Top News

Milk and mushrooms may prevent metabolic diseases
2018-09-26 21:37:16 UTC
<blockquote>Recent research conducted at Pennsylvania State University in the US studied the effect of mushrooms on glucose production in the body. Mushrooms are a probiotic food, which means they positively influence the bacteria in the gut. In a study with mice, researchers discovered that the regular consumption of white button mushrooms boosted the growth of certain bacteria which produce substances that influence glucose production. The researchers believe that white button mushrooms may be especially helpful for people with diabetes, due to the fungi's role in glucose production. Like mushrooms, milk also seems to regulate b...
Green crabs from Nova Scotia threaten coastal ecosystem
2018-09-19 05:21:29 UTC
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — Canadians are known as friendly folks, but these crabby brutes migrating from Canadian waters are better suited for the hockey rink. Green crabs from Nova Scotia are the same species as their cousins that already inhabit Maine waters, but are ornerier and angrier, threatening to accelerate harm to the coastal ecosystem by gobbling up soft-shell clams and destroying native eel grass, a researcher said. The docile green crabs shrink from a threat, while the newcomers are more apt to wave their pincers and charge. “What we’re seeing is this insane level of aggressiveness,” said Markus Frederich, a professor at...
Motorway bridge collapse in Italian city of Genoa
2018-08-14 16:09:17 UTC
ROME (Reuters) - At least 22 people were killed when a motorway bridge collapsed in torrential rains on Tuesday morning over buildings in the northern Italian port city of Genoa, and the deputy transport minister said the death toll would rise. An 80-meter section of the bridge, including one set of the supports that tower above it, crashed down in the rain onto the roof of a factory and other buildings, crushing at least one truck and plunging huge slabs of concrete into the river below. “It’s not acceptable that such an important bridge... was not built to avoid this kind of collapse,” Deputy Transport Minister Edoardo Rixi said on...
Trump’s ‘unmitigated crap’ on California wildfires
2018-08-07 21:23:33 UTC
U.S. President Donald Trump has weighed in on the California wildfires. But it wasn’t to express condolences for the victims or to praise the incredible bravery of firefighters — it was to try to score political points. And he did so by badly twisting the science of how wildfires work. In a now-deleted tweet, Trump blamed “bad environmental laws” for “diverting” water into the Pacific Ocean. Scientists mock Trump’s tweet on wildfires as ‘comedically ill-informed’ and ‘unmitigated crap.’ His climate denial is "a crime against the planet" warns climatologist. <blockquote><img alt="Trump_has_said_that_climate_change_is_a_hoax_%e...
Americans fleecing their savings and piling up debt
2018-07-23 17:42:08 UTC
REUTERS — Despite roaring job growth and consumer spending, the U.S. economy is bolstered in large part by the poorer half of Americans fleecing their savings and piling up debt. A Reuters analysis of U.S. household data shows that the bottom 60 percent of income-earners have accounted for most of the rise in spending over the past two years even as the their finances worsened - a break with a decades-old trend where the top 40 percent had primarily fueled consumption growth. With borrowing costs on the rise, inflation picking up and the effects of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts set to wear off, a negative shock - a further rise i...
France celebrates second World Cup victory after beating Croatia 4-2 in the final match
2018-07-15 20:49:10 UTC
MOSCOW (Reuters) - France won the World Cup for the second time in spectacular style on Sunday as a 4-2 victory over Croatia in one of the most entertaining and action-packed finals for decades ended the battling outsiders’ dreams of a first title. After an early own goal by Mario Mandzukic France’s big guns delivered on the biggest stage of all as Antoine Griezmann - with a penalty awarded after a VAR review - Paul Pogba and teenage tyro Kylian Mbappe hit the target. Ivan Perisic and Mandzukic replied for Croatia, who ended beaten but unbowed after making much of the running in their first appearance in the final. It was the high...
FREDERICK DOUGLASS: This Fourth of July is yours, not mine
2018-07-04 18:39:22 UTC
Frederick Douglass, once a slave, became a brilliant and powerful leader of the anti-slavery movement. In 1852, he was asked to speak in celebration of the Fourth of July. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, he gave one of his most famous speeches, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.” He was addressing the Rochester Ladies Antislavery Society. <blockquote> This is actor James Earl Jones reading the speech during a performance of historian Howard Zinn’s acclaimed book, “Voices of a People’s History of the United States.” <I>James Ea...
California Democrat plays audio of children crying in detention center
2018-06-23 06:04:50 UTC
Washington — Temporarily presiding over the U.S. House on Friday, U.S. Rep. Karen Handel, R-Roswell, found herself injected into the debate over family separation when U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, refused to turn off a ProPublica recording of children crying in a detention center. Lieu began his six-minute speech of an administration policy that President Donald Trump reversed on Thursday with a religious-oriented condemnation. Two minutes into his time, he reached into his jacket and apparently turned on a recording device. Handel, taking her turn as the designated Republican overseeing actions in the chamber, immediat...
