Los #Gentlemen Gobernadores

Tabasco, Coahuila, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato son sólo algunos de los gobiernos estatales que están en la mira por actos de corrupción. Ahí, sus titulares o ex titulares podrían sumarse a la fila que ya empieza a ser larga de #Ladies y #Gentlemen en el país.

A las #LadiesdePolanco #LadiesdelaRoma #GentlemandelasLomas #LadyProfeco y demás finuras se pueden unir Andrés Granier, ex gobernador de Tabasco, hoy prófugo de la justicia; Armando Reynoso Femat, ex gobernador de Aguascalientes, quien tiene orden de aprehensión por peculado y ejercicio indebido de sus funciones; Humberto Moreira, ex gobernador de Coahuila, quien se encuentra plácidamente estudiando en Barcelona tras haber dejado a su estado endeudado con más de 35 mil 600 millones de pesos, y Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez, ex gobernador de Guanajuato, cuya gestión se ve marcada por acusación de presuntos actos de corrupción por los proyectos para el Parque Guanajuato Bicentenario y para un tren ligero de Celaya a León que no se ha concretado.
La lista me parece que no es completa, pero cuando menos en estos casos hay pruebas de irregularidades en sus gestiones. Y retrata un patrón de corrupción a nivel estatal que linda en lo grotesco.
Una casa con 88 millones de pesos que unos dicen son del anterior gobierno y éstos se defienden aduciendo un montaje. El hecho es que en el país hay esos millones de pesos y más para que estén sentados en una casa.
También hay millones de pesos para pagar excesos en los presupuestos y los gobernantes simplemente abren la chequera y los pagan. Como el gobernador Oliva, que tenía un presupuesto de poco más de 300 millones de pesos y acabó costando más de mil 700 millones de pesos.
¡Qué generoso es México!, y ¡qué generosos somos los mexicanos!
Políticos van y vienen. Fortunas nacen y se hacen. Y todo a costilla de los mexicanos. Y más allá de estar unos días en las primeras planas de los periódicos y en las noticias, no pasa mucho.
El ex gobernador Andrés Granier hoy es prófugo de la justicia. Y somos muchos los que creemos que si no se genera una indignación social importante, Granier va a ser libre de disfrutar los frutos de los recursos que muy probablemente se robó de los tabasqueños.
Este escenario nos deja en un binomio perverso como sociedad: corrupción e impunidad van de la mano. Bajo este esquema, no importa que exista la alternancia y que llegue un nuevo gobierno a denunciar lo que hizo o dejó de hacer el antecesor. Fuera de unos momentos de mala prensa, no habrá grandes repercusiones. La gente en la calle seguirá alabando al que más tiene, no importando la procedencia de su dinero.
Basta recordar cómo hasta hace poco se le pedían autógrafos a Ángel Isidoro Rodríguez, El Divino, acusado (luego exonerado) por un fraude de 440 millones de pesos.
Las autoridades no actúan ante casos de corrupción. Y la sociedad no nos indignamos. Eso es impunidad.
                Twitter: @AnaPOrdorica

Megaupload founder wins access to evidence seized in raid

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand court granted Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom access on Friday to all evidence seized by police in a 2012 raid, bolstering the Internet entrepreneur's fight against extradition to the United States to face online piracy charges

Arabia Saudita prohíbe usar y vender máscaras de Anonymous

El Ministerio de Interior de Arabia Saudita ha prohibido el uso y la venta de las máscaras blancas con las que se identifica el grupo de 'hacktivistas' Anonymous en sus reivindicaciones, informó la agencia oficial de noticias saudita SPA.

El ministerio instó, a través de un comunicado, a que las oficinas regionales del Ministerio de Comercio se incauten de esas máscaras y las destruyan. Además, ordenó a las empresas de importación que no introduzcan más unidades en el país.

En los últimos tiempos la máscara de Guy Fawkes que popularizaron el cómic y la película 'V de Vendetta' se ha convertido en uno de los símbolos de protesta y en el emblema de los críticos del sistema establecido.

Comparison of Coral Reef Ecosystems along a Fishing Pressure Gradient

by Mariska Weijerman, Elizabeth A. Fulton, Frank A. Parrish

Three trophic mass-balance models representing coral reef ecosystems along a fishery gradient were compared to evaluate ecosystem effects of fishing. The majority of the biomass estimates came directly from a large-scale visual survey program; therefore, data were collected in the same way for all three models, enhancing comparability. Model outputs–such as net system production, size structure of the community, total throughput, production, consumption, production-to-respiration ratio, and Finn’s cycling index and mean path length–indicate that the systems around the unpopulated French Frigate Shoals and along the relatively lightly populated Kona Coast of Hawai’i Island are mature, stable systems with a high efficiency in recycling of biomass. In contrast, model results show that the reef system around the most populated island in the State of Hawai’i, O’ahu, is in a transitional state with reduced ecosystem resilience and appears to be shifting to an algal-dominated system. Evaluation of the candidate indicators for fishing pressure showed that indicators at the community level (e.g., total biomass, community size structure, trophic level of the community) were most robust (i.e., showed the clearest trend) and that multiple indicators are necessary to identify fishing perturbations. These indicators could be used as performance indicators when compared to a baseline for management purposes. This study shows that ecosystem models can be valuable tools in identification of the system state in terms of complexity, stability, and resilience and, therefore, can complement biological metrics currently used by monitoring programs as indicators for coral reef status. Moreover, ecosystem models can improve our understanding of a system’s internal structure that can be used to support management in identification of approaches to reverse unfavorable states.

‘Toilet Water’ Coffee Apparently Served in HK Starbucks

Toilet water coffee? A Starbucks in Hong Kong was criticized this week for allegedly using “toilet water” to make coffee.
A series of photos were posted on the Apple Daily website, showing a man taking water from a toilet in the men’s bathroom. He then takes a container to transport it to Starbucks in the Bank of China Tower.
Raw Story reported that the Starbucks has been using water from the toilet to make coffee since the shop opened in 2011. Images taken from the website show a sign on the toilet saying “Starbucks only,” implying that water is just used for the coffee shop.
Netizens criticized the coffee chain for allegedly allowing toilet water to make it into coffee pots.
“Totally disappointed! The initial decision by Starbucks to use water from toilet is a clear sign of your company’s vision and the level of (dis)respect your company has for the health and mind of your customers,” netizen Kevin L wrote the Facebook page of Starbucks Hong Kong, according to Raw Story.
Ben Cowling, an associate professor from the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health, said that filtering water would remove some harmful bacteria but smaller viruses and pathogens could still seep through.
“If the staff need to frequently visit the toilet, they may increase the risk of bringing other pathogens from the washroom into their food and drink preparation area,” Cowling said, according to the Kotaku blog.
The post ‘Toilet Water’ Coffee Apparently Served in HK Starbucks appeared first on The Epoch Times.

