department.

Tesla, as we’ve covered here, appears to be making massive investments in battery technology while GM is working with third party suppliers. The moves by Tesla to enter both the battery and vehicle markets suggests it may have larger or different ambitions than just vehicles, while GM and other car makers focus solely on passenger vehicles.

France Issues Ban On Taxi App Uber After Violent Paris Protests

-
0

Scofflaw taxi service Uber can no longer legally operate in France after the country’s interior minister banned the company following violent protests against it by taxi drivers yesterday.

Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called the service “illegal” and ordered prosecutors and police to close it down.

The closure order came a day after violent protests by French taxi drivers who believe Uber is responsible for a major drop in their incomes over the two years the car sharing service has been operating in the country.

Uber officials say they will not heed the close down order until the highest court in France makes a ruling on whether Uber is legal or illegal, a move described by an attitude Cazeneuve as “cynical and arrogant”.

Uber spokesman Thomas Meister said “The way things work in a state of law is that it’s for the justice to judge whether something is legal or illegal”.

During the protests major roads around Paris were blocked with overturned cars and burning tires. Barriers also were erected on roads in Marseilles and the southeast area of Aix-en-Provence .

Aeroports de Paris, which operates Paris’s Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, advised passengers to use trains. Some passengers were forced to walk along the expressway to get to the airport.

Abdelkader Morghad, a representative of the FTI taxi union said his members were angry because Uber was able to offer low fares because they were not paying for taxi licenses which thousands of dollars.

Uber, which is headquartered in San Francisco said, there are a million Uber users in France.

The problems the company faces in France are not new as it has had similar problems all over the world with traditional taxi drivers angry about being undercut by Uber drivers and is embroiled in dozens of lawsuits for running an unlicensed taxi service.

“Sexting,” “Crowdfunding” and “Photobomb” Added To Oxford English Dictionary

-
0

“Sexting,” “crowdfunding” and “photobomb” have been officially recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary recently added 500 words to the official English Lexicon, according to its quarterly update today, including “crowdfund,” “twitterati,” and “photobomb.”  Many of the words technology users have been saying for a while now are being added to the OED.

“Blu-ray,” “camming,” and “deep web” are a few more of the words related to technology and social media.  Some of these words are a little late in being added, but history is often slow to catch up to technology.

Other words like “sexting,” “meh,” and “twerk” were thrown in, and undoubtedly more terms from the social media generation will soon follow.

The new words illustrate the changing vocabulary of modern English as entire generations grow up in a wired and always connected world that requires new language to properly describe.

 

Egypt Launches Sweeping Crackdown On Radical Islamic Books

-
0

Hundreds of books have been taken from mosques by the Egyptian government as the country, mostly Muslim, takes action against the radical and extreme Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Sources said Thursday that this was done by the Ministry of Waqf (religious endowments) based on information that some mosque libraries held books by Hassan Al Banna, who founded the Brotherhood. Sayyid Qutb, and Yousuf Al Qaradawi, the movement’s leaders, were sentenced to death recently.

Al Jamaa Al Islamia (an Islamic Group), a Brotherhood ally, also wrote some of the books that were taken.

Nearly 2,000 books were confiscated in the campaign led by the Ministry on Wednesday at a primary mosque in Cairo.

Inspection director at the Waqf Ministry, Ashraf Fahmi, said, “There are strict instructions from Minister of Waqf Mohammad Juma to check libraries of all mosques to cleanse them of books disseminating extremist ideas.” He continued that, “The ministry will not allow the propagation of any thought alien to the moderate course of Al Azhar.”

After protests against president Mohammad Mursi in 2013, the army removed the president and began targeting the Brotherhood immediately afterward.

Thousands of extreme Islam followers, such as Mursi, have been imprisoned and handed severe sentences, even death.

In addition to the removal of books from the mosque, the Egyptian government has cracked down on the Brotherhood and its allies.

Obama Includes Clause In Controversial TPP That Forces Gov Agencies To Do Business With Israel

-
0

The highly controversial and recently passed Trans-Pacific Partnership bill included an amendment that targets the boycott Israel movement.

The bill, passed on Wednesday by the U.S. Congress, contains an amendment that requires American negotiators to demand that boycotting Israeli products be refused in any trade discussions with the European Union, regardless of the fact such boycotts exist due to Israeli human rights abuses, war crimes and actively partaking in genocide against the Palestinian people.

The amendment is a stand against the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and the trade bill was passed first with a majority House vote last week, and then a 60-38 vote in the Senate on Wednesday.

According to the Jerusalem Post, U.S. Republican Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the amendment’s goal is to protect “a principal negotiating objective that reinforces our opposition to official actions that boycott, penalize, or otherwise limit commercial relations with the State of Israel.”

