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US armed teacher arrested after firing gunshot in classroom
2018-02-28 20:29:39 UTC
(Reuters) - An armed high school teacher in Georgia barricaded himself alone inside his classroom, then fired a gunshot when the principal tried to force open the door, but no one was seriously injured, police said after the instructor was arrested. The shooting, which unfolded as schools around the country remained on edge from gun violence earlier this month that claimed 17 lives in the neighboring state of Florida, unfolded around lunchtime at Dalton High School, about 90 miles (145 km) north of Atlanta, the Georgia capital. After responding to reports of gunfire at the school, the Dalton Police Department said the teacher in ques...
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against Coca-Cola's Diet Coke "weight loss" ads
2018-02-28 18:12:26 UTC
(Reuters) - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit claiming that Coca-Cola Co’s advertising for Diet Coke misleads people into thinking that consuming the soft drink assists in weight loss, and that it actually causes weight gain. The plaintiff, Shana Becerra, claimed that she and others would not have bought Diet Coke, which was launched in 1982, but for the word “diet” and ads such as one showing the soft drink being poured by a bare-chested man with a well-muscled torso. In a decision on Tuesday, however, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco said 13 studies cited by Becerra were “equivocal” as to whether diet soda...
U.N. Urges Iran to Stop 'Surge' of Juvenile Executions
2018-02-17 01:27:21 UTC
The UN human rights office has said Iran is the worst in the world when it comes to sentencing minors to death — a crime under international law. Three minors were executed in January, and 80 more remain on death row. Mahboubeh Mofidi was 13 years old when she married her husband. Three years later, at the age of 16, she allegedly killed him with the help of her brother-in-law. The alleged murder landed her on Iran's death row — but she is no longer there. Mofidi was executed on January 30, one of three Iranian individuals subjected to the death penalty for alleged crimes committed when they were under 18 years of age. Iran is a s...
Appeals court: Trump latest travel ban is unconstitutional
2018-02-15 17:34:09 UTC
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban on travelers from six largely Muslim countries is unconstitutional because it discriminates against Muslims because of their religion, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday In a 9-4 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond said it examined statements made by Trump and other administration officials, as well as the ban itself, and concluded that it is “unconstitutionally tainted with animus toward Islam.” The court upheld a ruling by a federal judge in Maryland who issued an injunction barring enforcement of the ban against people from Chad, Iran, Libya, S...
Alarming research finds global warming accelerating sea level rise
2018-02-13 03:25:52 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are speeding up the already fast pace of sea level rise, new satellite research shows. At the current rate, the world’s oceans on average will be at least 2 feet (61 centimeters) higher by the end of the century compared to today, according to researchers who published in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. Sea level rise is caused by warming of the ocean and melting from glaciers and ice sheets. The research, based on 25 years of satellite data, shows that pace has quickened, mainly from the melting of massive ice sheets. It confirms scientists’...
German workers win right to 28-hour week and 4.3% pay rise
2018-02-12 10:19:03 UTC
Berlin — German workers have won the right to a 28-hour week in a victory towards their fight for a better work-life balance. Industrial union IG Metall, Europe’s largest trade union, has won its workers the right to work the equivalent of under six hours each day in a deal that could eventually impact almost 4 million people in the country. The collective deal covers around 900,000 metal and engineering workers in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, but it is expected to prompt changes across the country and in other industries. It means from next year, workers at many of Germany’s most important engineering firms can o...
California will block transportation of oil from Trump offshore drilling plan
2018-02-08 07:11:56 UTC
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California will block the transportation through its state of petroleum from new offshore oil rigs, officials told Reuters on Wednesday, a move meant to hobble the Trump administration’s effort to vastly expand drilling in U.S. federal waters. California’s plan to deny pipeline permits for transporting oil from new leases off the Pacific Coast is the most forceful step yet by coastal states trying to halt the biggest proposed expansion in decades of federal oil and gas leasing. <blockquote>Officials in Florida, North and South Carolina, Delaware and Washington, have also warned drilling could despoil be...
Homo sapiens trekked out of Africa far earlier than previously known
2018-01-25 21:32:55 UTC
Homo sapiens were wandering out of Africa at least 177,000 years ago — some 60,000 years earlier than previously thought. The new migration date comes after ancient stone tools and part of a fossilised Homo sapiens jaw bone with teeth were discovered in a cave in northern Israel. Until now, the oldest evidence for modern humans outside Africa were only 90,000 to 120,000 years old. Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa, with the earliest-known fossils roughly 300,000 years old. A key milestone was when our species first ventured out of Africa en route to populating the far corners of the globe. <blockquote><img alt="Homo_sapiens...
Trumpian Era Brings Unprecedented Trust Crisis in U.S.
2018-01-22 07:34:32 UTC
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Trust in U.S. institutions, particularly the government, has plunged in President Donald Trump’s first year in office, according to a leading survey released on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The annual Edelman Trust Barometer showed overall trust in the four institutions it measures - the government, media, business and non-governmental organizations - falling more steeply in the United States than in any of the 28 countries surveyed. <blockquote><hr><img alt="The_united_states_is_enduring_an_unprecedented_crisis_of_trust" src="/system/images/21863/original/The_United_States_is_enduring_an...
