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Environmental victory! Administration broke law by issuing oil leases without examining fracking risks


RT.com
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:34 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Spencer Platt
Equipment used for the extraction of natural gas is viewed at a hydraulic fracturing site on June 19, 2012 in South Montrose, Pennsylvania.
The Obama administration has broken the law, issuing oil leases across California without examining the risks of fracking. A federal judge ruled that the administration has "completely ignored" environmental concerns upon issuing the leases.

In response to a lawsuit filed by environmentalist groups, US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal ruled that the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the law by distributing oil drilling rights before reviewing the potential risks associated with fracking.

"BLM's dismissal of any development scenario involving fracking as 'outside of its jurisdiction' simply did not provide the 'hard look' at the issue that NEPA requires," Grewal said during Sunday's ruling in San Jose, Calif.

While the ruling highlights the flaws of the Obama administration, it is largely viewed as a landmark victory by environmentalists who have been fighting against the procedures they fear might harm the environment.

"It's the first federal court opinion we're aware of that explicitly holds that federal agencies have to analyze the environmental impacts of fracking when carrying out an oil and gas leasing program," Brendan Cummings, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, which was involved in filing the lawsuit, told Reuters.

Comment: For more background on the dangers of fracking read:
If this is what fracking is doing to animals - what is it doing to people?
Fracking Linked To Earthquakes In The U.S.
US: Environemental Protection Agency Finally Admits 'Fracking' Likely Polluted Town's Water

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V

Unravelling the mystery of Pablo Neruda's death


BBC News
Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:57 UTC
Neruda driver

Mr Araya says Pablo Neruda told him he had been given an injection
The remains of Chile's Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda are being exhumed on Monday in a bid to determine the cause of his death after his assistant alleged he was murdered by Gen Augusto Pinochet's military regime, the BBC's Gideon Long reports from Isla Negra.

Pablo Neruda's bones are interred in the garden of Isla Negra, his beloved beach house on Chile's Pacific coast. He is buried next to his wife and muse, Matilde Urrutia.

The poet died aged 69 on 23 September 1973, just 12 days after Gen Pinochet's military coup.

His death certificate says he died of prostate cancer, a view widely accepted for nearly four decades.

But his former personal assistant Manuel Araya says the poet was given a lethal injection in hospital.

Mr Araya says Neruda, a communist, was about to go into exile in Mexico from where he planned to lead the global opposition to the military dictatorship in his homeland.

"Until the day I die I will not alter my story," Mr Araya told the BBC.

"Neruda was murdered. They didn't want Neruda to leave the country so they killed him."
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Play

Pablo Neruda's body exhumed following murder claim - video


The Guardian
Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:25 UTC
The body of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is being exhumed in Isla Negra, Chile, after claims that he died as a result of poisoning in 1973. Neruda's sudden death, 12 days after the military coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was originally ascribed to prostate cancer. However, his driver has made claims to the contrary involving a 'suspicious' injection before his death.

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Eiffel Tower

Louvre Museum shuts for day as guards protest pickpockets

Alexandria Sage and Marion Douet
Reuters
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:26 UTC
Louvre
© Christian Hartmann / Reuters
People enjoy the snow in front of Paris landmark, the Pyramid of the Louvre Museum, January 20, 2013
Tourists caught no glimpse of the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory or Venus de Milo on Wednesday due to a one-day closure of the Louvre, as guards protested that pickpockets were rampant at the world's most visited museum.

Two hundred museum guards exercised their right to a work stoppage, forcing the museum to shut its doors for the day, union representatives said.

The CGT union said guards were "fed up" by attacks and threats directed at them and visitors over the past few months by pickpockets.

The secretary general of the national union for museums (SNMD), David Maillard, said petty thieves were multiplying at the site, visited by nearly 9 million people each year.

"There are thefts and threats every day. The guards are fed up with being assaulted by pickpockets," Maillard told Reuters, adding that the unions want better security at the museum.
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Map

Police discover hidden underground tunnels used by the homeless in Kansas

Eric Pheiffer
Yahoo News - The Sideshow
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:56 UTC
Image
© KMBC
Images of an underground suburb used by the homeless on the city's northeast side near Interstate 435. The camp was broken up by Kansas City Police on Friday.
During a routine crime investigation, Kansas City police discovered a series of underground dirt tunnels being used by the city's homeless. Local affiliate KMBC was on hand for the discovery when newscasters accompanied Kansas City Police Officer Jason Cooley, who was leading an investigation of stolen copper wiring from a nearby grain mill. While checking on the seemingly ordinary homeless campsites, Cooley discovered a series of tunnels that went several feet under the earth and stretched nearly 25 feet. "It was kind of in a little hill and probably four feet beneath the surface," Cooley told the Kansas City Star.

