Hormone Disrupting Chemical Banned in EU Found in 50 Top US Snacks (Source Natural Society)

A recent study by Harvard School of Public Health says a widely used chemical used in US food products causes fertility issues, yet it is still allowed to be used. While the US Food and Drug Administration declares this synthetic food additive is “generally recognized as safe, or GRAS,” the European Union’s food regulators outlawed it ever since scientists found it lowered sperm counts in rats. If lowered sperm count and reduced fertility through hormonal disruption isn’t exactly what you signed up for every time you eat one of 50 different snack foods like Sara Lee cinnamon rolls, Weight Watchers cakes, Cafe Valley muffins, or La Banderita corn tortillas, read on. This synthetic, estrogen-mimicking additive is already used in cosmetics, but now the Environmental Working Group has found it in over 50 different foods. Propyl Paraben is one of many common parabens which include methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben. Parabens allow skin care products to survive for months or even years in your medicine cabinet, and now for food to last longer on shelves, and in transit. Propyl Paraben is in everything from muffins, tortillas, trail mix, pies, sausage rolls, and more. Big food manufacturers have been using it for some time. In fact, only under pressure from the EWG did Johnson & Johnson voluntarily pledge to remove this and other members of the paraben family from all its baby products! That’s right, even your little bundle of joy could be exposed to parabens that cause fertility and developmental problems. Furthermore, research led by Antonia Calafat, Ph.D., a respected chemist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported that 92.7 percent of Americans tested have had propyl paraben in their urine (Calafat 2010). Cornell University research suggests that exposure to parabens for a lifetime can lead to breast cancer, among other health concerns.

The battle lines of cyber war begin to take shape (Source saportareport.com) In a couple of little-noticed stories, we may be seeing the changing face of cyberwar. Last Wednesday evening, all 11 channels of the Paris-based network TV5Monde, which broadcasts in more than 200 countries around the world, suddenly went blank. This was no lone-wolf hacker, but an attack on an unprecedented scale. It even came with a chilling logo, crafted in response to the “Je suis Charlie” posters that popped up after the Charlie Hebdo attacks: “Je su IS IS.” As TV screens went blank, the network’s internal email system shut down and its website and social media sites were hacked. TV5Monde’s Facebook page began displaying what were said to be the ID cards of relatives of French soldiers involved in the war against ISIS. “Soldiers of France, stay away from the Islamic state! You have the chance to save your families, take advantage of it. The Cyber Caliphate continues its cyberjihad against the enemies of Islamic State,” read a message on the hacked Facebook page. The network regained control of its channels in about three hours, but it was still dealing with the havoc on its internet sites the following day. The incident didn’t receive nearly as much attention in the U.S. as the hacking of Sony’s email system last year, but this was a much more sophisticated attack. “Any one of these actions alone would qualify as a major cybersecurity incident,” the blog for the computer security company Trend Micro commented. “To have all of these actions occur as part of a synchronized attack puts this incident in a whole new category and takes critical infrastructure attacks to another level.”

U.S. protests ‘sloppy,’ unsafe Russian intercept of spy plane (Source Reuters) The United States said on Monday it has expressed its concerns to Moscow over a Russian fighter jet’s “sloppy” and unsafe intercept of a U.S. spy plane in international airspace, in the latest sign of tensions between the two countries. The incident took place on April 7 over the Baltic Sea, when a Russian SU-27 Flanker intercepted a U.S. RC-135U reconnaissance plane and performed what the Pentagon described as unsafe aerial maneuvers. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the Russian aircraft did a roll in front of the U.S. aircraft and showed its belly to the pilot to indicate it was armed. Warren said the Russian pilot risked a collision with the U.S. plane. “(It’s) uncertain why this pilot was such a sloppy aviator. Could be that he wasn’t very well trained. Could be that he wanted to prove something. Either way, this is a fairly isolated incident,” Warren said. Relations between the West and Russia have soured as a result of Moscow’s role in the conflict in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea, while increased Russian military activity in the Baltics has added to tensions.

“The unsafe and unprofessional actions of a single pilot have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez.

Russia lifts ban on delivery of S-300 missiles to Iran (Source AP) President Vladimir Putin on Monday sanctioned the delivery of a highly capable Russian air defense missile system to Iran, a game changer move that would significantly bolster the Islamic republic’s military capability and fuel Israel’s concerns. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry objected to Moscow’s decision in a phone call to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and the White House indicated the move could endanger plans to ultimately lift sanctions on Iran as part of a proposed nuclear deal. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said unity and coordination with nations like Russia is critical to the success of the negotiations. Washington has said Moscow played a constructive role in the Iranian nuclear talks, despite sharp differences between Russia and the West over Ukraine. Putin’s move was quickly welcomed by Tehran, while it worried Israel, which saw it as a sign that Iran already had begun to cash in on the emerging nuclear deal with world powers that is expected to be finalized by the end of June. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the missile system could be shipped to Iran at any moment. Russia signed the $800 million contract to sell Iran the S-300 missile system in 2007, but suspended their delivery three years later because of strong objections from the United States and Israel. Putin on Monday lifted that ban.

Obama fields Rasta’s question on marijuana (Source AFP) US President Barack Obama had been on the verdant Caribbean island of Jamaica less than 24 hours — and had already visited Bob Marley’s former home — before he was asked by a dreadlocked Rastafarian about legalizing marijuana. In a Kingston town hall event, participant Miguel Williams, sporting a “Rasta4life” wrist band, asked the US commander-in-chief if he would become ganja’s champion. “There is the issue of legalization of marijuana and then there is the issue of decriminalizing or dealing with the incarceration in some cases devastation of communities as a consequence of non-violent drug offenses,” Obama said. “I am a very strong believer that the path that we have taken in the United States in the so-called ‘war on drugs’ has been so heavy in emphasizing incarceration that it has been counterproductive,” he said to some cheers. But on the question of whether the United States should, in the words of reggae musician Peter Tosh “legalize it” Obama was more circumspect. “I do not foresee, any time soon, Congress changing the law at a national basis.”

US Agribusiness, GMOs and The Plundering Of The Planet (Source globalresearch.ca)

Small family/peasant farms produce most of the world’s food. They form the bedrock of global food production. Yet they are being squeezed onto less than a quarter of the planet’s farmland. The world is fast losing farms and farmers through the concentration of land into the hands of rich and powerful land speculators and agribusiness corporations. By definition, peasant agriculture prioritizes food production for local and national markets as well as for farmers’ own families. Big agritech corporations on the other hand take over scarce fertile land and prioritize commodities or export crops for profit and foreign markets that tend to cater for the needs of the urban affluent. This process displaces farmers from their land and brings about food insecurity, poverty and hunger. What big agribusiness with its industrial model of globalized agriculture claims to be doing – addressing global hunger and food shortages – is doing nothing of the sort. There is enough evidence to show that its activities actually lead to hunger and poverty – something that the likes of GMO-agribusiness-neoliberal apologists might like to consider when they propagandize about choice, democracy and hunger: issues that they seem unable to grasp, at least beyond a self-serving superficial level. Small farmers are being criminalized, taken to court and even made to disappear when it comes to the struggle for land. They are constantly exposed to systematic expulsion from their land by foreign corporations. The Oakland Institute has stated that now a new generation of institutional investors, including hedge funds, private equity and pension funds, is eager to capitalize on global farmland as a new and highly desirable asset class. Financial returns are what matter to these entities, not ensuring food security.

Palestinians Want Deadline on Statehood (Source thetrumpet.com) Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour on Monday pushed for the Security Council to adopt a resolution with a deadline for establishing a Palestinian state. Soundbite: “I am sure that we are ready and willing to see if the Security Council has the political will to adopt a resolution that deals with the time frame to end the negotiation and the occupation.” The Palestinians also want a framework on statehood to be built around pre-1967 borders. Mansour also said they want Jerusalem as the capital of two states. Last year, the council rejected a Palestinian resolution demanding statehood within three years. The United States opposed that draft while saying that Palestinian statehood can only be achieved through negotiations. The U.S. didn’t need to use its veto because the resolution didn’t receive the minimum nine votes needed for approval. However the U.S. administration is signaling that it may reverse its policy. President Barack Obama said on March 19 that he would reassess U.S. policy toward Israel. This followed a campaign comment by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a Palestinian state would not be established during his time in office. Without a U.S. shield from the UN Security Council, Israel’s situation will be severely weakened. After President Obama’s comments, the French foreign minister said France would propose a council resolution to provide a framework for negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Based on Bible prophecies, the Trumpet expects the U.S.-Israeli alliance to deteriorate. This will give Palestinians greater momentum to achieve their goals, leading to greater instability in the Middle East.

