SacBee: The commander of Lemoore Naval Air Station said Thursday "many investigations" will follow a fatal overnight incident in which an SUV breached security and crashed into an FA-18E warplane on the base. The two occupants of the Jeep Cherokee, a male driver and a female passenger, died in the crash.
An SUV being pursued by law enforcement drove down Reeves Blvd near the base to a checkpoint at the main flight operations area. What happened at the checkpoint was unclear, but the driver got past it and drove across an open field and onto the flight line. The SUV hit the horizontal stabilizer at the rear of the FA-18E fighter jet, authorities said.
The Bee asked Lemoore officials to explain how the breach occurred, how security officers became aware of it and how they responded, and whether entry points need to be modified to prevent such occurrences. Officials declined to answer, saying those questions will be handled in the follow-up investigations.
Lemoore NAS is the largest naval installation in the country for carrier-based aircraft.
#1
NASWI has physical obstacles in the roadways that restrict a vehicle's speed, like to mabe 5 mph. and those amazing little pop up tubes that can stop a car, flat.
and just for fun, sometimes the base security folks position portable light trees in such a way as to cause responsible drivers to incur thousands of dollars of damage to their cars when they run into unlit appendages from the units. (mrs. ret, is still pissed that she got a ticket plus a munched car from that. security moved the light tree soon after)
#2
Like issuing guns to guards, but making sure no one has ammo to actually use them. Too many security implementations are totally undermined by 'supervisors' who fear empowering their subordinates with the means and power to execute them cause someone might screw up.
#6
Ship: great pic but sadly no. and not even the kind you find at the front end of a paved surface 1320 feet long. just the portable light tower with car eating tongue option
#2
The shooter is being reported as James Brown III. Brown had an extensive criminal record, including a murder charge from 2001, and was well known to police in Aurora, it is reported. A relative said he had a lot of anger in him. Shooter.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2016 13:14 Comments ||
Top||
#9
When asked how he felt about spending the rest of his days in a concrete box barely large enough to lay down and get pounded in the a$$ in, his response was "I don't feel GOOD . . . .:
Man Crates Labs, a research subsidiary of Man Crates, and Sweden's Centrum fĂśr Kott Vetenskap are proud to announce a joint venture focused on genetically resurrecting once-existing species for cured, mass consumption.
#9
Adult male ostriches, which aren't extinct, can weigh 400 pounds. The meat tastes like beef, or so they say, probably about the way chicken tasteslike alligator. One egg whups up the equivalent of a 20-hen's egg omelette. They take about a year to mature and you can raise two on a quarter acre.
Two ostriches = same weight as onemarket-ready steer.
Why try and resurrect the triceratops?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2016 19:36 Comments ||
Top||
Pittsburgh news anchor Wendy Bell was fired Wednesday from ABC affiliate WTAE after outcry over a recent Facebook post in which she used racially stereotypical language in talking about "young black men."
Bell had been associated with WTAE for 18 years but could not withstand the outcry over her rant on the station's own social media account speculating on the perpetrators of a then-unsolved murder. But now it's solved. Let's see if her stereotypical prediction matched reality, shall we? If it does, maybe we can wish it away by firing her instead of going after the truth and fixing it.
"WTAE has ended its relationship with anchor Wendy Bell," Hearst Television, the station's owner, said in a statement. "Wendy's recent common sense comments on a WTAE Facebook page were inconsistent with the company's ethics and journalistic standards."
Bell was pulled off the air last week and WTAE president and general manager Charles Wolfertz aired a public apology for what he then called Bell's "egregious lack of judgment." See? Problem gone! Carry on folks, nothing to see here.
The controversial comments were posted after a mass shooting in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, in which six people were killed -- but before police had made any arrests. "You needn't be a criminal profiler to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts," Bell wrote. "they are young black men, likely in their teens or early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs. These boys have been in the system before. They've grown up there. They know the police. They've been arrested. They've made the circuit and nothing has scared them enough. Now they are lost. Once you kill a neighbor's three children, two nieces and her unborn grandson, there's no coming back. There's nothing nice to say about that." Hmm. I guess I'd better not bother to send my resume to WTAE anytime soon then.
