John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and their son Sean have launched a celebrity coalition campaigning against drilling techniques in the natural gas industry which could cause the contamination of water sources across America.


The mother and son team decided to rally environmentally-aware stars to protest the use of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, which critics claim can poison nearby water supplies with chemicals, after hearing about plans to drill near their home in New York.

Their new website, ArtistsAgainstFracking.com, has gained the support of actors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore, musicians such as Lady Gaga, producer Mark Ronson and The Strokes, and other celebrities like spiritual guru Deepak Chopra and author Salman Rushdie.

Now Lennon and Ono are urging fans to visit the page to learn all about the controversial practise and join their fight.

Residents in Butler County, Pennsylvania share their fracking experience.


Film shared courtesy of Nature Abounds' friend Rich Waters, a local photographer and videographer who is documenting how fracking is changing the lives of his neighbors in Southwest Pennsylvania.

Clifford B. Miller told investigators he had smoked meth before going to Britny Haarup's home in Edgerton, about 30 miles north of Kansas City, early Friday morning, planning to rape her, Platte County Sheriff Richard Anderson said.
A man who told investigators he was high on methamphetamine when he killed two sisters at a northwest Missouri home was charged Monday with two counts of first-degree murder.

Clifford B. Miller, 31, of Trimble, was charged in the slayings of Britny Haarup, 19, and her sister, Ashley Key, 22, whose bodies were found Sunday in a field near a tree line.

Miller told investigators he had smoked meth before going to Haarup's home in Edgerton, about 30 miles north of Kansas City, early Friday morning, planning to rape her, Platte County Sheriff Richard Anderson said. Authorities declined to say how Miller knew Haarup, but Anderson did say Miller told investigators he had never had a sexual relationship with her.

When Miller entered the home through an unlocked front door, he found Key asleep on the couch, Anderson said. Key awoke and confronted Miller, who hit her in the head before suffocating her, Anderson said.

Miller told authorities he then went into Haarup's room, where he beat her with a stick and suffocated her. He then wrapped up the bodies in sheets and dragged them to Haarup's pickup truck, the sheriff said at a news conference Monday.

Woman known as 'Witness 9' told Florida detectives that Trayvon Martin's shooter doesn't 'like black people'

George Zimmerman's alleged racial prejudice returned as a central issue to the Trayvon Martin murder case on Monday as Florida prosecutors released a statement from a witness accusing the defendant of bias.

The woman, known only as "Witness 9", also accused Zimmerman of molesting her when they were children, in an explosive document that his legal team fought hard to keep suppressed.

The newly revealed allegation of racism comes only days after the release of other court documents that appeared to show the FBI discounting race as a factor when Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighbourhood watch captain, shot dead the unarmed black teenager during a confrontation in a Sanford gated community on 26 February.

Zimmerman's family, the witness told detectives, shared his alleged views.

"Him and his family don't like black people if they don't act like white people," she said. "They like black people if they act white."

Lawyers for Zimmerman, who has a Hispanic mother, have always denied that he was motivated by race and insist he was acting in self-defence when he fired the fatal shot because Martin, 17, was attacking him.

But race was a recurring theme during the six weeks of public protests that followed the original decision by police in Sanford to release Zimmerman without charge. It was only after a special prosecutor was appointed in April that he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

He is currently free on $1m bond.

Reality television is a genre of television we're all familiar with by now. It's a type of programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded. It appears that for the most part the more dumbed down and situationally unaware the individual characters are on these TV shows the more honour, prestige and popularity they maintain amongst viewers.

Occasionally I like to watch TV and attempt to grasp and understand the beliefs and cultural activities of the mainstream. I wish not to appear arrogant in anyway here, I am very aware of the many people, like myself who do their best to disengage from watching television, for many uphold the belief that television is basically poisonous on all levels of being. Please note that it is not about wrong or right and that those who engage in television religiously or obsessively are wrong or have misplaced values, they simply are part of the mainstream. They say though to be able to fight your enemy with prowess, power and succession it is wise to know your enemy; hence why I like to sit in front of the idiot box and contemplate the stupidities on TV and hey if I had to be honest there are some TV shows that do amuse and entertain me at a superficial level, so I also feel part of the mainstream.

When these people or reality TV 'stars' perform feats of absolute stupidity, act in an idiotic or ignorant way it seems to be more appealing to producers and revered by the public. This must be the case, otherwise why would the media continuously place these individuals on TV? Obviously the producers of the show either believe or wish to create a culture where we idolise stupidity, superficial aesthetics and negative character traits such as deception, violent & aberrant behaviour, slyness, selfishness, stupidity and cunningness (just to name a few). Why? Ratings. What do writings equate to? Cash Money! It's all about the perception of what will attract more viewers; to ultimately bring more advertising dollars in and increase the longevity and ratings of that particular show.