A year of Trump: Hate binds and blinds US
2018-01-21 07:50:21 UTC
The US president has been in office for a year. His critics make it far too easy for him when they unite in blind hate against all things Donald Trump, writes Germany's public international broadcaster-DW Editor-in-Chief Ines Pohl. Figures of hate have a great advantage: people can rally behind them. Hate binds us and blinds us. In the shadow of shared hatred, differences and contrasts and contradictions fade away. And hating gives us the feeling that we're imagining a better life, when hatred actually lacks genuine ideas and visions. If you look at the US these days, it's no longer the dream of a better life holding it together,...
Pope Francis on Immigration: There is no Christian joy when doors are closed
2018-01-18 18:27:58 UTC
IQUIQUE, Chile (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Thursday that it is not Christian to shut out immigrants, urging nations to welcome people whose lives had been “watered down” by poverty, injustice and exploitation. Francis, whose defense of migrants and refugees has been a key theme of his nearly 5-year-old pontificate, spoke on his last day in Chile before he was due to leave for Peru to start the second and last leg of his Latin American tour. “There is no Christian joy when doors are closed; there is no Christian joy when others are made to feel unwanted, when there is no room for them in our midst,” he said in the homily of Mass ...
Ahed Tamimi, Palestinian Teen Activist Remain in Custody
2018-01-18 01:59:52 UTC
An Israeli court has ruled to keep a prominent Palestinian teen activist and her mother in custody until the end of their trial. Ahed Tamimi, 16, was detained last month during an overnight raid on her home in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh after a video of the teen slapping and hitting Israeli soldiers went viral. Shortly before, her 15-year-old cousin was severely wounded after Israeli forces shot him point-blank in the face with a rubber bullet. <blockquote><img alt="Ahed_tamimi__palestinian_teen_activist_remain_in_custody" src="/system/images/14731/original/Ahed_Tamimi__Palestinian_Teen_Activist_Remain_in_Custody....
Cranberries Singer Dolores O'Riordan Dies Suddenly at 46
2018-01-15 21:36:39 UTC
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Dolores O‘Riordan, the lead singer of rock group The Cranberries, died suddenly on Monday at the age of 46 during a trip to London for a recording session, her publicist said. The Irish group, which combined indie guitar with O‘Riordan’s distinctive Irish lilt and yoddle, shot to fame with hits like “Linger” and “Zombie” to become one of the most successful bands of the 1990s, selling over 40 million records.<blockquote><a href="http://www.global-gathering.com/opinions/321"><img alt="Cranberries_singer_dolores_o'riordan_dies_suddenly_at_46." src="/system/images/12588/original/Cranberries_Singer_Dolores_O'Ri...
Immigrants from Africa Boast Higher Education Levels Than Overall U.S. Population
2018-01-13 10:19:57 UTC
NEW YORK - Today, New American Economy (NAE) released a report on the contributions of immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa to the U.S. economy. Between 2010 and 2015, the number of African immigrants in America more than doubled - rising from roughly 723,000 people to more than 1.7 million. Power of the Purse: How Sub-Saharan Africans Contribute to the U.S. Economy suggests that African immigrants punch well above their weight in many respects. These immigrants naturalize at high rates, they attain higher levels of education than the overall U.S. population as a whole, and are more likely to have earned their degree in a Science, Tec...
Supermassive black hole burped out material twice after colliding with nearby galaxy
2018-01-12 20:07:51 UTC
Using two telescopes, astronomers have found a black hole at the centre of a galaxy 800 million light years away that has spewed material into space not once, but twice. Most galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their centres, which consumes anything that gets too close. And while we tend to think of nothing escaping a black hole's fierce grasp, when they devour material, some of it is ejected into space in the form of high-energy particles. In order to see the two events, astronomers used data from ground-based telescopes as well as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Optical data from Hubble and t...
'The president of the United States is racist'
2018-01-12 06:45:09 UTC
Don Lemon says Donald Trump’s reported comments about “sh—hole countries” didn’t leave him outraged because he “already knew” the president was “racist.” Opening Thursday’s CNN Tonight, Lemon declared, “The president of the United States is racist. A lot of us already knew that.” According to The Washington Post, during a meeting with lawmakers to discuss protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and several African countries, Trump remarked, “Why are we having all these people from sh–hole countries come here?” “I have to admit, I was not shocked that Donald Trump reportedly called the majority of<a href="http://www.global-...
Robert De Niro on Trump: This F-cking Idiot Is the President
2018-01-10 20:06:33 UTC
Robert De Niro attended the National Board of Review Awards in New York Tuesday night to present Meryl Streep with the Best Actress prize for The Post. In the film helmed by Steven Spielberg, Streep plays legendary Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, who tries to decide whether or not to post the Pentagon Papers in 1971. De Niro started his speech poking fun at Streep's co-star and fellow acting award winner Tom Hanks. "[Streep] helps brings out the character of everyone else on the screen. Can a volleyball do that? Not even if the volley ball was a stable genius," he said, mocking President Trump's But then one of th...
