 |
La Confédération plaide pour la coexistence de plusieurs modèles en matière de secret bancaire, et maintient son cap en faveur de l'échange d'informations à la demande et non automatique.
Saturday, 13 April 2013
Secret bancaire: La Suisse maintient son cap
La Confédération plaide pour la coexistence de plusieurs modèles en matière de secret bancaire, et maintient son cap en faveur de l'échange d'informations à la demande et non automatique.
Rembrandt's 'Night Watch' explained
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, one of the world's best-known galleries, reopens April 13 after a massive 10-year rebuild
A neo-Nazi murder spree shocks Germany
The first victim was killed in September 2000, the 10th in April 2007. German authorities long suspected the mafia. When the culprits and motives came to light in late 2011, it sent shockwaves across the country.
Afectan incendios 3 mil has. en Yucatán
La temporada de incendios ha afectado al menos tres mil 838 hectáreas en Yucatán, con 633 siniestros registrados en diversos puntos del estado.
American tech workers lose out in H-1B lottery
ome tech companies won the lottery this week -- not the virtual one creating overnight Bitcoin millionaires, but an actual lottery granting sk
Most brain science papers are neurotrash: Official
Don't believe everything you read
A group of academics from Oxford, Stanford, Virginia and Bristol universities have looked at a range of subfields of neuroscience and concluded that most of the results are statistically worthless.…
A group of academics from Oxford, Stanford, Virginia and Bristol universities have looked at a range of subfields of neuroscience and concluded that most of the results are statistically worthless.…
Nearly a quarter of all books sold in US in 2012 were ebooks
Hard times for dead-tree booksellers
Sales of standalone e-readers might be declining, but ebooks make up a growing portion of sales for US book publishers, according to the latest stats from the Association of American Publishers (AAP), a trade association.…
Sales of standalone e-readers might be declining, but ebooks make up a growing portion of sales for US book publishers, according to the latest stats from the Association of American Publishers (AAP), a trade association.…
Noruega quer construir 1.º túnel do mundo para navios
O governo da Noruega anunciou que quer construir o primeiro túnel no mundo para navios, com o objetivo de ajudá-los a navegar por uma secção instável da costa sudoeste do país.
China breaking UN sanctions to support North Korea
As John Kerry arrives in Beijing, China continues to flout United Nations sanctions in order to prop up Kim Jong-un's regime, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
Duas mulheres são feridas por homem armado em escola técnica nos EUA
CHRISTIANSBURG, EUA - Duas mulheres foram feridas a tiros dentro de uma escola técnica que funciona num shopping center da cidade de Christianburg, no estado americano de Virgínia. Segundo a polícia, um suspeito foi detido.
O ataque, do qual ainda não se conhecem detalhes, ocorre um dia depois de o Senado americano aprovar o início do debate sobre um controle maior de armas. A pressão para uma checagem maior para leis mais restritivas sobre o assunto aumentou após o massacre de Newtown, em que um jovem matou seis crianças e 20 adultos em uma escola de ensino básico em Connecticut.
A polícia recebeu uma denúncia por volta das 14h (hora local) de que um homem armado havia sido visto na New River Community College. A pessoa que fez a denúncia disse que tiros foram ouvidos no local e que duas mulheres adultas estavam feridas.
Segundo a porta-voz da polícia, Becky Wilburn, uma das vítimas foi removida de helicóptero e a outra, de ambulância. Não foram dadas informações sobre as identidades ou estado das mulheres, nem mesmo sobre o suspeito.
A escola anunciou por meio de sua página no Facebook que os dois campus - um em Dublin, Virgínia, e o outro no New River Valley Mall, onde o incidente ocorreu - foram fechados. As escolas do Condado de Montgomery também foram fechadas por precaução.
O ataque, do qual ainda não se conhecem detalhes, ocorre um dia depois de o Senado americano aprovar o início do debate sobre um controle maior de armas. A pressão para uma checagem maior para leis mais restritivas sobre o assunto aumentou após o massacre de Newtown, em que um jovem matou seis crianças e 20 adultos em uma escola de ensino básico em Connecticut.
A polícia recebeu uma denúncia por volta das 14h (hora local) de que um homem armado havia sido visto na New River Community College. A pessoa que fez a denúncia disse que tiros foram ouvidos no local e que duas mulheres adultas estavam feridas.
Segundo a porta-voz da polícia, Becky Wilburn, uma das vítimas foi removida de helicóptero e a outra, de ambulância. Não foram dadas informações sobre as identidades ou estado das mulheres, nem mesmo sobre o suspeito.
A escola anunciou por meio de sua página no Facebook que os dois campus - um em Dublin, Virgínia, e o outro no New River Valley Mall, onde o incidente ocorreu - foram fechados. As escolas do Condado de Montgomery também foram fechadas por precaução.
Whisky production suspended as island runs out of water
An island distillery has been forced to stop production of its popular single malt whiskies because of an unseasonable drought.
Portugueses temem desmantelamento do Estado social
Em meio a protestos, Portugal precisa cortar gastos públicos. Nos próximos dias a troica chegará a Lisboa com o objetivo de, juntamente com o governo, buscar soluções para a delicada situação econômica do país.
The rising problem of pickpockets in Paris
Cash-carrying Chinese tourists are being targeted by increasingly aggressive thieves in the French capital, reports Natasha Edwards.
China e EUA vão trabalhar juntos no desarmamento nuclear coreano
Os chefes da diplomacia chinesa e norte-americana declararam-se hoje prontos a trabalhar em conjunto no desarmamento nuclear da península coreana, após um encontro em Pequim, no âmbito da visita oficial...
Coal Will Stay Important in the U.S. Energy Mix, Says EPA Pick
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's pick to lead the U.S. [More]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's pick to lead the U.S. [More]
Cleaning up Nigeria’s toxic playgrounds
Nigeria’s struggle to clean up deadly dust in mining villages
Sweden’s Illegal Immigrants Afraid to Leave Home
GOTHENBURG, Sweden—Behnam, an illegal immigrant from Afghanistan, spends his days holed up in an apartment, afraid to leave, afraid of running into the Swedish police’s immigration controls. In the shopping malls, in the subway stations, immigration authorities have been said to check people’s identification.
Lately, the crackdown on illegal immigrants has been much discussed in the Swedish media, though authorities deny their methods have changed.
Two years ago, 45-year old Behnam (Behnam is a pseudonym to protect his identity) and his two sons were smuggled into Sweden with a load of cucumbers. The 10-day journey in the cold cargo compartment would be worth it, he thought. In Sweden, all of their problems would be over.
Benham tells his story from a room with drawn blinds. Speaking softly, sometimes fighting back tears, he recalls how he received death threats from the Taliban in his hometown because of his religious beliefs.
The Swedish Migration Board decided, after examining his case that it was possible for him to return to Afghanistan and live in another town. It rejected his application for asylum in December 2011.
Behnam has been in hiding ever since.
His sons, 10 and 13 years old, live with another family, and haven’t seen their father for almost a year. They don’t even know where he is staying.
“I don’t know what to do,” Behnam said in broken English. “I don’t want to stay here. I’m only doing this for my sons.”
He believes that as long as he stays away, his sons can get help from others. Undocumented immigrants are entitled to health care, and undocumented children are also entitled to schooling. If he is found, however, his sons will be sent back to Afghanistan with him.
Behnam’s wife and daughters are in Iran. The family was forced to split up during the escape from Afghanistan. He is deeply depressed and says he sees no future.
Behnam recently started hearing the acronym REVA from the mouths of his fellow undocumented immigrants. REVA stands for Rättssäkert och effektivt verkställighetsarbete (Legal and effective execution of policy). It is a joint project of the Swedish police and the Migration Board, which aims at finding and deporting illegal aliens.
Behnam pronounces “REVA” with fear.
He has heard many stories about people who were caught and sent back, allegedly to certain death, and he has not dared to go outside for a month now because of such stories.
“I have seen police officers in the shopping mall,” he said. ”They stop immigrants and control their ID. I know of people who don’t dare to go out, not even to buy food.”
REVA has also become something of a buzzword in Sweden, as a symbol for the perceived harsher climate for illegal immigrants. The police have been accused of racial profiling—standing around in the subway checking identifications based only on the person’s appearance, which is against Swedish law.
But some confusion surrounds REVA.
Jessica Fremnell, information manager for the Swedish Border Police, says REVA has nothing to do with the identification checks. The controls are something Sweden is required to do according to the Schengen Treaty, a treaty related to immigration controls in European Union countries.
Last year, the county of Stockholm performed about 10,000 identification checks in workplaces or residences. Fremnell says that these controls have been going on for years, and have not intensified, contrary to what many people, especially in Sweden’s major cities, believe.
Nevertheless, many Swedes of foreign descent have told the media lately that they were subjected to identification checks, allegedly based only on their appearance. Many have found this experience humiliating.
For Behnam, the REVA buzz means that he has simply stopped going out.
He used to do odd jobs, typically heavy labor, making something like $4 an hour. He ran an Internet café back in Afghanistan, but now he lives on money borrowed from friends.
He has visited a health center a few times, and got prescriptions for three different kinds of antidepressants, but he is still suffering from anxiety and can’t sleep at night. He says his only wish right now is for his family to be reunited.
Reporting by Susanne Willgren
The post Sweden’s Illegal Immigrants Afraid to Leave Home appeared first on The Epoch Times.
Lately, the crackdown on illegal immigrants has been much discussed in the Swedish media, though authorities deny their methods have changed.
Two years ago, 45-year old Behnam (Behnam is a pseudonym to protect his identity) and his two sons were smuggled into Sweden with a load of cucumbers. The 10-day journey in the cold cargo compartment would be worth it, he thought. In Sweden, all of their problems would be over.
Benham tells his story from a room with drawn blinds. Speaking softly, sometimes fighting back tears, he recalls how he received death threats from the Taliban in his hometown because of his religious beliefs.
The Swedish Migration Board decided, after examining his case that it was possible for him to return to Afghanistan and live in another town. It rejected his application for asylum in December 2011.
Behnam has been in hiding ever since.
His sons, 10 and 13 years old, live with another family, and haven’t seen their father for almost a year. They don’t even know where he is staying.
“I don’t know what to do,” Behnam said in broken English. “I don’t want to stay here. I’m only doing this for my sons.”
He believes that as long as he stays away, his sons can get help from others. Undocumented immigrants are entitled to health care, and undocumented children are also entitled to schooling. If he is found, however, his sons will be sent back to Afghanistan with him.
Behnam’s wife and daughters are in Iran. The family was forced to split up during the escape from Afghanistan. He is deeply depressed and says he sees no future.
Behnam recently started hearing the acronym REVA from the mouths of his fellow undocumented immigrants. REVA stands for Rättssäkert och effektivt verkställighetsarbete (Legal and effective execution of policy). It is a joint project of the Swedish police and the Migration Board, which aims at finding and deporting illegal aliens.
Behnam pronounces “REVA” with fear.
He has heard many stories about people who were caught and sent back, allegedly to certain death, and he has not dared to go outside for a month now because of such stories.
“I have seen police officers in the shopping mall,” he said. ”They stop immigrants and control their ID. I know of people who don’t dare to go out, not even to buy food.”
REVA has also become something of a buzzword in Sweden, as a symbol for the perceived harsher climate for illegal immigrants. The police have been accused of racial profiling—standing around in the subway checking identifications based only on the person’s appearance, which is against Swedish law.
But some confusion surrounds REVA.
Jessica Fremnell, information manager for the Swedish Border Police, says REVA has nothing to do with the identification checks. The controls are something Sweden is required to do according to the Schengen Treaty, a treaty related to immigration controls in European Union countries.
Last year, the county of Stockholm performed about 10,000 identification checks in workplaces or residences. Fremnell says that these controls have been going on for years, and have not intensified, contrary to what many people, especially in Sweden’s major cities, believe.
Nevertheless, many Swedes of foreign descent have told the media lately that they were subjected to identification checks, allegedly based only on their appearance. Many have found this experience humiliating.
For Behnam, the REVA buzz means that he has simply stopped going out.
He used to do odd jobs, typically heavy labor, making something like $4 an hour. He ran an Internet café back in Afghanistan, but now he lives on money borrowed from friends.
He has visited a health center a few times, and got prescriptions for three different kinds of antidepressants, but he is still suffering from anxiety and can’t sleep at night. He says his only wish right now is for his family to be reunited.
Reporting by Susanne Willgren
The post Sweden’s Illegal Immigrants Afraid to Leave Home appeared first on The Epoch Times.
Vodka From Milk Produced in UK (+Photo)
Vodka from milk: A farmer in the United Kingdom has made vodka out of milk from his herd of 250 cows on his Beaminster farm.
The Daily Mail reported that Jason Barber created the world’s first pure milk vodka, which he calls Black Cow. To make the vodka, he separate’s the milk into curds and whey.
The curds are later made into cheese and the whey is fermented to make beer, which is later distilled to make the vodka in a secret process.
Barber’s vodka took him three years to make, according to his website.
“I’m a big fan of vodka – it’s the only drink that doesn’t give me a hangover,” he told the Mail.
And now, the vodka has generated some fanfare among British celebrities, including “James Bond” actor Daniel Craig as well as Liz Hurley.
“Fresh whole milk makes an exceptionally smooth vodka with a unique creamy character,” his website states.
It adds: “Incidentally Black Cow is made from the same milk that is used to make Barber’s 1833 cheddar, winner of the World Cheese Awards Cheddar Trophy 2012.”
The Daily Mail reported that Jason Barber created the world’s first pure milk vodka, which he calls Black Cow. To make the vodka, he separate’s the milk into curds and whey.
The curds are later made into cheese and the whey is fermented to make beer, which is later distilled to make the vodka in a secret process.
Barber’s vodka took him three years to make, according to his website.
“I’m a big fan of vodka – it’s the only drink that doesn’t give me a hangover,” he told the Mail.
And now, the vodka has generated some fanfare among British celebrities, including “James Bond” actor Daniel Craig as well as Liz Hurley.
“Fresh whole milk makes an exceptionally smooth vodka with a unique creamy character,” his website states.
It adds: “Incidentally Black Cow is made from the same milk that is used to make Barber’s 1833 cheddar, winner of the World Cheese Awards Cheddar Trophy 2012.”
First case of new bird flu strain found in Beijing
A 7-year-old girl has become Beijing's first confirmed case of a new strain of the bird flu virus that has killed 11 people and sickened 37 others in eastern China, officials said Saturday.
Désertification : une décision «incompréhensible» d'Ottawa
La décision du gouvernement canadien dese retirer de la Convention des Nations unies pour lutter contre la désertificationest «incompréhensible», estime l'environnementaliste Karel Mayrand.
Millions face starvation as world warms, say scientists
World is unprepared for changes that will see parts of Africa turned into disaster areas, say food experts
Millions of people could become destitute in Africa and Asia as staple foods more than double in price by 2050 as a result of extreme temperatures, floods and droughts that will transform the way the world farms.
As food experts gather at two major conferences to discuss how to feed the nine billion people expected to be alive in 2050, leading scientists have told the Observer that food insecurity risks turning parts of Africa into permanent disaster areas. Rising temperatures will also have a drastic effect on access to basic foodstuffs, with potentially dire consequences for the poor.
Frank Rijsberman, head of the world's 15 international CGIAR crop research centres, which study food insecurity, said: "Food production will have to rise 60% by 2050 just to keep pace with expected global population increase and changing demand. Climate change comes on top of that. The annual production gains we have come to expect … will be taken away by climate change. We are not so worried about the total amount of food produced so much as the vulnerability of the one billion people who are without food already and who will be hit hardest by climate change. They have no capacity to adapt."
America's agricultural economy is set to undergo dramatic changes over the next three decades, as warmer temperatures devastate crops, according to a US government report. The draft US National Climate Assessment report predicts that a gradually warming climate and unpredictable severe weather, such as the drought that last year spread across two-thirds of the continental United States, will have serious consequences for farmers.
The research by 60 scientists predicts that all crops will be affected by the temperature shift as well as livestock and fruit harvests. The changing climate, it says, is likely to lead to more pests and less effective herbicides. The $50bn Californian wine industry could shrink as much as 70% by 2050.