But mostly jerks.
How much does that mistake bug you? Does it bring out your inner grammar policeman or do you just keep on reading?
How you react when confronted with written errors can be related to your personality type, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that people who get irritated by errors tend to be introverted or have "less agreeable" personalities than those who more easily overlook those kind of mistakes. Basically, nice people don't care all that much and the jerkier sorts are the ones who get all bent out of shape.
"This is the first study to show that the personality traits of listeners/readers have an effect on the interpretation of language," said lead researcher, University of Michigan professor of linguistics and psychology Julie Boland, in a news release. "In this experiment, we examined the social judgments that readers made about the writers."
In the study, 83 participants were shown emails written by potential housemates. Some had no errors, while others either had typos ("aslo" instead of "also") or grammar mistakes ("your" instead of "you're"). The participants were asked to rate the writers in terms of their perceived intelligence, friendliness, trustworthiness and other attributes such as how they'd feel they would be as a housemate.
Then the participants were asked if they noticed any spelling or grammar mistakes and, if so, how much they were bothered by them. Finally, they were asked to complete the Big Five Personality index (BFI), a 44-question survey that rated them on a scale of extraversion, agreeability, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness.
All the people in the study generally rated the writers with mistakes less favorably than those with perfect letters. (Their English teachers would be so proud!) Beyond that, they discovered a few key personality traits that seemed to influence how much a few carelessly swapped letters or more serious grammar offenses throw a person's whole world out of whack.
It turns out that extroverts were more likely to be understanding and overlook typos and grammatical mistakes than introverts, who tended to be judgmental. Also people with "less agreeable" personalities were more sensitive to mistakes than those people who were very agreeable. The researchers say this is "perhaps because less agreeable people are less tolerant of deviations from convention." In other words, cranky people have a harder time than easy-going people dealing with people who break the rules.
Both highly conscientious and less open participants were sensitive to typos, but they didn't care all that much about grammar. And, perhaps surprisingly, how neurotic someone was didn't affect how they reacted to grammar and spelling mistakes.
So if you have a friend who's constantly pointing out errors on social media, take solace in the fact that he's likely a jerk. And if it's you who upholds every grammar law, then chalk it up to being an introvert. (And be grateful that your eagle eye has nothing to do with being neurotic.)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2016 6:53 Comments ||
Top||
#3
So my elementary school teachers and high school English teachers were introverts and jerks? BTW, that was back in the days of 'standards' which seem to be fading at a discernible rate in the contemporary education systems.
#4
I must have a "less agreeable" personality, then. I attribute that to how in-depth our teachers taught us about grammar and punctuation and how they, and the other kids at the time, considered proper use to be required in the then-modern world.
Although the folks at work do send me their documents to be 'proof-read' and corrected. I carry the belief that documents coming out of our firm should be professional and shouldn't have the aura of being written in crayon.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/01/2016 9:10 Comments ||
Top||
#5
First time I've seen an article about Fark's commenters.
#6
Since I was in charge of writing much of the software, I was stuck proof-reading the documentation.
Technical issues were understandable. The poor grammar and spelling by "so-called" professional tech writers was deplorable; and that was 20 years ago.
#8
I don't mind a typo here and there in a Rantburg comment. But when someone sends me unintelligible email and expects me to take them seriously I get a little annoyed.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/01/2016 12:22 Comments ||
Top||
#9
#7 - Heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2016 12:42 Comments ||
Top||
#13
I started proofreading my father's writings when I was seven, going on instinct alone. Some people are just bothered by such things. It's true I am an introvert, but I do try not to be a jerk.
In news that's sure to thrill architects and carpenters around the world, researchers at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology have reportedly developed a new type of wood material that is visibly transparent. That's right; your windows and solar panels might soon be made of wood, or --depending on the way you look at it-- the wooden walls of buildings may turn into windows and transparent solar panels. That's nothing, really. Your neighbors have been making transparent fish for a long time.
