USA - A shocking 7.5 million people have left religion since 2012, a new survey released last week shows. The so called "Great Decline" of religion continued into last year, the 2014 General Social Survey showed.
USA - New advances in facial recognition are a step forward for an artificial intelligence technique called deep learning. “I never forget a face,” some people like to boast. It’s a claim that looks quainter by the day as artificial intelligence research continues to advance. Some computers, it turns out, never forget 260 million faces.
USA - The rice industry in the Sacramento Valley is taking a hard hit with the drought. Some farmers are skipping out on their fields this year, because they are cashing in on their water rights. Many fields will stay dry because farmers will be doing what was once considered unthinkable: selling their water to Southern California.
USA - California officials approved a package of far-reaching water restrictions Tuesday, limiting homes and businesses in much of the Bay Area and elsewhere to just two days of outdoor watering per week while cracking down on the way restaurants and hotels use water. The rules mark unprecedented territory for the state, which has historically let local water agencies, with their unique supplies and demands, manage how customers use water. But with California poised for a fourth year of drought and conservation lagging, officials opted for statewide action.
USA - A destructive insect's growing resistance to genetically modified corn seeds is costing American farmers as much as $2 billion annually, and now US regulators may weigh in on the matter with moves that could affect both farmers and corporate agriculture giants such as Monsanto.
GERMANY - Violent clashes between anti-capitalist protesters and German police left dozens injured and a trail of destruction in Germany's financial capital as the European Central Bank opened its new headquarters Wednesday. In fierce street battles that began in the early hours in the well-heeled western city of Frankfurt, 14 police and 21 anti-capitalist protesters were wounded, police and rally organisers said.
TURKEY - Hassan Kemal Yardimci, Turkey’s deputy defence minister, said that a military alliance between his country and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members should not be ruled out. “All options are open to boost military cooperation with the countries in the region,” Yardimci was quoted as saying by Bahraini daily Al Ayam on Tuesday.
UK - Lord Carey, the Former Archbishop of Canterbury, says society is becoming "increasingly illiterate" about religion and Christians are being forced to hide their beliefs in the workplace. He is urging people not to "apologise" but to speak up for their beliefs. It follows a report commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which asked people about any incidents in the workplace relating to their religion.
USA - Leaders of Presbyterian Church USA congregations voted to change the definition of marriage from the union of “a man and a woman” to “two people.” Come June 21, the new policy allowing the church to marry homosexuals will take effect, the Blaze reported.
USA - The US Treasury is getting ready to once again start maneuvering to keep the federal government from defaulting on its debt, and possibly setting off undesirable financial consequences, the agency said Friday. The United States is currently at the federal debt limit, but for the last 12 months hasn't had to suffer the consequences of it - thanks to a congressional-imposed suspension, which expires Sunday.
USA - Giant financial institutions that benefitted from federal bailouts during the depths of the recession have repaid the American people’s largesse by hiding profits overseas to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. According to a report commissioned by Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent for Vermont), four big banks — Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase — which received massive amounts of money and loan guarantees to keep them afloat in the wake of the financial crisis, park large amounts of money in tax haven nations.
USA - The head of the private intelligence agency Stratfor has for the first time publicly said that the US government considers to be its overriding strategic objective the prevention of a German-Russian alliance. Blocking that alliance is the only way to prevent an alternative world power capable of challenging extension of the American position of being the world’s lone superpower.
USA - Every year, cows kill more people than sharks. And yet nobody ever makes a horror movie about them, and there’s no Cow Week. These deadly beasts have managed to stay completely under the radar… until now. In the United States, the CDC estimates that about twenty-two people are killed by cows each year, and of those cow attacks, seventy-five percent were known to be deliberate attacks. One third of the killings were committed by cows that had previously displayed aggressive behavior.
USA - The 9/11 Commissioners publicly expressed anger at cover ups and obstructions of justice by the government into a real 9/11 investigation. 9/11 Commission co-chair Lee Hamilton says “I don’t believe for a minute we got everything right”, that the Commission was set up to fail, that people should keep asking questions about 9/11, and that the 9/11 debate should continue.
ISRAEL - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a come-from-behind victory in Israel's election on Wednesday after tacking hard to the right in the final days of campaigning, including abandoning a commitment to negotiate a Palestinian state. In a four-day pre-election blitz, Netanyahu made a series of promises designed to shore up his Likud base and draw voters from other right-wing and nationalist parties. He pledged to go on building settlements on occupied land and said there would be no Palestinian state if he was re-elected.