The Verge – by James Vincent

Is your digital assistant taking orders behind your back? Scientists from China’s Zheijiang University have proved it’s possible, publishing new research that demonstrates how Siri, Alexa, and other voice-activated programs can be controlled using inaudible ultrasound commands. This provides a new method of attack for hackers targeting devices like phones, tablets, and even cars. But don’t get too worried — the technique has a number of key limitations that means it’s unlikely to cause chaos.   Continue reading “Inaudible ultrasound commands can be used to secretly control Siri, Alexa, and Google Now”

The Last American Vagabond – by Joe Martino

Hurricane Harvey has been making headlines all over due to the scale of destruction it has caused in Texas. While covering Harvey for Al Jazeera, reporter Shihab Rattansi told MSNBC host Ali Velshi last week that fossil fuel companies have been robbing locals in the Texas, Louisiana, and Gulf Coast area of infrastructure funds that could have lessened their suffering dramatically.

Shihab says himself that as an “Al Jazeera guy,” his job is to “get to the point.” Al Jazeera has always been known for creating news and media focused on openness, transparency, and calling out corruption — things we don’t often see in North American mainstream media.   Continue reading “MSNBC ‘Loses Connection’ Right As Reporter Exposes Oil Industry For Robbing Locals Of Infrastructure Funding”

RT

Starting next year, France intends to stop giving permits for oil and gas exploration on the mainland and its overseas territories, according to a draft bill unveiled by the cabinet.

The move aims at ending all oil and gas production by 2040 as France wants to meet its carbon neutral goal as part of a broader plan to combat climate change.

The government is not going to renew current drilling licenses. However, some of the existing permits could be extended because of contracts.   Continue reading “France plans oil and gas production ban by 2040”

Mail.com

BANGKOK (AP) — Journalists saw new fires burning Thursday in a Myanmar village that had been abandoned by Rohingya Muslims, and pages ripped from Islamic texts that were left on the ground. That intensifies doubts about government claims that members of the persecuted minority have been destroying their own homes.

About two dozen journalists saw the fires in Gawdu Zara village in northern Rakhine state on a government-controlled trip. Some 164,000 Rohingya from the area have fled across the border in Bangladesh in less than two weeks since Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked police outposts in Gawdu Zara and several others, the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday.   Continue reading “New Myanmar fires in empty Rohingya village raise questions”

Mail.com

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Fearsome Hurricane Irma left at least 10 dead and thousands homeless amid a swathe of smashed buildings and uprooted trees, cutting a path of devastation across the northern Caribbean on Thursday on a track that could lead to a catastrophic strike on Florida.

The most potent Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever, Irma weakened only slightly Thursday morning and remained a powerful Category 5 storm with winds of 180 mph (285 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.   Continue reading “Hurricane Irma toll hits 10, increasing threat for Florida”

Mail.com

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli warplanes struck a military position near the Mediterranean coast in western Syria early Thursday, killing two soldiers and causing material damage, the Syrian army said. The airstrike targeted a facility near the town of Masyaf that some said was tied to Syria’s chemical weapons program, in a stronghold of President Bashar Assad that is also heavily protected by the Russians.

In a statement, the Syrian army said the Israeli warplanes fired several missiles while in Lebanese air space, and warned of the “dangerous repercussions of such hostile acts on the security and stability of the region.”   Continue reading “Syrian army: Israeli air raid on military position kills 2”

NEO – by Phil Butler

Google wants to be Big Brother’s eyeballs on you. All us Internet gurus knew this since before the NSA was found out spying on everybody. But now the Mountain View boys are more determined than ever to filter your information, and to obliterate any semblance of truth reaching people.

