US diplomats did suffer ear damage after mysterious illness at Cuba embassy — doctors

Published time: 14 Dec 2018 16:19

Richard’s News OnLine

© Reuters / Alexandre Meneghini

More than two dozen diplomats stationed at the US embassy in Cuba suffered genuine in-ear damage after a mystery illness caused “intense” pain and dizziness, a study by the doctors who first treated them found.

The series of unexplained cases had prompted fears that the diplomats were intentionally targeted by Cuba with some kind of futuristic sonic weapon and even led the US embassy to downsize its staff in Havana last year out of concerns for their “health, safety, and well-being.”

The new study, conducted by physicians at the University of Miami and the University of Pittsburgh published in the Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology journal, found that all of the individuals had suffered“unsteadiness and features of cognitive impairment.”

Also on rt.com US downsizes Cuba embassy for good amid ‘sonic attack’ mystery

In total, 25 people had reported intense pain in one or both ears as well as tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. The doctors confirmed that the patients displayed “abnormalities in the otolithic organs” which help maintain the body’s balance.

“We’re not saying it’s not an injury to the brain. It may be,” said Dr. Michael E. Hoffer, the lead author of the report, speaking to reporters on Wednesday. “We do know, for sure, that it’s an injury to the ear and that the brain is affected.”

Dr. Carey Balaban, another professor who worked on the study confirmed that doctors have “measurable, quantifiable evidence that something really did happen” to the patients. “It’s not just hysteria,” he said.

As for what caused the mystery illness to strike — or indeed whether or not it was deliberate — the doctors are still unaware. Hoffer, who is also a former military officer, told the Miami Herald that“evidence suggests”the diplomats were targeted but that the doctors “cannot prove” it.

The study found that most of the individuals reported hearing a loud, high frequency and very localized sound which was “capable of following them throughout a room” before their symptoms hit.

Some reported a “sensation of pressure passing through their head and abdomen in certain parts of the room that could be relieved by moving a few feet away,” the report said. For some, it was almost like they were caught in a temporary “force field.”

© Jennifer A. Villwock MD

Within 18 hours of experiencing the strange sounds and sensations, the individuals reported feeling dizzy, unbalanced and disorientated with a lack of mental clarity and a shorter attention span. Strangely, however, ten people who lived in the same house as the affected individuals felt nothing and had no symptoms. The lack of symptoms in the unaffected group “points to the fact that the exposure showed was both fairly precise and delimited in space and time,” the report said.

An investigation by the FBI has not shed any light on the cause of the unexplained illness. In 2017, the Trump administration expelled 15 staff from the Cuban embassy in Washington, but never officially accused Cuba of being behind the incidents. Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the expulsions had been ordered due to Cuba’s “failure to take appropriate steps” to protect US diplomats.

US diplomats aren’t the only ones who reported mystery illnesses while stationed in Cuba. Canada also reported 13 cases of unexplained health problems at its Cuban embassy since the beginning of 2017.

Cuba denies having anything to do with the illness. In a speech on Wednesday Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba’s director-general of US affairs said Cuba didn’t “doubt” that US diplomats “may have suffered some ailments” during their stays, “but this does not ensure that the origin of the disease is linked to their stay in Cuba.”

Like this story? Share it with a friend!

😄Welcome To Our Newsletter

Your Alternative News Media Site

about us

Richard’s News OnLine Is an Alternative News Site not affiliated with mainstream media.

Richard’s News OnLine Is updated around the clock 24/7 Bringing you the news behind the scene.

There are no ads or gimmicks on the site, just The Headline news.

It also has social media built into it so that you can share the news with just a click of the mouse.

There is nothing to buy or sell on the site. It does have other social programs for you to join if you choose to but nothing is mandatory.

We have a newsletter we send out on a regular basis to those who voluntarily submit to it.

Richard’s News OnLine is a very unique news site that thousands visit every day to get the news without all the propaganda.

All the latest headline news goes right on top as it comes in without you having to search for it.

All the social media are carrying Richard’s News OnLine as their #1 news source because the site is clean and easy to get around but most of all the news is accurate and people are tired of being lied to.

You can even submit your own news to the site for others to read after it is approved by our editors.

Richard’s News OnLine has special free bonuses for those who sign up for the newsletter. It is our way of saying thank You for your support plus our newsletter is like nothing you have ever seen. It is well worth subscribing to and we have a %100 rate because we have not had one member drop our newsletter.

Richard’s News OnLine is also built for iPhones,iPads, Etc. Great for when you are traveling or on the move.

Come check what we have to offer you for free, I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised and will want to share it with your friends and family.

It is a great way to stay in the know about the world you live in.

Richard’s News OnLine is worldwide and even covers some of the most remote parts of the world.

Thank You for choosing Richard’s News OnLine as your #1 news source

Author & Editor,

Richard Harrington

https://preview.mailerlite.com/f5c8l5

http://richardsnewsonline.com

Published time: 12 Dec 2018 16:58

Richard’s News OnLine

© AFP / Robin Beck

Less than a day after a gunman shot up a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, President Trump used the news as the pretext to issue fresh calls for a border wall between the US and Mexico.

“Another very bad terror attack in France,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “We are going to strengthen our borders even more. Chuck and Nancy must give us the votes to get additional Border Security!,” referring to the Democratic leaders in the Senate and House, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.

“The Democrats and President Obama gave Iran 150 Billion Dollars and got nothing, but they can’t give 5 Billion Dollars for National Security and a Wall?” the president added in a follow-up tweet.

Trump’s oft-repeated ‘build the wall’ tweets came less than a day after a 29-year-old gunman shot up a Christmas market in Strasbourg, leaving two people dead, one brain dead and 12 injured in what French authorities called an act of terrorism. The suspect, who prosecutors say cried “Allahu akbar” during his rampage, comes from an immigrant family and has an extensive criminal history.

On Tuesday, Trump sparred with Pelosi and Schumer over border security in a televised shouting match in the Oval Office. In front of stunned journalists, Trump warned that he was going to shut down the government if his project of a wall on the US-Mexico border doesn’t get $5 billion in funding next year. Schumer accused Trump of throwing a “temper tantrum” during the meeting, while Pelosi dared Trump to “do it” and press ahead with the shutdown.

Before the meeting, Trump threatened to have the US military build the wall if Congressional votes cannot be found.

Trump’s insistence on building a wall along the US’ 2,000-mile border with Mexico is an old one, and the president has referenced foreign attacks before to justify its estimated cost of anywhere between $5 and $65 billion. Trump is currently asking for $5 billion, while Pelosi and Schumer have pledged $1.3 billion towards border security initiatives, including new fencing, but not a wall.

When IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS) gunmen killed more than 300 worshippers at a mosque in Egypt last November, Trump made his familiar call for the wall. “We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will. Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt,” he tweeted at the time.

More recently, Trump again demanded support for the wall and accused Democrats of enabling criminals and drug dealers, as a caravan of thousands of Central American migrants bore down on the US border this fall. Trump did deploy US troops to reinforce the border and erect temporary barriers in response, but the wall remained elusive.

Building a border wall was a core promise of Trump’s campaign and one that the president has found almost impossible to make any progress on since taking office. While Trump once promised to build a wall “and have Mexico pay for it,” he has been limited to making minor upgrades to the existing fence since.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

Richard’s News OnLine

Published time: 21 Jun 2018 16:52 Edited time: 22 Jun 2018 06:31

Richard’s News OnLine

An artists depiction of a theoretical Dyson sphere. © Marc Ward / Stocktrek Images © Getty Images

Alien civilizations may be forced to capture stars and harness their energy using ginormous structures — all to keep themselves alive in the cold, ever-expanding vastness of the universe, a Fermilab cosmologist believes.

Expansion of the universe, thought to be further accelerated by dark energy, is flinging matter apart, while galaxies are being pushed away from each other. This is a challenge alien technologies will have to deal with in order for them to survive, Dan Hooper, a senior Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory scientist, writes in a new study.

