RT News

Meet Homer Simpson’s new neighbor: Julian Assange

2012-01-31T15:46:00.000+04:00

Famous cyberspace activist Julian Assange is set to play a new controversial neighbor of the Simpson family in the milestone 500th episode of show due to air on February 19.

The WikiLeaks founder recorded his lines for the episode remotely at an “unknown location” while under house arrest in Britain. “I was just given a number to call,” the Simpsons executive producer Al Jean told Entertainment Weekly magazine.

In the episode, the Simpsons are forced to leave their house and move into a new place, only to find themselves living next to Assange. “[Assange is] sort of their new Flanders,” explained Jean. “He lives next door. The similarities end there.”

Currently under house arrest, Australian-born Assange is facing extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted on charges stemming from allegations of a sexual assault against two former WikiLeaks volunteers. He is due to appear before Britain's Supreme Court on February 1 to appeal his extradition.

Assange’s appearance on The Simpsons however has nothing to do with his legal situation. “We wanted to make sure it was satirical, and he was willing to do that,” explained Jean.

Dinosaurs in Australia: Fright at the museum (VIDEO)

2012-01-27T17:54:00.000+04:00

The reopening of an Australian Museum of Natural History has been a real thrill for visitors. Some of the delighted and rather frightened guests however think the animatronic creatures greeting them at the entrance were “a little too realistic”.

The Queensland Museum of Natural History in Brisbane chose to mark its reopening after renovation with an unusual party. It invited several animatronic dinosaurs.

In the hope of adding some thrill to the celebrations, the scaly hosts however frightened most youngsters.
One parent though says the dinosaurs certainly grabbed her child's attention.

"It's educational and it's fun! She just got to pat a dinosaur!"

In recent months, the museum has undergone a $14-million-dollar renovation, and now houses more than a million exhibits.

Google to track users... like never before!

2012-01-26T16:25:00.000+04:00

In a move that has triggered outrage, Google has announced plans to bring all data collected from users’ separate accounts on its sites into a combined profile. Besides raising dubious questions about privacy, this offer is one you… cannot refuse.

The changes will take effect on March 1. Before that date, Google will notify its hundreds of millions of users about the new rules of the game. In preparation, the company is boosting its privacy policy and terms of service. Users will have to decide whether to agree with the new terms – or lose access to some of their favorite sites. There is no way of opting out of the changes.

Some say Google’s privacy announcement is frustrating and a little frightening."Even if the company believes that tracking users across all platforms improves their services, consumers should still have the option to opt out,” said Common Sense Media chief executive James Steyer, as cited by the Washington Post.

Google says the new policy reflects a “desire to create a simple product experience” that does what one needs, when one needs it. The changes, apparently, will also allow Google to offer more new services and other “cool things.”

Google is consolidating more than 60 separate legal notes into a single main Privacy Policy, which will make it easier for consumers to comprehend – or, at least, read – the terms of service in full.

Michael Jackson caught pickpocketing in Moscow Metro

2012-01-25T17:46:00.000+04:00

Michael Jackson has turned out to be not so smooth a criminal as he has just been arrested in Moscow for picking pockets.

No, not the US pop-star back from the dead, but a 50-year-old Canadian with the same name.

He was caught after police spotted him trying to steal a wallet from a passenger in the metro.

They are now investigating whether Mr. Jackson is responsible for any other thefts in the underground.

They have already established that he came to Moscow over three months ago as a tourist, but for some reason decided to stay, and ran out of money.

Thai Year of Dragon celebration ends in fiery tragedy (VIDEO)

2012-01-25T17:43:00.000+04:00

A Chinese New Year celebration in Thailand turned into a tragedy as festive fireworks sparked a blaze. Four people died and almost 90 were injured, while more than 100 homes burnt down.

Authorities believe that flames from a faulty firework set off a pile of unused rockets at the display in the town of Suphan Buri, about 100 kilometers northwest of Bangkok.

Deputy Prime Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa and his brother, former Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa attended the New Year celebration.

The four people killed by the explosion and blaze were three organizers and a female spectator, who died of her injuries early Wednesday, according to a local government official.

Authorities set up tents on Tuesday night to house people evacuated from the area.

Thailand has a large ethnic Chinese population, and the advent of the Year of the Dragon has been widely celebrated across the country.

Exclusive TV series hosted by Julian Assange to premiere on RT in March

2012-01-25T17:24:00.000+04:00

Cyberspace's most famous activist, Julian Assange, is launching his own talkshow, to be broadcast on RT. The program, written and hosted by the founder of whistle-blowing site Wikileaks, will focus on his favorite topic: controversy.

