Sex robot more popular at brothel than REAL prostitutes

Austrian local media reported the unusual story of "Fanny", a sex doll which has become the top-selling superstar of the "Kontakthof" brothel in capital Vienna. It left Austrian newspapers wondering what men see in Fanny, which costs 80 EUR (£71.60) for an hour to rent. At the weekend, we revealed the first pictures inside a new sex robot factory making human-like dolls.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/633323/sex-robot-prostitutes-brothel-more-popular-real-girls-Vienna-Austria?source=Snapzu

Columnist fired over 'anti-Semitic' Sunday Times article

A Sunday Times columnist "will not write again" for the newspaper after one of his articles was branded "anti-Semitic" and "disgraceful". In the piece, Kevin Myers suggested BBC presenters Claudia Winkleman and Vanessa Feltz earned high salaries because they were Jewish. Editor Martin Ivens said the piece, which appeared in the Irish edition and online, should not have been published.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40768352?source=Snapzu

Putin Signs Controversial Law Tightening Internet Restrictions

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed controversial legislation prohibiting the use of Internet proxy services -- including virtual private networks, or VPNs -- and cracking down on the anonymous use of instant messaging services. The law on proxy services, signed by Putin on July 29 and published by the government on July 30, was promoted by lawmakers who said it is needed to prevent the spread of extremist materials and ideas.
Read more: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-putin-signs-vpn-law-internet/28648976.html?source=Snapzu

Venezuelan officials killed as voting starts

A candidate in Sunday's assembly elections and an opposition activist have been killed in Venezuela. The killings took place before voting started to elect a new assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution. The opposition says it is a power grab by President Nicolás Maduro and is boycotting the vote.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40769737?source=Snapzu

Amtrak's $630m Trump budget cut could derail service in 220 US cities

Long-distance services could be devastated by budget cuts, and the blow will be especially painful in rural areas that bought the president’s infrastructure pitch.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/30/amtrak-budget-cuts-texas-trump-support-betrayal?source=Snapzu

3-year-old girl dies after being pierced with needles for black magic

A three-year-old girl, who was allegedly made a voodoo doll by a man practising black magic and had been inserted with seven needles in her body, died today at a state-run hospital here. The Purulia-based girl, who was admitted to the government-run SSKM hospital had undergone a surgery on Wednesday and doctors had extracted seven needles from her body.
Read more: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/300717/3-year-old-girl-dies-after-being-pierced-with-needles-for-black-magic.html?source=Snapzu

New Film Shows the Brutality of Duterte’s Murderous Drug War in the Philippines

“Duterte’s Hell” gives an inside look at Rodrigo Duterte’s murderous drug war in the Philippines — and how its victims deal with the fallout.
Read more: https://theintercept.com/2017/07/29/duterte-hell-philippines-drug-war-goodman-liwanag-field-of-vision/?source=Snapzu

Free Lunch at the Library

Children who get free lunches during the school year often go hungry in the summer. Libraries are helping to fill the gap.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/30/well/family/free-lunch-at-the-library.html?source=Snapzu

How US climate machine has left 180 deniers in Congress

This anti-environmentalist tactic of countering critiques of industrial impacts on the planet with lies, obfuscation and defamation has a long history. It goes back at least to establishment attacks on the US municipal housekeeping movement in the progressive era of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Read more: https://www.michaelwest.com.au/us-climate-machine-leaves-180-denialists-in-congress/?source=Snapzu

Postcards from a picture-perfect Japan

How a business-savvy 19th-century photographer from Austria fashioned the West’s image of Japan.
Read more: https://www.1843magazine.com/culture/the-daily/postcards-from-a-pictureperfect-japan?source=Snapzu

Hackers break into voting machines in 90 minutes at competition

Hackers at at a competition in Las Vegas were able to successfully breach the software of U.S. voting machines in just 90 minutes on Friday, illuminating glaring security deficiencies in America's election infrastructure.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/344488-hackers-break-into-voting-machines-in-minutes-at-hacking-competition?source=Snapzu

Philippine cops gun down mayor, cuff daughter in drug raid

Philippine police said they fatally shot 14 people Sunday, including a city mayor who was among the politicians President Rodrigo Duterte publicly linked to illegal drugs, in the bloodiest assault so far under Duterte's anti-drug crackdown. Officers were to serve warrants to Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. of Ozamiz city to search his houses for the suspected presence of unlicensed firearms when gunmen opened fire on the police, sparking clashes that killed the mayor and at least 14 other people, Ozamiz police chief Jovie Espenido said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/philippine-cops-gun-mayor-daughter-drug-raid-article-1.3368520?source=Snapzu

Baltimore prosecutor tosses 34 cases after officer seen planting evidence

A Baltimore prosecutor tossed 34 criminal cases and said that 123 cases are under review after video surfaced of a city police officer planting evidence.
Read more: http://wtop.com/baltimore/2017/07/baltimore-prosecutor-tosses-cases-123-under-review-after-officer-caught-planting-evidence/?source=Snapzu

Wells Fargo Forced Unwanted Auto Insurance on Borrowers

More than 800,000 people who took out car loans from Wells Fargo were charged for auto insurance they did not need, and some of them are still paying for it, according to an internal report prepared for the bank’s executives.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/business/wells-fargo-unwanted-auto-insurance.html?source=Snapzu

Veteran with heart condition says insurance company denied coverage 4 times

A southern Indiana veteran was prescribed a Zoll Life Vest, an external defibrillator, to protect his life while battling a heart condition. But his health insurance company has denied coverage for the device. The Nunley family was hit with tragedy in November 2016 when 31-year-old Matthew Nunley was diagnosed with congestive heart failure as a result of a the flu. Doctors told Nunley it was a one-in-10,000 chance a virus would attack his heart like that. His heart was functioning in the 10-15 percent range when he was diagnosed.
Read more: http://www.wdrb.com/story/35998808/veteran-with-heart-condition-says-insurance-company-denied-coverage-4-times?source=Snapzu

Report: Iran successfully launches satellite-carrying rocket into space

Iran successfully launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space on Thursday, the country's state media reported without elaborating. Iranian state television described the launch as involving a "Simorgh" rocket that is capable of carrying a satellite weighing 550 pounds. The state media report did not elaborate on the rocket's payload.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-iran-successfully-launches-satellite-carrying-into-space/?source=Snapzu

US Slaps Iran Firms With Sanctions After Rocket Launch

The United States on Friday imposed new sanctions targeting Iran's ballistic missile programme, one day after Tehran tested a satellite-launch rocket – an act that Washington had called "provocative." The US Treasury singled out six companies owned or controlled by Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), which it said was central to the Islamic republic's missile programme, freezing their US assets and barring US citizens from dealing with them.
Read more: https://www.albawaba.com/news/us-slaps-iran-firms-sanctions-after-rocket-launch-1002752?source=Snapzu

Martin Shkreli gets smacked down on Twitter (again) after another lewd comment about reporter

That Martin Shkreli is still a real online charmer — even while facing a possible prison sentence. Shkreli, who is on trial for securities fraud, boasted Thursday night on Facebook that if he gets acquitted he will get to have sex with a female journalist — the same woman whose earlier harassment by the "pharma bro" got him banned from Twitter.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/28/shkreli-smacked-down-on-twitter-after-a-lewd-comment-about-reporter.html?source=Snapzu

Initiative aims to eradicate book deserts in communities

Thousands of children who live in San Antonio public housing now have plenty of new books to read, thanks to an initiative that aims to eradicate book deserts and promote literacy.
Read more: https://www.ksat.com/consumer/saha-children-get-thousands-of-books?source=Snapzu

Meet the Man Who Has Lived Alone on This Island for 28 Years

Seventy-eight-year-old Mauro Morandi often walks along the rocky shores of Budelli Island and looks out over the disconsolate sea, feeling dwarfed by the phantom forces that tug and twist the tides. “We think we are giants that can dominate the Earth, but we’re just mosquitos,” Morandi says. In 1989 on a stretch of water between Sardinia and Corsica, with a crippled engine and anchor adrift, Morandi’s catamaran was gripped by these same inexorable forces and carried to the shores of Budelli Island.
Read more: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/europe/italy/photos-of-life-alone-on-a-paradise-island/?source=Snapzu

Opinion | We Need a Radical New Approach on North Korea

Sharp rhetoric will get us nowhere. It’s time for the U.S. to abandon its longstanding “One Korea” policy.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/29/opinion/we-need-a-radical-new-approach-on-north-korea.html?source=Snapzu

The First Farmers

The world’s oldest grindstones dating back to 30,000 BCE, plentiful harvests as far as the eye can see and rolling pastures of green straight out of a golf course. An idyllic image bringing u…
Read more: https://agrieducate.com.au/2017/05/29/the-first-farmers/?source=Snapzu

Smart glasses let you turn off the lights in the blink of an eye

Blink and the lights go out. A sensor on a pair of glasses that can pick up the motion of your skin when you blink could be used to switch the lights on and off, or to help those with limited or no mobility write messages on a computer. “The good thing about the technology is the high sensitivity, which may become particularly useful in places where the motion is very limited,” says Ambarish Ghosh at the Indian Institute of Science, who wasn’t involved in the research.
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2142213-smart-glasses-let-you-turn-off-the-lights-in-the-blink-of-an-eye/?source=Snapzu

