The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 25 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 60000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 5.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

I can't imagine losing a pet like that. It's one thing when it's to an accident or disease or something, but to know they died in a fire and you couldn't get them out... I'd feel so guilty. Plus you'd have lost your home and all your possessions, and your best little friend is gone now too. I'm so glad I've never lost a pet.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 28 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 165000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.75 in openness, 6.25 in conscientiousness, 3.25 in extraversion, 6.75 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

Study: lung cancer patients exposed to air pollution may have shorter survival times —  We all know that air pollution is bad, so bad that it kills thousands of people each year. In India alone according to a Washington Post article published last month, about half a million people die every year due to outdoor air pollution.   With that introductory paragraph, here’s a finding of a new study that may not surprise a lot of you readers: people with lung cancer may have shorter survival times when exposed to smog and other air pollutants.   As reported at The Guardian, researchers in the state of California have found that exposure to bad air quality after lung cancer diagnosis can negatively affect survival. The paper was published in the journal Thorax with lead author Sandrah P. Eckel, PhD of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.   The main takeaway of the research is that the length of time that people with lung cancer live after diagnosis varies depending on their exposure to air pollution. Researchers claim that the median survival for people diagnosed with early stage of lung cancers who were in areas with high levels of regional pollution was about three years shorter than people who lived in places with lower pollution levels.   In an interview with the University of Southern California website, Dr. Eckel explains that their research focused on California, and the reason is that the state has a wide range of air pollution levels. It also has one of the largest and longest running air quality monitoring networks and cancer registry system in the country.   Looking at the lung cancer data with over three-hundred and fifty thousand patients registered between the years 1988 to 2009, the team has found that patients in areas with higher levels of fine particulate matter–or, at about 2.5 micrometers in diameter–was only about two point four years, compared to five point seven years in patients in areas with lower levels of fine particulate matter.   It is also worth noting that lung cancer patients whose cancer had spread to other parts of their bodies had shorter survival times overall. They also showed little difference in survival time whether they lived in places with high or low air pollution levels.   And like other research, the team clarifies that additional research is needed to determine the link between air pollution and survival rates of lung cancer patients. However, the findings are intriguing, the team says, and they suggest that newly diagnosed lung cancer patients must consider moving out of places with high levels of air pollution.   Lung Cancer in America   A recently updated page of the CDC–or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–says that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in America, and the second most common among both women and men.   The American health institute suggests avoiding smoking and secondhand smoke, and avoid places with radon, a naturally occurring gas from rocks and dirt.

Air pollution is everywhere nowadays and I find it totally scary that the survival rates of those with lung cancer will be cut shorter. We really need to look for ways to reduce pollution all around. The effect of air pollution is not only felt in the environment, it also endangers humans. The death rate keep piling up too...


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 55000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 5.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

it's concerning that pollution can have such an impact on survival on lung cancer sufferers.although i don't find it all that surprising.It's just another reason among a long list of why we need to start living more cleanly as a whole.i suspect that air pollution does just as much damage to non-cancer sufferers  just that it's probably harder to tell.


The person is male. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 33 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 64000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 7.0 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 3.5 in extraversion, 4.5 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

I did not find the article to be particularly disturbing or alarming. I was not surprised by the fact that pollution adversely affected the health of individuals diagnosed with lung cancer. The health of their respiratory is already compromised and it makes perfect sense that pollution would act as an irritant and cause greater concern for their health.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 27 years old. The person has a went to technical / vocational school. The person earns 25000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

Cancer is so scary to me and knowing that air pollution something you cant really control can shorten your life even more is so scary. People die so frequently from this disease I wish there was more awareness and laws put in place to help reduce it. I think cigarettes should be outlawed instead of weed. It has been proven the harm they can do to people and kill them, its crazy that there still around to this day. I think more air pollution laws need to be put in place because people cant really help that alot and that clearly has an effect on human life. People should move to less air polluted states once they are diagnosed.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 29 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 39000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 5.5 in stability.

I just read an article about how air pollution can shorten life expectancy for those diagnosed with lung cancer. I think that this fact is pretty much a given and shortens life expectancy for just about everyone involved in breathing toxic air. The article was quite impersonal and didn't inspire much empathy for anything except maybe the planet.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 31 years old. The person has a two year associate degree. The person earns 82000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.5 in openness, 3.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 4.5 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

Visitors bring trouble to Norway's polar bears —  Officials in Norway say an increasing number of visitors to their Arctic region have triggered an increase in the number of endangered polar bears killed. Diane Hodges reports on efforts to protect the bears. Video provided by Reuters

Polar bears just can't catch a break man.  It sucks that in almost every possible way, we are just ocmpletely screwing the polar bears over.  I would like to see what the cause of the bears dying is?  Are the tourists themselves killing them?  Are there bear attacks, and so police have to put them down?


People visit a region and all they after is how to maim and deplete the population of an endangered specie. How wicked can human be. It is sad and totally unacceptable. I feel the locals should prevnt people from visiting. They should do more to protect the animals especially the bears from the wicked hands of the visitors.


It is difficult to convey my thoughts and feelings regarding the article as it was not very detailed. It is alarming that polar bears are facing threats to their habitats. I think conservation efforts as a whole should be increased worldwide. Human beings are causing irreparable harm to the ecosystems of this planet and it has to stop.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 27000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.0 in openness, 3.0 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

The article really needed to go more into depth about the problem. The piece wasn't really written for anyone to get emotional, it came across kind of cold. Like a minor newspaper article in a paper that needed to desperately fill space. Were they alluding to poachers or something? The article needed a lot more detail.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 41 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 28000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.0 in openness, 2.5 in conscientiousness, 1.5 in extraversion, 2.0 in agreeableness, and 1.0 in stability.

I find this story to be eye-rollingly typical of people.  I assume that the people who go up to the Arctic to see it like polar bears and don't want to see them extinct.  And yet there presence there is contributing to that exact thing.  Maybe they're hunting them.  I don't know.  I find that hard to believe but maybe.  I just think people are stupid.  They want plenty of things and spout off about them, but then they don't change their behavior to aid in the cause.  People get what they deserve, largely, though.  So if we make the polar bears extinct, we'll certainly deserve that.  And in some sense so will the polar bears who couldn't adapt to their environment.  Survival of the fittest.


Myanmar 'child slavery' outrage sparks investigation —  The Burmese president has ordered an investigation into the case of two girls who say they were kept prisoner and tortured for five years in a tailor shop. The teenagers were freed last week after a journalist helped them, but their families say that the police had on numerous occasions refused their pleas to get involved. This Wednesday, with the case now generating headlines, the police finally arrested the tailor and two family members. The two girls were aged just 11 and 12 when they were sent by their parents to the commercial capital Yangon. For poor Burmese families it's a painful but depressingly common decision. The United Nations estimates that at least a million Burmese children are forced to give up on education and go to work. These girls became maids in a tailor shop in the centre of Yangon. But what started as paid work allegedly turned into modern-day slavery. The girls say they were denied contact with their parents, were unable to leave and were no longer being paid. Then there was the abuse. Visited by the French news agency AFP in their village after their release, the girls had injuries and scars on their arms which they say were inflicted by their captors. "I have a scar from where an iron was stamped on my leg and a scar on my head as well," one of the girls, now 16, told AFP. "This was a wound from a knife, because my cooking was not OK," she said, showing a mark on her nose. The other girl, now 17, has burnt, twisted fingers - the consequence, she says, of them being broken deliberately by her captors as punishment. The allegations of mistreatment are shocking, but it's the authorities handling of the case that has really enraged the Burmese public. Many see it as further proof of a judicial system stacked against the poorest and most vulnerable. On several occasions over the last five years, the girls' families say they asked the Burmese police for help and were turned away. It was only when a journalist called Swe Win became involved that things started to move. He approached the police, who again refused to help, before taking the matter to the national human rights commission. To its credit, the commission did act, negotiating with the tailor for the girls' release and for a payment equivalent to about 4,000 dollars (£3060) to be made, effectively as back-pay. But there was public outcry when it emerged that no further measures were taken against the girls' alleged abusers. "We figured at the time that we could solve the case satisfactorily to all parties involved with a compensation settlement," U Zaw Win, a member of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission told an angry news conference in Yangon. With the girls' story now front page news and reverberating around social media, the Burmese police were finally spurred into action. On Wednesday evening the tailor was arrested, along with her two adult children. They all now face charges related to human trafficking. Questions are now being asked as to why it took so long for the authorities to get involved. In a rare public intervention, President Htin Kyaw released a statement. He said he had instructed the relevant ministries to assist and protect the girls, their families and the journalist Swe Win from possible reprisals. The president has also asked for a report on how the police handled the case and said he would be taking a close look at the work of the human rights commission. Swe Win is receiving a presidential award for his work on the case.

