Saturday, 30 March 2013

Aggressive secularisation: the new tyranny

Lord Carey has recently accused the UK government of aiding "aggressive secularism". While it might be tempting to dismiss his claims, it's important to look at the evidence, to see if he may have a point
Lord Carey is no stranger to making inflammatory comments based on what he sees as the increasing persecution of Christians in modern society (which is arguably a questionable viewpoint for a high profile Christian with a great deal of power and influence and repeated access to national media platforms). Today's news reveals that he's still capable of this, with his recent article accusing the PM of aiding "aggressive secularism".
While it might be tempting to dismiss his claims as nonsensical and lacking any evidence (and many have done so), as a scientist I can't simply do this. I cannot claim to favour evidence and logic if I reject an argument purely because it doesn't match my own views and opinions. So, in the spirit of scientific fairness, we should consider the evidence for Carey's claims.
The alarming fact is that, while there may be no specific, peer reviewed study that looks into this, there is plenty of observable evidence in modern Britain that secularism is being promoted and enforced with a zeal that often crosses the line into flat-out dictatorial.
Even for someone like me, a non-Christian low-key employee in a higher-education institution, there is no escape from the ever-present hostile enforcement of secular views. Consider a typical working day from earlier this week.
I arrived at work late. This was because the train was delayed, due to the conductor discovering a man with a religious pamphlet in his pocket. Of course, the train was stopped immediately and he was forcibly restrained while we waited for the police to arrive and take him away. This happens quite often lately, but it's still quicker than driving, what with all the road works on my typical route. These are all apparently outside churches, and the purpose of them is to cut off their power and water until they pay extra to have it reconnected.
I was a bit worried about being late when I got to the office, thinking I'd get in trouble for being late, but it wasn't an issue. My work colleague had had to leave, to pick up her son from school. The note she left explained that another pupil had sneezed and her son had reflexively said "God bless you", so had been expelled on the spot.
I tried to contact my boss to see what I should do about this, but he'd left me a message too saying he was unavailable. He'd recently bought a second hand car and it still had one of those fish on it. He'd not gotten round to taking it off, but someone had seen it in the car park and made a formal complaint, so he had to go to a disciplinary meeting.
I opted to go through my inbox, and discovered a department-wide announcement that they were changing the calendars. Given the religious origins of several of the day names, they were now being renamed. The days of the week were now called Oneday, Twosday, Threesday, Foursday, Fivesday, Sixday and Sevenday. This was only a short term change though, as the seven-day week also has religious origins, so eventually we'd be moving to a ten day week. They were decimalising the calendar, apparently. This was going to be a lot of work for everyone, but it's not like we had a choice.
I went to the vending machine to get some coffee, to help me process this. It swallowed the last of my change, though, and didn't acknowledge it. In frustration I said "For God's sake!" Unfortunately, I was heard by one of the secular enforcement department, who informed me that in times of frustration I have to say "For the sake of an unspecified but definitely plausible deity". Either that, or I could include the names of every deity recognised by an official religion. Given that the Hindu pantheon alone would take several hours, I opted for the former. I didn't want to get tazed again.
On the way home I remembered I had to pick up an Easter egg for my son. I asked in the supermarket where they were kept, but new regulations meant the staff member couldn't help me unless I referred to them as "non-denominational cocoa-based mock chicken ovulations". I found them eventually; they were next to the Not-Cross buns.
So I returned home, after a day of enduring aggressive secularism at every turn. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that none of this actually happened and the sort of world where this would occur seems to exist entirely within the confines of Lord Carey's head.
Is he suffering some sort of genuine persecution complex? Or is he another out-of-touch privileged figure scared of losing even the smallest element of the power and influence he has grown accustomed to? The answer is probably something far more complex overall. People are complex. People are different. They have every right to be, and we need to respect that.
Dean Burnett shows bias to no religion in particular on Twitter, @garwboy
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Argentina puts forward alternative payment plan in bond dispute

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Argentina is pitching an alternative payment formula to a U.S. appeals court that would allow it to resolve litigation with creditors holding defaulted bonds for which they are demanding to be paid $1.33 billion

A la baja, remesas de EU a México: estudio

El Proyecto de Investigación Trinacional indica que el endurecimiento en la frontera norte es uno de los factores que han contribuido al fenómeno, que podría agravarse e impactar la economía nacional

Alcanza radiación solar nivel "extremadamente alto" en DF

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, 30 de marzo.- El Índice de Radiación Ultravioleta alcanzó 13 puntos, nivel considerado extremadamente alto, por lo que el Sistema de Monitoreo Atmosférico (Simat) exhortó a la población del valle de México a protegerse ante la exposición al sol.
El organismo de la Secretaría del Medio Ambiente capitalina explicó que la ciudad de México recibe una mayor cantidad de radiación todo el año por su ubicación a mayor altitud y su posición cercana a los trópicos
En ese sentido, advirtió que la radiación UV puede atravesar las nubes y no se filtran, por lo que sus rayos aumentan el riesgo de cáncer de piel, aceleran el envejecimiento de la piel y producen daños oculares.
Ante ello, exhortó a la población a vestir prendas con mangas largas y de colores claros, aplicar crema fotoprotectora, usar lentes con filtro UV y llevar gorra o sombrero.
Indicó que los niños menores de 15 años son un sector especialmente vulnerable, pues tienen la piel y ojos más sensibles, por lo que es importante protegerlos para que tengan una piel más sana y de aspecto más joven, toda vez que la mayor parte de la exposición a la radiación UV a lo largo de toda su vida habrá ocurrido antes de los 18 años.
El Simat señaló que las personas con el tono de piel muy clara pueden permanecer a la intemperie hasta siete minutos y las de piel con tonalidad muy oscura hasta 27 minutos.
Asimismo recordó que entre las 11:00 y las 16:00 horas, los índices de radiación solar son más intensos, por lo que es importante tomar las medidas de fotoprotección necesarias.
Por otro lado, el Simat refirió en su reporte de las 12:00 horas que la calidad del aire es regular en todas las zonas del valle, por lo que sólo las personas que son excepcionalmente sensibles al ozono y las partículas suspendidas pueden experimentar molestias en vías respiratorias.
Índice de Radiación Solar Ultravioleta
Hora_________Nivel UV_________Condición
12:20___________13 _____________Extremadametne alta
Valores del Imeca* por zona
ZONA ______ OZONO (O3)___ PARTICULAS** _CONDICIÓN
Noroeste _____ 65 _______________ 58 __________ Regular
Noreste ______ 74 _______________ 57 __________ Regular
Centro _______ 98 _______________ 53 __________ Regular
Suroeste _____ 72 _______________ 36 __________ Regular
Sureste ______ 68 _______________ 46 __________ Regular
Los indicadores de calidad del aire son formas directas o indirectas de determinar la situación actual y la tendencia en la capacidad del ambiente para sustentar la salud ecológica y humana.
* Imeca.- Índice Metropolitano de la Calidad del Aire
** Partículas (PM10).- pequeñas partículas sólidas o líquidas de polvo, cenizas, hollín, metálicas, cemento o polen, dispersas en la atmósfera.

mca

28,000 Chinese waterways dry up amid pollution tidal wave

A report from the Ministry of Water Resources found that the number of rivers in China with catchment areas of over 100 square kilometers has halved compared to 60 years ago, an official report from China’s Ministry of Water Resources released earlier this week said.
Around 800,000 surveyors conducted the study which found that there were only 22,909 rivers in China by the end of 2011 compared to a government estimate of 50,000.
The study has prompted fears that China’s economic development has come at the cost of considerable water and soil loss.
The terrible state of China’s rivers was highlighted when the problem of “cancer villages” hit the headlines earlier this year. The so-called towns are areas where pollution, particularly soil and water pollution, is so bad there has been a huge rise in diseases like stomach cancer.
The government was forced to admit the problem after a huge social media campaign amid an outcry by many Chinese people and a sustained crusade by global environmental groups.
However, Huang He, deputy director in charge of the census told the South China Morning Post that the disparity between the number of rivers now and the number in the past was due to a number of factors including inaccurate past estimates, climate change and water and soil loss.
The survey which took three years to be completed also shows that despite losing waterways, China has extensive problems with flooding in many parts of the country. Deadly floods downpours affect millions each year. In 2012, over 70 people were killed by the disaster and 1.6 million others were affected in Beijing alone. In total,  more than 66 percent of the population and 90 percent of all cities are located in regions threatened by floods.

TSA agents spared despite violations

A number of Transportation Security Administrator employees who faced dismissal for not following screening procedures ended up with suspensions instead, the agency said

Does chocolate give you spots?

"It seems to be that for a male subject between the ages of 18 and 35 with a history of acne, chocolate does seem to exacerbate their acne," Block says.


Cyprus details heavy losses for major bank customers

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Major depositors in Cyprus's biggest bank will lose around 60 percent of savings over 100,000 euros, its central bank confirmed on Saturday, sharpening the terms of a bailout that has shaken European banks but saved the island from bankruptcy.

"Smart brakes" reduce accidents

A new Swedish study confirms that automatic braking systems in cars can greatly reduce accidents and injuries.So-called smart or auto brakes use cameras, lasers, radar, and other systems to monitor traffic around a car. In the event of a potential collision, they first give the driver a warning, then automatically turn on the brakes.

Argentina propõe pagar dívida nas condições de 2010

A Argentina propôs a dois fundos especulativos, que classifica como "abutres", o pagamento nas mesmas condições dos acordos de reestruturação da sua dívida de 2010, num documento interposto perante...

Top Stories: Being Alone Will Kill You, Bacteria Will Make You Thinner, Bees Might Just Shock You

A roundup of our favorite stories from this week

Bishops warns of consequences if Christian faith fades

Britain risks "falling into darkness" with its citizens unable to distinguish between good and evil due to the marginalisation of Christianity, a Roman Catholic bishop will warn tomorrow.