Be nice to China: Hollywood risks 'artistic surrender' in effort to please

Kowtowing to China has become a reflex for US film studios in search of a piece of booming – and lucrative – Chinese market
In Hollywood, the screenwriter William Goldman once observed, "nobody knows anything". Now, however, everybody knows at least one thing: whatever you do, be nice to China.
If your movie features a Chinese villain, change his nationality. If your plot omits a scene in China, insert one – preferably with gleaming skyscrapers. If your production deal lacks a Chinese partner, find one. If Beijing's censors dislike certain scenes, cut them.
Kow-towing to China has become a reflex for actors, writers, producers, directors and studio executives in pursuit of the world's second-biggest box office, a trend set to intensify as China overtakes the US as the No 1 film market.
Recent blockbusters such as Iron Man 3 and Django Unchained, and others in the pipeline such as Transformers 4 and Brad Pitt's World War Z, have been modified to please Chinese authorities and audiences, prompting accusations of artistic surrender.
"It's got to the point where everyone is thinking: how are we going to make a movie that, at the very least, is not offensive to the Chinese public?" said Peter Shiao, chair of the US-China Film Summit and founder and CEO of the Los Angeles-based Orb Media Group.
Screenplays look beyond China for baddies, he said. "People from the Middle East seem to be taking the brunt, and will probably continue to do so until it has its own rising film market. Sad but true."
Where Asians villains do appear they tend to be North Korean, as in the recent action films Olympus Has Fallen and Red Dawn.
China's market is booming. Box office revenues rose 30% last year to $2.7bn, overtaking Japan. With about 10 new cinema screens opening daily, China is expected to overtake the US within a decade.
The other reason is Chinese government control. To nurture domestic film, it allows only 34 foreign films to be shown annually, an increase from the previous cap of 20 but still a tiny number. To stand a chance of inclusion in the quota, a film must please, or at least not offend, the authorities.
The only way to circumvent the quota is to turn a film into a Chinese co-production, meaning Chinese elements in the story, production and funding. Such ventures give Hollywood 43% of the profits versus the usual 25% – a big added incentive.
"I'm working on the script right now, and if someone came to me and said: 'We're looking into doing a chunk of this in China', well, I'd have to think about it," Joss Whedon, who is working on Avengers 2, told Entertainment Weekly. "China is on my radar. It can't not be at this point."
James Cameron said he was considering inserting Chinese elements into two sequels to Avatar, saying it would be "logical" to have Chinese characters on the planet Pandora.
The upcoming World War Z deleted dialogue sourcing a zombie virus outbreak to China. Transformers 4 will recruit Chinese actors through a television contest expected to attract thousands of hopefuls. Jurassic Park IV will reportedly feature dinosaurs found in China.
The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall found reasons for Batman and James Bond to visit China. Cloud Atlas cut 40 minutes. Quentin Tarantino approved multiple changes to Django Unchained.
Iron Man 3 went further than most, adding scenes for the Chinese version that showed a Chinese surgeon saving Tony Stark and lines for the leading female actor Fan Bingbing. Chinese links were expunged from the "Mandarin", a comic villain played by Ben Kingsley.
Robert Downey Jr, who plays the lead, told a press conference in Beijing: "I'm interested in all things Chinese, and I live a very Chinese life in America."
Dreamworks has thrived in China with family films devoid of taboo sex and violence, but many studios stumble with the censor or putative Chinese partners, resulting in delays, frustration and cancelled co-productions.
"Filming in China was a great experience, but it was beyond my skillset to understand or fathom the inner workings of the Chinese government," the producer Marc Abraham told the Hollywood Reporter.
Shiao said studios often blundered by thinking they could turn any film into a coveted co-production with a few cosmetic tweaks. "You have to have the right project." China, he said, wanted Hollywood to help showcase its culture and build a homegrown film industry with global appeal. "It seems pretty far down that track."
Hollywood's traditional support for the Dalai Lama has not slowed its scramble for the yen, said Alistair Currie, a UK-based activist with Free Tibet. "Every time a movie shows skyscrapers in Shanghai instead of secret police arresting people, China has scored another propaganda victory."
Kate Saunders, of the International Campaign for Tibet, said many celebrities remained committed, notably Richard Gere, who wore a Tibet tie-pin at the Oscars. "Even small, symbolic gestures of support by Hollywood stars can say a lot in today's world of instant communications."
Critics have accused film-makers of letting communist censors butcher their work, prompting defensive responses. A Sony spokesman for Tarantino said the "adjustments" to Django Unchained were "progress rather than a compromise".
The satirical site Hollywood & Swine has mocked the kowtowing. "Film schools to begin teaching students how to pander to China," said a recent headline.
The article included a faux quote from Dreamworks boss Jeffrey Katzenberg. "We used to blacklist screenwriters for being communists. Now we're taking script notes from a communist government. That's real progress."
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Asile en Suisse: Centres spéciaux pour requérants récalcitrants

L'Office fédéral des migrations (ODM) devrait décider du placement des requérants d'asile récalcitrants dans des centres spéciaux, si le oui l'emporte le 9 juin.

VIDEO: Pakistan hit by measles epidemic

Parts of Pakistan are suffering from their worst outbreak of measles in living memory.

Mexican Owner of M.L.S. Club Wanted Only Latinos, Suit Says

Dan Calichman and Ted Chronopoulos charge in a lawsuit that they were fired by an M.L.S. club, Chivas USA, because they are not Latino.

Palm problem: Deforestation plants the seeds of rapid evolution in Brazil

The deforestation of the Brazilian rain forest has created a hidden consequence: The seeds of palm trees have evolved rapidly to be smaller.The change is the result of a domino effect that begins with human agriculture and hunting, which have devastated large bird populations in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. With these birds, which include colorful toucans and cotingas, locally extinct or barely ...

EU taking UK to court over migrants’ benefits test

The UK’s so-called ‘right to reside’ test is discriminatory to EU citizens, leading to thousands being denied benefits, such as a child tax credit and jobseeker's allowance, according to European Commission, which is taking the case to the  European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The EC believes the standard EU test to tell if a migrant is eligible for welfare payments is enough and any extra testing is an infringement on EU citizens’ rights.

"We are asking the UK to change its resident permit test because it is a discrimination against other EU citizens in our open internal market," said an EU source cited by Reuters.

It’s not the first time the UK has been criticized for its ‘right to reside’ test. Britain was already told to put an end to the practice in 2011. However, it did not give up on the extra testing then and it now promises to fight for it.

"The right-to-reside part of our habitual residence test is a vital and fair tool to ensure that benefits are only paid to people who are legally allowed to live in Britain. We have always been clear that we believe our rules are in line with EU law. If the commission decides to begin legal proceedings, we will fight vigorously to ensure that our benefit system is protected from abuse by migrants," said spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions, as cited by the Guardian.

Peter Lilley, the Conservative MP and former minister in charge of social security at the time when the controversial testing was introduced, said in an interview to the BBC that the legal action by the EU is an attempt “to extend their competence into areas where the treaties say they shouldn't be involved.”

The legal battle in Luxembourg looms at a time when debate over leaving the EU is becoming more and more acute in the UK. Prime Minister Cameron promised that if he is reelected in 2015 a referendum would be held on Britain’s membership in the EU not later than 2017.

This year’s Queen’s Speech earlier in May contained a number of new measures aimed at curbing immigration to the UK, especially from poorer EU nations such as Romania and Bulgaria.

Among those is a six-month restriction to the jobseeker’s allowance, which will apply to all EU nationals unable to prove they are actively seeking employment and have a genuine chance of getting work.

Panasonic to cut 5,000 jobs

The cutbacks will hit its automotive and industrial unit, which accounts for about a third of the company’s workforce, the Nikkei reported Thursday, citing a Panasonic executive.
"A reduction in labor costs will be a big part of our plan to improve profitability," Yoshihiko Yamada, the head of Panasonic’s automotive and industrial division, told analysts and investors in Tokyo on Thursday.
The division, which includes automotive components, semiconductors, production machinery and other devices, employs 110,000 people, and is the crux of Tsuga’s business strategy to create a new niche for Panasonic in the already over-saturated consumer electronics markets, which rivals Sony and Samsung have a steady hold on.
The cuts are part of Panasonic’ strategy  to boost its operating profit margin over the next three years to a five percent minimum, which will be set by the company’s president, Kazuhiko Tsuga.
In May, the Japanese electronics giant reported a near-record net loss of $7.5 billion (754 billion yen) for the fiscal year through March, pointing to a slowdown in sales as well as restructuring costs. 
The company also missed Bloomberg analysts forecast net income of 64 billion yen, and predicted it would only amount to 50 billion yen ($495 million).
In light of the losses, Tsuga has announced a 2-year restructuring plan under which overseas plants will be shut down and other arms of the business, such as healthcare and logistics, will be trimmed back.
The electronics market has been hit particularly hard by the global recession, and has struggled to stay afloat as consumers’ luxury item budgets contract and electronics businesses worldwide decline.
The Nikkei plunged 5.2 percent at market close in Tokyo, and the Shanghai Composite and the Hang Send both slid 0.3 percent.

‘Abject failure’: UK ignored racial patterns in home crime for over a decade

RT: You've worked extensively on this issue - is there evidence of neglect on the part of authorities due to the racial or religious character of a crime?

Andrew Norfolk: I think that conclusion is unavoidable. Just to give you one example in the North of England, we obtained over 200 confidential documents that showed there was a ten year history in one town of young girls typically aged between 11 and14-years-old being targeted and befriended and then being given alcohol and
drugs and eventually being passed around ever increasing groups of men to be used for sex. That was known about for ten years by the police force concerned, by the local authority concerned and there was an abject failure to take the
action that was needed to protect those children and to prosecute the offenders.
RT: So why did nobody react in the appropriate way to this?
AN: I think one of the factors that you have already been very clearly discussing is there was a terror of treading into what was seen as a cultural minefield. There was an additional problem in that some of these agencies genuinely don’t seem to have understood quite how serious these crimes were. There was a sense that girls were somehow consenting to their own abuse. The reality was far, far worse. 
RT: So what other factors could be in play here when we talk about a rise in the number of crimes committed by the Muslim committee?
AN: The thing we on the Times have been arguing from the very first story we published about this more than two years ago was that here is a crime pattern, a crime pattern that the authorities have ignored for at least 10 years. If you’re going to address this you need to understand why this has happened. There are issues there to this day which to this day no research has been carried out to try to discover. For example issues surrounding the age of consent, in this country you have to be sixteen before you can legally consent to have sex. In the communities from which the main offenders come from, in their home communities back in Pakistan, village tradition says that puberty is the age of consent and religious law, Sharia, also says that puberty is the age at which a girl can be marriage. And the average age for puberty in this country is 11-years-old.
RT: We’re bviously dealing with a cross-cultural problem here. What does this situation say about the authorities’ efforts to integrate these committees?
AN: Multiculturalism is a very thorny issue in this country. The idea that you should allow different communities to develop separately and to continue with traditions which make them feel more comfortable with their life in a country where those traditions are completely alien. The Times would never suggest the use of young girls or sex is condoned in those societies, but the fact is there was clearly a lesser degree of shame. 
RT: So what's the way out of this vicious circle - is there a way to tackle both the growing crime rate among the Muslim population and growing Islamophobia?
AN: The way to tackle the crime, I am increasingly convinced for the Muslim community itself to take the lead in exposing and eradicating those who think it’s alright to do this to girls. There are some very encouraging signs finally that there are some leading Islamic organizations are prepared to grasp the nettle on this and do something about it. In terms of Islamophobia one of the troubles was because for ten years because no mainstream politicians or media were looking at this the field was left to the far right politics to spread poisonous distorted lies. They were claiming that somehow this was part of some global Islamic plot to impregnate every white girl in the country and spread the Islamic Khalifa – that was nonsense. When there are problems on the backstreets of northern towns the elite in London has to look and say: “we’re going to do something about it, we won’t leave it to the far right to rant about it.”