Yet the boycotting of Israel is happening because the country is exterminating the Palestinian people. The United Nations and international rights groups have all independently confirmed the mass slaughter of innocent Palestinian women, children and civilians in addition to isolation measures designed to starve and weak its people to the point of extinction. Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has evenly openly advocated for the complete destruction of the nation of Palestine before backing away from the comments once he was elected.

In approving the bill with the amendment, Congress has effectively mandated that trading partners and businesses must do business with a regime actively participating in genocide and war crimes.

United Nations Report Lists North Korea Among World’s Worst Human Rights Abusers

-
0

The U.S. State Department said Thursday that last year, North Korea’s prison camps, torture, public executions, interrogation of children and other mistreatments of people were among the worst on world record.

“Systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations,” and “crimes against humanity,” were what 2014’s U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) stated, according to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

The rights report claimed, “The human rights record of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) remained among the worst in the world and came under particular scrutiny this year.” It also said, “Defectors continued to report public executions, disappearances, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture, and there were reports of severe punishment of repatriated refugees.”

The North’s government had “rigid controls over most aspects of their lives, including denial of freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association, movement, and religion or belief, while limiting workers’ rights, and denying citizens the ability to change their government.”

The report for this year was similar to last year, but for the COI addition.

This major report by the U.N. shined light on the North’s dire circumstances, and the U.N. General Assembly is asking the issue be brought before the International Criminal Court. It is also the first time the U.N. Security Council has the problem on the official agenda.

Pyongyang has a long history of human rights violations, including a communist regime that does not permit questioning, holds thousands in prison camps, and controls information from the world (particularly the west) and even interrogates school children about their parent’s drug use.

The North claims this is the U.S.’s attempt to overpower them.

Secretary of State John Kerry said about the report, “Now, we understand that some governments may take issue with these reports, including such extreme cases as North Korea or Syria, but also some governments with whom we work closely may also object. But I want to say something about that. I think it’s important.”

North Korea’s continued human rights violations continue to be the subject of debate for the U.N.

Colombian Rebels Responsible For 5,000 Barrel Oil Spill

-
0

Colombia’s powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group forced 23 truck drivers off of the road in southwest Colombia, resulting in a massive oil spill of over 5,000 barrels, Semana news magazine reported early this week.

Secretary of local government, Javier Rosero Pai, said the group of truck drivers were carrying crude oil from the southwestern area of Colombia to Ecuador. At 7:45AM on June 22nd they were ordered to a halt by armed rebels from the FARC’s 48th front, and were forced to spill the oil purposefully at gunpoint.

According to Infobae America, Mining and Energy Minister Amilkar Acosta said, “The priority is to do a scan [of the spill site] in order to prevent the oil spill from running off into the tributaries that eventually lead to the aqueducts where drinking water is sourced.”

The FARC were also said to have attacked a pipeline in the same region earlier this year, the result of which was a threat to local sources of water.

The incident happened a week ago, but video only recently surfaced revealing the disaster. There is currently no further news on the FARC’s actions against the oil truckers and spill, although talks between the government and FARC leadership continue in Cuba.

Facebook Likes Found To Be Nearly Worthless Due To Policy Changes, Like Fraud

-
0

Facebook is appearing more useless by the day to businesses as brands claim they are not reaching their followers due to tweaks the company has made to its news feed. The reach of Facebook pages, in fact, is down by 12% to just 6% of followers since October. This means every item posted to a fan page reaches just 6% of those who liked the page, despite companies spending millions to amass their followings.

Ad agency Ogilvy, the author of a new report, claimed that the decrease will continue until the social media site is rendered worthless, and advertisers will no longer have access to the platform for free.

Non-paid reach declines continually on the site, necessitating paid campaigns to reach Facebook’s users. Yet brands are discovering it is expensive to trust Facebook ad results because of “like” fraud.

Much of the clicks, or likes, are being attributed to bots and not real people and clients are beginning to wonder if any of their followers are real at all.

Like fraud is serious because brands have spent a lot of time and money developing followers that they aren’t reaching. The amounts of money being spent on ad space end up being worth close to nothing, and yet have increased by 437% since 2013.

Facebook essentially charged companies to obtain fans and then made those fans worthless at the flick of a switch leading to intense distrust of the social network.

While Facebook has severely devalued fans, there has simultaneously been a rise in clients reporting click fraud, from 20% to 30%, according to forensic software that searches for bots. This software determines whether likes are coming from real humans or bots.

These problems–the falling client reach, higher ad prices, and fraud–is leading brands to leave Facebook altogether and find other platforms on which to advertise.