Electrosensitivity: is technology killing us?

Is modern life making us ill? Yes, say those who suffer from electrosensitivity. Are they cranks, or should we all be throwing away our mobile phones?
Tim Hallam is just tall enough to seem gangly. His height makes the bedroom feel even smaller than it is. Muddy sunlight filters through the grey gauze hung over his window. His narrow bed appears to be covered with a glistening silver mosquito net. The door and the ceiling are lined with tinfoil. Tim tells me there is also a layer of foil beneath the wallpaper and under the wood-effect flooring. He says, "The room is completely insulated; the edges are sealed with aluminium tape and connected with conducting tape so I could ground the whole room. It's a Faraday cage, effectively. Grounding helps with the low frequencies radiation, apparently. The high frequencies just bounce off the outside."
Tim is trying to escape atmospheric manmade radiation caused by Wi-Fi, phone signals, radio, even TV screens and fluorescent bulbs. It's a hopeless task, he admits: "It's so hard to get away from, and it's taken a toll on my life." I offer to put my phone outside the room and he happily accepts, firmly closing the door. He explains the phone would have kept searching for a signal. "And because it wouldn't find one, it would keep ramping up." With the tinfoil inside his cage, the signal would hurtle around the room like a panicked bird.
Tim estimates he spent £1,000 on the insulation, taking photographs at every stage to share with others via ElectroSensitivity UK, the society for sufferers. He found the whole process stressful, especially after a summer sleeping in the garden of his shared house in Leamington Spa to escape a new flatmate's powerful Wi-Fi router. How did he feel about the flatmate at the time? "Oh, I hated him. It wasn't really him, of course. But I was so angry." Among the symptoms Tim experiences – headaches, muscular pain, dry eyes – there are memory lapses and irritability. He now says his bed is the single most important thing he owns. "I climb in and zip it up so I'm completely sealed. Inside, I sleep extremely well. Without it, my sleep is fragmented, and without sleep, then lots of other things go wrong."
Tim demonstrates the effectiveness of the tinfoil using a radiation detector called Elektrosmog, manufactured in Germany. It is blocky and white, which makes it look both retro and futuristic. On the front of the box, a picture of an electricity pylon is surrounded by jagged black lightning flashes. The machine gives a reading close to zero: Tim's room is radiation-free.
As a child in the 70s, I watched a BBC science-fiction serial called The Changes, which imagined a future after humans became allergic to electricity. Pylons were the greatest danger, making people violently sick. On cross-country runs, I would speed up when I had to pass beneath a power cable, feeling the weight of the buzzing electricity above me. The idea that electromagnetic fields affect our health took root in the 1960s. A US doctor named Robert O Becker became the face of the campaign against pylons after appearing on the US TV show 60 Minutes. Professor Andrew Marino, now of Louisiana State University, was Becker's lab partner. Marino says, "He's the reason nobody wants to live near power lines."
If electromagnetic radiation is dangerous to humans, there are far more risks now than 40 years ago, thanks to the telecommunications industry. More than a billion people worldwide own mobile phones. In the UK, there are more mobile contracts than people. The new 4G spectrum will cover 98% of the country, erasing all but the most remote "not spots".
Dr Mireille Toledano runs Cosmos, a 30-year, five-nation study into the effects of telecoms radiation on humans. She knows how rapidly things are changing. In 2000, a 10-year study into mobile phones and brain tumours pegged heavy use at 30 minutes a day. The study found the 90th percentile had spent 1,640 hours of their lives on their phones. In the UK, Toledano says, "heavy use is now defined at 86 minutes a day; 30 minutes is in the median range. Across the whole [international Cosmos study], the top 10% of users have now clocked up 4,160 or more hours."
The earlier study found no evidence linking phone use and cancer in the short term, yet as our love affair with technology keeps deepening, anxieties grow. Two years ago, the European Assembly passed Resolution 1815, which, among other things, calls for restrictions on Wi-Fi in schools and the use of mobile phones by children. The World Health Organisation has classified electromagnetic fields of the kind used in mobile telephony as Group 2b carcinogens – that is, as possibly cancerous.
The issue of electromagnetic sensitivity is immediately political. It places sufferers on the other side from both industry and the governments that profit from leasing wavelengths. Over and over, I hear the phrase, "We are the canaries in the coal mine": sufferers believe we are approaching a tipping point. Tim Hallam worries about the effects of electromagnetic fields on the most vulnerable: on his sister's young family; on children in schools bathed in Wi-Fi rays; or old people in sheltered accommodation, each with their own internet router. "I think it's affecting everyone's cells. There are test-tube experiments which show it damages DNA and affects the blood-brain barrier. I do think there's going to be a surge in the people who are sensitive in years to come. But my sister's not fully taken that on board."
Yet electro hypersensitivity syndrome is controversial. Sweden recognises EHS as a "functional impairment", or disability, but it is the patients, not doctors, who make the diagnosis. The fact is, everyone who suffers from EHS is self-diagnosed – and each has their own story to explain the cause of their problems.
Tim was 15 years old, at a gig by the industrial band Sheep on Drugs, when the singer produced a pistol and fired blanks into the ceiling. Tim, who is now 36, says, "It was the loudest thing I had ever heard." His ears began ringing but he continued going to gigs without using ear plugs and the problem grew worse. He played clarinet in two orchestras but had to stop: "Immediately, my musical life and my social life ended." Today, his sister is a professional classical musician. Tim, a Cambridge graduate, is a van driver for Asda. He works shifts that allow him time alone when his flatmates are out and the house is free of Wi-Fi and phones. It was the arrival of Wi-Fi in his house, just 10 months ago, that led Tim to identify the cause of his problems, but it was the tinnitus that started it all.
Michelle Berriedale-Johnson has worked in the field of food intolerances and allergies for more than 20 years. She runs the industry awards for "Free From" foods from her home in north-west London, as well as foodsmatter.com, a website that raises awareness around food intolerances. Five years ago, at the age of 60, she began to feel unwell. She was sitting at her desk when she identified the cause. "I looked up and there was the Royal Free Hospital with the phone masts on the top, beaming straight through my window, and it just clicked." Michelle is bright and lively, happy to dive beneath her desk to show the precautions she has taken to shield herself from the spaghetti of wires. Her walls are painted with carbon paint, lined with foil and papered over. The windows have the same netting as Tim's, though when she uses her Elektrosmog meter she discovers to her consternation that the netting is old and no longer works. Her front rooms buzz with electromagnetic radiation, though her office – now at the back of the house – shows far better readings. She says, "I'm lucky to work from home, but I often feel like a prisoner." When she leaves the house, she wears hats lined with material similar to Tim's mosquito netting and even has blouses made of the same material. "The important thing is to protect your head and upper torso," she says.
Michelle precisely identifies the moment she became sensitised to radiation. She was an early user of mobile phones. "Do you remember the type with the little aerial? I had one where the antenna had broken off, but I continued to use it pressed to my ear, which people who know tell me meant that I was using my entire head as an aerial." In her view, we are all sensitive to electromagnetic fields, but events can tip us over into hypersensitivity, like a kitchen sink filling so fast that the overflow becomes overwhelmed and water cascades to the floor.
The problem, in clinical terms, is that "hypersensitivity" refers either to allergies or to auto-immune conditions. EHS may be like hay fever or, in extreme cases, like rheumatoid arthritis but only via analogy. If we speak of "hypersensitivity" we are using a metaphor – or we are talking about something entirely new. Does this "new" condition exist?
Long-time researcher Dr Olle Johansson, from Sweden's Karolinska Institute, coined the term "screen dermatitis" to explain why computer users in the depths of the Stockholm winter could complain of sunburn-like symptoms. Johansson has a theory that could explain how extremely high levels of radiation could affect histamine levels in cells. Yet telecoms radiation is low and becoming lower as gadgets become more efficient. Johansson acknowledges that if anyone is found to be truly allergic to their phone it would be an entirely new kind of allergy, but he hopes that an awareness of EHS will lead to revolutionary changes. "In Sweden, we take accessibility measures seriously for disabilities. You think of changes to sidewalks, or wheelchair access, or ramps on buses. These are also helpful to mothers with prams, people with shopping or to rollerskaters. The big winner is everyone." Similarly, he believes that cutting off the telecoms signals would not only help EHS sufferers, it would benefit all of us, returning us to a society based on face-to-face human interaction.
Dr James Rubin of King's College Institute of Psychiatry is adamant EHS is not a genuine syndrome. "With most conditions, patients don't necessarily know what's going on. But with electrosensitivity there's an absolute certainty about the cause. Self-diagnosis is at the core of it." He prefers the term "idiopathic environmental intolerances", or IEI, which covers conditions with no obvious cause, like multiple chemical sensitivity, sick building syndrome, food intolerances – even a physical reaction to wind turbines. "The problem is, if you look for a coherent set of symptoms, you are not going to find it. You even find that people's symptoms change over time. Many have other intolerances in addition to the electrical sensitivity."
Tim is intolerant to milk and gluten. He is also allergic to wool, and cannot sleep in a room with a carpet. Michelle has no intolerances but admits she is unusual in the community: "Most people do." She made her diagnosis because she was familiar with EHS through her work. She is familiar with Rubin's research and has written blogs condemning his methods: "These stupid so-called provocation studies where they place a mobile in your hand and ask if you feel unwell. And if you say yes, they go, ho-ho, the phone wasn't switched on." These tests pay no attention to the way that people are sensitised, or react to their sensitivity in different ways, she believes.
Rubin is a bogeyman in the electrosensitive community thanks to a 2008 paper that suggested the condition was psychosomatic. Yet he has also undertaken a review of all the research – more than 50 provocation studies – and found no evidence of sensitivity to telecoms radiation. He says, "The suffering is very real – I don't doubt that – and I take it very seriously. But we've spent millions on the research and the time comes when you have to say, in the future the money would be better spent on looking for effective treatments, rather than chasing a cause."
Professor Andrew Marino is less sceptical. "When people say they feel unwell and trace that to a Wi-Fi signal or a phone, that is a kind of experiment. It may not be well designed, they may not understand blinds and double blinds, but if they are reasonable people, carefully noting what they are suffering, we should take a look at that."
Marino was a first-year postgraduate in 1964 when he began working with Dr Robert Becker. Once he and Becker began campaigning against electricity pylons, their funding disappeared. Becker retired at the relatively young age of 56. Today, Andrew Marino will not look to industry for research funds. He has reviewed many of the same 50 papers on EHS as Rubin, concluding, "It's easy to find nothing." The common denominator he identified in the papers casting doubt on EHS is that they were funded by the telecommunications industry.
EHS sufferers have criticised Rubin's research because it is funded jointly by mobile phone companies and government. They believe this shows direct bias. Marino's criticism is different. He recognises Rubin's money was placed in a fund and administered by scientists separate from the industry. Yet, he argues, the industry approves funding because statistical modelling of large-scale studies averages out experiences and produces no clear-cut results. Big business is happy to back risk studies, but they favour projects that minimise risk: "You look at the statistics and see the way they design the experiments and they have no ability to find anything."
Rubin's research is statistic-driven. If Rubin is a pollster, then Marino is a canvasser. He believes vast overviews hide the way people really feel. Marino chose to focus on a single sufferer, a female doctor. His two-week study began by first discovering which wavelengths affected her. Once her symptoms had subsided, Marino and his team began again, using provocation studies of real and fake signals. Their results were published as Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: Evidence For A Novel Neurological Syndrome.
Marino and Rubin have exchanged a series of letters about the study in the Journal Of Neuroscience. If the research stands up, Marino's syndrome is novel because it is unlike other kinds of hypersensitivity. In truth, it depends upon singularity. Marino speaks urgently: "I'm not interested in measuring the prevalence of the syndrome. I want to establish its existence." In his view, humans – complex living organisms – are all different. In the economy of our bodies, Marino says, "causes becomes effects and effects becomes causes which become effects, and so on". It is an endless and unpredictable cycle.
So should we all make radical lifestyle changes, like cutting down our mobile phone use or getting rid of our Wi-Fi?
"Why?" Marino sounds perplexed.
"Because we might get sick."
Marino dismisses the idea. He may disagree vehemently with Rubin, but he views EHS sufferers as outliers, far removed from the average human experience and with few lessons for the rest of us. "Listen, I use an ear bud with my phone, and I minimise use. I don't know if you'd call it radical but I don't have acute reactions to anything. So there's nothing for me to worry about."
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Les violences entre musulmans et bouddhistes font 43 morts au Myanmar

