Nasty bacteria cling to the surfaces of countertops. They also stick to medical devices--like catheters--that are placed inside the human body, where they can become a dangerous source of infection.
[More]
Saturday, 3 November 2012
Non-Stick Surface On Med Devices Could Keep Bacteria At Bay
Non-Stick Surface On Med Devices Could Keep Bacteria At Bay:
Nasty bacteria cling to the surfaces of countertops. They also stick to medical devices--like catheters--that are placed inside the human body, where they can become a dangerous source of infection.
[More]
Nasty bacteria cling to the surfaces of countertops. They also stick to medical devices--like catheters--that are placed inside the human body, where they can become a dangerous source of infection.
[More]
Schools 'failing to stretch the brightest pupils'
Schools 'failing to stretch the brightest pupils': Thousands of bright children are being let down by state schools because they are not "stretched" in the classroom, an expert has warned
China Keeps Up Pressure on Japan Over Disputed Islands With Patrols
China Keeps Up Pressure on Japan Over Disputed Islands With Patrols: Analysts say the 14th straight day of patrols in the East China Sea suggests China is trying to wear down Japan’s resolve.
Natural Gas: America's Future Electric Grid?
Natural Gas: America's Future Electric Grid?: In August 2003, cascading electric blackouts across the northeast United States left roughly 50 million people without power and cost billions of dollars in economic losses. That incident called into question the reliability of America's electric power grid.
Iluminan en Mixquic camino al Mictlán
Iluminan en Mixquic camino al Mictlán: Entre el olor a cempasúchil e inciensos, en San Andrés Mixquic se realizó la alumbrada para guiar el camino de los difuntos de regreso al Mictlán.
Insight: Flooded New York plans to tame the sea, but who pays?
Insight: Flooded New York plans to tame the sea, but who pays?: NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Jeroen Aerts, a Dutchman tasked with crafting a plan to defend New York City from flooding, first looked at its coastline seven years ago, he was taken aback by how vulnerable it was.
Dead birds found to be 'drunk'
Dead birds found to be 'drunk': Young blackbirds found dead near a primary school in Cumbria may have suffered from alcohol poisoning, according to an investigation.
Friday, 2 November 2012
Europe still biggest headwind to global recovery: U.S.
Europe still biggest headwind to global recovery: U.S.: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe's financial crisis remains the biggest hurdle to global economic recovery and will be in focus at a meeting of world finance chiefs in Mexico City this weekend, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Friday.
Bypassing the Bible
Bypassing the Bible:
For years, Diane Moore and her students have debated the implications of landmark Supreme Court decisions in her “Religion, Democracy, and Education” course at Harvard Divinity School (HDS). But they rarely get to dig past the scholarship to the actual names attached to those decisions — people like Ellery Schempp, a freethinking 16-year-old who, more than 50 years ago, decided to protest his suburban Pennsylvania high school’s mandatory daily Bible readings.
As it turns out, Schempp, now 72, has been happily residing just a few miles away, in Medford, for the past 20 years. On Wednesday, he made the quick trip to the Center for the Study of World Religions to talk about his experiences as one of the last living symbols of a series of Supreme Court cases that banned state-sponsored displays of faith in public schools.
“There are very few people who have won a Supreme Court case about First Amendment topics who come to Harvard Divinity School, and most of us are dead,” Schempp told his audience with characteristic bluntness.
Schempp’s case, Abington School District v. Schempp (1963), effectively overturned laws in more than 30 states that endorsed or required Bible readings in public schools. Most of those laws were relics of late-19th-century anti-Catholic sentiment (Bible reading by lay people, such as teachers, was at the time a Protestant practice) and had gone largely unchallenged. But at the dawn of the 1960s, as the McCarthy era was ending and the Civil Rights Movement was beginning, cases like Schempp’s found their historical moment, said Moore, a senior lecturer in religious studies and education at HDS.
“There was the sense of recognition that diversity in our country was a really important thing,” Moore said. And nowhere was the debate over religious expression more contentious than in America’s public schools. “Schools are representative of the values of a given society,” she said. “They’re symbolically, but also pragmatically, creators of and responders to our cultural values.”
“There are very few people who have won a Supreme Court case about First Amendment topics who come to Harvard Divinity School, and most of us are dead,” Schempp told his audience with characteristic bluntness.One day in 1956, Schempp, who was raised a Unitarian Universalist, brought a Quran into the classroom and read it quietly during his class’s mandatory reading of 10 biblical verses.
“I wanted to show that the Bible is not the only source of truth and not the only holy book,” he said. “But the Quran was really by accident. One of my friend’s fathers had a copy of it in his library.”
After being sent to the principal’s office and then to a guidance counselor (who wondered if he had problems with paternal authority), Schempp wrote a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union, which eventually took up his case. Driving him, he said, was a teenage sense of injustice: It didn’t seem fair that his Jewish and Catholic friends would be deemed problematic students or less patriotic citizens for failing to adhere to the Protestant faith that his school endorsed.
“The court’s decisions reaffirmed that our founders were confident that you do not have to belong to a church or participate in public prayers in order to be a good citizen and a good person,” he said.
For an outspoken skeptic of theistic beliefs, Schempp is surprisingly amenable to organized religion. A retired physicist, he is an active member in a Unitarian Universalist congregation in nearby Bedford.
“I think there’s a place for celebration and ceremonies,” he said after his talk. “And I wouldn’t call it worship — we don’t worship — but it’s nice to get together with friends to share ideas. I even like singing hymns.”
Other First Amendment advocates from Schempp’s era weren’t as lucky. He told the audience of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an outspoken atheist and controversial public figure whose case, Murray v. Curtlett, was consolidated with Schempp’s when it went before the Supreme Court.
While Schempp’s family only endured minor harassment from their community — Schempp’s principal went out of his way to write “letters of dis-recommendation” to every college to which he applied, he recalled — Murray O’Hair’s family “suffered horribly.”
“She was an atheist, but she was also a woman atheist,” Schempp said. “Women have so often been regarded as the repositories of faith that for her to be an atheist was a double whammy.”
In 1964, Time magazine dubbed Murray O’Hair “the most hated woman in America.” Her children were beaten up; her house was firebombed. In response, the fire department responders took a “particularly circuitous route” that took them 40 minutes to get to the scene, according to Schempp.
“The whole community of Baltimore rose up, pretty much in one voice, against her,” Schempp said. In 1995, Murray O’Hair, one of her sons, and her granddaughter were murdered. (In a curious quirk of American religious history, Murray O’Hair’s other son, William — on whose behalf she had brought her original lawsuit arguing against enforced Bible reading in Baltimore public schools — went on to become an evangelical Baptist preacher.)
For Moore’s class, the talk provided a lesson in the burden of public scrutiny that is sometimes borne by individuals who are swept up in high-profile cases. That is important to remember, because the “global trend to regulate belief” continues, said Nate Walker, a student in Moore’s class and a Unitarian minister, who had invited Schempp to speak. Earlier this year, the Kuwaiti parliament passed a law allowing the death penalty for the crime of insulting God, the prophet Muhammad, his wives, or the Quran. In Indonesia, a man faces 11 years in prison for posting “God doesn’t exist” on Facebook.
“Throughout the world, governments are struggling to define when and where to grant religious freedom, to whom, and based on what rationale,” Walker said.
