"Government spending cuts brought some tens of thousands of people onto the streets of London and other British cities on Saturday in protest, with union leaders expected to call for a general strike. Marchers carried signs reading 'No cuts' and 'Tax justice not tax havens', condemning the austerity measures introduced by Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government in a bid to reduce Britain’s huge deficit." Continue reading →
"In those exposed to gamma-cyhalothrin, there was a higher death rate among worker bees. And colonies that were exposed to both kinds of pesticides were likelier to fail. The experiment was exceptionally long and detailed, the scientists say. It lasted four weeks, whereas current guidelines test pesticides on bees for only up to 96 hours. In addition, it looked at what happened when bees were exposed to two chemicals at the same time and at the changes in a colony’s social structure." Continue reading →
"The investigation adds to anecdotal evidence that human activities, ranging from exploration for shale gas, quarrying and even water reservoirs, can cause quakes. 'Our results imply that anthropogenic [man-made] activites could influence how and when earthquakes occur,' said the study. In a commentary, Jean-Philippe Avouac, a geologist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) said water extraction at Lorca probably accelerated a natural process of stress accumulation rather than unleashed the earthquake by itself." Continue reading →
"While I am not suggesting conspiracies or that anyone would get involved in any foul play here, how is it possible that so many people could exercise so much bad judgment? Keith Olbermann was suspended from his job at MSNBC for donating a couple hundred bucks to a local candidate that was a friend of his, because his employer required that journalists at the network stay free of having given such contributions to any candidate for all the obvious reasons. Is it really too much to ask that those who control the voting machines that record and count the votes of our elections be held to at least the same standard?" Continue reading →
"'What happened to me should happen to no one,' the 56-year-old former Washington Township mayor said Friday. 'I was targeted. I was hunted down by this police officer who lied in a police report, lied in the summons he gave to me, lied to me, lied on tape, and also lied to his supervisors,' he said. 'I didn't do anything wrong that day.' In the video - obtained by Moriarty's lawyer, John Eastlack - the officer's mobile video recorder shows a sequence of events that appears to correspond with Moriarty's account of the police stop." Continue reading →
"The Mail on Sunday today reveals shocking new evidence of the full horrific impact of US drone attacks in Pakistan. A damning dossier assembled from exhaustive research into the strikes’ targets sets out in heartbreaking detail the deaths of teachers, students and Pakistani policemen. It also describes how bereaved relatives are forced to gather their loved ones’ dismembered body parts in the aftermath of strikes. It is set to trigger a formal murder investigation by police into the roles of two US officials said to have ordered the strikes. They are Jonathan Banks, former head of the CIA’s Islamabad station, and John A. Rizzo, the CIA’s former chief lawyer." Continue reading →
"The 34-year-old from Gulfport, Miss., was stranded in the islands this week after being told he was on the FBI's no-fly list during a layover for a military flight from California to Japan. The episode left Hicks scrambling to figure out how he'd get home from Hawaii without being able to fly. How could someone on a list intelligence officials use to inform counterterrorism investigations successfully fly standby on an Air Force flight? He wasn't told why and wondered whether his controversial views on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks played a role. Hicks said he disagrees with the 9/11 Commission's conclusions about the attacks." Continue reading →
"The federal government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help establish more than 70 such 'fusion centers' throughout the country. The idea was for the centers to serve as a domestic information-sharing network that would help local, state and federal law enforcement agencies better collaborate to prevent a future attack. But a two-year inquiry released earlier this month questions the value of such centers saying they’ve provided irrelevant, useless or inappropriate information that, in some instances, threatened people’s constitutional rights." Continue reading →
"Many of the current scandals have their origins in a 2001 law meant to promote greater federalism and, theoretically, more local accountability. The measure, which handed out generous state financing without requiring that the regions raise much money on their own, backfired badly, fostering reckless spending throughout the country. With the creation of Italy’s provinces in 1970, and especially in the years after 2001, the cost of regional governments exploded. The salaries of Italy’s 1,113 regional lawmakers expanded as well, to $4,000 to $6,500 a month, and often double that with added benefits." Continue reading →
"Internet giant Google has warned it would exclude French media sites from its search results if France adopts a law forcing search engines to pay for content, in the latest confrontation with European governments. A letter sent by Google to several French ministerial offices this month said it 'cannot accept' such a move and the company 'as a consequence would be required to no longer reference French sites,' according to a copy obtained by AFP. France’s new Socialist government, which is open to helping struggling media companies, warned Google that it should not threaten democratic governments." Continue reading →