Author: The Speaker Editors

One day after Russian tanks crossed the Russia-Ukraine border, the EU invited Russia to participate in EU-Ukraine trade agreement talks. The EU continues to include Russia in efforts toward peace in Ukraine, despite the continued violence of pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine, who, according to the Ukrainian government, the US government, NATO, the EU and others, … Read more

Driverless cars are now legal in America, but what happens when your car has to decide whether to save your life or others’ in an accident? Recently, a survey was taken to find out what Americans thought should happen. The survey, conducted by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) polled 196 participants. The … Read more

Kevin Bollaert, who was charged after allegedly posting pornographic photos of women and girls submitted by ex-boyfriends as revenge, then asking complaining women and girls for money in order to remove the photos, will go to trial on 31 felony counts. After Bollaert’s five-day preliminary hearing, the judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to proceed with … Read more

Fatherlessness in families has been on the rise since 1960, and now is the situation in one-third of homes–meaning that 24 million American children do without their fathers. Among the stock-and-trade activities documented to be missing from the lives of fatherless children are talking about the child’s day, sharing meals, helping with homework and going to … Read more

One little US town is showing the world how a small community can take on big oil and gas. Lafayette, Colo. (pop. 25,733) was unhappily facing fracking within their town area. The citizens banded together with environmental groups and amended their Community Bill of Rights to secure their right to clean air, pure water, and the … Read more

UNESCO’s The Division of Ethics, Youth and Sport has issued a call for Ethics teachers. The teachers will attend an Ethics Teacher Training Course (ETTC) in Amman, Jordan, between October 19 and 23 of this year. The course is a part of a collaborative effort between UNESCO, the Jordanian National Committee on Ethics of Science and Technology … Read more

A column of Russian military equipment, composed of perhaps 200 peices, has been videoed moving toward the Ukrainian border. The video shows 16 loader trucks carrying tanks. The column is reportedly moving toward the Dolzhansky crossing. These reports have not been officially verified. Information is being written as it is becomes available. [Update: the reports have now … Read more

The BRICS alliance is considered to have been largely dismissed by Western players in recent years, but, with new developments, including this years Russian aggression in Ukraine and recent trade and banking agreements and talks among the BRICS community, analysts are beginning to look at BRICS as a potentially historic challenge to a global order … Read more

In one US state alone–Pennsylvania–the effects of abandoned oil wells has been examined by a Princeton University student, PhD student and civil engineer Mary Kang, and the findings are that four to seven percent of estimated man-made methane emissions in Pennsylvania are caused by the abandoned wells. The source of the four to seven percent had … Read more

In a recent report on the current Russian propaganda “netwar” being waged against non-Russia minds, the Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) found that Russia is actively carrying out organized campaigns to convince non-Russians that Russia is justified in its recent actions–particularly with regard to Crimea and greater Ukraine–but, the report found, the Russian info-war will … Read more

The non profit organization FIFA will profit approximately $2 billion this year from the $4 billion the organization will take in from the World Cup. This amount is up 66 percent from its takings from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. During FIFA’s 2007-2010 revenue cycle, revenue was $4.2 billion, providing a $631 million surplus, allowing FIFA … Read more

As more inhabitable land is swallowed by rising water due to climate change, the United Nations University (UNU) and Nansen Initiave have published a report warning governments to integrate considerations of people and populations displaced by climate change into national policy, or face conflict and insecurity. The report, “Integrating Human Mobility Issues within National Adaptation … Read more