Indeed, even in the United States, believers and nonbelievers continue to battle over where to draw the line between acceptable expressions of faith and unacceptable religious coercion in public schools, Schempp said.
“One of the things that’s so disappointing to me is that 50 years after the Supreme Court decision, we’re still fighting some of the same battles,” Schempp said. “You’d have thought they would’ve abated by now.”
For years, Diane Moore and her students have debated the implications of landmark Supreme Court decisions in her “Religion, Democracy, and Education” course at Harvard Divinity School (HDS). But they rarely get to dig past the scholarship to the actual names attached to those decisions — people like Ellery Schempp, a freethinking 16-year-old who, more than 50 years ago, decided to protest his suburban Pennsylvania high school’s mandatory daily Bible readings.
As it turns out, Schempp, now 72, has been happily residing just a few miles away, in Medford, for the past 20 years. On Wednesday, he made the quick trip to the Center for the Study of World Religions to talk about his experiences as one of the last living symbols of a series of Supreme Court cases that banned state-sponsored displays of faith in public schools.
“There are very few people who have won a Supreme Court case about First Amendment topics who come to Harvard Divinity School, and most of us are dead,” Schempp told his audience with characteristic bluntness.
Schempp’s case, Abington School District v. Schempp (1963), effectively overturned laws in more than 30 states that endorsed or required Bible readings in public schools. Most of those laws were relics of late-19th-century anti-Catholic sentiment (Bible reading by lay people, such as teachers, was at the time a Protestant practice) and had gone largely unchallenged. But at the dawn of the 1960s, as the McCarthy era was ending and the Civil Rights Movement was beginning, cases like Schempp’s found their historical moment, said Moore, a senior lecturer in religious studies and education at HDS.
“There was the sense of recognition that diversity in our country was a really important thing,” Moore said. And nowhere was the debate over religious expression more contentious than in America’s public schools. “Schools are representative of the values of a given society,” she said. “They’re symbolically, but also pragmatically, creators of and responders to our cultural values.”
“There are very few people who have won a Supreme Court case about First Amendment topics who come to Harvard Divinity School, and most of us are dead,” Schempp told his audience with characteristic bluntness.
“I wanted to show that the Bible is not the only source of truth and not the only holy book,” he said. “But the Quran was really by accident. One of my friend’s fathers had a copy of it in his library.”
After being sent to the principal’s office and then to a guidance counselor (who wondered if he had problems with paternal authority), Schempp wrote a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union, which eventually took up his case. Driving him, he said, was a teenage sense of injustice: It didn’t seem fair that his Jewish and Catholic friends would be deemed problematic students or less patriotic citizens for failing to adhere to the Protestant faith that his school endorsed.
“The court’s decisions reaffirmed that our founders were confident that you do not have to belong to a church or participate in public prayers in order to be a good citizen and a good person,” he said.
For an outspoken skeptic of theistic beliefs, Schempp is surprisingly amenable to organized religion. A retired physicist, he is an active member in a Unitarian Universalist congregation in nearby Bedford.
“I think there’s a place for celebration and ceremonies,” he said after his talk. “And I wouldn’t call it worship — we don’t worship — but it’s nice to get together with friends to share ideas. I even like singing hymns.”
Other First Amendment advocates from Schempp’s era weren’t as lucky. He told the audience of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an outspoken atheist and controversial public figure whose case, Murray v. Curtlett, was consolidated with Schempp’s when it went before the Supreme Court.
While Schempp’s family only endured minor harassment from their community — Schempp’s principal went out of his way to write “letters of dis-recommendation” to every college to which he applied, he recalled — Murray O’Hair’s family “suffered horribly.”
“She was an atheist, but she was also a woman atheist,” Schempp said. “Women have so often been regarded as the repositories of faith that for her to be an atheist was a double whammy.”
In 1964, Time magazine dubbed Murray O’Hair “the most hated woman in America.” Her children were beaten up; her house was firebombed. In response, the fire department responders took a “particularly circuitous route” that took them 40 minutes to get to the scene, according to Schempp.
“The whole community of Baltimore rose up, pretty much in one voice, against her,” Schempp said. In 1995, Murray O’Hair, one of her sons, and her granddaughter were murdered. (In a curious quirk of American religious history, Murray O’Hair’s other son, William — on whose behalf she had brought her original lawsuit arguing against enforced Bible reading in Baltimore public schools — went on to become an evangelical Baptist preacher.)
For Moore’s class, the talk provided a lesson in the burden of public scrutiny that is sometimes borne by individuals who are swept up in high-profile cases. That is important to remember, because the “global trend to regulate belief” continues, said Nate Walker, a student in Moore’s class and a Unitarian minister, who had invited Schempp to speak. Earlier this year, the Kuwaiti parliament passed a law allowing the death penalty for the crime of insulting God, the prophet Muhammad, his wives, or the Quran. In Indonesia, a man faces 11 years in prison for posting “God doesn’t exist” on Facebook.
“Throughout the world, governments are struggling to define when and where to grant religious freedom, to whom, and based on what rationale,” Walker said.
Indeed, even in the United States, believers and nonbelievers continue to battle over where to draw the line between acceptable expressions of faith and unacceptable religious coercion in public schools, Schempp said.
“One of the things that’s so disappointing to me is that 50 years after the Supreme Court decision, we’re still fighting some of the same battles,” Schempp said. “You’d have thought they would’ve abated by now.”
New York's marathon is cancelled
New York's marathon is cancelled: Sunday's New York City marathon has been called off by officials, in the aftermath of super-storm Sandy.
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Germany pushes for free trade with India
Germany pushes for free trade with India: German Economics Minister Philipp Rösler has urged India to reconsider its reservations about a free trade zone with the European Union. The topic is high on the agenda of a German industry meeting in New Delhi.
Venice hit by worst flooding in two years
Venice hit by worst flooding in two years: VENICE (Reuters) - Tourists in Venice put plastic bags over their legs and residents wore rubber boots as water rose to knee-high levels in many parts of the lagoon city on Thursday.
New Dutch finance minister promise cuts, tough line on euro zone
New Dutch finance minister promise cuts, tough line on euro zone: AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The incoming Dutch finance minister said on Thursday he would push ahead with budget cuts at home and take a tough line on the euro zone crisis, ensuring policy continuity.
Who didn't have sex with Neanderthals?
Who didn't have sex with Neanderthals?:
The only modern humans whose ancestors did not interbreed with Neanderthals are apparently sub-Saharan Africans, researchers say.
The only modern humans whose ancestors did not interbreed with Neanderthals are apparently sub-Saharan Africans, researchers say.
The elephant that speaks Korean
The elephant that speaks Korean: Elephant astonishes keepers by learning to imitate words in their native tongue including "hello" and "good".
[Report] Tricking the Guard: Exploiting Plant Defense for Disease Susceptibility
[Report] Tricking the Guard: Exploiting Plant Defense for Disease Susceptibility: Cochliobolus victoriae, a necrotrophic fungal pathogen with devastating effects on oat crops reveals its strategies.
[News & Analysis] Genetics: Cancer Gene Data Casts Doubt on Popular Research Method
[News & Analysis] Genetics: Cancer Gene Data Casts Doubt on Popular Research Method: Researchers argue that most work on Myc, a gene linked to aggressive cancers, needs to be reevaluated. They say that Myc's cancerous effects are actually much broader, and that a flawed experimental method may have thrown off previous research.
