Saudi offer in corruption crackdown: 'cough up the cash and go home' | World news | The Guardian
Government demanding up to 70% of rich detainees’ wealth in return for their freedom, newspaper reports
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Death soon may not be so final, thanks to these creepy technologies
Within a couple of decades, visiting deceased friends and relatives by traveling to a grassy gravesite may seem as quaint as popping a videotape into your VHS player. By then, our whole experience of death may be drastically different.
If you believe Ray Kurzweil, an outspoken futurist and the director of engineering at Google, computers will soon match the capabilities of the human brain. At that point, our consciousness will become intimately mingled with machine intelligence, leading to a kind of immorality.
Within a couple of decades, visiting deceased friends and relatives by traveling to a grassy gravesite may seem as quaint as popping a videotape into your VHS player. By then, our whole experience of death may be drastically different.
If you believe Ray Kurzweil, an outspoken futurist and the director of engineering at Google, computers will soon match the capabilities of the human brain. At that point, our consciousness will become intimately mingled with machine intelligence, leading to a kind of immorality.
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Woman with 'F--k Trump' sticker arrested day after sheriff Facebook post
FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — A Texas woman who donned a "F--k Trump" sticker on her truck was released from jail Thursday night, a day after a local sheriff threatened to press charges against her for the display.
Mike Fonseca said his wife, Karen, was picked up Thursday afternoon for an outstanding warrant from August. He posted her bond Thursday night, and she was released from jail about an hour later.
Records show Karen Fonseca is accused of fraud. The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said they made the arrest after getting a tip about the warrant.
FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — A Texas woman who donned a "F--k Trump" sticker on her truck was released from jail Thursday night, a day after a local sheriff threatened to press charges against her for the display.
Mike Fonseca said his wife, Karen, was picked up Thursday afternoon for an outstanding warrant from August. He posted her bond Thursday night, and she was released from jail about an hour later.
Records show Karen Fonseca is accused of fraud. The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said they made the arrest after getting a tip about the warrant.
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Large U.S. farm study finds no cancer link to Monsanto weedkiller
LONDON (Reuters) - A large long-term study on the use of the big-selling weedkiller glyphosate by agricultural workers in the United States has found no firm link between exposure to the pesticide and cancer, scientists said on Thursday.
Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), the study found there was no association between glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's popular herbicide RoundUp, "and any solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies overall, including non-Hogkin Lymphoma (NHL) and its subtypes".
LONDON (Reuters) - A large long-term study on the use of the big-selling weedkiller glyphosate by agricultural workers in the United States has found no firm link between exposure to the pesticide and cancer, scientists said on Thursday.
Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), the study found there was no association between glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's popular herbicide RoundUp, "and any solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies overall, including non-Hogkin Lymphoma (NHL) and its subtypes".
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State Department defends reorganization, admits low morale
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is hitting back at the growing bipartisan criticism of Rex Tillerson's leadership and accusations he is presiding over a debilitating brain drain of the nation's diplomatic corps. At the same time, it allowed that a lack of communication with employees about Tillerson's intent to reorganize the department had contributed to low morale.
In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Republican chairman, the department said Tillerson's reorganization plans aren't crippling the agency as reports have claimed. Top ranks aren't being intentionally gutted through attrition, mass retirements and buyouts, it said, and a planned 8 percent reduction of its nearly 75,000 employees had been mandated by the Office of Management and Budget and is proceeding under that order.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is hitting back at the growing bipartisan criticism of Rex Tillerson's leadership and accusations he is presiding over a debilitating brain drain of the nation's diplomatic corps. At the same time, it allowed that a lack of communication with employees about Tillerson's intent to reorganize the department had contributed to low morale.
In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Republican chairman, the department said Tillerson's reorganization plans aren't crippling the agency as reports have claimed. Top ranks aren't being intentionally gutted through attrition, mass retirements and buyouts, it said, and a planned 8 percent reduction of its nearly 75,000 employees had been mandated by the Office of Management and Budget and is proceeding under that order.
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Massive US military social media spying archive left wide open in AWS S3 buckets • The Register
Three misconfigured AWS S3 buckets have been discovered wide open on the public internet containing "dozens of terabytes" of social media posts and similar pages – all scraped from around the world by the US military to identify and profile persons of interest.
