Israel’s former prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has died at a hospital in Tel Aviv after eight years in coma, Israeli media reported. Israeli Army Radio said the former premier died on Saturday at the age of 85. On January 4, 2006, Sharon suffered a stroke and went into a coma, from which he never recovered. He was being treated at the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv. Sharon’s health condition... 

Over 80,000 people in southern Germany have signed an online petition against a plan to teach children about LGBT lifestyles in school – an initiative put forward to promote tolerance towards sexual minorities. A new education plan, which should come into force in 2015, has sparked a bitter dispute in the state of Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of the country. Thousands of parents and teachers... 

This NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory image shows a giant sunspot group on the sun, from where an X-class flare erupted on January 7, 2013. A large coronal mass ejection has reached Earth – days after the Sun sent a massive burst of solar wind and electromagnetic radiation towards our planet. While causing no major geomagnetic storm, it has produced spectacular auroras in northern Europe. The... 

Obama has spent recent weeks reviewing a series of recommendations made by a White House review panel. President Obama will unveil his proposed reforms to the nation’s surveillance programs in a speech next Friday, Jan. 17, the White House announced. “He will be remaking remarks to discuss the outcomes of the work that has been done in the review process,” White House press secretary... 

John “Planetary Regime” Holdren insults our intelligence with more quack science. The White House has released a YouTube video in which Obama science czar John P. Holdren dubiously claims that the recent ‘polar vortex’ which has caused record low temperatures across many areas of the United States is caused by global warming. Holdren may be familiar to some of our readers as the author of... 

French troops have deployed tanks around the presidential palace in the capital Bangui shortly after the resignations of the president and the premier of the Central African Republic. Several French tanks were deployed around the presidential palace and other government buildings across the violence-stricken city on Friday. This comes hours after both the interim President Michel Djotodia and the... 

Opponents of non-traditional sexual orientations during a rally of the Heterosexual Alliance for LGBT Rights in the Field of Mars dedicated to the International Day Against Homophobia. Vsevolod Chaplin maintains that gay relations between men pose a threat to the whole of society, but left it for the people to decide on the possible punishment for such actions. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s... 

Canadian health officials confirmed the first deadly case of H5N1 avian flu in North America, following the death of a person in western Canada after a trip to China in December. Health Minister Rona Ambrose revealed that the individual was a resident of Alberta who had traveled to Beijing, China. During the press-conference the minister added that the case is “isolated” and the risk to the general... 

Police and protesters clash in the Greece capital Athens during a demonstration against European Union after the country officially launched its six-month presidency of the bloc. On Wednesday, the protesters clashed with riot police as they were denied to march to the Parliament. The protesters burned the European Union flag to show anger against the bloc, which they blame for the tough austerity... 

A malfunction within the Fukushima plant has led to the complete shutdown of the plant’s decontamination system. As the Fukushima nightmare continues under the wing of plant operator TEPCO, the blatant incompetence of the highly deceptive corporation is once again apparent following a complete shutdown of the plant’s decontamination system. The very same system responsible for handling the mass... 

Thousands of African migrants in Israel have staged a demonstration to protest against Tel Aviv’s policies towards refugees. The undocumented African migrants rallied outside Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld put the number of the demonstrators at “more than 10,000.” In an open letter to Israeli... 

Biotech titan Monsanto saw its shares surge by more than 2 percent on Wednesday morning after announcing better-than-expected first quarter earnings earlier that day. The company said that for the quarter ending November 30, 2013 it earned $368 million, or 69 cents per share. One year earlier, the company earned only $339 million during that period, the Associated Press reported. In all, the AP added,... 

As radiation levels spike and mutated wildlife washes ashore, government and media promote delusion. Radiation hot spots are popping up around the United States thousands of percentages higher than ‘background radiation’, mutated wildlife is being found dead on the same West Coast beaches where increased radiation levels have been documented by independent researchers and the Fukushima TEPCO plant... 

The US Senate has threatened Ukraine with sanctions for what it calls the use of force by Kiev against anti-government protesters. US senators approved a resolution on Tuesday that specifies stronger measures against Ukraine, including visa bans and asset freezes against individuals responsible for ordering or carrying out the violence against the protesters. The US Senate also urged leaders in the... 

Following reports of abnormally high radiation readings on a beach in San Francisco, experts have discovered radiation hot spots measuring 1,400 per cent above normal background levels, although they are keen to stress there is no link to Fukushima. As we reported on Monday, after a viral video emerged showing a man recording measurements of over 150 micro-REM per hour, 500 per cent normal background...