The paper looks at the use of megastructures, popularly known as Dyson spheres, which may theoretically be built around stars to harvest their energy. But it goes further than that, arguing that the huge balls of gas will also have to be shifted in their course so as not to escape the energy-hungry aliens.

“In order to maximise its access to useable energy, a sufficiently advanced civilization would choose to expand rapidly outward, build Dyson Spheres or similar structures around encountered stars, and use the energy that is harnessed to accelerate those stars away from the approaching horizon and toward the center of the civilization,” Hooper, who is also a professor of astronomy at the University of Chicago, writes.

While the futuristic scenario may or may not be already playing out somewhere in the universe, the study suggested that “any sufficiently advanced civilization” which is faced with the problem of possible isolation, will be prompted to start hunting for available stars in order “to secure as many of them as possible” before it is too late to reach them and extract their energy.

“Over the next approximately 100 billion years, all stars residing beyond the Local Group will fall beyond the cosmic horizon and become not only unobservable but entirely inaccessible, thus limiting how much energy could one day be extracted from them,” Hooper writes.

READ MORE: 72 baffling bright & fast explosions spotted in space

Considering distances measured in billions of light years between us and the cosmic horizon, aliens could already be grabbing and moving stars, the study has admitted.

Hooper, however, remains skeptical that harvesting energy from stars can be something doable for humans at the present moment. But given that the human race will eventually reach the limit of our planet’s resources, the idea of fishing for stars to extract their energy may not seem so surreal in the future — unless some other race comes to snatch our Sun for their needs first.

If you like this story, share it with a friend!

Trends:Space exploration

Little Foot mystery solved? Scientists may have confirmed new species of human ancestor

Published time: 12 Dec, 2018 15:17 Edited time: 12 Dec, 2018 20:51

Richard’s News OnLine

Little Foot’s bones were found in a deep in a South African cave. © Wits University

• 316

Scientists who have studied a set of fossilized pre-human remains for the past two decades now believe they have discovered one of our ancient lost ancestors, whom they have affectionately named ‘Little Foot.’

Little Foot’s bones were found in a deep in a South African cave, Sterkfontein, northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in 1994 by paleoanthropologist Ronald Clarke. He initially thought they were the foot bones of monkeys.

Clarke, of the University of the Witwatersrand, then painstakingly studied these bones for 20 years, excavating over 90 percent of a skeleton which was far more remarkable than he may have initially thought. The bones were embedded in an almost concrete-like substance and, in some cases, were paper-thin, hence the two-decades of painstaking excavation, cleaning, restoring and analysis.

As excavation continued, Clarke and his team believed they had found the most complete and oldest Australopithecus (early humans who lived between two million to four million years ago) fossil ever found. They eventually found that they were, in fact, mistaken.

The 3.67-million-year-old fossil (Homo sapiens appeared roughly 300,000 years ago) belonged to an elderly female, standing about 130 centimeters tall, with legs longer than her arms, a flatter face, larger teeth and a broader dietary palate than her Australopithecus.

“This hominin had longer lower limbs than upper limbs, like ourselves,” Honorary University of Liverpool Research Associate in Musculoskeletal Biology Robin Crompton said. “That means it was being selected for stride length in bipedalism.”

Clarke argues that Little Foot is neither of the Australopithecus, nor A. Africanus but is instead a class he has named A. Prometheus.

“There are many, many differences, not only in the skull but also in the rest of the skeleton,” Clarke said, comparing Little Foot to A. africanus, another of our distant ancestors.

The really intriguing element of Little Foot is that she possessed hips and femurs very similar to our own, meaning that none of her other known contemporary species walked this way, which leads scientists to now believe that this is, in fact, an entirely new species.

Also on rt.com Yeti or bear? DNA study debunks ‘abominable snowman’ claims (POLL)

The research has yet to be peer-reviewed, however.

“This hominin, for the first time in the fossil record, had longer lower limbs than upper limbs, like ourselves,” Professor Crompton added.