The archives were found by UpGuard's veteran security-breach hunter Chris Vickery during a routine scan of open Amazon-hosted data silos, and the trio weren't exactly hidden. The buckets were named centcom-backup, centcom-archive, and pacom-archive.
Three misconfigured AWS S3 buckets have been discovered wide open on the public internet containing "dozens of terabytes" of social media posts and similar pages – all scraped from around the world by the US military to identify and profile persons of interest.
The archives were found by UpGuard's veteran security-breach hunter Chris Vickery during a routine scan of open Amazon-hosted data silos, and the trio weren't exactly hidden. The buckets were named centcom-backup, centcom-archive, and pacom-archive.
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India ruling party member offers bounty for director, star
NEW DELHI (AP) — A member of India’s Hindu nationalist ruling party has offered a 100 million rupee ($1.5 million) reward to anyone who beheads the lead actress and the director of the yet-to-be released Bollywood film “Padmavati” over its alleged handling of the relationship between a Hindu queen and a Muslim ruler.
* * *
“Padmavati” is based on a 16th century Sufi epic poem, “Padmavat,” a fictional account of a brave and beautiful Rajput queen who chose to kill herself rather than be captured by the Muslim sultan of Delhi, Allaudin Khilji. Over centuries of its retelling, the epic has come to be seen as history, even though there is little historical evidence.
* * *
Most of the anger at the film appears to stem from allegations that Bhansali has distorted history by filming a romantic dream sequence between the main protagonists of the film. Bhansali has denied the allegations.
NEW DELHI (AP) — A member of India’s Hindu nationalist ruling party has offered a 100 million rupee ($1.5 million) reward to anyone who beheads the lead actress and the director of the yet-to-be released Bollywood film “Padmavati” over its alleged handling of the relationship between a Hindu queen and a Muslim ruler.
* * *
“Padmavati” is based on a 16th century Sufi epic poem, “Padmavat,” a fictional account of a brave and beautiful Rajput queen who chose to kill herself rather than be captured by the Muslim sultan of Delhi, Allaudin Khilji. Over centuries of its retelling, the epic has come to be seen as history, even though there is little historical evidence.
* * *
Most of the anger at the film appears to stem from allegations that Bhansali has distorted history by filming a romantic dream sequence between the main protagonists of the film. Bhansali has denied the allegations.
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Russia: Putin creating robot army after tank 'outperforms' humans | Daily Star
It is capable of carrying a 12.7mm or 7.62mm machine gun or an AG-30M grenade launcher to wreak havoc on the enemy.
And the latest success could mean Putin’s arsenal eventually becomes fully-automated – mimicking the rise of the Terminators in the iconic sci-fi franchise.
Colonel Oleg Pomazuev wouldn’t say which manned platforms were outperformed, but did hint that the Kremlin was shifting towards an increasingly automated arsenal.
“In the Armed Forces, new robots come, they perform the tasks of reconnaissance, de-mining, firefighting,” he told Russian site Military Review.
“In the future, in addition to these, the tasks of shock and assault will also be decided.”
It is capable of carrying a 12.7mm or 7.62mm machine gun or an AG-30M grenade launcher to wreak havoc on the enemy.
And the latest success could mean Putin’s arsenal eventually becomes fully-automated – mimicking the rise of the Terminators in the iconic sci-fi franchise.
Colonel Oleg Pomazuev wouldn’t say which manned platforms were outperformed, but did hint that the Kremlin was shifting towards an increasingly automated arsenal.
“In the Armed Forces, new robots come, they perform the tasks of reconnaissance, de-mining, firefighting,” he told Russian site Military Review.
“In the future, in addition to these, the tasks of shock and assault will also be decided.”
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The fight brewing in Congress over how to reauthorize a key surveillance tool - CBS News
Nearly a decade ago, FBI agents arrested a 24-year-old legal permanent resident from Afghanistan in the U.S. who was charged with conspiracy to bomb the New York City subway system.
A tool approved by Congress in 2008 helped federal officials catch this man, Najibullah Zazi, and prevent him from carrying out his plot. That tool is set to expire Dec. 31, and a debate has been brewing among lawmakers about where a reauthorization should fit on the spectrum of balancing broad surveillance powers and protecting individuals' privacy.
