Month: February 2017

Doctors could prescribe houses to the homeless under radical Hawaii bill
“Newly introduced bill would classify homelessness as a medical condition, as research suggests healthcare spending falls when people have been housed…” (The Guardian)

Shell knew’: oil giant’s 1991 film warned of climate change danger
“Public information film unseen for years shows Shell had clear grasp of global warming 26 years ago but has not acted accordingly since, say critics…” (The Guardian)

Yep, Amazon Broke the Internet on Tuesday, and Here’s Why That’s a Big Problem
“A massive internet outage that took down thousands of popular websites on Tuesday was thanks to a technical glitch on Amazon’s servers, leading many to complain that Amazon “broke the internet…” (Science Alert)

Scientists Are Making Personalized Eczema Treatments From People’s Own Microbes
“Cultivating ‘friendly’ bacteria from people’s skin makes it possible to develop personalised lotions to treat skin conditions like eczema, a new study shows…” (Science Alert)

Woman put on pyre alive? Post-mortem spins mystery
“AGRA/MEERUT: In a dramatic turn of events, police pulled out a newly married 24-year-old girl, Rachna Sisodia, from her funeral pyre after her family alleged that she was being burned alive in the name of cremation by her husband…” (The Times of India)

Young men ‘marry’ to please rain god
“MANGALURU: While LGBTs continue to fight for their rights, in a strange incident reported from Mahadeshwara Hills, a boy was made to marry a boy.Well, it was not as if it was a gay wedding, but a young man was made to dress up as a girl and marry another young man – all part of a prayer ritual to bring copious rain, the villagers claim…” (The Times of India)

A Politician and an Ex-Hitman Take on Philippine Leader
“More than 7,000 people have died in the war on drugs since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office. A politician who has investigated the leader fears for her life and has since been arrested. Her most important witness, a former hitman, is living in hiding in the rainforest…” (Spiegel Online)

Documents Indicate Germany Spied on Foreign Journalists
“Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the BND, apparently spied on large numbers of foreign journalists overseas over the course of several years, including employees of the BBC, Reuters and the New York Times. Critics see a massive violation of press freedoms…” (Spiegel Online)

Photo: By Ebyabe (Own work) GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

A Scientist Explains: What Is NX Nerve Agent and How Does It Work?“The substance that could be responsible for the death Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was the VX nerve agent, according to preliminary reports from Malaysian police…” (Science Alert)

Humans Are Driving a New Burst of Evolution – Including Possibly Our Own“The unprecedented impact that humans are having on the planet is well known to us all. Scarcely a day passes by without a media report or two on the effects of human economic activity on the world’s climate or some charismatic species under threat because of illegal wildlife trade or logging…” (Science Alert)

Australian children’s author Mem Fox detained by US border control: ‘I sobbed like a baby’“Australian childrens’ book author Mem Fox has suggested she might never to return to the US after she was detained and insulted by border control agents at Los Angeles airport…” (The Guardian)

Revealed: thousands of children at London schools breathe toxic air“Tens of thousands of children at more than 800 schools, nurseries and colleges in London are being exposed to illegal levels of air pollution that risk causing lifelong health problems, the Guardian can disclose…” (The Guardian)

A profitable business
Chaos and despair in Brazil’s prisons (Le Monde diplomatique)

Corb, architecture’s great dictatorLe Corbusier’s 1924 plan for Paris would have obliterated its historic heart to build a totalitarian ‘radiant city’. Life in it would not have matched the dream. (Le Monde diplomatique)

A ‘Ring of Fire’ Eclipse Is Happening This Sunday – Here’s How to Watch
“This Sunday, parts of the Southern Hemisphere will witness a spectacular ‘Ring of Fire’ eclipse, as the Moon moves between us and the Sun and blocks it almost entirely from view, save for a burning outer ring…” (Science Alert)

Average Life Expectancy Is Expected to Pass 90 for the First Time Ever
“…A recent study has crunched the numbers on 35 industrialized countries from around the globe, and found their future populations will be living longer than today’s – in South Korea’s case, potentially climbing as high as 90…” (Science Alert)

Photo: By Nikodem Nijaki (Own work) – CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rigopiano Avalanche Survivors: “This has to be stopped
““I can’t believe this is happening,” commented Giorgia Galassi, who was told that the best way to distance herself from her traumatic experience at the Hotel Rigopiano was to go on holiday. The university student pulled out alive from the rubble after 58 hours was speaking from Switzerland. “Apart from the fact that I won’t watch it, it strikes me as premature. If they really want to make a film about it, they should wait a while…”” (Corriere Della Sera)

Doubts Emerge in Garlasco Murder Case after New DNA Tests
“The DNA profile .Stasi, at the time a student at the Bocconi university in Milan, but to another male, probably a young man who was a friend or acquaintance of the 26-year-old woman killed on the morning of 13 August 2007 in Garlasco, a town of 10,000 inhabitants in the province of Pavia, in the small detached house at 8 Via Pascoli…” (Corriere Della Sera)

Arrest of Fezzani, Leading IS Figure and Recruiter in Italy
“Esplora il significato del termine: Moaz Fezzani, widely known as Abu Nassim, the Tunisian terrorist wanted by half the world and thought to be an IS recruiter in Italy, has been arrested in Sudan…” (Corriere Della Sera)

Kim Jong-nam’s body targeted in morgue break-in, say police
“Malaysian police investigating the murder of Kim Jong-nam say attempts were made to break into the morgue where his body is being held and have demanded to question a senior North Korean diplomat…” (The Guardian)

Police make arrests at Standing Rock in push to evict remaining activists
Only a few dozen people remained at the Dakota Access pipeline protest encampment on Wednesday night after the state’s eviction deadline saw most of the activists leave voluntarily amid a show of force from law enforcement in riot gear…” (The Guardian)

Trump’s feminist critics gagged by Chinese internet giant Weibo
“Chinese feminists have hit out at their country’s answer to Twitter after it gagged one of their movement’s most visible social media accounts in an apparent bid to stifle criticism of US president Donald Trump…” (The Guardian)

3 Million Kenyans Need Relief Aid
“Close to 3 million Kenyans are in need of relief assistance, official said…” (The East African)

Pastoralists move to north Uganda in search of food
“As Uganda grapples with food insecurity, which is termed as a near crisis, it is also dealing with an influx of internal and external pastoralists searching for water and pasture for their livestock in northern Uganda…” (The East African)

Farmers in Africa to get quality seeds in new drive
“A continental initiative aimed at enhancing food security through the production of quality certified seeds has opened in Nairobi…” (The East African)

Photo: By TVSEI, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons