Author: RT

Luckiest man in India? Lottery winner unearths pot of 2,500 antique coins An Indian man who won more than $800,000 in a lottery has struck gold again – this time after digging up a large cache of coins dating back 100 years. B Rathnakaran Pillai, a former sawmill operator, used part of the Rs 6 crore ($842,000) he won in a lottery in January 2018 to buy some land in his hometown of Kilimanoor, located in India’s state of Kerala. The plot, situated next to an old Krishna temple, yielded more than just vegetables for Pillai: While tilling the soil, the lucky lotto winner stumbled across a pot containing more than 2,500 coins. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the coins came from the defunct Kingdom of Travancore, which ruled southern Kerala for...

‘Hail Byrd!’ State employees in West Virginia suspended over photo of prison guard trainees giving NAZI SALUTE Several state employees in West Virginia face suspension after a photo emerged showing dozens of corrections officers in training giving a Nazi salute in a class photo, prompting the state’s governor to threaten their termination. A number of officials, including Governor Jim Justice, have already denounced the controversial photo, which depicts roughly 30 prison guard trainees displaying the Nazi salute, with the words “HAIL BYRD!” captioned at the top of the image, an apparent reference to the class’s instructor. The class was trained between October and November of this year. This is the photo released today that shows more ...

4 men accused of gang-rape of young Indian doctor in Hyderabad killed by police in escape attempt All four of the men accused of a grisly rape and murder of a young Indian veterinarian have been shot dead by police, killed around the same area the young vet’s badly burned remains were discovered. The men had reportedly been taken to an area near the initial crime scene by police in order to reconstruct the events that led up to 26-year-old Priyanka Reddy’s horrific death before attempting an escape. All four were killed in the effort, India Today reports. Also on rt.com ‘Burn my son the same way she was burned,’ says mother of accused Hyderabad gang rapist The men were arrested in late November after Reddy...

About-face? US border agency scraps plans for mandatory facial recognition scans for American travelers The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has reversed course on plans to submit Americans to compulsory biometric scans at airports across the country, following a wave of intense pushback to the privacy-eroding proposal. “There are no current plans to require US citizens to provide photographs upon entry and exit from the United States,” a CBP spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday. CBP intends to have the planned regulatory action regarding US citizens removed from the unified agenda next time it is published. While Americans currently have the option to decline facial recognition scans when traveling through airports, the Depar...

Heavy metal diet: Meteorite-consuming microbes could offer clues on how life formed on Earth Meteorites may not sound appetizing, but for one strange microbe they’re breakfast, lunch and dinner. The creature’s bizarre eating habits could help unlock mysteries about how early life forms endured harsh conditions on Earth. Metallosphaera sedula, a highly resilient microbe able to withstand extreme temperatures and highly acidic environments, can survive solely on a diet of space rocks, new research published in Scientific Reports has found. The finding not only sheds light on how organisms could survive on other planets, but provides valuable insight into how early life on Earth may have thrived on nutrients imported from deep space. “Meteorites may ha...

Data service owned by Bloomberg caught promoting his campaign page, blames ‘oversight’ Bloomberg Terminal, a platform that offers real-time data and news to financial professionals, had a built-in search shortcut, directing users to Mike Bloomberg’s campaign site, at least until the “glitch” was exposed. The service, that prides itself of being “the most powerful, flexible platform for financial professionals who need real-time data, news, analytics” while “sitting on the desks of 325,000 of the world’s most influential decision makers” has been caught red-handed peddling the former New York Mayor and its current owner Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign. Until recently, if a user typed in “Mike” or “Mike Bloomberg” into a search box at the termi...

Russia suspends research project at Iranian nuclear site after Tehran resumes uranium enrichment in response to US pressure The Russian research project at Iran’s Fordow nuclear site has been put on hold, after Tehran resumed uranium enrichment. The US earlier said it will be revoking the sanctions waiver for the facility. TVEL, a company that is part of Russia’s atomic agency Rosatom, said on Thursday that its work to convert Fordow to the production of radioactive isotopes for medical purposes has been suspended. “The enrichment of uranium and the production of stable isotopes can’t be carried out in the same space, since trace amounts of uranium, incompatible with the use of the resulting isotopes for medical purposes, will inevitably appear in t...

‘All roads lead to Putin!’ Pelosi tells Americans impeachment not really about Ukraine but all about… Russia For Americans still confused why exactly Democrats want to impeach President Donald Trump – something about Ukraine, maybe? – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has helpfully clarified that it’s all about Russia and always has been. Briefing reporters on the impeachment inquiry on Thursday, Pelosi (D-California) made sure to point out that "this isn't about Ukraine, this is about Russia." Russia. It's about Russia. Russia invading eastern Ukraine ...all roads lead to Putin. Understand that. That may come as a surprise given the Democrats’ recent line of argument that Trump must be impeached because he tried to force new Ukrainian President Volodymy...

Phishing thieves or yet another phantom menace? US goes after ‘Russian-based Evil Corp’ A criminal organization dubbed ‘Evil Corp’ and its leaders have been charged and sanctioned by the US for allegedly stealing over $100 million via phishing and malware attacks, and accused of being Russian spies as well. The US Department of Justice unsealed the indictments against Russian nationals Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev on Thursday, accusing them of international computer hacking and bank fraud schemes dating back to 2009. A $5 million bounty was offered for the arrest of Yakubets, the largest such reward for a cyber crime case ever. Yakubets and Turashev have “led one of the most sophisticated transnational cybercrime syndicates in the world” for ov...