The show, arguably the most anticipated news series of 2012, will feature ten "iconoclasts, visionaries and power insiders" – people Assange can clearly identify with, being a rather controversial figure himself. The 40-year-old Australian media and internet entrepreneur will get to talk about the issues of the day with those he believes will shape "the world tomorrow."

In his own words, the world-famous Wikileaks founder is "a pioneer of a more just world and a victim of political repression" which is why he promises to deliver a new type of television. Many are already wondering whether it will be as explosive as the biggest mass disclosure of secret documents in US history, also orchestrated by Assange and his team.

The show will be filmed at the very location that Julian Assange has been under house arrest for the last year and a half, with the first episode to be shot just a week before Assange's Supreme Court hearing in the UK. He has been on conditional bail for 414 days, with no charges officially filed, as he fights extradition to Sweden.

Police mistake marathon for gay pride parade

2012-01-24T17:20:00.000+04:00

Police in the Kaliningrad region have mistaken a marathon for a gay pride parade.

Several athletes gathered in the town center of Sovetsk on Saturday for the run, but were approached by police, who detained some of them, including teenagers.

Police later explained they had been falsely tipped-off about a planned but illegal gay pride march in the town.

Organizing pride parades has long been a big problem among activists in Russia’s gay community.

In Moscow, they have been unsuccessfully applying for permission to hold a parade for several years – with former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov branding them "satanic" on one occasion.

The bans have always been warmly supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, with its officials supporting what they say is the authorities' right to ban any propaganda based on its potential moral damage to the people.

Biggest solar storm in years bombards Earth

2012-01-24T17:14:00.000+04:00

The largest solar radiation outburst in six years is on its way to Earth and will hit our planet with high-energy atomic particles at around 2 pm GMT, scientists say, causing possible malfunction of communication satellites and power grids.

The major impact will occur in the North Pole area: routes of some near North Pole flights have been changed.

The functioning of the ISS will not be affected. Taking into consideration the prognosis for the solar storm, the ISS crew will not even have to take additional radiation security measures.

Massive ejections of plasma, or coronal mass, from the Sun have often resulted in communication and other satellites, as well as ground communications facilities failing. They can cause magnetic storms but bring no evident harm to the health of the planet’s population.

Iran 'definitely' closing Strait of Hormuz over EU oil embargo

2012-01-23T16:41:00.000+04:00

Tensions in the Gulf could reach a breaking point as a senior Iranian official said Iran would “definitely” close the Strait of Hormuz if an EU oil embargo disrupted the export of crude oil, the semi-official Fars news agency reports.

The announcement came in response to a decision by the European Union on Monday to impose an oil embargo on Iran over the country’s alleged nuclear weapons program.

“The pressure of sanctions is designed to try and make sure that Iran takes seriously our request to come to the table,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

However, with Washington’s decision to deploy a second carrier strike group in the Gulf, the EU’s attempt to pressure Iran economically could greatly increase the likelihood of all-out war in the region.

iPhone the Savior: new app can send SOS signal

2012-01-23T16:39:00.000+04:00

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has developed an iPhone app able to send an SOS signal.

Called "Mobile Savior," it allows users to call for help at the push of a button.

Once a person has pressed the button, emergency services are notified and a text message is sent to friends and family informing them of the emergency.

The user simply has to enter the phone numbers of those they want to be contacted when they download the app.

Aside from its main feature, the app also contains general instructions on how to act in emergencies.

20 percent of Americans are mentally disturbed

2012-01-20T17:14:00.000+04:00

Are there a lot of mentally ill Americans, or am I just crazy?

If you find yourself asking that question, odds might be more in your favor that you’re suffering from some sort of mental illness than you might think. According to the results of a new government report, 46 million Americans — or about one-in-five — have been diagnosed with such a disorder during the last year.

Taking into account all American adults, the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) puts the tally of Americans having a mental illness at around 20 percent, with young adults aged 18 through 25 even more likely to be diagnosed at a rate of 30 percent.

"We all know people who have had a depression or an anxiety disorder, maybe something more serious like a bipolar disorder, but this is a pretty big number," Peter Delany, director of SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies, says of the study.

If you’ve been linked to a mental, behavioral or emotional problem based on the guidelines in the last publishing of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, you’ve made the cut of nearly 50 million other Americans in similar standing. The study adds that around 11.4 million adults are victims of “serious” mental illnesses — that is conditions that affect a person’s ability to normally function.