Quarante-trois personnes ont été tuées en dix jours au Myanmar depuis le début des violences religieuses entre bouddhistes et musulmans, a indiqué la presse d'État samedi.

Somos el 99%

Joseph Stiglitz se ha convertido en uno de los economistas más críticos de nuestro tiempo. Su solidaridad con la Primavera Árabe de Túnez y Egipto, los Indignados de Madrid y el Occupy Wall Street de Nueva York, ubican al Nobel como una referencia emblemáticas en contra del neoliberalismo y la globalización desenfrenada.

En El precio de la desigualdad, Stiglitz analiza las razones por las cuales la sociedad estadunidense se ha vuelto una de las más desiguales. Aunque su análisis se basa en la economía de ese país, las conclusiones y ejemplos que ilustra son fácilmente aplicables a México.
Un sentimiento de injusticia recorre muchas naciones. El mercado y el capitalismo fallaron: no eran tan estables ni eficientes como prometían y los sistemas políticos no han corregido las faltas. El autor afirma que “el poder de los mercados es enorme, pero no poseen un carácter moral intrínseco. Tenemos que decidir cómo hay que gestionarlos”, y su tesis principal es que la política, dominada por el 1 % más rico, ha condicionado al mercado. Existe una relación viciada entre el poder político y la élite económica que tripula al sector público para que establezca el conjunto de reglas y normas que les favorezcan, en detrimento del 99%, la gran mayoría de la población. La democracia de Estados Unidos pareciera estar regida por la máxima “un dólar, un voto” en lugar de “una persona, un voto”.
Con los abusos cometidos por los banqueros, la metafórica mano invisible de Adam Smith se convirtió en una mano peluda que echó de sus casas a millones, condenándolos al desempleo y la pobreza. El gobierno tenía la responsabilidad de corregir las fallas del mercado. Sin embargo, valiéndose de su influencia, el sector financiero se aseguró de que no fuera así, y de que cuando estallara la crisis no sólo no se vieran afectadas sus ganancias, sino que el rescate bancario corriera por cuenta del gobierno y los contribuyentes: “Hemos creado para los bancos una red de seguridad mucho más fuerte que la que hemos creado para los estadunidenses pobres”, denuncia Stiglitz.
El 1% también ha diseñado un sistema fiscal a su imagen y semejanza: sesgado, lleno de vacíos legales y disposiciones especiales para pagar menos de lo que justamente les correspondería. La tasa promedio de impuesto sobre la renta que pagaron en 2007 las 400 familias más ricas de EU fue de 16.6 %, contra la tasa promedio de 20.4% aplicada a los contribuyentes en general. A mediados de los años 50 el impuesto sobre la renta de las empresas aportaba 30% de los ingresos de la administración central; hoy en día representa menos de 9%.
Cuando el gobierno contribuye a dar forma a las fuerzas del mercado sin tener como objetivo promover la competencia, implícitamente ayuda a unos a expensas de otros. Dice Stiglitz que hay dos formas de hacerse rico: una es creando riqueza y la otra es quitándosela a los demás. En este último escenario cabe el monopolio y la forma más sencilla de tener un monopolio sostenible es “conseguir que el gobierno te conceda uno.”
La forma en la que se ha gestionado la globalización ha beneficiado a las grandes empresas. Primero logran que los gobiernos flexibilicen sus mercados laborales —“las míticas virtudes de un mercado laboral flexible”— para reforzar su poder de negociación frente a los trabajadores. Al mismo tiempo consiguen total libertad en la regulación para mover sus capitales entre los distintos países. Una vez que afianzan estas condiciones, amenazan al país: “a menos de que nos bajes los impuestos, nos iremos a otro lado, a donde nos graven con un tipo menor”.
Cualquier semejanza con nuestra realidad no es coincidencia. La existencia de grandes fortunas mexicanas a nivel mundial y los millones de mexicanos en pobreza, son dos caras de la misma moneda. En la supuesta modernización de nuestra economía hacia una “abierta y de mercado”, lo que ha prevalecido son los privilegios gestionados a través del poder político. Esta relación perversa es la que ha provocado la concentración del ingreso, el estancamiento económico, la falta de oportunidades para la mayoría de los mexicanos y el descrédito de la democracia.
                *Senador del PRD por la Ciudad de México
                mario.delgado@senado.gob.mx
                Twitter: @mario_delgado1
                Facebook: /mariodelgadocarrillo

If you smoke, best to wait a bit after waking in the morning

Why do some smokers get cancer, and others don't. There are likely many factors such as genetics, exposure to environmental pollutants, immune system strength, and others. A new study by Penn State found that the sooner a person smokes a cigarette upon waking in the morning, the more likely he or she is to acquire lung or oral cancer.

"We found that smokers who consume cigarettes immediately after waking have higher levels of NNAL -- a metabolite of the tobacco-specific carcinogen NNK -- in their blood than smokers who refrain from smoking a half hour or more after waking, regardless of how many cigarettes they smoke per day," said Steven Branstetter, assistant professor of biobehavioral health.

According to Branstetter, other research has shown that NNK (4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-[3-pyridyl]-1-butanone) induces lung tumors in several rodent species. Levels of NNAL (4-(methylnitrosamnino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol) in the blood can therefore predict lung cancer risk in rodents as well as in humans. In addition, NNAL levels are stable in smokers over time, and a single measurement can accurately reflect an individual's exposure.

Bélgica aprova ajuste de 1,4 mil milhões de euros

O Governo belga aprovou hoje um ajuste de 1.434 milhões de euros ao orçamento federal de 2013, para controlar o défice, que deverá ficar nos 2,4% do Produto Interno Bruto, aproximando-se do objetivo...