[News & Analysis] Stem Cells: Immune Reactions Help Reprogram Cells
[News & Analysis] Stem Cells: Immune Reactions Help Reprogram Cells: A cell's defensive reaction to viruses seems to make it more open to expressing genes that are usually shut down—whether they are those that trigger inflammation or those that are active in stem cells.
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Desert farming forms bacterial communities that promote drought resistance
Desert farming forms bacterial communities that promote drought resistance: Washington DC (SPX) Nov 01, 2012
When there is little water available for plants to grow, their roots form alliances with soil microbes that can promote plant growth even under water-limiting conditions, according to research published by Daniele Daffonchio and colleagues from the University of Milan, Italy in the open access journal PLOS ONE.
When there is little water available for plants to grow, their roots form alliances with soil microbes that can promote plant growth even under water-limiting conditions, according to research published by Daniele Daffonchio and colleagues from the University of Milan, Italy in the open access journal PLOS ONE.
Cupertino man jailed for exporting tech to China
Cupertino man jailed for exporting tech to China:
Not, he's not from Apple...
The founder of a Cupertino tech firm has become the latest to fall foul of tough US laws restricting the sale of military technology to China, after he was banged up for over a year.…
Not, he's not from Apple...
The founder of a Cupertino tech firm has become the latest to fall foul of tough US laws restricting the sale of military technology to China, after he was banged up for over a year.…
Sony posts second-quarter operating profit of 30.30 billion yen
Sony posts second-quarter operating profit of 30.30 billion yen: TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp returned to an operating profit in the second quarter after a loss a year ago, helped by the sale of a chemicals business that offset weak demand for its TVs and other devices, and it kept its full-year profit guidance.
New genetic links for Crohn’s, colitis
New genetic links for Crohn’s, colitis:
Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) — inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract — have puzzled the scientific community for decades. Ten years ago, researchers recognized that both genes and environment contributed to these diseases but knew little about precisely how and why illness occurred.
Today, researchers from across the CD and UC communities have come together to share raw data as well as newly collected genetic information to dissect the biology of a group of conditions that affect millions of people worldwide. Their research centers on the two diseases, which are collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and suggests a fundamental connection between risk of IBD and genes involved in other immune-related diseases and the immune system’s response to pathogens. The work by researchers from the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Yale School of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and dozens of other organizations appears in a Nature paper this week.
“This study marks the first time we’ve acquired and combined the raw data from so many research studies around the world and also the first time we’ve jointly analyzed Crohn’s with ulcerative colitis,” said Mark Daly, one of the senior authors of the work and senior associate member of the Broad Institute and co-director of its Program in Medical and Population Genetics. Daly is also chief of the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit at MGH and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS). “We’ve been able, with this study, to evaluate the evidence for both diseases simultaneously, and discovered that the majority of genetic risk factors are associated with both diseases.”
“There’s been a paradigm shift in our understanding of IBD. This gene discovery process offers an opportunity to begin identifying new targets for treatment, better diagnostic tools, and, in the long term, personalized care for patients,” said co-author HMS Associate Professor of Medicine Ramnik Xavier, a senior associate member of the Broad Institute, and chief of gastroenterology and director of the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at MGH. “We now have the necessary starting material to understand the pathways that contribute to Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and we also have a framework to better appreciate that they may not be two distinct diseases, but rather collections of many different diseases.”
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis have much in common: Both cause many of the same gastrointestinal symptoms and both are marked by an improper response by the body’s immune system to harmless cells or bacteria. Over the past 10 years, researchers have performed genomewide association studies, looking across the genomes of thousands of patients with either CD or UC and comparing them with genomes from people who do not have these diseases to find significant genetic differences. The new study not only brings together the original data from those previous analyses, but also adds genetic information from another 40,000 people either with or without a form of IBD.
“If we want to get more hits but also dissect the differences between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis or understand the commonalities, we really need to share all of our genetic data,” said co-first author Stephan Ripke, a researcher at the Broad Institute and MGH. Ripke worked closely with co-first author Luke Jostins of the Sanger Institute to combine and then analyze genetic information collected by researchers from many different institutions.
The new study identified 71 additional genetic associations for IBD, many of which have been previously implicated in other immune-related disorders, including ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis. The new research also suggests a strong overlap between IBD susceptibility genes and genes tied to the immune system’s response to mycobacterial infections, including tuberculosis and leprosy. Researchers have observed similarities between the immune response in CD and that seen in tuberculosis, and they hypothesize that CD could be an aberrant response to certain harmless organisms present in the gut that trigger a similar reaction.
In addition to drawing upon original data from previous studies, the work utilizes a relatively new tool known as the immunochip, which samples 200,000 sites in the genome previously tied to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
“As a research community, we designed this array to target genes involved in immune-mediated diseases of all kinds,” said Daly. “This is one of our first studies using the immunochip, and there are many more results that will emerge from these studies — within IBD and across immune diseases.”
At the Broad Institute, researchers are already pursuing some of the pathways identified in previous studies of UC and CD, including autophagy, a process in which infected cells eat themselves to combat microbes.
“This work gives us additional leads to pursue,” said Xavier. “It gives us an opportunity for high-quality, translational research, allowing us to identify core pathways involved in IBD and better understand how genes interact with each other and with the environment, illuminating new pathways that contribute to disease.”
Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) — inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract — have puzzled the scientific community for decades. Ten years ago, researchers recognized that both genes and environment contributed to these diseases but knew little about precisely how and why illness occurred.
Today, researchers from across the CD and UC communities have come together to share raw data as well as newly collected genetic information to dissect the biology of a group of conditions that affect millions of people worldwide. Their research centers on the two diseases, which are collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and suggests a fundamental connection between risk of IBD and genes involved in other immune-related diseases and the immune system’s response to pathogens. The work by researchers from the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Yale School of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and dozens of other organizations appears in a Nature paper this week.
“This study marks the first time we’ve acquired and combined the raw data from so many research studies around the world and also the first time we’ve jointly analyzed Crohn’s with ulcerative colitis,” said Mark Daly, one of the senior authors of the work and senior associate member of the Broad Institute and co-director of its Program in Medical and Population Genetics. Daly is also chief of the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit at MGH and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS). “We’ve been able, with this study, to evaluate the evidence for both diseases simultaneously, and discovered that the majority of genetic risk factors are associated with both diseases.”
“There’s been a paradigm shift in our understanding of IBD. This gene discovery process offers an opportunity to begin identifying new targets for treatment, better diagnostic tools, and, in the long term, personalized care for patients,” said co-author HMS Associate Professor of Medicine Ramnik Xavier, a senior associate member of the Broad Institute, and chief of gastroenterology and director of the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at MGH. “We now have the necessary starting material to understand the pathways that contribute to Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and we also have a framework to better appreciate that they may not be two distinct diseases, but rather collections of many different diseases.”
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis have much in common: Both cause many of the same gastrointestinal symptoms and both are marked by an improper response by the body’s immune system to harmless cells or bacteria. Over the past 10 years, researchers have performed genomewide association studies, looking across the genomes of thousands of patients with either CD or UC and comparing them with genomes from people who do not have these diseases to find significant genetic differences. The new study not only brings together the original data from those previous analyses, but also adds genetic information from another 40,000 people either with or without a form of IBD.
