Pilots get "really violent" threats after online rumors wrongly pin devastating floods on cloud seeding
CBSN
Sydney — An Australian aviation company says it has received more than 100 threats following an online conspiracy theory that its pilots unleashed a flooding disaster by cloud seeding. Conspiracy theorists spread the false claims on social media after weeks of torrential rains led to deadly east coast floods over the past two months, engulfing homes and sweeping cars from the roads.
Posts shared online alleged aerial survey pilots from Handel Aviation caused a second deluge in the flood-ravaged New South Wales town of Lismore on March 31 by cloud seeding — dispersing a substance into the clouds to prompt rain.
"A pilot from Handel Aviation in Cessna 210N Centurion VH-JIL did a breakfast time cloud seeding run over Lismore South & Ballina today while sightseeing the massive flood below him," one widely shared post reads.
A major outage of Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) on Saturday has left tens of thousands of gamers unable to access online services, stores and multimedia apps.
Three more Israeli hostages were released Saturday in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners as the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas continued to hold. It was the fifth hostage and prisoner exchange to occur as part of the first phase of the deal, which began on Jan. 19.
London — The International Criminal Court on Friday condemned sanctions imposed on its officials by President Trump. The United Nations court, which is in the Hague, Netherlands, said the U.S. measures were intended to "harm (the Court's) independent and impartial judicial work."
Washington — President Trump is holding a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Friday, as Japan's Nippon Steel hopes the Trump administration will allow a $14.1 billion bid for U.S. Steel to move forward, despite Mr. Trump's previous pledge to block the deal.
Beijing — China on Friday lashed out at what it called U.S. "coercion" after Panama declined to renew a key infrastructure agreement with Beijing following Washington's threat to take back the Panama Canal. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a briefing that China "firmly opposes the U.S. smearing and undermining the Belt and Road cooperation through means of pressure and coercion."
The man is insistent: Our ship is in difficulty, so keep your distance, he instructs another vessel over the radio.
Abdul Fatorma, chief executive of the Campaign for Human Rights and Development International, had been working on expanding democracy in Sierra Leone for seven years.
A semi-submersible vessel loaded with over 5,000 pounds of cocaine was intercepted off the Pacific coast of Colombia, the country's navy said Wednesday. Officials said it marked the nation's first seizure of a so-called "narco sub" this year.
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London — Tourists continued to flee the Greek island of Santorini on Wednesday — a fourth consecutive day of exodus sparked by a series of earthquakes that have rattled the incredibly popular European vacation destination. Around 7,000 people have left the island, which sits southeast of Greece's mainland, since the quakes began last week, according to the AFP news agency.
The United States Postal Service announced Tuesday night that it is temporarily suspending accepting packages sent from China and Hong Kong until further notice.