Se fugan 45 mil litros de gas sobre autopista

MORELIA, 30 de marzo.— Cerca de las 02:50 horas de ayer, un percance carretero dejó sin circulación, por al menos 12 horas, un tramo de la autopista México-Guadalajara, entre Maravatío y Zinapécuaro.
Reportes de la Policía Federal indicaron que en la madrugada un camión que transportaba agua embotellada de conocida marca sufrió un percance mecánico y para evitar un accidente el conductor de la unidad se metió a la rampa de emergencia, cerca de la caseta de Zinapécuaro.
Al poco tiempo, un vehículo acoplado con un remolque y un semirremolque tipo tanque —que transportaba 45 mil litros de gas LP— también se volcó y dejó escapar su contenido cerca del referido camión.
Según autoridades locales, el cierre de la autopista afectó la circulación de paseantes en dirección hacia Morelia y Guadalajara, así como hacia Toluca y el Distrito Federal.
Manifestaron que el percance no dejó personas heridas y que tras varias horas de labores se abrió la autopista a la circulación.
Al lugar de los hechos llegaron elementos de la Policía Federal y de rescate de Protección Civil de Michoacán, quienes de inmediato verificaron que ninguno de los conductores estuviera lesionado, pero tuvieron que esperar hasta que amaneciera para poder realizar las maniobras y mover los vehículos siniestrados.
Una vez que tuvieron luz del día iniciaron los movimientos con grúas para mover las pesadas unidades. Sin embargo, al momento de mover la pipa de gas LP, una fuga puso en alerta nuevamente a los cuerpos de emergencia, por lo que se acordonó el área tres kilómetros a la redonda, además de desviar la circulación en la vía federal así como en la carretera libre Acámbaro- Zinapécuaro.
Fue cerca de las 16:00 horas de ayer cuando la amenaza fue controlada y tras las maniobras del personal de Protección Civil la carretera fue liberada.
En Durango
Por otra parte, la Fiscalía General de Durango informó de una volcadura en la carretera libre Durango-Torreón, la cual dejó un saldo de dos personas muertas y dos lesionadas.
La instancia estatal reportó que los occisos respondían a los nombres de Cándido Luna Prado, de 41 años y Refugio Luna Prado, de 46 años, ambos con domicilio en el poblado Francisco Castillo Nájera, perteneciente al municipio de Pánuco de Coronado.
Los hechos ocurrieron cuando Gregorio Aguilar Luna, de 38 años, conducía por la vía en mención a bordo de una camioneta de la marca Chevrolet, tipo Avalanche, color blanco, con placas de circulación de Durango.
Indicó que en esta camioneta viajaban también Roberto Luna Prado, de 39 años, y Renato Castillo Luna, de 27 años, ambos resultaron lesionados.
El accidente ocurrió cuando el conductor perdió el control del vehículo debido al exceso de velocidad a la altura del kilómetro 25+100, para posteriormente volcarse con los resultados ya descritos.
Después de este hecho, el conductor huyó, en tanto los lesionados fueron trasladados al Hospital General de esta ciudad para recibir atención médica.
En el Edomex
En otro percance, registrado en Semana Santa, una pareja falleció la madrugada de ayer luego de chocar el auto en que viajaban contra un árbol ubicado en el camellón que divide carriles centrales de laterales del Anillo Periférico, a la altura de la avenida Convento de Santa Mónica, en el municipio de Tlalnepantla, Estado de México.
El accidente ocurrió alrededor de las 02:40 horas, cuando un automóvil Áltima negro placas 973XJM circulaba en dirección hacia el Distrito Federal y al llegar al cruce con la avenida Convento de Santa Mónica, el conductor perdió el control debido a que manejaba a exceso de velocidad.
Ello provocó que el automóvil se impactara con los árboles del muro de contención y el camellón que divide carriles de alta y baja velocidad del Anillo Periférico. El conductor y una mujer, de entre 25 y 30 años de edad, quedaron sin vida en el interior.
Al lugar arribaron elementos de Protección Civil, de la Policía municipal de Tlalnepantla y de la Secretaría de Seguridad Ciudadana para resguardar la zona del incidente.
Más tarde llegaron peritos del Ministerio Público para iniciar las primeras investigaciones y hacer el levantamiento de cadáveres.

Van 33 heridos por percances en Sonora
Pese al esfuerzo y advertencia de las autoridades municipales y estatales de Sonora, el pésimo estado de las carreteras federales ya ha cobrado dos víctimas fatales al inicio del periodo vacacional, donde también se han registrado 33 heridos como consecuencia de accidentes carreteros.
El último accidente fatal se registró poco después del medio día del jueves cuando un joven circulaba entre Guaymas y Hermosillo, en el llamado tramo de la muerte de la Carretera Internacional México 15.
La primera fatalidad en Sonora durante las vacaciones de Semana Santa fue también a consecuencia de un accidente carretero registrado la tarde del miércoles en el tramo Navojoa-Los Mochis, siendo la víctima un menor de dos meses de edad.
Al presentar el segundo corte del operativo para garantizar la seguridad de los vacacionistas en Sonora, autoridades estatales reportaron una ocupación hotelera del 85 por ciento en promedio en toda la entidad, mientras que los principales destinos de playa como Guaymas, San Carlos, Puerto Peñasco y Bahía Kino registran ocupación de 100 por ciento.
Otro tipo de incidentes comunes durante el periodo de asueto son las picaduras de animales. La Secretaría de Salud reporta 390 casos de picadura o mordedura entre los que destacan aguamalas.

Bank of Cyprus depositors could lose up to 60% of their savings

Cypriot finance officials say initial losses will be 37.5%, but up to 22.5% more could be taken if bank needs further capitalisation
Savers with the Bank of Cyprus could lose up to 60% of their savings according to officials from the central bank and the finance ministry.
The officials said on Saturday that deposits over €100,000 (£84,000) at the country's largest bank will lose 37.5% of their value after being converted into bank shares.
If the bank were to need further capitalisation the savers could lose as much as 22.5% more, depending on an assessment by officials who will determine the exact figure needed to restore the troubled bank back to health.
Cyprus agreed Monday to make depositors contribute in order to secure a €10bn bailout from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund.
Banks opened in Cyprus on Thursday for the first time in two weeks, but transactions were subject to new regulations.
Cash withdrawals from banks have been limited to €300 a day, while only €1,000 in cash can be taken out of the country and there are restrictions on the use of credit cards abroad. Cypriot authorities loosened some restrictions on the use of cheques on Friday, but only to allow payments to government agencies of up to €5,000.
Cyprus's central bank has also imposed limits on the money that can be taken "beyond the control of the Cypriot authorities", a reference to the northern part of the island under Turkish control.
After an initial estimate that the capital controls would be in place for a matter of days, the government then warned later in the week they could last for as long as a month. Capital controls in Iceland remain in place more than five years after its economic crisis.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Leeds heart surgery data 'wrong'

Children's heart surgery was wrongly suspended at Leeds General Infirmary because of "incomplete" information, a senior doctor says.

Free guns handed out in US city where Gabrielle Giffords was shot

Free guns are being handed out to people in the American city where a US congresswoman was shot in the head in a 2011 massacre that claimed six lives.

20 children may have died needlessly at heart unit

Up to 20 children may have died unnecessarily at a hospital whose children's heart unit was shut down over fears for patients' safety, it emerged last night.

Irán acusa a Qatar de “intensificar el derramamiento de sangre” en Siria

Teherán ha acusado a Qatar de "intensificar el derramamiento de sangre" en Siria por haber entregado la embajada de ese país árabe al bloque opositor Coalición Nacional Siria (CNFROS).

Según el viceministro de Exteriores de Irán para Asuntos Árabes y africanos, Husein Amir Abdolahian, la decisión de Qatar de "entregar la Embajada de Siria en Doha a un grupúsculo con pocos partidarios desprovistos del respaldo de la nación siria, es una decisión apresurada e incoherente".

México: Un hombre asesina a tiros 7 personas en un bar

Un hombre armado con un rifle AK-47 atacó un bar de Chihuahua, en el norte de México, y asesinó a tres mujeres y cuatro varones, informó la Policía Municipal.

Según datos preliminares, el individuo entró en el local y disparó de forma indiscriminada contra los clientes y trabajadores del local.

Chihuahua es uno de los estados más violentos de México y en los últimos años se lo han disputado grupos criminales al servicio del cártel de Sinaloa, encabezado por Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán.

Strapped Spanish city to tax church activities

Besides prayer and charity, nuns at a Spanish convent run a side business selling candied almonds. A Spanish city's decision to tax those operations has called Spain's relationship to the Church into question.

Fusion center director: We don’t spy on Americans, just anti-government Americans

In trying to clear up the ‘misconceptions’ about the conduct of fusion centers, Arkansas State Fusion Center Director Richard Davis simply confirmed Americans’ fears: the center does in fact spy on Americans – but only on those who are suspected to be ‘anti-government’.
“The misconceptions are that we are conducting spying operations on US citizens, which is of course not a fact. That is absolutely not what we do,” he told the NWA Homepage, which supports KNWA-TV and Fox 24.
After claiming that his office ‘absolutely’ does not spy on Americans, he proceeded to explain that this does not apply to those who could be interpreted as a ‘threat’ to national security. Davis said his office places its focus on international plots, “domestic terrorism and certain groups that are anti-government. We want to kind of take a look at that and receive that information.”
But the First Amendment allows for the freedom of speech and opinion, making it lawfully acceptable for Americans to express their grievances against the US government. The number of anti-government groups even hit a record high in 2012, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Many of these groups are ‘hate groups’ that express disdain for minorities. But unless they become violent, these groups are legally allowed to exist.
“We are seeing the fourth straight year of really explosive growth on the part of anti-government patriot groups and militias,” Mark Potok, senior fellow at the SPLC, told Mother Jones. “That’s 913 percent in growth. We’ve never seen that kind of growth in any group we cover.”
And with a record-high number of anti-government groups, fusion centers may be spying on more Americans than ever before – or at least, have the self-proclaimed right to do so.
“I do what I do because of what happened on 9/11,” Davis said. “There’s this urge and this feeling inside that you want to do something, and this is a perfect opportunity for me.”
But Davis’ argument is flawed: in order to determine whether or not someone is considered a threat to national security, fusion centers would first have to spy on Americans to weed out the suspected individuals, and then proceed to spy on the ‘anti-government’ individuals further.
Across the US, fusion centers have reported on individuals who conducted ‘crimes’ like putting political stickers in public bathrooms or participating in movements against the death penalty. In October, the bipartisan Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations finished a two-year investigation on fusion centers, only to find that the centers had directly violated constitutionally protected civil liberties.
“In reality, the Subcommittee investigation found that the fusion centers often produced irrelevant, useless or inappropriate intelligence reporting to DHS, and many produced no intelligence reporting whatsoever,” the report stated.
And the privacy violations could soon become worse: RT previously reported that the FBI’s proposed facial recognition project could provide fusion centers with more personal data to work with. With at least 72 fusion centers across the US and technology that could further infringe upon privacy rights, government agencies will be able to more efficiently collect data on Americans solely for exercising their freedom of speech.