US government cites a pro-slavery argument in defense of separating immigrant families
2018-06-15 07:17:39 UTC
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions used a Bible verse on Thursday to defend his department’s policy of prosecuting everyone who crosses the border from Mexico, suggesting that God supports the government in separating immigrant parents from their children. “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” Sessions said during a speech to law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent and fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing,...
Robert DeNiro: "No Longer Down With Trump, It's F••k Trump"
2018-06-11 05:53:24 UTC
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oscar-winning actor Robert de Niro issued an expletive-laden denunciation of U.S. President Donald Trump during the live television broadcast of the Tony Awards ceremony on Sunday. De Niro appeared on stage at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to introduce rocker and Tony Awards performer Bruce Springsteen. “I’m gonna say one thing. Fuck Trump,” De Niro said, without any preamble. With the audience of theater actors, directors and producers shrieking and rising to their feet in applause, De Niro said: “It’s no longer down with Trump. It’s fuck Trump.” He did not elaborate on his comment and switched immediat...
France hails ‘heroic’ immigrant who scaled building to rescue dangling child
2018-05-28 06:11:36 UTC
A video of a dramatic rescue of a small child in Paris has gone viral on social media, with people calling the rescuer a real Spider-Man. President Emmanuel Macron is to thank the young migrant for his bravery. <blockquote>Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has praised the heroic actions of an immigrant from Mali after he climbed the side of a four-story building to save a child dangling from a ledge. "Congratulations to Mamoudou Gassama for his act of bravery that saved the life of a child," said Hidalgo, adding that the city would support Gassama's dream of settling permanently in France. Hidalgo spoke to Gassama personally by phone to thank ...
Trump's barbaric immigration policy: A moral abomination and a national shame
2018-05-27 08:06:47 UTC
The Trump administration is forcibly taking migrant children from their parents and placing them in separate detention centers, to “deter” illegal immigration. On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump claimed it is all Democrats fault. Amid growing outrage over his administration's policy of separating migrant families crossing the U.S. border, Trump pretended that it wasn't his problem, and suggested the blame should lie with Democrats. <blockquote><a href="http://www.global-gathering.com/pictures/22101"><img alt="Immigration_trump" src="/system/images/22102/original/Immigration_Trump.jpg?1527403436" /></a> “Put pressure on ...
Rise of alt-right in Trump's America
2018-05-27 00:22:24 UTC
Discrimination against black Americans, Jews and immigrants, and more recently gays and lesbians shows the rise of the alt-right movement in the US and how it has blatantly reemerged since the 2016 presidential election. Today, nearly 200 headstones were vandalized with swastikas at the Sunset Hill Cemetery in Glen Carbon, Illinois. Homes in a subdivision in neighboring Edwardsville, Illinois, were also vandalized with swastikas. Glen Carbon is located about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. The headstones were spray-painted sometime between midnight and 7 a.m. Saturday morning. The vandalism is being considered as institutional...
Police targeted a black activist who was stabbed by white supremacist
2018-05-25 19:51:16 UTC
Cedric O’Bannon, an independent journalist who was documenting a white supremacist rally in Sacramento, felt a sudden sharp pain on his side as he was filming the neo-Nazi violence against counter-protesters with his GoPro camera. But the pain soon became overwhelming. He lifted up his blood-soaked shirt and realized that one of the men carrying a pole with a blade on the end of it had stabbed him in the stomach, puncturing him nearly two inches deep. He limped his way to an ambulance. <blockquote><img alt="White_supremacist_rally_in_sacramento" src="/system/images/14845/original/white_supremacist_rally_in_Sacramento.jpg?1527276764" />...
Hollywood kingpin Harvey Weinstein to face charges of rape and other sex crimes
2018-05-25 17:46:18 UTC
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Film mogul Harvey Weinstein appeared in handcuffs in a New York court on Friday to face charges of rape and other sex crimes against two of the scores of women who have accused him of misconduct, ending his reign as a Hollywood kingpin. Weinstein, the 66-year-old co-founder of the Miramax film studio and the Weinstein Co, intends to plead not guilty to the two counts of rape and one count of a criminal sexual act, his attorney, Benjamin Brafman, told reporters outside the Manhattan courthouse. Prosecutors did not identify the two women, but said the crimes took place in 2004 and 2013. If convicted on the most ser...
Football legend Ronaldinho to marry two women at same time
2018-06-15 23:01:50 UTC
LONDON — Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho will reportedly "marry" two women at the same time during a small wedding ceremony in August. While polygamy is outlawed in Brazil, O Dia (h/t Dan Gartland of Sports Illustrated) reported civil unions between more than two persons is not uncommon. Ronaldinho, Priscilla Coelho and Beatriz Souza already live together. Ronaldinho asked for their hand in marriage in January of last year. He originally dated Coelho before meeting Souza in 2016. <blockquote><img alt="Brazilian_football_legend_ronaldinho_will_reportedly_%22marry%22_two_women_at_the_same_time_during_a_small_wedding_ceremony_i...