Just because you haven't swallowed a pill or gone other routes doesn’t mean you’ve escaped the list, either. While 46 million Americans are diagnosed sufferers of mental illness, only around 38 percent have received proper treatment for their condition.

Russians queue for drugs in broad daylight (VIDEO)

2012-01-20T17:06:00.001+04:00

The Russian anti-drug agency has reacted to a YouTube video called "People queuing-up to buy drugs in broad daylight" which went viral about a week ago.

The footage, shot in Novosibirsk, appears to depict what its title suggests – but anti-drug agents say it is not drugs that are being sold in the video.

They raided the dealer's territory some months ago and found only legal substances, prompting authorities to suggest a ban on those as well.

Worldwide Sherlock obsession

2012-01-20T16:59:00.000+04:00

It seems that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s imagination has given birth to a character that was meant for the movies, with Sherlock Holmes being featured in so many screen adaptations over such a short period of time.

Following the BBC's triumphant Sherlock series and the American movie franchise starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, Americans and Russians are set to present even more takes on Britain’s best-known private detective.

American network CBS has given its interpretation of Conan Doyle’s stories the name “Elementary,” The Hollywood Reporter writes. The series will take the detective from mid-19th-century London to present-day New York.

And Russians are also working on their next Sherlock Holmes project, which is expected to be released at the end of the year. Actors Igor Petrenko (Holmes) and Andrey Panin (Watson) will face the tough challenge of overcoming their predecessors Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin, who played Holmes and Dr. Watson in the massively popular Soviet screen adaptation series released between 1979 and 1986.

Washing away sins: Believers take ice-cold Epiphany dip

2012-01-19T17:18:00.000+04:00

It may be the middle of a freezing winter here in Russia but that's not stopping the determined from taking a dip.

A midnight immersion in water on the 18/19 January is the traditional way to celebrate the Orthodox holiday of Epiphany.

The date is considered holy by Christians, because on this very day Jesus is believed to have been baptized.
Russians believe that a priest can bless a river or a lake on this particular night and turn all of its water into holy water. Immersing oneself in it washes away all sins, it is said.

Since the holy day is marked in the middle of winter, in practice it usually means cutting ice, usually in a cross-shaped hole, and dipping into freezing water.

RT’s brave Thabang Matsei got a first-hand taste of how it feels.

Anti-brothel striptease: Topless activists target Indian embassy (VIDEO)

2012-01-19T17:04:00.000+04:00

Four FEMEN activists have undressed at the Indian embassy in Kiev in protest against the country’s plan to block young Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakh women from entering India as part of a national anti-prostitution campaign.

The topless activists, partially clad in Indian clothes, used a ladder to climb the Indian embassy’s balcony and unfurled banners saying “Ukrainians are not prostitutes!”, “Delhi, close your brothels,” and “We demand apologies.”

The protesters waved Indian flags and knocked on the embassy’s doors and windows – until detained by security guards and taken away by the police.

The demo was sparked after the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered its embassies to take extra care checking visa applications from women aged 15-40, who are blamed for the country’s prostitution boom.
FEMEN’s blog says that by issuing such an order, India has gravely insulted the women of Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.

“Indian prostitution is directly connected with impunity of the country’s criminal business,” the blog states. “Blaming it on women is a shame for the heirs of such a rich and old culture.”

Cuddle crime: Teddy bear snares Moscow robbers

2012-01-18T18:05:00.000+04:00

Police in Moscow have caught two robbers who broke into a car for … romantic reasons.

The owner of the car alerted the police after finding the window had been smashed. The thieves had stolen a GPS navigator and a blue teddy bear that was sitting in the rear window.

And it is the bear that helped the cops to track down the robbers, who turned out to be brothers. They sold the gadget, but held onto the cuddly toy.

One said it was intended as a gift for his girlfriend and was the reason they broke into the car in the first place.

Facts without Wikipedia: Star Wars based on Shakespeare

2012-01-18T17:58:00.000+04:00

While Wikipedia is down in a blackout protest against the SOPA bill, the Twittersphere has erupted with a new sort of fun: facts without Wikipedia. They are, err, unreferenced and unverifiable, presumably because Wiki can’t do the job.

New Tweets with #factswithoutwikipedia hashtag, which is currently one of the world’s most popular trends on the miniblogging site, are arriving in their dozens each minute. From them you can learn that:
Eminem had the same skin-whitening treatment as Michael Jackson, but it worked.