To unravel the 2009 plot, officials relied on the authority provided by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's (FISA) Section 702. They used it to expose an email address used by an al Qaeda courier in Pakistan, which revealed communications with an unknown person located in the U.S. who was seeking advice on how to build explosives. The National Security Agency (NSA) passed the information along to the FBI, which identified the man as Zazi. After he and his co-conspirators were arrested, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent executive branch agency, said that, "Without the initial tip-off about Zazi and his plans, which came about by monitoring an overseas foreigner under Section 702, the subway bombing plot might have...succeeded."
Nearly a decade ago, FBI agents arrested a 24-year-old legal permanent resident from Afghanistan in the U.S. who was charged with conspiracy to bomb the New York City subway system.
A tool approved by Congress in 2008 helped federal officials catch this man, Najibullah Zazi, and prevent him from carrying out his plot. That tool is set to expire Dec. 31, and a debate has been brewing among lawmakers about where a reauthorization should fit on the spectrum of balancing broad surveillance powers and protecting individuals' privacy.
To unravel the 2009 plot, officials relied on the authority provided by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's (FISA) Section 702. They used it to expose an email address used by an al Qaeda courier in Pakistan, which revealed communications with an unknown person located in the U.S. who was seeking advice on how to build explosives. The National Security Agency (NSA) passed the information along to the FBI, which identified the man as Zazi. After he and his co-conspirators were arrested, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent executive branch agency, said that, "Without the initial tip-off about Zazi and his plans, which came about by monitoring an overseas foreigner under Section 702, the subway bombing plot might have...succeeded."
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Baltimore residents react to recent violence: 'I don't really feel safe anywhere anymore' - Baltimore Sun
Sitting in the hair salon she has owned for 27 years, Pamela Coleman was saying she hasn’t been a victim of crime herself. Then she quickly knocked on the nearest piece of wood — to avoid jinxing not only herself, but also her city.
“I’m not going to say we’ve hit bottom,” said Coleman, the 52-year-old owner of X-Cetra Salon in the Hamilton neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. “But we’re not far from the bottom.
“I think it’s the worst I’ve ever seen, and I have been living in Baltimore my entire life. I don’t really feel safe anywhere anymore.”
Sitting in the hair salon she has owned for 27 years, Pamela Coleman was saying she hasn’t been a victim of crime herself. Then she quickly knocked on the nearest piece of wood — to avoid jinxing not only herself, but also her city.
“I’m not going to say we’ve hit bottom,” said Coleman, the 52-year-old owner of X-Cetra Salon in the Hamilton neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. “But we’re not far from the bottom.
“I think it’s the worst I’ve ever seen, and I have been living in Baltimore my entire life. I don’t really feel safe anywhere anymore.”
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Upsurge in big earthquakes predicted for 2018 as Earth rotation slows | World news | The Guardian
Scientists have warned there could be a big increase in numbers of devastating earthquakes around the world next year. They believe variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation could trigger intense seismic activity, particularly in heavily populated tropical regions.
Although such fluctuations in rotation are small – changing the length of the day by a millisecond – they could still be implicated in the release of vast amounts of underground energy, it is argued.
Scientists have warned there could be a big increase in numbers of devastating earthquakes around the world next year. They believe variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation could trigger intense seismic activity, particularly in heavily populated tropical regions.
Although such fluctuations in rotation are small – changing the length of the day by a millisecond – they could still be implicated in the release of vast amounts of underground energy, it is argued.
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Upsurge in big earthquakes predicted for 2018 as Earth rotation slows | World news | The Guardian
Scientists have warned there could be a big increase in numbers of devastating earthquakes around the world next year. They believe variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation could trigger intense seismic activity, particularly in heavily populated tropical regions.
Although such fluctuations in rotation are small – changing the length of the day by a millisecond – they could still be implicated in the release of vast amounts of underground energy, it is argued.
Scientists have warned there could be a big increase in numbers of devastating earthquakes around the world next year. They believe variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation could trigger intense seismic activity, particularly in heavily populated tropical regions.
Although such fluctuations in rotation are small – changing the length of the day by a millisecond – they could still be implicated in the release of vast amounts of underground energy, it is argued.
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'Stop saying Christmas' Priest warns Christians to abandon the word | UK | News | Express.co.uk
Father Desmond O’Donnell said Christians of all denominations should realise that Christmas and Easter no longer has any sacred meaning.