This is one of the most disgusting things I've ever read. Two 11 year old girls go to work for a tailer and they are basically kidnapped and made slaves for 5 years!!! They finally were freed at 16 years old due to an amazing journalist who made an enormous impact on the lives of these girls and their families. The journalist should win multiple literary awards like the Pulitzer because of this.


This story is bothersome on a number of levels.  Obviously people are going to be angry at the shop owner and the family, which they should.  And obviously the authorities, who do nothing and allow this to go on.  But what about the families who keep having children they feel obligated to send to work at age 11 and 12?  Stop having children you can't feed.  These countries are all grossly overpopulated but they keep having kids.  The parents feel bad that their kids got treated this way, but they're the ones who sent them there.


The person is male. Racially, the person is hispanic / latino. The person is 32 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 35000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 4.5 in stability.

This is just disgusting and makes me really doubt us as human beings. The fact that children are exposed to this really makes me doubt who we are as a people. I understand it is in Myanmar and not in the states but that should not mean anything and we should still be able to help these innocent children.


The person is male. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 37 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 40000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

I feel bad for the girls that have to go through this because they are so poor. I hope they all the girls are returned to their families so nobody has to be hurt. It is sad that the police did not help the girls when their families asked for help. I hope that all the captors of the girls go to prison for a very very long time.


this is such a terrible thing to happen.to think that these things still happen in part of the world is heart breaking.i can't even fathom what those little girls most have been through.that most have been a horrible experience for them and i hope there is no lasting mental effects from it.To think that there are such monsters in the world that would do such a thing is really distressing


With Much Sadness We Report Baby Isibindi Has Passed —  Rhino Update From Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage: It is with many tears, a heavy heart and very mixed emotions that I write that little Isibindi passed away shortly before midnight after a very, very rough 56 hours. She went through such deep sadness in her short life. I was so hoping and fighting to give her a second chance at life. A part of me feels a deep relief – the last two days were very difficult and she had so much to cope with. Little Bindi left this earth lying in my arms (the orphanage had no power so I wrapped us both in a duvet to keep her warm) It never gets easier. RIP little Bindi – may your spirit fly free! To the team on the ground here – humbled and proud. I have been with Isibindi constantly since she arrived a few days ago with no water, no power, wet cold conditions and security issues, this young and amazing group have made sure that the other rhinos have been cared for. Thank you to: Axel Tarifa, Shannon Westphal- very special people and Steven and Nicole. May God Bless all of the orphaned babies who are fighting for their life! -WAN

I suppose this is about an orphaned rhino due to poaching.  I had a hard time really feeling that much for the rhino.  It's dead and I don't know exactly why it died, or what suffering it went through, although the writer suggested it was a lot.  But either way it's dead now so there's no more pain for it.  I guess I'd prefer that rhinos don't go extinct, but at the same time I don't pretend that it really matters.  They don't affect my life in any way, although they are cool creatures.  But it just seems so far away and is something I have no control over.  I would never kill a rhino, but obviously other people don't feel the same way.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 46 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 22000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 2.5 in extraversion, 5.0 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

This story was so sad. I wanted to know a bit more about Bindi, but hearing that she struggled for such a short time and wasn't able to survive was heartbreaking. It was nice to see the extremes people were willing to go to in order to try and save her but knowing that is necessary is tough to take. It brought tears to my eyes and made me want to cry just thinking about being in that situation.


That little rhino really did fight for its life. I wonder that if where it was treated had electricity, maybe it could've survived? Also I wish what they reported what the little rhino died of. I can't imagine bundling a baby animal like that in my arms as its dying. And although it suffered quite a bit during that 48 hours and more that it was struggling, I hope that it's in peace, somewhere now.


I feel so sad when kids lose their lives. So much potential down the drain. I cant imagine what it is like to be the parent. I just wish it could be prevented in some ways. May God give the parents the fortitude to bear the lose. ANd may he also provide another kid for them immediately. There should be ways by which the parents can be consoled.


The person is female. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 22 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 100000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.5 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 3.5 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

With Much Sadness We Report Baby Isibindi Has Passed: Rhino Update From Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage: It is with many tears, a heavy heart and very mixed emotions that I write that little Isibindi passed away shortly before midnight after a very, very rough 56 hours. She went through such deep sadness in her short life. I was so hoping and fighting to give her a second chance at life. A part of me feels a deep relief ? the last two days were very difficult and she had so much to cope with. This is really sad.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 38 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 42000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 6.5 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

Saudi women file petition to end male guardianship system —  A petition signed by more than 14,000 Saudi women calling for an end to the country's male guardianship system is being handed to the government. Women must have the consent of a male guardian to travel abroad, and often need permission to work or study. Support for the first large-scale campaign on the issue grew online in response to a trending Twitter hashtag. Activist Aziza Al-Yousef told the BBC she felt "very proud" of the campaign, but now needed a response. In the deeply conservative Islamic kingdom, a woman must have permission from her father, brother or other male relative - in the case of a widow, sometimes her son - to obtain a passport, marry or leave the country. Many workplaces and universities also demand a guardian's consent for female employees and students, although it is not legally required.   Renting a flat, undergoing hospital treatment or filing a legal claim often also require a male guardian's permission, and there is very little recourse for women whose guardians abuse them or severely limit their freedom. How much do you know about life as a woman in Saudi Arabia? WATCH: Are Saudi women really that oppressed? The 'Rosa Parks' of Saudi Arabia 'Flabbergasted' In July, an Arabic Twitter hashtag which translates as "Saudi women want to abolish the guardianship system" went viral after a Human Rights Watch reportwas published on the issue. Saudi women tweeted comments, videos and artwork calling for change. Bracelets saying "I Am My Own Guardian" appeared. The women counted on the petition all gave their full names, though more signed anonymously. Hundreds of women - one estimate suggests as many as 2,500 - bombarded the Saudi King's office over the weekend with telegrams containing personal messages backing the campaign. Human Rights Watch researcher Kristine Beckerle, who worked on the report, described the response as "incredible and unprecedented". "I was flabbergasted - not only by the scale, but the creativity with which they've been doing it," she said. "They've made undeniably clear they won't stand to be treated as second-class citizens any longer, and it's high time their government listened."    However, there has been opposition from some Saudi women, with an alternative Arabic hashtag, which translates as #TheGuardianshipIsForHerNotAgainstHer, gaining some traction, and opinion articles, like this one on the Gulf News website, arguing that the system should be reformed and applied better. Ms Yousef, who was stopped by police in 2013 for breaking the country's ban on women driving, said she did not expect any negative consequences from the petition: "I'm not worried, I'm not doing anything wrong," she said. She and another activist took the petition to the Royal Court in person on Monday, but were advised to send it by mail. She said a key demand is that an age between 18 and 21 be designated, above which a woman be "treated like an adult". "In every aspect, the important issue is to treat a woman as a full citizen," she said. She and other activists first raised the issue five years ago. "We never had a problem with campaigning, but the problem is there is no answer. But we always hope - without hope, you cannot work," she said. There has been no official response to the petition yet.

I think it's good that some groups in Saudi Arabia are taking steps to give women more freedom.  It's obvious that women there are treated like second rate citizens and do not have many liberties, so anything that can be done to fix this is a positive thing I believe.  This is 2019 and there's no reason why a woman should need a male escort to do anything.  That sounds ridiculous to me as an American woman.  I feel sad for the women living in these nations.  What poor luck.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 30000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 4.0 in extraversion, 4.0 in agreeableness, and 5.5 in stability.

It's kind of crazy to me that women would still be advocates for this type of system. To leave women in a state of total almost slavery to the man is very inhumane. This would imply that the woman does not know how to take care of herself and needs the guidance and monitoring of her husband. And what about women who do not want a husband?


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 25 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 29000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 5.5 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 3.0 in stability.

