Thursday, September 18, 2014

Agafia’s story: The Siberian hermit who fled Stalin persecution (PROMO)

How Scottish `Yes' Vote Could Affect Whisky Makers

Raw: Elephant Undergoes Surgery in Tbilisi Zoo

Watch: Police chase leaves dog in critical condition

Love of tartan unites Scots of all stripes

Spacey Stalker Jailed After Torture Threats

A woman who threatened to blow up, torture and castrate the actor Kevin Spacey has been sentenced to more than four years in prison. Prosecutors said Linda Louise Culkin, from Massachusetts, launched a "persistent and malevolent" cyberstalking campaign against the Oscar winner.
She pleaded guilty in November to charges including mailing threatening communications, and sending false information regarding explosives. The 55-year-old has been in prison since January 2012, meaning she has about 18 months left to serve.
A federal judge in Boston also ordered Culkin, of Quincy, to pay Spacey $124,000 (£75,000) in restitution for the bodyguards he had to hire for protection. Spacey was not in court for the sentencing but said in an impact statement it was "difficult to measure the degree of terror" he felt. Culkin apologised and blamed her actions on mental illness.
INC News, 18/09/2014

Unregistered foreign channels may be prohibited from broadcasting in Kazakhstan


Broadcasting of foreign TV channels that are not officially registered in Kazakhstan may be prohibited soon, Tengrinews reports citing Deputy Attorney General Andrey Kravchenko. 

The topic has not been on the country's agenda for a while, but it is far from being new. The development was set into motion two years ago when the Law "On Television and Radio Broadcasting" was adopted on March 1, 2012. Among other things, it required foreign TV and radio channels to get register with an authorized body before March 1, 2013. Failure to comply with this rule was to result in exclusion from network and satellite broadcasting.

"We are now very concerned that almost half of the Russian channels operating in Kazakhstan remain unaccounted for our authorized state agency. They have to applied there and got registered. (...) And now we want to raise this issue to the government. We believe that the channels that have not registered with the authorized agency, should be prohibited from broadcasting in Kazakhstan," Kravchenko said during a Q&A session in the Kazakh Senate in the context of legal amendments relating to extremism and terrorism.


INC News, 18/09/2014-via Tengrinews

For more information see:http://en.tengrinews.kz/politics_sub/Unregistered-foreign-channels-may-be-prohibited-from-broadcasting-in-Kazakhstan-256217/
Use of the Tengrinews English materials must be accompanied by a hyperlink to en.Tengrinews.kz


Letizia Laura Bossetti, sorella di Massimo, aggredita

La sorella di Massimo Bossetti è rimasta vittima di un'aggressione a Terno d'Isola, nel Bergamasco. Letizia Laura Bossetti, gemella dell'uomo accusato dell'omicidio di Yara Gambirasio, è stata avvicinata da tre uomini mentre stava salendo in auto nei garage del condominio dove abitano i genitori. I tre l'avrebbero presa a calci e pugni dando dell'assassino al fratello, fino a farle perdere i sensi. Ora è ricoverata al policlinico di Ponte San Pietro.
Pare che una prima aggressione, limitata a spintoni e insulti al fratello, fosse già avvenuta qualche settimana fa, mentre precedentemente le era stata fatta trovare la pagina di un giornale dedicata al delitto di Yara.
INC News, 18/09/2014-via Repubblica

Could Facial Recognition Help ID Jihadi John?


Facial recognition software could be used to help identify the Islamic State militant thought to have killed a Briton and two Americans in propaganda videos.
Footage has been released over the last month apparently showing the murders of  US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines.
The IS militant - who speaks with a southern English accent and has been dubbed Jihadi John - shows only his eyes in all three videos, none of which have very high resolution.
INC News, 18/09/2014

Argentina tries doctors for 'baby theft' during military rule

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29248974

Two doctors and a midwife have gone on trial in Argentina charged with kidnapping babies born in captivity to left-wing political prisoners during the 1976-83 military government. It is the first case of medical staff being tried for allegedly falsifying the babies' birth certificates. An estimated 500 children were stolen at birth from their mothers during what was known as the Dirty War.They were then given illegally to other families who raised them as their own.
The real parents were either killed or disappeared.
INC News, 18/09/2014-via BBC

St. Petersburg's Hermitage Ranked No. 1 in Europe

Hermitage in St.Petersburg

The Hermitage has been recognized as the best museum in Europe by TripAdvisor, a popular publisher of tourist guidebooks.
The St. Petersburg museum beat out the Florence Academy of Fine Arts and the Paris MusОe d'Orsay to take first place in the ranking, titled the "Top-25 Traveller's Choice." It was compiled based on reviews of tourists from all over the world.
The Hermitage was the only Russian museum to rank among the best in Europe. The museum is one of the oldest and largest in the world, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great. Currently, the 350 halls of the museum boast more than 3 million works of art — from the Stone Age to the modern era.
The museum first opened to the public in 1852. Currently, five of the museum's six historic buildings are accessible to visitors: the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and Hermitage Theater.
INC News, 18/09/2014

Stolen Jaguar returned to owner 46 years after

Russia Risks Going the Way of Argentina

Russia become Argentina in economy?

In the second half of the 20th century, Argentina experienced a major economic disaster, and yet amazingly, it passed virtually unnoticed by the population. How did that happen?
Gross domestic product is the key indicator of economic development and the standard of living. In 1950, Argentina's GDP was equal to the average GDP of Europe's 12 leading powers and about half of the U.S. GDP. That made Argentina one of the world's developed countries.
However, that picture changed radically by 2000 when Argentina's GDP dropped from 74 percent of Sweden's to just 40 percent, from 154 percent of Italy's to just 44 percent, from being equal to the average GDP of Europe's 12 leading powers to just 41 percent of that average, and to just 29 percent of U.S. GDP. That pushed Argentina down to the status of a developing nation.
How did that go unnoticed? In short, because nothing much changed in the country over those years. Argentineans lived, worked and took part in politics. Argentinean society gave birth to a great body of literature that brought as much glory to the country as 19th-century Russian literature brought fame to this country. The Argentinean football team won the World Cup twice.
Of course, the country had hard times, too. For six years a general ruled Argentina with a "strong arm" and enforced order in both the economy and the country's spiritual life. Waves of discontent swept society, but the country carried on and managed to keep from falling apart. In fact, Argentina never suffered a single major political disaster in all of that time.

INC News, 18/09/2014

Есимов: «Казахфильму» после приватизации ничего не угрожает