He told the Belfast Telegraph: “We’ve lost Christmas, just like we lost Easter, and should abandon the word completely. We need to let it go, it’s already been hijacked and we just need to recognise and accept that.
“I am simply asking that space be preserved for believers for whom Christmas has nothing to do with Santa and reindeer.
“My religious experience of true Christmas, like so many others, is very deep and real – like the air I breathe. But non-believers deserve and need their celebration too, it’s an essential human dynamic and we all need that in the toughness of life.
Father Desmond O’Donnell said Christians of all denominations should realise that Christmas and Easter no longer has any sacred meaning.
He told the Belfast Telegraph: “We’ve lost Christmas, just like we lost Easter, and should abandon the word completely. We need to let it go, it’s already been hijacked and we just need to recognise and accept that.
“I am simply asking that space be preserved for believers for whom Christmas has nothing to do with Santa and reindeer.
“My religious experience of true Christmas, like so many others, is very deep and real – like the air I breathe. But non-believers deserve and need their celebration too, it’s an essential human dynamic and we all need that in the toughness of life.
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BOOM! Mystery blasts rattling the globe
Those are the questions experts and non-experts around the world are asking themselves in recent weeks as curiously loud mystery BOOMS have not only been hear around the world, but felt – shaking buildings and rattling nerves from Alabama to Michigan, Idaho to California, Russia to Denmark.
The Alabama boom last Tuesday at 1:39 CST was heard and felt through 11 counties, but an earthquake event has been ruled out.
Those are the questions experts and non-experts around the world are asking themselves in recent weeks as curiously loud mystery BOOMS have not only been hear around the world, but felt – shaking buildings and rattling nerves from Alabama to Michigan, Idaho to California, Russia to Denmark.
The Alabama boom last Tuesday at 1:39 CST was heard and felt through 11 counties, but an earthquake event has been ruled out.
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Disaster claims soar in year of calamities | Reading Eagle - AP
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - The number of Americans registered for federal disaster aid jumped tenfold this year, costing billions of dollars in additional emergency funding as the nation nears the end of a historically calamitous year.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - The number of Americans registered for federal disaster aid jumped tenfold this year, costing billions of dollars in additional emergency funding as the nation nears the end of a historically calamitous year.
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Police can request your DNA from 23andMe, Ancestry | WJAX-TV
Millions of people have handed their DNA over to genetic testing companies like Ancestry or 23andMe to learn more about their family trees.
But when you ship off your saliva, law enforcement could have access to your DNA.
Police could use genetic information it gets from those companies to identify you in a criminal investigation, even if you’ve never used one of those services.
Millions of people have handed their DNA over to genetic testing companies like Ancestry or 23andMe to learn more about their family trees.
But when you ship off your saliva, law enforcement could have access to your DNA.
Police could use genetic information it gets from those companies to identify you in a criminal investigation, even if you’ve never used one of those services.
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A half-loaded gun, a well-built bunker and 1,000 hidden bikes found along Santa Ana River – Orange County Register
The makeshift bunker beneath a recently-displaced Fountain Valley homeless encampment was big enough for a grown person to stand inside, replete with wood-paneled walls and a support beam, and accessible only via a small hatch camouflaged to blend in with its dirt surroundings.
The half-loaded .357 Magnum found near the same camp, along the Santa Ana River, contained three empty shell casings – meaning it had been fired.
The makeshift bunker beneath a recently-displaced Fountain Valley homeless encampment was big enough for a grown person to stand inside, replete with wood-paneled walls and a support beam, and accessible only via a small hatch camouflaged to blend in with its dirt surroundings.
The half-loaded .357 Magnum found near the same camp, along the Santa Ana River, contained three empty shell casings – meaning it had been fired.
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Robot doctors come a step closer as a machine passes medical exams with flying colours - Mirror Online
One of the world's first robot doctors has passed its medical exams with flying colours, it emerged.
Xiao Yi was put through his paces in the test with his human counterparts and showed he had "mastered" the skills for the job.
Researchers got him ready for his big day by inputting knowledge from dozens of medical books over the past year.
But rather than just spit it back out it in the exam he also had to show a "reasoning process" for treating a given symptom.
One of the world's first robot doctors has passed its medical exams with flying colours, it emerged.
Xiao Yi was put through his paces in the test with his human counterparts and showed he had "mastered" the skills for the job.
Researchers got him ready for his big day by inputting knowledge from dozens of medical books over the past year.