To create this optically transparent wood material (which technically isn't 100 percent wood) The researchers on the KTH team used a chemical process to remove the wood's naturally occurring lignin, which is a component of the wood's cell walls. Removing the lignin creates a sort of bleached white wood color, which the team then makes clearer with a bit of tinkering and nanoscale engineering. The result is a wood veneer whose porous surface is filled with a transparent polymer -- which,
In the near future, the wood could be used to make windows or even a sort of privacy screen that would let in light but remain somewhat opaque. Researchers also believe the wood material could be used to make transparent solar cells in an affordable way that's easier on both developers' pockets and the environment. "Transparent wood is a good material for solar cells, since it's a low-cost, readily available, and renewable resource. This becomes particularly important in covering large surfaces with solar cells," said Lars Berglund, a professor at KTH's Wallenberg Wood Science Center.
Transparent wood material has been developed in the past for lab tests and experiments on a microscopic scale, but this new variety is better suited for mass production. Researchers behind the material believe that using transparent wood is a sustainable way to make a naturally strong and durable resource pull double duty in building exteriors.
Aid agencies in Somalia today launched a Call for Aid seeking USD 105 million to scale-up critical, life-saving assistance and build resilience for more than one million people in the drought-affected northern regions of the country.
Maybe the good Amero-Somalis in Minneapolis could pitch in?
The severe drought, exacerbated by El Niño conditions, which is ravaging parts of Puntland and Somaliland, has compounded an already challenging humanitarian situation.
An estimated 1.7 million people, or nearly 40 per cent of the 4.6 million people living in these areas, are in need of humanitarian assistance and livelihood support. Of these, 1.3 million people are at risk of slipping into acute food insecurity if they do not receive assistance. Nearly 385,000 people already face acute food insecurity.
The severe drought conditions have taken a toll on lives and livelihoods. If funding is not secured now, the consequences will be grave, especially in light of a less than favourable forecast for the coming Gu rainy season. Malnutrition-related deaths have been reported in Awdal region.
Loss of livestock due to poor pasture and water availability is negatively impacting family income and causing a sharp rise in indebtedness. Without access to emergency health services, water and sanitation, thousands of people could face death due to preventable causes.
“We have reached a critical point in Puntland and Somaliland. Urgent action is required right now. If not, we risk a rapid and deep deterioration of the situation, as drought conditions may worsen in the coming months. Communities are already losing their means of survival. The time to fund is now to come back from the tipping point, avoid a greater crisis and avert loss of lives and save livelihoods,” said Peter de [Somebody].
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/01/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[FRANCE24] The United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... on Thursday announced 108 new alleged victims of sexual abuse, the vast majority of them minors, by peacekeepers in Central African Republic.
It called "shocking to the core" the report that three girls said a French military commander forced them to have sex with a dog.
The revelations dramatically widened the scope of a sexual abuse scandal that has persisted for months. La Belle France's UN ambassador, Francois Delattre, called the allegations "sickening" and promised "exemplary disciplinary action" if they are proven.
The UN human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... chief on Thursday also described the new allegations of sexual abuse as "sickening" and called for investigations that "leave no stone unturned".
"We are taking these allegations -- some of which are particularly odious -- extremely seriously," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement.
UN front man Stephane Dujarric on Thursday told news hounds that the UN can't confirm the allegations involving a dog at this point but that investigations continue.
The allegations, dating from 2013 through last year, were first announced by a U.S.-based advocacy group, AIDS-Free World, late Wednesday.
AIDS-Free World said Wednesday night that 98 girls in Central African Republic, also known as CAR, had reported being sexually abused between 2013 and 2015 by perpetrators who have since left the country and returned home. It also said information on the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl by a Congolese peacekeeper only three days ago in a hotel room has been turned over to the United Nations.
The United Nations has been in the spotlight for months over dozens of allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by its peacekeepers, especially those based in Central African Republic, which has faced sectarian violence since 2013. There have been similar allegations against the French force known as Sangaris, which operates independently in CAR.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Shelling and direct fire attacks continue to increase by both sides on the line of contact in Donetsk, according to Russian language news accounts.