The report lays bare the stark consequences for the $300bn US farm industry, stating: "Many agricultural regions will experience declines in crop and livestock production. The rising incidence of weather extremes will have increasingly negative impacts on crop and livestock production. Climate disruptions have increased in the recent past and are projected to increase further over the next 25 years.
"Critical thresholds are already being exceeded. Many regions will experience declines in crop and livestock production from increased stress due to weeds, diseases, insect pests and other climate change-induced stresses. Climate disruptions to agricultural production have increased in the recent past and are projected to increase further".
Lead author Jerry Hatfield, director of the US government's national laboratory for agriculture and the environment, said that climate change was already causing weather extremes to worsen. Very hot nights, fewer cool days and more heatwaves, storms and floods have already devastated crops and will have "increasingly negative" impacts, he said.
The report follows recent disastrous harvests in Russia, Ukraine, Australia and the US. In 2010, climate-driven factors led to a 33% drop in wheat production in Russia and a 19% drop in Ukraine. Separate climate events in each case led to a 14% drop in Canada's wheat output, and a 9% drop in Australia.
A separate US government-funded study of the fertile Lower Mekong basin, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, states that temperatures there could rise twice as much as previously expected, devastating food supplies for the 100 million people expected to live there by 2050. "We've found that this region is going to experience climate extremes in temperature and rainfall beyond anything that we expected", says Jeremy Carew-Reid, author of the Climate Change Adaptation and Impact Study for the Lower Mekong.
Two major food security summits are being held in Ireland, organised by UN World Food Programme, the CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change and the Mary Robinson Climate Justice foundation.
Ertharin Cousin, the UN's World Food Programme director, said: "We are entering an uncertain and risky period. Climate change is the game changer that increases exposure to high and volatile food prices, and increases the vulnerability of the hungry poor, especially those living in conflict zones or areas of marginal agricultural productivity. We must act quickly to protect the world's poorest people."
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Millions of people could become destitute in Africa and Asia as staple foods more than double in price by 2050 as a result of extreme temperatures, floods and droughts that will transform the way the world farms.
As food experts gather at two major conferences to discuss how to feed the nine billion people expected to be alive in 2050, leading scientists have told the Observer that food insecurity risks turning parts of Africa into permanent disaster areas. Rising temperatures will also have a drastic effect on access to basic foodstuffs, with potentially dire consequences for the poor.
Frank Rijsberman, head of the world's 15 international CGIAR crop research centres, which study food insecurity, said: "Food production will have to rise 60% by 2050 just to keep pace with expected global population increase and changing demand. Climate change comes on top of that. The annual production gains we have come to expect … will be taken away by climate change. We are not so worried about the total amount of food produced so much as the vulnerability of the one billion people who are without food already and who will be hit hardest by climate change. They have no capacity to adapt."
America's agricultural economy is set to undergo dramatic changes over the next three decades, as warmer temperatures devastate crops, according to a US government report. The draft US National Climate Assessment report predicts that a gradually warming climate and unpredictable severe weather, such as the drought that last year spread across two-thirds of the continental United States, will have serious consequences for farmers.
The research by 60 scientists predicts that all crops will be affected by the temperature shift as well as livestock and fruit harvests. The changing climate, it says, is likely to lead to more pests and less effective herbicides. The $50bn Californian wine industry could shrink as much as 70% by 2050.
The report lays bare the stark consequences for the $300bn US farm industry, stating: "Many agricultural regions will experience declines in crop and livestock production. The rising incidence of weather extremes will have increasingly negative impacts on crop and livestock production. Climate disruptions have increased in the recent past and are projected to increase further over the next 25 years.
"Critical thresholds are already being exceeded. Many regions will experience declines in crop and livestock production from increased stress due to weeds, diseases, insect pests and other climate change-induced stresses. Climate disruptions to agricultural production have increased in the recent past and are projected to increase further".
Lead author Jerry Hatfield, director of the US government's national laboratory for agriculture and the environment, said that climate change was already causing weather extremes to worsen. Very hot nights, fewer cool days and more heatwaves, storms and floods have already devastated crops and will have "increasingly negative" impacts, he said.
The report follows recent disastrous harvests in Russia, Ukraine, Australia and the US. In 2010, climate-driven factors led to a 33% drop in wheat production in Russia and a 19% drop in Ukraine. Separate climate events in each case led to a 14% drop in Canada's wheat output, and a 9% drop in Australia.
A separate US government-funded study of the fertile Lower Mekong basin, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, states that temperatures there could rise twice as much as previously expected, devastating food supplies for the 100 million people expected to live there by 2050. "We've found that this region is going to experience climate extremes in temperature and rainfall beyond anything that we expected", says Jeremy Carew-Reid, author of the Climate Change Adaptation and Impact Study for the Lower Mekong.
Two major food security summits are being held in Ireland, organised by UN World Food Programme, the CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change and the Mary Robinson Climate Justice foundation.
Ertharin Cousin, the UN's World Food Programme director, said: "We are entering an uncertain and risky period. Climate change is the game changer that increases exposure to high and volatile food prices, and increases the vulnerability of the hungry poor, especially those living in conflict zones or areas of marginal agricultural productivity. We must act quickly to protect the world's poorest people."
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
‘Gitmo shut down not Red Cross priority, clarity for prisoners more important’
The head of the Red Cross International Committee (ICRC), Peter Maurer, met with Barack Obama on Wednesday to discuss the three-month long hunger strike by the prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
He also passed an on open letter by 25 human rights organizations, which urged the US president to keep his campaign promise and close the Guantanamo prison.
Despite the Red Cross raising the Gitmo issue in the media only this week, the organization’s spokesperson, Simon Schorno, says the lack of publicity doesn’t mean that the hunger strike was previously neglected by him and his colleagues.
RT: The White House says it's still committed to shutting down the facility. The Red Cross chief met with President Obama earlier this week. What makes Guantanamo so difficult to close?
Simon Schorno: Well, essentially, you have the issue of the [US] Congress, which has blocked the transfer out of Guantanamo and the possibility to bring the detainees on the mainland to be tried on the mainland. And this is the main blockage at the moment, which is a political blockage. And our president, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, [Peter Maurer], was here this week. Two days ago he met with President Obama. We met at the highest levels of government to try to press for change. And at this point it is a political decision that Congress, in particular, but also the Administration have to make.
RT: Why have organizations like yours not reacted sooner to the hunger strikers’ and conditions at the detention center?
SS: Well, we are. We are currently at the detention center and we’re the only organization inside the detention facility. We’ve been visiting Guantanamo since 2002, and so in fact we follow very closely the hunger strike, its effect on the detainees themselves. We try to understand what’s going on. We try to intervene on the confidential level with authorities, but we certainly are in there trying to do what we can.
Again, the causes of the hunger strike – the hunger strike must be seen as a symptom. The causes of the hunger strike are the uncertainty that weights very heavily on each and every detainee at Guantanamo, and that’s the cause of the hunger strike. So, we’re trying to really elicit a response and a change of position to tackle the causes behind the hunger strike. We also have a doctor, currently, in Guantanamo trying to assess the situation, trying to assess the medical response the authorities are giving to the strike. I think it’s fair to say that we’re right in there.
RT: The reason I’m asking this is that because there was very little coverage of what’s been happening in Guantanamo during the past three months. And it’s only this week that the NGOs and human rights organizations turned their eyes to the hunger strike…
SS: I don’t want to speak for the NGOs. They have their own motivations and their own agenda. The way the ICRC works is that we work primarily through bilateral confidential dialogue and intervening directly in the detention facilities themselves and then confidentially with the authorities, including the highest level – with President Obama, like we did this week. The lack of publicity, the lack of public action by the ICRC shouldn’t be confused with lack of action proper. It’s not because we don’t voice our concerns publicly that we don’t try to tackle the problem from the humanitarian stand point.
RT: Will the letter to the President, backed by many respected NGO's, have any impact with the government?
SS: The ICRC isn’t part of that effort by the NGOs. We sent out the letter, but we’re not co-signatories of that letter. We work independently of other organizations and NGOs. So we’re not part of that effort. What we have done is on a bilateral basis, based on our own contacts with the administration, based on our own contact with the detaining authorities, with the Department of Defense, we are raising those issues.
For us, the issue is not that of closure of Guantanamo. The issue is to provide a clear legal framework that regiments the detention of people at Guantanamo. And that’s what we are pressing on. For us, the closure isn’t the issue. What’s at stake is the legality of the detention and the ability to provide clarity for the detainees, so that they know about their fate.
He also passed an on open letter by 25 human rights organizations, which urged the US president to keep his campaign promise and close the Guantanamo prison.
Despite the Red Cross raising the Gitmo issue in the media only this week, the organization’s spokesperson, Simon Schorno, says the lack of publicity doesn’t mean that the hunger strike was previously neglected by him and his colleagues.
RT: The White House says it's still committed to shutting down the facility. The Red Cross chief met with President Obama earlier this week. What makes Guantanamo so difficult to close?
Simon Schorno: Well, essentially, you have the issue of the [US] Congress, which has blocked the transfer out of Guantanamo and the possibility to bring the detainees on the mainland to be tried on the mainland. And this is the main blockage at the moment, which is a political blockage. And our president, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, [Peter Maurer], was here this week. Two days ago he met with President Obama. We met at the highest levels of government to try to press for change. And at this point it is a political decision that Congress, in particular, but also the Administration have to make.
RT: Why have organizations like yours not reacted sooner to the hunger strikers’ and conditions at the detention center?
SS: Well, we are. We are currently at the detention center and we’re the only organization inside the detention facility. We’ve been visiting Guantanamo since 2002, and so in fact we follow very closely the hunger strike, its effect on the detainees themselves. We try to understand what’s going on. We try to intervene on the confidential level with authorities, but we certainly are in there trying to do what we can.
Again, the causes of the hunger strike – the hunger strike must be seen as a symptom. The causes of the hunger strike are the uncertainty that weights very heavily on each and every detainee at Guantanamo, and that’s the cause of the hunger strike. So, we’re trying to really elicit a response and a change of position to tackle the causes behind the hunger strike. We also have a doctor, currently, in Guantanamo trying to assess the situation, trying to assess the medical response the authorities are giving to the strike. I think it’s fair to say that we’re right in there.
RT: The reason I’m asking this is that because there was very little coverage of what’s been happening in Guantanamo during the past three months. And it’s only this week that the NGOs and human rights organizations turned their eyes to the hunger strike…
SS: I don’t want to speak for the NGOs. They have their own motivations and their own agenda. The way the ICRC works is that we work primarily through bilateral confidential dialogue and intervening directly in the detention facilities themselves and then confidentially with the authorities, including the highest level – with President Obama, like we did this week. The lack of publicity, the lack of public action by the ICRC shouldn’t be confused with lack of action proper. It’s not because we don’t voice our concerns publicly that we don’t try to tackle the problem from the humanitarian stand point.
RT: Will the letter to the President, backed by many respected NGO's, have any impact with the government?
SS: The ICRC isn’t part of that effort by the NGOs. We sent out the letter, but we’re not co-signatories of that letter. We work independently of other organizations and NGOs. So we’re not part of that effort. What we have done is on a bilateral basis, based on our own contacts with the administration, based on our own contact with the detaining authorities, with the Department of Defense, we are raising those issues.
For us, the issue is not that of closure of Guantanamo. The issue is to provide a clear legal framework that regiments the detention of people at Guantanamo. And that’s what we are pressing on. For us, the closure isn’t the issue. What’s at stake is the legality of the detention and the ability to provide clarity for the detainees, so that they know about their fate.
La viuda de Steve Jobs reclama la reforma migratoria con un documental
La viuda de Steve Jobs, Laurene Powell Jobs, ha pedido a Washington una reforma migratoria que regularice a millones de jóvenes estudiantes indocumentados en EE.UU., conocidos como "dreamers", a través de la campaña "The Dream is Now", que incluye un documental que se emitirá el domingo en NBC.
Laurene Powell Jobs es, según Forbes, la mujer más rica de Silicon Valley, con una fortuna que ronda los 11.200 millones de dólares, y siempre ha tratado de mantenerse lejos del foco de los medios de comunicación.
Laurene Powell Jobs es, según Forbes, la mujer más rica de Silicon Valley, con una fortuna que ronda los 11.200 millones de dólares, y siempre ha tratado de mantenerse lejos del foco de los medios de comunicación.
'Number one US target': Oliver Stone calls media coverage of Venezuela 'shameful'
American filmmaker Oliver Stone, whose 2009 film “South of the Border” attempted to help Chavez’s image in the US, bemoaned the western media’s portrayal of Chavez as a clownish thorn-in-the-side of democracy. When asked about the perception that US President Barack Obama betrayed the country, Stone reminded the audience that the people of Venezuela will ultimately be responsible for their own success on the global stage.
“I think you’re on the right path,” he said.
“The United States is a system and whoever is president seems to be sucked into this no-choice kind of situation but history has shown us the curve of ball can always break differently. We emphasize that point, there are always breaks. All of a sudden a Martin Luther King comes up, all of a sudden protestors against the Vietnam War come up, all of a sudden people turn down Hillary Clinton, who was the supposed front runner and they go with this semi-black candidate. Surprises are always in the air. What you think is going happen never happens.” Acting President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked successor, is favored to win this weekend’s election over opposition challenger Henrique Capriles. Whatever the result, Stone said, there will be great pressure from outside the country because of Venezuela’s oil supply.
“These bastards can be very upsetting and overwhelming but I always think that we have a lifesaver somewhere and there’s some kind of light that dawns on us as a people and as a world.” The filmmaker known for “JFK,” “Platoon,” “Born on the fourth of July,” and many others as well as “South of the Border” had harsh words for media outlets that spent years painting Chavez in an unfavorable light.
“As a New Yorker and following the New York Times for a long time I am still stunned by how negative these articles have been for so long,” Stone added. “About some of the worst regimes in the world there has never been this amount of coverage. I doubt Adolf Hitler has gotten this much coverage in Germany. These lies and distortions are a shame on them, it’s a disgrace.”
“I would say that Venezuela is the number one target of the United States media and the State Department that exists today. The covert actions that are going on in Venezuela are very scary. I don’t want to be in Nicholas Maduro’s shoes. I’d hate to be him because he’s in a new spotlight,” the director continued.
“They can’t go after him personally but it’s a very scary position to inherit this gigantic power. I’m sure Castro felt the same thing many years ago. This is a tough moment for Venezuela and I hope the people stick together. This is not going away. Even if he wins the election I think the United States is going to be pouring on the heat in the coming months. You’re going to see reactions and more stories. Venezuela is very important to the US and all of Latin America.”
Seated next to Stone was Miguel Tinker Salas, a Latin American historian and professor at Pomona College who specializes in Venezuelan studies. After discussing Hugo Chavez’s impact on the region Salas compared the current political atmosphere to that of the United States before the election last year that saw Americans reinstate Obama into the White House.
“ What’s at stake is really two different visions of Venezuela, two different visions of Latin America, and two different visions of how the north and the south should relate to each other. Fundamentally what’s at stake here is control over the largest oil reserve in the world,” Salas said.
“Previously there’s been a vision of Venezuela as connected to the US, as an oil-exporting country, as a nation rushing to join the first world, and one in which Venezuela is counter-imposed with the US as a model democracy.” But another future could be within sight.
“Or a vision of Venezuela that is part of Latin America that recognizes its own internal heritage and recognizes the solidarity it has with the rest of Latin America. Remember Venezuela was the first of the social conscious left governments to come to power in 1998,” the professor continued.
“So what’s at stake is the future of progressive social movements in Latin America. Hundreds of thousands of people support the change that’s been going on in Venezuela. The opposition is much like the opposition Republicans in the US who say there’s a shifting demographic in the US. Imagine that – after running a campaign that actually tried to make targets of immigrants, women, gay people, and others now they want a shift. That’s the same reality in Venezuela.”
“I think you’re on the right path,” he said.