But rather than just spit it back out it in the exam he also had to show a "reasoning process" for treating a given symptom.
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Amazon Web Services Announces Secret Cloud Region For CIA - Nextgov.com
Amazon Web Services unveiled a cloud computing region for the CIA and other intelligence community agencies developed specifically to host secret classified data.
The AWS Secret Region will allow the 17 intelligence agencies to host, analyze and run applications on government data classified at the secret level through the company’s $600 million C2S contract, brokered several years ago with the CIA. AWS already provides a region for the intelligence community’s top secret data.
“Today we mark an important milestone as we launch the AWS Secret Region,” said Teresa Carlson, vice president of AWS Worldwide Public Sector. “AWS now provides the U.S. intelligence community a commercial cloud capability across all classification levels: unclassified, sensitive, secret and top secret. "The U.S. intelligence community can now execute their missions with a common set of tools, a constant flow of the latest technology and the flexibility to rapidly scale with the mission.”
Amazon Web Services unveiled a cloud computing region for the CIA and other intelligence community agencies developed specifically to host secret classified data.
The AWS Secret Region will allow the 17 intelligence agencies to host, analyze and run applications on government data classified at the secret level through the company’s $600 million C2S contract, brokered several years ago with the CIA. AWS already provides a region for the intelligence community’s top secret data.
“Today we mark an important milestone as we launch the AWS Secret Region,” said Teresa Carlson, vice president of AWS Worldwide Public Sector. “AWS now provides the U.S. intelligence community a commercial cloud capability across all classification levels: unclassified, sensitive, secret and top secret. "The U.S. intelligence community can now execute their missions with a common set of tools, a constant flow of the latest technology and the flexibility to rapidly scale with the mission.”
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More older Millennials live with relatives, a legacy of the recession
The share of older Millennials living with relatives is still rising, underscoring the lingering obstacles faced by Americans who entered the workforce during and after the Great Recession.
About 20% of adults age 26 to 34 are living with parents or other family members, a figure that has climbed steadily the past decade and is up from 17% in 2012, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by Trulia, a real estate research firm. The increase defies record job openings and a 4.1% unemployment rate, the lowest in 17 years.
Not surprisingly, a much larger portion of younger Millennials age 18 to 25 (59.8%) live with relatives, but that figure generally has fallen the past few years after peaking at 61.1% in 2012.
The share of older Millennials living with relatives is still rising, underscoring the lingering obstacles faced by Americans who entered the workforce during and after the Great Recession.
About 20% of adults age 26 to 34 are living with parents or other family members, a figure that has climbed steadily the past decade and is up from 17% in 2012, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by Trulia, a real estate research firm. The increase defies record job openings and a 4.1% unemployment rate, the lowest in 17 years.
Not surprisingly, a much larger portion of younger Millennials age 18 to 25 (59.8%) live with relatives, but that figure generally has fallen the past few years after peaking at 61.1% in 2012.
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Years Before Heading Offshore, Herpes Researcher Experimented On People In U.S. | Kaiser Health News
Three years before launching an offshore herpes vaccine trial, an American researcher vaccinated patients in U.S. hotel rooms in brazen violation of U.S. law, a Kaiser Health News investigation has found.
Southern Illinois University associate professor William Halford administered the shots himself at a Holiday Inn Express and a Crowne Plaza Hotel that were a 15-minute drive from the researcher’s SIU lab. Halford injected at least eight herpes patients on four separate occasions in the summer and fall of 2013 with a virus that he created, according to emails from seven participants and interviews with one participant.
The 2013 experiments raise further questions of misconduct by Halford, who pursued a herpes vaccine for years while working at Southern Illinois University, which claims to have been unaware of his unorthodox research practices.
Halford, who died this summer from cancer, ran a clinical trial out of a house on St. Kitts in 2016 to test the experimental vaccine and did not alert U.S. or St. Kitts and Nevis authorities.
Three years before launching an offshore herpes vaccine trial, an American researcher vaccinated patients in U.S. hotel rooms in brazen violation of U.S. law, a Kaiser Health News investigation has found.
Southern Illinois University associate professor William Halford administered the shots himself at a Holiday Inn Express and a Crowne Plaza Hotel that were a 15-minute drive from the researcher’s SIU lab. Halford injected at least eight herpes patients on four separate occasions in the summer and fall of 2013 with a virus that he created, according to emails from seven participants and interviews with one participant.