‘Book Of Yeezus’ Turns Genesis Into ‘The Kanye West Bible’ (Source inquisitr.com)
The Kanye West Bible is just as real as the mega star is, according to Fox Insider. A trio of “entrepreneurial brothers” combined the Book of Genesis with a foreword to create the Kanye West Bible known as the Book of Yeezus: A Bible for the Modern Day. Kanye West is so insanely popular that calling him “God” is simply not good enough. To rectify this, a trio of brothers did took West’s song, “I Am God,” to heart and created the divine – a work called the Book of Yeezus. The brothers wanted to show society how cultural icons could be so powerful. The Book of Yeezus does this by examining the “spectacle of media icons in the 21st century,” according to the website.

US general: Russian long-range bombers are ‘messaging’ the US with provocative flights (Source Yahoo)

Defense News reports Adm. Bill Gortney told reporters on April 7 that Russian long-range bombers are increasingly flying close to the US in order to send a message to the US and make Russian presence felt.  The number of Russian bomber run incidents has steadily increased since a flare up in Russian-US tensions after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014. “They are messaging us. They are messaging us that they are a global power,” Gortney said, while noting that the US does “the same sort of thing” to Russia in Europe. Military messaging and posturing has become a common Russian strategy. Russian bombers and fighters have increasingly started flying over the Baltics in Europe and off the coast of Japan — often with transponders turned off. The flights themselves, while not military significant, are intended to function as political statements highlighting Russia’s growing power and international clout. “These flights do not have any real military significance,”  Tom Nichols, a professor at the US Naval War College and a senior associate at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, told BI. “They are political demonstrations, provocations by the Russians meant to show the Europeans that NATO cannot and will not defend them.”

Russia Warns US That It Can Counter Its Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems: Sees PGS Of US As A Serious Threat (Source au.ibtimes.com) The recent show of military strength by the U.S. in the Eastern Europe for reassuring the region, including Poland and Baltic countries, has provoked a strong reaction from Russia. It warned the U.S. that Russia has the military resources to counter the former’s anti-ballistic missile systems. Alexander Lukashevich, official representative of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, Russia, despite having such capabilities would rather not use it. Moscow has been protesting against deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems in Europe, especially around its borders. Russia has also taken some counter measures and put in place missile early-warning systems in Kaliningrad region, its western part. In September 2014, in the backdrop of the verbal exchanges between Russia and USA, many military maneuvers also took place. Russia held a military exercise for practicing the interoperability between Topol missile systems and its aviation systems. NATO, on its part, amassed its service members in a few maneuvers in the Western part of Ukraine. Russia has stepped up its air and missile defense capabilities to foil any threat by the U.S. Prompt Global Strike. This was stated by top Russian military officials. According to Major General Kirill Makarov, Russia’s Aerospace Defense Forces’ deputy chief, the potential threat of the PGS against the Russian Federation is severe and is a top challenge for the Aerospace Defense Forces, reported Press TV. The Russian military official said Russia has given priority to develop an effective air and missile defense system to tackle the threat posed by the PGS, by which the U.S. seeks to deliver precision-guided strikes with conventional weapons at any target in the world in less than one hour. “It is precisely to combat these aerial assets that we are building the air and missile defense of Russia’s system,” Makarov stated, adding that Russia’s political and military leadership too regards this task as paramount. Moscow, in its new military doctrine adopted in December 2014, had also listed the PGS as well as NATO’s military buildup as top security threats. “Russia is capable of and will have to develop a system like PGS,” Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov stated in December 2014.