US police officers tased NBA player over parking violation
2018-06-15 23:01:17 UTC
Police bodycam footage of the arrest of a Milwaukee Bucks star in January was released on Wednesday showing the player being tased after committing a parking violation. Sterling Brown is suing the police department after the video showed him being confronted by an officer outside a Walgreens for parking across two handicap spaces. The pair argued, and when the officer called for backup, multiple cars arrived, flooding the carpark in red and blue lights. The officer said he had asked Brown to step back from his vehicle and he had refused, and then claimed the athlete 'became very aggressive'. <h4><blockquote><hr>• Milwa...
Multiple fatalities in Texas high school shooting
2018-05-18 17:33:22 UTC
(Reuters) - Multiple people were killed on Friday in a shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, a law enforcement source said, in the latest gun violence in a country still shaken by the massacre at a Florida high school in February. The law enforcement source said the suspected shooter was in custody after the attack at the school about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Houston. Local media reported at least 10 people were killed. The sheriff’s office for nearby Harris County said its deputies were assisting with a “multiple-casualty incident.” “This is no longer an active shooting situation and the injured are being treated,” t...
Yale: Officers admonished white student for calling police on black student
2018-05-10 19:22:27 UTC
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Yale University police officers who responded to a call about a black graduate student who had fallen asleep in the common area of a campus residence admonished the white student who reported it, a university administrator said Thursday. <blockquote><img alt="Yale-_officers_admonished_white_student_for_calling_police_on_black_student" src="/system/images/22090/original/Yale-_Officers_admonished_white_student_for_calling_police_on_black_student.jpg?1525979248" /> <br /> </p> The officers interviewed both students and then told the complaining student that the other woman had every right to be there, accordin...
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted, shoots lava into sky
2018-05-04 06:00:22 UTC
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted Thursday, sending lava shooting into the air in a residential neighborhood and prompting mandatory evacuation orders for nearby homes. Hawaii County said steam and lava poured out of a crack in Leilani Estates, which is near the town of Pahoa on the Big Island. Footage shown on local television showed lava spurting into the sky from a crack in a road. Aerial drone footage showed a line of lava snaking through a forest. Lava fountains were shooting 150 feet (46 meters) in the air, and molten lava spread out over an area about 200 yards (183 meters) wide behind one house in Leilani Es...
Facebook tracks people whether they have accounts or not
2018-04-15 17:05:17 UTC
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Concern about Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) respect for data privacy is widening to include the information it collects about non-users, after Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the world’s largest social network tracks people whether they have accounts or not. Privacy concerns have swamped Facebook since it acknowledged last month that information about millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, a firm that has counted U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 electoral campaign among its clients. Zuckerberg said on Wednesday under questioning by U.S. Representative Ben...
Why is Germany's dual education system coveted?
2018-04-06 22:04:13 UTC
The German economy is powered by products sold the world over. The strength of Europe's powerhouse depends on outbound shipments. We take a look at one of its latest exports and reveal the secrets behind its success. Charlotte Falke creates technical drawings of power plant generators. The 23-year-old designer, a trainee at German industrial giant Siemens, spent a year at university before opting for a more vocational program. "I left because there was too much theory," she said. "I wanted more practice." Falke is not alone. Over 50 percent of Germans enter dual vocational and educational training programs (VET) as a route into emplo...
Science is afraid of tackling some of events of religious significance
2018-04-01 07:31:20 UTC
Science and journalism are kindred spirits: Both rely on curiosity, the courage to ask tough questions, and deal fairly and ethically with the answers. Sure, it doesn't always happen that way — there are plenty of dodgy scientists and many more unscrupulous hacks. But you get the idea. So why are science and journalism so scared of tackling — either proving or disproving — some of the greatest, unsolved propositions of our human existence? It's Easter. So, yes, I'm talking about events of religious significance, such as the Resurrection of Christ. <blockquote><img alt="Science_is_afraid_of_tackling_some_of_events_of_religious_sig...
California Judge Rules Coffee Sellers Should Post Cancer Warnings
2018-03-30 08:53:52 UTC
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scientists haven’t rendered a verdict on whether coffee is good or bad for you but a California judge has. He says coffee sellers in the state should have to post cancer warnings. The culprit is a chemical produced in the bean roasting process that is a known carcinogen and has been at the heart of an eight-year legal struggle between a tiny nonprofit group and Big Coffee. The Council for Education and Research on Toxics wanted the coffee industry to remove acrylamide from its processing — like potato chip makers did when it sued them years ago — or disclose the danger in ominous warning signs or labels. The indust...
Young Americans to Lawmakers: 'We Vote You Out!'
2018-03-25 16:49:35 UTC
Chanting 'never again' and 'we vote you out,' hundreds of thousands of young Americans answered a call to action from survivors of last month's Florida high school massacre and rallied across the country demanding tighter gun laws. In some of the biggest U.S. youth demonstrations for decades, protesters called on lawmakers and President Donald Trump to confront the issue. Voter registration activists fanned out in the crowds, signing up thousands of the nation’s newest voters. They came from a place of heartbreak to claim their spot in history. The “March for Our Lives” events on Saturday drew massive crowds in cities across the c...