Centenas de imigrantes africanos são resgatados na costa italiana

ROMA — A guarda costeira italiana interceptou cerca de 700 imigrantes, em sua maioria africanos, que tentavam chegar ao país a bordo de 10 embarcações precárias. Um navio abarrotado com 150 pessoas enviou pedido de socorro a cerca de 80 milhas ao largo da pequena ilha siciliana de Lampedusa, na tarde desta sexta-feira. Os serviços de emergência foram enviados para resgatá-los, além de outras 70 pessoas que estavam em uma embarcação de borracha nas proximidades. Todos os demais barcos foram parados ao longo dos últimos dois dias.
A costa da Itália é um destino comum para os imigrantes do norte e da África sub-saariana. Milhares já morreram durante viagens arriscadas no Mediterrâneo, como resultado de naufrágio, condições adversas e a falta de comida e água, afirmam ativistas.
“Com a chegada da primavera e a consequente melhoria nas condições de tempo, as tentativas de imigrantes para chegar à costa italiana aumentam expressivamente”, disse a Guarda Costeira em um comunicado.
Equipes de resgate também receberam uma chamada de emergência de um outro barco que transportava 131 pessoas da África subsaariana, Paquistão e Bangladesh. Durante a noite o guarda costeira resgatou ainda 31 pessoas de Marrocos e da África subsaariana em um barco na costa sul da Sicília, que também seguia em direção a Lampedusa. Um funcionário disse que 214 outros imigrantes, principalmente da África, em cinco barcos, foram detidos nas últimas 48 horas. Todos os imigrantes estão detidos em centros de acolhimento na Sicília e Lampedusa.
Os fluxos imigratórios estão se intensificando também na Espanha. Equipes espanholas resgataram nesta sexta-feira 54 imigrantes que viajavam a bordo de sete navios que saíram de Marrocos. Desde o início da semana, foram interceptados mais de 120 imigrantes que tentavam chegar à Espanha de forma clandestina.
Estima-se que 1.500 imigrantes morreram no Mediterrâneo em 2011, muitos deles tentando escapar dos movimentos que levaram à derrubada de ditadores no Norte da África, de acordo com a Human Rights Watch. A ONG estimou em 300 o número de mortos em 2012.

Deported Roma face tough times in Kosovo

In the last three years, more than 2,500 Roma from Kosovo have been forced to leave Germany, including people and families that lived in Germany for years. DW reports on the deportation of a family back to Kosovo.

Bahraini doctor’s revelation: ‘Confessions extracted under severe torture’

She explained that she was arrested from her own apartment along with 19 other doctors who disappeared from their homes, hospitals and operating theatres.
None of them were allowed contact with lawyers or their family during interrogation and they were forced to sign false confessions, blindly without being able to read what they were signing.

“These confessions were extracted under severe torture and I mean physical and psychological torture, we’d been denied sleep for days and had been standing for days. We were not given food or fluids and were hardly allowed to go the toilet,” she said.

She added that they were beaten with wooden sticks and hollow pipes, were electrocuted, sexually harassed and threatened with death and rape in order to get them to sign a confession.

The confession they were forced to sign said that they possessed weapons in the hospital where they worked and were trying to overthrow the monarchy.

“The current regime has been manipulating the judicial system to use as a political tool,” Jawad Fairooz, former member of Bahraini Parliament has told RT arguing that the medics have been released for political gain, as others, with a similar list of offenses, have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

At the beginning of her ordeal Fatima did not know what her charges were, but found herself at a military court where they read out charges that had been fabricated against her that she had stolen 100 bags of blood, which she gave to protesters so that they could spill it on themselves, so that it looked as if they had been assaulted by police.

She said that it was never formally put to her that all she did was treat protesters, but instead the fact that the medics were just doing their job was turned into political accusations that they were trying to overthrow the government, had stolen blood and drugs from the hospital and were participating in an illegal gathering.

The reason behind such detention is that “there is no specific independent judiciary system that you can depend on,” Fairooz added stating that it is not only a human rights issue but more of political crisis in the country.

El presidente de Italia se niega a dimitir

El presidente de Italia, Giorgio Napolitano, ha descartado este sábado que tenga intención de dimitir. Ha apelado, además, a las principales fuerzas parlamentarias del país para solicitarles que lleguen a un acuerdo para poder formar un nuevo Gobierno.

Napolitano pidió que se formule una lista de los "temas esenciales" que el país debe afrontar, de acuerdo con los compromisos contraídos con la Unión Europea (UE), para afrontar la crisis financiera que está socavando la economía del país. Precisó, además, que tiene planeado invitar a un grupo de personas para que formulen las estrategias que permitan acabar con el empate y formar un nuevo Gobierno. Sin embargo, no detalló aún los nombres.

Con esta declaración, Napolitano acabó con los rumores sobre su posible renuncia debido a la imposibilidad de los partidos políticos del país de acordar una coalición. Permanecerá en su cargo hasta que su mandato expire en mayo.

France: Un Airbus sort de piste à l'aéroport de Lyon


Un appareil de la compagnie Air Méditerranée transportant 181 personnes a fait une mauvaise manoeuvre au moment de son atterrissage à Lyon vendredi soir. Il n'y a aucun blessé.

Israeli Jewish population hits record, outgrows US

France and Canada occupy the third and the fourth places respectively with 500 thousand and 380 thousand Jews.
While the global Jewish population has reached 13.8 million, it is only in Israel where the numbers have grown, said Professor Sergio Della Pergola, a Jewish demographics specialist at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.
"Israel has indeed experienced a growth in the number of Jews last year, but world Jewry outside Israel did not fare so well," he told an Israeli newspaper. "On the contrary, world Jewry has experienced negative growth."
Within the country most Israelis are attracted to metropolitan Tel Aviv, but government programs, including better transportation, are trying to encourage Jewish people to settle in the Negev and  Galilee.
At least half a million Israeli Jews are now residing abroad for work, study or travels.
The census conducted by Israel's interior ministry also revealed that the non-Jewish minority consists of 1.6 million Arabs, 350,000 non-Arab Christians and a third group, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Friday, 29 March 2013

'Don Goyo' aumenta exhalaciones y registra 112 en un día

PUEBLA, 29 de marzo.- Un total de 112 exhalaciones de baja y moderada intensidad acompañadas por emisiones continuas de vapor de agua, gas y leves cantidades de ceniza, registró el Popocatepétl durante las últimas 24 horas.
Según el Centro Nacional de Prevención de Desastres, ayer a las 22:30 horas dio inicio un tren de exhalaciones con duración de cuatro horas, incluso destacó una expulsión de fragmentos incandescentes a 700 metros del cráter.
Las exhalaciones de menos de un kilómetro fueron dispersadas por el viento en dirección este-noreste, por lo que cayó ceniza en pueblos del estado de Puebla como Santiago Xalitzintla, San Nicolás de los Ranchos, San Andrés Calpan, y Huexotzingo. (FOTOS: Cenapred)
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Rússia teme que situação fique "fora de controlo"

O chefe da diplomacia russa, Serguei Lavrov, alertou para o perigo da situação ficar "fora de controlo" na Coreia do Norte e apela aos países envolvidos para "se absterem de demonstrar o seu poderio militar"...

Chefe de governo alemã tem raízes polonesas

A chanceler federal alemã, Angela Merkel, tem origem migratória. Seu avô, Ludwig Kazmierczak, nasceu na Polônia e lutou na Primeira Guerra Mundial contra os alemães. Os poloneses estão encantados com a notícia.

Scientists link frozen spring to dramatic Arctic sea ice loss

Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice. Both the extent and the volume of the sea ice that forms and melts each year in the Arctic Ocean fell to an historic low last autumn, and satellite records published on Monday by the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, show the ice extent is close to the minimum recorded for this time of year.

New York coke producer found guilty of pollution

BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) - A federal jury on Thursday found Tonawanda Coke Corp, accused of years of illegal air pollution, guilty of violating federal clean air regulations and found its environmental manager guilty of hiding plant deficiencies from U.S. regulators.

The Future of Chocolate

Back in the Mayan age, around 1100 BCE, cacao was recognized as a "super" food, traded as a precious currency with a value on par with gold and jewels Bythe 17th century the Spanish added sugar (cane) to sweeten it and the rest is history. As other European countries clamored to get in on the action—and started exporting cacao trees to their colonies—Africa soon became the world's most prominent grower of cacao, even though it's not native to that continent. Today, cacao has devolved into a byproduct of itself. Instead of being viewed as the sacred fruit that it is, with all its nutritional benefits, cacao is largely seen as a candy bar, a mid-day fix, loaded with sugar, milk, and other substandard ingredients.

Will changing your Facebook profile picture do anything for marriage equality?