Analysis | 8 important keys to understanding Venezuela’s controversial election

I like how they speak about the risk of destroying the Venezuelan democracy, as if there were one left to destroy.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/29/8-important-keys-to-understanding-venezuelas-controversial-election/?source=Snapzu

Four huge airlines on three continents are creating a virtual super-airline

Four huge airlines on three continents want to create a virtual super-airline. They plan to spend more than $1 billion to do it. In a series of transactions announced Thursday, Delta Air Lines (DAL) and Shanghai-based China Eastern (CEA)are each buying 10% of Air France/KLM (AFLYY)Group. And Air France/KLM will buy 31% of Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways. The roughly $1.2 billion worth of investments will deepen business ties between the carriers, giving them the ability to coordinate across the busy air corridor between Europe and the United States.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/27/news/companies/delta-airfrance-virgin-china-tie-up/index.html?iid=Lead?source=Snapzu

Trump threatens to end ObamaCare payments unless repeal passes

President Trump on Saturday threatened to end key payments to insurance companies made under Obamacare if a repeal and replace bill is not passed.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/344463-trump-threatens-to-end-csr-payments-if-healthcare-reform-isnt-passed?source=Snapzu

Is Trump Ruining Book Sales?

Authors and publishers alike are finding that it's hard to sell books in a political climate where truth is stranger than fiction.
Read more: https://newrepublic.com/article/144029/trump-ruining-book-sales?source=Snapzu

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Heads To El Salvador To Discuss Gang Violence

Sessions is meeting with the president of El Salvador and high-ranking law enforcement officials, as well as with an FBI anti-gang task force, to talk about combating the powerful gang MS-13.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/27/539747978/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-heads-to-el-salvador-to-discuss-gang-violence?source=Snapzu

Mom dies after giving birth to twins following dad's gunshot death

Three young siblings are being cared for by family members after both parents tragically died just weeks apart. On July 11, Jevaughn Suckoo, 26, was shot and killed at an apartment complex in West Palm Beach, CBS 12 reported. Three days later, his girlfriend, Stephanie Caceres, gave birth to twins, but developed fatal complications stemming from the delivery.
Read more: https://cbnewser.com/health/mom-dies-giving-birth-twins-following-dads-gunshot-death/?source=Snapzu

Australia police foil 'terrorist plot to bring down an airplane'

Police disrupted a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane and arrested four men on Saturday in raids on homes in several Sydney suburbs, the prime minister said on Sunday.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/australia-terror-plot-bomb-arrests-sydney-1.4227944?source=Snapzu

Always a Critic

We all know that a book can change the shape of history. Think "The Communist Manifesto" and "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis," not to mention the Bible and the Koran. But a book review? How much influence could a book review possibly have? Judging from the political consequences of Norman Mailer’s review of Norman Podhoretz’s 1967 memoir, "Making It," a lot.
Read more: https://thesmartset.com/always-a-critic/?source=Snapzu

What more evidence do we need to stop killing pigs for food?

That pigs are smart and sensitive is not in doubt. How can we justify continuing to kill them for food?
Read more: https://aeon.co/essays/what-more-evidence-do-we-need-to-stop-killing-pigs-for-food?source=Snapzu

Congressional IT staffer charged with home equity loan fraud

A congressional information technology staffer was arrested Monday evening before a scheduled flight for Lahore, Pakistan, and charged with bank fraud in connection with a $165,000 loan from the congressional Federal Credit Union, authorities said.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/congressional-it-staffer-charged-with-home-equity-loan-fraud/2017/07/26/f5f402e8-71a7-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html?source=Snapzu

Dark web doesn't exist, says Tor's Dingledine. And folks use network for privacy, not crime

Cofounder brings us up to date on network status
Read more: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/29/tor_dark_web/?source=Snapzu

MAD magazine skewers Trumpcare with this scathing Al Jaffee ‘fold-in’

At 96, the "longest-working cartoonist" spoofs the president on health care.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/07/27/mad-magazine-skewers-trumpcare-with-this-scathing-al-jaffee-fold-in/?tid=pm_entertainment_pop?source=Snapzu

Millennials are the ones keeping libraries alive

Long live the public library! It’s not dead yet. The internet hasn’t rendered physical reference centers obsolete, thanks to millennials.
Read more: https://qz.com/1039294/millennials-are-the-ones-keeping-libraries-alive/?source=Snapzu

US says will work with allies after Russia sanctions anger EU

Washington vowed Saturday it would it "work closely with our friends and Allies" after US lawmakers passed sanctions on Russia that upset some European nations fearful that it could hit their businesses.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/us-says-will-work-with-allies-after-russia-sanctions-anger-eu/article/498738#.WXyrHIM612A.twitter?source=Snapzu