To solve this problem, Ogilvy suggest avoiding trusting likes as a symbol of audience reach. Rather than look at likes, industries should evaluate their ads and make them more targeted.

They also recommend moving from standard to viewable impressions. Click fraud is not limited to Facebook. It can occur on mobile and desktop ads. Using viewable ads means only paying for a specific amount of space and time, from 5 to 30 seconds, and only paying if the ad is viewed for a certain period of time. This helps ensure clients only pay when a user genuinely engages with the content. If the viewer does nothing, the advertiser does not pay.

Ogilvy does not suggest leaving Facebook entirely just yet, but warns that the increase in like fraud means changing advertising styles on the social media platform to really reach users.

British Genetically Modified Wheat Variety Fails To Ward Off Pests

-
0

The UK’s attempts to genetically modify a strain of wheat has failed in trials.

The intention was for scientists to create “whiffy wheat,” a type with a special smell to prevent aphids, which are bugs that damage plants by consuming their nutrients and introducing viruses. Scientists were able to modify the wheat so that it emitted the scent, which is similar to peppermint.

The wheat was successful in the laboratory, but failed when it was subjected to pests in the field.

However, researchers are confident it will work eventually, and claim that failure is part of scientific progress.

Anti-GM protesters objected to the wheat in 2012, calling it a “folly” of investing in GM.
The project cost £732,000, and another £444,000 went to protecting the site from people and animals.

The trial was held in 2012-2013 and published in Scientific Reports by its creator, Rothamsted Research.

Some believe the failure can be attributed to the aphids being accustomed to the chemical used to deter them, rendering the genetic modification useless.

“As scientists we are trained to treat our experimental data objectively and dispassionately but I was definitely disappointed,” said Professor Huw Jones, a senior molecular biologist with Rothamsted.

He went on to say, “we had hoped that this technique would offer a way to reduce the use of insecticides in pest control in arable farming. As so often happens, this experiment shows that the real world environment is much more complicated than the laboratory.”

Scientists say that these mishaps are unavoidable. “In science we never expect to get confirmation of every hypothesis,” Dr. Toby Bruce, author and senior chemical ecologist at Rothamsted Research, said. “If we knew the answers to every question before we started, there would be no need for science and there would be no innovation.”

Researchers will continue their efforts, and use the information from the failed attempt to genetically modify the wheat in future efforts to reduce the use of insecticides, despite ongoing protests from environmental groups over unforeseen consequences of genetically modified organisms being released into the wild.

UPDATED: At Least 37 Now Reported Killed In Islamist Attack On Tunisian Holiday Resort

-
0

Update: Police are now estimating 10 more dead, bring the total to 37 killed.

Two gunmen firing Russian made Kalashnikov machine guns have killed at least 27 people at a Tunisian tourist resort. Among the dead are foreigners, including at least one Briton, as well as Tunisians.

Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesperson Mohammed Ali Aroui said security forces killed one of the gunmen and a manhunt is underway for the second attacker.

The attack occurred at the Imperial Marhaba hotel.

“A terrorist infiltrated the buildings from the back before opening fire on the residents of the hotel, including foreigners and Tunisians,” he said.

One of Tunisia’s top security officials Rafik Chelli said the killed gunman was not known to authorities.

He said the gunmen came from the beach hiding his weapon under an umbrella before gunning down tourists. From there they went into the hotel, gaining access through the pool area, shooting people as they went.

There has yet to be an announcement of the an exact number killed or the nationalities of the victims.

Chelli said although authorities had a plan to protect hotels during Ramadan, the attack was an isolated case difficult to counter and that there is never no risk of attack.

The country has been in a state of high alert since Islamist militants attacked the Bardo museum in Tunis in March, killing a group of foreign tourists.

Gary Pine, a British tourist who had been on the beach near the attacked hotel, said he heard what “we thought was firecrackers going off” followed by an explosion. His son he said had seen someone shot on the beach.

He said hotel guests were firstly told to lock themselves in their rooms, and later to gather in the hotel’s lobby.

Winnie-The-Pooh To The Rescue of British Bees After Disastrous Winter

-
0

Winnie-the-Pooh has been called on to help with the plight of vanishing British honeybee colonies.

As concern grows world wide about the declining population of honeybees, The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) has launched a public awareness campaign using the classic bear character to show people how to help bees thrive.

The campaign comes hot on the heels of news that more than 14 percent of honeybee colonies in England were lost over the winter period, and a survey which found that although more than 50 per cent of British adults would like to help bee colonies grow, many did not know how to do this.

The BBKA called the losses “unacceptably high levels and are still in excess of what might be considered normal losses of 5-10%”. Although it blames bad weather, parasites and bee diseases for the loss, it said year round annual losses were a result of the use of neonicotinoid pesticides as a reason for colony deaths. The European Food Safety Authority has placed a two year ban on the pesticides and also this week launched a survey to find out the danger to honeybee colonies from other agricultural chemicals.

