Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Space-grown lettuce for ISS astronauts - BBC News
Astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have tasted space-grown lettuce. The red romaine lettuce leaves were grown entirely by the team and it marks the start of the "veggie project" that will see more food grown in space. NASA scientists say fresh food will have a positive impact on the astronauts' health.
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via BBC News
Nuclear Power Plant Restarts Triggering Protests
A power plant operator in southern Japan restarted a nuclear reactor, the first to begin operating under new safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster. Dozens of anti-nuclear activists held a protest outside the plant.
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via AP
Grecia, migranti soccorsi da una barca di turisti italiani
Il medaglione della luna, il silenzio del mare e il lento cullare di onde tranquille. Sono le quattro . A bordo di un 12 metri cabinato la famiglia di Carlotta Dazzi, marito e due biondi marinaretti di 9 e 11 anni, riposa dopo una giornata di vela. Alla fonda nella rada di Ormos Vathi, a sud di Pserimos (isoletta a uno sputo da Kos, arcipelago del Dodecaneso, Egeo orientale) ci sono una decina di barche di varie nazionalità, gente in vacanza che a quell’ora dorme. «Sono state le urla dei bambini a svegliarci», racconta Carlotta Dazzi, giornalista ed istruttrice di vela. «Subito sono schizzata in pozzetto perché ho capito cosa stava succedendo. Non si vedeva un cavolo, buio pesto. Solo lamenti infantili, che sentivamo a poche decine di metri da noi, vicino agli scogli». Carlotta è scesa in mare, su un gommoncino a remi: «Ci siamo avvicinati per farli arrivare in spiaggia in modo sicuro, altrimenti avrebbero dovuto arrampicarsi sulla scogliera, sarebbe stato molto pericoloso, soprattutto perché c’erano tanti bambini». Ad uno, ad uno, tutti o quasi i migranti sono stati accompagnati nella vicina spiaggetta. «Erano circa 45 siriani, tra cui 11 bambini di cui la maggior parte molto piccoli. Un sei o sette giovani madri, un anziano signore con stampelle e un femore malconcio, sua moglie e tanti ragazzi, molti minorenni sicuramente».
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via Corriere
Ecco la versione italiana del clip che avevamo pubblicato la scorsa settimana circa il Walkcar
Si chiama WalkCar ed è una sorta di skate elettrico grande quanto un laptop, tanto che può essere infilato in una borsa. Il mini Segway elettrico è stato inventato in Giappone ed è un prodotto della Cocoa Motors che lo presenta come il «veicolo elettrico più piccolo del mondo». Il video è stato caricato su YouTube da WalkCar cocoa motors.Inc. Noi di INC lo abbiamo proposto la scorsa settimana.
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via Corriere
Brescia, spari in pizzeria: uccisi i due titolari «Avevano denunciato lo spaccio»
Brescia, via Val Saviore, pizzeria da Frank: il codice rosso è partito alle 10.20 di martedì 11 agosto. Francesco Serramondi, il titolare, 65 anni, e sua moglie Giovanna Ferrari, 63 anni, sono stati uccisi durante una sparatoria. Sul caso indaga la polizia. Gli aggressori avrebbero sparato da un motorino: due colpi di fucile e la fuga. L'ipotesi: un regolamento di conti. Secondo i testimoni, Serramondi, detto Frank, avrebbe più volte segnalato episodi di violenza e spaccio nella zona. I killer, arrivati su uno scooter, avrebbero agito a colpo sicuro. Le indagini sono affidate alla Squadra Mobile della Questura di Brescia che ha ascoltato alcuni possibili testimoni. Al vaglio degli inquirenti ci sarebbero anche le immagini delle telecamere di sicurezza.
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via Corriere
Windows 10 service agreement stirs espionage fears in Russian Communists
A senior Communist functionary claims that the end-user service agreement attached to the new Windows 10 OS violates the Russian law requiring the personal data of Russian citizens to be collected and processed only by specially-licensed companies. Vadim Solovyov, the chief lawyer of the Communist Party in the State Duma addressed Prosecutor General Yury Chaika with an official request to launch a probe into Microsoft’s latest operating system, Izvestia daily reported Tuesday.
In his letter, the politician claims that the end-user service agreement distributed with Windows 10 reads that the operating system (OS) will collect and store users’ web history, access points, passwords and other personal data, including physical location, emails and other messages and information about phone calls. Microsoft also reserves the right to share this data with special services, use it in research, publish or use it in any other way it sees fit.
Read article HERE
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via RT
Hundreds of Londoners evacuated after WWII bomb discovered
Scores of families in east London were evacuated Monday night as bomb disposal experts were called to defuse an unexploded World War II bomb discovered at a building site.
The bomb was unearthed by contractors working in Bethnal Green just after midday Monday, triggering the introduction of a police hazard zone and the evacuation of 150 local residents. Sappers were called to the scene at 17:00 BST and worked through the night to defuse the 500lb device.
Families were evacuated to a local school where Tower Hamlets Council set up a rest center. The exclusion zone was also extended to 200 meters from the bomb’s location.
Read article HERE
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via RT
Councils lose & abuse citizens’ data thousands of times, watchdog reveals
Privacy rights campaigners are demanding that UK council staff face prosecution after an investigation revealed government employees stole, lost or inappropriately accessed citizens’ sensitive material over 4,000 times. A study by Big Brother Watch, published on Tuesday, revealed councils recorded 4,236 data breaches over a three-year period from April 2011 to April 2014 – a rate of nearly four a day. In one case, sensitive information about children and sex offenders was left on a train, while in another an employee at Thanet Council in Kent was fired after accessing benefit claim records “inappropriately.”
The privacy watchdog criticized councils for their “shockingly lax attitudes to protecting confidential information.” Researchers at the campaign group based their study on a slew of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests sent to all local authorities in the UK. They discovered that fewer than one in 10 council workers were punished for privacy breaches, while staff resigned in 39 cases and 50 employees were dismissed.
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via RT
Russia in recession on back of cheap oil, sanctions
Russia’s economy suffered a 4.6-percent fall in GDP in the second quarter of 2015 against the same period last year, the worst performance in six years, according to official statistics. A collapse in oil prices and Western sanctions were largely to blame, however improvement is forecast in 3Q of 2015.
The sharp GDP quarterly decline more than doubled the 2.2 percent year-on-year contraction recorded in the previous three months, Russia's Federal Statistics Service said Monday. The government had previously predicted a Q2 decline of 4.4 percent. The slump sees the Russian economy officially enter a recession for only the second time in the past 15 years. Russia was hit hard by the global financial crisis and the recession of 2008-2009 as a result of its integration into the world economy.
Read article HERE
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via RT
French students busted in ‘Breaking Bad’ copycat crime, dissolving murdered woman in acid
A 23-year-old French student’s body has been discovered decomposing in acid in the city of Toulouse. Investigators were shocked to find the murder plot was inspired by the hit US series ‘Breaking Bad’. Four French students, including a young woman, have been arrested in connection with the killing.
Investigators believe Eva Bourseau was murdered by the two of them when they came to her place to collect a $6,600 drug debt on July 26. The alleged murderers are between 19 and 22 years old. An autopsy revealed a skull fracture, and other broken bones and a smashed face, Toulouse Prosecutor Pierre-Yves Couilleau said in his official statement on Friday.
Read article HERE
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via RT
ISIS terrorists execute 10 prisoners by forcing them to kneel on landmines
Islamic State jihadists have resorted to a new way of executing their prisoners, killing 10 men by forcing them to kneel on top of explosives buried just underneath the soil and blowing them up simultaneously. The terrorists filmed the execution in detail, including footage of ISIS henchmen preparing the execution site. The footage shows them planting a number of wired explosives beneath a thin layer of soil on sloping ground, lined up in a row.
Then the militants, not even hiding their faces, bring their blindfolded victims to the execution site. The 10 prisoners are forced to their knees, each one above a visible mark of freshly excavated soil. After the jihadists took photos with black flags near the victims, the executioners run away to avoid being injured by the series of explosions.
Read article HERE
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via RT
DUBAI - 20yo woman drowns in Dubai after father refuses to let lifeguards ‘touch & dishonor her’
A man who prevented Dubai lifeguards from saving his drowning 20-year-old daughter, saying he would rather she died than be dishonored by being touched by male lifeguards, has been arrested and charged in the United Arab Emirates. The man, an expat from an undisclosed Asian country who has not been identified by police, took his wife and children to the beach for a picnic. His daughter was having fun swimming, when she suddenly got into difficulty in the water and screamed for help.
Two [lifeguards] were at the beach, and they rushed to help the girl.” Lt. Col. Ahmed Burqibah, deputy director of Dubai police’s search and rescue department, told Emirates 24/7.
”However, there was one obstacle, which prevented them from reaching the girl and helping her… the belief of this Asian man, who considered that if these men touched his daughter, then this would dishonor her. It cost him the life of his daughter.”
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via RT
Easy as ABC: Google gets new CEO with formation of Alphabet parent company
A major restructuring at internet search giant Google will see the birth of a new parent company, dubbed Alphabet, described as a “collection of companies” including Google, Life Sciences and Calico, and a reshuffling of the company’s top executives.
“We liked the name Alphabet because it means a collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity’s important innovations, and is the core of how we index with Google search.” Page will become the CEO of Alphabet and Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin will become Alphabet’s president. Eric Schmidt will be the executive chairman at Alphabet , and Sundar Pichai is taking over as Google’s CEO.
“Our company is operating well today, but we think we can make it cleaner and more accountable,” said a statement from Page, who co-founded the tech giant 17 years ago with Brin.
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via RT
Stunning move: NYPD to spend $4.5 million on more Tasers
Officials at NYPD said they want to give police officers more options in terms of non-lethal force, and so the move to significantly augment their stock of stun guns was portrayed as a way to make confrontations with residents less deadly. Only patrol sergeants and Emergency Service Units are currently allowed to use Tasers, but training has already begun for other officers, and field training officers will also be taught how to use the weapons. While beat officers may also acquire Tasers at some point, the NYPD spokesman said that’s an issue that has not yet been decided.
According to the newspaper, the NYPD has 700 Tasers in use and another 1,000 in inventory. A $4.5-million purchase could result in more than 1,000 more Tasers been added to the force. Each weapon costs between $500 and $1,000.
INC News, 11/08/2015 - via RT
New face of Russian foreign policy: 1st woman appointed as Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Russia’s Foreign Ministry appointed a new director for its Information and Press department on Monday. Maria Zakharova, the first woman to become the ministry’s spokesperson, spoke to RT about how her department will convey Moscow’s positions to the world.
Zakharova, who has worked in the ministry since 1998, began her career as an editor, serving as head of Russia’s Permanent Mission’s press service at the United Nations in New York for several years before being appointed as a deputy director in the Information and Press Department. She holds the diplomatic rank of minister-counselor and is also a popular blogger. She is a fluent speaker of English and Chinese.
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