The 2013 experiments raise further questions of misconduct by Halford, who pursued a herpes vaccine for years while working at Southern Illinois University, which claims to have been unaware of his unorthodox research practices.
Halford, who died this summer from cancer, ran a clinical trial out of a house on St. Kitts in 2016 to test the experimental vaccine and did not alert U.S. or St. Kitts and Nevis authorities.
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In these dark times, Hallmark Channel's golden glow beckons - CSMonitor.com
“I like the content. The shows are family-friendly – it’s not riddled with violence like you see in a lot of shows on these days. And there’s usually always a happy ending to it,” says Mr. Triplow, who has been a fan of Hallmark’s programming for the past couple of years and likes to watch with his wife and two children. “It’s just easy to watch and it’s relaxing, which is kinda hard to find on TV these days.”
And Triplow is not that unique in his TV-watching habits. In 2016, Hallmark saw a 10 percent increase in total viewership and a 26 percent increase among viewers 18-49. During the 2016 election week, it ranked No. 4 among primetime cable networks – even ranking above MSNBC.
Television has long served as a form of escape. For many viewers, with its 24/7 feed of TV miniseries and movies full of white picket fences and wholesome family values, the Hallmark Channel has become a growing safe haven for those weary of the violence, conflict, and uncertainty churned out by both news broadcasts and apocalyptic-themed TV dramas.
“I like the content. The shows are family-friendly – it’s not riddled with violence like you see in a lot of shows on these days. And there’s usually always a happy ending to it,” says Mr. Triplow, who has been a fan of Hallmark’s programming for the past couple of years and likes to watch with his wife and two children. “It’s just easy to watch and it’s relaxing, which is kinda hard to find on TV these days.”
And Triplow is not that unique in his TV-watching habits. In 2016, Hallmark saw a 10 percent increase in total viewership and a 26 percent increase among viewers 18-49. During the 2016 election week, it ranked No. 4 among primetime cable networks – even ranking above MSNBC.
Television has long served as a form of escape. For many viewers, with its 24/7 feed of TV miniseries and movies full of white picket fences and wholesome family values, the Hallmark Channel has become a growing safe haven for those weary of the violence, conflict, and uncertainty churned out by both news broadcasts and apocalyptic-themed TV dramas.
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Russia confirms "extremely high" radioactive Ruthenium-106 level detected over Ural Mountains, Rosatom denies leak - CBS News
MOSCOW -- Russian authorities on Tuesday confirmed reports of a spike in radioactivity in the air over the Ural Mountains.
The Russian Meteorological Service said in a statement Tuesday that it recorded the release of Ruthenium-106 in the southern Urals in late September and classified it as "extremely high contamination."
France's nuclear safety agency earlier this month said that it recorded radioactivity in the area between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains from a suspected accident involving nuclear fuel or the production of radioactive material. It said the release of the isotope Ruthenium-106 posed no health or environmental risks to European countries.
At the time, Russia's state-controlled Rosatom corporation said in a statement that there had been no radiation leak from its facilities.
The Russian meteorological office's report, however, noted high levels of radiation in the villages adjacent to Rosatom's Mayak plant for spent nuclear fuel.
Mayak in a statement on Tuesday denied being the source of contamination. The plant said it has not conducted any work on extracting Ruthenium-106 from spent nuclear fuel "for several years."
MOSCOW -- Russian authorities on Tuesday confirmed reports of a spike in radioactivity in the air over the Ural Mountains.
The Russian Meteorological Service said in a statement Tuesday that it recorded the release of Ruthenium-106 in the southern Urals in late September and classified it as "extremely high contamination."
France's nuclear safety agency earlier this month said that it recorded radioactivity in the area between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains from a suspected accident involving nuclear fuel or the production of radioactive material. It said the release of the isotope Ruthenium-106 posed no health or environmental risks to European countries.
At the time, Russia's state-controlled Rosatom corporation said in a statement that there had been no radiation leak from its facilities.
The Russian meteorological office's report, however, noted high levels of radiation in the villages adjacent to Rosatom's Mayak plant for spent nuclear fuel.
Mayak in a statement on Tuesday denied being the source of contamination. The plant said it has not conducted any work on extracting Ruthenium-106 from spent nuclear fuel "for several years."