It is estimated that bees add to the British economy annually through pollination with nearly 85 per cent of its apple crop and 45 per cent of its strawberry crop relying on both wild and commercial honeybee colonies.

World’s First Synthetic Human Blood Approved For Clinical Trials

-
0

The world is two years away from finding out if synthetic blood, a long held medical goal, can sustain human life.

The UK’s National Health Service’s (NHS) Blood and Transplant unit has announced approval has been received for a world first human trial of lab produced synthetic blood with a 2017 start date.

A few teaspoons of the blood, made from a mixture of umbilical cord stem cells and human blood, will be given to volunteers via transfusion to first see if there are any adverse effects . If the synthetic blood does not trigger an adverse affect from body’s immune system, it will show it could be used for specialized treatments right away, and also be stored for emergency transfusions .

Nick Watkins one of the research team members who will be carrying out the trial said they were “confident that by 2017 our team will be ready to carry out the first early phase clinical trials in human volunteers. Scientists across the globe have been investigating for a number of years how to manufacture red blood cells to offer an alternative to donated blood to treat patients,”

Watkins said the synthetic blood cells were “comparable, if not identical, to the cells from a donor”, and came in two different types – those cultured from umbilical cord stem cells and those manufactured from stem cells of blood cells from adults.

If the trials show the synthetic blood can be used the first plan is to use for treatment of conditions such as sickle-cell anemia, a condition whose sufferers need an ongoing supply of new blood. It will hopefully also be able to be used in cases where patients with rare blood types need emergency transfusions.

But according to Watkins the synthetic blood would not mean the end of blood donations.

“The intention is not to replace blood donation but to provide specialist treatment for specific patient groups,” he said.

Historic Supreme Court Decision Means Gay Marriage Now Legal Nationwide

-
0

In a landmark decision on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is legal throughout America, finding that the constitution provides gay and lesbian couples the same rights as it does straight couples.

The historic ruling invalidates same-sex marriage bans present in 13 states across the country.

The 5-4 vote reflected the deep divide on the issue in American society. The bench’s four liberal justices were joined by conservative Anthony Kennedy, who wrote his third landmark opinion expanding gay rights.

Invoking powerful and unequivocal language, Kennedy declared same-sex relationships worthy of the same protections afforded under the sacred institution of marriage between men and women.

For the marriage equality movement the ruling is a triumph and a testament to the astonishing rate at which it has changed minds on the issue. When New York state legalized same-sex marriage four years ago, 39 states had explicit bans on the practice.

In 2013 the federal government began to recognize same-sex couples’ legal marriages, while even President Barack Obama himself publicly opposed the practice until 2012.

“Today is a big step in our march toward equality,” Obama posted on Twitter. “Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else. #LoveWins.”

The case, Obergefell v. Hodges, involved four separate cases from Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee.

Today’s ruling overturns laws in those four states plus Georgia Texas, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and North Dakota.

Big Media Companies Lobby To Outlaw Private Website Ownership

-
0

The Big Media mafia that is the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is attempting to ban the protection of privacy on the internet by lobbying aggressively for new measures that would force all website operators to post ownership information publicly.

Despite many cases where activists, businesses, student groups and others have a fundamental need for privacy to ensure their safety and maintain freedom of speech, the big media lobby groups feel this should all take a back seat to their quest for ever greater profits.

The proposal, created by the powerful and well-funded lobby groups, has been put forward by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN ) and looks to make private domain name registrations banned in order to make it easier for big media companies to sue websites that pirate their content.

The move would allow their army of lawyers to mass-sue websites merely suspected of hosting pirated content or facilitating piracy, essentially taking yet another stab at using the legal system as a business model rather than simply changing with the times.

The move comes despite countless academic studies that show piracy increases media sales and the fact police, subject to court oversight, can already obtain the registration details of sites deemed to violating the criminal code.

Despite the tools already existing to go after criminals and despite the threat to personal safety that would come if all website operators were forced to post their personal information publicly, Big Media still thinks its a small price to pay for a few extra bucks in their already full coffers.

Mitch Stoltz of The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit digital rights group, blasted the proposal, saying that “the limited value of this change is manifestly outweighed by the risks to website owners who will suffer a higher risk of harassment, intimidation and identity theft” .

Domain name registrar Namecheap said the “proposed rules would wreak havoc on our right to privacy online”.

ICANN is taking public comment on the proposal through its website while Namecheap and variety of other domain name registrars are asking customers to go to the Respect Our Privacy website to lodge protests.

1...114115116...153Page 115 of 153
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv