Pentagon chief seeks reforms, calls Russia ‘No. 1 strategic threat’ http://on.rt.com/798z
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‘People should be terrified fracking is spreading’ – Australian MP who set river on fire to RT
‘People should be terrified fracking is spreading’ – Australian MP who set river on fire to RT
Fracking should be banned as a “global threat” as it causes methane leaks contaminating water in the communities near gas wells, says an Australian MP who literally set a river ablaze to draw attention to the adverse effects of the practice.
The companies that extract coal seam gas via fracking are duping people into believing that their technology is safe, while in reality it has contributed greatly to the pollution of sites like Condamine river located in the Australian state of Queensland just near the fracking site, Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said in an interview to RT.
“This gas is leaking out of the ground because of the fracking. They have thousands of gas wells around this river, around this site. They drill, they frack, but the gas isn’t just flowing up their gas wells, it’s coming through the ground,” he said, stressing that Origin Energy company, that operate the wells, “should be condemned for polluting one of our most important rivers.”
Speaking of how to prevent the fracking industry from damaging the environment, he said that Australia should ban fracking as an unsafe practice altogether.
“What we are waiting in Australia is a moratorium on fracking,” he said, adding that fracking should be viewed as a global threat and its spreading should make people around the world “terrified.”
Earlier this month, Buckingham came to Chinchilla, in southwest Queensland, while campaigning against fracking as part of the Green’s party’s agenda. To show the dire effect on nature caused by the technology, Buckingham set the Condamine river on fire with a kitchen lighter and later unloaded the video on the web.
‘Industries should be fixing problems instead of doing propaganda’
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China tests ICBM capable of striking US within half an hour
China tests ICBM capable of striking US within half an hour
Beijing has successfully tested a new long-range ballistic missile capable of engaging any potential target worldwide. The rocket takes just 30 minutes to cover its maximum 12,000km range and can deliver multiple strikes on any nuclear-capable state.
The launch of China’s Dongfeng-41 (East Wind, DF-41) missile was registered by the US satellite tracking system in real time, the Washington Free Beacon reports, although the location of the launch was not immediately revealed. The launch was made from a new road-mobile platform, and is reportedly the seventh test-firing of the DF-41.
American experts estimate the DF-41 to be an 80-ton, three-stage solid-fuel missile capable of carrying between six and 10 nuclear warheads.
The test was made with a DF-41 missile armed with two independently targetable reentry vehicles.
“As with previous MIRV tests, the PLA has used a small number of reentry vehicles to mask the real capability of the DF-41, which is estimated to be able to loft up to 10 warheads,” the WFB cited China military affairs analyst Rick Fisher as saying.
China allegedly tested its deadliest nuclear missile on April 13 – about the time when the People’s Liberation Army’s high-ranking Gen. Fan Changlong headed a group of military commanders to inspect construction work at a man-made island in the Spratly Islands group. The exact date of the visit was not officially announced.
The test reportedly took place three days before US Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, operating in the South China Sea close to the disputed Spratly Islands claimed by Beijing.
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EU parliament chief warns of bloc’s ‘implosion,’ says people lost trust in ‘entire institutions’
EU parliament chief warns of bloc’s ‘implosion,’ says people lost trust in ‘entire institutions’
Many people have lost trust in “entire institutions, whether national or European,” EU parliament Chief Martin Schulz says. He sounded the alarm over a possible “implosion of the EU” due to the underestimated Euroskeptic movements in member states.
“Europe has been on a sliding slope for some time now. Many people’s trust in institutions, whether national or European, has gone,” Schulz said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungnewspaper.
“Hardly any of the governments is fighting to reach the hearts of the people,” Schulz said, blaming heads of states and administrations for the loss of confidence.
There is a high risk of an “implosion of the EU,” Schulz added.
“If the British leave the EU, there will be [other] demands for further escape referendums,” he warned.
The UK is holding a referendum on its membership in the EU on June 23. All British citizens who have lived in the UK at some point during the last 15 years are allowed to vote. The latest ORB poll for the Telegraph has meanwhile revealed just a 1 percent gap between Brits who want to stay in the EU and those who want to leave. The survey found that 49 percent supported staying ‘In’ while 48 percent wanted ‘Out’.
As things stand now, Schulz says he doesn’t consider it possible for right- and left-wing populists to come to power in EU member states. While Euroskeptics are still in the minority, “the silent majority seem to be under the misapprehension that everything will go well in the end,” he noted, adding that the outcome of the Dutch referendum on the Association Agreement with Ukraine showed that one “should not rely on [a fallacy].”
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8 ‘potentially hazardous asteroids’ near Earth discovered by NASA
8 ‘potentially hazardous asteroids’ near Earth discovered by NASA
Eight new asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth were spotted by NASA’s asteroid-hunter among 439 other objects rotating around our planet, according to a report newly released by the space agency.
NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope, which made a comeback in 2013 after going into hibernation mode in 2011, has come up with a second year’s worth of survey data on Earth’s surroundings that was published in a report by NASA.
“Eight of the objects discovered in the past year have been classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs), based on their size and how closely their orbits approach Earth,” the report goes.
In what NASA described as a “milestone” mission, the telescope, which is tasked with detecting, tracking, and characterizing asteroids and comets, detected a total of 439 NEOs (near-Earth objects) in 2015, of which 72 were newly discovered.
“NEOWISE discovers large, dark, near-Earth objects, complementing our network of ground-based telescopes operating at visible-light wavelengths. On average, these objects are many hundreds of meters across,” said Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE’s principal investigator.
The NEOWISE’s 16-inch (40-cm) telescope and infrared cameras snapped as many as 5.1 million shots over the past year. It has processed information on more than 19,000 asteroids and comets, including four new ones. The data obtained by the mission also looks into the origins of the discovered objects.
“By studying the distribution of lighter- and darker-colored material, NEOWISE data give us a better understanding of the origins of the NEOs, originating from either different parts of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter or the icier comet populations,” said James Bauer, the mission’s deputy principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
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US scares Europe with ‘mythical’ Russian threat to justify military costs – Russian envoy to NATO
US scares Europe with ‘mythical’ Russian threat to justify military costs – Russian envoy to NATO
The US is using “mythical” Russian aggression as a European boogeyman to justify increasing defense spending while also hoping to revive NATO’s failing mission amid growing global security threat, Russia’s envoy to the alliance exclusively told RT.
“The United States and its representatives have repeatedly said that Russia poses a threat to the United States. Many said it was almost an existential threat, but the underlying reason, in my opinion, is obvious,”Russia’s permanent envoy to NATO Aleksandr Grushko, said.
In just one year, the Pentagon’s defense budget request has grown by $2.4 billion. The department is currently hoping for Congressional approval of $582.7 billion. On top of regular expenditures, the sum also includes nearly $60 billion in the overseas contingency operations fund.
To justify the spending boost, the Pentagon officials have resorted to blaming “Russia’s aggression, terrorism by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and others” as challenges that affected its “planning and budgeting.”
A “strategic threat” from Russia is one of the reasons why Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is urging “practical updates” to the Pentagon’s organizational framework.
Last week, the Pentagon announced a plan to increase its troop presence in “the European theater” of up to three fully-manned Army brigades by the end of 2017, citing “an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.”
However, according to Grushko, Washington is pursuing its internal interests and other goals than protecting its NATO allies, when it cries a “Russian threat.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
130 arrests made during anti-labor reform protests in Paris
130 arrests made during anti-labor reform protests in Paris
Police have detained 130 people in Paris, as violent demonstrations against labor reforms continue across France. In Rennes, police chased protesters from railways and used tear gas, as demonstrators threw projectiles at security forces and blocked traffic.
One hundred and thirty people have been detained in Paris for “identity checks” as students march against the reforms, according to AFP.
Police sources say there was an aggressive group of youths in the crowd, masked by bandanas and hoods. They started throwing stones, eggs and bottles at the police, and security forces had to use tear gas.
In Paris, Lyceum students and trade unions have been marching near the Bastille area, chanting the French song ‘It’s all for us’.
#Manif5Avril > 130 personnes ont été interpellées à Paris en marge du cortège des
jeunes (préfecture de police)
Xi warns Obama against threatening China’s sovereignty & national interests
Xi warns Obama against threatening China’s sovereignty & national interests
China has warned the US that it will protect its sovereignty in the disputed waters of the South China Sea and rejects attempts to use international laws and freedom of navigation as a pretext to undermine its national security interests.
In a meeting with US President Barack Obama at the fourth Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping said that while he believes in the peaceful resolution of conflicts through direct talks, China will take steps to protect its national interests and sovereignty.
“China will firmly safeguard the sovereignty and related rights in the South China Sea,” Xi said in a meeting, according to Xinhua news.
While acknowledging that Beijing “respects and safeguards the freedom of navigation and overflight other countries are entitled to under international law,” Xi stressed that China will “not accept any freedom of navigation as an excuse to undermine China’s sovereignty and national security interests.”
The US has been taking steps to counter China’s growing influence in the region and has increased its regular naval patrols in the South China Sea as part of “freedom of navigation” drills near the disputed islands chain.
Washington has also increased air surveillance in addition to stepping up US-led war games with its Asian allies. In response China deployed its surface-to-air missile systems on Woody Island earlier this year, in addition to military aircraft.
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Farewell fossil fuels? Biomass broken down without chemicals for 1st time, study claims
Farewell fossil fuels? Biomass broken down without chemicals for 1st time, study claims
Scientists have made a huge leap in lessening our dependence on fossil fuels, managing to break down raw biomass without using chemicals for the very first time. The result was record high amounts of clean liquid hydrocarbon fuel, according to a new study.
When dealing with the possibility of breaking down biomass, a substance known as lignin – one of the components in the woody material used to produce fossil fuel – has traditionally been seen as a challenge, as it is difficult to break down and convert into useful fuel. As such, it often requires high levels of energy or the use of chemicals.
To study this further, a team of scientists from the University of Manchester and East China University of Science and Technology stewed a catalyst – made up of the metal complex niobium phosphate, with small particles of platinum scattered across the surface – with raw wood sawdust for 20 hours at 190° Celsius (374° Fahrenheit) and a pressure of 50 atmospheres.
The catalyst was able to directly break down and convert into lignin. The result is encouraging for scientists, who believe it could be a first step in the process of converting biomass into fuel.
“The conversion of biomass into fuels typically requires separations and pre-treatments to the raw biomass, thus suffering high energy penalties,” study author Dr. Sihai Yang said in a statement.
However, he noted that “this catalyst showed exceptionally high activity in splitting the carbon-oxygen bonds, the most challenging step in the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass.”
“This new catalytic process can therefore directly convert raw biomass to liquid fuels without separations or chemical pre-treatments, leading to significant potential energy savings,” Yang said.
The production of biomass offers an energy alternative that is almost carbon neutral, since the carbon dioxide used is recycled in plant photosynthesis.
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World Class Journalist Spills the Beans, Admits Mainstream Media is Completely Fake
Recently, Dr. Ulfakatte went on public television stating that he was forced to publish the works of intelligence agents under his own name, also adding that noncompliance with these orders would result in him losing his job.
He recently made an appearance on RT news to share these facts:
I’ve been a journalist for about 25 years, and I was educated to lie, to betray, and not to tell the truth to the public.
But seeing right now within the last months how the German and American media tries to bring war to the people in Europe, to bring war to Russia — this is a point of no return and I’m going to stand up and say it is not right what I have done in the past, to manipulate people, to make propaganda against Russia, and it is not right what my colleagues do and have done in the past because they are bribed to betray the people, not only in Germany, all over Europe.
