Deadly storms hit Italy, flooding Venice

Eleven people are confirmed killed as storms and floods hit the west and north of Italy.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46029302?source=Snapzu

USA Women's Team Wins Yet Another World Championship Title

This is Kara Eaker, who got the highest score on beam and who, with Simone Biles, Morgan Hurd, Riley McCusker, Ragan Smith and Grace McCallum help the US team get yet another gold medal.
Read more: https://dai.ly/x6wge0a?source=Snapzu

Famed planet-hunting spacecraft is dead. Now what?

Astronomers are building instruments that can characterize the many alien worlds the Kepler spacecraft revealed—and look for signs of life.
Read more: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/10/news-kepler-nasa-exoplanets-tess-solar-system-space/?source=Snapzu

Embattled Thirty Meter Telescope scores big win in Hawaii's highest court

State supreme court rules that the US$1.4-billion observatory's construction permit is valid, after years-long legal battle.
Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04444-2??source=Snapzu

NASA spacecraft breaks record for coming closest to Sun

NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which launched earlier this year, has set a new record for becoming the closest human-made object to the Sun, the US space agency announced Monday.
Read more: https://phys.org/news/2018-10-nasa-spacecraft-closest-approach-sun.html?source=Snapzu

Hyundai and Kia unveil new solar roof to charge batteries in vehicles, launching next year

Electric vehicles enable owners to have more choices for the sources of energy to power their vehicles.
Read more: https://electrek.co/2018/10/31/hyundai-kia-solar-roof-electric-vehicles/?source=Snapzu

Pornhub Set Up a Mirror Site to Get Around India’s Porn Ban

India revived an order that blocks pornographic websites, but users are working around it.
Read more: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pa9jvk/pornhub-mirror-site-india-porn-ban-vpns?source=Snapzu

Japan's Princess Ayako surrenders her royal status as she marries for love

Under crisp blue skies, about 1,000 well-wishers turned out at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo Monday to catch a glimpse of Japan's Princess Ayako and her groom Kei Moriya on their wedding day.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/29/asia/princess-ayako-wedding-ceremony-intl/index.html?source=Snapzu

Scientists Confirm China as Major Source of Banned Ozone-Depleting Chemicals

Despite being banned in 2010, about 40,000 tons of carbon tetrachloride, an ozone-depleting compound, are still emitted into the atmosphere every year. But the origins of the illegal emissions have long baffled scientists. Now, an international team of researchers has tracked down the source of nearly half of the emissions to eastern China, according to a recent study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Read more: https://e360.yale.edu/digest/scientists-confirm-china-as-major-source-of-banned-ozone-depleting-chemicals?source=Snapzu

For Halloween, Google scares up its first multiplayer Doodle game

Invite seven friends or family members to play Great Ghoul Duel or join random strangers from around the world.
Read more: https://www.cnet.com/news/for-halloween-google-doodle-scares-up-first-multiplayer-game-ghoul-duel/?source=Snapzu

AmazonSmile has raised $100 million for charity

A little good press goes a long way for a company like Amazon. The company routinely gets knocked for things like warehouse conditions, tax breaks and impact on smaller retail outlets. AmazonSmile’s helped to counteract that a bit, raising money for legitimately good causes.
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/29/amazonsmile-has-raised-100-million-for-charity/?source=Snapzu

'We are like robots': Apple investigates Chinese factory using forced student labour

Supplier under fire after vocational degrees were withheld unless students undertook factory work
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/30/we-are-like-robots-apple-investigates-chinese-factory-using-forced-student-labour?source=Snapzu

Archaeologists find 300,000-year-old stone tools in Saudi Arabia

At the time, the Arabian Peninsula was a grassland dotted with lakes.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/10/archaeologists-find-300000-year-old-stone-tools-in-saudi-arabia/?source=Snapzu

Skull-shaped asteroid will fly past earth after Halloween

'Halloween Asteroid' shaped like a skull is late for the party this year, flying past Earth on 11 November.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/45787257?source=Snapzu

The Library of Congress Lets You Stream Hundreds of Free Films

Viewers worldwide can now download or stream free movies from the library’s National Screening Room website.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/movies/library-of-congress-national-screening-room.html?source=Snapzu

Robert Mueller possible target of false sexual abuse scheme

The special counsel's office has confirmed to DW that it referred a case about payoffs for false testimony against Robert Mueller to the FBI. Details remain murky but are said to involve a GOP lobbyist.
Read more: https://www.dw.com/en/robert-mueller-possible-target-of-false-sexual-abuse-scheme/a-46095280?source=Snapzu