“If we want to get more hits but also dissect the differences between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis or understand the commonalities, we really need to share all of our genetic data,” said co-first author Stephan Ripke, a researcher at the Broad Institute and MGH. Ripke worked closely with co-first author Luke Jostins of the Sanger Institute to combine and then analyze genetic information collected by researchers from many different institutions.
The new study identified 71 additional genetic associations for IBD, many of which have been previously implicated in other immune-related disorders, including ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis. The new research also suggests a strong overlap between IBD susceptibility genes and genes tied to the immune system’s response to mycobacterial infections, including tuberculosis and leprosy. Researchers have observed similarities between the immune response in CD and that seen in tuberculosis, and they hypothesize that CD could be an aberrant response to certain harmless organisms present in the gut that trigger a similar reaction.
In addition to drawing upon original data from previous studies, the work utilizes a relatively new tool known as the immunochip, which samples 200,000 sites in the genome previously tied to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
“As a research community, we designed this array to target genes involved in immune-mediated diseases of all kinds,” said Daly. “This is one of our first studies using the immunochip, and there are many more results that will emerge from these studies — within IBD and across immune diseases.”
At the Broad Institute, researchers are already pursuing some of the pathways identified in previous studies of UC and CD, including autophagy, a process in which infected cells eat themselves to combat microbes.
“This work gives us additional leads to pursue,” said Xavier. “It gives us an opportunity for high-quality, translational research, allowing us to identify core pathways involved in IBD and better understand how genes interact with each other and with the environment, illuminating new pathways that contribute to disease.”
Kuwait extends ex-MP's detention
Kuwait extends ex-MP's detention: Kuwaiti prosecutors extend the detention of the former opposition MP Mussallam al-Barrak, arrested on Monday on suspicion of undermining the emir.
China is building a 100-petaflop supercomputer
China is building a 100-petaflop supercomputer: As the U.S. launched what's expected to be the world's fastest supercomputer at 20 petaflops, China is building a machine that is intended to be five times faster when it is deployed in 2015. China's Tianhe-2 supercomputer will run at 100 petaflops (quadrillion floating-point calculations per second), according to the Guangzhou Supercomputing Center, where the machine will be housed.
Police investigate 3 home bombings
Police investigate 3 home bombings: Police are investigating three explosions at homes in Virginia. WRIC has more.
China thinktank urges end of one-child policy
China thinktank urges end of one-child policy:
Foundation close to central leadership urges end to birth limits policy across China by 2015, with experts saying reform is 'inevitable'
A Chinese government thinktank is urging the country's leaders to start phasing out its one-child policy immediately and allow two children for every family by 2015, a daring proposal to do away with the unpopular policy.
Some demographers view the timeline put forward by the China Development Research Foundation as a bold move by a body close to the central leadership. Others warn that the gradual approach, if implemented, would still be insufficient to help correct the problems that China's strict birth limits have created.
Xie Meng, a press affairs official with the foundation, said the final version of the report would be released "in a week or two". But Chinese state media have been given advance copies. The official Xinhua News Agency said the foundation recommends a two-child policy in some provinces from this year and a nationwide two-child policy by 2015. It proposes all birth limits be dropped by 2020, Xinhua reported.
"China has paid a huge political and social cost for the policy, as it has resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance at birth," Xinhua said, citing the report.
But it remains unclear whether Chinese leaders are ready to take up the recommendations. China's National Population and Family Planning Commission had no immediate comment on the report on Tuesday.
Known to many as the one-child policy, China's actual rules are more complicated. The government limits most urban couples to one child, and allows two children for rural families if their first-born is a girl. There are numerous other exceptions as well, including looser rules for minority families and a two-child limit for parents who are themselves both singletons.
Cai Yong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said the report holds extra weight because the thinktank is under the State Council, China's cabinet. He said he found it remarkable that state-backed demographers were willing to publicly propose such a detailed schedule and plan on how to get rid of China's birth limits.
"That tells us at least that policy change is inevitable, it's coming," said Cai, who was not involved in the drafting of the report but knows many of the experts who were. Cai is currently a visiting scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai. "It's coming, but we cannot predict when exactly it will come."
Adding to the uncertainty is a once-in-a-decade leadership transition that kicks off 8 November that will involve a new slate of top leaders installed by spring. Cai said the transition could keep population reform on the backburner or changes may be rushed through to help burnish the reputations of outgoing President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
There has been growing speculation among Chinese media, experts and ordinary people about whether the government will soon relax the one-child policy – introduced in 1980 as a temporary measure to curb the surging population – and allow more people to have two children.
Though the government credits the policy with preventing hundreds of millions of births and helping lift countless families out of poverty, it is reviled by many ordinary people. The strict limits have led to forced abortions and sterilisations, even though such measures are illegal. Couples who flout the rules face hefty fines, seizure of their property and loss of their jobs.
Many demographers argue the policy has worsened the country's aging crisis by limiting the size of the young labour pool that must support the large baby boom generation as it retires. They say it has contributed to the imbalanced sex ratio by encouraging families to abort baby girls, preferring to try for a male heir.
The government recognises those problems and has tried to address them by boosting social services for the elderly. It has also banned sex-selective abortion and rewarded rural families whose only child is a girl.
Many today also view the birth limits as outdated, a relic of the era when housing, jobs and food were provided by the state.
"It has been 30 years since our planned economy was liberalised," commented Wang Yi, the owner of a shop that sells textiles online, under a news report on the proposal. "So why do we still have to plan our population?"
Though open debate about the policy has flourished in state media and online, leaders have so far expressed a desire to maintain the status quo. President Hu said last year that China would keep its strict family planning policy to keep the birth rate low and other officials have said that no changes are expected until at least 2015.
Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy and an expert on China's demographics, contributed research material to the foundation's report but has yet to see the full text. He said he welcomed the gist of the document that he's seen in state media.
It says the government "should return the rights of reproduction to the people", he said. "That's very bold."
Gu Baochang, a professor of demography at Beijing's Renmin University and a vocal advocate of reform, said the proposed timeline wasn't aggressive enough.
"They should have reformed this policy ages ago," he said. "It just keeps getting held up, delayed."
A Chinese government thinktank is urging the country's leaders to start phasing out its one-child policy immediately and allow two children for every family by 2015, a daring proposal to do away with the unpopular policy.
Some demographers view the timeline put forward by the China Development Research Foundation as a bold move by a body close to the central leadership. Others warn that the gradual approach, if implemented, would still be insufficient to help correct the problems that China's strict birth limits have created.
Xie Meng, a press affairs official with the foundation, said the final version of the report would be released "in a week or two". But Chinese state media have been given advance copies. The official Xinhua News Agency said the foundation recommends a two-child policy in some provinces from this year and a nationwide two-child policy by 2015. It proposes all birth limits be dropped by 2020, Xinhua reported.
"China has paid a huge political and social cost for the policy, as it has resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance at birth," Xinhua said, citing the report.
But it remains unclear whether Chinese leaders are ready to take up the recommendations. China's National Population and Family Planning Commission had no immediate comment on the report on Tuesday.
Known to many as the one-child policy, China's actual rules are more complicated. The government limits most urban couples to one child, and allows two children for rural families if their first-born is a girl. There are numerous other exceptions as well, including looser rules for minority families and a two-child limit for parents who are themselves both singletons.