VIDEO: Can Greece stop its 'brain drain'?

The government in Greece says the worst of the country's debt crisis is over, but for many of the country's unemployed youth the effects are still being felt

Incêndio florestal se espalha perto de estações de energia ao norte de Los Angeles

SANTA CLARITA - Um incêndio florestal se espalhava rapidamente na noite de quinta-feira perto de estações geradores de energia no norte de Los Angeles, obrigando a retirada de moradores de suas casas de uma comunidade nas montanhas, informaram as autoridades.
O incêndio que ardia no Bosque Nacional Angeles atingiu cerca de 203 hectares depois de três horas, informou o Serviço Florestal federal, e enviava densas nuvens de fumaça negra em meio a altas temperaturas que chegavam aos 27 graus centígrados e ventos com uma força de mais de 32km/h.
Nas usinas geradoras de Southern California Edison e do Departamento de Água e Energia de Los Angeles se informou que o incêndio ameaçava suas instalações e observavam o avanço das chamas diante da possibilidade de interrupções no serviço. As linhas elétricas em perigo foram desativadas.
O incêndio começou às 15h30m (horário local) ao norte de Powehouse Nº1, uma usina hidroelétrica perto do aqueduto próximo de Los Angeles, que foi o primeiro serviço municipal de eletricidade da cidade e que continua operando há quase um século. Uma estrutura se incendiou mas não estava claro de imediato qual era.

Vatican Bank Looks to Shed Its Image as an Offshore Haven

The bank, long shrouded in mystery, has been under pressure to bring its practices in line with European norms to curb money-laundering and terrorist-financing.

Libanés pasará 23 años en la cárcel por intento de atentado en Chicago

El tribunal de Chicago ha sentenciado libanés Samir Hasun, de 25 años, por intentar explotar una bomba cerca del estadio de béisbol Wrigley Field de dicha ciudad. El joven ha sido condenado a 23 años de cárcel y una vez puesto en libertad será deportado de EE.UU.

Hasun, que fue detenido en 2010, admitió que aceptó la propuesta de un agente encubierto del FBI de tomar una mochila con explosivos y depositarla cerca del estadio para destruir la mitad de Chicago.

UK divided: Islam used as scapegoat in extremist attacks?

Social tensions have been on the rise on the streets of Britain following the murder of 25-year-old British soldier Drummer Lee Rigby in East London by two alleged Muslim extremists. The suspected killers claimed to be acting in vengeance for Muslims killed abroad by British troops in a video of the brutal attack.
The killing triggered violent protests from right-wing group the English Defense League (EDL) who slam the government for not doing enough against Muslim extremism. There has also been a flurry of attacks on Mosques in London and the rest of Britain in the wake of the incident.
Prior to this, the case of an Oxford-based sex-grooming ring that was active for eight years gripped the British public. Seven men of Asian origin were charged with rape, trafficking and orchestrating child prostitution among girls as young as 11.
Speculation has been rife as to the causes of these latest incidents, with some laying the blame at the feet of Britain’s growing Muslim population. However, others suggest the attacks have nothing to do with religion and originate from extremist groups that have slipped under the UK government’s radar.
Assed Baig, a UK-based freelance journalist, told RT that the latest incidents had absolutely nothing to do with Islam. He described the motives of race and religion as “red herrings.”
Speaking about the Oxford sex ring, he said the perpetrators were merely “predatory men targeting vulnerable girls who happened to be white, if those girls were Asian or black these men would have carried out the same actions.”
“The crimes that they committed are not Islamic, they are not crimes of radicalization,” stressed Baig.
Moreover, the Muslim Council of Britain has decried both the murder of Lee Rigby and the Oxford grooming ring as “appalling acts,” but has signaled that the fault should not be laid at the feet of the British Muslim Community.
Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation told RT that  “if you are involved in terrorism or extremism you do not represent Islam, you do not act in our name , you are bringing shame on our community and you must be confronted.”
Referencing the attack on Lee Rigby, the MCB said that it was more concerning how the killers “slipped through the net of the security services while within their radar.”
The MCB also reminded the government that it was its responsibility to protect its citizens from right-wing extremists and urged for leadership to combat “the challenge of civic apathy.”
While Mustafa Field, the director of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board signaled that the perpetrators of these crimes were small pockets of radicals not affiliated with the Muslim Community.
"There's very little evidence to indicate that mosques have been involved in radicalizing individuals," he said to the Guardian. "But the mosques are left to de-radicalize them."
He went on to say that the phenomenon of “self-radicalization” is becoming more prevalent in the UK and the government needs to pay more attention to extremist individuals.
Sean Thomas, a writer and journalist based in London told RT that politicians and prosecutors alike are afraid of addressing the issue for fear of being branded as “racist.”
“It can ruin careers,” said Thomas to RT correspondent Polly Boyko. 
“The fact that it took a Muslim prosecutor to cut through and say ‘Look there is a problem here,’ shows that white prosecutors, white social workers, white legal officers and white politicians were very wary of approaching the issue because they are all terrified of being seen as racist,” said Thomas.
He drew attention to the fact that the case was brought up by far right-wing politician, Nick Griffin, back in 2004. The subsequent BBC documentary that was filmed on the subject led to the political establishment trying to put a gag on the politician rather than investigate the crimes.
“They ignored everything he said and instead tried to silence his point of view and so the crimes went on for a number of years,” said Thomas.

Climate change sceptic and mining executive lined up for Nationals council

Either well-known climate sceptic Ian Plimer or mining executive Tad Watroba will address party's federal council

Lenore Taylor

Too Many 'Wanta-preneurs' In China Can't Be A Good Thing

The arrival of the billionaire angel investor and the rise of the serial entrepreneur in China are trending as hot topics in the Chinese venture and techpreneur community as a new era unfolds. But don't count on it all working out.

Ve Lozano discriminación en aerolíneas

Plantea el senador panista sanciones más severas para combatir el mal servicio, que asegura, ha aumentado desde que Mexicana de Aviación dejó de volar

Attorney: Steroids made soldier kill

Jake Tapper talks to Attorney John Henry Browne about his client Sgt. Bales plan to plead guilty in killing 16 Afghans