“The United States is a system and whoever is president seems to be sucked into this no-choice kind of situation but history has shown us the curve of ball can always break differently. We emphasize that point, there are always breaks. All of a sudden a Martin Luther King comes up, all of a sudden protestors against the Vietnam War come up, all of a sudden people turn down Hillary Clinton, who was the supposed front runner and they go with this semi-black candidate. Surprises are always in the air. What you think is going happen never happens.” Acting President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked successor, is favored to win this weekend’s election over opposition challenger Henrique Capriles. Whatever the result, Stone said, there will be great pressure from outside the country because of Venezuela’s oil supply.
“These bastards can be very upsetting and overwhelming but I always think that we have a lifesaver somewhere and there’s some kind of light that dawns on us as a people and as a world.” The filmmaker known for “JFK,” “Platoon,” “Born on the fourth of July,” and many others as well as “South of the Border” had harsh words for media outlets that spent years painting Chavez in an unfavorable light.
“As a New Yorker and following the New York Times for a long time I am still stunned by how negative these articles have been for so long,” Stone added. “About some of the worst regimes in the world there has never been this amount of coverage. I doubt Adolf Hitler has gotten this much coverage in Germany. These lies and distortions are a shame on them, it’s a disgrace.”
“I would say that Venezuela is the number one target of the United States media and the State Department that exists today. The covert actions that are going on in Venezuela are very scary. I don’t want to be in Nicholas Maduro’s shoes. I’d hate to be him because he’s in a new spotlight,” the director continued.
“They can’t go after him personally but it’s a very scary position to inherit this gigantic power. I’m sure Castro felt the same thing many years ago. This is a tough moment for Venezuela and I hope the people stick together. This is not going away. Even if he wins the election I think the United States is going to be pouring on the heat in the coming months. You’re going to see reactions and more stories. Venezuela is very important to the US and all of Latin America.”
Seated next to Stone was Miguel Tinker Salas, a Latin American historian and professor at Pomona College who specializes in Venezuelan studies. After discussing Hugo Chavez’s impact on the region Salas compared the current political atmosphere to that of the United States before the election last year that saw Americans reinstate Obama into the White House.
“ What’s at stake is really two different visions of Venezuela, two different visions of Latin America, and two different visions of how the north and the south should relate to each other. Fundamentally what’s at stake here is control over the largest oil reserve in the world,” Salas said.
“Previously there’s been a vision of Venezuela as connected to the US, as an oil-exporting country, as a nation rushing to join the first world, and one in which Venezuela is counter-imposed with the US as a model democracy.” But another future could be within sight.
“Or a vision of Venezuela that is part of Latin America that recognizes its own internal heritage and recognizes the solidarity it has with the rest of Latin America. Remember Venezuela was the first of the social conscious left governments to come to power in 1998,” the professor continued.
“So what’s at stake is the future of progressive social movements in Latin America. Hundreds of thousands of people support the change that’s been going on in Venezuela. The opposition is much like the opposition Republicans in the US who say there’s a shifting demographic in the US. Imagine that – after running a campaign that actually tried to make targets of immigrants, women, gay people, and others now they want a shift. That’s the same reality in Venezuela.”
Ocho millones de toneladas de comida se echan a perder cada año en España
En el XVIII Congreso de la Federación de los Bancos de Alimentos de España, el jefe de la organización, Jose Antonio Busto, instó a frenar el "intolerable" derroche de ocho millones de toneladas de comida que se produce cada año en España a través de un compromiso político y social.
Busto recalcó que el volumen de la comida despilfarrada corresponde a un total de 12.000 millones de euros al año. "Esto se contrapone a los solo 84 millones de euros que reciben los bancos de fondos europeos", ha dicho el presidente de la Federación.
Busto recalcó que el volumen de la comida despilfarrada corresponde a un total de 12.000 millones de euros al año. "Esto se contrapone a los solo 84 millones de euros que reciben los bancos de fondos europeos", ha dicho el presidente de la Federación.
UK ‘confirms’ use of chemical weapons in Syria after secret MI6 op – report
The sample was reportedly extracted from a neighborhood on the outskirts of Damascus in March by MI6 agents operating within Syria, the Australian reported at the time.
The soil was then smuggled out of Syria and handed over to UK Ministry of Defense’s chemical and biological research department.
Military scientists said the soil contained traces of “some kind of chemical weapon,” though they could not positively identify the type of weaponized chemical.
“There have been some reports that it was just a strong riot-control agent but this is not the case – it’s something else, although it can’t definitively be said to be sarin nerve agent,” one source told the Times.
The British team was unable to say whether the chemical had been used by Syrian government forces or rebel fighters battling to topple the government of President Bashar Assad. They were further unable to determine to what extent chemical weapons had been used in the ongoing civil war.
The analysis provided the basis for diplomatic reports on Thursday that the West had “hard evidence” that chemical weapons had been deployed over the course of the two-year conflict.
“In one case, we have hard evidence,” one diplomat was quoted by AFP as saying, adding that “there are several examples where we are quite sure that shells with chemicals have been used in a very sporadic way.”
The Ministry of Defense has yet to comment on the report, though the UK Foreign Office told AFP it was
“deeply concerned” about the potential use of chemical weapons.
"We have shared our concerns with the UN secretary general and fully support his decision to investigate,” a spokesperson said.
"The use of chemical weapons would be a horrific crime. Those who order the use of chemical weapons, and those who participate in their use, will be brought to account," they continued.
The soil analysis conducted by the UK team has yet to be scrutinized by an independent body.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pressed Damascus to accept an expanded UN inquiry into alleged chemical weapons use in the country.
Assad previously called on the UN to investigate reports that
“a missile containing a chemical substance” was fired by
“terrorists” in the village of Khan Assal near Aleppo in March, killing 30 and injuring 80 more.
However, the investigation stalled after Damascus refused to allow UN inspectors to go anywhere but Aleppo, even though reports have surfaced of similar attacks in Homs and near Damascus the same month.
During a state visit to Israel in March, US President Barack Obama said the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a “game changer.” In reference to the Aleppo attack, Obama said he planned on working with other countries in the region and international organizations and institutions to “find out precisely whether this red line was crossed.”
However, sources within the British Department of Defense told the Times the discovery had not provided the “Iraq moment” – a deadly 1988 chemical attack by Saddam Hussein against Kurds in Halabja.
They added that the evidence might not provide a “smoking gun,” demonstrating that Damascus had crossed the “red line” for direct US action outlined by Obama.
The soil was then smuggled out of Syria and handed over to UK Ministry of Defense’s chemical and biological research department.
Military scientists said the soil contained traces of “some kind of chemical weapon,” though they could not positively identify the type of weaponized chemical.
“There have been some reports that it was just a strong riot-control agent but this is not the case – it’s something else, although it can’t definitively be said to be sarin nerve agent,” one source told the Times.
The British team was unable to say whether the chemical had been used by Syrian government forces or rebel fighters battling to topple the government of President Bashar Assad. They were further unable to determine to what extent chemical weapons had been used in the ongoing civil war.
The analysis provided the basis for diplomatic reports on Thursday that the West had “hard evidence” that chemical weapons had been deployed over the course of the two-year conflict.
“In one case, we have hard evidence,” one diplomat was quoted by AFP as saying, adding that “there are several examples where we are quite sure that shells with chemicals have been used in a very sporadic way.”
The Ministry of Defense has yet to comment on the report, though the UK Foreign Office told AFP it was
“deeply concerned” about the potential use of chemical weapons.
"We have shared our concerns with the UN secretary general and fully support his decision to investigate,” a spokesperson said.
"The use of chemical weapons would be a horrific crime. Those who order the use of chemical weapons, and those who participate in their use, will be brought to account," they continued.
The soil analysis conducted by the UK team has yet to be scrutinized by an independent body.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pressed Damascus to accept an expanded UN inquiry into alleged chemical weapons use in the country.
Assad previously called on the UN to investigate reports that
“a missile containing a chemical substance” was fired by
“terrorists” in the village of Khan Assal near Aleppo in March, killing 30 and injuring 80 more.
However, the investigation stalled after Damascus refused to allow UN inspectors to go anywhere but Aleppo, even though reports have surfaced of similar attacks in Homs and near Damascus the same month.
During a state visit to Israel in March, US President Barack Obama said the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a “game changer.” In reference to the Aleppo attack, Obama said he planned on working with other countries in the region and international organizations and institutions to “find out precisely whether this red line was crossed.”
However, sources within the British Department of Defense told the Times the discovery had not provided the “Iraq moment” – a deadly 1988 chemical attack by Saddam Hussein against Kurds in Halabja.
They added that the evidence might not provide a “smoking gun,” demonstrating that Damascus had crossed the “red line” for direct US action outlined by Obama.
Chevron says Ecuador environmental claims now in question
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A consulting firm whose work helped lead to a $19 billion award against Chevron Corp for rainforest pollution in Ecuador has disavowed environmental claims used by local residents to obtain the 2011 court judgment, court documents show
Suncor water spill no threat to health, test says
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A spill of contaminated water in the Athabasca River from Suncor Energy Inc's oil sands operations last month was not a threat to human health, Alberta's Environment Department said on Friday, though the water did contain higher-than-allowed amounts of some metals and other compounds
Russia retaliates with U.S. blacklist
A day after the United States published a blacklist of alleged Russian human rights abusers, whom Washington slapped with personal sanctions, the Kremlin answered with a list of its own. It slaps alleged American rights violators with similar sanctions, official Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Saturday
Alertan por males del colon en niños
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, 13 de abril.- “Se estima que al año se presentan mil nuevos casos de mexicanos con trastornos colorrectales. Éstos son un grupo de enfermedades que se caracterizan porque quien las padece (generalmente niños y adolescentes) tiene malformaciones en colon y recto”, destacó Rosalía Figueroa, gastroenteróloga pediatra del Centro Colorrectal para Niños del Hospital Ángeles Puebla.
El Colorectal Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, ubicado en Estados Unidos, fue el primer lugar destinado a atender padecimientos colorrectales. “A escala mundial, sólo existen dos centros, el de México (que está recién inaugurado) y el del país vecino del norte”, declaró la experta.
Los tratamientos para controlar dichos trastornos son excesivamente costosos en el extranjero, por ello, un número importante de pacientes acuden a nuestro centro para atenderse. Por tal motivo, tratamos a pequeños de Bolivia, Argentina y Honduras, entre otros países de América Latina.
De acuerdo con la especialista, entre los trastornos colorrectales comunes están incontinencia fecal, pólipos de colon y estreñimiento crónico.
“Este problema se caracteriza porque los pequeños hacen ‘popo’ todo el día, y es que los niños no pueden controlar dicha situación. Es probable que menores con mielomeningocele (anomalía del tubo neural, en el cual los huesos de la columna no se forman correctamente) o aquellos con trastornos en médula espinal, padezcan incontinencia fecal”, explicó Figueroa.
Además, las personas que sufren accidentes automovilísticos o de cualquier otra índole y que comprometen la columna vertebral o que tienen lesiones celulares podrían padecer este trastorno.
El médico deberá examinar al paciente, revisar su expediente clínico y hacer estudios de laboratorio, los cuales ayudan a determinar el origen, grado y tipo de incontinencia, destacó la especialista.
“El tratamiento de la incontinencia fecal es personalizado, ya que cada pequeño tiene signos diferentes, lo primordial es mantener el colon limpio, esto se realiza a través de un enema (lavativa o lavado). Cabe señalar que con el Programa de Rehabilitación Intestinal del centro colorrectal, más de 95 por ciento de los niños con incontinencia fecal son rehabilitados”, dijo Figueroa.
Pólipos de colon
Son pequeñas protuberancias que aparecen sobre el colon, se asemejan a un chipote. Se sabe que en la mayoría de los casos los pólipos de colon no son malignos, pero podrían ser cancerígenos, especialmente los que se presentan en adultos.
“La mayoría de las veces el paciente no tiene dolor, pero hay sangrado. La única forma de cura es por medio de una colonoscopia, que consiste en introducir una cámara que revisará todo el colon para detectar cuántos pólipos hay y así extirparlos”, comentó Figueroa.
Estreñimiento crónico
“Quien lo padece no puede evacuar se considera crónico porque el infante lleva semanas, incluso meses padeciendo el problema. Hay médicos que recetan laxantes o cambian la dieta, pero éstos no alivian por completo el trastorno”, indicó la especialista.
Lo anterior provoca que la materia fecal se acumule en el recto y al haber mucha se sale por el colon. Por ello, hay niños mayores de seis años que siguen usando pañal, lo cual no es normal. Ciertos pequeños son tratados con alimentos que facilitan la evacuación; otros necesitarán enemas y unos más cirugías.
¿A dónde acudir?
Centros de ayuda
- Centro Colorrectal para Niños del Hospital Ángeles Puebla: Avenida Kepler #2143, Colonia reserva territorial Atlixcáyotl, Puebla.
- Tel. (52) 222-303-8339 o 222-225-3036. En la página de internet www.centrocolorrectal.com.
- Algunos padecimientos que tratan en el Centro Colorrectal para Niños, del Hospital Ángeles Puebla son:
- Enfermedad de Hirschprung (megacolon congénito).
- Estreñimiento crónico idiopático.
- Incontinencia fecal y urinaria.
- Pólipos del recto y colon.
- Malformaciones anorrectales.
Niños con colostomía o ileostomía.
El Colorectal Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, ubicado en Estados Unidos, fue el primer lugar destinado a atender padecimientos colorrectales. “A escala mundial, sólo existen dos centros, el de México (que está recién inaugurado) y el del país vecino del norte”, declaró la experta.
Los tratamientos para controlar dichos trastornos son excesivamente costosos en el extranjero, por ello, un número importante de pacientes acuden a nuestro centro para atenderse. Por tal motivo, tratamos a pequeños de Bolivia, Argentina y Honduras, entre otros países de América Latina.
De acuerdo con la especialista, entre los trastornos colorrectales comunes están incontinencia fecal, pólipos de colon y estreñimiento crónico.
“Este problema se caracteriza porque los pequeños hacen ‘popo’ todo el día, y es que los niños no pueden controlar dicha situación. Es probable que menores con mielomeningocele (anomalía del tubo neural, en el cual los huesos de la columna no se forman correctamente) o aquellos con trastornos en médula espinal, padezcan incontinencia fecal”, explicó Figueroa.
Además, las personas que sufren accidentes automovilísticos o de cualquier otra índole y que comprometen la columna vertebral o que tienen lesiones celulares podrían padecer este trastorno.
El médico deberá examinar al paciente, revisar su expediente clínico y hacer estudios de laboratorio, los cuales ayudan a determinar el origen, grado y tipo de incontinencia, destacó la especialista.
“El tratamiento de la incontinencia fecal es personalizado, ya que cada pequeño tiene signos diferentes, lo primordial es mantener el colon limpio, esto se realiza a través de un enema (lavativa o lavado). Cabe señalar que con el Programa de Rehabilitación Intestinal del centro colorrectal, más de 95 por ciento de los niños con incontinencia fecal son rehabilitados”, dijo Figueroa.
Pólipos de colon
Son pequeñas protuberancias que aparecen sobre el colon, se asemejan a un chipote. Se sabe que en la mayoría de los casos los pólipos de colon no son malignos, pero podrían ser cancerígenos, especialmente los que se presentan en adultos.
“La mayoría de las veces el paciente no tiene dolor, pero hay sangrado. La única forma de cura es por medio de una colonoscopia, que consiste en introducir una cámara que revisará todo el colon para detectar cuántos pólipos hay y así extirparlos”, comentó Figueroa.
Estreñimiento crónico
“Quien lo padece no puede evacuar se considera crónico porque el infante lleva semanas, incluso meses padeciendo el problema. Hay médicos que recetan laxantes o cambian la dieta, pero éstos no alivian por completo el trastorno”, indicó la especialista.
Lo anterior provoca que la materia fecal se acumule en el recto y al haber mucha se sale por el colon. Por ello, hay niños mayores de seis años que siguen usando pañal, lo cual no es normal. Ciertos pequeños son tratados con alimentos que facilitan la evacuación; otros necesitarán enemas y unos más cirugías.
¿A dónde acudir?
Centros de ayuda
- Centro Colorrectal para Niños del Hospital Ángeles Puebla: Avenida Kepler #2143, Colonia reserva territorial Atlixcáyotl, Puebla.