Cai Yong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said the report holds extra weight because the thinktank is under the State Council, China's cabinet. He said he found it remarkable that state-backed demographers were willing to publicly propose such a detailed schedule and plan on how to get rid of China's birth limits.
"That tells us at least that policy change is inevitable, it's coming," said Cai, who was not involved in the drafting of the report but knows many of the experts who were. Cai is currently a visiting scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai. "It's coming, but we cannot predict when exactly it will come."
Adding to the uncertainty is a once-in-a-decade leadership transition that kicks off 8 November that will involve a new slate of top leaders installed by spring. Cai said the transition could keep population reform on the backburner or changes may be rushed through to help burnish the reputations of outgoing President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
There has been growing speculation among Chinese media, experts and ordinary people about whether the government will soon relax the one-child policy – introduced in 1980 as a temporary measure to curb the surging population – and allow more people to have two children.
Though the government credits the policy with preventing hundreds of millions of births and helping lift countless families out of poverty, it is reviled by many ordinary people. The strict limits have led to forced abortions and sterilisations, even though such measures are illegal. Couples who flout the rules face hefty fines, seizure of their property and loss of their jobs.
Many demographers argue the policy has worsened the country's aging crisis by limiting the size of the young labour pool that must support the large baby boom generation as it retires. They say it has contributed to the imbalanced sex ratio by encouraging families to abort baby girls, preferring to try for a male heir.
The government recognises those problems and has tried to address them by boosting social services for the elderly. It has also banned sex-selective abortion and rewarded rural families whose only child is a girl.
Many today also view the birth limits as outdated, a relic of the era when housing, jobs and food were provided by the state.
"It has been 30 years since our planned economy was liberalised," commented Wang Yi, the owner of a shop that sells textiles online, under a news report on the proposal. "So why do we still have to plan our population?"
Though open debate about the policy has flourished in state media and online, leaders have so far expressed a desire to maintain the status quo. President Hu said last year that China would keep its strict family planning policy to keep the birth rate low and other officials have said that no changes are expected until at least 2015.
Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy and an expert on China's demographics, contributed research material to the foundation's report but has yet to see the full text. He said he welcomed the gist of the document that he's seen in state media.
It says the government "should return the rights of reproduction to the people", he said. "That's very bold."
Gu Baochang, a professor of demography at Beijing's Renmin University and a vocal advocate of reform, said the proposed timeline wasn't aggressive enough.
"They should have reformed this policy ages ago," he said. "It just keeps getting held up, delayed."
BBVA profits hit by €2bn writedown
BBVA profits hit by €2bn writedown: Spanish lender’s third-quarter net income falls 82% in a decline that mirrors the effects of bad property assets on the country’s other banks
Big Jump In German Retail Sales
Big Jump In German Retail Sales:
German retail sales jumped 1.5 percent in September, blowing past expectations for a 0.3 percent gain according to Bloomberg.
Markets are rallying around the world.
Germany's DAX is up a solid 0.7 percent.
German retail sales jumped 1.5 percent in September, blowing past expectations for a 0.3 percent gain according to Bloomberg.
Markets are rallying around the world.
Germany's DAX is up a solid 0.7 percent.
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
NYT writer accuses Mark Thompson of 'wilful ignorance' over Jimmy Savile
NYT writer accuses Mark Thompson of 'wilful ignorance' over Jimmy Savile:
Joe Nocera asks why ex-BBC director general did not order inquiry after learning of Newsnight programme on presenter
Mark Thompson, the former BBC director general, has been accused of "appearing wilfully ignorant" about the Jimmy Savile scandal by a New York Times columnist, just weeks before he takes over as chief executive of the paper.
Joe Nocera pulled no punches in his piece on the incoming boss on Tuesday, headlined The Right Man for the Job?, which questioned whether the family that controls the paper, the Sulzbergers, had made the right choice in appointing Thompson.
In analysing the BBC's decision to drop a Newsnight investigation into Savile's alleged abuse, Nocera asked whether there was a cover-up. "Plainly, the answer is yes. What is far less certain is how high the cover-up went," he said.
He noted that Thompson, who was still director general when Newsnight's Savile report was dropped in late 2011, had not asked for details about the content of the investigation when he was told about it last year.
"Given the seriousness of sexual abuse allegations – look at what it did to Penn State – you would think that Thompson and his underlings would immediately want to get to the bottom of it," Nocera said.
"But, again, they did nothing. Thompson winds up appearing wilfully ignorant, and it makes you wonder what kind of an organisation the BBC was when Thompson was running it – and what kind of leader he was. It also makes you wonder what kind of chief executive he'd be at the Times."
Nocera is a highly respected journalist with a background in business. Before joining the New York Times in 2005, he spent 10 years at Fortune magazine, where he held a variety of positions, including contributing writer, editor-at-large and executive editor. His last position at Fortune was editorial director.
Thompson is due to start his new job as chief executive of the New York Times Company on 12 November, but has already been in the building getting to know staff and his name is already on his office door, according to Nocera.
Nocera also questioned why Thompson did not act in February 2012, when several British newspapers reported that the Newsnight investigation had been shelved, with claims that this was to protect the BBC's reputation.
"[New York Times Company chairman] Arthur Sulzberger is in a difficult spot. He believes strongly that he's got the executive he needs to lead the Times to the promised land of healthy profits again," Nocera said in conclusion.
"Although he declined to be interviewed for this column, he appears to have accepted Thompson's insistence that he knew nothing about the explosive allegations that became public literally 50 days after he accepted the Times job. Sulzberger is backing his man unreservedly.
"For the sake of Times employees – not to mention the readers who want to see a vibrant New York Times Company – let's hope his faith in Thompson is warranted. Otherwise, the BBC won't be the only organisation being asked tough questions about its judgment."
Nocera is the second writer at the New York Times to question whether Thompson is fit to be the paper's new boss in the wake of the Savile scandal.
Last week, Margaret Sullivan, the public editor who works on behalf of readers and writes about the newspaper, said in a blog posting: "[Thompson's] integrity and decision-making are bound to affect the Times and its journalism – profoundly. It's worth considering now whether he is the right person for the job, given this turn of events."
Joe Nocera asks why ex-BBC director general did not order inquiry after learning of Newsnight programme on presenter
Mark Thompson, the former BBC director general, has been accused of "appearing wilfully ignorant" about the Jimmy Savile scandal by a New York Times columnist, just weeks before he takes over as chief executive of the paper.
Joe Nocera pulled no punches in his piece on the incoming boss on Tuesday, headlined The Right Man for the Job?, which questioned whether the family that controls the paper, the Sulzbergers, had made the right choice in appointing Thompson.
In analysing the BBC's decision to drop a Newsnight investigation into Savile's alleged abuse, Nocera asked whether there was a cover-up. "Plainly, the answer is yes. What is far less certain is how high the cover-up went," he said.
He noted that Thompson, who was still director general when Newsnight's Savile report was dropped in late 2011, had not asked for details about the content of the investigation when he was told about it last year.
"Given the seriousness of sexual abuse allegations – look at what it did to Penn State – you would think that Thompson and his underlings would immediately want to get to the bottom of it," Nocera said.
"But, again, they did nothing. Thompson winds up appearing wilfully ignorant, and it makes you wonder what kind of an organisation the BBC was when Thompson was running it – and what kind of leader he was. It also makes you wonder what kind of chief executive he'd be at the Times."