If I had led into an article with that paragraph even five years ago, I’d have been instantly labeled a “conspiracy theorist” or worse. How about know dear reader? Is the idea the technocrats and their huge monied handlers want to run you crazy? I didn’t think so. But if you need proof beyond the obvious, Google’S 160-page handbook tells us all exactly how they plan to spoon feed us only “their” news. The lengthy handbook is a heavy read for the average person, but the book does lay out an Orwellian machination unlike anything seen since the Nazi propaganda machine of Hitler. Pay close attention to the “instructional” on page 108 where Google dictates who does and does not meet rating criteria. The section under Fails to Meet (FailsM) is a steamrolling of the free press, and suggested hiding certain kinds of sites:   Continue reading “We Told You So: Google Is NSA”

Cleveland.com

Q: I am a customer of Dollar Bank and, in early February, I asked to withdraw $600,000 in cash from a branch on the East Side. They said they needed more notice to give me that much cash.

I decided to withdraw my money because Dollar Bank notified me that they were going to cut my interest rate from 1 percent to 0.25 percent on any amount over $100,000.

I kept going back to the branch or calling every week and they couldn’t tell me when I could get my money, or why I couldn’t get it right away.   Continue reading “Man who wants to withdraw $600,000 in cash is forced to wait — for weeks: Money Matters”

New York Post

A fatal, police-involved shooting in the Bronx on Wednesday marked the very first time cops captured someone being shot on official NYPD body cams, authorities said.

Officers from the 47th Precinct, where the incident took place, were issued the cameras two months ago, according to officials.

Investigators were said to have “secured” the tapes for “further review.”   Continue reading “NYPD cops capture shooting on body cams for the first time”

Fox News

Armed employees at a Cleveland Taco Bell shot and killed a would-be robber early Wednesday, police said.

Police responded to the store in the city’s Edgewater neighborhood shortly before 3 a.m. and found the suspect suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The unidentified man was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

A second suspect fled the scene.   Continue reading “Armed Taco Bell workers shoot, kill robbery suspect”

AOL

When it comes to hurricane prediction, the consensus is on the need for consensus among forecasters. No single computer model should be relied on. And no forecast remains static.

So as Hurricane Irma roars through the Caribbean, forecasters are looking at the top weather models from Europe, the United States and Britain, collectively, to track what on Tuesday was already being described as the second-strongest storm observed in modern times.   Continue reading “Predicting Irma’s path is giving supercomputers a challenge”

Collective Evolution – by Arjun Walia

Water is life, but you wouldn’t know that after witnessing what’s happening around the world, and what happened with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota this year. We’re destroying our environment and constantly releasing harmful toxins into the veins of Mother Earth, who can only take so much.

We have the ability and the technology to clean up our water systems and start producing our products and energy in clean green ways, but industry corruption and red-tape prolong the process. At the same time, disease rates are rising at an exponential rate, and it’s clear that multiple factors could be contributing to this, including a lack of access to clean healthy water, on a global scale.   Continue reading “Researchers Discover Plastic Fibres Found In Tap Water Around The World”

We The People – Created by E.B. on August 20, 2017

Whereas George Soros has willfully and on an ongoing basis attempted to destabilize and otherwise commit acts of sedition against the United States and its citizens, has created and funded dozens (and probably hundreds) of discrete organizations whose sole purpose is to apply Alinsky model terrorist tactics to facilitate the collapse of the systems and Constitutional government of the United State, and has developed unhealthy and undue influence over the entire Democrat Party and a large portion of the US Federal government, the DOJ should immediately declare George Soros and all of his organizations and staff members to be domestic terrorists, and have all of his personal an organizational wealth and assets seized under Civil Asset Forfeiture law.   Continue reading “Declare George Soros a terrorist and seize all of his related organizations’ assets under RICO and NDAA law”

CBC News

A tiny village on Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula is facing off against an oil company in a legal battle that could end up costing the community $1.5 million.

The municipality of Ristigouche Sud-Est is being sued by Gastem, a Montreal-based oil-and-gas exploration and development company, for passing a bylaw in March 2013 establishing a two-kilometre no-drill zone near the source of the village’s water.

At the time, Gastem had provincial permits for exploration in the area, and Gastem president Raymond Savoie​ said the bylaw was passed without consulting the company.   Continue reading “Tiny Quebec village faces $1.5M lawsuit for trying to protect its water”