I think it is messed up that Saudi women have to have the permission of a man to travel, work, study, etc. Like they are their own person. Why do they need someone elses permission to do soemthing they want. They aren't property. Well I guess in that culture they kinda are... but that is really messed up. I just think it is wrong.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 47 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 110000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 4.5 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

I can't imagine living in Saudi Arabia as a woman. I really can't understand how it must feel. The article said that sometimes women will have to get permission to do things like travel or work from their own son. That just seems crazy. I am totally behind these women who are fighting to end the male guardianship program.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 25 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 60000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 5.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

I am fully in support of this movement, and am glad it's finally getting some traction. I know that even just a few years ago, women finally got the right to drive in Saudi Arabia (before that, only men could). Liberating anyone is good for everyone, and women in Saudi Arabia have had their rights denied from them for far too long.


Suicide: Russian girl's death prompts national debate —  It's a day like any other day in a provincial city in central Russia. A 12-year-old girl is getting ready to go to school. Suddenly her phone rings. The next minute she is out of the door, saying she's meeting a friend and they will go to school together. Later the same day, when her mother turns up at the school, there is no sign of her daughter. No-one has seen her. Then the mother's phone rings, and she can tell by the ring tone that it's her daughter's phone. "Where are you, darling?" she asks with relief. "It's not your daughter," a strange voice replies. "I'm a doctor from A&E. Your daughter is dead." She had taken her own life. Social network subculture In the weeks and months that followed, the mother discovered how her daughter had been immersed in an online subculture of suicide involving images of self-harming, alternative reality games and a cult surrounding a 16-year-old girl who had killed herself in a violent fashion. This is the tragic story at the heart of a long, front-page article called Groups of Death in independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta on 16 May. Written by correspondent Galina Mursalieva, it alleges that Russia's most popular social network VKontakte (VK) has numerous groups used by Svengali-type figures to encourage vulnerable young people to kill themselves. These groups are regularly closed down, but others quickly spring up in their place. Emotional intensity The piece claims that a spate of at least 80 recent suicides can be linked to these online groups. Four of the deaths, including the one described above, occurred on the same day last December and in roughly the same manner. A note from Novaya Gazeta's editors at the top of the article urges every parent to read it to "save their children from a fateful step". Groups of Death has had an extraordinary impact. In little over a week, it has been viewed more than two million times and has sparked a stormy debate on social networks and beyond. One of the reasons it has gone viral is undoubtedly the emotional intensity of Galina Mursalieva's writing. But that has been singled out as one of its main shortcomings, too. Critics have accused her of treating a complex subject with tabloid sensationalism and allowing her personal involvement in the story to cloud her judgement. In particular, they question the emphasis that the writer and the bereaved parents have placed on the internet as a cause of juvenile suicide. A follow-up investigation by the Lenta.ru website presented a more nuanced, although no less disturbing, picture of internet subculture. It suggested that the people running the VK groups were not much older than their teenage members, and in many cases were exploiting suicide cults to boost their own egos or even earn money from online advertising. But Lenta.ru also admitted that at least some of the deaths mentioned by Novaya Gazeta could be linked to online grooming. ________________   Russia's high level of youth suicide Russia has world's third-highest number of suicides among adolescents Depression, anxiety and aggression are found in 20% of Russian teenagers; the Western average is no higher than 5% Suicidal thoughts come into the minds of 45% of Russian girls and 27% of young men Most suicides are linked to parents' alcoholism, family conflicts and abuse Statistics agency Rosstat says Russia's overall rate of suicide fell in 2015 to the lowest level for 50 years Source: Unicef 2011/Rosstat 2016 iWonder: How do we talk about teenage suicide? ________________   As well as appealing to parents, Novaya Gazeta also argued that it had wanted to goad the authorities into action. It said it had passed material to law enforcement agencies and informed media watchdog Roskomnadzor of its findings. Since publication, investigators in St Petersburg have launched a criminal case over groups on VK that allegedly promote suicide. But Novaya Gazeta has also been accused of colluding with the authorities, or at least giving them a useful pretext to further extend their control over the internet. It is an allegation emphatically denied by chief editor Dmitry Muratov. One of the ostensible aims of a controversial internet blacklist law that came into force in 2012 was to protect minors from material promoting suicide. Internet expert Anton Nosik believes that the Kremlin is now intent on getting to grips with online communities, having passed laws that have the potential to curb the activity of top bloggers and with key elections just around the corner. One thing that everyone appears to agree on is that adolescent suicide is a very serious problem in Russia. A 2011 Unicef report found that the country had the third-highest suicide rate in this age group in the world, more than three times the global average. As such, even some of Galina Mursalieva's critics concede that by getting people to talk about a subject that is too often ignored, she may have performed a useful public service. ________________   Are you affected by this? Samaritans The Samaritans helpline is available 24 hours a day for anyone in the UK struggling to cope. It provides a safe place to talk where calls are completely confidential. Phone for free: 116 123 Email: jo@samaritans.org Visit the Samaritans website Papyrus Papyrus offers support, practical advice and information to young people in the UK considering suicide and can also offer help and advice if you're concerned about someone you know. Phone: 0800 068 41 41 Telephone Doveriye (Telephone of Trust) In Russia, a confidential hotline for children is available on 8-800-2000-122

It's issues like this that both upset and confuse me. I just can't understand how children and people in general can be pushed to suicide by what they read or are exposed to on the internet. Perhaps it's because I can't imagine harming myself that I don't understand the state that this people must be in. Suicide is such a tough situation and so hard to deal with. It makes me sad to think people target troubled souls and enjoy seeing the harm they do to themselves.


I find this kind of thing more pathetic and infuriating than really sad.  The thought of teenagers being that impressionable and losing themselves to much in the internet world, is pitiful.  Parents have to do a better job of making their children live in reality, and finding ways to make the responsible and resilient.  of course part of the problem in Russia is that the parents aren't good parents, as indicated by the drinking problem that leads to many of the youth suicides.  But I just don't relate to the idea of someone being so weak and vulnerable that they'd be convinced to commit suicide based on what someone wrote online.  I'm not a strong person.  At all.  But that thought remains completely foreign to me.


I found the number of adolescent deaths in Russia alarming, but not surprising. Young adult suicide rates here in the US have also been increasing since 2004. The fact that the suicides in Russia have been directly linked to social media is very telling. The rise of adolescent suicide here in the US directly parallels the rise of social media.


The person is male. Racially, the person is asian / pacific islander. The person is 29 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 44000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 4.5 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

Dear friend,                                                                I have just ready a very disturbing story. A young girl in Russia has committed suicide. There are online groups that target young teenagers and kids and encourage them to harm themselves and to commit suicide. It is a very scary and sad thing.


This is a story about a 12 year old girl in Russia who killed herself after spending time online with a group that promotes suicide. I feel so badly for the family and for the girl. A group like that should not be able to operate online and influence people to harm themselves. This is just so wrong.


Study reveals why seabirds eat plastic in the ocean —  The human sense of smell is important. It alerts us to different dangers including spoiled food, poison, fire, and so on. But other species on this planet have no sense of smell like humans have. In fact, a new research revealed that the sense of smell of seabirds, which they use to hunt for food, have put them in danger. Not surprisingly, humans ARE to blame.   Published last week in the PNAS, or the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers said that ninety percent of seabirds eat plastic flowing in oceans. By 2050, the team revealed that virtually all seabirds will be eating it.   So the question now is why do seabirds eat plastic?   The paper said plastic in the ocean emit the scent of a sulfurous compound which seabirds have relied upon for thousands of years. It tells them where to hunt for food.   In other words, the compound trick them into confusing marine plastic with food.   Lead researcher Matthew Savoca said–via the UC Davis website–that in order to understand the problem, we have to think about how animals look for food.   Researchers learned what plastic in the ocean smell like by putting beads–made of the three most common types of plastic beads–into the ocean at Monterey Bay and Bodega Bay in California. They placed it in mesh bags to protect the species there, and tied them to an ocean buoy before collecting them about three weeks later.   Then, the team brought the beads to UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology where scientists are often found analyzing wine chemistry. Using the chemical analyzer provided by food-and-wine chemist Susan Ebeler, the research team confirmed that the beads emit the sulfur compound dimethyl sulfide, or DMS, a chemical cue released by algae, which coats floating plastic.   Co-author and UC Davis professor Gabrielle Nevitt had previously established that the said compound triggers seabirds to search for food. DMS is released when algae is eaten by animals (like crustaceans). So while the algae doesn’t smell like food itself, it does emit the scent of food being eaten which works like a dinner bell of the birds.   The paper also revealed that birds that track the scent of the compound to look for food are about six times more likely to consume plastic than those that don’t.   Professor Nevitt said their research gives spotlight to species that don’t receive a lot of attention, like petrels and species of shearwaters, which are impacted by plastic ingestion. These species, she added, are hard to study as they nest in underground burrows. So they’re often overlooked.   Apart from that, the study could open the door to new steps to address the growing plastic pollution in oceans which not only plague the seabirds, but also sea turtles, fish and other marine animals.   Apparently, the problem starts on land. According to NOAA, one of the biggest sources of ocean pollution is called nonpoint source pollution which occurs as a result of runoff. It includes many small sources like boats, septic tanks, cars, etc, and larger sources like farms, forest areas, etc.   A study published last year said that the top five countries that dump plastics into oceans are China, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. It projected that by 2025, plastic consumption in the region will increase by eighty percent.