Mexico Mass Kidnap: 11 People Vanish From Bar in Mexico City

Mexico mass kidnap: Authorities in Mexico are investigating a possible mass kidnapping case in Mexico City after 11 people disappeared recently from a bar.
MEXICO CITY  — Eleven young people were brazenly kidnapped in broad daylight from an after-hours bar in Mexico City’s Zona Rosa, a normally calm district of offices, restaurants, drinking spots and dance clubs, anguished relatives said Thursday.
The apparent mass abduction purportedly happened sometime between 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday morning just off the Paseo de la Reforma, the city’s main boulevard, near the Angel of Independence monument and only about 1½ blocks from the U.S. Embassy.
The incident was the second recent high-publicity blemish for the city’s largely unregulated entertainment scene, coming 20 days after the grandson of American civil rights activist Malcolm X was beaten to death at another tough bar in the downtown area.
Calling for authorities to find their loved ones, family members marched Thursday morning from the Interior Department building to the Zocalo, the city’s main square. Later they protested outside the bar, which bears a sign that reads Bicentenario Restaurante-Bar, and demanded to see the bar’s surveillance video.
“How could so many people have disappeared, just like that, in broad daylight?” said Josefina Garcia, mother of Said Sanchez Garcia, 19, her only son. “The police say they don’t have them, so what, the earth just opened up and swallowed them?”
She said her son wasn’t involved in any criminal activity, and worked at a market stall selling beauty products.
City prosecutors said they had received 11 missing-person reports, but Garcia said residents of the tough downtown neighborhood of Tepito where the victims live thought as many as 15 or 16 people could have been abducted.
The known missing include six men, most in their 20s, a 16-year-old boy and four young women.
While no clear motives had been revealed in the attack, residents of Tepito said there has been a wave of abductions of neighborhood young people in recent months that could be related to organized crime activities. Tepito is the center of black market activities in the city, where guns, drugs, stolen goods and contraband are widely sold.
Mass abductions have been rare in Mexico City, but are common in parts of the country where drug cartels operate and are fighting with rival gangs over territory.
Prosecutors slapped closure stickers on the front doors of the Mexico City bar Thursday, with inscriptions saying the city’s anti-kidnapping unit was investigating abductions at the site.
Isabel Fonseca, whose brother is among those missing, said a man who escaped told her that masked men arrived in several white SUVs and took the group away. She said her brother, Eulogio Fonseca, is a street vendor who sells cellphone accessories.
“We want them alive,” Fonseca said. “They went out to have fun; they are not criminals.”
Mexico City’s chief prosecutor, Rodolfo Rios, said investigators had been able to glean very little information on the disappearances.
Relatives believe the youths were at the club, which they said is called “Heaven,” around midmorning Sunday, when waiters and bar employees herded them out to the street and armed men bundled them into waiting vehicles and spirited them away.
Rios said police had not located any employees of the bar and no other witnesses had presented themselves.
“We aren’t sure what exactly occurred,” he said. “No witness has come forward to say anything about any armed gang.”
The bar is down a side street from two high-rise office buildings that look out on Reforma and sits across the narrow road from beauty salons and a sushi restaurant.
Guillermo Bustamante, owner of one the beauty parlors, said the street bustles every Saturday morning with people coming and going from the bar.
“Every time we arrived on Saturdays, we would see weird people coming out of that bar,” Bustamante said. “There would be many Hummers parked outside and men walking out with a woman on each arm.”
Bars of questionable character are often allowed to continue operating, even though drugs may be sold inside and the businesses frequently violate rules governing closing times, parking and serving alcohol to minors.
Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of the late Malcolm X, died May 9 in a fight that erupted after he and a friend were presented with a $1,200 bill at a seedy bar near Plaza Garibaldi, a gathering place for mariachi bands in a rough neighborhood in the downtown area. Two waiters at the bar have been arrested in connection with Shabazz’s death.
In June 2008, police raided another Mexico City bar to investigate drug and alcohol sales to minors. A stampede ensued as panicked youths rushed for the exits and police tried to stop them. A dozen young people died in the stampede.
The post Mexico Mass Kidnap: 11 People Vanish From Bar in Mexico City appeared first on The Epoch Times.

Discovery of Monsanto GMO wheat threatens US exports

 The discovery of a Monsanto-created, genetically modified strain of wheat in the US that was never approved by the United States Department of Agriculture has imperiled US exports of a staple world food commodity.

California family suing police for 'abuse of power' after son's killing

The surviving family of the late Jorge I. Ramirez filed suit against Stanislaus County in Central California, alleging Ramirez was no threat to the officer during the incident. Jorge Ramirez, the victim’s father, told the Modesto Bee he called police on April 16, 2012 seeking help for his son’s depression but stressed he did not tell the operator a crime or family dispute was in progress. 
Deputy Art Parra Jr. responded to the call, whereupon he immediately asked Ramirez’s parents where their son was. The suit claims Parra rustled Ramirez, 32, from the couch and demanded he place his hands behind his back. When Ramirez protested, demanding to know what was going on, Parra allegedly used his Taser on Ramirez without warning. 
When Ramirez regained his footing, Parra warned that he would shoot him. 
“At this time, and without providing any warning, Parra withdrew his firearm from his holster and shot four bullets at Ramirez,” the suit claims, as quoted by Courthouse News. “Parra was approximately eight feet away at the time he fired four shots at Ramirez, and three bullets struck Ramirez.” 
The suit does not mention Parra’s claim that Ramirez tried to grab the deputy’s Taser during a physical struggle. The sheriff’s department claimed Deputy Parra was responding to a family fight, although the senior Ramirez has maintained that Parra was overly aggressive. 
“He wouldn’t listen to us,” he told the KCRA, the local NBC affiliate. “He told us to get away. He summoned other officers – and another officer went in there and pointed a gun at my wife and I for no reason. Absolutely no reason.This is very unjust.” 
When the case first made headlines Ramirez said the family only wanted help for their son, who had threatened suicide, and that Parra’s actions were an “abuse of power.” District Attorney Birgit Fladager told the Modesto Bee Wednesday that her office completed an investigation and concluded that Parra was guilty of no wrongdoing. The officer has been placed on administrative leave, per department policy. 
The federal suit seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory, special, and punitive damages. 

EU Seals Deal to Replenish Fish Stocks

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union agreed on Thursday to put an end to decades of over-fishing and rebuild dwindling stocks by 2020, as part of a deal to overhaul the bloc's fisheries policy.
The agreement will put an end to annual haggling over catch quotas by EU ministers in Brussels, widely blamed for putting short-term economic interests above the long-term health of Europe's fish stocks.
Officials said a deal to follow scientific advice more closely when setting quotas in the future could increase EU fish stocks by up to 15 million metric tons (16.5 million tons) by the end of the decade.
The reform will also see a massive reduction in the wasteful practice known as discarding, which sees European fishermen throw almost 2 million metric tons of unwanted fish back into the sea each year - often dead or dying - as they seek to fill strict quotas with the most valuable species.
In a statement after the deal, British liberal MEP and head of the European Parliament's "Fish for the Future" group Chris Davies described it as a major step in promoting sustainable fishing.
"Our treatment of Europe's seas has been a disgrace. [More]

Church asks Boy Scouts to leave

A pastor says he will no longer let Boy Scout troops meet at his church now that gay scouts are allowed in the BSA

American woman killed fighting alongside Syrian insurgency

Nicole Lynn Mansfield, 33, was first identified by a Syrian television station, which broadcast images of her driver’s license photo. Mansfield is shown in the picture wearing an Islamic headscarf and listing her address in Flint, Michigan, according to the Detroit Free Press. The Syrian news report claimed she and British companions were shot by President Bashar Assad’s military. 
Two FBI agents confirmed the report to Mansfield’s family back in Michigan, where they expressed disbelief over the news. The family confessed limited knowledge of the Arab immigrant she married, and who Mansfield divorced three years ago, and was unsure of when she went to Syria. 
“I’m sick over it. I didn’t think she was [a terrorist], but god only knows,” Monica Mansfield Speelman, Nicole’s aunt, told the Free Press. “It bothered me that she converted to Islam and started wearing a headscarf.” 
Mansfield was raised in the Baptist faith, her father working as a General Motors production worker. She became pregnant in high school but later earned her equivalency degree and moved onto community college. Mansfield worked for ten years at an old-age home and leaves behind an 18-year-old daughter. 
“She has a heart of gold, but she was weak minded,” said her grandmother, Carole Mansfield. “I think she could have been brainwashed.”

Indian shot dead in growing land dispute in Brazil

BRASILIA (Reuters) - A growing conflict over land ownership in Brazil's farm belt turned bloody on Thursday when an Indian was shot dead during the violent eviction of some 200 natives from a disputed property owned by a former congressman

La riqueza privada sigue acumulada en América del Norte, pero se está redistribuyendo

Los activos financieros privados crecieron un 7,8% en 2012, alcanzando a nivel mundial los 135,5 billones de dólares. Según revela el informe del bienestar global elaborado por la empresa Boston Consulting Group, los más poderosos siguen siendo los hogares de América del Norte, que han acumulado 43,3 billones de dólares.

Al mismo tiempo los hogares de Asia Pacífico (menos Japón) y América Latina mostraron el mayor crecimiento. Solo en estas dos regiones el alza se estima en cifras de dos dígitos.

El número de hogares con activos superiores a un millón de dólares llegó a 13.800.000 en todo el mundo (cerca deL 1% de todos los hogares). En EE.UU. los expertos registraron la mayor cantidad de hogares millonarios, pero la mayor densidad de ellos se encontraba en Qatar: 143 de cada mil hogares.

Mississippi sued over for-profit prison where inmates sell leashed rats

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced Thursday they have filed a class-action lawsuit against the state of Mississippi because of how inmates at East Mississippi Correctional Facility are constantly at “grave risk of death and loss of limbs.” 
The suit alleges that inmates in the prison, which is the state’s primary special needs facility for convicts with mental health issues, are subjected to long isolation periods in “barbaric” conditions, often in rat-infested cells with broken toilets. 
“Prisoner-on-prisoner stabbings and beatings are frequent because the locking mechanism on the cell doors can be readily defeated, and some officers are complicit in unlocking doors to allow violence to occur,” the lawsuit claims. 
The detention center is run by Management and Training Corp., based in Centerville, Utah, which is not named in the lawsuit. The ACLU and SPLC assert Mississippi lawmakers have long known about the conditions but have failed to act. 