As SCOTUS debates the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and DOMA this week, Facebook users all over the nation have become part of a burgeoning social media trend . Supporters of marriage equality have been changing their profile pictures to the icon on the left, a version of the Human Rights Campaign logo designed specifically to indicate support for same-sex marriage rights.Although many people have said that it's been personally meaningful to sign onto Facebook and see a screen full of red avatars, many have criticized the trend for being a silly way of "showing support" without actually accomplishing anything significant . However, although the SCOTUS justices might not be checking Facebook to tally up the red avatars before rendering a decision, a demonstration of solidarity like this one really could end up making an impact. [More]

3,000 Feral Cats Killed to Protect Rare Australian Bilbies

Australia has a feral cat problem. Cats and other invasive predators have driven dozens of the country's native bird, reptile and small mammal species into extinction, and continue to threaten several others. So many feral felines roam the country that the government often traps, shoots or poisons the animals in order to control populations. Most recently 3,000 feral cats were shot during a 16-day period in Queensland to keep them away from a 29-square-kilometer sanctuary designed to protect the endangered greater bilby ( Macrotis lagotis ), a defenseless, one-kilogram marsupial that looks like a cross between a mouse and a rabbit, although it is related to neither. Greater bilbies, the last surviving species of their genus, could once be found across most of Australia. Predation by invasive foxes and feral cats took a deadly toll on the species, which also encountered new competition for food and habitat from invasive rabbits. Today only about 600 to 700 remain in the wild. The only other Macrotis species, the lesser bilby, was driven into extinction in the 1950s by the same invasive fauna. [More]

GM potato research raises hope, history and controversy in Ireland


Results of study into blight-resistant variety will have special significance in a country that suffered great losses in the Great Famine of the 1840s
Ewen Mullins is the face of modern Ireland: young, cosmopolitan, highly educated, he is a plant scientist whose work on a genetically modified potato inherently looks to the future. But Mullins must also think back to one of Ireland's darkest chapters, the Great Famine of the 1840s.
"It's always there," he said. "It's not something we forget or something we should be allowed to forget."
From his laboratory and greenhouse at a research farm outside Carlow, 42-year-old Mullins deals daily with a disease that not just afflicts his native land, but haunts it: the potato blight, a pernicious rot caused by a fungus that still thrives in Ireland's wet, cold climate.
The disease has become even more damaging in the past five years with the arrival of new, highly aggressive strains. Unchecked, blight can destroy entire crops in days.
Mullins and his team have spent the winter cloning new potato stock in a locked temperature control room and, nearby, a secured greenhouse bay where the plant is isolated and any waste must be sterilised in a steamer.
Soon they will start the test by setting out more than 2,000 transplants in a fenced field at the Irish agricultural research service's farm.
"There's a lot of public interest" in his work, said Mullins. Not all of it is friendly. Genetic engineering remains highly controversial in Europe and the research in Ireland has spawned a campaign against it.
The field trials in Carlow are harming Ireland's reputation for local, organic and artisan food, said Kaethe Burt-O'Dea, a Dublin based local-food activist. "People feel that once you let GM in, there's really no turning back," she said.
But proponents of the GM potato say its eventual use could prevent harmful and expensive applications of pesticides and bolster potato yields, which are decimated by the blight in poorer countries today.
The potato is the third most consumed crop on the planet after wheat and rice, and has become increasingly important in the developing world, which now has more potato fields than developed countries, according to Dutch scientists at the forefront of the effort.
Today the amount of Irish farmland devoted to the potato pales in comparison to pasture land and cereal production. And yet the potato remains an iconic vegetable there, in many homes arriving nightly on the dinner table in a big steaming bowl – boiled, floury and in their skins.
Like other potato farmers, David Rodgers is wary of a biologically engineered superpotato.
"We are fighting the blight, we are growing the potato." Pressed some more, he says everything depends on consumer acceptance. "You can't decide to do it without finding out if the consumer would want to buy it. Europe is so against GM."
St Patrick's Day marks the traditional start of the new potato planting season, some growers have already put seed spuds in their fields; Rodgers and his three brothers planted a total of 100 hectares in County Dublin last month. He knows he will do battle with the blight, especially if the season again is cool, humid and wet, conditions that favour the spread of spores.
From the end of May until harvest, farmers like Rodgers spray fungicides every seven to 14 days, depending on the weather.
The new, more aggressive blight immediately attacks the stems instead of the leaves, he said. "Anybody who has tried growing potatoes in their garden realises it's not so easy," said Rodgers, scanning a 10-hectare field still containing last year's crop.
Without the sprays, the potato fields of Ireland would echo the destruction that began in 1845, when the blight took hold in Flanders and moved like wildfire to the British Isles. In Ireland, where a gentry descended from British settlers and absentee landlords farmed most of the land for income, an impoverished peasantry relied on the potato as its staple.
After the crop failures of 1845 and 1846 turned to starvation, British relief efforts were inadequate or inept and aimed more at reform "than with saving lives", writes John Kelly, in a new account of the famine, The Graves Are Walking. In some instances, survivors were stashing bodies behind walls "for retrieval later, when the family came into coffin money".
More than a million died of starvation and disease, and as many as another 2 million fled to Britain and North America and other lands, "the way a crowd flees a burning building", writes Kelly. Today, the combined population of the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland is still just three-quarters of the pre-famine population of Ireland.
No one suggests the GM potato stands between Ireland and another famine – the whole economic, political and agricultural universe has changed – but the research carries a special poignancy here. "There is no country that has suffered the ravages of blight more so than our country," said Thomas Carpenter, a potato farmer in County Meath. "Our climatic conditions are very conducive to potato blight. It's the single biggest threat to any potato farmer's livelihood."
The potato Mullins is testing is one of three varieties created seven years ago by scientists at the University of Wageningen using donor genes from about half a dozen species of wild potato in Mexico and Argentina. Once the potatoes are successfully tested, the Dutch university will grant licences to companies that want to introduce them, with EU approval, but on a non-exclusive basis to avoid monopoly control, said Anton Haverkort, project leader. In addition, the potatoes will be available free in developing countries with a humanitarian need.
In certain countries today, the blight can still threaten a society's food security, said Haverkort. Belarus, Rwanda and parts of India and Uganda rely heavily on the potato as a staple, he said, and the disease is halving yields because poorer countries can't afford the spraying regime seen in nations such as Ireland and the United States.
For Mullins, the trial began modestly last summer with a preliminary assessment of just 24 plants, but the power of the genetically engineered potato was soon evident. In one of the worst years in memory for blight, he saw untreated conventional potato plants quickly turn black and collapse. The GM version, known officially as A15-031, shrugged off the pathogen.
Mullins is examining if the GM version harms beneficial microbial soil life, and if the ever more virulent blight, caused by a fungal-like organism, known as Phytophthora infestans, will evolve to defeat it.
Some of the traditional arguments against GMOs – that the crops will contaminate non-GMO plants and that the biotechnology will be controlled by a powerful corporation – appear not to apply to A15-031 given Wageningen's assurances. And unlike corn, potato pollen does not travel far and even if it did, wouldn't alter the earthbound tubers that are eaten or used to grow the next season's crops.
For Mullins, a vital aspect of the project is that the potato gets its protective gene from a closely related plant, not a distant plant genus or even an animal. This makes it, in genetic parlance, "cisgenic" instead of the more sinister "transgenic".
He notes that in the 2010 poll for the European commission, cisgenic apples received 55% support against 33% for transgenic. "The public can delineate," said Mullins, who works for the Irish Agricultural and Food Development Authority, known here by its Gaelic name, Teagasc.
Most of the 27 EU member states are free of GMOs and several have banned them. Europeans oppose GM food by a margin of three to one, according to the 2010 poll. And unlike consumers in the US, Europeans must be told if food they are buying contains as little as 1% from GMOs.
GM opponents say they can achieve the same results with traditional breeding.
In response to Mullins' trial, Burt-O'Dae formed her own organisation – SPUDS – to attempt to prove the GM potato unnecessary. The group last year distributed varieties bred for natural blight resistance to 300 gardeners and organic farmers around the country. Those who reported back – about a quarter – reported "90%" natural resistance to blight, she said.
She distributed varieties developed at the Sarvari Research Trust, a company established in 2002 in north Wales by a plant scientist named David Shaw. He has been evaluating naturally blight resistant seedlings developed in Soviet-era Hungary and has so far introduced six commercial varieties. "We are a very small company trying hard to make the potato industry more sustainable," said Shaw, "We struggle to survive."
But none of those varieties seem to interest the largescale potato growers in the farmland north and west of Dublin, where the norm is to grow varieties such as Rooster and Kerr's Pink, whose flavour and texture is more favoured by the Irish than waxier and moister varieties grown in England. "Irish palates like dry potatoes," said Mullins.
He plans to include naturally resistant varieties in his trials but as a scientist Mullins is clearly intrigued by the prospect of using 21st-century technology to counter a disease that brought so much misery nearly 200 years ago.
"You have to look at history to move forward," said Mullins, "and the problem hasn't gone away, it's getting worse. Whether GM is the answer or not we don't know but, sure, at least let us look at it."
• This story appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from the Washington Post
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Rivers of blood: the dead pigs rotting in China's water supply