IT angers me that we put out that plastic in the ocean for these animals in the first place. These animals do not know any better and we need to fi nd ways to improve these conditions I feel like anything other than changing the way we recycle is just not enough. Especially in these times that global warming is prevalent!


I really hate hearing news like this.  It seems like every time you turn around you're hearing a new story about how the world is killing itself.  I'm not sure I needed to hear about all the specifics as to why seabirds are eating plastic, but it definitely hurts to see that it's going on.  The real kicker is the stat at the end about how pollution is going to rise by 80% in the next six years.


This is incredibly alarming. Humanity is doing irreparable harm to the planet and many of its delicate ecosystems. We can not continue to allow our plastic pollution to threaten the lives and habitats of birds and other marine life. We need greater conservation efforts and sever consequences for those who do not abide by them.


It was very interesting to me to learn how seabirds hunt. The smell of plastic reminds them of the smell of the foods that they eat and they eat the plastic thinking that they are eating their normal food. I hate that the birds and oceans are being polluted by humans so badly. I hate we are not changing and helping the environment.


This is pretty sad for the birds.  I find the amount of plastic in the ocean in general to be alarming, and it's always terrible to see it affecting wildlife.  It is vvery unfair to them really.  It would be like someone coming in and just polluting your house with their trash and there was nothing you could do about it and it started making you sickk.  I think we need to do something about the plastic issue, maybe starting by cutting down on all the plastic we use.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 55000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 2.5 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 4.5 in stability.

Syrians and Iraqis granted asylum in Germany far more often than Pakistanis, Nigerians —  BERLIN — One year after the height of Europe’s migrant crisis, Germany — a nation that took in more asylum seekers than the rest of the continent combined — is confronting the Solomonesque task of deciding who gets to stay. Yet as authorities adjudicate cases, a contentious truism is emerging: Not all nationalities are created equal. If you’re from Syria or Iraq, sanctuary is almost guaranteed. But if you’re from Nigeria or Pakistan, chances are you journeyed halfway across the world in vain. Nearly 37 percent of all claims processed by the German authorities are being rejected, including an increasing number of people from countries afflicted with violent insurgencies, such as Afghanistan. Even Syrians are increasingly falling short of winning full refugee status. Authorities say they’re simply applying national and international asylum law, weeding out those who do not qualify. But critics say that overburdened asylum officials are turning a deaf ear to at least some genuine petitions simply because they come from asylum seekers arriving from nations outside the much-publicized war zones of the Middle East. [Germany used to be the promised land for migrants. Now, it’s turning back more of them.] Pakistani Mohammad Nabeel is among the unlucky ones. This month, German migration authorities informed him that his case had been closed before he even had an official hearing. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) said he had missed his appointment, although Nabeel said he was never notified. Even if he had been, experts say, his case falls into the gray area that often leads to rejection. The 23-year-old claims he was in love with a rich girl in his hometown. But her family was against the relationship with Nabeel, who was poor and didn’t have the right family name, important factors in some areas of Pakistan for arranging a marriage. The girl’s brother and father set out to kill Nabeel, he says, to protect the girl’s honor. His only proof, he says, are fading scars on his body from being severely beaten by members of her family. Nabeel arrived in Germany after traveling six months and crossing seven different countries. Now, he may be sent back. “I won’t go back; I’d rather kill myself,” Nabeel says. He plans to appeal the asylum official’s decision. There are loopholes in the German system allowing for people like Nabeel — who aren’t strictly fleeing from war or political persecution — to temporarily stay in Germany on humanitarian grounds. Some are eventually granted permanent residence. But only about 4 percent of asylum requests by Pakistanis are currently decided in their favor. And Nabeel’s rejection comes at a time when the German government is increasingly taking measures targeting those migrants it deems ineligible for protection. It is determined to enforce deportation more strictly and even hired a consulting firm to help. Negotiations for deportation deals with Afghanistan and Nigeria are underway on the national and the European level. [Europe pressing harder on countries to take back deported migrants] Politicians in favor of a more restrictive asylum policy argue that some migrants apply for refugee status based on flimsy evidence and come to Germany for purely economic reasons. Others, they say, could escape the dangers they’re facing by simply approaching the local police or by moving to a different part of their home country. Daniel Owolabi Ajibade is one of the more than 10,000 Nigerians who applied for asylum in Germany this year. The business consultant claims that members of a Nigerian cartel attempted to kill him because they feared that the high-quality marbles and tiles he wanted to bring into the country would ruin their business with cheap Chinese imports. Although the 35-year-old has a newspaper article to prove the incident, the chances are high that German migration officials won’t heed his plea. The protection rate for Nigerians is only about 9 percent and to be allowed to stay, Ajibade will have to convince authorities that he had nowhere else to go. “I’m very afraid of what the outcome will be, since going back to Nigeria would be very risky,” he says. “I understand that there’s a real war in Syria and our problems with Boko Haram are mostly in the north . . . but I wish that the German government would also accept more of us until things quiet down.” “Our system caters primarily to those who have a concrete claim for protection, as bitter as this might be for some individuals,” said Ansgar Heveling, a lawmaker with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and chairman of the German parliament’s Home Affairs Committee. Heveling thinks that the vast majority of applicants are given their due. “If in individual cases a wrong decision is made, we have courts to correct them,” he said. [Germany said it took in more than 1 million refugees last year. But it didn’t.] The nongovernmental organization Pro Asyl says that the flood of appeals against the Federal Office’s decision suggest that the system is flawed. So far, 18,666 Syrians went to court this year to fight for a better status of protection than they were granted. Many cases were dropped, but of the 1,943 verdicts, 1,547 were in favor of the plaintiffs. Stephan Dünnwald, spokesman for the Bavarian Refugee Council, said that there is a danger of the German authorities sweepingly rejecting certain groups of asylum seekers because they’re overburdened or because of political decisions made in Berlin. “The decision-making is a disaster, because there are so many new and inexperienced deciders who are under a lot of time pressure . . . In some situations, where there should be additional probing, this simply isn’t done. The quality of the interpreters has declined rapidly. There are no quality standards,” Dünnwald said. “Sometimes it almost feels as if people must be beaten to death before they are being believed.”

The article I just read was very sad, it is terrible how people that are in trouble in their countries cannot leave because of the country that they are from. It doesn't matter to Germany whether or not they will get killed if they get sent back and these people shouldn't be turned away by Germany.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 46 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 150000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.0 in openness, 3.5 in conscientiousness, 4.0 in extraversion, 5.0 in agreeableness, and 3.0 in stability.

It's so sad the turning event of Immigrants status on their affairs and protection. After reading an article on the latest happening in Germany. the well known home for immigrants now going tough I feel remorse and deep pain for those who really need Sanctuaries which Germany was well known to offer before. Hopefully things will turn around


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 21 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 20000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.0 in openness, 5.0 in conscientiousness, 5.0 in extraversion, 4.0 in agreeableness, and 3.5 in stability.

It's interesting, I never thought about immigrants and such in another country besides the US, but obviously it is going to be happening anywhere with a border. It's sad that this is such an issue all around the globe. I know that immigrants have to be kept out to some extent and need to be handles, but it seems like there has to be a better way


The person is male. Racially, the person is asian / pacific islander. The person is 33 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 36000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.25 in openness, 4.25 in conscientiousness, 4.5 in extraversion, 4.25 in agreeableness, and 3.75 in stability.

I do not care for these muslim refugees trying to come into these countries they need to be deported back to their own countries and try to fix their own problems they are a disease upon the world and they spread their backward way of thinking trying to make no go zones inside the western world they are scum


Wind turbines killing more than just local birds —  Wind turbines are known to kill large birds, such as golden eagles, that live nearby. Now there is evidence that birds from up to hundreds of miles away make up a significant portion of the raptors that are killed at these wind energy fields. Using DNA from tissue and stable isotopes from the feathers of golden eagle carcasses, researchers from Purdue University and the U.S. Geological Survey found that golden eagles killed at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area in northern California can come from hundreds of miles away. Golden eagles are a species of conservation concern, so understanding population-level differences and how individuals interact with turbines is key to meeting a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service target of no net loss to their populations. The APWRA is one of the oldest wind farms in the country and one of the largest in the world originally with around 5,000 turbines. Worldwide, such facilities have been responsible for the deaths of 140,000 to 328,000 birds and 500,000 to 1.6 million bats, raising questions about their effects on population sustainability. "Eagles tend to use that habitat around the turbines. It's windy there, so they can save energy and soar, and their preferred prey, California ground squirrels, is abundant there," said J. Andrew DeWoody, a Purdue professor of genetics in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. "As they soar, these eagles are often looking straight down, and they fail to see the rapidly moving turbine blades. They get hit by the blades, and carcasses are found on the ground under the turbines." Collaborator David Nelson, a stable isotope ecologist with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, tested the birds' feathers for stable hydrogen isotopes, which can be used to determine where the birds likely grew their feathers. The research team determined that about 75 percent of the 62 birds were from the local population. The remaining 25 percent likely migrated into the area before they were killed. Isotopes are atoms of an element that have different molecular weights. As precipitation moves inland, water with the heavier form of hydrogen falls out first, which creates predictable patterns of the stable isotopes ratios of precipitation across continents. "When a bird drinks water or eats animals in a particular place, the hydrogen isotope ratios of precipitation in that area get recorded in its tissues," Nelson said. "You can use these hydrogen ratios in the feathers to determine the approximate place that the bird grew its feathers." A genetic analysis revealed that golden eagles from the western U.S. have gene pools similar to those killed at the APWRA, which reflects the capacity of these birds to disperse widely. "The population models we built confirm that the age structure of the eagles killed at Altamont is difficult to replicate without substantial immigration," said co-author Todd Katzner, a wildlife biologist with the USGS. Katzner said these findings suggest that environmental assessments of alternative energy facilities like Altamont Pass should take into consideration that animal populations affected by wind turbines might not be just local. "If you only consider local birds in an environmental assessment, you're not really evaluating the effect that facility may have on the entire population," Katzner said. DeWoody said that wind energy generators can receive permits that allow a certain number of unintended bird deaths. But if that number is too large, the companies could be fined. And knowing that a large percentage of the birds killed are from neighboring states could muddy the management waters. "The golden eagle fatalities at this one site have demonstrated consequences that extend across much of the range of the species across North America," DeWoody said. The golden eagle population is a concern for several state and federal agencies, DeWoody added. He said future research could include looking at more bird species affected by turbines.

This story bothers me more for the ignorance of our actions than for the actual results to the birds.  I guess I'd prefer that golden eagles not get killed, and some other birds as well, but I really don't care that much.  And I don't care about the lives of the individual birds.  These are abstractions to me; they don't exist in any real way.  However, I'm concerned about humans once again barging into something without fully understanding its repercussions.  It was the same with coal and oil, wasn't it?  How is this any different, except maybe in scope or scale or something.  I also always wonder what the weather effects are of wind turbine farms.  Do we understand that?  Is that contributing to torandoes and more severe storms?  I'm sure no one understands that either.


I just read an article about how Wind turbines are killing more than just local birds, they are killing golden eagles and other large birds as well that are in migration. They are attracted to the wind because it helps them soar so that is why they go near it. Its horrible that these beautiful creatures are getting killed by a made man creation.


This article really makes you think. Are the things we are doing to try to make the earth a healthier planet really helping? They are trying to make cleaner energy but in reality, they are killing off many birds. This is so sad, it's a catch 22. It seems that these wind energy generators are probably not the answer either. And the more that are made, it will just cause bigger problems.


The person is male. Racially, the person is asian / pacific islander. The person is 41 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 64000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 4.0 in extraversion, 4.0 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

Hye buddy, I just read an article that you might find interesting. Apparently, wind turbines that companies use for power generation kill a lot of birds every year. But what is troubling is that many of these birds are not local. These wind turbines kill a significant number of migrating bird too. But, often environmental impact reports ignore this fact. Hearing about this makes me feel a bit helpless. It seems that no matter how much we try to protect the environment, our effect on it is always worse than we imagine.


I think its really sad we need to do something these animals are precious and do not deserve to be killed off not only unknowingly but also so scary. Imagine flying like a free bird and all of a sudden facing a sudden death at the hands of these wind turbines. That is something just scary overall to be quite honest.


The person is male. Racially, the person is hispanic / latino. The person is 23 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 70000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 4.0 in conscientiousness, 6.5 in extraversion, 3.5 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

A Palm Oil Company Threatens The Third Largest Population Of Orangutan In Indonesia —  The Sungai Putri, meaning River of the Princess, is an exquisite natural forest located in West Kalimantan, providence of Indonesia. It is about 141,000 acres of forest land, has extensive peat areas of up to 14.5 meters deep at some points, and can provide a home to about 750 to 1750 orangutan. Because of these numbers, it is the third largest population of critically Endangered orangutan Species in the province. Due to the fact that the Indonesia government has committed to protecting peat, forests and orangutans, it is alarming that there is no protection to this forest.   The forest is at critical risk of being cut down by a company named PT Mohairson Pawan Khatulistiwa who have plans to clear more than half of their liscence area to covert into an industrial tree plantation. The company is also planning on building a drainage canal from the north to the south side of the area for which some work has already reportedly began.   The Indonesian government has stated its international and national commitments to reducing carbon emissions and deforestation, protecting and restoring peat swamp forests through the Peatland Restoration Agency established by the president and stabilizing all remaining wild orangutan populations. At the same time, they allowed the company to obtain a lisence permissing the destruction of this forest land, peat and the orangutans who live in that habitat.   A satellite image taken of the land in 2016 confirms that about 58 percent of the 48,440 lisence area still remains covered in tall tree peat swamp forest and the rest is covered in medium height swamp forest, heath forest and hill forest.   At the deepest part of the dome, the peat is 14.5 meters deep, with large areas deeper than 3 meters. Indonesian laws such as the Government Regulation no. 71 of 2014 do not allow peat development in areas with more than 3 meters peat.   Threatened orangutans living in the area also raises much concern. The most recent orangutan survey for the 57,000 Sungai Putri block estimated up to 1,750 orangutans. These orangutans will not survive in areas where all forest is cleared. If conversion plans go ahead, some 500 to 1,000 orangutans will likely die or will be in need of rescue. The Indonesian Orangutan Forum FORINA recently recognized this as the largest population of orangutan located in the region and if they lose their habitat they will have  no other place to go. Indonesia’s current national action plan for orangutans aims to stabilize all wild populations by 2017, and destroying the habitat of one of the largest remaining populations is incompatible with that.   A well known developer Norweigian professor who specializes in tropical forests says, “These developments seem to violate Indonesia’s own legal processes not to mention its international commitments. Claims about absence of forest, peat and endangered species – here and elsewhere – clearly need to be assessed and verified in a transparent manner. Those who dispute the conditions can provide their data”.   Improved management is desperately needed in Sungai Putri. There are lots of illegal logging happening in the area, as are fires. According to the Global Fire Watch data, in 2015 alone, there were about 250 fires that occurred on the margins of Sungai Putri. The risk of more fires would only increase if Sungai Putri was drained and deforested as planned.   There are opposing conflicts regarding the deforestation.  Some people welcome the development of the peatland area because of the potential employment opportunities it can bring as well as the possibility to get compensated by the company for their lost traditional land uses. Others see it differently. However, according to the latest science studies, the development of coastal peatlands will never be sustainable.   Instead of going through with this development, there are other solutions available that would allow Indonesia to fulfill its development and poverty alleviations objectives but they require careful planning and close collaboration efforts between the private sector, governments, non-governmental groups, and local communities. The time to initiate those collaborations and find sustainable solutions for Indonesia is now!