NYC mayor announces plan to assist 12,000 veteran students at risk of eviction

The VA says the delay is a result of technical issues that occurred last year after the president signed the Forever GI Act.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nyc-mayor-announces-plan-assist-12-000-veteran-students-risk-n925666?source=Snapzu

World's top fishing nations to be given millions to protect oceans

Bloomberg Philanthropies to launch major grant for coastal communities to improve the health of oceans
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/29/worlds-top-fishing-nations-to-be-given-millions-to-protect-oceans?source=Snapzu

Convicted Mobster James "Whitey" Bulger Dies At 89

James "Whitey" Bulger rose to power as a secret informant to the FBI. His 16-year run as a fugitive made Bulger a legend and deeply embarrassed the FBI.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2018/10/30/661163894/convicted-mobster-james-whitey-bulger-dies-at-89?source=Snapzu

Red Hat ​Business as usual: Fedora 29 released

IBM may be buying Red Hat, but Fedora, its community Linux distribution, has been released on schedule.
Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/red-hat-business-as-usual-fedora-29-released/?source=Snapzu

Fury after China reverses 25-year-old tiger bone and rhino horn ban

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced their "profound concern" over the changes in the law, which would allow bone and horn products to be traded
Read more: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-fury-after-china-reverses-13499549?source=Snapzu

NASA Fixes Broken Hubble Telescope By Turning It Off And On Again

Hubble's maintenance team was sent into a frenzy after one of their gears malfunctioned — but they fixed it in the simplest way.
Read more: https://allthatsinteresting.com/nasa-fixes-hubble-telescope?source=Snapzu

Civil servant who watched porn at work blamed for infecting a US government network with malware

A U.S. government network was infected with malware thanks to one employee’s “extensive history” of watching porn on his work computer, investigators have found.
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/29/porn-sites-blamed-after-government-network-infected-malware/?source=Snapzu

Scientists call for ‘mega-mission’ to find ancient life on Mars

Rocket scientists tell Nasa a new rover could finally unlock red planet’s secrets
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/27/mega-mission-mars-ancient-life-nasa-rovers-sample-return?source=Snapzu

China’s first attempt to reach orbit with a private space company failed

A reminder: getting to space is hard
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/28/18034326/china-landspace-first-orbital-launch-attempt-failed?source=Snapzu

Microsoft Says It Will Sell Pentagon Artificial Intelligence and Other Advanced Technology

Microsoft is talking the opposite position from Google, which said it would not provide cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to the Defense Department.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/us/politics/ai-microsoft-pentagon.html?source=Snapzu

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner Cheer on the Red Sox While Attending World Series Game Together

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are true Red Sox fans! The pair, who finalized their divorce earlier this month, both attended Game 4 of the World Series at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium on Saturday. Garner and Affleck, who were photographed near each other in a suite, both dressed casually for the nail-biting game.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ben-affleck-jennifer-garner-cheer-212139171.html?source=Snapzu

50 Cent buys 200 front-row tickets to a Ja Rule gig ‘so they can be empty’

"I just bought 200 seats in the front so they can be empty."
Read more: https://tonedeaf.com.au/50-cent-front-row-ja-rule-empty/?source=Snapzu

Istanbul Vending Machines Offer Subway Credit for Recycled Bottles and Cans

The city has installed “reverse vending machines” at metro stations that crush, shred and sort the materials as a way of paying for travel.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/world/europe/istanbul-vending-machines-recycling-subway.html?source=Snapzu

The Midterms Are Our Chance To Vote Out White Supremacy

The results of the 2016 election felt like a punch to the gut. I remember feeling stunned, confused, and unprepared for what lay ahead. I learned in that moment, and in many moments since, that elections have consequences. We enter the Nov. 6 midterm election ruled by a Republican majority carrying out a concerted voter suppression campaign and with a leader blatantly cultivating an environment of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia and oppression. This must end.
Read more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-midterms-candidates-of-color_us_5bd0d365e4b0d38b587f6dcf?source=Snapzu

Copyright Office Adds DMCA Exemption for ‘Abandoned’ Online Games - TorrentFreak

The US Copyright Office has published a list of new exemptions to the DMCA's anti-circumvention rules. Several new freedoms were granted this year, including the right for preservation institutions to break DRM to play abandoned online games. It's a small change that only applies if the server code is legally obtained, but for game preservationists, it's a step in the right direction.
Read more: https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-office-adds-dmca-exemption-for-abandoned-online-games-181026/?source=Snapzu

Experimental vaccine may reduce post-stroke blood clot risk | American Heart Association