Golden Globes Winners 2018: The Complete List
2018-01-08 09:26:45 UTC
LOS ANGELES — Host Seth Meyers came out swinging at the Golden Globes Sunday night, directly addressing in his monologue the issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality that have roiled the industry for months. He lobbed hard-hitting jokes at Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen and, of course, President Donald Trump. Meyers also acknowledged the awkwardness of a straight white male hosting the show on this particular night. He ended the monologue on a sincere note, “People in this room worked really hard to get here, but it’s clearer now than ever before that the women had to work even harder. So thank you for all the a...
Harare water unsafe to drink, due to chemical shortage
2018-01-02 08:32:35 UTC
The mayor of Harare says a shortage of chemicals has resulted in unsafe water being pumped into residents’ homes for consumption in the Zimbabwean capital. Bernard Manyenyeni told The Herald newspaper: “Our claims that the water is chemically safe to drink will not hold if residents cannot stand the sight of frothing or foaming coloured water. “This has been caused by the shortage of our main chemicals — aluminium sulphate‚ sulphuric acid‚ HTH Chlorine and activated carbon.” He explained that most chemicals were imported “and we have been caught in the crisis of forex”. Borehole water in some Harare suburbs was recently condemn...
Countries around the world celebrating start of 2018
2018-01-01 00:21:15 UTC
In the heart of Berlin, fireworks are igniting the night sky behind the Brandenburg Gate. Similar celebrations are taking place across Germany, including Cologne, Hamburg and Munich. The Chancellor of the Free World, Angela Merkel used her televised speech ahead of the festivities to call for Germans to be more considerate to each other in 2018. The chancellor said that consideration means "paying attention, truly listening, and showing understanding for others." In France, President Emmanuel Macron asked French citizens in his televised address to support his ambitions for reforming the European Union (EU). "I need your determina...
UNICEF: 2017 was one of the worst years for children caught in conflicts
2017-12-28 07:09:25 UTC
Warring parties in 2017 had a blatant disregarded for international law when it came to the protection of children, an official from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday. A UNICEF report found that in conflict-ridden regions across the world, high numbers of children had been killed, used as human shields and recruited to fight. "Children are being targeted and exposed to attacks and brutal violence in their homes, schools and playgrounds," Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF's director of emergency programs, said. "As these attacks continue year after year, we cannot become numb. Such brutality cannot be the new normal....
Marlene Dietrich would have been 116 on Wednesday
2017-12-27 09:06:37 UTC
Described as "a wild original", and hailed as the ninth-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema, Maria Magdalene Dietrich would have been 116 on Wednesday. In her honor, Google is changing its logo in 24 countries to a doodle. During World War II, Dietrich was a high-profile entertainer in the US and was also noted for housing German and French exiles, providing financial support and advocating for their US citizenship. <blockquote><img alt="Maria_magdalene_dietrich_would_have_been_116_" src="/system/images/21722/original/Maria_Magdalene_Dietrich_would_have_been_116_.jpg?1514361464" /> <br /> Marlene Dietrich was honor...
Pope Francis calls for two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
2017-12-25 18:21:39 UTC
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis used his Christmas message on Monday to call for a negotiated two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after U.S. President Donald Trump stoked regional tensions with his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Francis spoke of the Middle East conflict and other world flashpoints in his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) address, four days after more than 120 countries backed a U.N. resolution urging the United States to reverse its decision on Jerusalem. “Let us pray that the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution c...
Pope Francis equates the story of Joseph and Mary to the current refugee crisis
2017-12-25 11:16:38 UTC
Pope Francis strongly defended immigrants at his Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica on Sunday. , comparing them to Mary and Joseph finding no place to stay in Bethlehem and saying faith demands that foreigners be welcomed and the respect for migrants is an integral part of Christianity. Today's refugees are fleeing their homes just as Joseph and Mary did in biblical times, Pope Francis said. <blockquote><img alt="Today's_refugees_are_fleeing_their_homes_just_as_joseph_and_mary_did_in_biblical_times__pope_francis_said." src="/system/images/10114/original/Today's_refugees_are_fleeing_their_homes_just_as_Joseph_and_Mary_...
Zimbabweans of European Origin Return to Seized Land
2017-12-24 11:14:22 UTC
RUSAPE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - The last time farmer Rob Smart left his land it was at gunpoint, forced out in June by riot police armed with tear gas and AK-47 assault rifles. He returned on Thursday to ululations and tears of joy from former workers and their families who were also kicked out - a jubilant return and the first sign that the president who has replaced Robert Mugabe is making good on a vow to stop illegal land seizures and restore property rights. Scores of jubilant black Zimbabweans nearly knocked the 71-year-old off his feet as he and his two children stepped out of their car and onto their land for the first time in s...