According to a new report which appeared in korrespondent.net, rebel forces fired 82mm and 120mm mortar fire into several key areas including at Yasinovataya, Zaytsevo, western districts of Donetsk city and several villages in southern Donetsk on Wednesday.
Among the localities hit in northwestern Donetsk were Mayorsk, Opytnoye, Leninskoye and Nevelskiy. Quoting Ukrainian military officials, rebel artillery hit Ukrainian positions at Zaytsevo and Avdievka, firing a total of 250 shells.
A separate korrespondent.net report said that rebel forces fired more than 200 shells into Mayorsk and Zaytsevo. Quoting Ukrainian Colonel Alexander Motuzyanik, both side suffered killed and wounded including when Ukrainian forces initiated counterbattery fire on Zaytsevo. According to Col. Motuzyanik a total of five civilians were wounded in Zaytsevo in the shelling.
In southern Donetsk, according to Ukrainian military officials, rebel forces shelled Shirokino with mortars and attacked several villages with small arms fire.
According to an official news release from the Donetsk ministry of defense, on Wednesday Ukrainian forces fired on rebel forces more than 500 times, for a total of 43 violations of the ceasefire. Ukrainian artillery hit rebel positions in Spartak, the Donetsk airport, Yasinovataya and in Zaytsevo.
In southern Donetsk, Ukrainian artillery hit rebel positions at Kominternovo, Sahanka and Dokuchaevsk.
Rebel reports say they lost three dead and one wounded in the fighting, while the Ukrainians lost two to rebel sniper fire.
A separate rebel report said that Ukrainian forces fired on rebel positions in Yasinovataya using 152mm artillery. Ukrainian forces have charged that rebels have been using heavier artillery as well including 122mm artillery, which they claim to be sited near Yasionovataya.
On Thursday, according to another korrespondent.net report, rebel forces shelled Ukrainian positions near Zaytsevo more than 300 times using mortar fire, and used heavy artillery.
Yet another korrespondent,.net report said that rebels fired on Ukrainian troops in Peski and Opytnoye, both towns of which are west of Donetsk city. Rebels also fired artillery fire on Ukrainian positions in southern Donetsk at Shirokino, Pavlopole, Talakovke and Gnutova.
A rebel news report said that Ukrainian forces violated the ceasefire 28 times, firing mostly on Zaystevo.
Rebels charged that Ukrainian forces fired on rebel position near Zaytsevo using 122mm rocket artillery. If true, the report signals a further escalation in the fighting, in which rebel forces could respond.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here.
Portly North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, whose hostile actions have brought crippling international sanctions to his impoverished nation, has a new message for the Hermit Kingdom's starving masses: Get ready to eat plant roots. Like everyone's had to do since 1953. And not before. And plenty of times since then. Landwhale Kim, whose weight the South Korean government estimates has ballooned to nearly 300 pounds, signaled through state media that the nation could be headed for another famine like the one that killed an estimated 3.5 million people in the 1990s. What a amazing genetic line. From being able to shoot 18 holes of golf with a score of 17, not having an anus, singlehandedly solving the not AIDS epidemic in North Korea, and walking since they were 3 weeks old and driving before they could reach the pedals. Now apparently Fatso has figured out how to turn 1 Calorie per day into 300 pounds. Amazing. I wonder if that cane has something to do with it.
"The road to revolution is long and arduous," an editorial in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Monday, according to The Telegraph. "We may have to go on an arduous march, during which we will have to chew the roots of plants once again." We. Meaning everyone but me.
"Arduous march" in North Korean is code for famine. It's how state media described the disaster that struck when Kim was a mere teen, which experts say was brought on by the economic mismanagement of his father, Kim Jong Il, loss of foreign aid and natural disasters. But mostly through stupidity, ignorance, obstinance, and wanting to remain king of the hill, which is really a pile of manure. But hey, it's a hill, and it's the only one they're ever going to have if they keep this up.