Nocera is a highly respected journalist with a background in business. Before joining the New York Times in 2005, he spent 10 years at Fortune magazine, where he held a variety of positions, including contributing writer, editor-at-large and executive editor. His last position at Fortune was editorial director.
Thompson is due to start his new job as chief executive of the New York Times Company on 12 November, but has already been in the building getting to know staff and his name is already on his office door, according to Nocera.
Nocera also questioned why Thompson did not act in February 2012, when several British newspapers reported that the Newsnight investigation had been shelved, with claims that this was to protect the BBC's reputation.
"[New York Times Company chairman] Arthur Sulzberger is in a difficult spot. He believes strongly that he's got the executive he needs to lead the Times to the promised land of healthy profits again," Nocera said in conclusion.
"Although he declined to be interviewed for this column, he appears to have accepted Thompson's insistence that he knew nothing about the explosive allegations that became public literally 50 days after he accepted the Times job. Sulzberger is backing his man unreservedly.
"For the sake of Times employees – not to mention the readers who want to see a vibrant New York Times Company – let's hope his faith in Thompson is warranted. Otherwise, the BBC won't be the only organisation being asked tough questions about its judgment."
Nocera is the second writer at the New York Times to question whether Thompson is fit to be the paper's new boss in the wake of the Savile scandal.
Last week, Margaret Sullivan, the public editor who works on behalf of readers and writes about the newspaper, said in a blog posting: "[Thompson's] integrity and decision-making are bound to affect the Times and its journalism – profoundly. It's worth considering now whether he is the right person for the job, given this turn of events."
Disney to buy "Star Wars" producer Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion
Disney to buy "Star Wars" producer Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion: (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co said it agreed to buy film maker George Lucas's Lucasfilm Ltd for $4.05 billion.
Berlusconi and 15 Other Convicted Heads of State
Berlusconi and 15 Other Convicted Heads of State:
Silvio Berlusconi at a press conference in Rome, June 2000. (Abriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)After fighting numerous criminal allegations and court trials for two decades, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was found guilty of tax fraud Friday.
A Milan court accused him of purchasing film rights at inflated prices from companies also under his control in order to evade taxes. Should the sentence be upheld by a higher court, the media mogul will have to serve a prison sentence and will be barred from holding any public office.
Berlusconi joins a growing group of former prime ministers and presidents who have been indicted, tried, or even convicted.
A 2009 book, “Prosecuting Heads of State,” diagnosed a “meteoritic rise of in trials of senior leaders” since 1990. It counted 67 cases of former heads of state or heads of government who have been or were in the process of being prosecuted, most of them for serious human rights violations or financial crimes.
Here is a list of another 14 former state leaders who were convicted over the last two decades, either by domestic courts or international tribunals.
Jacques Chirac, as mayor of Paris, plays a game of billiards, Nov. 1985. (Pierre Guillaud/AFP/GettyImages)Thaksin Shinawatra, the older brother of the current Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, served as Thailand’s prime minister from 2001 to 2006. He was found guilty on corruption charges and sentenced to two years in prison in 2008. Two years later, Thailand’s Supreme Court allowed the government to seize $1.4 billion of Thaksin’s assets as part of the conviction. Thaksin currently lives in exile in Dubai.
Hosni Mubarak, as Egyptian President, attends a meeting in Cairo, Feb. 2011. (Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)The former president ruled Egypt for almost three decades (1981-2011). The Criminal Court of Egypt in June 2012 found him complicit in the deaths of demonstrators during the Arab Spring protests that led to his ousting in early 2011. While in frail health, he was convicted to life imprisonment.
Former rebel leader Charles Taylor (C) speaks with troops, July 1990. (Pascal Guyot/AFP/Getty Images)The former African leader was the first former head of state to be convicted by an international tribunal since World War II. The UN-sponsored Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) found Taylor guilty of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in May 2012. The court deemed Taylor from 1997-2003 “individually responsible” for the gross violations committed by rebel forces during the devastating civil war in the 1990s that included pillage, rape, enslavement, amputations, and use of child soldiers.
Jean Kambanda, as Prime Minister of Rwanda addresses the media in Gitarama, May 1994. (Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images)Kambanda as Rwandan prime minister oversaw one of the worst crimes against humanity: the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The massacre took more than 800,000 lives, mostly from the Tutsi minority population. The U.N.-sponsored International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) based in Tanzania charged Kambanda, a member of the Hutu majority, with six crimes of genocide. In May 1998, he pleaded guilty, which constituted “the first time in history that an accused person has acknowledged and affirmed his or her guilt for the crime of genocide before an international criminal tribunal,” according to the ICTR Kambanda was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Joe Videla (R) stands next to former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (L), 1978. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)Videla ruled as president during the brutal military rule in Argentina from 1976 to 1981. The former Lieutenant General is seen as co-responsible for the so-called Dirty War: a campaign of suppression that killed up to 30,000 citizens. After Argentina returned to civilian rule, he was convicted in 1985 for homicide, robbery, aggravated false arrests, and torture. In 1998 he was put under house arrest and has been imprisoned since 2008. In July 2012, a court sentenced him to 50 years in prison for the systemic abduction of babies from political prisoners.
Egon Krenz, as communist leader of East Germany, speaks at a press conference. (Vitaly Armand/AFP/Getty Images)Krenz served as the last General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unionist Party (SED) in East Germany. Krenz tried unsuccessfully to save the communist regime from collapsing. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and amid massive protests, he was forced to resign. In 1997, a Berlin state court sentenced him to more than six years in prison for manslaughter. The court saw him complicit in the shootings of fleeing East Germans at the inner-German border. After serving four years he was released.
Saddam Hussein, as Iraqi president, fires into the air during the Eid al-Fitr festival in a village near Baghdad, Jan. 1999. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images)Having ruled Iraq from 1979 to 2003, Hussein directed two unsuccessful military campaigns against Iran and Kuwait. The United States and allied forces attacked Iraq in March 2003 over charges of harboring weapons of mass destruction. When troops seized the capital Baghdad in April 2003, Hussein fled into hiding, but was captured eight months later. The Iraqi High Tribunal found the former president of Iraq guilty of the retaliatory murders of 148 Shiites in the village of Dujail in 1982, among other crimes against humanity. During the nine-month trial, Hussein interrupted the court proceedings repeatedly. He was sentenced to death by hanging in November 2006 and executed one month later.
P.W. Botha, as President of the apartheid regime of South Africa, addresses the media, Jan. 1998. (Anna Zieminski/AFP/Getty Images)Botha served as prime minister and state president of the apartheid regime of South Africa from 1978 to 1989. After the end of the institutionalized segregation, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up in 1995 to bring transparency and healing to the atrocities committed under the apartheid regime. The commission offered amnesty to those who were willing to testify. In 1997, Botha was fined and received a suspended sentence after he refused to appear in front of the commission. He died in 2006.
Alberto Fujimori, as President of Peru, poses with soldiers in the Cenepa river, Feb. 1995. (AFP/Getty Images)The controversial former Peruvian president who ruled from 1990 to 2000, was convicted in four trials and given sentences between 15 months and 25 years. Peru’s courts found Fujimori guilty of abuse of power, illegal wiretapping, bribery, extra-judicial killings, kidnappings, and embezzlement of state funds.
Mengistu Haile Mariam, as the communist leader of Ethiopia, stands next to Fidel Castro (C) and Raul Castro (L) in La Havana, Cuba, April 1975. (AFP/Getty Images)The communist dictator ruled Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991, he initiated a Red Terror campaign that took hundreds of thousands of lives. Mengistu was forced into exile in 1991 amid coup attempts and inner crises. In 2008 an Ethiopian court found him guilty of genocide, and sentenced him to death, while he remains at large in Zimbabwe.
Ehud Olmert, as Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, speaks at a press conference in Istanbul, Turkey, July 2004. (Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images)Olmert served as Israeli prime minister from 2006 to 2009. He was forced to step down over charges of corruption. He was later found guilty by a court for breach of trust and has been handed a suspended one-year prison sentence.
Joseph Estrada, as Phillipini President, addresses a crowd in the City Hall in Manila, Philippines, Oct. 2007. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)Estrada served as president of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001. The former movie star was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison for plundering. However, a month after his conviction in September 2007, Estrada was pardoned by his successor, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Samak Sundaravej, as leader of the People Power Party, talks to the press at his house, Dec. 2007. (Chumsak Kanoknan/Getty Images)The former governor of Bangkok served as Thai Prime Minister for nine months in 2008. Samak had to step down in September 2008 amid mass protests by the opposition against him as well as corruption charges. The Constitutional Court found him guilty of accepting payments for hosting a cooking show during his premiership. A different court upheld a upheld a two-year jail sentence for defamation.
Sundaravej left to the United States, supposedly to receive cancer treatment and died in 2009.
Yulia Tymoshenko, former Ukranian Prime Minister, reacts as a judge of the Kiev Pechersky court reads her verdict on October 11, 2011. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)Tymoshenko was a key figure during Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004 that led to the ousting of then—and now—president Victor Yanukovych. She served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from 2007 to 2010. After an unsuccessful bid for the presidency, she was convicted in October 2011 over accusations of abuse of power involving a gas deal that she had signed with Russia during her term that allegedly disadvantaged Ukraine. Her supporters at home, as well as human rights groups and Western governments, have criticized her sentencing and accuse President Yanukovych of using the trial as a political weapon to get rid of his main rival.
Silvio Berlusconi at a press conference in Rome, June 2000. (Abriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)
Berlusconi joins a growing group of former prime ministers and presidents who have been indicted, tried, or even convicted.
A 2009 book, “Prosecuting Heads of State,” diagnosed a “meteoritic rise of in trials of senior leaders” since 1990. It counted 67 cases of former heads of state or heads of government who have been or were in the process of being prosecuted, most of them for serious human rights violations or financial crimes.
Here is a list of another 14 former state leaders who were convicted over the last two decades, either by domestic courts or international tribunals.
Thaksin Shinawatra
Jacques Chirac, as mayor of Paris, plays a game of billiards, Nov. 1985. (Pierre Guillaud/AFP/GettyImages)
Hosni Mubarak
Hosni Mubarak, as Egyptian President, attends a meeting in Cairo, Feb. 2011. (Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)
Charles Taylor
Former rebel leader Charles Taylor (C) speaks with troops, July 1990. (Pascal Guyot/AFP/Getty Images)
Jean Kambanda
Jean Kambanda, as Prime Minister of Rwanda addresses the media in Gitarama, May 1994. (Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images)
Jorge Videla
Joe Videla (R) stands next to former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (L), 1978. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Egon Krenz
Egon Krenz, as communist leader of East Germany, speaks at a press conference. (Vitaly Armand/AFP/Getty Images)
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein, as Iraqi president, fires into the air during the Eid al-Fitr festival in a village near Baghdad, Jan. 1999. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images)
P. W. Botha
P.W. Botha, as President of the apartheid regime of South Africa, addresses the media, Jan. 1998. (Anna Zieminski/AFP/Getty Images)
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori, as President of Peru, poses with soldiers in the Cenepa river, Feb. 1995. (AFP/Getty Images)
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam, as the communist leader of Ethiopia, stands next to Fidel Castro (C) and Raul Castro (L) in La Havana, Cuba, April 1975. (AFP/Getty Images)
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert, as Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, speaks at a press conference in Istanbul, Turkey, July 2004. (Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images)
Joseph Estrada
Joseph Estrada, as Phillipini President, addresses a crowd in the City Hall in Manila, Philippines, Oct. 2007. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)
Samak Sundaravej
Samak Sundaravej, as leader of the People Power Party, talks to the press at his house, Dec. 2007. (Chumsak Kanoknan/Getty Images)
Sundaravej left to the United States, supposedly to receive cancer treatment and died in 2009.
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko, former Ukranian Prime Minister, reacts as a judge of the Kiev Pechersky court reads her verdict on October 11, 2011. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
Exercise Helps Maintain a Healthy Brain!
Exercise Helps Maintain a Healthy Brain!: People who exercise later in life may better protect their brain from age-related changes than those who do not, a study suggests.
Researchers found that people over 70 who took regular exercise showed less brain shrinkage over a three-year period than those who did little exercise.
Psychologists and Neuroimaging experts, based at the University of Edinburgh, did not find there to be any benefit to brain health for older people from participation in social or mentally stimulating activities.
Greater brain shrinkage is linked to problems with memory and thinking and the researchers say their findings suggest that exercise is potentially one important pathway to maintaining a healthy brain both in terms of size and reducing damage.
Researchers found that people over 70 who took regular exercise showed less brain shrinkage over a three-year period than those who did little exercise.
Psychologists and Neuroimaging experts, based at the University of Edinburgh, did not find there to be any benefit to brain health for older people from participation in social or mentally stimulating activities.
Greater brain shrinkage is linked to problems with memory and thinking and the researchers say their findings suggest that exercise is potentially one important pathway to maintaining a healthy brain both in terms of size and reducing damage.
National Geographic Photo Contest 2012
National Geographic Photo Contest 2012:
It’s that time again…the 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest is in full swing. The contest has reached his midpoint but there is plenty of time to enter before the November 30, 2012 deadline. Photographers of all skill levels - from professional to amateur - across the globe, submitted more than 20,000 entries from 130 countries in last year’s competition. The photographs are judged on creativity and photographic quality by a panel of experts in the field. There is a first place winner in each of three categories: People, Places and Nature, and a grand prizewinner as well. The following images are a sampling of the competition thus far – twelve images in each category. The caption information is provided and written by the individual photographer. – Paula Nelson ( 36 photos total)
NATURE’S ART (Nature) - Dried up delta of the Kimberly region, N.W. Australia. Creates the most sophisticated patterns only appreciated from above. (Photo and caption by Ted Grambeau/National Geographic Photo Contest)
Bayer diversifies with $1.2bn Schiff deal
Bayer diversifies with $1.2bn Schiff deal: German group bets on ‘nutraceuticals’ with acquisition of US company, the latest in a growing shift beyond doctor-prescribed medicines
Steinbrück admits to over a million euros in lecture fees
Steinbrück admits to over a million euros in lecture fees: Peer Steinbrück, the Social Democrat challenger to Angela Merkel in next year's election, has earned 1.25 million euros for speeches to big companies. He has been under pressure to reveal how much he makes on the side.