Have you heard about hwat is currently happening within indonesia. It is actually so saddening that a population of Orangutan an endangered species mind you, is on the brink of eradication at the hands of oil companies within the area. It does not make sense to me that when a country sees something like this occuring because of their business practices that they do not step in and stop the company from razing the forest as there are 1 to 2 thousand orangutans who call it home.


I think this is sad for the orangutangs.  It seems unfair that their environment is being destroyed.  This whole peat forest issue seems like an environmental problem.  I don't see the need to deforest anyway.  That just seems destructive to me for no reason at all.  It seems like it is best when we just leave the environment alone and stop tampering with things and intervening.  IT always seems to have harmful consequences.


The way that the world is setup, countries that are developing have no choice but to harvest their natural resources to make money. I wonder if countries with more money could pay these developing countries to not harvest their natural resources. I feel bad for the orangutans because they are caught in a game of economics.


Hey man, Apparently, Indonesia is going through a crisis between conservation and alleviating its poverty. The country has made regulations protecting peat areas and the habitat of orangutans, but it has also given licenses to a company that aims to destroy a significant portions of those areas. I fell that this is a troubling sign and, sadly, indicative of the kinds of compromises that governments make with corporations that continue to endanger at risk species.


The person is male. Racially, the person is asian / pacific islander. The person is 34 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 36000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 7.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

I just read this article about the exploitation of Orangutan habitat in Indonesia and it is alarming. Orangutan are not just any animals, they are one of the smartest and closely related to us. I am sure, you would have watched some documentary where it is shown how evolved they are as a society and how familiar they look to us when caring for their children for instance. It is just so sad that this is happening and I wish we as a race would show more empathy and concern for these magnificent creatures.


Man Is Shot in Charlotte as Unrest Stretches to Second Night —  A second night of protests set off by the police killing of a black man spiraled into chaos and violence after nightfall here Wednesday when a demonstration was interrupted by gunfire that gravely wounded a man in the crowd. Law enforcement authorities fired tear gas in a desperate bid to restore order. The city said on its Twitter account that the unidentified man was on life support after what officials said was a “civilian on civilian” confrontation. The authorities provided no further details. Charlotte officials had said earlier that the man had been killed in the unrest. The Police Department reported that four officers had injuries that were not life-threatening. Gov. Pat McCrory’s office said late Wednesday that he had declared an emergency and had “initiated efforts” to deploy the National Guard and the state Highway Patrol. The shooting heightened the tension among the demonstrators and the police alike. City officials were quick to say the police had not fired any live rounds, but riot police personnel did fire repeated rounds of tear gas. The scene of the shooting and the largest demonstration of the evening happened along a crowded street in Charlotte’s city center, where the sound of gunfire mixed with the noise of people banging objects into vehicles. The gunshot victim lay motionless on the ground, his eyes open, as people surrounded him and blood pooled among their feet. He was taken into the nearby Omni Hotel, and a series of confrontations played out afterward as the police kept people from entering. There was sporadic looting. Twitter messages showed that the team store of the Charlotte Hornets of the N.B.A. had been broken into and gutted of merchandise. “We are working very hard to bring peace and calm back to our city,” Mayor Jennifer Roberts said on CNN. A spokesman for Ms. Roberts said she had requested and planned to review on Thursday a police dashboard video of the encounter with Keith L. Scott, the black man who was shot and killed here on Tuesday. But she said she would not make the video public. Around 10 p.m., the police ordered all civilians, including members of the news media, to leave parts of the Uptown neighborhood and threatened to arrest those who did not comply. When the crowd did not respond immediately, the authorities fired more tear gas within minutes. After that, it appeared that the crowd started to disperse, although some stragglers remained in the area. The unrest in Charlotte came after two other police-involved deadly shootings in the last week. First came the shooting of a teenager in Columbus, Ohio, who had been brandishing a BB gun. Two days later, on Friday, was the shooting death in Tulsa, Okla., of a man who had his hands above his head before an officer opened fire. And then it was Charlotte, where Mr. Scott, 43, black like the other two, was shot by a police officer in a parking space marked “Visitor” outside an unremarkable apartment complex. On Wednesday that parking space was both a shooting site and a shrine, and Charlotte was a city on edge, the latest to play a role in what feels like a recurring, seemingly inescapable tape loop of American tragedy. “To see this happen multiple times — just time after time — it’s depressing, man,” said Tom Jackson, 25, who works with mentally disabled people. He didn’t know Mr. Scott but was drawn here nonetheless, one of many strangers and friends who came to pay their respects and make sense of their sorrow. In addition to the fatal attacks on police officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas, it was another grim snapshot of America’s continuing crisis in black and blue, this moment amplified by presidential politics. And as usual, there was very little consensus on what went wrong and how to fix it. At a news conference on Wednesday, Kerr Putney, chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, said officers had found the gun that the police said Mr. Scott had brandished before an officer, who is also black, fatally shot him and were examining police video of the encounter that unfolded as Mr. Scott stepped out of a car. Family members of Mr. Scott have said that he was unarmed and was holding only a book. Chief Putney said Wednesday morning, “We did not find a book.” The response of B. J. Murphy, an African-American activist here, could not have been more different: “Everybody in Charlotte should be on notice that black people, today, we’re tired of this,” he said, adding an epithet. “We’re tired of being killed and nobody saying nothing. We’re tired of our political leaders going along to get along; they’re so weak, they don’t have no sympathy for our grief. And we want justice.” All three shootings are under investigation, and are rife with questions. The police in Columbus said that the BB gun wielded by 13-year-old Tyre King was built to look nearly identical to a Smith & Wesson Military & Police semiautomatic pistol. Mayor Andrew J. Ginther blamed the shooting, in part, on Americans’ “easy access to guns, whether they are firearms or replicas.” In Tulsa, the police said investigators found the drug PCP in the shooting victim’s S.U.V. The drug is known to induce erratic behavior in some users. But Mr. Crump, who is representing the family of the victim, Terence Crutcher, said the discovery of the drug, if true, would not justify the deadly shooting. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Crutcher’s father, the Rev. Joey Crutcher, said his son had marched in protest of earlier police killings and had thought about how to protect himself during interactions with police officers. They had planned to go to a church event aimed at teaching people how behave around the police and avoid becoming another hashtag shared on social media by Black Lives Matter protesters. “I never thought this would happen to my family,” Mr. Crutcher said, adding that he had counseled his son all his life about how to behave around the police. “I said, ‘Whenever you’re stopped by a police and you’re in that situation, raise your hands up, always let them see your hands, let them see that you are not going for a gun.’ And that is what Terence was doing. I said, ‘Always put your hands on your car.’ I made that specific, ‘your car.’ And that’s what Terence was walking to do on his car so that they could see his hands.” John Barnett, a civil rights activist in Charlotte, said during a raucous news conference near the site of the shooting that Mr. Scott had been waiting for his son to arrive home from school. “The truth of the matter is, he didn’t point that gun,” Mr. Barnett said. “Did he intend to really sit in a vehicle, waiting on his son to get home from school and then plot to shoot a cop if they pulled up on him?” Adding to an atmosphere loaded with suspicion and mistrust, residents of the apartment complex gave varying accounts of Mr. Scott’s death. Some differed from the police on which officer fired the shots, and others said that no one had tried to administer CPR for Mr. Scott as officials had said. Brentley Vinson, the officer who the police say shot Mr. Scott, is black, as is the police chief. “Since black lives do not matter for this city, then our black dollars should not matter,” said Mr. Murphy, the activist. “We’re watching a modern-day lynching on social media, on television and it is affecting the psyche of black people.” Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said Wednesday that the Justice Department “is aware of, and we are assessing, the incident that led to the death of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte.” Responding to another police shooting, the state’s attorney in Baltimore County, Md., Scott D. Shellenberger, announced Wednesday that no charges would be filed against any of the officers involved in the Aug. 1 shooting death of Korryn Gaines or the shooting of her 5-year-old son. In Charlotte, Rakeyia Scott, Mr. Scott’s wife, said on Wednesday the family was “devastated” by the shooting. She described her husband as “a loving husband, father, brother and friend” and called on protesters to remain peaceful. At a campaign rally in Orlando, Fla., Hillary Clinton spoke about the shootings here and in Tulsa. “There is still much we don’t know about what happened in both incidents, but we do know that we have two more names to add to a list of African-Americans killed by police officers in these encounters,’’ she said. “It’s unbearable, and it needs to become intolerable. We also saw the targeting of police officers in Philadelphia last week. And last night in Charlotte, 12 officers were injured in demonstrations following Keith Scott’s death. Every day police officers are serving with courage, honor and skill.” Her Republican rival, Donald J. Trump, reacted on Twitter. “Hopefully the violence & unrest in Charlotte will come to an immediate end,” he wrote. “To those injured, get well soon. We need unity & leadership.” Unity, thus far, has been in short supply. On Friday, Mr. Trump earned the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police. But polls show that his support among African-Americans is negligible, even though he has singled them out in promising to solve the ills of poverty and violence that he has characterized as plaguing black neighborhoods. On Wednesday, Mr. Jackson, the man who came here to mourn, was not thinking about the current presidential candidates. The police, he said, “are out here killing people, and they don’t even know their backgrounds,” he said. “They could be killing the next president.”