- Tel. (52) 222-303-8339 o 222-225-3036. En la página de internet www.centrocolorrectal.com.
- Algunos padecimientos que tratan en el Centro Colorrectal para Niños, del Hospital Ángeles Puebla son:
- Enfermedad de Hirschprung (megacolon congénito).
- Estreñimiento crónico idiopático.
- Incontinencia fecal y urinaria.
- Pólipos del recto y colon.
- Malformaciones anorrectales.
Niños con colostomía o ileostomía.
Steuerzahler sollen nicht für Banken haften
Es ist noch ein langer Weg zur Bankenunion in Europa. In Zukunft sollen sich Geldhäuser selbst retten oder aufgelöst werden. Erste Schritte haben die Finanzminister bei ihrem Treffen in Dublin getan. Die Zeit drängt.
Constatan uso de armas químicas en Siria
LONDRES, 13 de abril.- El Ministerio de Defensa del Reino Unido ha hallado por primera vez pruebas del uso de armas químicas en Siria, según asegura hoy el diario británico The Times.
Pruebas forenses señalan que se utilizó "algún tipo de arma química" en una zona cercana a Damasco, donde se produjeron duros enfrentamientos entre los partidarios del régimen de Bashar al Assad y los rebeldes, según señalaron fuentes de Defensa no identificadas a The Times.
No obstante, el diario británico no precisa si esas supuestas armas químicas habrían sido utilizadas por efectivos del régimen o por la oposición.
Según los expertos británicos que analizaron las muestras, se trata indudablemente de restos de armas químicas y no de sustancias que podrían utilizarse en la respuesta a manifestaciones o disturbios.
Estados Unidos, al igual que el Reino Unido, ha advertido de que el uso de armas químicas en Siria sería la "línea roja" que justificaría una intervención.
Este lunes el régimen de Damasco rechazó el envío a Siria de un equipo técnico de Naciones Unidas para investigar el posible uso de armas químicas.
Francia y el Reino Unido han pedido a la ONU que investigue el posible uso de armas químicas en Siria, tanto por parte de los rebeldes como del Gobierno de Al Assad.
Siria vive desde hace más de dos años una situación de guerra civil que se ha cobrado más de 70 mil víctimas.
jrr
Pruebas forenses señalan que se utilizó "algún tipo de arma química" en una zona cercana a Damasco, donde se produjeron duros enfrentamientos entre los partidarios del régimen de Bashar al Assad y los rebeldes, según señalaron fuentes de Defensa no identificadas a The Times.
No obstante, el diario británico no precisa si esas supuestas armas químicas habrían sido utilizadas por efectivos del régimen o por la oposición.
Según los expertos británicos que analizaron las muestras, se trata indudablemente de restos de armas químicas y no de sustancias que podrían utilizarse en la respuesta a manifestaciones o disturbios.
Estados Unidos, al igual que el Reino Unido, ha advertido de que el uso de armas químicas en Siria sería la "línea roja" que justificaría una intervención.
Este lunes el régimen de Damasco rechazó el envío a Siria de un equipo técnico de Naciones Unidas para investigar el posible uso de armas químicas.
Francia y el Reino Unido han pedido a la ONU que investigue el posible uso de armas químicas en Siria, tanto por parte de los rebeldes como del Gobierno de Al Assad.
Siria vive desde hace más de dos años una situación de guerra civil que se ha cobrado más de 70 mil víctimas.
jrr
Billionaire William Koch wins $12m in courtroom wine fraud battle
Wealthy wine collector says he will use the money to further his campaign to highlight counterfeiting of bottles
A jury has awarded the Florida billionaire Bill Koch $12m in his long-running dispute over phony vintage wine. Vowing to do more to expose wine frauds, Koch proclaimed the court win on Friday to be his happiest day since winning the America's Cup in 1992.
"Out of sight. Over the moon," he said as he described his feelings after emerging, giggling with glee, from a courtroom in US District Court in Manhattan. "We weren't even expecting any damages and we got $12m. Unbelievable."
The verdict went against the businessman Eric Greenberg, who insisted that he had not intentionally sold a fake bottle of wine in auctions that generated about $42m for him over an eight-year period. The trial involved alleged that counterfeit bottles of Bordeaux were labeled as if they were made from 1864 to 1950. In a statement, Greenberg called the verdict "a disappointment because I believed all the consigned wine to be authentic". Outside court, Greenberg declined to comment further.
Koch's lawyer, John Hueston, suggested that a criminal investigation of Greenberg was underway, saying: "We're co-operating with the FBI." He declined to elaborate.
In a chilly drizzle outside court, the 72-year-old Koch celebrated with his lawyers, posed for pictures and met briefly with at least one of the eight jurors who decided on Thursday that Koch had been defrauded, awarding him $380,000 in compensatory damages.
Jurors returned Friday to hear Koch and Greenberg testify again and deliberate over punitive damages. "I'm very sorry I had counterfeit wine," Greenberg told them. "It's a horrible thing. Both of us have lost millions of dollars." The verdict was another blow to Greenberg, a former billionaire who built two internet consulting companies before the 2000 collapse of those stocks reportedly reduced his net worth by as much as 90%.
Koch said he planned to use the $12m to continue his crusade to clean up the wine auction industry, including by creating a website that highlights fake wines and who sells them. He said he would include in the list the 421 bottles he had identified in his own collection as fake after buying them for $4.4m.
"I'm sad at the amount of fakes," he said. "That's why I stopped buying very old wines."
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
A jury has awarded the Florida billionaire Bill Koch $12m in his long-running dispute over phony vintage wine. Vowing to do more to expose wine frauds, Koch proclaimed the court win on Friday to be his happiest day since winning the America's Cup in 1992.
"Out of sight. Over the moon," he said as he described his feelings after emerging, giggling with glee, from a courtroom in US District Court in Manhattan. "We weren't even expecting any damages and we got $12m. Unbelievable."
The verdict went against the businessman Eric Greenberg, who insisted that he had not intentionally sold a fake bottle of wine in auctions that generated about $42m for him over an eight-year period. The trial involved alleged that counterfeit bottles of Bordeaux were labeled as if they were made from 1864 to 1950. In a statement, Greenberg called the verdict "a disappointment because I believed all the consigned wine to be authentic". Outside court, Greenberg declined to comment further.
Koch's lawyer, John Hueston, suggested that a criminal investigation of Greenberg was underway, saying: "We're co-operating with the FBI." He declined to elaborate.
In a chilly drizzle outside court, the 72-year-old Koch celebrated with his lawyers, posed for pictures and met briefly with at least one of the eight jurors who decided on Thursday that Koch had been defrauded, awarding him $380,000 in compensatory damages.
Jurors returned Friday to hear Koch and Greenberg testify again and deliberate over punitive damages. "I'm very sorry I had counterfeit wine," Greenberg told them. "It's a horrible thing. Both of us have lost millions of dollars." The verdict was another blow to Greenberg, a former billionaire who built two internet consulting companies before the 2000 collapse of those stocks reportedly reduced his net worth by as much as 90%.
Koch said he planned to use the $12m to continue his crusade to clean up the wine auction industry, including by creating a website that highlights fake wines and who sells them. He said he would include in the list the 421 bottles he had identified in his own collection as fake after buying them for $4.4m.
"I'm sad at the amount of fakes," he said. "That's why I stopped buying very old wines."
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Localizan en El Salvador a menor extraviada en el Estado de México
TEXCOCO, 13 de abril.- El gobierno municipal confirmó que la noche de este viernes fue encontrada en El Salvador, la niña Valeria Hernández de Jesús, de 4 años de edad, desaparecida desde el pasado 1 de abril.
A través de un comunicado, el gobierno de Texcoco, municipio donde desapareció la menor, precisó que "La policía del país de El Salvador encontró a una niña deambulando por la calle y después de varias pesquisas se determinó que la infante de 4 años era la niña Valeria Hernández de Jesús".
De acuerdo con el documento, los familiares identificaron a la menor vía internet y ya se realizan los trámites a través de autoridades consulares para su regreso al país y entrega a sus padres.
Valeria fue reportada como desaparecida por su madre el pasado 1 de abril en Texcoco, por lo que se activo la Alerta Amber para la localización.
mef
A través de un comunicado, el gobierno de Texcoco, municipio donde desapareció la menor, precisó que "La policía del país de El Salvador encontró a una niña deambulando por la calle y después de varias pesquisas se determinó que la infante de 4 años era la niña Valeria Hernández de Jesús".
De acuerdo con el documento, los familiares identificaron a la menor vía internet y ya se realizan los trámites a través de autoridades consulares para su regreso al país y entrega a sus padres.
Valeria fue reportada como desaparecida por su madre el pasado 1 de abril en Texcoco, por lo que se activo la Alerta Amber para la localización.
mef
Bali airliner crash injures 22 as jet overshoots runway and falls in sea
All 108 passengers and crew survive after Lion Air Boeing 737 plunges 50 metres and cracks in two off Indonesian island
A Lion Air plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said.
An official with Bali's search and rescue agency, I Made Krisna Maharta, said all of the passengers and crew had been safely rescued and that 22 people were taken to three hospitals with various injuries. He said initial reports showed there were 101 passengers and seven crew members aboard.
Police and rescuers used rubber boats to evacuate passengers and crew members from the plane, which lay in the water with its fuselage cracked in two.
The transport ministry's director general of aviation, Harry Bakti Gumay, said the plane overshot the runway and fell into the sea from a height of about 50 metres. The cause of Saturday's accident was unclear, and Gumay said an investigation was under way.
Hospital officials and paramedics said at least seven passengers were taken to Sanglah hospital with head wounds and broken bones. Many passengers arrived there with wet clothes and bruises.
"The aircraft was in landing position when suddenly I saw it getting closer to the sea, and finally it hit the water," Dewi, a passenger who sustained head wounds in the crash, told the Associated Press. "All of the passengers were screaming in panic in fear they would drown."
Bali's police chief, Arif Wahyunadi, said the plane was a 180-seat Boeing 737 flying from Bandung, the capital of West Java province.
Lion Air is a rapidly expanding low-cost carrier with a market share of about 45% in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago where economic growth and air travel are booming and airline safety is a long-standing problem
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
NY teacher in 'Nazi' assignment row
A New York state English teacher faces disciplinary action for assigning students to argue Jews were to blame for the problems of Nazi Germany.
United States puts Japan on notice in currency report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Friday put Japan on notice that it was watching its economic policies to ensure they were not aimed at devaluing the yen to gain a competitive advantage
5 Dead and Scores Missing After Boat Sinks Off Indonesia
The passengers were apparently headed toward Australian territory when their boat broke apart in the water between Sumatra and the main island of Java.
Thursday, 11 April 2013
Man arrested for filming police, phone said to be a weapon
A man was arrested for using his phone to take video of a citation being issued to him after an officer said phones "can be converted to weapons," and the man refused to surrender the device.
Climate change did not cause 2012 US drought, says government report
Scientists blame Central Great Plains drought on failure of Gulf jet stream but critics say study was too narrow
The historic drought that blazed across America's corn belt last year was not caused by climate change, a federal government study found.
The summer of 2012 was the driest since record-keeping began more than a century ago, as well as one of the hottest, producing drought conditions across two-thirds of the continental United States.
Barack Obama and other prominent figures have repeatedly cited the drought as evidence of climate change. But the report released on Thursday by scientists at five different government agencies said that was not the case. The drought was "a sequence of unfortunate events" that occurred suddenly, the report said. The circumstances were so unusual the drought could never have been predicted.
"The Central Great Plains drought during May-August of 2012 resulted mostly from natural variations in weather," the report said.
The scientists found moist air from the Gulf of Mexico did not stream northward as it does most years, bringing spring rain. The jet stream that ordinarily pushes up the moisture from the Gulf was stuck far to the north in Canada.
July and August failed to produce their usual thunderstorms and those that did occur brought little rainfall.
The deficits were extreme. Last year was the driest year since record-keeping began in 1895, the report said. Conditions were even hotter and drier than the "dust bowl" years of 1934 and 1935.
But the scientists were clear in the report: "Neither ocean states nor human-induced climate change, factors that can provide long-lead predictability, appeared to play significant roles in causing severe rainfall deficits over the major corn producing regions of central Great Plains."
The finding was immediately challenged by other scientists. The report looked at six states – Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Iowa – but by last September the drought had spread across two-thirds of the continental United States, devastating crops from Texas to Georgia. Some experts predicted the economic losses would exceed those from hurricane Sandy.
Obama cited the drought, along with last year's wildfires, record-breaking temperatures, and Sandy, as evidence of climate change. Campaign groups have also cited the drought to make the case for climate action.
The lead author of the report, Martin Hoerling, a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the Associated Press he had tried to create computer simulations of the the drought, factoring in climate change conditions. Hoerling undertook a similar exercise with the 2011 drought in Texas, finding that climate change had indeed been a factor.
He was unable to do so in this case, Hoerling said, arguing that it demonstrated the drought had been a one-off event.
"This is one of those events that comes along once every couple hundreds of years," Hoerling told the AP. "Climate change was not a significant part, if any, of the event."
However, Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, who was also contacted by the Associated Press, said the study failed to take into account the lack of snowpack in the Rockies or how climate change may have played a role in keeping the jet stream away.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Infosys shares plunge on weak outlook
Indian IT outsourcer, which kicks off the country’s reporting season, blames economic conditions for poor full-year revenue guidance
Want to know if that hottie has HIV? Put their blood in the DVD player
Crafty boffins hack sitting-room boxes into lab kit
Cunning Swedish boffins have come up with a new use for the cheap technology in optical DVD drives: it can be used to carry out complex biochemical tests, even to the point of detecting HIV in a blood sample.…
Cunning Swedish boffins have come up with a new use for the cheap technology in optical DVD drives: it can be used to carry out complex biochemical tests, even to the point of detecting HIV in a blood sample.…
US denies report North Korea already has nuclear missile capability
The US scrambles to play down a report concluding North Korea has capability for nuclear missile.
Tear gas and water cannons fired as Chilean mass protest turns violent
Over 100 demonstrators were reportedly detained and eight officers injured as massive street protests once again rocked the city. One of the injured officers is said to be in critical condition after being hit by acid.
Some 80,000 protesters took part in the demonstration, authorities said, while organizers – the Student Federation of the University of Chile – put the figure as high as 150,000.
The bulk of the protests did not see any major violent incidents, though small pockets of vandalism caused property damage and some protesters threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at riot police. The organizers complained of excessive use of force by police, who have employed riot control tactics such as water cannons and tear gas.
One AP photographer documenting the protest captured two students clad in leopard print clothing and bright makeup, holding up signs that read, "The state does not regulate the business of prostitution because it is a 'private business.' If education is a private business, what can we expect?"
The protests, which have been ongoing in Chile since the 2006-2010 term of former President Michelle Bachelet, have proved to be an even larger political liability for her successor Sebastian Pinera.
Students taking part in the protests are demanding that the Chilean government provide free education, and have complained of inadequate public schools and unaffordable private universities. Though Pinera’s administration vowed to allocate a portion of the country’s 2013 budget to finance school loans at lower rates, student alliances seem dissatisfied with the government’s lack of progress in the two-plus years of his term.
Chile is considered to have one of the best – and most expensive – education systems in Latin America. The country also has one of the world’s lowest levels of public funding for higher education, which protesters believe has resulted in poor teaching quality and overall inequality in Chilean society.
The massive protests are mainly organized by the Confederation of Chilean Student Federations (CONFECH), which has presented a 'Social Agreement for Chilean Education' that proposes increased state support for public higher education leading to free education, the elimination of for-profit universities and the repeal of laws that prohibit student participation in university governance.
The unrest has badly damaged President Pinera’s approval ratings, which sank below 30 percent in 2011 and have not made a significant rebound. Though Chile is considered one of the most stable countries in the region, student protests have accounted for the largest civil unrest since the country’s return to democracy in 1990, making education reform one of the top issues in the upcoming 2013 presidential elections.
Some 80,000 protesters took part in the demonstration, authorities said, while organizers – the Student Federation of the University of Chile – put the figure as high as 150,000.