Star Wars is based on the lesser known Shakespeare work "Thy Force Be Stronge."
The Dalai Lama is a 4th Dan Master of Tibetan stick fighting and has twice foiled Chinese kidnap attempts with the art.
Steve Jobs hated apples, until he was sitting under a tree one day and an apple fell on his head giving him an idea.
France has lost its AAA rating. This means they are no longer allowed so sell small batteries.
The Great Wall of China was built to keep the rabbits out.
Hot dogs were named after a British Earl of the same name.
Bahrain's land reclamation project has given it a slight edge, overtaking Russia as the world's largest country.
Columbus brought pizza to America. The natives quickly succumbed to cheese and pepperoni.
Gravity is actually a conspiracy to keep the small businessman down.
The British version of Wikipedia is called Wikipaedia.
The speed of light is slower at night.
And much more.

No veiled threat: ‘Destructive’ Barbie off Iranian shelves

2012-01-17T16:40:00.000+04:00

The “B who U wanna B” American icon has outstayed her welcome, according to Reuters – and will be removed from every toy shop in Iran. The country has been toying with this idea of a ban since 1996, but only now has it become a reality.

Stories of American citizens getting into trouble in Iran have been rather frequent. Usually, they are somehow connected to politics and espionage – but that is not why one Barbie Millicent Roberts has become persona non grata in the Islamic republic.

No, Mattel’s world-famous plastic creation has been deemed “un-Islamic” and destructive to the people’s cultural values. And according to some shopkeepers in Tehran, the morality police are determined to put an end to this particular toy story.

They are not the first to develop such a game plan. In 2003, Saudi Arabia first banned, and then outlawed the Barbie doll for being “offensive to Islam”. But some plastic is still considered fantastic, even in the more conservative states. Fulla, a doll made and distributed by UAE, is marketed specifically to children of Islamic and Middle Eastern countries, and is a huge success.

And another example – rumors of a toy US drone the Iranians captured in December. That, according to news sources quoting Iranian media, should hit the shelves soon – and hopefully drone out any Barbie backlash.

Wikiout! English Wikipedia shutting down in anti-SOPA protes

2012-01-17T16:30:00.000+04:00

The world’s most popular online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is going on strike on Wednesday. The “knowledge blackout” is aimed at protecting the Internet - and the website’s very existence – from online censorship.

The Wikipedia community and the Wikimedia foundation decided on a global blackout of the English version of the website for 24 hours starting at 05:00 UTC on January 18. The move followed a heated discussion which attracted the highest number of participants in the project’s 11-year history.

The blackout of one of the Internet’s most-visited places is meant to stop SOPA and PIPA, two controversial anti-piracy bills currently on the table in the US Congress. The bills, if they pass into law, would greatly increase the powers of law enforcement agencies and copyright holders to prosecute online infringement.

The bills would cripple the Internet, effectively killing all websites allowing user-uploaded content, endangering potential whistleblowers and severely damaging online freedom of speech, say its numerous opponents. Those include Internet giants Google, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, Mozilla Corporation, and the human rights organizations Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, as well as journalists, lawyers and many others.

Supporters – mainly entertainment industry companies – say the legislation is necessary to combat online crimes.

Wikipedians hope the knowledge blackout will greatly raise public awareness of the threat and put pressure on legislators. The only pages which will be available to users during the action are those related to SOPA, PIPA and the protest.

Post-Christmas blues: January 16 declared year’s saddest day

2012-01-16T20:15:00.000+04:00

If you are feeling depressed, relax: this is the prevalent feeling around the world on January 16.

Experts from the University of Cardiff have named January 16 the day when most Europeans feel the post-Christmas blues at their worst.

Cold weather, unpaid debts, and the fact that for most people it is two weeks until pay-day, are among the main reasons for that sinking feeling. Broken New Year's resolutions only add to the mood.

Scientists say those who love their jobs will have coped better with the worst Monday of the year than those who do not.

After-like: Facebook 'If I die' app posts your last message post mortem

2012-01-16T17:17:00.000+04:00

While death bed confessions were once all the rage, a new Facebook application allows users to spill their hearts from beyond the grave. Now, when people ask ‘If I die before I wake’, the real question is: ‘What will be my last status update’?

That’s right. An Israeli company specializing in ‘time capsule’ products came up with the the free 'If I Die' application for the world’s most popular social network.

Upon confirmation of your passing from three user-appointed ‘trustees’, the app then posts a pre-death (one can only hope!) video or text message on your wall.

The makers of the app recommend sharing a personal testimony or even a deeply held secret to be shared with hundreds of your closest friends and family members.

