Pussy Riot's Alyokhina Released In Crimea

A leading member of the Russian punk protest band Pussy Riot, MariaA leading member of the Russian punk protest band Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina, has been briefly detained in Russian-occupied Crimea for the second time in two days. An RFE/RL correspondent reported that police detained Alyokhina and local activist Aleksei Yefremov in a cafe in the Crimean city of Simferopol on February 27. The move came after they were confronted by several men in traditional Cossack military uniforms who called themselves members of "Crimea's self-defense."
Read more: https://www.rferl.org/a/pussy-riot-alyokhina-detained-again-sentsov/29065515.html?source=Snapzu

Corporate America Is Suppressing Wages for Many Workers

Even after eight years of economic recovery and steady private-sector job growth, wages for most Americans have hardly budged. It is tempting to think that wage stagnation is intractable, a result of long-term trends, like automation and globalization, that government is powerless to do anything about.
Read more: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/opinion/corporate-america-suppressing-wages.html?source=Snapzu

Disneyland Resort workers struggle to pay for food, housing and medical care, union survey finds

In an unprecedented challenge to Walt Disney Co., a coalition of 11 Disneyland unions is calling on the resort to raise its base wage to $20 an hour after a survey of 5,000 workers found many were hard-pressed to pay for food and medical expenses and 11 percent said they experienced homelessness in the past two years. According to a 125-page report “Working for the Mouse,” to be unveiled at a town hall of union members at the Anaheim Sheraton Park Hotel on Wednesday, Feb. 28, federal census and economic data show the average hourly wage...
Read more: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/27/disneyland-resort-workers-struggle-to-pay-for-food-housing-and-medical-care-union-survey-finds/?source=Snapzu

Hope Hicks to Resign as White House Communications Director

Ms. Hicks, who had been considering a departure for several months, did not indicate what her next job would be, but she said that she plans to leave the White House in the coming weeks.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/us/politics/hope-hicks-resign-communications-director.html?source=Snapzu

Mueller asking if Trump knew about hacked Dem emails before release

The special counsel's team is asking what candidate Trump knew about the hacked Democratic emails and when he knew it.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mueller-asking-what-trump-knew-about-hacked-emails-n851941?source=Snapzu

Coca-Cola, Nestle seek to privatize world's second largest aquifer

Coca-Cola and Nestle are pushing to take ownership of the Guarani Aquifer in Brazil. Named for the indigenous Guarani people, the world’s second largest aquifer lies beneath parts of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina – and it may soon fall under private corporate control. According to Correio do Brasil, private meetings between the multinational corporations and representatives of Brazil’s government...
Read more: https://inhabitat.com/coca-cola-nestle-seek-to-privatize-worlds-second-largest-aquifer/?source=Snapzu

Malta: an island of secrets and lies

Business is booming in the tiny former British colony. But stories of corruption and assassination are filling the newspapers, and it may be headed for the EU’s naughty step.
Read more: https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2018/02/malta-island-secrets-and-lies?source=Snapzu

Schools are safer than they were in the 90s, and school shootings are not more common than they used to be, researchers say

The deadly school shooting this month in Parkland, Florida, has ignited national outrage and calls for action on gun reform. But while certain policies may help decrease gun violence in general, it’s unlikely that any of them will prevent mass school shootings, according to James Alan Fox, the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy at Northeastern.
Read more: http://news.northeastern.edu/2018/02/schools-are-still-one-of-the-safest-places-for-children-researcher-says/?source=Snapzu

Egyptian singer facing jail for Nile joke

Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel Wahab has been sentenced to six months in prison for joking about the cleanliness of the River Nile. Sherine, one of the country's most famous singers - and a judge on the Arabic version of The Voice TV show - told a fan that drinking from the famous river might give them parasites. "Drink Evian instead," she joked.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43217483?source=Snapzu

Obama calls out Facebook and Google and says it's hard to know how long democracy can survive the current political climate

Former President Barack Obama made some revealing comments about the state of political discourse in the US, suggesting last week that tech giants like Facebook and Google were compounding problems. His remarks were captured in an off-the-record speech at a sports conference at MIT. Audio from the presentation was first reported by Reason, a libertarian-leaning publication.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-on-facebook-google-reshaping-democracy-2018-2?source=Snapzu

How Defective Guns Became the Only Product That Can’t Be Recalled

The government won’t fix it. The NRA is silent.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-02-28/how-defective-guns-became-the-only-product-that-can-t-be-recalled?source=Snapzu

There’s a heat wave. In the Arctic. In the middle of winter.

It’s been downright toasty at the North Pole, at least by Arctic standards. The northernmost weather station in the world, Cape Morris Jesup in Greenland, saw temperatures stay above freezing for almost 24 hours straight last week, and then climb to 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6.1 degrees Celsius) on Saturday before dropping again.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/2/27/17053284/arctic-heat-wave-north-pole-climate?source=Snapzu

Mystery deepens in case of CDC employee missing over 2 weeks

The mystery is deepening in the case of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee who has been missing for over two weeks, as police reveal he didn't get the promotion he wanted before he vanished. "This is an extremely unusual set of circumstances," Maj. Michael O'Connor of the Atlanta Police told reporters today.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/missing-cdc-employee-promotion-wanted-vanished-police/story?id=53387146?source=Snapzu

Ferrari fesses up that dealers used a device that changed odometers

Ferrari has acknowledged it knew dealers were using a device that allowed technicians to tamper with odometers of vehicles, according to a memo filed a Florida court this month.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5437837/Ferrari-fesses-dealers-changing-odometers.html?source=Snapzu

Before they went on strike, West Virginia teachers packed bags to make sure kids didn't go hungry

Teachers in West Virginia are striking for higher wages and better benefits, but not at the expense of hungry students. In West Virginia almost one in four children are in poverty. For many of them, free or reduced-price school breakfasts and lunches are their main meals of the day. Some schools even run Friday pantry programs to feed students through the weekend.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/26/us/iyw-striking-teachers-feed-students-trnd/index.html?sr=fbCNN022718iyw-striking-teachers-feed-students-trnd0732AMStory?source=Snapzu

China using big data to detain people before crime is committed: report

Barely seven months ago, a senior Chinese official promised that artificial intelligence could one day help authorities spot crime before it happens. In the country's far western Xinjiang region, it's already happening, with the establishment of a system that critics call "Orwellian" in scope and ambition, and which is being used to place people in political re-education.
Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/china-using-big-data-to-detain-people-in-re-education-before-crime-committed-report/article38126551/?source=Snapzu

Trump’s team is floating an attack on North Korea. Americans would die.

The regime always meets pressure with pressure of its own.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-team-is-floating-an-attack-on-north-korea-americans-would-die/2018/02/27/8e6cdf66-1826-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html?utm_term=.3f70209e7eb9?source=Snapzu

Comcast challenges Rupert Murdoch with $31 billion bid for Sky

Cable giant Comcast on Tuesday announced a $31 billion takeover bid for Sky, potentially scuppering a previous offer for the European broadcaster from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. Comcast is America’s largest cable operator and the owner of NBC News' parent company NBCUniversal. The firm argued its offer was superior to the bid from Fox. “We believe we are a better fit,” Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/comcast-takes-rupert-murdoch-31-billion-bid-sky-n851481?source=Snapzu

Roger Stone's Secret Messages with WikiLeaks

Transcripts obtained by The Atlantic show Donald Trump's longtime confidante corresponded with the radical-transparency group.
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/roger-stones-secret-messages-with-wikileaks/554432/?source=Snapzu

Suspect for Paris terror attacks that killed 130 goes on trial

Hundreds of armed police are guarding the Brussels court where the trial of Salah Abdeslam, the prime suspect behind the November 2015 Paris attacks, opens today after his secret transfer from a prison outside the French capital. Mr Abdeslam, a French national of Moroccan descent, is being tried on charges of terrorism, possession of weapons and attempted murder during a shoot-out with police in Brussels three days before his arrest in March 2016.
Read more: https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/paris-terror-attacks/suspect-for-paris-terror-attacks-that-killed-130-goes-on-trial-36567290.html?source=Snapzu

The fascist movement that has brought Mussolini back to the mainstream

The long read: Italy’s CasaPound has been central to normalising fascism again in the country of its birth. Now they’re trying to enter parliament
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/feb/22/casapound-italy-mussolini-fascism-mainstream?source=Snapzu

West Virginia schoolteachers' strike enters fourth day as they protest pay among the worst in the nation

West Virginia's teachers are refusing to go to school for a fourth day Tuesday in protest of pay that is among the lowest in the nation. Teachers are on strike in all 55 West Virginia counties and rallied outside the state capitol on Monday.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/02/27/west-virginia-schoolteachers-strike-enters-fourth-day-they-protest-demand-meeting-governor-strike-co/376159002/?source=Snapzu

Kushner loses access to top-secret intelligence

A memo sent Friday downgraded the presidential son-in-law and adviser and other White House aides who had been working on interim clearances, barring them from top-secret information.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/27/jared-kushner-security-clearance-downgrade-427178?source=Snapzu

The Reckoning

Thirty years ago, an acclaimed series of documentaries introduced the world to an isolated tribe in Papua New Guinea. What happened when the cameras left?
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-reckoning-180968082/?source=Snapzu

NRA refuses to answer senator’s questions about funding from Russia

A letter from the NRA denies that any potential Russian funds were used for election meddling.
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/nra-moscow-letter-response-ce606fc127ed/?source=Snapzu

‘Frankenstein’ Manuscript Shows the Evolution of Mary Shelley’s Monster

A British publisher is releasing 1,000 facsimiles of the two notebooks in which Shelly scrawled her iconic novel
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/frankenstein-manuscript-shows-evolution-mary-shelleys-monster-180968240/?no-ist?source=Snapzu

When the Supreme Court Doesn't Care About Facts

The conservative justices seem prepared to decide Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, a case that could harm public sector unions, without so much as a factual record.
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/when-the-supreme-court-doesnt-care-about-facts/554354/?source=Snapzu

Automated Vehicles Can’t Save Cities

They could actually make cities much worse.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/27/opinion/automated-vehicles-cant-save-cities.html?source=Snapzu

Awaken, Poland, Before It’s Too Late

The Polish lurch into illiberalism and rewritten history is an immediate danger to the European idea.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/awaken-poland-before-its-too-late.html?source=Snapzu

German court rules cities can ban diesel cars to tackle pollution

One of Germany’s top courts has ruled that heavily polluting vehicles can be banned from the urban centres of Stuttgart and Düsseldorf, a landmark ruling that could dramatically hit the value of diesel cars. Environmental campaigners had sued dozens of German cities, arguing they have a duty to cut air pollution to protect people’s health.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/27/german-court-rules-cities-can-ban-diesel-cars-to-tackle-pollution?source=Snapzu

After rising for 100 years, electricity demand is flat. Utilities are freaking out.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is the latest to be caught short.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/2/27/17052488/electricity-demand-utilities?source=Snapzu

Opinion | We All Must Live With Mitch McConnell’s Proudest Moment

A Supreme Court case on public-sector unions is a reminder of why it matters how Justice Neil Gorsuch landed on the court.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/opinion/supreme-court-unions-afscme-mcconnell.html?source=Snapzu

Religion is no longer needed, says Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama says in an interview, "The world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer needed. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether."
Read more: http://www.shivas.net/religion-is-no-longer-needed-says-dalai-lama-in-an-interview/?source=Snapzu

Texas police shoot man who disarmed possible church shooter

Police in Amarillo shot an innocent man who helped foil a possible church shooting. The shooting happened shortly after 9 a.m. Feb. 14 at the Faith City Mission, a faith-based outreach organization. Police said Joshua Len Jones, 35, of Amarillo, barged into a church building at Faith City Mission, pulled out a gun and was holding about 100 congregants and church staff hostage. In the time between when police were dispatched and when officers arrived, a handful of churchgoers wrestled Jones to the ground. One of the congregants was able to grab Jones' gun.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Texas-police-shoot-man-who-disarmed-possible-12704202.php?source=Snapzu

Florida Gun Show sees 'record number' of attendees amid gun control debate

Thousands of gun enthusiasts -- more so than ever -- flocked to the Florida State Fairgrounds for the Florida Gun Show event. Organizers say they had a record number of people attend the event on Saturday, Feb. 24, almost 7,000, and expected more Sunday. The manager for the Florida Gun Show, George Fernandez, says they’ve never seen such a big crowd.
Read more: http://www.wtsp.com/mobile/article/news/local/florida-gun-show-sees-record-number-of-attendees-amid-gun-control-debate/67-523267641?source=Snapzu

Melania Trump calls for 'positive habits on social media'

Melania Trump, whose husband is known for the barbs he hurls on Twitter, says adults should be “encouraging positive habits on social media” as an example for children.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/375635-melania-trump-calls-for-positive-habits-on-social-media?source=Snapzu

Police in Washington sell seized assault weapons back to the public

When law enforcement agencies in Washington and other states sell guns they've confiscated during criminal investigations, they're not just selling pistols and hunting rifles, they're also putting assault weapons, including AR-15s, back on the street. Sheriff's offices and police departments across Washington state have sold dozens of AR-15s, AK47s and other assault weapons since 2010, an Associated Press investigation found.
Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/02/police_in_washington_sell_seiz.html?source=Snapzu

Rare Photographs that changed Lives

Photographs by Lewis Hine that shook up early 20th-Century labour laws among those sold at US auction.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-43031764?source=Snapzu

Incivility at Work: Is 'Queen Bee Syndrome' Getting Worse?

The phenomenon of women discriminating against other women in the workplace — particularly as they rise in seniority — has long been documented as the "queen bee syndrome." As women have increased their ranks in the workplace, most will admit to experiencing rude behavior and incivility.
Read more: https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/incivility-work-queen-bee-syndrome-getting-worse?source=Snapzu

Peter Thiel Got His Revenge on Gawker. He May Yet Regret It

Peter Thiel’s openness about the extreme avenues he was considering going down to destroy Gawker could come back to haunt him should he face a ‘tortious interference’ lawsuit.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/peter-thiel-got-his-revenge-on-gawker-he-may-yet-regret-it?source=Snapzu

White Settlers Buried the Truth About the Midwest’s Mysterious Mound Cities

Pioneers and early archaeologists credited distant civilizations, not Native Americans, with building these sophisticated complexes
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/white-settlers-buried-truth-about-midwests-mysterious-mound-cities-180968246/#PmzH1MZXR3eM2SwU.01?source=Snapzu

The economy is more a messy, fractal living thing than a machine – George Zarkadakis | Aeon Ideas

Mainstream economics is built on the premise that the economy is a machine-like system operating at equilibrium. According to this idea, individual actors – such as companies, government departments and consumers – behave in a rational way. The sy...
Read more: https://aeon.co/ideas/the-economy-is-more-a-messy-fractal-living-thing-than-a-machine?source=Snapzu

Saudi Arabia FM To German: We Do Not Need Your Weapons, We Will Find Them Somewhere Else

In an interview with German news agency DPA, published on Friday, al-Jubair criticized the German government and called Berlin decision to halt weapons exports to conflicting parties in Yemen “inconsistent”. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were among the top 10 destinations for German weapons in 2017. “If Germany has a problem with supplying weapons to Saudi Arabia, we would not put Germany under pressure.
Read more: http://www.rpfront.com/world/saudi-arabia-fm-to-german-we-do-not-need-your-weapons-we-will-find-them-somewhere-else?source=Snapzu

7.5-magnitude quake strikes Papua New Guinea

A large earthquake has struck the middle of Papua New Guinea. The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-7.5 quake hit about 89 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Porgera early Monday in the Pacific island nation. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Caruso says the quake, which had a depth of 35 kilometers (22 miles), occurred in a rural, jungle area near a mountain range.
Read more: http://abc7.com/75-magnitude-quake-strikes-papua-new-guinea/3139067/?source=Snapzu

Apple Moves Chinese iCloud Encryption Keys to China, Worrying Privacy Advocates

Apple has moved encryption keys for mainland Chinese iCloud users to China, potentially enabling much easier access to data for the nation’s heavy-handed authorities and worrying privacy advocates.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/apple-moves-chinese-icloud-encryption-keys-to-china-wo-1823312628?source=Snapzu

US Power Will Decline Under Trump, Says Futurist Who Predicted Soviet Collapse

Johan Galtung, a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated sociologist who predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union, warned that US global power will collapse under the Donald Trump administration. The Norwegian professor at the University of Hawaii and Transcend Peace University is recognized as the 'founding father' of peace and conflict studies as a scientific discipline. He has made numerous accurate predictions of major world events, most notably the collapse of the Soviet Empire.
Read more: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/d7ykxx/us-power-will-decline-under-trump-says-futurist-who-predicted-soviet-collapse?source=Snapzu

Orlando pediatrician arrested for using partial vaccine doses

An Orlando pediatrician posted bond and has been released from jail after being accused of committing Medicaid fraud affecting hundreds of children. The Florida Department of Health said Dr. Ishrat Sohail provided only partial vaccines to more than 500 children, but charged them in full.
Read more: http://wfla.com/2018/02/25/florida-arrests-pediatrician-for-using-partial-vaccine-doses/?source=Snapzu

An Epidemic of Dishonesty on the Right

Enough with the rancid conspiracy theories. First it was the Holocaust, now Parkland — is there any act of depravity to which the less respectable right-wing media cannot imagine a connection for George Soros? David Clarke, the sheriff of Fox News, insisted that the Florida students’ reaction to the shooting “has GEORGE SOROS’ FINGERPRINTS all over it,” idiotic capitalization in the original and, one assumes, in his soul. The idiots at Gateway Pundit suggested that one of the student survivors was a fraud because...
Read more: https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/02/parkland-shooting-hoax-latest-right-dishonesty-epidemic/?source=Snapzu

Police Investigate after Student Writes Essay from White Supremacist’s Perspective

A Tracy student wrote a controversial essay on racism that prompted an investigation by law enforcement. The academic decathlon student was preparing for an upcoming debate and was given an open-ended writing prompt. The Director of Student Services at Tracy Unified School District, Troy Brown, said the students had "to write opposing viewpoints to a topic."
Read more: http://fox40.com/2018/02/23/police-investigate-after-tracy-student-writes-white-supremacist-manifesto/?source=Snapzu

Tourist questioned over severed head

An American tourist is being questioned by Japanese police after a woman's severed head was found in a holiday flat he was renting in Osaka. Police believe the head, which was found in a suitcase, belongs to a Japanese woman who was last seen on CCTV footage walking with the suspect. The woman, 27, had apparently told friends she was going to see an American she had met on an app. The suspect has allegedly denied any connection with the case.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43190380?source=Snapzu