Dr. Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist who studied East Mississippi Correctional Facility, wrote in 2011 that an overburdened prison psychologist, inefficient mental health programs, and staffing problems were issues that could have serious implications. 
“All inmates report significant weight loss since arriving at EMCF, from ten to 60 pounds, and from my direct observation it is clear that all the men are much thinner, almost emaciated, in comparison to old snapshots I viewed in their charts or on their identity cards showing them much heavier,” Kupers wrote, as quoted by the Jackson Clarion Ledger. 
Medical conditions are so bleak, the suit claims, that one inmate went blind from glaucoma and another had a finger amputated after failing to receive treatment for gangrene.
“Many cells lack light and working toilets, forcing prisoners to use trays or plastic bags that are tossed through slots in their cell doors,” wrote the SPLC. “Rats often climb over prisoners’ beds. Some prisoners even capture the rats, put them on makeshift leashes and sell them as pets to other prisoners.”
The Management and Training Corp. operates 22 for-profit prisons in eight states, and named is in a slew of controversies. Allegations range from a prison warden ignoring an alarm, thereby allowing prisoners to escape, to “rampant” sexual abuse. 
In 2007, two guards at one of the firm's Texas prisons were charged with orchestrating a smuggling ring after they were pulled over, while in uniform, driving a van with 28 undocumented immigrants in the back.

‘Shocking’: Brussels sees highest perinatal mortality rate in Europe

The city, commonly associated with prosperity and comfort, features a perinatal mortality rate of 11.6 per 1,000 births, according to a survey published by Euro-Peristat, a statistics agency focused on gathering infant health data in Europe. The figure, described as “shocking” by Doctors of the World, includes deaths of fetuses older than 22 weeks, deaths during births and deaths of newborns younger than four weeks.
Brussels’ perinatal mortality rate is about twice as high as countries like Iceland (4.7), Portugal (4.8) or Cyprus (4.2). Even places, traditionally associated with poorer living conditions feature lower figures than the unofficial capital of the EU. In Romania it’s 9.5, Latvia 9.3 and in Slovenia 7.1.
The heart of EU’s decision-making, in fact saw the perinatal mortality rate skyrocket within between 2005 and 2010, as it increased by 36.5 per cent during that time.
“The figures are shocking”, said Stephane Heymans of Doctors of the World, as cited by De Morgen magazine. “But we need to be cautious with the estimates. We are speaking of very small figures here, so each single case influences the outcome. And also a city is being compared to countries. No doubt there are other cities with very bad rates.”
Experts say the perinatal mortality situation in Brussels is a sign of how divided the city is, with some really poor neighborhoods being part of one of the richest cities in EU. The unemployment rate in the capital is also much higher than in the rest of the country.
“It’s an indicator of an increased poverty in some parts of the city. In the poor neighborhoods, in the migrant neighborhoods unemployment is more than 50 per cent. And in those neighborhoods, of course, the living conditions are not very good, not very healthy. And that shows also in this kind of figures,” says sociologist, Prof. Eric Corijn.
The perinatal mortality figures come shortly after an OECD report, published earlier in May, which listed Belgium among countries with increasing child poverty.
“Households with children were hit hard during the crisis. Since 2007, child poverty increased in 16 OECD countries, with increases… in Turkey, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and Hungary,” the report reads.
Doctors point at the lack of access to medical services for Brussels’ residents. 
“People without papers, they are more and more [often] refused medical services. It takes a lot of time to obtain those papers. Hospitals put a lot of pressure on doctors and on administration in general to not accept people who cannot pay or cannot prove they can pay,” says Pierre Ryckmans of Doctors of the World.
With unemployment and poverty gripping Europe and recession raging on, the rise in perinatal mortality is seen as a gruesome indicator of the harshness of austerity measures. And those hit hardest are the destitute part of the population. And the situation is unlikely to improve in the near future, as deeper recession is expected in the EU. The OECD issued its new forecast on Tuesday, saying the European Union economy will shrink by 0.6 per cent this year.  Just six months ago it only predicted a 0.1 per cent decline for the eurozone.

Man Killed During F.B.I. Inquiry Said to Have Been Violent

A law enforcement official’s account of the shooting during an F.B.I. inquiry came several hours after the man’s Chechen father claimed his son, Ibragim Todashev, was unarmed.

Dollar could be in danger as the world’s currency

While the dollar currently constitutes 62 per cent of the $6 trillion in foreign holdings by the world’s central banks, when a historical view is taken into account, Dick Bove, vice president of equity research at Rafferty Capital Markets says the dollar’s actual percentage of total money supply worldwide has gone from 90 per cent in 1952 to about 15 per cent today.
Bove, like many other analysts, believes that the rise of the Chinese currency, the yuan, is at the expense of the US dollar’s dominance as a safe haven.
"Generally speaking, it is not believed by the vast majority that the American dollar will be overthrown," says Dick Bove.
"But it will be, and this defrocking may occur in as short a period as five to 10 years," he tells CNBC.
The repercussions of the dollar’s decline as the foreign currency holding of choice would be more than a symbolic hit to America’s economic standing. With a budget deficit exceeding $1 trillion per year, if the dollar were to decline against other currencies the US would find itself in the uncomfortable position of having to pay back this debt.
Bove goes further, arguing that the deadlock in Congress over the federal budget, and the now-mandatory cuts designated by the sequestration, are eroding confidence in America’s fiscal state.
"The ratings agencies are already arguing that the government's debt may be too highly rated. Plus, the United States Congress, in both its houses, as well as the president are demonstrating a total lack of fiscal credibility," says Bove.
Political wrangling over raising the federal debt ceiling was widely viewed as the primary reason that the US debt’s rating was downgraded in 2011. At the time, the rating agency Standard & Poor’s had issued a warning that progress towards balancing the country’s budget was required for a return to a “stable” outlook. In that same year Moody’s and Fitch Ratings both downgraded as well.
According to the Wall Street Journal, New Zealand and China are currently in talks to make their respective currencies directly convertible, eliminating the need to convert either country’s currency into dollars when making or receiving payments.
Though officials told the WSJ that the talks were in the “very early stages,” such a plan is likely to sound alarm bells for anyone worried over the dominance of the US dollar.
"There is no time frame for concluding an agreement," said a spokeswoman for New Zealand’s prime minister to the WSJ.
"We are aware it took Australia around 12 months to achieve its recent agreement with China,” she added.
If China is indeed embarking on a project to establish its currency as more market-oriented, then its swelling trade with nearby countries such as New Zealand and Australia, which agreed last month to direct convertibility with the yuan, could well continue to undermine the greenback.
Beyond simply removing the American currency from trade, direct convertibility can also make Chinese government bonds more attractive as foreign-exchange assets. Australia, for one, says it plans to invest up to 5% of its total foreign-currency reserves to Chinese government bonds, while New Zealand’s Reserve Bank has thus far not made any announcements either way.
"The No. 1 security issue we have as a nation is the preservation of the US dollar as the world's reserve currency," said Michael Pento, president of Pento Portfolio Strategies to CNBC.
"It's a thousand times more important than a nuclear bomb being tested by North Korea. It's a thousand times more important that we keep the dollar as the world's reserve currency, and yet we are doing everything to abuse that status," he added.

Shipping industry faces rough economic waters

The world's largest cargo ship, the "Alexander von Humboldt," was christened in Hamburg. But crisis continues to grip the shipping industry, and many German companies could go under before the situation improves.

Israel prepares to build 1,000 new homes in occupied East Jerusalem

Construction contracts for 300 homes in the northeastern settlement of Ramot were signed, and another 797 land plots in the much larger settlement of Gilo in Jerusalem were listed for sale. Danny Seidemann, a director of the Jerusalem settlement watchdog group Terrestrial Jerusalem, told AFP that the building was quietly ordered last year by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 
The housing project is certain to draw the ire of the international community, which cites international law nullifying Israel’s domain over the region, which the country annexed after the 1967 Six-Day war. Netanyahu has reportedly pushed the project under the carpet temporarily so as not to impact US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to bridge peace talks between Israel and Palestine. 
Reacting to the news of Israel’s plans, the US government said the idea was “counterproductive” to peace efforts with Palestine. 
“As [US President Barack Obama] has said, Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity and new housing construction in East Jerusalem is counterproductive to the cause of peace, as that an independent Palestine must be viable with real borders that have to be drawn,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. 
“The US position on settlements is clear and has not changed: we do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, which would undermine peace efforts and would contradict Israeli commitments and obligations.” 
The State Department’s stance runs parallel with comments from Saeb Erakat, a top Palestinian negotiator, who said the idea is “destroying” Kerry’s ability to negotiate. 
Word of the land purchases is said to have been leaked by Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel in an effort to pressure the prime minister. 
“This does not mean that the show is over, it does mean that Netanyahu’s minister of construction is trying to achieve that,” Seidermann told the AFP. “There is a de facto freeze at the moment, there have been no new units since the elections. This is an attempt to force Netanyahu’s hand.” 