Dr. Udo Ulfkotte is a top German journalist and editor and has been for more than two decades, so you can bet he knows a thing or two about mainstream media and what really happens behind the scenes.
It’s important to keep in mind that Dr. Ulfakatte is not the only person making these claims; multiple reporters have done the same and this kind of truthfulness is something the world needs more of.
One (out of many) great examples of a whistleblowing reporter is investigative journalist and former CBC News reporter Sharyl Attkisson.
She delivered a hard-hitting TEDx talk showing how fake grassroots movements funded by political, corporate, or other special interests very effectively manipulate and distort media messages.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Monsanto threatens to quit Indian GM-cotton market if govt cuts its royalties
Monsanto threatens to quit Indian GM-cotton market if govt cuts its royalties
American agrochemical giant Monsanto has threatened to pull out of India and hold back new genetically modified cotton technologies if the government continues its “arbitrary and potentially destructive” interventions that seek to cut the company’s royalty fees.
Last year the Indian government issued an order to control cotton seed prices effective from the 2016-17 crop year. In a ruling, the antitrust regulator, Competition Commission of India, accused the GMO giant of potentially abusing its dominant position on the market. The Agriculture Ministry set up a special committee tasked with implementing brackets for seed price along with royalty fees, after the completion of an investigation into the matter.
Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB), a joint venture with India’s Mahyco, licenses its products to a number of local seed companies in exchange for royalties. The company also sells seeds directly though the local licensees.
All in all the US subsidiary control some 90 percent of the market, as the agricultural biotechnology corporation serves over seven million cotton farmers in India.
However the new government commission is keen to reduce the price of the crop after local seeds companies filed complaints that MMB was charging high fees to sub-license BT cotton seed technology since 2002. The government is reportedly planning to reduce the royalties of its genetically modified cotton seeds by 70 percent.
Monsanto has challenged the government order in Delhi High Court which asked the American monopolist to pay compensation to farmers, threatening to leave the Indian market.
“If the committee recommends imposing a sharp, mandatory cut in the trait fees paid on BT-cotton seeds, MMBL will have no choice but to re-evaluate every aspect of our position in India,” Monsanto India Region CEO Shilpa Divekar said.
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Mass surveillance programs futile in fighting terror – Snowden
Mass surveillance programs futile in fighting terror – Snowden
Bulk data gathering programs used by US intelligence have no effect in combating terrorism and have failed to prevent any attacks in their 10 years of operation, whistleblower and former NSA contactor Edward Snowden, claims in a recent interview.
“In the wake of the revelations of mass surveillance the [US] president [Barack Obama] appointed two independent commissions to review the efficiency of these [surveillance] programs, what they really did and what effect they had in combating terrorism. [The commissions comprised] the highest priests of these programs, they found these programs had never stopped a single terrorist attack and never made a concrete difference in a terrorist investigation,” Snowden told Spanish TV channel Sexta.
The whistleblower went on saying, that “they [the NSA, CIA] violated the constitution and the rights of 330 million Americans for 10 years. We have to ask ourselves: was it ever worth it?”He also stated that despite being justified by preventing terrorist attacks, surveillance programs are more often used for completely different purposes.
“It was diplomatic manipulation, economic spying and social control. It was about power, and there is no doubt that mass surveillance increases the power of the government.”
Read more
Snowden stressed that bulk data collection is “more aggressive and invasive today than it was before. Law enforcement and intelligence structures do not any longer bother to pick up a suspect and hack his cell phone, they cut in into all lines and communications […] at the heart of the society.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Over 3,000 tons of unregistered radioactive waste stored in Japan – report
Over 3,000 tons of unregistered radioactive waste stored in Japan – report
At least 3,100 tons of toxic waste lacking proper registration is being stored in Japan, local media report. Heaps of radioactive waste have been produced in the cleanup of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, but local officials are reluctant to report it.