But Kim, who at 33 walks with a cane and reportedly suffers from gout, won't miss any meals. Last September, South Korea disclosed that Kim appeared to have added nearly 70 pounds to his 5-foot, 9-inch frame over the previous five years, reaching an estimated weight of 290 pounds. Must be the stress of lots of late nights deciding who needs to be purged and how.
Photos released over the past year have shown Kim Jong Un's rapid weight gain. The secretive regime hasn't said much about it, but South Korean analysts suspect he's been under severe stress. Investigators also note that he reportedly developed a taste for Emmental cheese while he was a student in Switzerland years ago.
Pyongyang has ordered every citizen in the capital to provide around 2 pounds of rice to the state's supplies every month, while farmers are forced to hand over additional rations from their own meager crops to the military, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported. Much more of these forced donations and it will be better to stop farming and just stick their hands out. At least in the short run it would be. But sometimes you need to think that way.
The comments from state media come amid reports of North Koreans hoarding their food supplies, according to The Telegraph. Kim Jong Un's regime has been cracking down on open-air markets that have served as a source of additional food for city dwellers.
"Even if we give up our lives, we should continue to show our loyalty to our leader, Kim Jong Un, until the end of our lives," the state-run newspaper wrote, calling for a "70-day campaign of loyalty." The staff of the official media seem to understand very well which side of the bread is buttered. And who butters it.
Much of North Korea's population of 25 million is already hungry, but new sanctions, the most severe in 20 years, were approved by the UN Security Council after Pyongyang's February nuclear weapons test and a recent long-range missile launch. And the cost of reaching the goal of having a nuclear weapon will cost them about 5,000 lives a day if all goes well. And the cost of using it will be about a million in the space of a few seconds.
The sanctions will further cripple North Korean trade and squeeze Kim's weapons programs. Under them, UN members are even barred from accepting the reclusive nation's main exports of coal and iron ore.
But experts don't expect Kim's belligerence to stop just because the world shuns him. The latest message to the suffering people is yet another one of collective sacrifice. Collective, meaning everyone but the oligarchy.
"It's an old pattern of telling the population to endure short-term hardship for the promise of larger benefits over the long term," Daniel Pinkston, a lecturer at Troy University in Seoul, told the Los Angeles Times of the Rodong Sinmun editorial. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice . . . . Oh, wait . . . .
Police have arrested a man caught taking photos inside the Callahan Tunnel. According to investigators, the suspect claimed it was simple photography, but police are not taking any chances. Massachusetts State Police said they found Muhammad Mamun taking photos inside the tunnel at 5 a.m. on Sunday.
"How could taking pictures put me in such a situation?" Mamun said. "People take pictures of Bunker Hill, they don't get arrested. Why did I get arrested?"
One is a tourist attraction, the other isn't...
Mamun, 25, said he is a medical student in Bangladesh currently working with a program at Mass. General Hospital.
Clearly he's not busy enough at the MGH...
Mamun said he decided to go to East Boston on Sunday morning to take photos of the skyline and thought he could walk through the tunnel to get there. State Police said he walked by a "No Pedestrians" sign and they arrested him for trespassing.
He apparently spoke English well enough to do a clinical rotation at MGH...
"I'm not a terrorist," he said. "They can take everything, I have nothing to hide."
Mamun said he was planning on going home to Bangladesh on April 1.
Or before...
Instead, a judge ordered that he remain in Boston until his next court date and put a GPS monitoring bracelet on his ankle.
"I'm a doctor, I'm a medical student," he said. "I have an ankle bracelet like any other convicted felons."
There's a reason for that, Swampy...
Mamun is due back in court next week.
He said the FBI has already talk to him. Court records show his case was forwarded to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
#3
I used to take pictures of bridges, trains, and buildings.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/01/2016 18:22 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I used to take pictures of bridges, trains, and buildings.
Yeah, classic subjects for photography.
You can think of this mess as a Muslim tax on photography, in the same way that long waits in the security line are a Muslim tax on air travel.
It may be that young Muhammad is simply a foreigner in love with the beauty of American infrastructure. Or he may be an Islamist miscreant bent on mischief. I figure the odds be 50/50.