“This is an important finding, as the slightly older hominin Ardipithecus, which came before Australopithecus, had longer arms than legs — more like other great apes such as the gorilla.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

Don’t forget to visit Richard’s News OnLine

Swim of a lifetime: Woman surrounded by killer whales in epic drone footage

Published time: 10 Dec, 2018 15:56 Edited time: 11 Dec, 2018 07:52

Richard’s News OnLine

File photo © Flickr / Shawn McCready

• 823

When a New Zealand swimmer noticed something large and black in the sea below her, she wasn’t expecting to find herself surrounded by a pod of killer whales, or that she’d end up in a playful paddle with them.

Judie Johnson was swimming at Hahei Beach in Coromandel, New Zealand when she noticed an ominous massive black mass below her in the water. Amazingly, it turned out that she was being surrounded by three Orca whales.

At first, Johnson got out of the water, fearing she could be mistaken for a tasty-looking seal in her black wetsuit — but despite her misgivings, she was unable to resist getting back in.

“It was so different to anything that’s happened to me before, and I thought, no, this is a life-changing experience,” she told TVNZ. “They were as interested and curious about me as I was about them.”

The once in a lifetime moment was captured by an Australian tourist Dylan Brayshaw, who was on the beach with his drone and was surprised to see Johnson swim towards the whales. “I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said of the tense encounter.

The incredibly tranquil footage shows Johnson swimming calmly with an adult Orca and two calves. The mammals swim around their human companion, with the adult whale appearing to playfully nip at her toes.

READ MORE: Dirty business: Inside a ‘whale prison’ for captured orcas & belugas (VIDEO)

Speaking afterward of the incredible encounter, Johnson said she was so close to the adult orca, “we just looked at each other,” while swimming beside one another. “It was just sheer joy.”

Like this story? Share it with a friend!

Macron studied Machiavelli. But did he learn the key lesson?

© Reuters ‘Jupiter, as Emmanuel Macron has often been called, has been brought down to earth.’

Last Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron announced that the planned rise in fuel tax due to come into effect in January had been axed. This had been one of the most visible demands of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests), who have been protesting throughout France for the last month, leading to spectacular street battles with the police last weekend around the Arc de Triomphe. Like his predecessors before him — François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy, Jacques Chirac — Macron has had to give in to the streets. Jupiter, as he has often been called, has been brought down to Earth. Macron, it turns out, is a normal president after all.

Related: Macron to appeal to French in wake of latest violent protests

This is particularly damaging for someone whose campaign was based around the fact that he would get done what others before him had failed to do. In the first year, he was quite successful in doing so, notably passing laws to reform the labor market. He has also faced down a number of protests already, including rail worker strikes earlier in the year. But faced with the pressure of the streets, Macron was forced to concede. In doing so, he may have squandered what remained of his political capital, not just with his opponents, but with his own supporters.

The concession didn’t work: the gilets jaunes called for “Act IV” of their protests to happen on Saturday anyway. To a background more reminiscent of conflict zones than seasonal Christmas shopping, the yellow vests fought with the riot police on the Champs-Élysées against a background of boarded-up shops, closed museums (including the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower) and canceled football matches.

So what went wrong for Macron, the poster boy of the free world, elected on a platform to roll back the populist wave threatening to engulf Europe and the rest of the world?

As a philosophy student at Nanterre, the hotbed of May 1968, the young Macron wrote his undergraduate dissertation on Niccolò Machiavelli, whose infamous book The Prince is still essential reading for any aspiring politician. To the young ruler Machiavelli’s advice was simple: avoid being hated. In the choice between siding with the nobles or with the people, it is always better to have the people on your side.

Yet Macron failed to heed this advice. One of the most popular slogans of the gilets jaunes is “Macron démission!”: Macron resign. Inspecting a town hall that had been burned down earlier in the week, his security services had to quietly exfiltrate him from the angry crowd that had gathered to confront him.