Apple's former heir apparent to depart after Siri and Maps failures
Apple's former heir apparent to depart after Siri and Maps failures: Under the vague guise of "increasing collaboration across hardware, software, and services," Apple on Monday announced a massive management shakeup, punctuated by the departure of controversial figures Scott Forstall, senior VP of iPhone Sof
Hitachi buys right to build next generation of British nuclear plants
Hitachi buys right to build next generation of British nuclear plants:
Hitachi signs £700m deal to buy Horizon project from German owners, paving the way for four to six new nuclear stations
Britain's nuclear expansion plans were boosted on Tuesday after Japanese company Hitachi signed a £700m deal that will enable it to start building the next generation of power plants.
The Japanese energy and engineering company is buying Horizon Nuclear Power, which has the rights to build reactors at Wylfa on Anglesey, north Wales, and Oldbury in Gloucestershire, from its German owners E.ON and RWE npower.
In what it described as the start of a 100-year commitment to the UK, Hitachi confirmed that it intends to progress Horizon's plans to build between two and three new nuclear plants at each site.
The facilities, which could be feeding electricity into the National Grid in the first half of the 2020s, are expected to generate power equivalent to up to 14m homes over 60 years.
Up to 6,000 jobs are expected to be created during construction at each site, with a further 1,000 permanent jobs at both locations once operational.
The prime minister, David Cameron, said: "I am determined that Britain competes and thrives in the global race for investment. This is a decades-long, multibillion pound vote of confidence in the UK, that will contribute vital new infrastructure to power our economy. It will support up to 12,000 jobs during construction and thousands more permanent highly skilled roles once the new power plants are operational, as well as stimulating exciting new industrial investments in the UK's nuclear supply chain."
Hitachi has also signed supply chain deals with UK engineering firms Rolls-Royce and Babcock International and has also pledged to establish a module assembly facility in the UK.
It beat off a rival bid for Horizon from a consortium led by US nuclear engineering company Westinghouse.
Mike Clancy, general secretary-designate of the Prospect union, said: "The successful bid by the Hitachi/SNC-Lavalin consortium sees a new entrant to the UK nuclear industry and demonstrates its faith in the economic promise the UK nuclear market offers both commerce and the economy as a whole.
"The Horizon venture is an important milestone in securing future low-carbon energy generation capacity within the UK and its importance to local and national economies cannot be overstated.
"While Hitachi's advanced boiling water reactor design has yet to undergo the UK's generic design assessment approval process, it is a proven technology and therefore any construction in the UK will benefit from lessons learned from its construction in Japan."
The announcement came as it was claimed that renewable energy capacity in the UK will overtake nuclear power capacity by 2018.
Britain's nuclear expansion plans were boosted on Tuesday after Japanese company Hitachi signed a £700m deal that will enable it to start building the next generation of power plants.
The Japanese energy and engineering company is buying Horizon Nuclear Power, which has the rights to build reactors at Wylfa on Anglesey, north Wales, and Oldbury in Gloucestershire, from its German owners E.ON and RWE npower.
In what it described as the start of a 100-year commitment to the UK, Hitachi confirmed that it intends to progress Horizon's plans to build between two and three new nuclear plants at each site.
The facilities, which could be feeding electricity into the National Grid in the first half of the 2020s, are expected to generate power equivalent to up to 14m homes over 60 years.
Up to 6,000 jobs are expected to be created during construction at each site, with a further 1,000 permanent jobs at both locations once operational.
The prime minister, David Cameron, said: "I am determined that Britain competes and thrives in the global race for investment. This is a decades-long, multibillion pound vote of confidence in the UK, that will contribute vital new infrastructure to power our economy. It will support up to 12,000 jobs during construction and thousands more permanent highly skilled roles once the new power plants are operational, as well as stimulating exciting new industrial investments in the UK's nuclear supply chain."
Hitachi has also signed supply chain deals with UK engineering firms Rolls-Royce and Babcock International and has also pledged to establish a module assembly facility in the UK.
It beat off a rival bid for Horizon from a consortium led by US nuclear engineering company Westinghouse.
Mike Clancy, general secretary-designate of the Prospect union, said: "The successful bid by the Hitachi/SNC-Lavalin consortium sees a new entrant to the UK nuclear industry and demonstrates its faith in the economic promise the UK nuclear market offers both commerce and the economy as a whole.
"The Horizon venture is an important milestone in securing future low-carbon energy generation capacity within the UK and its importance to local and national economies cannot be overstated.
"While Hitachi's advanced boiling water reactor design has yet to undergo the UK's generic design assessment approval process, it is a proven technology and therefore any construction in the UK will benefit from lessons learned from its construction in Japan."
The announcement came as it was claimed that renewable energy capacity in the UK will overtake nuclear power capacity by 2018.
Monday, 29 October 2012
Toxic chemicals used for leather production poisoning India’s tannery workers
Toxic chemicals used for leather production poisoning India’s tannery workers: India’s tanning industry has started tackling environmental issues but its progress on worker safety is woeful. As Peter Bengtsen found out, illness and deaths linked to toxic tanning chemicals appear worryingly common. The day began as every other day for 32-year-old tannery worker, Ramu. He woke at five in the morning next to his wife, Tamil Arasi, and four children in the family’s one-room hut in a tiny rural village in southern India. After his usual breakfast of rice and lentils, he left to clean waste tanks at some of the hundreds of tanneries in Vaniyambadi. He never returned home.
Multi-drug resistant TB rises in Eastern Europe
Multi-drug resistant TB rises in Eastern Europe: TB, which cannot be cured with conventional drugs, is spreading in Eastern Europe. So far, strategies to fight the disease have shown little success because it is closely linked to poverty and exclusion.
Spanish retail sales fall nearly 11%
Spanish retail sales fall nearly 11%: Data reflect economy struggling through its second recession in three years, and unlikely to grow until late 2013, while plagued by 25% unemployment
Google to issue credits for App Engine outage
Google to issue credits for App Engine outage: Google will give refunds to paid subscribers of App Engine, its Web application development and hosting service, which suffered a partial outage on Friday. During a four-hour stretch, about 50 percent of requests to App Engine applications failed, so Google will credit all paid applications for 10 percent of their October usage, the company said in a blog post.
The Hurricane Hasn't Even 'Hit' Yet, And The Flooding Already Looks Like This
The Hurricane Hasn't Even 'Hit' Yet, And The Flooding Already Looks Like This:
We're still several hours before Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, and the pictures of flooding from New York and New Jersey are quite ominous.
Here are some images.
Just south of Long Beach Island, New Jersey:
Atlantic City:
Atlantic City:
The FDr drive in New York, via Mike Ryan:
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Red Hook, Brooklyn:
Battery Park, Manhattan:
Ocean City, New Jersey. Says Kathy Orr of CBS: "Officials in Ocean City, NJ "the ocean has met the bay, we have never seen anything like this".
JFK Airport:
Bay Head New Jersey, by Ken Shane:
Rockaway, Queens
Hoboken
We're still several hours before Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, and the pictures of flooding from New York and New Jersey are quite ominous.
Here are some images.
Just south of Long Beach Island, New Jersey:
Atlantic City:
Atlantic City:
The FDr drive in New York, via Mike Ryan:
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Red Hook, Brooklyn:
Battery Park, Manhattan:
Ocean City, New Jersey. Says Kathy Orr of CBS: "Officials in Ocean City, NJ "the ocean has met the bay, we have never seen anything like this".
JFK Airport:
Bay Head New Jersey, by Ken Shane:
Rockaway, Queens
Hoboken
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