A vaccine may one day be able to replace oral blood thinners to reduce the risk of secondary strokes caused by blood clots, without increasing the risk of serious bleeding or triggering an autoimmune response, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.
Read more: http://www.newsroom.heart.org/news/experimental-vaccine-may-reduce-post-stroke-blood-clot-risk?source=Snapzu

Louisiana teacher donates kidney to student she never met

A Louisiana science teacher is set to donate a kidney to a student who previously attended the school she teaches in, but never had her for class. Heather Mallet, who teaches at F.K. White Middle School, said it doesn’t matter that Hayden Diaz never sat in her classroom, she just knew she had to help him.
Read more: https://www.okaynews.info/2018/10/louisiana-teacher-donates-kidney-to.html?source=Snapzu

For $150,000 you can now order your own Hoverbike

This crazy looking motorcycle-styled hoverbike appeared in early 2017 and we were skeptical the contraption would ever move beyond just an odd engineering curiosity. However, Hoversurf has revealed its hoverbikes are now ready for production and preorders are open, with delivery scheduled for 2019.
Read more: https://newatlas.com/hoverbike-scorpion-preorders-on-sale/56988/?source=Snapzu

A Volcanic Eruption on Mars? Nope.

A photograph from a spacecraft orbiting Mars shows a long, white wisp, close to a thousand miles long, spilling out of a giant volcano. Could the volcano, thought to be dormant for some 50 million years, be about to blow? Planetary scientists confidently say no. “It’s just a cloud,” said Eldar Noe Dobrea, a scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, which is based in Tucson, Ariz.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/science/mars-cloud-volcano-eruption-arsia-mons.html?source=Snapzu

Coke and Kellogg’s among major firms to pledge to cut all plastic waste

Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s and Nestle are among 250 major brands pledging to cut all plastic waste from their operations – a move described by the UN as the most ambitious effort yet to fight plastic pollution. The commitment comes as public pressure mounts on manufacturers and retailers to reduce the avalanche of plastic packaging clogging landfills and choking the oceans.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/plastic-waste-pollution-coca-cola-kelloggs-nestle-environment-recycling-un-ocean-a8606136.html?source=Snapzu

Smart City - A Red Alert to Humanity - A Right to Freedom

Out of 959,000 applications broke down from the Google Play store, 88 per cent sent information to Google, as per Business Insider. A little more than 42 per cent of applications additionally sent information to Facebook, while a little more than 33 per cent sent information to Twitter. "Data that could be shared by means of 3rd party applications could incorporate things like age, sexual orientation, and area," detailed Business Insider.
Read more: https://www.techiebouncer.com/2018/10/smart-city-red-alert-to-humanity-right.html?source=Snapzu

We Need to Completely Change Agriculture to Adapt to Climate Change

We’re not managing our crops to support global nutritional needs: In fact, we use a disproportionate amount of land used to grow grains, fats, oils, and sugar, and not enough land to grow the fruits and vegetables that we need to survive, a new research paper asserts.
Read more: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/598x83/we-need-completely-change-agriculture-adapt-climate-change-food-global-warming?source=Snapzu

Elon Musk Claims '420' Tweet With $20 Million SEC Fine Was 'Worth It'

It’s arguably unfathomable that any human being slapped with a $20 million fine for a bad tweet would ever consider returning to the platform, much less continue to fire off word salad at all hours of the day and night. In the face of any logical explanation, however, one such man seemingly continues to insist that he is not owned.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-claims-420-tweet-with-20-million-sec-fine-wa-1830050362?source=Snapzu

Number of Habitable Exoplanets Found by NASA's Kepler May Not Be So High After All

The tally of potentially habitable alien planets may have to be revised downward a bit. To date, NASA's prolific Kepler space telescope has discovered about 30 roughly Earth-size exoplanets in their host stars' "habitable zone" — the range of orbital distances at which liquid water can likely exist on a world's surface. Or so researchers had thought. New observations by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia spacecraft suggest that the actual number is probably significantly smaller — perhaps between two and 12, NASA officials said today (Oct. 26). [Photos: Gaia Spacecraft to Map Milky Way Galaxy]
Read more: https://www.space.com/42275-habitable-exoplanets-kepler-discoveries-revised-by-gaia.html?source=Snapzu

James Cameron Likes Blomkamp's Alien 5 Idea, Says Sigourney Weaver

According to Sigourney Weaver, James Cameron was a fan of Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 plans. Blomkamp’s plans for the sequel ultimately fell through, but not due to any lack of support from the director of Aliens. If anything, Weaver and Cameron would still like to see Blomkamp’s vision make it onto the big screen. Back in 2015, Blomkamp – who is best known for District 9 – was signed on by Foxto create Alien 5. The film would have been a direct sequel to Aliens, thereby eliminating the events that happened in Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. Not much was ever revealed about the plot, but concept art showed that Ripley would have reunited
Read more: http://screencrush.streamerstube.com/2018/10/28/james-cameron-likes-blomkamps-alien-5-idea-says-sigourney-weaver/?source=Snapzu