Tons of contaminated soil as well as other radioactive garbage are being stored at temporary depots across the country, Japanese NHK TV-Channel reports.
The level of radiation at the storage sites is higher than 8,000 Becquerels per kilogram, while the norm is 10 Becquerels per kilogram.
NHK gathered the data by questioning local administrations of the Ibaraki, Iwate, Miyagi, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo and Fukushima prefectures. The largest quantity of nuclear waste is said to be stored in the city of Kurihara in the Miyagi prefecture.
According to Japanese law, local authorities must report to the government about the nuclear materials stored in their prefectures.
They have not done so for five years, however, for the fear of negative publicity. Should the toxic waste be officially registered, local authorities will be told to build permanent storage facilities, which they fear may affect the attractiveness of their regions to investors.
The meltdown of the reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant was triggered by a disastrous earthquake followed by a huge tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011. It was biggest nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl tragedy and forced 160,000 people to flee their homes.
Bad news for bots: #Fukushima cleanup robots overpowered by radiation (VIDEOS) http://on.rt.com/76re pic.twitter.com/qlPZqNinbx
‘Shocking how many people died in Fukushima’ – documentary director to RT
‘Shocking how many people died in Fukushima’ – documentary director to RT
Five years ago a killer tsunami knocked out the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, spewing radiation and forcing 160,000 people to flee their homes. Authorities in Japan want locals to think “nothing happened,” documentary director Jeffrey Jousan told RT.
“It is very telling about the situation in Fukushima. It is hard for everyone who is affected by the tsunami, who lost their homes and lost their families. But [in Fukushima], people are not able to go back home, they are unable to work because people won’t buy food from Fukushima, farmers cannot farm anymore. It is affecting people, and more people are dying because of that.
It is shocking… to see [how] many people have died in Fukushima,” the co-director of the documentary film ‘Alone in the Zone’ told RT.
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The US Government Cannot Stop Telling Lies
The US Government Cannot Stop Telling Lies
The US Department of Justice (sic) is the worst threat to American Liberty. The DOJ will not be happy until the department has shredded every line of the US Constitution and burned the shredded pieces. The DOJ which falsely claims it is safeguarding our liberty has approved illegal and unconstitutional torture, war crimes, illegal and unconstitutional spying without warrants, illegal and unconstitutional indefinite detention without due process of law, illegal and unconstitutional murder of US citizens without due process of law. Americans have no worst enemy than the US Department of Justice (sic).
EU Parliament adopts resolution calling for arms embargo against Saudi Arabia over Yemen
EU Parliament adopts resolution calling for arms embargo against Saudi Arabia over Yemen
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling for the introduction of an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia over its operation in Yemen, The Greens political group reported on its website.
The resolution calls for an EU-wide arms embargo against the country, until alleged breaches of international humanitarian law in Yemen have been investigated, the group wrote.
“The European Parliament’s call for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia is unprecedented and reflects growing frustration at the conduct of war in Yemen by the Saudi Air Force. Saudi Arabia is a top arms client of the UK and France, and there is evidence that these weapons have been used in gross violations of international law in Yemen, where thousands of civilians have been killed since the start of the war in March 2015,” Greens/EFA foreign affairs spokesman Alyn Smith, who led efforts to get the amendment passed, said following the resolution’s adoption.
European Parliament is calling for arms embargo on Saudi Arabia. #Yemen
He added that there are “real grounds to believe that EU-made weapons systems are being exported to Saudi,” and called on EU foreign policy high representative Federica Mogherini to investigate how an arms embargo can be implemented.
Saudi Arabia has been lobbying to MEPs in an effort to prevent an arms embargo. The Saudi ambassador to Brussels, Abdulrahman al-Ahmed, sent a letter to parliamentarians on Sunday in which he pleaded with them not to vote for the amendment and defended his country’s military intervention in Yemen.
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