I would like to live in an America where people can wander around and take pictures. But it ain't gonna happen until 'moderate' Muslims (all 3 of them!!) step up and do their part.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service says there are "no apparent signs of foul play" in the death of Marine recruit Raheel Siddiqui.
"NCIS does not discuss the details of ongoing investigations, but I can confirm that (Siddiqui’s) death is due to injuries sustained in a nearly 40 foot fall in a barracks stairwell," NCIS spokesperson Ed Buice wrote in an email sent Monday to The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette. "At this point there are no apparent signs of foul play in his death."
Buice said NCIS’ investigation process "normally takes several months."
Siddiqui, 20, of Taylor, Mich., arrived at Parris Island on March 7 and died 11 days later.
His family told Detroit’s WDIV-Channel 4 on March 21 that a casualty report they’d received from the Marine Corps stated Siddiqui passed out during a drill and when awakened by a drill instructor, got up and "ran out the back hatch of the squad bay and jumped over the ladderwell wall ... falling 3 stories before landing on the ground."
Siddiqui’s family could not be reached for comment Monday.
Siddiqui’s body arrived in Detroit on March 24, and his funeral was the following day.
Reporter Stephen Fastenau contributed to this report.
[Daily Caller] SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- Move over, carbon-neutral birthday parties. There’s a new popular way to celebrate for the country’s trendy progressive families: Gender declaration parties for teenage children.
The new phenomenon is a natural outgrowth of one of the latest trends in progressive parenting: Intentionally obscuring the gender of one’s children. Parents, frustrated by a society where people are declared "boys" or "girls" simply because they have penises or vaginas, are fighting back by opting out entirely and waiting until children have grown wise enough to choose a gender for themselves. Typically, this point is reached when a child is able to complete Algebra II, and it is accompanied by a big party comparable to bar mitzvahs or high school graduation parties.
Like other progressive parents, Bryce and Priscilla Hawkins-Hart of Springfield, Mass. did everything they could to keep their "penis-child" Taylor from being pressured into one gender or another. In addition to Taylor’s androgynous name, they insisted on using the gender-neutral pronoun zhe, painted zher room a monochrome grey, and forced zhim to play with both dolls and toy trucks while growing up.
"I remember when the doctor told me ‘It’s a boy!'" Bryce told The Daily Caller. "I just said to him, ‘Well, we’ll see about that!’ Then, I reported that doctor for child abuse for trying to force a gender onto young children."
#12
“Everybody in Taylor’s family that hasn’t disassociated with us is coming,” Priscilla said. In order to be ready for all contingencies, the family has purchased 17 different gluten-free, gender-themed cakes, in case Taylor chooses a gender identity such as two-spirit or genderqueer. If Taylor announces a desire to undergo any kind of sex reassignment surgery, a surgeon will be on hand to perform the procedure then and there, in front of everybody.
“Some might say that’s too much,” Priscilla added. “But I say nothing is too much for our little child of indeterminate gender.”
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Pittsburgh news anchor Wendy Bell was fired Wednesday from ABC affiliate WTAE after outcry over a recent Facebook post in which she used racially stereotypical language in talking about "young black men."
In news that's sure to thrill architects and carpenters around the world, researchers at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology have reportedly developed a new type of wood material that is visibly transparent. That's right; your windows and solar panels might soon be made of wood, or --depending on the way you look at it-- the wooden walls of buildings may turn into windows and transparent solar panels.
Aid agencies in Somalia today launched a Call for Aid seeking USD 105 million to scale-up critical, life-saving assistance and build resilience for more than one million people in the drought-affected northern regions of the country.
[FRANCE24] The 
Portly North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, whose hostile actions have brought crippling international sanctions to his impoverished nation, has a new message for the Hermit Kingdom's starving masses: Get ready to eat plant roots.
[Daily Caller] SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- Move over, carbon-neutral birthday parties. There’s a new popular way to celebrate for the country’s trendy progressive families: Gender declaration parties for teenage children.