China has been 'hijacking the vital internet backbone of western countries'

A Chinese state-owned telecommunications company has been "hijacking the vital internet backbone of western countries," according to an academic paper published this week by researchers from the US Naval War College and Tel Aviv University. The culprit is China Telecom, the country's third-largest telco and internet service provider (ISP), which has had a presence inside North American networks since the early 2000s when it created its first point-of-presence (PoP).
Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/china-has-been-hijacking-the-vital-internet-backbone-of-western-countries/?source=Snapzu

Robert Downey Jr. Celebrates Halloween With Iron Man And Spider-Man Pumpkins

Avengers love Halloween too, and the hero that kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe is celebrating with some superhero pumpkins. The movie world has changed considerably since Robert Downey Jr's turn as Tony Stark in the original Iron Man, and all these years later it is still going strong. His Marvel alter ego has also managed to work its way into his decorations for Halloween this year, though as he revealed in a new photo he also had some help from his pal Spider-Man.
Read more: https://comicbook.com/marvel/2018/10/27/robert-downey-jr-halloween-iron-man-spider-man-pumpkins/?source=Snapzu

Churches in Poland are providing sanctuary—to birds

Most churches are focused on heaven, but in Poland, they seem to be providing a more earthly benefit: sanctuary for dozens of species of birds. That’s what biologists found when they surveyed the properties of 101 churches and an equal number of farmsteads in villages in southern Poland. Previous research had found that farms in Eastern Europe support large numbers of different kinds of birds, providing important sanctuaries for the species in areas where their more natural habitat was lost.
Read more: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/10/churches-poland-are-providing-sanctuary-birds?source=Snapzu

Price is Right: Red Sox Win World Series

The Boston Red Sox are World Champions, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1, to win the World Series in five games.
Read more: https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/Red-Sox-Dodgers-World-Series-Game-5-Recap-498851681.html?source=Snapzu

Of Life, Death, And Cryptos: What Happens To Your Digital Assets When You Die?

Securing crypto tokens hasn’t always been a smooth affair, and it gets even harder when matters of inheritance are concerned. A crypto is basically a virtual currency that’s been coded and protected with strong encryption protocols. As is the case with Bitcoin and others, these encryptions are impossible to crack.
Read more: http://helpinghand.today/2018/10/28/of-life-death-and-cryptos-what-happens-to-your-digital-assets-when-you-die/?source=Snapzu

Metro 2033 Author Calls The Witcher's Andrzej Sapkowski An "Old Fool"

Oh my! It seems two experts of the written word will have a war of words of their own. The first shot comes from Dmitry Glukhovsky, author of the Metro 2033 series of novels. Glukhovsky slammed the author of The Witcher series, Andrzej Sapkowski, for the latter’s recent demand of $16 million from CD Projekt Red. Among the criticisms Glukhovsky dished out were that the brains behind The Witcher novels was an “old fool” and that he’s “an ungrateful schmuck.” The video interview below is entirely in Russian but we’ll give a short transcript of the juicy bits.
Read more: https://www.pcinvasion.com/metro-2033-witcher-author-sapkowski/?source=Snapzu

With global warming, whale carcasses will no longer be enough to feed polar bears

In the face of global warming, polar bears continue to lose ground. The gradual withdrawal of the ice could lead to periods of scarcity with worrying repercussions. Among the victims of global warming, polar bears are probably the most iconic. These creatures have probably survived previous warm periods in the Arctic with stranded whale carcasses. However, this source of power may no longer suffice with the gradual removal of ice, reducing the number of platforms on the surface of which they can hunt seals.
Read more: https://www.sourcenewsonline.com/with-global-warming-whale-carcasses-will-no-longer-be-enough-to-feed-polar-bears/?source=Snapzu

IBM acquires Red Hat

This deal is the biggest Linux and open-source acquisition ever.
Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/ibm-acquires-red-hat/?source=Snapzu

A Rural Community Decided To Treat Its Opioid Problem Like A Natural Disaster

A rural county in Washington declared the opioid epidemic a life-threatening emergency. They use a multi-agency coordination group straight out of FEMA's playbook to respond to the crisis.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/10/28/658476111/a-rural-community-decided-to-treat-its-opioid-problem-like-a-natural-disaster?source=Snapzu