California voters to decide on GMO labeling in November

On the evening of June 11, the California Secretary of State's office announced that the Right to Know initiative to label genetically engineered foods will be on the state's November ballot.

The announcement by the California Secretary of State's office can be viewed here.

Polls show overwhelming support for this historic labeling initiative and this will be the first law in the United States to require labeling of a wide range of genetically modified foods.

Stacy Malkan, a spokesperson for the California Right to Know campaign, said, “We’re thrilled that Californians will have the opportunity this November to vote for the right to know what’s in our food.”... read full article.

Assange 'The World Tomorrow' Ep 8: Cypherpunks part 2 — Internet Privacy

In part 2 of Assange's interview with the Cypherpunk movement, we learn how Internet privacy is in danger and what steps can be taken to protect this.

As stated in last week's episode, cyber threats, hacker attacks and laws are officially aiming to tackle Internet piracy, but are, in fact, infringing on people's rights to online privacy.

Cypherpunks is a movement originating from Cypherpunks’ Electronic Mailing List, which was set up by activists aiming to improve Internet privacy and security through proactive use of cryptography. The movement has been active since the late 1980s. WikiLeaks is one of the many projects derived from Cypherpunks... read more and view full episode.

US fears new massacre in Syria — possible no-fly zone?

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon has expressed his "deep concern" over the "dangerous intensification of armed violence across Syria" over the past few days.

Clashes between government forces and the opposition are escalating.

Ban's press office has said in a statement, "The bloodshed and fighting must stop at once. The government's intensive military operations, including the shelling of Homs and reportedly other population centers, as well as firing from helicopters on Talbiseh and Rastan, are resulting in heavy civilian casualties and human rights violations."

The video above from Dubai-based broadcaster Al-Arabiya shows chaos on the streets of Talbiseh in Homs as it is bombarded by shelling... read more and watch videos

Clones, Ireland returns to using the Irish punt as currency

The town of Clones in Ireland, struggling with the Euro crisis, now uses the old Irish punt as currency in its shops. This is doing much to boost the economy of the town.

Just three days prior to Ireland's crucial referendum on the Eurozone's fiscal pact, which could further complicate the ongoing debate on austerity in Europe, one small town near the Northern Ireland border decided to start using the old Irish currency, the punt (pound).

Shopkeepers, bar owners, butchers and ordinary citizens in Clones, County Monaghan have taken matters into their own hands by reintroducing the old currency. Apparently thousands of punts have been stored away in drawers and under mattresses and they are now being resurrected... read more and view video.

Spanish baby-jumping festival in Castrillo de Murcia

Every year the small Spanish town of Castrillo de Murcia holds the El Colacho festival, where a man dressed as the devil jumps over babies to cleanse them from evil spirits.

Spain has many unusual festivals throughout the year, but this is possibly one of the strangest.

This year the event was held on June 10, with over 200 locals participated in the festival in the small medieval town of Castrillo de Murcia near Burgos, northern Spain. 

The festival dates back to 1621... read more and view videos of the event.

Magnitude-5.8 earthquake shakes southwest Turkey — 6 injured

Southwest Turkey was hit by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake today, which was also felt on the Greek Island of Rhodes and in Northern Cyprus.

According to local media, six people were reportedly injured after jumping from their balconies or windows in panic and are being treated in a local hospital.

Fethiye, a popular resort town in Mugla province, is the closest town to the epicenter of the quake, which was in the Aegean Sea. Tremors were also felt on the Greek Island of Rhodes, with no injuries reported, and the quake was also felt in Northern Cyprus... read more.

Video: Russian fans attack stewards at Euro 2012

The first day of the Euro 2012 championships was apparently marred by violence, as seen in this amateur video uploaded to YouTube.

The video shows a group of Russian fans attacking match stewards after the Russia-Czech Republic game in Wroclaw on Friday, where Russia won by 4-1.

Apparently the fight broke out because the stewards spotted a fan throwing fireworks on to the pitch during the match.... read more and view video.

UK Government's choice of security firm for Olympics in question

Questions arise from Parliament over the choice of U.K.-based G4S, accused of human rights abuses in Palestinian terrorities, as security for the Olympics.

G4S describes itself as “world’s leading international security solutions group” and has been given the security mission for the Olympics 2012. The company has already taken on 10,400 new employees for the Games.

However, G4S is a known supplier of equipment to several Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank.... read more and view video interview.

Pavlik the octopus ready to predict winners for Euro 2012

Not only is Pavlik ready, he is apparently also going to be channeled by Yvonne the cow. Get ready to run to the bookmakers!

Remember Paul the Octopus who made some incredible predictions for the FIFA World Cup series? Well now he has a namesake in Ukraine, Pavlik (Ukrainian for Paul).

Unfortunately due to technical problems at the zoo, he wasn't quite ready to get going on the first day of the tournament, so he missed a couple of games.

However, Viktor Zhilenko, director of the Alushta aquarium (where Pavlik resides) has said, “Pavlik will be ready to predict results on Monday when the Ukrainian team kicks off the game.”... read more

Anonymous hacks 'Aryan Front' neo-Nazi website

In their latest strike, the collective of hacktivists have attacked the Aryan Front Neo-Nazi website, leaving messages and downloading member information.

On Friday morning, users of the "white community" web forum found messages from Anonymous hacktivists when logging in. All posts made on Aryan-Front.com appeared to have been erased from the server, or at least were rendered unavailable to its 1,441 registered users.

Messages on the home page included "Hacked by Anonymous", "F*ck off, Nazi scum" and "You should have expected us." ... read full article.