Shanghai's drinking water is under threat after 16,000 diseased pig carcasses are found in tributaries of the Huangpu river
Standing on the quay, Mrs Wu jokes that there are more pigs than fish in Jiapingtang river. But she isn't smiling. The 48-year-old fisherwoman, who lives in Xinfeng, a sleepy country village, recalls splashing about in the river as a child on sticky summer days. Today it is inky black, covered in a slick of lime green algae, and it smells like a blocked drain. "Look at the water, who would dare to jump in?" says Wu. At her feet a dead piglet bobs on the river's surface, bouncing against the shore.
This area of Zhejiang province, 60 miles from Shanghai, has become the subject of public and media scrutiny after more than 16,000 dead pigs were found in tributaries of the city's river, the Huangpu, a source of tapwater. As clean-up efforts wind down, mystery surrounds the cause of the pigs' demise and their appearance in the river.
As public concerns about water safety grow, what has emerged is a picture of a rural region marred by catastrophic environmental damage, inherent malpractice and a black market meat trade.
The first pigs were spotted on 7 March and were soon traced to Jiaxing through tags in their ears. Early tests show they carry porcine circovirus, a common disease among hogs not known to be infectious to humans. Shanghai's municipal water department maintains that the water meets the national standard, but hasn't said much more.
Official opacity has only embittered a public who are increasingly vocal about environmental gripes. "A sluggish response, a lack of disclosure of official data and muddled information has done nothing to quell our doubts," says Weibo (a microblog) user diamondyangxiaowu. "In this environmental crisis China's rivers are facing, there's no time to dally."
For Mrs Wu and her community it may be too late. Over the last decade she has witnessed the near collapse of her livelihood as pig farming in this region has prospered. Her house, a one-story breezeblock box, sits next to Jiapingtang river. Ten wooden flat-bottomed boats with makeshift roofs of plastic and tarpaulin are tethered to the quay. It is on these boats that Wu and her fellow villagers head out on to Jiaxing's network of waterways, though these days they are more likely to do clear-up work for local authorities than fish. A fisherman doing cleaning work from 7am-5pm seven days a week can earn up to 10,000 yuan (£1,000) a year, with an extra 150 yuan (£10.50) a day for carcasses.
"A decade ago this village was prosperous and we lived a comfortable life," says Wu. She is dressed in a leopard-print padded jacket and black wellington boots – her work gear. "We paid for our houses by ourselves, sent our children to good schools and supported the elderly. Now things are a mess."
The pig industry blossomed in Jiaxing in the 1980s. Last year China produced and consumed half the world's pork, about 50m tonnes. One village, Zhulin, which is at the centre of the scandal, earned the nickname "to Hong Kong" for its steady supply of meat to the territory. Most families in Zhulin keep pigs; the village's ample fields, which in March are covered in yellow rapeseed flowers, yield hundreds of squat concrete barns holding dozens of squealing hogs.
This upsurge is one explanation for the carcasses, though officials are reluctant to say so. "We have seven dead pig processing plants. Each is 100 cubic metres large and can gather thousands of dead pigs," says Chen Yuanhua, party secretary for Zhulin. According to a 2011 report by Zhejiang province's environmental protection bureau, 7.7m pigs are raised in Jiaxing. With a mortality rate of 2-4%, up to 300,000 carcasses need to be disposed of each year. "We have some difficulties with the growing number of pig farms and a lack of funding and land to build more plants," Chen says. He concedes that some farmers throw dead pigs into the rivers "for convenience".
There could be another, murkier reason behind the pig manifestation. On 23 March, state-run China Central Television (CCTV) exposed how illegally processed pigs have been making their way into markets for years. While farmers are required by law to send animals that die of disease or natural causes to processing pits, black market dealers intercept the chain, butchering the hogs to sell as pork. Last November a Jiaxing court sentenced three such butchers to life in prison. The offenders had processed 77,000 carcasses, making almost 9m yuan (£1m) profit.
Because of the crackdown, black market traders have stopped buying the dead stock and farmers have resorted to dumping. Pan Huimin, a Zhulin resident who is in custody on suspicion of dealing in dead pigs told CCTV there was "a 100%" correlation between his arrest and the dead pigs incident.
News of this illicit meat trade doesn't faze the residents of the Jingxiang fishing commune, a few miles from Zhulin. The trade is considered not ideal, but normal. Inside the common room, bare lightbulbs illuminate a poster of Mao Zedong on the wall, as a group of elderly residents play mahjong in the corner. There used to be 250 fishermen here, but because of the rampant pollution the 60 left mainly clean rivers.
One resident, Mr Li, says his community has been complaining since 2003. "Things changed in the early 2000s when more pig farms turned up and their waste water, manure and carcasses poured into the river," he says. "Though we've been petitioning for years, rather than an improvement the situation has deteriorated. The local government's slow responses always pass the buck."
Such negligence exacerbates the serious water quality issues China faces. Greenpeace East Asia estimates that 320m people in the country are without access to clean drinking water. A 2011 study by the ministry of environmental protection found that of 118 cities, 64 had "seriously contaminated" groundwater supplies.
Yang Hanchun, of the Chinese Association of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, says China has comprehensive laws for the protection of the environment against animal husbandry, but authorities often fail to uphold them.

Protests quashed

Over the weeks since the discovery of 16,000 pig carcasses in Shanghai's water supply, authorities have consistently worked to quell public outcry, reiterating that drinking water is safe. While there have been reports and discussion of the incident in state media and on the country's rollicking microblog network, which is curtailed by censors, attempts to organise protests have been swiftly quashed.
Pan Ting, an outspoken Shanghainese poet, was detained for questioning by police after she posted a call for a mass walk along the Huangpu, the city's central river, on her Sina Weibo account. The post, which went out to her 50,000 followers on 14 March, called for a "pure stroll" without banners or slogans. Soon afterwards she was asked to "drink tea" with the police – an idiom used to describe interrogations. On her other Weibo account she later posted: "I feel very disappointed. You even shut out a voice concerned about local pollution and your own lives. I will see how long you will shut me out. At least uncle tea said to me: I understand where you are coming from."
As news about Pan's detention spread through Weibo, prominent users voiced support. "Just because a young woman said a few honest words about the dead pig issue, she was detained, banned and forced to hand in all of her communication devices," said Li Minsheng, a well-known writer. "She was even 'missing' for three hours! Her only request was: 'Please do not come ring my doorbell early in the morning or in the middle of the night to scare my mum.' As a big city that has hosted the World Expo, why can't Shanghai tolerate a poet? What law has Pan Ting violated? Please respond to the whole nation, Shanghai!"
Additional reporting: Xia Keyu.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

François Hollande wants 75% company tax on salaries over 1m euros


French president said he hoped new proposal would push companies to lower executive pay while the economy is suffering
French president François Hollande may have finally found a way to tax the really rich: by making their companies pay.
In a televised interview on Thursday night, he said he wants companies that pay their employees more than €1m (£840,000) to pay 75% tax on those salaries.
The proposed tax, which needs to be approved by parliament, replaces one of Hollande's signature campaign proposals: to tax individuals who earns more than €1m at 75%. That was thrown out by France's highest court.
Hollande said he hoped the new proposal would persuade companies to lower executive pay at a time when France's economy is suffering, unemployment is soaring and employees are being asked to take pay cuts.
While the president reiterated his goal of stopping the rise of unemployment this year and restarting growth, he offered no specific new economic policies. "The tools are there. We need to use them fully," he said on France-2 television.
The new payroll tax would last only two years. Companies already pay payroll taxes that equate to at least a 50% rate.
"What's my idea? It's not to punish," Hollande said. "When so much is asked of employees, can those who are the highest-paid not make this effort for two years?"
Hollande's original plan for a 75% tax on individuals was also conceived as a largely symbolic measure. It was likely to have brought in €100m-€300m – insignificant when set against France's €85bn deficit.
As Hollande's popularity slides, he has struggled to convince the French he is doing enough to boost growth – or redistribute wealth, as his leftist base wants. Going after high earners may win over voters.
French growth has been stagnant for nearly two years and unemployment, rising for 19 months in a row, is at 10.6% – a level not seen since 1999. Consumer confidence slipped again in March after a brief rise this year. The national statistics agency, Insee, found this month that the French are more pessimistic about the economy's prospects for the coming year than any time since the survey began in 1972.
But some may wonder if adding another tax on companies as he is trying to encourage growth is the right message.
Despite the poor economy, Hollande has avoided imposing the deep spending cuts that other European countries such as Greece and Spain have imposed. And he said again on Thursday he would not go down that path – even though France will miss its deficit target of 3% of gross domestic product this year.
"Prolonging austerity will risk not reducing the deficits and bring the certainty of having unpopular governments that populists will eat alive," he said.
France has largely avoided the unrest seen in European countries that are experiencing deep recessions, but the layoffs are piling up and have spawned some protests. On Thursday, about 100 workers from a car factory that PSA Peugeot Citroen wants to close stormed the offices of France's leading business lobby, Medef. Police said dozens were arrested.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Rusia suspende la exportación de carne refrigerada de España y los Países Bajos

Rusia suspende a partir del 29 de marzo la exportación de carne refrigerada desde España y los Países Bajos, según informa el Servicio de Inspección Agrícola y Ganadera ruso. 

La decisión fue tomada después de inspecciones a las empresas proveedoras por parte de especialistas veterinarios rusos, que revelaron que la carne no cumple los estándares de control rusos prescritos en los contratos de suministro.

SAC hedge fund manager arrested by FBI on insider trading charges

Reports say Michael Steinberg has been charged with conspiracy and securities fraud after FBI raid on his home
A portfolio manager for the hedge fund operator SAC Capital Advisors has been arrested in New York City as part of a federal insider trading investigation.
The FBI says Michael Steinberg was arrested at 6am Friday at his home. It declined to specify the charges but the Wall Street Journal reported Steinberg had been charged with conspiracy and securities fraud.
His attorney says in a statement that Steinberg "did absolutely nothing wrong."
Attorney Barry H Berke says Steinberg was "caught in the crossfire of aggressive investigations" into other people's activities.
At least four other people associated with the Stamford-based firm have been arrested over a period of about four years.
On March 15, the Securities and Exchange Commission said that two affiliates of SAC Capital Advisors would pay more than $614m in what federal regulators called the largest insider trading settlement ever. The settlement is subject to court approval.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

EE.UU.: Millonaria donación para investigar un tratamiento del cáncer en humanos

Un grupo de científicos de la Universidad de Stanford, California, recibió una donación de 20 millones de dólares para investigar una cura contra el cáncer en seres humanos que ya anunciaron el marzo de 2012.  

Entonces, los científicos comunicaron que habían creado un anticuerpo que, uniéndose a la proteína CD47, lograba que las células cancerígenas perdieran la inmunidad. Estos experimentos permitieron destruir tumores en ratones, aseguraron.