The bulk of the protests did not see any major violent incidents, though small pockets of vandalism caused property damage and some protesters threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at riot police. The organizers complained of excessive use of force by police, who have employed riot control tactics such as water cannons and tear gas.
One AP photographer documenting the protest captured two students clad in leopard print clothing and bright makeup, holding up signs that read, "The state does not regulate the business of prostitution because it is a 'private business.' If education is a private business, what can we expect?"
The protests, which have been ongoing in Chile since the 2006-2010 term of former President Michelle Bachelet, have proved to be an even larger political liability for her successor Sebastian Pinera.
Students taking part in the protests are demanding that the Chilean government provide free education, and have complained of inadequate public schools and unaffordable private universities. Though Pinera’s administration vowed to allocate a portion of the country’s 2013 budget to finance school loans at lower rates, student alliances seem dissatisfied with the government’s lack of progress in the two-plus years of his term.
Chile is considered to have one of the best – and most expensive – education systems in Latin America. The country also has one of the world’s lowest levels of public funding for higher education, which protesters believe has resulted in poor teaching quality and overall inequality in Chilean society.
The massive protests are mainly organized by the Confederation of Chilean Student Federations (CONFECH), which has presented a 'Social Agreement for Chilean Education' that proposes increased state support for public higher education leading to free education, the elimination of for-profit universities and the repeal of laws that prohibit student participation in university governance.
The unrest has badly damaged President Pinera’s approval ratings, which sank below 30 percent in 2011 and have not made a significant rebound. Though Chile is considered one of the most stable countries in the region, student protests have accounted for the largest civil unrest since the country’s return to democracy in 1990, making education reform one of the top issues in the upcoming 2013 presidential elections.
Research Enables Fishermen to Harvest Lucrative Shellfish on Georges Bank
Cape Cod MA (SPX) Apr 12, 2013
Combined research efforts by scientists involved in the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) project, funded by NOAA's Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) program, and administered by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), have led to enhanced understanding of toxic algal blooms on Georges Bank.
This new information, coupled with an at-sea and dockside tes
Combined research efforts by scientists involved in the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) project, funded by NOAA's Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) program, and administered by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), have led to enhanced understanding of toxic algal blooms on Georges Bank.
This new information, coupled with an at-sea and dockside tes
United Arab Emirates’ Laws Ensnare a Doctor
A South African doctor on a layover in the United Arab Emirates is trapped there by criminal charges he had not been aware of.
New chart shows the entire topography of the Antarctic seafloor in detail
Bremerhaven, Germany (SPX) Apr 12, 2013
Reliable information on the depth and floor structure of the Southern Ocean has so far been available for only few coastal regions of the Antarctic. An international team of scientists under the leadership of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, has for the first time succeeded in creating a digital map of the entire Antarctic seafloor.
The Internat
Reliable information on the depth and floor structure of the Southern Ocean has so far been available for only few coastal regions of the Antarctic. An international team of scientists under the leadership of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, has for the first time succeeded in creating a digital map of the entire Antarctic seafloor.
The Internat
El célebre tenor Josep Carreras impulsa un centro contra la leucemia
La fundación creada por el famoso cantante Josep Carreras, Josep Carreras Leukaemia Foundation, ha firmado un contrato con la Universidad de Barcelona para crear el campus Clínic-UB, especializado en leucemia.
El nuevo campus dispondrá de varios modernos laboratorios dedicados a la investigación de la leucemia.
La fundación de Josep Carreras invertirá en los próximos años 14 millones de euros en edificios y equipamientos para el campus.
Carreras, a quien en 1987 diagnosticaron un cáncer y creó una fundación después de superarlo, comentó que aún se siente en deuda con la ciencia y con la gente que le apoyó cuando estuvo enfermo.
El nuevo campus dispondrá de varios modernos laboratorios dedicados a la investigación de la leucemia.
La fundación de Josep Carreras invertirá en los próximos años 14 millones de euros en edificios y equipamientos para el campus.
Carreras, a quien en 1987 diagnosticaron un cáncer y creó una fundación después de superarlo, comentó que aún se siente en deuda con la ciencia y con la gente que le apoyó cuando estuvo enfermo.
Britain's love affair with bottled water
Leading academic brands industry a "scam" as campaigners condemn our growing thirst for bottled water.
The UK bottled water industry releases 350,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.
One of Britain's leading authorities on water supplies has branded the bottled water industry a scam, backing campaigners' claims of wasted millions and environmental pollution at a time when tap water standards have never been higher.
Professor Paul Younger, Rankine Chair of Engineering at Glasgow University, has highlighted growing fears that our increasing consumption of bottled water is damaging the environment while raising huge profits for the big brands, despite Britain having one of the best mains water supplies in the world.
The UK bottled water industry releases 350,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.
One of Britain's leading authorities on water supplies has branded the bottled water industry a scam, backing campaigners' claims of wasted millions and environmental pollution at a time when tap water standards have never been higher.
Professor Paul Younger, Rankine Chair of Engineering at Glasgow University, has highlighted growing fears that our increasing consumption of bottled water is damaging the environment while raising huge profits for the big brands, despite Britain having one of the best mains water supplies in the world.
Trouble in Penguin Paradise? UC Research Analyzes Antarctic Ice Flow
Cincinnati OH (SPX) Apr 12, 2013
University of Cincinnati student Shujie Wang has discovered that a good way to monitor the environmental health of Antarctica is to go with the flow - the ice flow, that is.
It's an important parameter to track because as Antarctica's health goes, so goes the world's.
"The ice sheet in Antarctica is the largest fresh water reservoir on Earth, and if it were totally melted, the sea le
University of Cincinnati student Shujie Wang has discovered that a good way to monitor the environmental health of Antarctica is to go with the flow - the ice flow, that is.
It's an important parameter to track because as Antarctica's health goes, so goes the world's.
"The ice sheet in Antarctica is the largest fresh water reservoir on Earth, and if it were totally melted, the sea le
Maradona participa de comício com Maduro em último dia de campanha
CARACAS — No último dia de campanha, o presidente interino da Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, teve um apoio de peso durante comício em Caracas: o ex-jogador argentino Diego Maradona, amigo próximo do presidente Hugo Chávez, morto em março. O lendário capitão da Argentina, que venceu a Copa do Mundo de 1986, usava um boné com as cores da Venezuela e camisa vermelha bordada do lado esquerdo com a frase “Cristina K 2015”, uma referência a uma possível reeleição da presidente da Argentina, Cristina Kirchner. Na camisa também se lia “Comandante Chávez” e “Maduro Presidente”.
No palanque eleitoral, o ex-jogador jogou bola e acenou para a multidão e lançou um beijo para o céu, em referência ao ex-presidente Hugo Chávez.
- Aqui estou, sou o filho de Chávez, sou um homem do povo, estou pronto para ser presidente (...) os que quiserem pátria e os que quiserem futuro, venham com Nicolás Maduro - disse o candidato antes de encerrar sua campanha em Caracas.
Maduro, que comprometeu-se a aplicar um aumento do salário mínimo de 45%, afirmou que comandará “um governo de rua, essa foi a última orientação que Chávez me deixou”.
- Vou governar nos estados, uma semana em cada estado. Vamos ver com nossos próprios olhos, vamos de ônibus, ver os problemas e resolvê-los. Será um novo modelo de governo itinerante, de rua - assegurou o candidato do PSUV.
De acordo com pesquisa da empresa de consultoria Datanálisis, uma das mais confiáveis do país, a vantagem de Maduro sobre Capriles caiu cinco pontos em relação a março e é hoje de 9,7 pontos percentuais (54,8% contra 45,1%). Está abaixo dos dez pontos que separaram o candidato da oposição do presidente Hugo Chávez nas eleições de 7 de outubro passado. O número de indecisos é uma grande incógnita, assim como o de chavistas que optariam pela abstenção (o voto não é obrigatório na Venezuela). O presidente interino continua sendo favorito, mas analistas locais coincidem em afirmar que a reta final da campanha foi marcada pela queda de Maduro e um notável crescimento do candidato opositor.
No palanque eleitoral, o ex-jogador jogou bola e acenou para a multidão e lançou um beijo para o céu, em referência ao ex-presidente Hugo Chávez.
- Aqui estou, sou o filho de Chávez, sou um homem do povo, estou pronto para ser presidente (...) os que quiserem pátria e os que quiserem futuro, venham com Nicolás Maduro - disse o candidato antes de encerrar sua campanha em Caracas.
Maduro, que comprometeu-se a aplicar um aumento do salário mínimo de 45%, afirmou que comandará “um governo de rua, essa foi a última orientação que Chávez me deixou”.
- Vou governar nos estados, uma semana em cada estado. Vamos ver com nossos próprios olhos, vamos de ônibus, ver os problemas e resolvê-los. Será um novo modelo de governo itinerante, de rua - assegurou o candidato do PSUV.
De acordo com pesquisa da empresa de consultoria Datanálisis, uma das mais confiáveis do país, a vantagem de Maduro sobre Capriles caiu cinco pontos em relação a março e é hoje de 9,7 pontos percentuais (54,8% contra 45,1%). Está abaixo dos dez pontos que separaram o candidato da oposição do presidente Hugo Chávez nas eleições de 7 de outubro passado. O número de indecisos é uma grande incógnita, assim como o de chavistas que optariam pela abstenção (o voto não é obrigatório na Venezuela). O presidente interino continua sendo favorito, mas analistas locais coincidem em afirmar que a reta final da campanha foi marcada pela queda de Maduro e um notável crescimento do candidato opositor.
New music 'rewarding for the brain'
MRI scans reveal that listening to new music is rewarding for the brain.
Chinese boffins predict iPad-sized supercomputers
Quantum physics discovery could spur even lower power consumption
Chinese boffins are predicting iPad-shaped supercomputers could become a reality after observing for the first time a phenomenon known as the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect, which could pave the way for a new generation of low energy-consumption electronics.…
Chinese boffins are predicting iPad-shaped supercomputers could become a reality after observing for the first time a phenomenon known as the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect, which could pave the way for a new generation of low energy-consumption electronics.…
Venezuela set for presidential vote as Maduro claims Colombian infiltration
Thousands of Venezuelans turned out for the final rallies held by both Maduro and Caprilles, with the latter appearing in the city of Barquisimeto to what El Pais reported to be millions of supporters. In the Venezuelan capital Caracas, meanwhile, Maduro appeared defiantly in front of a solid wave of supporters, all clad in the traditional red of the Chavista party, standing alongside famous ex-footballer Diego Maradona, a longtime supporter of the late Chavez.
In anticipation of Sunday’s vote Venezuelan authorities closed the border with Colombia, while Maduro announced during his final rally in Caracas that a plot by Colombian paramilitary forces to disrupt the elections had been foiled by his interim government. According to government officials, the group was found with weapons and C4 explosives - bringing Maduro to proclaim the group had “come to murder the state .”
The presidential race is undoubtedly a referendum for or against the heir-apparent to the decades-long administration of the late Chavez, Maduro - who at every opportunity has framed his candidacy as a continuation of the former president and the Bolivarian movement. Maduro supporters filled the central streets in Caracas, chanting “Chavez, I promise, I’m voting for Maduro!” and “With Maduro, the people are secure!”
Though both candidates have had minimal time to mount a campaign, in that brief time the contest has been defined by stinging personal attacks on Caprilles, the former governor of Miranda state, who lost the 2012 election against Chavez by a margin of 54% to 44%. Those February elections took place under accusations of voter intimidation and irregularities on the part of the incumbent party, as well as a number of violent episodes, including an attack by armed men during an opposition rally.
An estimated 18 million Venezuelans will head to polling stations across the country, while most pollsters give Maduro over a ten percentage lead against Caprilles and the five other candidates. The government has deployed 141,000 members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces and banned the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages ahead of the voting.
In anticipation of Sunday’s vote Venezuelan authorities closed the border with Colombia, while Maduro announced during his final rally in Caracas that a plot by Colombian paramilitary forces to disrupt the elections had been foiled by his interim government. According to government officials, the group was found with weapons and C4 explosives - bringing Maduro to proclaim the group had “come to murder the state .”
The presidential race is undoubtedly a referendum for or against the heir-apparent to the decades-long administration of the late Chavez, Maduro - who at every opportunity has framed his candidacy as a continuation of the former president and the Bolivarian movement. Maduro supporters filled the central streets in Caracas, chanting “Chavez, I promise, I’m voting for Maduro!” and “With Maduro, the people are secure!”
Though both candidates have had minimal time to mount a campaign, in that brief time the contest has been defined by stinging personal attacks on Caprilles, the former governor of Miranda state, who lost the 2012 election against Chavez by a margin of 54% to 44%. Those February elections took place under accusations of voter intimidation and irregularities on the part of the incumbent party, as well as a number of violent episodes, including an attack by armed men during an opposition rally.
An estimated 18 million Venezuelans will head to polling stations across the country, while most pollsters give Maduro over a ten percentage lead against Caprilles and the five other candidates. The government has deployed 141,000 members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces and banned the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages ahead of the voting.
EU desmantela red de drogas con origen en México
El grupo delictivo enviaba droga desde nuestro país hacia Estados Unidos a través de Texas, para ser distribuida en todo el este estadounidense; se estiman ganancias de 140 mdd
Australia to face Japan on whaling
The UN's International Court of Justice sets dates for public hearings on Australia's challenge against Japan's whaling programme in Antartica.
New Models Predict Dramatically Greener Arctic in the Coming Decades
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 12, 2013
Rising temperatures will lead to a massive "greening" of the Arctic by mid-century, as a result of marked increases in plant cover, according to research supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of its International Polar Year (IPY) portfolio.
The greening not only will have effects on plant life, the researchers noted, but also on the wildlife that depends on vegetation
Rising temperatures will lead to a massive "greening" of the Arctic by mid-century, as a result of marked increases in plant cover, according to research supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of its International Polar Year (IPY) portfolio.
The greening not only will have effects on plant life, the researchers noted, but also on the wildlife that depends on vegetation
German Neo-Nazis Accused of Organizing in Prisons
German authorities said they had broken up a group that was trying to provide support to neo-Nazis behind bars.
Pioneering study calculates Arctic Ocean nutrient budget
Southampton UK (SPX) Apr 12, 2013
The first study of its kind to calculate the amount of nutrients entering and leaving the Arctic Ocean has been carried out by scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.
Their results, which are published this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research, show that there is a mismatch between what goes into the Arctic Ocean and what comes out.
This is the firs
The first study of its kind to calculate the amount of nutrients entering and leaving the Arctic Ocean has been carried out by scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.
Their results, which are published this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research, show that there is a mismatch between what goes into the Arctic Ocean and what comes out.
This is the firs
Norwegian Pinot Noir?: Global Warming to Drastically Shift Wine Regions
In less than 40 years, drinking wine could have a major toll on the environment and wildlife, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study finds that climate change will likely force many vineyards to move either north or to higher altitudes, leading to habitat loss, biodiversity declines, and increased pressure for freshwater. Some famous wine-growing areas could be lost, including in the Mediterranean, while development of new wine areas—such as those in the Rocky Mountains and northern Europe—could lead to what the scientists describe as "conservation conflicts."
German inflation hits lowest level in years
German consumer prices have only seen only moderate monthly increases for quite a while. Fresh statistical data revealed inflation in Europe's biggest economy has reached its lowest level in over two years.
Somehow The Greek Unemployment Nightmare Is Still Getting Worse
The deterioration of economies in Europe — especially those on the European periphery that are trying to adjust via austerity — is just terrible.
#Greece Unemployment rate in January 2013 was 27.2% compared to 21.5% in January 2012 and 25.7% in December 2012
— Efthimia Efthimiou (@EfiEfthimiou) April 11, 2013
#Greece The number of employed decreased by 270,629 persons vs Jan 2012 (-7.0%) and by 11,653 persons compared with Dec 2012 (-0.3%)
— Efthimia Efthimiou (@EfiEfthimiou) April 11, 2013
Holanda faz "recall" de carne vendida na Europa e que pode conter cavalo
Cinquenta mil toneladas de carne bovina podem ter sido misturadas com carne de cavalo e vendidas para 500 empresas em toda a Europa. Não há risco para a saúde, asseguram autoridades holandesas.