Machiavelli is notorious for having offered a number of counterintuitive pieces of advice. His first is that it is better to be miserly than generous. He explains that to be generous, the young ruler will have to “tax the people very heavily, and raise money by all possible means”. This will lead him to be hated by the people; and, Machiavelli presciently warned: “The first real threat to his power will involve him in grave difficulties.”

By abolishing the ISF — a wealth tax — Macron has been labeled the “president of the rich”. A closer study of his fiscal reforms shows that, although the richest in France have indeed gained the most, the middle class has benefited too. Those who are worse off, however, are poorer people and pensioners: exactly those who are out on the streets.

Machiavelli’s most controversial claim, however, is that it is better to be feared than to be loved because love is based on gratitude, which is fickle, whereas fear is associated with punishment, which is effective. During his campaign, the young, bright, good-looking, charismatic, daring and energetic leader developed quite a devotion among his following, who packed out halls to listen to his speeches. And his ability to make short work of Marine Le Pen in the presidential debate was met with much gratitude in France, Europe and beyond.

Macron has continued to play on his charm since being elected: he was warmly greeted by Angela Merkel after his election and developed a bromance with the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau. On the domestic front, he has gone out of his way to talk directly to people to try to win them over.

Related: The Observer view on the gilets Jaunes protests | Observer editorial

The response to yesterday’s protests, however, marked a change of tact. To face down the protests, Macron mobilized 89,000 police and gendarmes across the country, with 8,000 in Paris alone, and these were bolstered by several armored vehicles. Hundreds of pre-emptive arrests were made, and the riot police changed tactics, quickly identifying troublemakers and removing them from the crowd. The heavy-handedness seems to have paid off, with protesters largely contained and soon disbanded. It remains to be seen whether the gilets jaunes will try to organize an Act V next weekend, but the threat, for now, seems to have been quashed.

Macron made a long-awaited speech on Monday night to outline his response to the protests, announcing he will raise the minimum wage, offer tax concessions, and help poor pensioners: seemingly taking the “left turn” many have been demanding of him for a while. Will these measures be enough? Only time will tell. But if the protests unwittingly taught him Machiavelli’s lesson that it is better to be feared than to be loved, Macron’s challenge now will be to stop being hated and get the people back onside. Only then will he become a great Prince.

• Hugo Drochon teaches politics at the University of Nottingham

Originally published at medium.com on December 11, 2018.

© Reuters ‘Jupiter, as Emmanuel Macron has often been called, has been brought down to earth.’

Last Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron announced that the planned rise in fuel tax due to come into effect in January had been axed. This had been one of the most visible demands of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests), who have been protesting throughout France for the last month, leading to spectacular street battles with the police last weekend around the Arc de Triomphe. Like his predecessors before him — François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy, Jacques Chirac — Macron has had to give in to the streets. Jupiter, as he has often been called, has been brought down to Earth. Macron, it turns out, is a normal president after all.

Related: Macron to appeal to French in wake of latest violent protests

This is particularly damaging for someone whose campaign was based around the fact that he would get done what others before him had failed to do. In the first year, he was quite successful in doing so, notably passing laws to reform the labor market. He has also faced down a number of protests already, including rail worker strikes earlier in the year. But faced with the pressure of the streets, Macron was forced to concede. In doing so, he may have squandered what remained of his political capital, not just with his opponents, but with his own supporters.

The concession didn’t work: the gilets jaunes called for “Act IV” of their protests to happen on Saturday anyway. To a background more reminiscent of conflict zones than seasonal Christmas shopping, the yellow vests fought with the riot police on the Champs-Élysées against a background of boarded-up shops, closed museums (including the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower) and canceled football matches.

So what went wrong for Macron, the poster boy of the free world, elected on a platform to roll back the populist wave threatening to engulf Europe and the rest of the world?

As a philosophy student at Nanterre, the hotbed of May 1968, the young Macron wrote his undergraduate dissertation on Niccolò Machiavelli, whose infamous book The Prince is still essential reading for any aspiring politician. To the young ruler Machiavelli’s advice was simple: avoid being hated. In the choice between siding with the nobles or with the people, it is always better to have the people on your side.