The leak coincides with news that Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes in Beit Hanina, in East Jerusalem. The destruction was closed off to media and pedestrians but Badran al-Salameh, who owns the homes, told the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency he was not given prior notice of the demolition. 
“My son’s wife and his two kids were the only ones inside the house,” he said. “I tried to reach my home when I heard from neighbors but Israeli officers banned me. I wanted to take out my wife’s gold and money from one of the drawers.” 
The incident in question came as a result of the Salameh family reportedly lacking Israeli building permits, a justification Tel Aviv has used to forecefully displace over 1,630 non-Jewish families since 1967. 
Palestinian leaders have demanded a halt to Israeli settlement construction before the continuation of so-called peace talks, which have remained stagnant for nearly three years. Despite Kerry’s four trips to the region since being made Secretary of State, those close to the situation say the instability is unlikely to be resolved. 
“Kerry is still unable to put pressure on the Israeli government to meet its obligations under the terms of the peace process,” Palestinian negotiator Nabil Sha’ath told the Jerusalem Post Wednesday. “This is not because Kerry does not want but because he is unable to exert pressure on Israel. Israel is responsible for obstructing the peace process.”

Stunning Photos Of Mars From The Curiosity Rover

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is trying to figure out whether the red planet ever offered a habitable environment for life, and it's taking amazing photos in the process.

Syria's Assad warns of retaliation over further Israeli airstrikes

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has warned of retaliation in the face of any further Israeli airstrikes. In a television interview the president said he was confident of victory in the nation's 26-month civil war.

Arctic sea ice melt disrupts weather patterns

By Becky OskinLiveScience Shrinking Arctic sea ice is shifting polar weather patterns, especially in fall and winter, a new climate modeling study finds.For the study, researchers looked at weather patterns in 2007, when sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean hit one of its lowest summer extents since satellite tracking began in the late 1970s.In fall and winter, when sea ice would normally insulate th...

Schools scanned students' irises without permission

Students at three facilities — an elementary school, a grade school and a high school — had their eyeballs scanned earlier this month as part of a ‘student safety’ pilot program being carried out by Stanley
Convergent Security Solutions.

“It simply takes a picture of the iris, which is unique to every individual,” Rob Davis, the school board’s senior director of support services, wrote home to parents in a letter dated May 23. “With this program, we will be
able to identify when and where a student gets on the bus, when they arrive at their school location, when and what bus the student boards and disembarks in the afternoon. This is an effort to further enhance the safety of our
students.”

“The EyeSwipe-Nano is an ideal replacement for the card based system since your child will not have to be responsible for carrying an identification card,” Davis wrote.

Parents at Daniel Jenkins Academy, Bephune Academy and the Davenport School of the Arts received the letter from the school board on May 24 informing them of the EyeSwipe-Nano program and that their child’s principal
should be notified if they don’t want their son or daughter to participate.

But elsewhere in the letter, the board explained that the program would begin last Monday, May 20. By the time the letter was received on Friday, iris scans had already been completed at the three area schools without a single student opting out, Angel Clark wrote for The Examiner this week.

Because Memorial Day landed on May 27, parents were unable to receive confirmation from the school until this Tuesday, nearly one week after the scans began.

In the letter, Davis described the scanning as a safe and noninvasive way of collecting students’ biometric data as a way of ensuring the safety of pupils in the Polk County school district. Parents are appalled that they weren’t informed of the program ahead of time, though, and are calling it an invasion of privacy.

“It seems like they are mostly focused on this program, like the program was the problem. It's not, it's the invasion of my family's Constitutional right to privacy that is the problem, as well as the school allowing a private company access to my child without my consent or permission,” one concerned parent wrote in a Facebook post that has since been shared hundreds of times. “This is stolen information, and we cannot retrieve it.”

When the parent reached the school on Tuesday, she was told that the program was suspended.

Reporter Michelle Malkin caught up with Davis on Wednesday and he apologized for the board’s actions and confirmed that the data had been destroyed.

“Davis told me that ‘it is a mistake on our part’ that a notification letter to parents did not go out on May 17,” she wrote. “He blamed a secretary who had a ‘medical emergency.’”

Polks planned to install EyeSwipe-Nano units on 17 local school busses starting next year. The scandal comes just months after a high school student in Texas was suspended for refusing to wear an identification card to class.

Air safety officials deny claim that BA jet was close to catastrophe

UK authorities deny US investigators' claim that one engine shut down and one was on fire before Heathrow emergency landing
The UK air accident investigation board (AAIB) has denied reports from US safety authorities that the British Airways jet which made an emergency landing last week at Heathrow did so with one engine shut down and the other on fire.
The AAIB, which is expected to publish an interim report on Friday, took the rare step of denying reports from the website of the US national transportation safety board (NTSB), which is assisting the AAIB, on the incident.
British investigators did not, however, contradict a US claim that heavy protective coverings, or cowls, on both engines were torn from the plane on or after takeoff.
The information from the US government, if correct, suggests the plane came closer to potential catastrophe – making the incident much more serious than so far revealed, safety experts say.
The London-Oslo flight BA762 returned to land at Heathrow soon after takeoff on the morning of Friday 24 May. Passengers on board and witnesses below saw smoke billowing from the plane, which landed safely, with the 75 passengers and crew evacuated via emergency slides.
The NTSB is assisting the investigation because the engines were manufactured for Airbus in the US. On its website, it noted that the BA plane saw "the engine cowls from both International Aero Engines V2500 engines separate and fall on to the runway. The pilots reported that they shut down one engine, there was a fuel leak, and that they were returning."
The NTSB continued: "The pilots subsequently reported that one engine was shut down and the other engine was on fire." The AAIB later asserted that this information was incorrect.
It has emerged that Airbus has noted 32 similar incidents on its A320 family of planes, including the A319, in which the engine cowls – roughly equivalent to the bonnet of a car – have flown open or detached in flight, causing potentially serious damage to the plane. The manufacturer issued a safety briefing last year, urging crews to be aware of the risk of cowls not being properly closed.
The AAIB's full conclusion is likely to be months away, but it will issue a special bulletin on Friday. BA said it would not comment on the incident but was conducting an investigation, co-operating fully with the AAIB and awaiting its full report.
David Learmount, operations and safety editor of Flight Global, said: "This was more serious than we realised at the time – this was a serious incident. If you have fires in the engine, and cowls falling from both engines, that is very dangerous." He added that the crew did well to avert loss of life on board and under the flight path.
Passenger Jean Ralphs, who was sitting in seat 3F, says she saw an engine cowl detach. "I saw vapour streaming off the right-hand engine and a colourless liquid streaming from the exposed pipes. It was obvious that it was only a matter of time before the engine caught fire.
"I know that we all nearly died on that flight. I fail to understand how such a dangerous maintenance issue can be allowed to continue. Why have all Airbuses not been grounded until this is sorted out?"
Airbus declined to comment. Last July the Airbus safety publication stressed the importance of pre-flight checks and the danger of assuming cowls were properly closed, warning that inadvertent opening was a "major hazard" that could cause "heavy damage".
Learmount said it seemed clear that there was an issue with maintenance. He said: "It's emerging that it's very difficult to see – the underside of the engines is where the latches are and the ground clearance is 18 inches. Airbus has done several things over the years which has made them more visible – but unless you get down on your stomach and check during the walkaround you may miss it."
He added: "Whether there was something else that happened in addition – or as a result – of the cowl failure is still unclear."
The incident closed both runways at Heathrow briefly, but the stoppage saw British Airways cancel all short-haul flights until 4pm that day – a decision that left thousands stranded, with many foreign connecting travellers left in London or in the airport for two days. Passengers complained of chaos at the airport and accused the airline of not doing enough to help, with reports of nine-hour queues for desk service and a lack of response on telephone helplines.
A BA spokeswoman said the effects had been compounded by the incident's timing on a bank holiday weekend when flights were very full, making it difficult to swiftly rebook onward travel. However, she said the airline had put calls out for extra staff to volunteer and added extra phone lines, albeit with some rerouting to call centres in India and Jacksonville in the US
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Woman jailed by 'secret court' for taking father out of care home talks for first time of her ordeal

Wanda Maddocks, 50, was the first person known to have been imprisoned by the Court of Protection after she tried to remove her father John, 80, from the care of Stoke-on-Trent City Council. The case sparked a national debate over transparency in the family justice system after it emerged Ms Maddocks was not present or even represented at court.

CIA whistleblower imprisoned despite prosecutor's promise

John Kiriakou, 48, has been at Loretto Federal Correctional Institution near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania since February after he took a plea deal offered by the federal government. He was facing decades in prison if convicted under the charge initially lobbed by the US Department of Justice, violating the Espionage Act, but the government allowed him last year to plead guilty to a single count of disclosing information that identified a covert agent in exchange for a lesser sentence.