Death has plagued facebook since its inception. It came to a head in 2009, when a new feature which suggested people with whom you might want to ‘reconnect’ had many attempting to commune with the dead.

After a series of complaints, Facebook gave users the option of memorializing accounts, whereby the dearly departed would no longer be suggested as new contacts.The memorialization feature also sought to protect the deceased by ‘removing sensitive information such as contact information and status updates’ from a user’s page, Facebook announced in a 2009 blog post.

However, the latest app takes the opposite approach, looking for the greatest post mortem impact possible.
The app already has 5,000 'likes' on Facebook. Let’s just hope your passing isn’t nearly as popular.

Who wants to get married on Friday 13th?

2012-01-13T17:37:00.000+04:00

A lot of people, actually, say employees of Moscow’s marriage registry offices. Some 500 couples have expressed their desire to tie the knot in the Russian capital this Friday.

This is a normal figure for winter months, but an exceptionally high one for a Friday the 13th. It seems this year, many Russian couples have purposefully picked the “unlucky” day to get hitched, as a way to prove their love can conquer all, starting with old wives’ tales and superstition.

While those who don’t have a wedding to attend, but still want to get festive on the spooky day, can get partying to celebrate the so-called Old New Year.

Although Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918, after the October Revolution, many continued to follow the Julian calendar used by the Russian Orthodox Church, which trails the Gregorian version by two weeks.

Marked without the pomp and circumstance of New Year’s Day, the Old New Year is still celebrated by many Russians with parties and nostalgic family get-togethers complete with singing and ample feasts – gatherings, in fact, suspiciously like Russia’s exuberant weddings.

Skatecrow: Russian roof-surfin' bird caught on tape (VIDEO)

2012-01-13T17:19:00.000+04:00

Russian winter, so alluring with its crisp snow and frosty fresh air, even birds cannot resist its pleasures. A Russian family has spotted a curious bird as it was trying out some snowboarding on a nearby roof.

The crow was surfing using a round lid from a jar and was then returning to the rooftop carrying its equipment in the beak. It was even nudging the lid if it stuck in the snow.

“Maybe it is teasing us,” commented one of the children of the family as they watched the inventive bird sliding down the roof.

The ability of crows to operate different tools to achieve their purposes has been known for a long time. This skill, however, is generally used by the smart birds to get food. But here the surfing bird apparently just wants to have fun.

One of the possible explanations for such peculiar behavior is that the crow saw someone doing this, repeated the move and then just liked it.

So next time you are on a ski slope, watch out for little birdie.

Checkbook: Personal fundraising via social networks

2012-01-12T16:39:00.000+04:00

Siberians have reinvented the idea of financial support through social networks. They did not collect money for charity or an event. A 24-year-old girl went on a drive to raise money to buy a car for herself.

Katerina Glazkova figured she did not want to get involved with a bank, nor did she want to borrow money from her friends. Why would one need friends in real life when you have thousands of followers online? Katerina has turned to them.

The used car Katerina wanted to buy was up for sale for 90,000 rubles, she bargained for 76,000, but she was still 20 per cent short. That is when she asked each of her online followers to donate a small amount of money to fulfill her dream without promising to give any of it back.

Katerina has more than 800 “friends” on a Russia's most popular social networking site VKontakte. She was honest and told them exactly what she was up to, requesting a New Year’s present of 250 rubles – a sum easily manageable for practically anyone.

"Only those who wanted donated the money to me. The sum was chosen to be insignificantly small, so it would not be easy to manage. The idea was so that a lot of people would help to collect a big sum by small donations,” she told NTV news.

Her Christmas dream came true with the help of her many online followers and now the car proudly occupies a parking spot in front of Katerina’s window.

North Korea: People punished for not playing crying game

2012-01-12T16:18:00.002+04:00

Following the period of mourning for the late leader Kim Jong-Il, North Korean authorities have reportedly begun to punish citizens who did not display enough sadness at his death.

That is according to the Daily NK, an online newspaper based in South Korea, which said that government officials were handing down periods of at least six months in a labor-training camp to anybody who did not participate in the organized gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but did not cry and did not seem genuine.

In addition, the paper said, the source stated public trials were being held for those who had attempted to leave North Korea during the mourning period for “the Dear Leader” and even for those who used mobile phones to call out.

Daily NK also said that the source claimed that those critical of the country's dynastic system, which saw Kim Jong-il replaced by his son Kim Jong-un, were being banished with their families to remote areas.
Kim Jong-il died of a heart failure on December 17 at age of 69, leaving the future of one of the world’s most impoverished countries unclear.