This type of situation really makes my blood boil.  Who do these people think they are, going out in the streets and looting like a bunch of wild animals in order to protest?  The guy was shot!  He was a clear threat to the officers and had PCP in his car.  This is ridiculous.  The officer felt he had to protect himself.  What gives people the right to then go out and loot and act like a bunch of wild animals and get more people killed in response?  How on earth is that a mature response to the situation?  I'm so disgusted.


I'm so tired of all this violence. If a cop shoots someone suddenly it's acceptable to go around and commit violence or loot and steal. We start reacting before we even know the facts of the situation and we place all the blame on officers as if they are just looking to shoot people. We don't hear all the stories about officers being shot every day. We don't see riots and protests when another cop is shot by a supposedly unarmed suspect. It's time we start fairly representing both sides of a situation.


The person is male. Racially, the person is hispanic / latino. The person is 32 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 35000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 4.5 in stability.

The violence due to guns in this co0untry is becoming way too prevalent. We must do something to fix it but the republicans seem to be too much into gun control. I feel like that is the downside of things. There needs to be a better dialogue between both parties because too many people are dying at the hands of guns.


The person is male. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 37 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 40000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

It makes me mad when I hear about people not wanting NFL players to take a knee or when people get mad at Black Lives Matter movement. There is a real problem in America when it comes to how black people at treated by the police. The police are far too often quick to shoot an unarmed black person, but take white mass shooters alive.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 35 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 32000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.0 in openness, 3.0 in conscientiousness, 1.5 in extraversion, 4.5 in agreeableness, and 2.0 in stability.

I can't believe that this is what America has become. People are dying every day. They are dying at the hands of those who should be protecting us. They are dying at the hands of random strangers with a vendetta. At what point does all this stop and do civilians get to feel safe again? If guns aren't the problem then what is the problem? If the police aren't the problem then who is responsible for these deaths?


Riot police move in on North Dakota pipeline protesters —  Armed police in the US state of North Dakota have arrested 141 Native American protesters and environmental activists during a tense confrontation. They were among several hundred people who occupied private land in the path of a controversial new oil pipeline. Police fired non-lethal rounds and used pepper spray and sound cannon to push protesters back to their main encampment on public land. Skirmishes lasted overnight and continued until early Friday morning. By then, spent bean bag rounds and pepper spray canisters littered the ground as police towed away vehicles that the protesters had burned to create barricades in the road, including several military-grade Humvees. "They used a sonic device and then also they used rubber bullets and we have shots of people who had rubber bullets right to the face. They maced elders right in the face. They dragged people out of sweat lodges. They shot one 15-year-old boy's horse and killed it under him," Jacqueline Keeler from the Sioux tribe told the BBC. She said members of the tribe were protesting because the pipeline threatened the region's water supply went across land never ceded by the tribe. Police said they had fired non-lethal bean bag rounds in response to stone throwing and one woman who fired a pistol three times at police officers without hitting any. Dozens of officers in riot gear, some armed, moved in assisted by trucks and military Humvees. Morton County Sheriff's office said the operation began at 11:15am local time (18:15 GMT) and that protesters had refused to leave voluntarily on Wednesday. Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said the protesters were a "public safety issue" and their actions had "forced law enforcement to respond". "We cannot have protesters blocking county roads, blocking state highways or trespassing on private property," he said in a statement. But Robert Eder, a 64-year-old Vietnam War veteran from the Standing Rock Reservation, said protesters were not scared. "If they take everybody to jail, there will be twice as many tomorrow, and every day that passes more will come," he said. "If they raze these teepees, tomorrow we will be back." Hundreds of protesters have camped on the federally owned land for months, with more than 260 people arrested before Thursday's police operation. Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the project, has said it will boost the local economy and is safer than transporting oil by rail or road. Members of the Sioux tribe say the Dakota Access pipeline will desecrate sacred land and harm water resources. The pipeline will run almost 1,900km (1,170 miles), carrying oil to Gulf Coast refineries. Native American protesters claim the land as their own, citing a 19th Century treaty with the federal government. The protest has drawn the attention of activists and celebrities, including actress-activist Shailene Woodley and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.

This is a very sad situation. I can see both sides are trying to do something good, but just have different values. The Native Americans really deserve to keep their land and their resources. Maybe the people that are building the oil pipeline can figure out a way to do it that will not interfere with the Native American's lives.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 26 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 65000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 7.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

Hey, Did you see the article about the most police arresting all the rioters over the North Dakota pipeline. I don't really feel guilt about it. I think they broke the law and they got what was coming to them. You are free to make your on choice but you are not free of the consequences that come with those choices


I think it was good that they killed that kids horse what was he doing there any way his parents should get locked up for putting him at risk like that. I think we need more oil and I don't care how we get it. I hope we build more pipelines all over this country. I don't need to be paying more for my gas.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 38 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 42000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 6.5 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

Well while I am sorry for the people affected by this, it is never appropriate to protest on private land, block public highways, shoot guns at police, or throw rocks.  These people do these things then act so shocked when the police react and suddenly they are the victims.  Sorry, not in my book.  If you hae an issue, you can contact politicians or go vote.  Disrupting the peace and threatening the safety of others is not an appropriate response.  it makes me mad.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 27 years old. The person has a went to technical / vocational school. The person earns 25000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

I feel for both sides on this story. Native americans have been kicked out of land and hold the land they do still have very precious to them. They are trying to protect what is theres and water for there people. They believe in the contract that was signed and want to keep the promise. On the other hand the police are just doing there job and trying to keep from any bad things happening. When you have people firing guns at police that is when things have to get more serious and they have to use force. You cant just block roads and set cars on fire. It was very sad that a horse was killed and that older people are getting hurt and arrested.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 41 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 28000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.0 in openness, 2.5 in conscientiousness, 1.5 in extraversion, 2.0 in agreeableness, and 1.0 in stability.