Kiriakou made headlines in 2007 when he spoke at length to reporters at ABC News about the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of waterboarding as an interrogation tool against suspected terrorists. Prior to the interview he spent several years working for the agency abroad following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, serving as head of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan before leaving the CIA and condemning his country’s use of torture. Now three months into his prison sentence, the website Firedoglake has published the first of Kiriakou’s “Letters from Loretto.”

“I arrived here on February 28, 2013 to serve a 30-month sentence for violating the Intelligence Identities Protection act of 1982. At least that's what the government wants people to believe. In truth, this is my punishment for blowing the whistle on the CIA's illegal torture program and for telling the public that torture was official US government policy,” Kiriakou writes. “But that's a different story. The purpose of this letter is to tell you about prison life.”

Despite being told by prosecutors and the presiding judge that he’d serve his sentence in Loretto's Federal Work Camp, Kiriakou says he has been held at the main facility because the Bureau of Prisons deemed him a “threat to the public safety.”

“My cell is more like a cubicle made out of concrete block. Built to hold four men, mine holds six. Most others hold eight,” he writes.

Kiriakou says he volunteered to teach fellow prisoners as part of Loretto’s GED program, but his counselor dismissed his request. He now works as a janitor in the prison’s chapel and makes just over five dollars a
month.

In regards to the other inmates, Kiriakou says he’s been largely accepted into the prison.

“My reputation preceded me, and a rumor got started that I was a CIA hitman. The Aryans whispered that I was a 'Muslim hunter,' but the Muslims, on the strength of my Arabic language skills and a well-timed statement of support from Louis Farrakhan have lauded me as a champion of Muslim human rights. Meanwhile, the Italians have taken a liking to me because I'm patriotic, as they are, and I have a visceral dislike of the FBI, which they do as well. I have good relations with the blacks because I've helped several of them write communication appeals or letters to judges and I don't charge anything for it. And the Hispanics respect me because my cellmates, who represent a myriad of Latin drug gangs, have told them to. So far, so good,” he writes.

Elsewhere, Kiriakou says that Loretto’s Special Investigative Service, “the prison version of every police department's detective bureau,” tried to convince him that a fellow inmate, allegedly the uncle of an accused terrorist, was told to kill him.

“But the more I thought about it, the more this made no sense. Why would the uncle of the Times Square bomber be in a low-security prison?” he writes.

“In the meantime, SIS told him that I had made a call to Washington after we met, and that I had been instructed to kill him! We both laughed at the ham-handedness by which SIS tried to get us to attack each other. If we had, we could have spent the rest of our sentences in the SHU - solitary. Instead, we're friendly, we exchange greetings in Arabic and English, and we chat,” he says.

He also says that his cell was ransacked by prison officials in a shake-down after correcting a guard who mispronounced his name.
 
“Lesson learned: [Corrections officers] can treat us like subhumans but we have to show them faux respect even when it's not earned,” he says.

Kiriakou is expected to finish his sentence in August 2015. Before going to Loretto, he said at an event in Washington, “I never tortured anybody, but I’m heading to prison while the torturers and the lawyers
who papered over it and the people who deceived it and the men who destroyed the proof of it–the tapes– will never face justice.”

In 2012, Kiriakou was indicted on one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, three counts of violating the Espionage Act, and one count of making false statements. He pleaded to the IIPA violation last October, prompting then-CIA director David Petraeus to hail the conviction.

"This case yielded the first IIPA successful prosecution in 27 years, and it marks an important victory for our Agency, for our Intelligence Community, and for our country,” Petraeus said. “Oaths do matter, and there are indeed consequences for those who believe they are above the laws.” Petraeus resigned two months later after it was revealed that he had an extramarital affair with his biographer.

[Perspective] Cell Biology: Vitamin Currency in a Lipid Exchange Market

A lipid transfer protein moves vitamin E through the cell to the cell surface by exchanging it for a phosphoinositide in the plasma membrane. [Also see Report by Kono et al.]

Authors: Bruno Mesmin, Bruno Antonny

[News & Analysis] Stem Cells: Italian Parliament Orders €3 Million Trial of Disputed Therapy

A controversial stem cell treatment for neurodegenerative diseases, provided by the Stamina Foundation, is continuing on a small scale along with the trial.

Author: Laura Margottini

Chocolate lovers enticed with larger bars

While cash-strapped Europeans are making do with smaller portions, chocolate lovers in Australia and New Zealand are being enticed with larger bars

European Commissioner Calls for Eliminating Roaming Fees

Neelie Kroes, the European Union’s commissioner for digital policies, called for an end to mobile roaming fees and equal access for data flowing over the Web.

Teen txt msg: You've got STDs

A controversial partnership between a site aimed at preventing sexually transmitted diseases and a school district may be the latest tool to keep teens safe.

Varios heridos en un tiroteo en el centro de Zúrich

Varias personas resultaron heridas en un tiroteo que tuvo lugar el jueves en el barrio de Langestrasse de la ciudad suiza de Zúrich, informa la Policía Local.

Según los representantes policiales, el pistolero ha conseguido huir y continúa su búsqueda. El número exacto de heridos no se ha difundido.

El barrio donde se produjo el tiroteo está acordonado y el tráfico bloqueado, informa la Policía.

ALLEMAGNE • Les limites de la politique de l'immigration

L’Italie est accusée d’avoir donné de l’argent à des migrants africains pour qu’ils partent vers l’Allemagne. Un scandale ? Non, estime Die Zeit, c’est la conséquence d’une politique qui consistait à fermer les yeux sur le drame des réfugiés et en laisser la responsabilité aux autres pays.

What's The Dark Side Of Silicon Valley?

It is amazingly difficult to start/have a family if you make "normal" salaries here (you know, only in the $100k range). The amount of wealth in the area has driven up home prices near the places where the jobs are to astronomical levels. I own a home in San Jose that I'm able to afford, in a neighborhood described by my Realtor as "a first time buyer's neighborhood," because both my wife and I work. She recently gave birth to our first child, and we're preparing her to go into day care. It is going to cost me more in one year to put my baby in day care than I spent putting myself through five years of college. Having my wife not work, however, would put an extremely significant dent in our finances to where it would be very hard to pay bills on just my salary. We literally can not afford another child. Additionally, I have to establish my schedule based on commute traffic which typically has me out of the house well before 7 am and many times back home by about 8pm. Leaving work at 5pm simply doesn't make sense, because I would get home at the exact same time if I left at 7pm. I have the benefit of sometimes having flexible working locations. I can't imagine it for people who don't.
While you tend to hear a lot about the awesomeness of companies like Google and Facebook, the fact is that the vast majority of companies in the Silicon Valley are just as slow moving and driven by petty personal politics as companies anywhere else. The difference is that many of these companies produce products with high margins (like software) that are in high demand. I've worked at places here that feel like a Dilbert cartoon. Pointless meetings, decision makers who either make horrible decisions or no decisions at all, inept co-workers, etc. One major difference here is that people do tend to be willing to work longer hours, albeit with mixed results.
As others have said, there is still plenty of poverty in the area. East San Jose, East Palo Alto, parts of Fremont and Milpitas are very undesirable places. Which to a lot of people is puzzling, especially when every other car on the freeway is a Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, or Tesla. I also see a fair number of Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martins, Maserati, and even a Bugatti Veyron (IT WAS SO AWESOME) as well. Every major metropolitan area has this problem, and I personally don't know of any good solutions to fixing it (and anyone who claims to doesn't either!).
I've heard the argument made, and it isn't entirely without merit, that solutions that come out of the Silicon Valley can actually be detrimental to the economy because the efficiency and automation that companies are able to achieve using these products effectively lowers demand for labor. Basically, I've heard it argued that we destroy jobs here. And people here know this. It's something that's hard to measure, and I'd say in some cases its true (I once worked on a project where literally one of the goals was to eliminate a 900 person global department). I believe in the long run, what we do in the Silicon Valley creates more jobs but with different skill sets.

Twelve minutes' exercise per week 'enough to stay fit'

Just 12 minutes of intensive exercise per week is enough to improve your health if you are overweight, a study has found.

México va a reducir su dependencia comercial de EE.UU.

México va a esforzarse en reducir su dependencia comercial de EE.UU., que constituye "un riesgo" en el contexto actual de debilidad del mundo desarrollado y de volatilidad económica, dijo el secretario mexicano de Economía, Ildefonso Guajardo.

"Vamos a hacer un gran esfuerzo" para disminuir esa dependencia de Estados Unidos, que es del 77% y que "ha sido un éxito pero es un riesgo", declaró Guajardo en una entrevista a la agencia EFE.