More than 40,000 people apply for Australia's 'Best Jobs in the World'
More than 40,000 people from around the globe have applied for Australia's six "Best Jobs in the World", leaving Australian tourism officials with the mammoth task of paring the list down to 18 finalists.
Buddhist monks outraged at plans to bulldoze centuries-old temple
Buddhist monks in central China are up in arms over government plans to demolish large sections of a Tang dynasty temple along the ancient Silk Road.
Yoga to 'slim down' Nepal police
The police force in Nepal is introducing yoga lessons in an effort to slim down some of its heavier members.
Almost 500 migrants rescued in 24 hours off Italian coast
ROME (Reuters) - The Italian coastguard rescued almost 500 migrants crammed into five small inflatable boats off the Sicilian coast in the Mediterranean Sea after receiving distress calls overnight, the coastguard said on Thursday
'Rape victim', 10, threatened with stoning unless she withdraws claim
The family of a ten-year-old girl who was detained after complaining she had been raped by a neighbour is under police protection amid claims that she will be stoned to death if they do not withdraw the allegation.
Women arrested for praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall
Five feminist campaigners have been arrested at Jerusalem's Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, for praying in a manner outlawed after being deemed acceptable only for men by ultra-orthodox Jews.
Adolescentes devolvem € 62 mil encontrados em trem na Noruega
OSLO - Dois adolescentes da Noruega devolveram € 62 mil (R$ 160.332) a um homem de 70 anos que perdeu o dinheiro em um trem, informou a imprensa local nesta quinta-feira. Eles encontraram a fortuna em uma bolsa esquecida no assento do transporte, em uma viagem da capital Oslo a uma pequena localidade ao sudeste da Noruega.
- Quando abri a bolsa, vi foi um monte de notas - afirmou Bendik Hallstensen, de 16 anos, ao jornal “Vestby Avis”. - O primeiro que pensei foi chamar a polícia.
Hallstensen se dirigia ao corredor do trem para se encontrar com uma amiga quando avistou a bolsa.
- Eu pensei que o dono tinha acabado de sair por algum tempo e iria retornar, mas nada aconteceu - contou Hallstensen. - Perguntei a minha amiga se a bolsa era dela, e ela disse não.
Os jovens encontraram também o passaporte do proprietário, que foi buscar o dinheiro com a polícia. As autoridades elogiaram a honestidade de Hallstensen e sua amiga.
- Eu sou apenas uma pessoa que gosta de ter bons pensamentos e fé nos outros. Eu gosto de pensar que outras pessoas teriam feito o mesmo por mim. Eu li que o proprietário (da bolsa) ficou alegre com a devolução do dinheiro e isso é o mais importante - acrescentou Hallstensen.
- Quando abri a bolsa, vi foi um monte de notas - afirmou Bendik Hallstensen, de 16 anos, ao jornal “Vestby Avis”. - O primeiro que pensei foi chamar a polícia.
Hallstensen se dirigia ao corredor do trem para se encontrar com uma amiga quando avistou a bolsa.
- Eu pensei que o dono tinha acabado de sair por algum tempo e iria retornar, mas nada aconteceu - contou Hallstensen. - Perguntei a minha amiga se a bolsa era dela, e ela disse não.
Os jovens encontraram também o passaporte do proprietário, que foi buscar o dinheiro com a polícia. As autoridades elogiaram a honestidade de Hallstensen e sua amiga.
- Eu sou apenas uma pessoa que gosta de ter bons pensamentos e fé nos outros. Eu gosto de pensar que outras pessoas teriam feito o mesmo por mim. Eu li que o proprietário (da bolsa) ficou alegre com a devolução do dinheiro e isso é o mais importante - acrescentou Hallstensen.
Frozen berries behind Hepatitis A outbreak
Swedes are being recommended to boil any frozen berries before eating them after an upsurge in cases involving Hepatitis A.
U.S. Tuna Plan Pleases Conservationists and Upsets Mexican Industry
U.S. Tuna Plan Pleases Conservationists and Upsets Mexican Industry:
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. proposal to revamp its dolphin-safe tuna label rules to comply with a trade case won by Mexico is drawing praise from conservationists and criticism from Mexico's fishing industry, which says it will keep their exports out of the U.S. [More]
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. proposal to revamp its dolphin-safe tuna label rules to comply with a trade case won by Mexico is drawing praise from conservationists and criticism from Mexico's fishing industry, which says it will keep their exports out of the U.S. [More]
Mexico hails drop in drug killlings but day brings more of the same
Clashes in Michoacan state kill 14 just as administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto announces fall in gang murders
At least 14 people have died in a series of clashes between gunmen and federal police in Mexico, just as the government announced a 14% drop in drug-related killings.
The deaths took place in Michoacan state, a western area that has seen a surge of violence in recent years attributed to drug cartels.
Federal police said in a statement the first gun battle began when officers aboard a helicopter spotted armed men traveling in four vehicles in the town of Gabriel Zamora. The gunmen opened fire on the agents, who shot back and killed five assailants, the statement said.
It said one of those killed was high in the leadership structure of a Michoacan-based drug cartel but did not identify the group.
Hours later in the town of Apatzingan federal agents were accompanying a caravan of citizens commemorating the anniversary of the death of the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata when gunmen fired shots at some of the participants. Police killed one of the gunmen, authorities said.
The citizens continued on and were again attacked by gunmen who fired from an overpass, police said. Eight people died and another eight were wounded, including two police officers.
The Knights Templar cartel, which controls much of Michoacan, has been fighting rivals along its borders with other states including Guerrero, where a variety of smaller cartels control drug smuggling and other criminal activities.
On Wednesday when the clashes took place the Mexican government announced drug-related killings from December through March had dropped 14% from the same period a year earlier. The interior department said 4,249 people were killed during the first four months of President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration. It said 4,934 were killed between December 2011 and March 2012.
But interior secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said it was "too early to assume victorious attitudes".
The government of previous President Felipe Calderón stopped releasing figures of drug killings in September 2011, but Osorio Chong said the federal government had continued to keep a count.
The interior department report said 184 law enforcement officials were killed between December and March, including soldiers, and federal and local police.
Bloody clashes are still common in Mexico and it can be impossible to know how many people died because drug traffickers take their dead away before authorities reach the scene.
In the border city of Reynosa there were at least four major shootouts between rival drug gangs in March. One of the clashes lasted several hours. People reported dozens of dead on social networks and at least 12 were corroborated by witnesses. The official account only listed two dead.
Osorio Chong said the state of Tamaulipas, where Reynosa is located, is one of the "most important spots for this administration" when it comes to security.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
At least 14 people have died in a series of clashes between gunmen and federal police in Mexico, just as the government announced a 14% drop in drug-related killings.
The deaths took place in Michoacan state, a western area that has seen a surge of violence in recent years attributed to drug cartels.
Federal police said in a statement the first gun battle began when officers aboard a helicopter spotted armed men traveling in four vehicles in the town of Gabriel Zamora. The gunmen opened fire on the agents, who shot back and killed five assailants, the statement said.
It said one of those killed was high in the leadership structure of a Michoacan-based drug cartel but did not identify the group.
Hours later in the town of Apatzingan federal agents were accompanying a caravan of citizens commemorating the anniversary of the death of the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata when gunmen fired shots at some of the participants. Police killed one of the gunmen, authorities said.
The citizens continued on and were again attacked by gunmen who fired from an overpass, police said. Eight people died and another eight were wounded, including two police officers.
The Knights Templar cartel, which controls much of Michoacan, has been fighting rivals along its borders with other states including Guerrero, where a variety of smaller cartels control drug smuggling and other criminal activities.
On Wednesday when the clashes took place the Mexican government announced drug-related killings from December through March had dropped 14% from the same period a year earlier. The interior department said 4,249 people were killed during the first four months of President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration. It said 4,934 were killed between December 2011 and March 2012.
But interior secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said it was "too early to assume victorious attitudes".
The government of previous President Felipe Calderón stopped releasing figures of drug killings in September 2011, but Osorio Chong said the federal government had continued to keep a count.
The interior department report said 184 law enforcement officials were killed between December and March, including soldiers, and federal and local police.
Bloody clashes are still common in Mexico and it can be impossible to know how many people died because drug traffickers take their dead away before authorities reach the scene.
In the border city of Reynosa there were at least four major shootouts between rival drug gangs in March. One of the clashes lasted several hours. People reported dozens of dead on social networks and at least 12 were corroborated by witnesses. The official account only listed two dead.
Osorio Chong said the state of Tamaulipas, where Reynosa is located, is one of the "most important spots for this administration" when it comes to security.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Els neonazis posen la justícia alemanya en evidència
El procés contra una assassina d'immigrants s'empantanega amb una xarxa solidària de presos ultres
A una setmana del judici, el govern de Merkel lluita contra la imatge d'un estat racista
A una setmana del judici, el govern de Merkel lluita contra la imatge d'un estat racista
Organ donation soars since 2008
The number of people in the UK donating organs after death has increased by 50% in the last five years.
Immigranten in den USA fordern Rechte ein
Präsident Barack Obama hat die Neufassung der Einwanderungsgesetze zu einem seiner Hauptanliegen erklärt. Jetzt demonstrierten in Washington Zehntausende Menschen für eine rasche Verabschiedung der Reform.
Judge rules secret behind US 'pink slime' must remain under wraps
As Reuters recently reported, it was only a year ago that BPI operated four thriving plants, employed over 1,300 people and was only expanding. Then, last March, the hammer fell when ABC News began a series of broadcasts anchored by Diane Sawyer shedding light on the ubiquitous use of "lean finely textured beef" (LFTB) in fast food restaurants, school cafeterias and even homemade meals.
Though the LFTB product that led the South Dakota company to such high profits is perfectly legal to use, according to BPI’s subsequent lawsuit against ABC the use of the not-unfitting term “pink slime” put off consumers and caused its revenues to plummet from over $650 million to $130 million per year.
In its reporting, ABC was intent on disclosing the production details behind LFTB which, although being low-fat, was subjected to treatment with ammonia and other noxious chemicals to kill E. coli bacteria and make it safe for consumption. Though the product had been approved for public consumption beginning in 2001, ABC’s reporting reached a largely unaware mainstream audience.
Regardless of whether BPI was subjected to undue defamation by the news broadcasts, the public backlash and controversy over the product led to its discontinued use by various companies.
But on Wednesday, BPI was successful in protecting information regarding the process by which the so-called pink slime is made.
The company had filed legal action in 2010 when a Seattle law firm, and later The New York Times, attempted to obtain food safety research conducted by a professor at Iowa State University who later became a consultant for the company.
Though the ruling is sure to upset food safety advocacy groups, which have been vocal in their bid to rid food of the processed product, District Judge Dale Ruigh did not seem to weigh potential consumer concerns heavily in his decision. Rather, Ruigh found that BPI should be shielded from an “extraordinarily competitive” environment, in which competitors are hot on the trail of its patented processes in the production of the 'beef' product.
In addition, the ruling addressed the potential impact to Iowa State laboratories, who do business with companies that might head elsewhere for testing if they suspected results would be made public. Exactly how any concerns over consumer safety were to be weighed with the school’s business interests remained unclear, though in this case Judge Ruigh made that call for all involved.
While for the moment the litigation battle over pink slime processing secrets is over, and no appeals are expected, it is unlikely to change the public’s perception of BPI’s now struggling product. As for whether the company’s lawsuit against ABC News is successful remains to be seen, though BPI has been hard at work trying to win back customers following the fallout of the reports on its cash 'cow.'
According to Reuters, the Midwestern grocery chain Hy-Vee, which discontinued sales of LFTB following the media uproar, soon began selling it again once customers began demanding it back.
Though the LFTB product that led the South Dakota company to such high profits is perfectly legal to use, according to BPI’s subsequent lawsuit against ABC the use of the not-unfitting term “pink slime” put off consumers and caused its revenues to plummet from over $650 million to $130 million per year.
In its reporting, ABC was intent on disclosing the production details behind LFTB which, although being low-fat, was subjected to treatment with ammonia and other noxious chemicals to kill E. coli bacteria and make it safe for consumption. Though the product had been approved for public consumption beginning in 2001, ABC’s reporting reached a largely unaware mainstream audience.
Regardless of whether BPI was subjected to undue defamation by the news broadcasts, the public backlash and controversy over the product led to its discontinued use by various companies.
But on Wednesday, BPI was successful in protecting information regarding the process by which the so-called pink slime is made.
The company had filed legal action in 2010 when a Seattle law firm, and later The New York Times, attempted to obtain food safety research conducted by a professor at Iowa State University who later became a consultant for the company.
Though the ruling is sure to upset food safety advocacy groups, which have been vocal in their bid to rid food of the processed product, District Judge Dale Ruigh did not seem to weigh potential consumer concerns heavily in his decision. Rather, Ruigh found that BPI should be shielded from an “extraordinarily competitive” environment, in which competitors are hot on the trail of its patented processes in the production of the 'beef' product.
In addition, the ruling addressed the potential impact to Iowa State laboratories, who do business with companies that might head elsewhere for testing if they suspected results would be made public. Exactly how any concerns over consumer safety were to be weighed with the school’s business interests remained unclear, though in this case Judge Ruigh made that call for all involved.
While for the moment the litigation battle over pink slime processing secrets is over, and no appeals are expected, it is unlikely to change the public’s perception of BPI’s now struggling product. As for whether the company’s lawsuit against ABC News is successful remains to be seen, though BPI has been hard at work trying to win back customers following the fallout of the reports on its cash 'cow.'
According to Reuters, the Midwestern grocery chain Hy-Vee, which discontinued sales of LFTB following the media uproar, soon began selling it again once customers began demanding it back.
Controversial Site C dam would make Peace River ‘most endangered’ in BC
The Peace River in northeastern British Columbia will be the province’s most endangered river if the controversial Site C dam is approved, according to a new report.
The Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C. (ORC) released its list of B.C.’s most endangered rivers on Monday, citing the Peace, Fraser, and Elk Rivers as the top three most endangered in the province.
The Peace topped the list for the first time, says ORC spokesman Mark Angelo, after the group’s 100,000 members—comprising local First Nations, biologists, ranchers, guides, residents, and visitors to the area—overwhelmingly nominated the waterway over any other river.
“Clearly local opposition to the dam is widespread and passionate amongst both aboriginal and non-aboriginal groups,” says Angelo. “There’s this very, very extensive opposition.”
ORC says BC Hydro’s Site C Clean Energy Project—a proposed dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River near Fort St. John—poses a threat to the local fish and wildlife habitat as well as sacred cultural sites, and would severely diminish the area’s recreational value.
Site C would be the third dam on the river.
The dam would measure 60 metres high and 1,050 metres long and would flood an additional 83 kilometres of the river, resulting in the loss of 5,000 hectares of boreal forest and 5,000 hectares of productive farmland. It would also flood the only Class 1 agricultural land north of Quesnel, B.C.
“There are many, many environmental impacts. And then over and above that it’s a dam that’s going to cost $8 billion, and that’s a heavy price tag for B.C. Hydro—a crown corporation that already has a huge debt that’s close to being unmanageable,” says Angelo.
The most recent BC Hydro electricity forecast shows no existing domestic need for the dam, and according to the ORC report, B.C. currently has a surplus of power for domestic use expected to last for at least several more years.
However, BC Hydro and Premier Christy Clark have said Site C is necessary to meet the province’s future electricity needs, in light of population increases and future liquid natural gas projects, if demand continues to grow as projected.
“BC Hydro forecasts that the province’s electricity needs will grow by approximately 40 percent over the next 20 years,” says the company’s website.
“This increase in demand is being driven by a projected population increase of more than one million residents and economic expansion. With Site C, BC Hydro is planning now so that British Columbians will continue to benefit from clean, reliable and cost-effective electricity in the future.”
The project is now in the environmental and regulatory review stage, which includes an environmental assessment process. The period for submission of written commentary closed April 4, and a joint review panel will soon be appointed by the federal and provincial governments.