Paris attacks: A year of grief, anger and change —  Lanterns, candles and calls for peace illuminated the City of Light on Sunday as Paris mourned 130 people killed one year ago in attacks throughout the city.   November 13, 2015, was like any other day for Georges Salines: Work, a lunchtime swim with his daughter Lola, watching the news on TV, and an early night. He had no idea, until the phone rang, jolting him from his sleep, that his world was about to change forever. "I went to bed ... without knowing what was going on in the streets of Paris," he recalls. "I was woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night, from my eldest son, who knew that his sister was at the Bataclan." Salines' 29-year-old daughter, Lola, had gone to a concert at the Bataclan by US rock band the Eagles of Death Metal. Midway through the show, ISIS-linked gunmen opened fire on the audience and detonated suicide vests; 90 people were killed in the raid, one of a series of coordinated attacks across Paris. Unable to reach her, the family spent hours trying to find out what had happened to Lola, calling emergency help lines and hospitals, even the morgue, but nobody could tell them if she was alive. Then the worst news, delivered in the worst way: They discovered via social media that she had been killed. "I hope she didn't suffer or see her death coming," her father says. French President Francois Hollande unveiled plaques at attack sites in the city -- at the Stade de France, outside the Petit Cambodge restaurant, in the Boulevard Voltaire, and at the Bonne Biere and Belle Equipe cafes. At the Bataclan, the President tore down a French flag to reveal the memorial, as the names of all 90 who perished there were read aloud in solemn ceremony. It followed an emotional performance on Saturday night by musician Sting, a fundraiser for victim support charities at the newly opened Bataclan. He began with the words: "We shall not forget them." The much-loved venue has been renovated to remove all traces of the massacre that took place there. On Sunday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said a state of emergency, first imposed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, will likely be extended. With the country's presidential elections coming in April-May, the prime minister said the government needs to retain the extra powers delegated by emergency laws "to protect our democracy."   Denys Plaud was also at the Bataclan on the night of the attacks. He credits his survival to the fact that, when the attackers burst in, he was up on the balcony where there was more room to move to the music. "I love to dance, and that saved my life," he told CNN days after his escape from the Bataclan. "It meant I was not in the direct line of fire from the terrorists' machine guns." Plaud hid in a tiny room at the venue with 15 others; they waited as the gunmen got closer and closer, even shooting at the partition that sheltered them: "I thought, 'Oh my God, I hope that wall will stand.'" "For three hours, we had to listen to the shooting," he remembers. "That was terrible. Every time we thought it would end, it was just time for the terrorists to get their weapons reloaded, and then they would shoot again." Eventually, the police arrived and led them to safety across what Plaud calls "the bloody battlefield," urging them not to look at the bodies of their fellow music fans. "But ... it was not a direct path, I had to look where I was putting my feet. ... There was no way but to look at death." A year on, he says, the memories are "very fresh ... it's just like it was yesterday." By late morning Sunday, the first flowers to remember victims were placed among the autumn leaves at the Place de la République, which became the center of the city's mourning and expressions of national unity after the attacks. For many Parisians, it is an opportunity to begin getting on with life. The year since the attacks has been filled with shock, grief and mourning -- for the relatives of the dead, for those who survived, and for France as a whole: The nation was left traumatized. Extra police and troops have been on the streets of France since January 2015, when terrorists attacked the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people: Armed officers now patrol outside tourist hot spots, schools, government and religious buildings. Operation Sentinel has seen the mobilization of 10,000 soldiers to monitor and protect more than 11,000 locations across the country -- 3,000 of them religious sites, the rest a mixture of key infrastructure, industrial plants and "symbolic" places around the country. And despite all the extra security on the streets, what happened in January and November 2015 -- and other incidents that followed in 2016, in Nice, Rouen and Magnanville -- have impacted the country's morale. Plaud says Paris itself was left "in shock." Anger at these events has been linked to a steep rise in xenophobia; according to the National Commission on Human Rights, or CCNDH, there were 429 reports of attacks on, and threats against, Muslims in France in 2015 -- a rise of 223% on the previous year. This "wave of aggression against Muslims" ranged from assaults on women wearing the hijab to graffiti on places of worship and halal butcher shops. In one incident, the door handle of a mosque was wrapped in bacon. The CCNDH says the majority happened in January and November. The attacks have also damaged France's prized tourism industry: Almost 2 million fewer visitors have come to the country over the past year -- international arrivals are down 8.1% so far in 2016. But Plaud says the country has seen troubled times before, and is sure to bounce back: "I am confident; in Parisian history there have been a lot of events like that -- war, civil war. But Paris has always been able to recover." #ParisResiste Balloons were released into the skies over Paris, and as darkness fell, thousands of lanterns were floated on the waters of the Canal St. Martin, close to the scene of several of the attacks. A social media campaign, #ParisResiste called on people to display lighted candles in the windows of their homes on Sunday evening, to "light up the city" and "brighten the future." Salines concedes the day will be a difficult one for many: "Some families have chosen to take a vacation and go abroad even, because there will be a lot of media attention and there will be a lot of archive footage of last year -- I'm sure it will be painful to see these images again." Plaud suffered flashbacks in the months after the attack that forced him to give up his job as a math and physics tutor, but says he is gradually recovering. This week he returned to the Bataclan for the first time. "I want[ed] to come back to pay my last homage to the victims and people who died there," he says. "It is important even if it is very strong, emotionally, to be here." Both Plaud and Salines say putting pen to paper has helped them through the past 12 months. "I wanted to write in order not to forget," Salines says. "The writing helped me, because it was the only way in the first days that I could think about what had happened ... not without pain, but being able to stay calm and to keep some distance between the pain and my thinking." The idea for his book, "The unspeakable, from A to Z" came, he says, from "the messages I received from friends and family -- lots of them started with the words, 'this is unspeakable,' 'we don't know what to say,' 'there are no words.' They had no words but I had lots! I started to make a list of words and ... little by little it grew and it grew into a book." He says the dictionary-like form his writings took helped reflect the rapidly changing emotions he experienced in the weeks and months after Lola's death. "It was very close to what I was experiencing in terms of the shift between very different moods, even happening all at the same time, within a few minutes, from crying to laughing. When you read you go from one word to another, from emotional feelings ... to very funny." The first entry in the book: A is for absurd. "Because Lola, and I am sure all the other young people who lost their lives that day, were total strangers to the situation, the fight that the terrorists have and it is profoundly unjust." For Plaud, revisiting his experiences to write about them "was very difficult [but] it was therapeutic." "It was a way to exorcise the demons and all the horror I saw that night. It was dangerous because sometimes I had to go deep inside my memories of death." 'Grieving never ends' "The grieving never ends," says Salines. "I am at a stage now where I know that things are relatively stable -- the pain will probably last for the rest of my life but I don't break down in tears three times a day as I was doing at the beginning." Salines is sustained by his work as chairman of one of the support groups for those affected by the events of November 13, and by his memories of Lola. "Her life was maybe short, but it was a full life, full of happiness," he says. A publisher of children's and young adult books, Lola loved to travel and had a passion for roller derby. "She had incredible energy. We didn't know how she could do so many things in a day." "She did a lot of good things in her life, she had a great deal of pleasure, she was very enthusiastic," he says. "She had a good life. Writing about it was maybe a way of convincing myself, but I feel pretty confident that my daughter's life was a good life." Plaud says for him, the time has come to move on. "It's been one year now and I feel like it's the end of my mourning." "It is a good thing that life has come back again," he says. "We have to keep the memory, but you also [must] not be stuck in that horror, [you must] keep on living."

This one sort of gets to me.  The article humanizes the tragedy very clearly, focusing on the one man who lost his daughter, or the individual people who experienced the attacks.  I think it's ironic that the U.S. gets this reputation as a racist country and all that stuff, but the French response was just the same as ours.  The government took extra power to increase safety.  People attacked Muslims because they were pissed off.  The nation grieved.  Sounds a lot like America after 9/11.  We then went after the source of the problem (and beyond).  The French aren't quite as bold.  The one thing I thought of in this story is the band that were playing.  how awful to think that you wanted people to come see you and as a result they got killed at your show.  Awful to live with.


I think what happens is just too sad. Anytime attacks like these are done on innocent people you can't help but try and think of ways you can prevent this. Paris is such a long historic place too and  to have these attacks happen there really makes you wonder if there is any place that is safe. That is the truth.


The person is female. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 34 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 34000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 6.5 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

I feel so upset that someone in the name of god would think its okay to plan and carry out a plan to kill  a bunch of people . Just innocent people thinking they are about to go to a concert and enjoy themselves and there life is taken away in the blink of a eye and for what. What has to happen for more gun laws how many people have to be killed in such a senseless way . Its becoming that we are so use to people being killed in this mannor that it its almost becoming  the norm


The person is female. Racially, the person is hispanic / latino. The person is 27 years old. The person has a two year associate degree. The person earns 20000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 7.0 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

What a tragic story. I cannot imagine the sorrow the people affected have gone through. I hope society can come up with a solution for terrorism and that it can help in the future. It is sad that many people around the world have had to go through this event or something similar to it. There are too many stories around the world that are similar.


I can't even imagine that these people must have gone through. Imagine being at a concert, enjoying yourself, and then all of a sudden you are being shot at. You are watching your friends drop to the floor dead. The people hiding had to endure so much. Just sitting there waiting to be killed. I will never understand how a human can inflict that kind of suffering on another human. It is such a terrible and scary thing.