'Incredible shrinking airline seat': US court says seat size a safety issue

Passenger group challenged Federal Aviation Administration after agency rejected request for rules on seat size and distance between rows...
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/29/incredible-shrinking-airline-seat-us-court-says-seat-size-a-safety-issue?source=Snapzu

Canada's economy grew by 4.6% in the year up to May, strongest pace since 2000

Canada's economy grew by 0.6 per cent in May, the seventh straight monthly gain. The overall economy has grown by 4.6 per cent in the 12 months leading up to the end of May, Statistics Canada said. That's the biggest 12-month figure since 2000. The strong showing blew past what economists were expecting, which was modest growth of 0.2 per cent for the month.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-gdp-may-1.4225650?source=Snapzu

Top 10 Civil War Sites - National Geographic

Top 10 Civil War Sites from National Geographic
Read more: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/north-america/united-states/civil-war-sites/?source=Snapzu

Ferrari driver writes off new car on M1 in Barnsley

A driver lost control of his new £200,000 Ferrari and careered off a motorway before it burst into flames - after owning it for just an hour. The high-performance Ferrari 430 Scuderia was reduced to a twisted wreck after the smash on the M1 near junction 37 in South Yorkshire on Thursday afternoon. Police described how the car "went airborne" in the wet conditions.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-40748897?source=Snapzu

Irish woman (107) who emigrated to America finally gets high-school diploma

A Kerry woman who emigrated to America in her twenties was awarded her high-school diploma at the age of 107. Hanna Lovett (107) was born in Kerry in 1910 but left school at a young age before emigrating to New York, where she rebuilt her life.
Read more: http://www.independent.ie/life/family/family-features/irish-woman-107-who-emigrated-to-america-finally-gets-highschool-diploma-35976714.html?source=Snapzu

Donald Trump Endorses Police Brutality In Speech To Cops

The president said law enforcement officers shouldn't protect suspects' heads when putting them into police cars.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/trump-police-brutality_us_597b840fe4b02a8434b6575a?source=Snapzu

Russia Retaliates for U.S. Sanctions by Ousting Diplomats

Russia ordered the U.S. to slash hundreds of embassy and other personnel in the country in a dramatic and sweeping retaliation to the passage of a new sanctions bill in the U.S. Congress. The order means the U.S. would have to cut “hundreds” of personnel at its embassy and consulates in Russia, according to a diplomat familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that aren’t yet public. U.S. officials didn’t immediately comment on how many would be affected.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-28/russia-orders-the-u-s-to-reduce-its-diplomatic-staff-in-russia?source=Snapzu

Legendary Disney Imagineer Marty Sklar Dies At 83

Legendary Disney Imagineer Martin A. “Marty” Sklar passed away in his Hollywood Hills home on Thursday. He was 83. During an illustrious career spanning 54 years, Marty worked closely with Walt Disney and was instrumental in creating, enhancing and expanding Disney’s creative vision. Named a Disney Legend in 2001, he is best remembered and revered by fans around the world for his work bringing Disney’s theme parks to life.
Read more: https://d23.com/legendary-disney-imagineer-marty-sklar-dies-83/?share_token=6c997af076?source=Snapzu

What Would Howard Zinn Say?

We turn to the social justice agitator-in-chief for guidance in this "topsy-turvy" world.
Read more: http://billmoyers.com/story/howard-zinn-social-justice/?source=Snapzu

FDA announces comprehensive regulatory plan to shift trajectory of tobacco-related disease, death

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced a new comprehensive plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation that will serve as a multi-year roadmap to better protect kids and significantly reduce tobacco-related disease and death. The approach places nicotine, and the issue of addiction, at the center of the agency’s tobacco regulation efforts.
Read more: https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm568923.htm?source=Snapzu

Satirical maps of the world

Objective geographical representation isn’t always the intention of maps – they can also provide social, economic or political commentary on a region, as British Library maps curator, Tom Harper discusses.
Read more: https://www.bl.uk/maps/articles/satirical-maps?source=Snapzu

Trump names Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as White House chief of staff, ousting Reince Priebus

President Trump on Friday ousted his White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and named his homeland security secretary, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, to replace him in a major shake-up for a West Wing beset by chaos and infighting.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/28/trump-names-homeland-security-secretary-john-kelly-as-white-house-chief-of-staff-ousting-reince-priebus/?source=Snapzu

Born Into Hate: Disturbing Historical Photos Of Kids In The Ku Klux Klan

Hatred starts at home. By Mark Oliver.
Read more: http://all-that-is-interesting.com/ku-klux-klan-youth?source=Snapzu