After the review process is completed, the dam could potentially be approved by next year.
This year marks ORC’s 21st annual “most endangered rivers list,” the most comprehensive initiative of its kind in Canada. It aims to provide a snapshot of the issues that face rivers and the threats to their ecological health.
ORC decreased the number of rivers on the list from its usual ten down to three this year, in part due to the overwhelming number of votes for the Peace.
“The annual endangered rivers release, now in its 21st year, helps to create a greater awareness of the many threats that confront our waterways,” Angelo said.
“And while we should be strengthening mechanisms to protect rivers, the ORC is dismayed by the recent weakening of habitat provisions in federal river-related legislation, such as the Federal Fisheries Act and the Navigable Water Protection Act.”
ORC named the lower Fraser the second most-threatened river on its list, especially between Hope and Mission, due to development pressures from nearby city centres.
“Given its proximity to greater Vancouver, this extraordinary part of the Fraser faces an assortment of development pressures and is in severe need of a collaborative plan if its many values are to be protected,” Angelo said.
Elk River near Fernie holds the third most endangered spot due to rising levels of selenium, a toxin found in runoff from nearby open-pit coal mines.
“While the province recently announced a moratorium on new coal mines until selenium pollution is controlled, there must be a much more expedited effort to reduce toxic run-off from existing mines,” said Angelo.
The post Controversial Site C dam would make Peace River ‘most endangered’ in BC appeared first on The Epoch Times.
The Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C. (ORC) released its list of B.C.’s most endangered rivers on Monday, citing the Peace, Fraser, and Elk Rivers as the top three most endangered in the province.
The Peace topped the list for the first time, says ORC spokesman Mark Angelo, after the group’s 100,000 members—comprising local First Nations, biologists, ranchers, guides, residents, and visitors to the area—overwhelmingly nominated the waterway over any other river.
“Clearly local opposition to the dam is widespread and passionate amongst both aboriginal and non-aboriginal groups,” says Angelo. “There’s this very, very extensive opposition.”
ORC says BC Hydro’s Site C Clean Energy Project—a proposed dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River near Fort St. John—poses a threat to the local fish and wildlife habitat as well as sacred cultural sites, and would severely diminish the area’s recreational value.
Site C would be the third dam on the river.
The dam would measure 60 metres high and 1,050 metres long and would flood an additional 83 kilometres of the river, resulting in the loss of 5,000 hectares of boreal forest and 5,000 hectares of productive farmland. It would also flood the only Class 1 agricultural land north of Quesnel, B.C.
“There are many, many environmental impacts. And then over and above that it’s a dam that’s going to cost $8 billion, and that’s a heavy price tag for B.C. Hydro—a crown corporation that already has a huge debt that’s close to being unmanageable,” says Angelo.
The most recent BC Hydro electricity forecast shows no existing domestic need for the dam, and according to the ORC report, B.C. currently has a surplus of power for domestic use expected to last for at least several more years.
However, BC Hydro and Premier Christy Clark have said Site C is necessary to meet the province’s future electricity needs, in light of population increases and future liquid natural gas projects, if demand continues to grow as projected.
“BC Hydro forecasts that the province’s electricity needs will grow by approximately 40 percent over the next 20 years,” says the company’s website.
“This increase in demand is being driven by a projected population increase of more than one million residents and economic expansion. With Site C, BC Hydro is planning now so that British Columbians will continue to benefit from clean, reliable and cost-effective electricity in the future.”
The project is now in the environmental and regulatory review stage, which includes an environmental assessment process. The period for submission of written commentary closed April 4, and a joint review panel will soon be appointed by the federal and provincial governments.
After the review process is completed, the dam could potentially be approved by next year.
Raising Awareness of Threats to Rivers
This year marks ORC’s 21st annual “most endangered rivers list,” the most comprehensive initiative of its kind in Canada. It aims to provide a snapshot of the issues that face rivers and the threats to their ecological health.
ORC decreased the number of rivers on the list from its usual ten down to three this year, in part due to the overwhelming number of votes for the Peace.
“The annual endangered rivers release, now in its 21st year, helps to create a greater awareness of the many threats that confront our waterways,” Angelo said.
“And while we should be strengthening mechanisms to protect rivers, the ORC is dismayed by the recent weakening of habitat provisions in federal river-related legislation, such as the Federal Fisheries Act and the Navigable Water Protection Act.”
ORC named the lower Fraser the second most-threatened river on its list, especially between Hope and Mission, due to development pressures from nearby city centres.
“Given its proximity to greater Vancouver, this extraordinary part of the Fraser faces an assortment of development pressures and is in severe need of a collaborative plan if its many values are to be protected,” Angelo said.
Elk River near Fernie holds the third most endangered spot due to rising levels of selenium, a toxin found in runoff from nearby open-pit coal mines.
“While the province recently announced a moratorium on new coal mines until selenium pollution is controlled, there must be a much more expedited effort to reduce toxic run-off from existing mines,” said Angelo.
The post Controversial Site C dam would make Peace River ‘most endangered’ in BC appeared first on The Epoch Times.
Extreme algal blooms: The new normal?
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 11, 2013
A research team, led by Carnegie's Anna Michalak, has determined that the 2011 record-breaking algal bloom in Lake Erie was triggered by long-term agricultural practices coupled with extreme precipitation, followed by weak lake circulation and warm temperatures. The team also predicts that, unless agricultural policies change, the lake will continue to experience extreme blooms. The research is
A research team, led by Carnegie's Anna Michalak, has determined that the 2011 record-breaking algal bloom in Lake Erie was triggered by long-term agricultural practices coupled with extreme precipitation, followed by weak lake circulation and warm temperatures. The team also predicts that, unless agricultural policies change, the lake will continue to experience extreme blooms. The research is
No background check, no problem
CNN's Martin Savidge bought every gun in this photo without showing ID or filling out forms
Technique Finds Software Bugs in Surgical Robots And Helps Developers Fix Flaws, Ensure Safety
Pittsburgh PA (SPX) Apr 11, 2013
Surgical robots could make some types of surgery safer and more effective, but proving that the software controlling these machines works as intended is problematic. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have demonstrated that methods for reliably detecting software bugs and ultimately verifying software safety can be applied succes
Surgical robots could make some types of surgery safer and more effective, but proving that the software controlling these machines works as intended is problematic. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have demonstrated that methods for reliably detecting software bugs and ultimately verifying software safety can be applied succes
Europe's Toxic Air: Clearer But Not Clean
By Nina Chestney and Barbara Lewis
LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europeans no longer see the kind of pollution that within living memory killed thousands of Londoners in the Great Smog of 1952, but the air they breathe still bears invisible threats scarcely less deadly, and little more controlled.
While attention is given to curbing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions blamed for global warming, substances more directly harmful to human health, notably nitrogen oxides, are pumped out of diesel engines and from European power stations burning coal that is getting cheaper as Americans exploit new gas reserves.
The result, say those campaigning for change, is ever poorer air quality shortening lives. [More]
LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europeans no longer see the kind of pollution that within living memory killed thousands of Londoners in the Great Smog of 1952, but the air they breathe still bears invisible threats scarcely less deadly, and little more controlled.
While attention is given to curbing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions blamed for global warming, substances more directly harmful to human health, notably nitrogen oxides, are pumped out of diesel engines and from European power stations burning coal that is getting cheaper as Americans exploit new gas reserves.
The result, say those campaigning for change, is ever poorer air quality shortening lives. [More]
Streams stressed by pharmaceutical pollution
Millbrook NY (SPX) Apr 11, 2013
Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams, with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality. So reports a new Ecological Applications paper, which highlights the ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste and the need for more research into environmental impacts.
Lead author Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall, a scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, co
Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams, with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality. So reports a new Ecological Applications paper, which highlights the ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste and the need for more research into environmental impacts.
Lead author Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall, a scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, co
China’s forex reserves reach $3.4tn
China is facing heavy capital inflows in a sharp reversal from last year, raising concerns about debt levels in the economy
Spring storms unleash heavy snow, tornadoes in central U.S.
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Spring storms unleashed heavy snow, rain and high winds, including tornadoes, across parts of the central United States on Wednesday, leaving thousands of residents and businesses without power and causing scattered property damage.
World Briefing | Middle East: Egypt: Qatar Offers Support With Bond Purchase
Qatar announced Wednesday that it would buy billions of dollars of Egyptian government bonds, giving critical support to President Mohamed Morsi to mend the ailing economy.
Who Should You Hire? LinkedIn Says: Try Our Algorithm
LinkedIn has upended corporate recruiting in the past decade, allowing talent scouts to scour a vast database of 200 million people's career profiles. That was just the start. Now LinkedIn has created algorithms that might do the sorting even more nimbly. The result: a digital cheat-sheet for recruiters, called: "People You May Want to Hire."
Religious Remark Confirmed in Irish Abortion Case
A midwife said her comment to a dying patient who had pleaded for a potentially lifesaving abortion — that Ireland was a Catholic country — had not been intended to be hurtful.
Cuban History Offers Important Lessons For Global Health Today
A large new study from Cuba shows the impressive benefits that can be achieved with weight loss and increased exercise. Much more ominously, the same study shows the dangers associated with weight gain and less exercise.
Satellite Sandwich Technique Improves Analysis of Geographical Data
Cincinnati OH (SPX) Apr 10, 2013
For the sandwich, you want rich and sweet flavors, blended into a smooth, creamy texture - and you want it all in one convenient package. That's similar to how you want the satellite data, and Bo Yang, a University of Cincinnati graduate student in geography, has a formula for crafting a deeply informative and easily utilized satellite sandwich.
He'll present his research, "Spatiotemporal
For the sandwich, you want rich and sweet flavors, blended into a smooth, creamy texture - and you want it all in one convenient package. That's similar to how you want the satellite data, and Bo Yang, a University of Cincinnati graduate student in geography, has a formula for crafting a deeply informative and easily utilized satellite sandwich.
He'll present his research, "Spatiotemporal
IDC: PC sales drop precipitously, Mac sales also decline in major market shift
A "perfect storm" of struggling PC companies, aversion to Windows 8, and wider mobile-device adoption plunged the already struggling PC market into a free fall during the first quarter this year, IDC said today. Worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter totaled 76.3 million units, down 13.9 percent compared to the same quarter last year, IDC said in research released today.
Virginia Tech study finds virus promising for prostate cancer treatment
Blacksburg VA (SPX) Apr 11, 2013
A study at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine has identified a chicken-killing virus as a promising treatment for prostate cancer in humans. Researchers have discovered that a genetically engineered Newcastle disease virus, which harms chickens but not humans, kills prostate cancer cells of all kinds, including hormone-resistant cancer cells.
The work of Dr. Elan
A study at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine has identified a chicken-killing virus as a promising treatment for prostate cancer in humans. Researchers have discovered that a genetically engineered Newcastle disease virus, which harms chickens but not humans, kills prostate cancer cells of all kinds, including hormone-resistant cancer cells.
The work of Dr. Elan
IRS may be reading your email without a warrant, documents suggest
The IRS could be reading your emails without a warrant, according to newly released documents obtained by the ACLU under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
Researcher hacks aircraft controls with Android smartphone
This may give the TSA some ideas
A presentation at the Hack In The Box security summit in Amsterdam has demonstrated that it's possible to take control of aircraft flight systems and communications using an Android smartphone and some specialized attack code.…
A presentation at the Hack In The Box security summit in Amsterdam has demonstrated that it's possible to take control of aircraft flight systems and communications using an Android smartphone and some specialized attack code.…
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Un avión de Lufthansa cruza el Atlántico averiado
Las autoridades alemanas informaron este miércoles que están investigando cómo un avión de Deutsche Lufthansa atravesó el océano Atlántico con daños en la parte trasera sin que ni pasajeros ni tripulantes se dieran cuenta de que la cola había tocado la pista en el momento del despegue.
El incidente, que involucró a un Airbus A330 construido por EADS, se produjo a comienzos de marzo en un vuelo de Chicago a Múnich, indicó la mayor aerolínea de Alemania. "Parece que el avión tocó el suelo durante el despegue, por lo que tres o cuatro partes del fuselaje sufrieron daños", dijo un portavoz de Lufthansa.
El incidente, que involucró a un Airbus A330 construido por EADS, se produjo a comienzos de marzo en un vuelo de Chicago a Múnich, indicó la mayor aerolínea de Alemania. "Parece que el avión tocó el suelo durante el despegue, por lo que tres o cuatro partes del fuselaje sufrieron daños", dijo un portavoz de Lufthansa.
ECB study shows German households poorer than Cyprus’
The European Central Bank’s survey sparked debate on how much EU taxpayers’ money should be directed to help troubled economies in the Eurozone.
The study released on Tuesday spans 15 member states and looked at the median net wealth of 62,000 households. Most of the data was gathered in 2009-2010, while some data refers to 2008, right after the global credit crunch, thus the figures may not be currently accurate.
“It should be kept in mind that the survey focuses on one particular type of wealth, i.e. wealth of private households,” says the report.
The report should be looked at having in mind that rates of homeownership, living standards and infrastructure along with many other factors differ widely across the EU member states considered in the survey.
For example in 2008 house prices in Spain were significantly higher than they are now, Christoph Schröder from the Institute of the German Economy in Cologne told Spiegel Online.
“The data for Cyprus appear not to be comparable with those for other euro area countries in a number of dimensions and should therefore be interpreted with caution,” says the report.
Still the report shows that for household wealth some Eurozone states that suffered the most impact from Europe's debt crisis look better than one might think.
It’s for example it is more common in southern European countries for people to own their homes and run a small business, whereas in Germany people are more likely to rent property and work for an employer. The report shows that fewer than half of Germans and Austrians own their homes.
“The low home ownership rate in Germany is in part due to the construction of social housing after World War II and in part due to taxation of owner-occupied housing and the lack of tax deductibility of interest payments on mortgages,” the report indicates.
With the differences in mind the report shows that the median net wealth of German households comes out to around €50,000 while in Greece the figure is above €100,000, In France it is around €110,000, and in Spain around €180,700. Cyprus is second wealthiest with €265,000 while Luxembourg tops the list with almost €400,000.
This report became the first of a kind study by ECB to compile wealth data for 17-member eurozone.
The study released on Tuesday spans 15 member states and looked at the median net wealth of 62,000 households. Most of the data was gathered in 2009-2010, while some data refers to 2008, right after the global credit crunch, thus the figures may not be currently accurate.
“It should be kept in mind that the survey focuses on one particular type of wealth, i.e. wealth of private households,” says the report.
The report should be looked at having in mind that rates of homeownership, living standards and infrastructure along with many other factors differ widely across the EU member states considered in the survey.
For example in 2008 house prices in Spain were significantly higher than they are now, Christoph Schröder from the Institute of the German Economy in Cologne told Spiegel Online.
“The data for Cyprus appear not to be comparable with those for other euro area countries in a number of dimensions and should therefore be interpreted with caution,” says the report.
Still the report shows that for household wealth some Eurozone states that suffered the most impact from Europe's debt crisis look better than one might think.
It’s for example it is more common in southern European countries for people to own their homes and run a small business, whereas in Germany people are more likely to rent property and work for an employer. The report shows that fewer than half of Germans and Austrians own their homes.
“The low home ownership rate in Germany is in part due to the construction of social housing after World War II and in part due to taxation of owner-occupied housing and the lack of tax deductibility of interest payments on mortgages,” the report indicates.
With the differences in mind the report shows that the median net wealth of German households comes out to around €50,000 while in Greece the figure is above €100,000, In France it is around €110,000, and in Spain around €180,700. Cyprus is second wealthiest with €265,000 while Luxembourg tops the list with almost €400,000.
This report became the first of a kind study by ECB to compile wealth data for 17-member eurozone.
‘France, US want to keep Africa under the colonial rule’
He has written extensively about war strategies and media coverage of military conflicts, and believes that both countries regard the continent as a mere supplier of raw materials.
RT: France now says it’s going to keep a permanent presence in Mali - is this the solution?
Michel Collon: Well, first of all, this is not the solution because it doesn’t solve the problem of Mali. The country is poor, which gives possibilities for terrorism. And if Mali is poor it’s because of plundering by French companies. So it’s not a solution, but the real goal of a French presence is not to combat the Islamists. The real goal is about the resources.