Yet Macron failed to heed this advice. One of the most popular slogans of the gilets jaunes is “Macron démission!”: Macron resign. Inspecting a town hall that had been burned down earlier in the week, his security services had to quietly exfiltrate him from the angry crowd that had gathered to confront him.

Machiavelli is notorious for having offered a number of counterintuitive pieces of advice. His first is that it is better to be miserly than generous. He explains that to be generous, the young ruler will have to “tax the people very heavily, and raise money by all possible means”. This will lead him to be hated by the people; and, Machiavelli presciently warned: “The first real threat to his power will involve him in grave difficulties.”

By abolishing the ISF — a wealth tax — Macron has been labeled the “president of the rich”. A closer study of his fiscal reforms shows that, although the richest in France have indeed gained the most, the middle class has benefited too. Those who are worse off, however, are poorer people and pensioners: exactly those who are out on the streets.

Machiavelli’s most controversial claim, however, is that it is better to be feared than to be loved because love is based on gratitude, which is fickle, whereas fear is associated with punishment, which is effective. During his campaign, the young, bright, good-looking, charismatic, daring and energetic leader developed quite a devotion among his following, who packed out halls to listen to his speeches. And his ability to make short work of Marine Le Pen in the presidential debate was met with much gratitude in France, Europe and beyond.

Macron has continued to play on his charm since being elected: he was warmly greeted by Angela Merkel after his election and developed a bromance with the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau. On the domestic front, he has gone out of his way to talk directly to people to try to win them over.

Related: The Observer view on the gilets Jaunes protests | Observer editorial

The response to yesterday’s protests, however, marked a change of tact. To face down the protests, Macron mobilized 89,000 police and gendarmes across the country, with 8,000 in Paris alone, and these were bolstered by several armored vehicles. Hundreds of pre-emptive arrests were made, and the riot police changed tactics, quickly identifying troublemakers and removing them from the crowd. The heavy-handedness seems to have paid off, with protesters largely contained and soon disbanded. It remains to be seen whether the gilets jaunes will try to organize an Act V next weekend, but the threat, for now, seems to have been quashed.

Macron made a long-awaited speech on Monday night to outline his response to the protests, announcing he will raise the minimum wage, offer tax concessions, and help poor pensioners: seemingly taking the “left turn” many have been demanding of him for a while. Will these measures be enough? Only time will tell. But if the protests unwittingly taught him Machiavelli’s lesson that it is better to be feared than to be loved, Macron’s challenge now will be to stop being hated and get the people back onside. Only then will he become a great Prince.

• Hugo Drochon teaches politics at the University of Nottingham

Heavy rains, flash floods and tornadoes have ripped through Texas, leaving at least six people dead. Authorities have advised parents to keep their children indoors and avoid traditional Halloween activities in the worst-hit areas.

Areas surrounding Austin and San Antonio were hit with heavy rains and flooding late Friday night. At least four people have died after being swept away by flood waters. At least one person is missing.

Austin Bergstrom International Airport suspended all flights on Friday after a six inches of water flooded the air traffic control tower. Some 40 flights were canceled on Saturday.

Harris County emergency management officials urged families to avoid flooded areas if they did decide to go trick or treating after storms dumped up to eight inches of rain.

Houston police confirmed two deaths after rain descended on the area Friday night. By Saturday afternoon the Houston Fire Department claimed to have responded to more than 130 water rescues calls.

Damage to homes was reported as frightening scenes from the storms flooded social media. As the storms moved east on Saturday, three tornadoes were recorded in the Houston area.

The first tornado hit Brazoria County near Alvin at around 5:00am local time, leaving at least two people injured and damaging some 25 mobile homes just south of Houston.

Thirty minutes later, another tornado, Friendswood, damaging some 30 residences. Ninety minutes later up to 30 homes suffered damaged from a tornado in Harris County.

Authorities say floodwaters are slowly receding, but that creeks, bayous and ditches may be full into Sunday. The weather forecast says more harsh weather will continue throughout the weekend, moving on south to Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Published By ProNews

http://pronewsonline.com