First there was Kobe beef, Japan-born cows raised on beer. Now, the French have experimented with what is now called "Vinbovin" -- cattle being served two or three bottles of Languedoc wine a day.

The idea came from the president of an association of wine, Jean-Charles Tastavy. Languedoc-Roussillon winemaker Jean-Charles Tastavy conceived of his plan after hearing of studies in Spain and Canada that highlighted the merits of keeping animals happy to yield better meat.

"Why don't we do what others are doing elsewhere?" Tastavy said.

With the assistance of the General Council of Hérault and FDSEA, an association has been created, the brand "Vinbovin" trademark was created and the rules made.

2 or 3 glasses of wine a day

"For each animal, alcohol intake should be equivalent to the amount recommended by health authorities for a man, namely two or three glasses of wine a day. For cattle, it is 1 liter to 1 liter and half," explains Tastavy.

In 2011, the draft of an essay, a first in France, was launched. And it is Chaballier Claude, who owns a ranch where the bulls are in surplus for slaughterhouses, which agreed to embark on this adventure. A second experiment is scheduled from August to September.

After the last harvest, three cattle received grape pomace supplemented by the rolled barley and hay at will, all washed down with water. Then, two liters of wine from Saint-Genies of Mourgues replaced the marc. "The cattle liked the menu and ate with relish," said Chaballier.

Stephen Emmott is a professor of computing at Oxford University and head of Microsoft's Computational Science Laboratory in Cambridge. His lab is devoted to finding new techniques and ideas for solving key scientific problems. One of his research groups works on small-scale issues including the make-up of living cells and includes immunologists and neuroscientists. Another group is focused on global problems including the carbon cycle and is made up of plant biologists and marine ecologists.

Emmott, who is 52, is also the star of the forthcoming solo theatrical production Ten Billion, a co-operation between himself and distinguished director Katie Mitchell, whose past works have included A Woman Killed with Kindness at the National Theatre. The show opens at the Royal Court in London this week and focuses on the state our planet will be in when its population reaches 10 billion.

Steven Van Zandt, a guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, has accused England of becoming "police state" after "The Boss" and Sir Paul McCartney were silenced for breaching a council curfew at Hard Rock Calling.

Van Zandt, 61, who has also stared in cult US drama series The Sopranos, aired his frustration at the gig's premature ending at the concert in Hyde Park, central London on Saturday night.

Organisers said it was "unfortunate" that the performance was stopped at the end but insisted the curfew was put in place for to help protect "public health and safety".

The decision, however, sparked outrage amongst fans while Van Zandt took to Twitter to accuse England of becoming a "police state".

Sir Paul had joined Springsteen, 62, and his E Street band on stage at the Hard Rock Calling music festival following a performance by the American rock star that had lasted more than three hours.

The US singer greeted the former Beatle, 70, by saying "I've been waiting for this for 50 years".

Springsteen, known for his long performances, had exceeded the curfew by half an hour.

An 11-story building under construction in Egypt has collapsed and killed people in smaller buildings around it.

The ministry said five people were injured and teams were searching on Sunday for survivors buried under rubble.

The 11-story building in the poor Alexandria neighborhood of al-Gomrouk collapsed late on Saturday onto three adjacent buildings, reducing much of the structures to rubble. All the dead and injured were in the three smaller buildings.

Building collapses are not uncommon in Egypt, where shoddy construction is widespread in shanty towns, poor city neighborhoods and rural areas.

With real estate at a premium in big cities like Alexandria and Cairo, developers seeking bigger profits frequently violate planning permits and exceed the number of storeys allowed.

Many Haitians displaced by the 2010 earthquake are moving to crowded homes or slums. Others fare better with a rental subsidy, but it's temporary.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Facing the crumpled remnants of the national palace, an expansive plaza is punctuated by trees, benches and statues of Haitian heroes. Students read in the shade, women gossip, children play soccer.

This serene picture in Port-au-Prince's central square might seem ordinary, but it is not. After a massive earthquake devastated Haiti's capital on Jan. 12, 2010, about 5,000 displaced people took shelter on the square, turning it into a crowded and dangerous new neighborhood.

Now, 2 1/2 years later, the plaza known as Champs de Mars has been cleared, save for a few straggling tents.

The number of displaced Haitians has dropped from 1.5 million to just under 400,000, according to the International Organization of Migration, changing the look of a capital whose landscape was defined for many months by piles of rubble and fraying tent encampments.

But the progress is largely cosmetic. Although a few camps have benefited from aid programs, a grave underlying housing shortage means that the majority of those who left the camps have disappeared into the overcrowded homes of relatives or constructed precarious shacks in hillside slums.