‘More dangerous than SARS’: Scientists warn of deadly new coronavirus

The infectious disease strongly resembles Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed 800 people in 2002 and 2003 in a global epidemic that originated in China, infecting around 8,000 people.
"The SARS coronavirus infected very few animal cell lines. It was finally traced to bats and civets. But we may have a very hard time, as this new virus seems to be much more promiscuous," Yuen Kwok-yung, a microbiologist at University of Hong Kong researching the new virus told South China Morning Post.
The virus, which is believed to originate in bats, can also infect different species including monkeys, pigs, civet cats and even rabbits. This makes it hard to trace sources of human infection, the researcher said.
The new virus is also dangerous because it can infect different organs in the human body. It could penetrate the lower airway, liver, kidneys and intestines, as well as tissue macrophages. This could lead to multiple organ failures, with a mortality rate of more than 50 percent; the SARS mortality rate is 11 percent.
"The SARS coronavirus infects very few human cell lines. But this new virus can infect many types of human cell lines, and kill cells rapidly," Yuen said. If the new virus mutates further, it could cause a deadly pandemic, the microbiologist warned.
So far the new virus did not appear to be highly infectious, the microbiologists said, but this may change as the virus mutates.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization announced that the disease had killed two more people – a 73-year-old from the United Arab Emirates and a Briton who had visited Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. This brought the death toll to 11, out of the 17 confirmed cases of the new virus.
The virus infection emerged in Saudi Arabia and Qatar last year; the symptoms included acute breathing problems and kidney failure.
After the first casualty in the UK, the authorities admitted that the novel coronavirus can be passed from human to human. However, they insisted that the risk of infection is very low.
Although less infectious once penetrating the body, the new virus multiplies faster than SARS. A study published in mBio journal revealed that the virus multiplied in human bronchial cells more quickly than SARS.

Deadly content: Facebook may be banned in Russia over suicide group

Russian media and communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has for the first time added one of Facebook pages to its blacklist of web sources with offensive content. This Russian language group called ‘Suicide school’ published placards, cartoons and “mainly humorous” advice on suicide, reported Izvestia daily.
Roskomnadzor confirmed to RT that it ruled that the social network should ban access to a page “on suicide.” The decision was based on expert conclusions, the regulator’s spokesperson Vladimir Pikov said.
Asked whether access to Facebook may be banned if it fails to fulfil the requirement, he added that Roskomnadzor will “bend every effort” to make sure that “interests of decent web users” in Russia are not damaged.
Under the law, the watchdog has to notify the internet service provider, which in turn informs the content provider of the problem.
The content provider has three days to delete the illegal information. Otherwise, the entire web source will be banned and all Russian providers will be obliged to block access to it.
When it comes to popular international web services, though, such problems normally do not arise, Russian Deputy Communications Minister Aleksey Volin told Izvestia newspaper.
Not a single foreign company that values its reputation would want anything in common with pornography, suicides and drugs,” he added.
The so-called Russian ‘internet blacklist’ went on-line on November 1 last year. It is a unified register of websites with content that cannot be distributed in Russia: child pornography, suicide instructions and promoting drugs. The “blacklist” is run by Roskomnadzor. Anyone can use the source to report on content they believe to be illegal and the watchdog is obliged to examine the information and decide whether it should be blocked.

The creation of the blacklist followed the signing of the law “On the Protection of Children from Information that is Harmful to their Health and Development,” in July 2012. The document stirred up a wave of bitter criticism among rights advocates, popular Russian websites and users, who feared that it would lead to censorship on the web.

Along with Roskomnadzor, the Interior Ministry, Federal Drug Control Service and Russia’s consumer rights watchdog (Rospotrebnadzor) can also rule on closing access to internet sources. As for other kinds of content, only a court can order it to be censored. 

Rospotrebnadzor is responsible for the protection of children from information about suicide. So far, it has recommended blocking about 1200 such websites or pages out of over 1600 it has examined.

YouTube, owned by Google, remains the leader of web sources that spread “banned information on committing suicide,” Rospotrebnadzor stated on Thursday. Given the popularity of the source, “it poses a serious threat to the health of children and teenagers,” the body added.

Earlier in March, the watchdog stated that around 40 % of all banned videos “were posted on YouTube video hosting.

Science park to link science and business in Mexico DF

The City of Mexico has opened its first science park, which aims to generate technology-based companies and drive innovation.

Growing number of EU youth hungry for change, decentralization from Brussels

Students for Liberty are an international organization, which provides a unified front for students who are “dedicated to liberty”. Recently it has seen its membership swell in Europe by young people dissatisfied with the political status quo.
“It’s very exciting to see this growth all over Europe, and the demand is huge for these ideas,” Wolf Von Laer, one of the organizers of a recent Student for Liberty conference, told RT.
They are not backed by any political party but are organized by young people for young people. Many of its members are unhappy with the way the European Union has developed in recent years and are pushing for change.
“I think its [Europe] quite a dangerous situation because that means you have politicians and bureaucrats ruling over nearly 500 million people, not necessarily do they know always what the best things are for us,” Matej Arsenak Ogorevc told RT.
They want more freedom for people to do business in the EU, less interference from bureaucrats and the decentralization of power away from Brussels.
“In today’s Europe, the most important problem with the EU is the overextension of the initial goals, they were designed to maintain peace, to have a free market, to make sure people could move more freely around Europe and now they are starting to build a new nation, or trying to build a new nation,” said Nick Roskams.
As financial crisis and austerity grip much of the south of the continent, many people in Europe are starting to feel their own power is being gradually taken away from them.

Lost generation of ‘Neets’

A report published in the Guardian in the autumn of last year by the EU’s research agency Eurofond, found that there was a lost generation of 14 million out of work and disengaged young Europeans, which are costing member states €153 billion a year, or 1.2% of the EU’s gross domestic product.
Eurofond found that a growing number of 15 to 29 year olds (known as Neets) are not in employment, education or training.
“The consequences of a lost generation are not merely economic, but are societal, with the risk of young people opting out of the democratic participation in society,” the report warns.
The Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe warned that the EU was “failing in its social contract” with the young and this may cause the same kind of political disenchantment that causes uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East in the so-called Arab spring.
“I think it [Student’s for Liberty] is an expression that young people in Europe feel stripped of their own rights almost; we have 50% unemployment among young people in Spain. How can you feel empowered when you can’t get a job,” said Alexandra Ivanov.
Even in Germany, which hasn’t suffered any of the financial crisis plaguing other European countries, polls show that many of the under 40’s have little interest in the rest of the continent’s problems.
The survey taken in 2011 by Eurobarometer, found that while a decade ago Germans under the age of 40 saw themselves as European, only 50% said they felt being part of the European Union was a good thing, while only 23% felt that Germany has a responsibility to bail out Greece.
While paradoxically, a recent survey in the UK by the pollster YouGov, found that the majority of young people in Britain back the “European Project”.  40% of British 18-34 year olds are concerned that the UK would be isolated if it left the EU.
The UK is not in the euro and has long had a complicated relationship with the continent that allows it to enjoy many of the benefits of EU membership while safeguarding control of its financial industries and many of its traditions.

Líder norte-coreano ordena preparação de ataque a EUA

O líder norte-coreano, Kim Jong-Un, ordenou hoje a preparação para a realização de ataques com mísseis estratégicos ao território continental dos EUA e às suas bases no Pacífico e na Coreia do Sul.

Hamas grows stronger in West Bank with Israeli 'help'

Hamas and Fatah have been at odds since 2006. Currently, they are running two rival governments operating out of Gaza and Ramallah respectively, each believing they represent the Palestinian people.
Hamas has been cornered in the West Bank since the rivalry began, as its members are regularly arrested and jailed by Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces. Only in December of last year did Hamas supporters get a chance to openly walk the streets for first time in five years, to celebratee the 25th anniversary of the party.
But this power balance is changing: West Bank Palestinians say the Fatah government is too weak or inactive to bring peace with Israel.
"The Palestinian Authority is part of the problem, not a solution," Jamal Joumaa from the Separation Wall Committee told RT.
"President Abbas is a servant of the Israeli occupation. Israel wants from the Palestinian Authority two things: A security agent and a financial agent so it can control the Palestinian people. The PA does this for them," he believes.
Joumaa organizes regular demonstrations against the PA. The only thing that could change his opinion, he said, was if there was demonstrable progress in Palestinian-Israeli dialogue. But the two sides have not sat down together since September 2010. Many moderate Palestinians are losing faith, and now look across their border for inspiration.

Hamas’ growing popularity worrying to Israel

"The more the Palestinians despair of peace, the more Hamas will gain," Israeli journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery told RT. "If they don't believe in peace, they turn towards Hamas and say Hamas achieves with violence what Abu Mazen does not achieve with non-violence. As simple as that."
President Abbas refused to negotiate with Tel Aviv unless Israel freezes its settlement construction, something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not do, despite US pressure. Israel's newly-formed right-wing coalition government is set to continue the settlement policy. However, by failing to talk to the PA, Netanyahu may be indirectly strengthening Israel’s archenemy, Hamas.
Sheikh Mahmoud Abu Tir once cut a lonely figure in Ramallah – he was among a minority of West Bank Palestinians who supported Hamas. He spent seven years in prison, he said, because he won a seat in the Palestinian government on a Hamas ticket. He has blamed the PA’s leaders as much as Israel.
"We, Hamas, have roots and historical depth. We are more strong in the West Bank than in Gaza since the elections in 2006, in spite of all the arrests and all the harm that our youth suffers in the Palestinian Authority prisons. People are convinced of our ways, our truth." Abu Tir told RT.
The next Palestinian elections are expected to take place in November this year. They have been postponed several times already due to Hamas-Fatah disagreements. Abbas' official term as president ended in 2009, but he continues to represent the PA since the two parties have failed to agree on the conditions and terms of the election.
Now, Fatah’s failed policies coupled with Israeli reluctance for peace talks could make Hamas more attractive to Palestinians – watch RT's Paula Slier reporting from Ramallah.

Sea lion pups dying at high rate in California : agency

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A federal agency has declared that more sick and dying sea lion pups have stranded themselves on southern California beaches so far in 2013 than in the previous five years combined, but scientists are still unsure what is afflicting the mammals.