Additional images

Comment: Speaking of 'expertly crafted', these pictures look a lot like:
Going underground: The massive European network of Stone Age tunnels that weaves from Scotland to Turkey

      Read More...
Heart - Black

Nova Scotia teen commits suicide after rape, bullying


CBC News
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:46 UTC
Image
© Rehtaeh Parsons's Facebook Memorial Page
Rehtaeh Parsons told police she was raped at a party when she was 15

The mother of a teenage girl from Nova Scotia who killed herself after allegedly being raped and photographed by four boys is speaking out, to tell the story behind her daughter's tragic death.

Rehtaeh Parsons, 17, died on Sunday in hospital after attempting suicide a few days earlier.

"Rehtaeh was a very sensitive person and very insightful. She was a critical thinker, she thought outside the box. She was always a deep thinker, she ran, always understood the plight of others. She had great compassion. That's who Rehtaeh was," said her mother, Leah Parsons.

In 2011 when Rehtaeh was 15, she went with a friend to a small gathering with other teenagers and started drinking vodka.

Parsons said Rehtaeh only remembered bits and pieces of the night, but does remember throwing up out a window.

While one of the guys was allegedly having sex with her another yelled, "Take a picture, take a picture."

"That picture began to circulate in her school and community three days later," said Parsons.
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Heart

Dumpster diver returns $3,800 found in trash

Rachel Katz
ABC News
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:41 UTC
Image
Digging through a Dumpster to make some extra cash by recycling old cans, a Tennessee man struck big when he found $3,800 lying in a Speedy Mart Dumpster.

Joe Ellis of Murfreesboro can be found almost every day rummaging through the convenience store's Dumpster, Maulik Patel, Speedy Mart's manager, told ABC News.

"Once I found $15," Ellis told ABC News affiliate WKRN in Nashville.

Ellis told WKRN that he found the $100 bills in a small plastic bag, along with three deposit slips, with no name on them.

"I turned it in to the people, the two guys that work there, and I told them about what happened and I gave them the money and he was counting it out, one of the guys in the store. He said it was, I don't know, almost ... $4,000."
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Handcuffs

Maine hermit living in wild for 27 years arrested


Seattle Post Intelligencer
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:37 UTC
Image
© Kennebec County Sheriff's Office
This April 2013 booking photo released by the Kennebec County Sheriff's Office in Augusta, Maine, shows Christopher Knight, arrested Thursday, April 4, 2013, while stealing food from a camp in Rome, Maine
A man who lived like a hermit for decades in a makeshift camp in the central Maine woods, who may be responsible for more than 1,000 burglaries for food and other staples, has been captured, authorities said.

Christopher Knight, 47, was arrested last week when he tripped a surveillance sensor set up by a game warden while stealing food from a youth camp in Rome, state police say in a court affidavit.

Authorities on Tuesday found the campsite where they believed Knight - known as the North Pond Hermit in local lore - has lived for 27 years.

Residents of the town with a year-round population of about 1,000 say they've been aware of the hermit for years, often in connection with break-ins that have occurred. Some have spotted him walking along the side of the lake known as Great Pond and others have seen his living quarters, which include a tent covered by tarps suspended between trees, a bed, propane cooking stoves and a battery-run radio.
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Ambulance

6-year-old New Jersey boy accidentally shot by 4-year-old friend has died, police say


CBS News
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:31 UTC
Image
© Brandon Holt / CBS New York
A 6-year-old boy who was accidentally shot in the head by a 4-year-old playmate on April 8 has died from his wounds, authorities said Tuesday night.

Ocean County prosecutor's office spokesman Al Della Fave confirmed Brandon Holt had died but said he couldn't provide further details. Toms River police Chief Michael Mastronardy said Holt was pronounced dead at 5 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 24 hours after the shooting occurred in a neighborhood that residents described as "very quiet."

The 4-year-old, whose name was withheld, was not injured.

The younger boy's mother called 911 to report the shooting, Coronato said.

Coronato said it was too early in the investigation to know whether anyone would be charged. He would not say who owned the gun or speculate on how the 4-year-old got it.
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Alarm Clock

U.S. nuclear reactors all have irreparable safety issues says former chairman of Nuclear Regulatory Commission


RT.com
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:23 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Stan Honda
An aerial view of the Limerick Generating Station, a nuclear power plant in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
All 104 nuclear reactors currently operational in the US have irreparable safety issues and should be taken out of commission and replaced, former chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory B. Jaczko said.

The comments, made during the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, are "highly unusual" for a current or former member of the safety commission, according to The New York Times. Asked why he had suddenly decided to make the remarks, Jaczko implied that he had only recently arrived at these conclusions following the serious aftermath of Japan's tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daichii nuclear facility.

"I was just thinking about the issues more, and watching as the industry and the regulators and the whole nuclear safety community continues to try to figure out how to address these very, very difficult problems," which were made more evident by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, he said. "Continuing to put Band-Aid on Band-Aid is not going to fix the problem."

According to the former chairman, US reactors that received permission from the nuclear commission to operate for an additional 20 years past their initial 40-year licenses would not likely last long. He further rejected the commission's proposal for a second 20-year extension, which would leave some American nuclear reactors operating for some 80 years.
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