Category: News

The Japan News – by Eiji Noyori and Hiroyuki Oyama

The Guardian

Japan‘s nuclear watchdog has given the green light for two reactors to restart but the operator still has to persuade local communities they are safe.

Widespread anti-nuclear sentiment has simmered in Japan ever since an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 caused meltdowns at the Fukushima power plant, sparking the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl.   Continue reading “Japan To Restart Two Nuclear Reactors”

Natural Gas Asia

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and BP Singapore (BPS), an affiliate of BP Group have signed an agreement under which the Japanese utility will purchase up to 1.20 million tons of LNG per year over 17 years from the British firm.

LNG supplies are expected to commence in April 2017 and the gas would be sourced from multiple sources the BP holds, TEPCO said Friday in a statement. The prices will be linked to the US Henry Hub gas index rather than oil prices.   Continue reading “TEPCO Signs LNG Purchase Deal With BP”

WFLA – by Peter Bernard

Scientists warn two solar flares heading our way are some of the biggest seen in several years.

But what exactly are they?

Jeff Rodgers from the Bishop Planetarium in Bradenton explains solar flares originate in sun spots, and are a wave of charged particles blasted from the surface.   Continue reading “Two giant solar flares head to earth”

CBC News

A Grade 12 student in Lethbridge, Alta., was suspended last week for dealing Pepsi to fellow students out of his locker.

Keenan Shaw was suspended for two days by Winston Churchill high school for selling the soft drink to students, violating a school policy that only permits diet pop on the premises.

Shaw says he was told the sales violated the nutrition and marketing policies, and that he was operating a business without a licence.   Continue reading “Lethbridge student suspended for dealing banned Pepsi from locker”

CBC News

Youth-oriented retailer Urban Outfitters apologizes for selling a sweatshirt that appears to be covered in blood spatter, dirt and holes, and is emblazoned with the name of infamous U.S. college Kent State.

The clothing chain’s website shows the sweatshirt as being sold out and no longer available. But over the weekend, it was available for $129 US.   Continue reading “Kent State sweatshirt prompts Urban Outfitters apology”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — A man charged with killing a boy who disappeared in 1979 calmly told investigators that he strangled the child, according to a confession video played in court Monday for a judge who will decide whether the recording can be used as trial evidence.

Pedro Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of Etan Patz, who vanished on his way to school. In the video, Hernandez is sitting in a plain room with lots of chairs as a detective asks him about the child.   Continue reading “Judge sees confession tape in ’79 missing boy case”

Mail.com

BAGHDAD (AP) — The extremist-held Iraqi city of Mosul is set to usher in a new school year. But unlike years past, there will be no art or music. Classes about history, literature and Christianity have been “permanently annulled.”

The Islamic State group has declared patriotic songs blasphemous and ordered that certain pictures be torn out of textbooks. But instead of compliance, Iraq’s second largest city has — at least so far — responded to the Sunni militants’ demands with silence. Although the extremists stipulated that the school year would begin Sept. 9, pupils have uniformly not shown up for class, according to residents who spoke anonymously because of safety concerns. They said families were keeping their children home out of mixed feelings of fear, resistance and uncertainty.   Continue reading “Islamic State group issues new curriculum in Iraq”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Income inequality is taking a toll on state governments.

The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been matched by a slowdown in state tax revenue, according to a report being released Monday by Standard & Poor’s. Even as income for the affluent has accelerated, it’s barely kept pace with inflation for most other people. That trend can mean a double-whammy for states: The wealthy often manage to shield much of their income from taxes. And they tend to spend a lower percentage of it than others do, thereby limiting sales tax revenue.   Continue reading “US wealth gap putting the squeeze on state revenue”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that a Tampa, Florida, woman can pursue her lawsuit alleging that the government invaded her privacy in the scandal over former CIA director David Petraeus.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Jill Kelley can press her claim that the FBI and Defense Department violated her privacy when officials allegedly leaked information about her to the news media.   Continue reading “Judge: Lawsuit in Petraeus scandal can proceed”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday will bestow the Medal of Honor on a pair of soldiers for their acts of bravery in the Vietnam War.

Congress granted an exemption so Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins and Army Spc. Donald P. Sloat could receive the medal, because recommendations typically must be made within two years of the act of heroism, and the medal presented within three.   Continue reading “Vietnam soldiers to receive Medal of Honor”

Huffington Post – by Joseph Erbentraut

A professor who left his position at another school to join the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — only to see his job offer abruptly retracted as a result of social media posts criticizing Israel’s role in the Gaza conflict — has publicly addressed the controversy for the first time.

At a Tuesday press conference on the UIUC campus, Steven Salaita detailed the personal hardships his job offer’s termination — just two weeks before his proposed start date — caused for him and his family. He also chided the the school’s chancellor and board of trustees for setting what he calls a “perilous standard.”   Continue reading “Professor Who Lost Job Over Anti-Israel Tweets: University Setting A ‘Perilous Standard’”

New York Times – by Roger Cohen

It was the time of unraveling. Long afterward, in the ruins, people asked: How could it happen?

It was a time of beheadings. With a left-handed sawing motion, against a desert backdrop, in bright sunlight, a Muslim with a British accent cut off the heads of two American journalists and a British aid worker. The jihadi seemed comfortable in his work, unhurried. His victims were broken. Terror is theater. Burning skyscrapers, severed heads: The terrorist takes movie images of unbearable lightness and gives them weight enough to embed themselves in the psyche.   Continue reading “The Great Unraveling”

Computer World – by Patrick Thibodeau

In Boyers, Pa., a recently opened 2,000-sq.-ft. data center has been purpose-built to protect against an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), either generated by a solar storm or a nuclear event.

The company that built the facility isn’t disclosing exactly how the data center was constructed or what materials were used. But broadly, it did say that the structure has an inner skin and an outer skin that use a combination of thicknesses and metals to provide EMP protection.   Continue reading “New data center protects against solar storms and nuclear EMPs”

Breitbart – by Brandon Darby

NOGALES, Arizona — On September 11, 2014, individuals or a group in Mexico hung a message to America over the U.S.-Mexico border wall condemning American support for Israel and declaring support for Palestine. U.S. federal agents discovered the banner draped over the primary border fence in Arizona’s Yuma Sector in a restricted area that could only have been reached from Mexico. The message also contained an image described by authorities as an anarchist symbol. The incident was kept secret from the American public by federal authorities. Breitbart Texas exclusively obtained the leaked incident report from federal agents on the condition their identities remain private.   Continue reading “Feds Find Anti-Israel and Pro-Palestine 9/11 Message to America on Border Fence”

Ubergizmo – by Edwin Kee

A Samsung Group subsidiary has worked on a robot sentry that they call the SGR-A1, and this particular robot will carry a fair amount of weapons that ought to make you think twice about crossing the borders of South Korea illegally – as it has been tested out at the demilitarized zone along the border over with its neighbor, North Korea. The SGR-A1 will be able to detect intruders with the help of machine vision (read: cameras), alongside a combination of heat and motion sensors.   Continue reading “Samsung SGR-A1 Robot Sentry Is One Cold Machine”

CNS News – by Susan Jones

Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday announced an effort to counter “violent extremism” by spurring “local engagement” in cities across the country.

He did not offer specifics, but it sounds like he wants law enforcement and community leaders to meet regularly, to share information on people who may have traveled overseas to join ISIS, or on people who may be plotting attacks right here in the U.S.   Continue reading “Holder Announces Pilot Programs to Counter ‘Violent Extremism’”

Breitbart – by Bob Price

MISSION, Texas — Authorities prepare to use “whatever force is necessary” to defend international bridges between Texas and Mexico from U.S. based militia groups. The preparations by Texas law enforcement agencies are in response to recently discovered plans by militia groups to attempt closing several international bridges. The militia groups’ plans are intended to be protests against the federal government’s failure to secure the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The plans call for militia groups to begin blocking traffic on an undisclosed number of international bridges in the Rio Grande Valley on Sept. 20th, 2014.   Continue reading “Texas Police Prepare to Defend International Bridges from Militia Groups”

Think Progress – by Kiley Kroh

A recent move by Wisconsin utility We Energies to not only raise electricity rates on all consumers but also to add an additional charge on those who produce their own energy and sell it back to the grid has sparked outrage within the state and beyond. The plan would raise the “fixed charge” on all customers’ electric bills from $9 to $16 a month, as well as reduce net metering — a policy that enables customers with solar panels or other forms of distributed generation to sell their excess electricity back to the grid — and add a new charge on these electricity-generating customers.   Continue reading “Push To Impose Extra Fees On Solar Customers Draws Outrage In Wisconsin”