RT: So what are the options to regain stability in the region?
MC: If you want to have stability in the region, first we have to get rid of French interventionism, US interventionism also. You have to ask why they are in this region. You have to consider that Africa has about 40 percent of all minerals crucial for the economic growth of many countries, especially China, Brazil, India and so on. And you have to consider that France and the US are very active in the region installing military bases and trying to use local armies in Somalia, Congo and all the areas. Then you have to consider the French are trying to keep the privilege of their companies. They don’t want that money to be autonomous and decide what will be done with the resources. You have to consider why Mali is so poor and also Niger, which is rich with uranium. They are poor because of this sort of neo-colonialism of the West. We have to compare it with the growth in Venezuela and Bolivia, where raw materials are used to end poverty. So it is a fight against Africa, against the possibility of an autonomous Africa.
RT: Why does France seem to be selective in who it helps in Africa? It refused to step in and counter rebels in the Central African Republic. Why's that?
MC: France is supporting every political force that can be used as puppets and that is the only goal. You have the stability in Ivory Coast and then France and the US make an intervention to plunge the country into chaos. Actually one cannot understand the strategy of France or the US without understanding that they want to control Mali, Niger and the countries like Algeria, that they want to prevent the formation of unity in Africa, that they want to prevent the formation of alliance between the BRICS countries and the African economies. They are actually willing to keep Africa under the colonial rule.
RT: There are also mixed messages from the West - who support Syria's rebels - but are now looking to fight similar factions in Mali. Why the inconsistency?
MC: Yes, it’s completely hypocritical that you arm, support and finance terrorists in Libya, Syria or in the Caucasus and at the same time you pretend to fight against them in other countries. It’s completely hypocritical like it was in Afghanistan. Actually it’s a strategy initiated by [Zbigniew] Brzezinski, when you use Islamists forces with very reactionary program as a weapon to combat real enemies – Russia, China and local forces.
RT: France now says it’s going to keep a permanent presence in Mali - is this the solution?
Michel Collon: Well, first of all, this is not the solution because it doesn’t solve the problem of Mali. The country is poor, which gives possibilities for terrorism. And if Mali is poor it’s because of plundering by French companies. So it’s not a solution, but the real goal of a French presence is not to combat the Islamists. The real goal is about the resources.
RT: So what are the options to regain stability in the region?
MC: If you want to have stability in the region, first we have to get rid of French interventionism, US interventionism also. You have to ask why they are in this region. You have to consider that Africa has about 40 percent of all minerals crucial for the economic growth of many countries, especially China, Brazil, India and so on. And you have to consider that France and the US are very active in the region installing military bases and trying to use local armies in Somalia, Congo and all the areas. Then you have to consider the French are trying to keep the privilege of their companies. They don’t want that money to be autonomous and decide what will be done with the resources. You have to consider why Mali is so poor and also Niger, which is rich with uranium. They are poor because of this sort of neo-colonialism of the West. We have to compare it with the growth in Venezuela and Bolivia, where raw materials are used to end poverty. So it is a fight against Africa, against the possibility of an autonomous Africa.
RT: Why does France seem to be selective in who it helps in Africa? It refused to step in and counter rebels in the Central African Republic. Why's that?
MC: France is supporting every political force that can be used as puppets and that is the only goal. You have the stability in Ivory Coast and then France and the US make an intervention to plunge the country into chaos. Actually one cannot understand the strategy of France or the US without understanding that they want to control Mali, Niger and the countries like Algeria, that they want to prevent the formation of unity in Africa, that they want to prevent the formation of alliance between the BRICS countries and the African economies. They are actually willing to keep Africa under the colonial rule.
RT: There are also mixed messages from the West - who support Syria's rebels - but are now looking to fight similar factions in Mali. Why the inconsistency?
MC: Yes, it’s completely hypocritical that you arm, support and finance terrorists in Libya, Syria or in the Caucasus and at the same time you pretend to fight against them in other countries. It’s completely hypocritical like it was in Afghanistan. Actually it’s a strategy initiated by [Zbigniew] Brzezinski, when you use Islamists forces with very reactionary program as a weapon to combat real enemies – Russia, China and local forces.
Cyprus to finance bailout by selling €400mn of gold reserves
Cyprus has agreed to sell excess gold reserves, a draft assessment of Cypriot financing needs prepared by the European Commission shows. According to the draft assessment the country would raise the total of 10.6 billion euros, as originally planned, by taxing uninsured depositors at Laiki Bank and Bank of Cyprus
Cyprus has 13.9 tonnes of gold, which is 58.3% of its forex reserves, according to the World Gold Council data for September 2012.
Though 400 million euros worth of gold isn’t going to offset the gold trading market, it has still sent traders into a frenzy. As of 19:09 DST, the COMEX gold index is priced at $1,571, already down 16 points, or 1.15%, in reaction to the Cypriot announcement. With London and Shanghai markets already closed, the New York exchange will broker the fluxuating gold sales.
The International Monetary Fund will still provide 1 billion euros to Cyprus's bailout and the euro zone will still provide 9 billion in aid for the rescue plan.
Bailing out and about
A final memorandum of understanding between Cyprus and international creditors on Cyprus’ EU-IMF bailout has now been finalized, German finance ministry spokesman, Martin Kotthaus said on Wednesday.
In late March the troika of international lenders together with eurozone finance ministers agreed to allocate a €10 billion rescue package for the troubled Mediterranean island. In total Cyprus will need €23 billion between the second quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2016 to heal its financial wounds, Reuters reports citing a draft assessment it obtained. The International Monetary Fund will provide €1 billion, the eurozone €9 billion and the island itself will generate €13 billion.
According to the EU-IMF plan, Cyprus will need to restructure its banking sector with its largest bank, Bank of Cyprus absorbing island’s second largest Laiki Bank. Cypriot authorities also agreed that all bondholders, investors and savers with over €100,000 on country's two biggest banks to take losses up to 60% as part of bailout terms.
Nicosia is expected to receive a further €600 million over three years from raising the corporate income tax rate and the capital gains tax rate.
Cyprus has 13.9 tonnes of gold, which is 58.3% of its forex reserves, according to the World Gold Council data for September 2012.
Though 400 million euros worth of gold isn’t going to offset the gold trading market, it has still sent traders into a frenzy. As of 19:09 DST, the COMEX gold index is priced at $1,571, already down 16 points, or 1.15%, in reaction to the Cypriot announcement. With London and Shanghai markets already closed, the New York exchange will broker the fluxuating gold sales.
The International Monetary Fund will still provide 1 billion euros to Cyprus's bailout and the euro zone will still provide 9 billion in aid for the rescue plan.
Bailing out and about
A final memorandum of understanding between Cyprus and international creditors on Cyprus’ EU-IMF bailout has now been finalized, German finance ministry spokesman, Martin Kotthaus said on Wednesday.
In late March the troika of international lenders together with eurozone finance ministers agreed to allocate a €10 billion rescue package for the troubled Mediterranean island. In total Cyprus will need €23 billion between the second quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2016 to heal its financial wounds, Reuters reports citing a draft assessment it obtained. The International Monetary Fund will provide €1 billion, the eurozone €9 billion and the island itself will generate €13 billion.
According to the EU-IMF plan, Cyprus will need to restructure its banking sector with its largest bank, Bank of Cyprus absorbing island’s second largest Laiki Bank. Cypriot authorities also agreed that all bondholders, investors and savers with over €100,000 on country's two biggest banks to take losses up to 60% as part of bailout terms.
Nicosia is expected to receive a further €600 million over three years from raising the corporate income tax rate and the capital gains tax rate.
Louvre closed on account of pickpockets
Staff strike over 'increasingly aggressive' gangs of thieves in Louvre's galleries shuts world's most visited museum
The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, was forced to close on Wednesday after workers staged a walkout in protest over pickpockets. More than 100 staff stopped work to denounce raids by organised gangs which they said were growing in number and becoming "more aggressive", targeting both visitors and staff in the vast galleries.
The museum said in a statement that pickpocketing was a growing problem despite measures taken last year, including tighter co-operation with the police and temporary bans on people already identified as pickpockets from re-entering the museum. Late last year, the Louvre filed an official complaint to the state prosecutor over visitors falling victim to the thieves.
A union official said staff were afraid of organised gangs, which had become increasingly aggressive and included minors who could access the museum for free. Some complained of being spat at, insulted, threatened or kicked, saying thieves had become more violent.
The Louvre, which had 10 million visitors last year, would normally draw 30,000 a day at this time of year to see works including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
Disappointed tourists gathered outside the museum on Wednesday yesterday afternoon. "We've been cheated," Mariam Kamel, 16, a student from the International School in Bellevue, Washington, who had planned to see the museum on a school trip, told Associated Press. Her teacher, Rhonda Eastman, said she had given specific instructions to her students to avoid being pickpocketed while in Paris.
"On the metro they no longer speak English, they don't stand together, they're snobs," Eastman said.
The museum will reopen on Thursday.
Strikes have closed the Louvre in the past, including in 2009 when workers protested against government plans not to replace half of retiring public workers, including museum staff. In 2001, the museum was closed for a week by a strike over working hours.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
NASA-backed fusion engine could cut Mars trip down to 30 days
FDR for the stars
NASA, and plenty of private individuals, want to put mankind on Mars. Now a team at the University of Washington, funded by the space agency, is about to start building a fusion engine that could get humans there in just 30 days and make other forms of space travel obsolete.…
NASA, and plenty of private individuals, want to put mankind on Mars. Now a team at the University of Washington, funded by the space agency, is about to start building a fusion engine that could get humans there in just 30 days and make other forms of space travel obsolete.…
Supersized Crabs Caused by Ocean Acidification, Report Says
Supersized crabs: Crabs are becoming “supersized,” or increasingly larger, due to the increase in carbon pollution over the past few decades in the world’s oceans, said researchers with the University of North Carolina’s Aquarium Research Center.
The Washington Post reported that the crustaceans will turn into more voracious predators and increase the population, posing problems for many bodies of water around the world but in particular, Chesapeake Bay.
“Higher levels of carbon in the ocean are causing oysters to grow slower, and their predators — such as blue crabs — to grow faster,” Justin Baker Ries, with the university, told the Post.
In the next century, higher acidification of the world’s oceans will turn blue crabs into more larger specimens. Lobsters, shrimp, and other crustaceans will also bulk up. Crabs, when exposed to more carbon, bulk up even faster, becoming more resistant to predators.
And also, the increase in the crabs’ size doesn’t mean the crabs will have more meat. The Post reported that the most growth will take place in the crabs’ shells.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that since the Industrial Revolution, high levels of carbon have seeped into the ocean.
“The ocean absorbs about a quarter of the CO2 we release into the atmosphere every year, so as atmospheric CO2 levels increase, so do the levels in the ocean. Initially, many scientists focused on the benefits of the ocean removing this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere,” the agency says.
The carbon also changes the chemistry of seawater in a process called acidification.
The post Supersized Crabs Caused by Ocean Acidification, Report Says appeared first on The Epoch Times.
The Washington Post reported that the crustaceans will turn into more voracious predators and increase the population, posing problems for many bodies of water around the world but in particular, Chesapeake Bay.
“Higher levels of carbon in the ocean are causing oysters to grow slower, and their predators — such as blue crabs — to grow faster,” Justin Baker Ries, with the university, told the Post.
In the next century, higher acidification of the world’s oceans will turn blue crabs into more larger specimens. Lobsters, shrimp, and other crustaceans will also bulk up. Crabs, when exposed to more carbon, bulk up even faster, becoming more resistant to predators.
And also, the increase in the crabs’ size doesn’t mean the crabs will have more meat. The Post reported that the most growth will take place in the crabs’ shells.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that since the Industrial Revolution, high levels of carbon have seeped into the ocean.
“The ocean absorbs about a quarter of the CO2 we release into the atmosphere every year, so as atmospheric CO2 levels increase, so do the levels in the ocean. Initially, many scientists focused on the benefits of the ocean removing this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere,” the agency says.
The carbon also changes the chemistry of seawater in a process called acidification.
The post Supersized Crabs Caused by Ocean Acidification, Report Says appeared first on The Epoch Times.
Time to pull the plug on the ‘bin Laden’ 500 euro note – Bank of America
The debate to discontinue the €500 ($655) note is being revisited, this time by Bank of America analyst and former International Monetary Fund employee Athanasios Vamvakidis, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In a research note released on Tuesday, Vamvakidis argues pulling the high denomination bill from circulation would lead to a slight depreciation in the euro, which would benefit local exports, and in turn, increase GDP. Above all, discontinuing the banknote would directly target organized crime.
Because many of the banknotes are tied up in contraband activity, this creates a ‘store of value’ according to Vamvakidis, and is the core problem with the €500 bill, as they end up as ‘mattress money’. This money doesn’t circulate through the economy in day to day transactions, and for this reason they should be done away with.
A European Central Bank study found only one-third of these notes are actually used for transactions the rest lay dormant.
The €500 notes were first printed in 2002, and since their introduction, only one-third are in circulation, according to a study by the ECB. Because of their high value, they are used for saving, not spending.
Another point of contention is fraud. In May 2012, the EU confiscated 250,000 fake euro notes.
In May 2011, it was pulled from distribution in the United Kingdom, after police traced over 90% of the banknotes to criminal activity- from tax evasion to terrorism.
There is no clear message from the ECB that they plan to eradicate the note.
Vamvakidis proposes a month.
The catch is, if people want to cash in their ‘bin Ladens’, they have to be able to prove the legitimacy of the source, which, could be difficult for citizens and criminals alike.
"It is very easy way to tax this illegal activity,” said Vamvakidis.
Bank of America suggested the ECB announce it will exchange the 500 euro banknotes for smaller bills up to a certain time and under the condition that their owners can prove the legal origin of the funds. This, according to the bank, would deprive criminals of much of their funds.
The ECB has said the ‘bin laden’ note plays an integral role in the European economy, and is not likely to make an exit anytime soon.
“High-denomination euro banknotes fulfil an important role as a store of value,” ECB President Mario Draghi said last year.
In a research note released on Tuesday, Vamvakidis argues pulling the high denomination bill from circulation would lead to a slight depreciation in the euro, which would benefit local exports, and in turn, increase GDP. Above all, discontinuing the banknote would directly target organized crime.
Because many of the banknotes are tied up in contraband activity, this creates a ‘store of value’ according to Vamvakidis, and is the core problem with the €500 bill, as they end up as ‘mattress money’. This money doesn’t circulate through the economy in day to day transactions, and for this reason they should be done away with.
A European Central Bank study found only one-third of these notes are actually used for transactions the rest lay dormant.
The €500 notes were first printed in 2002, and since their introduction, only one-third are in circulation, according to a study by the ECB. Because of their high value, they are used for saving, not spending.
Another point of contention is fraud. In May 2012, the EU confiscated 250,000 fake euro notes.
In May 2011, it was pulled from distribution in the United Kingdom, after police traced over 90% of the banknotes to criminal activity- from tax evasion to terrorism.
There is no clear message from the ECB that they plan to eradicate the note.
Timing is everything
If the ECB were to follow the advice of Vamvakidis, timing is everything, as they need to determine an appropriate transition period. Too short, and people could literally lose money overnight, and be left with worthless tender. Too long, the suspected criminal demographic that hold a majority of the currency could find a way to trade in their black market cash.Vamvakidis proposes a month.
The catch is, if people want to cash in their ‘bin Ladens’, they have to be able to prove the legitimacy of the source, which, could be difficult for citizens and criminals alike.
"It is very easy way to tax this illegal activity,” said Vamvakidis.
Bank of America suggested the ECB announce it will exchange the 500 euro banknotes for smaller bills up to a certain time and under the condition that their owners can prove the legal origin of the funds. This, according to the bank, would deprive criminals of much of their funds.
The ECB has said the ‘bin laden’ note plays an integral role in the European economy, and is not likely to make an exit anytime soon.
“High-denomination euro banknotes fulfil an important role as a store of value,” ECB President Mario Draghi said last year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)