Pollution Concerns Could Douse California Beach Fires

Air quality regulators, citing pollution and health risks, have proposed removing more than 800 fire pits that dot the coastline of Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

Russia creates $9bn bonanza for oil rig manufacturers

More than half of Russia’s 1,835 oil and gas rigs are over 20 years old,  according  to VTB Capital research. The outdated rigs won’t be powerful or advanced enough for producers such as Rosneft drilling in Siberia’s shale rock, Bloomberg quotes field analysts.
Richard Anderson, the Chief Financial Officer of Russia’s largest drilling rig operator, Eurasia Drilling, said that the US uses 250 rigs to produce just 700,000 barrels a day at the Bakken shale formation. The Siberian Bazhenov formation is many times larger, which means Russia needs several hundred new rigs. Supplying that number of rigs at an average of $35 million would cost $8.8 billion.
Rosneft and its partner Exxon Mobil, have just started to explore the Bazhenov shale formation in Siberia. Bazhenov is estimated to be the size of France, and could contain enough oil to more than double Russia’s current reserves. The successful development of Bazhenov is seen as vital to maintaining Russia’s reserves above 10 million barrels a day.
A lack of modern rigs remains a key stumbling block to developing Bazhenov, Bloomberg quotes industry analysts. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at horizontal wells in Russia breaks even at $90 a barrel without tax breaks, they estimate. Russia’s Urals is trading at about $102 a barrel.
Deliveries of new rigs will reach a five-year high of 105 units this year, according to VTB data. However, older rigs are being quickly retired, which may result in a capacity squeeze.
“New drilling rigs must be built,” Bloomberg quotes Antony Crawford, the head for National Oilwell in Russia, whose company plans a factory east of Moscow. “This issue represents a clear and present danger to Russia’s ability to maintain output during the next three to five years.”
National Oilwell may sell five rigs to Russia-focused companies this year, according to VTB.  The largest US oil equipment supplier competes with China’s Honghua and Russia’s OMZ for orders. Oil is often more difficult to extract from shale rock and drill bits often need to turn 90 degrees and continue drilling horizontally, which is impossible with old rigs, oilprice.com writes.

Over 10,000 pupils hit by "free school" closures

One of the biggest private school companies in Sweden is selling off or closing its schools, reports Swedish Television. The founder of the company says that the reason is "simply mismanagement" by the owners, venture capitalist firm Axcel.
Over 10,000 pupils go to one of the 30 JB Education schools in Sweden. The firm says it has found new buyers for most school, although one in ten pupils will see their school close in two weeks, at the end of the current term.
The CEO of JB Education says to Swedish Television that "under the circumstances he is relieved," that they have found buyers for most of their schools. The new owners will have to be accepted by the Swedish School Inspectorate.
The JB high schools in Jönköping and Värnamo will both close.
JB Education was founded under the name John Bauer, by Rune Tedfors. He sold the school firm in 2008, to the Danish venture capital firm, Axcel. The owners say that they are selling off the business due to the recent years' shrinking number of high school students.
In Sweden "free schools" are funded by the state, but are run by private organisations, including companies who want to make a profit from school education.

The Management Revolution That's Already Happening

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Steve Jobs
What on earth is happening to management? Formerly self-evident truths are being cast aside. The sacred goal of maximizing shareholder value is now “the dumbest idea in the world”. The search for the holy grail of “sustainable competitive advantage” is now recognized as futile. The "essence of strategy" seen as "coping with competitors" is obsolete. The uni-directional supply chain—the very core of 20th Century management thinking—is now a problem, not a solution. The short-term gains of large-scale off-shoring of manufacturing are recognized to have caused massive loss of competitive capacity. Supposed distinctions between leaders and managers have collapsed. To top it off, a slew of recent management books suggest that today’s organizations represent a failure so deep and pervasive that there are hardly words to describe it. A veritable revolution in management is under way.

Protestas contra Chevron por la contaminación de la amazonia ecuatoriana

Una plataforma de afectados por la contaminación de la amazonia ecuatoriana y diversos grupos de activistas medioambientales se manifestaron ante el consejo de accionistas de Chevron en California para exigir la dimisión de John Watson, consejero delegado de la compañía, informa EFE.

"Nuestro objetivo es que Chevron pague hasta el último centavo del daño ocasionado a la Amazonía ecuatoriana", aseguró Servio Curipoma, campesino y representante de los más de 30.000 afectados por las acciones de la petrolera en el país sudamericano.

La petrolera ya fue condenada por un tribunal de Ecuador a pagar más de 9.000 millones de dólares como indemnización por los "graves daños ambientales" causados en la amazonia del país andino.

Apple sells 100 million iPod Touch players, adds slightly cheaper $229 model

After selling over 100 million iPod Touch devices since 2007, Apple has added a slightly more budget-friendly version of the phoneless iPhone to its lineup.The new iPod Touch is a 16GB model priced at $229. It will offer a 4-inch Retina display, a dual-core A5 processor and a front-facing camera. The new iPod touch is as slender as its kin — it's a quarter-inch thick. But unlike its pricier counte...

Dog Food Made From Feathers: A Win-Win for Royal Canin

Once in a while, a product forces you to do a double-take: that’s what happened to me when Keith Levy, the President of Royal Canin USA, told me the brand has a dog food product that uses chicken feathers. Which dog would want to eat feathers? Well, it turns out quite a few do, and they’re especially suited for dogs with food allergies. I recently spoke with Levy about what sets the Royal Canin brand apart… and of course the food made from feathers.

Hungría destruye 500 hectáreas de cultivos transgénicos de Monsanto

Hungría ha decidido eliminar todas las plantaciones de semillas transgénicas de Monsanto, alrededor de 500 hectáreas de cultivos de maíz que la transnacional de productos agrícolas y gigante de la biotecnología tiene en el país, según informó el Ministro de Desarrollo Rural, Lajos Bognar.

Durante la operación, el polen del maíz transgénico no fue dispersado por el aire, por lo que no significó ningún peligro de contaminación de otros cultivos. Esta no es la primera vez que Hungría destruye cultivos modificados genéticamente; en 2011 destruyó 1.000 hectáreas de maíz transgénico contaminado.

Canadá prohíbe exportaciones a Irán e importaciones desde ese país

Canadá ha prohibido todas las exportaciones a Irán e importaciones desde la república islámica por la negativa de Teherán a abandonar su programa nuclear, informaron las autoridades canadienses.

"Las negociaciones del Organismo Internacional de Energía Atómica (OIEA) y el grupo 5+1 (EE.UU., China, Francia, Reino Unido, Rusia y Alemania) con Irán no han tenido ningún progreso, por lo que Canadá se ve obligada a prohibir con efecto inmediato todas las exportaciones" a la república islámica "y las importaciones desde ese país", señala un comunicado del Gobierno canadiense.

Parasite-resistant maize developed by Kenyan scientist

Two new varieties of hybrid maize that are resistant to the deadly parasitic Striga weed have been developed by a Kenyan scientist. The weed affects cereal crops in many parts of Africa and is a major cause of crop failure in East Africa, where climate change has been driving its spread in recent years. Mathews Dida, a maize breeder in the school of agriculture and food security at Maseno University, developed two maize varieties that produce a natural chemical that suppresses the growth of Striga weed, also known as witch-weed.

Flight paths at delayed Berlin airport draw EU ire

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Berlin's much-delayed new airport suffered another setback on Thursday when the European Commission accused Germany of failing to heed EU wildlife protection law

Impact of Low Blood Lead Concentrations on IQ and School Performance in Chinese Children

by Jianghong Liu, Linda Li, Yingjie Wang, Chonghuai Yan, Xianchen Liu
Objectives
Examine the relationships between blood lead concentrations and children's intelligence quotient (IQ) and school performance.
Participants and Methods
Participants were 1341 children (738 boys and 603 girls) from Jintan, China. Blood lead concentrations were measured when children were 3–5 years old. IQ was assessed using the Chinese version and norms of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – Revised when children were 6 years old. School performance was assessed by standardized city tests on 3 major subjects (Chinese, Math, and English [as a foreign language]) when children were age 8–10 years.
Results
Mean blood lead concentration was 6.43 µg/dL (SD = 2.64). For blood lead concentrations, 7.8% of children (n = 105) had ≥10.0 µg/dL, 13.8% (n = 185) had 8.0 to <10.0 µg/dL, and 78.4% (n = 1051) had <8.0 µg/dL. Compared to children with blood lead concentrations <8 µg/dL, those with blood lead concentrations ≥8 µg/dL scored 2–3 points lower in IQ and 5–6 points lower in school tests. There were no significant differences in IQ or school tests between children with blood lead concentrations groups 8–10 and ≥10 µg/dL. After adjustment for child and family characteristics and IQ, blood lead concentrations ≥10 µg/dL vs <8 µg/dL at ages 3–5 years was associated with reduced scores on school tests at age 8–10 years (Chinese, β = −3.54, 95%CI = −6.46, −0.63; Math, β = −4.63, 95%CI = −7.86, −1.40; English, β = −4.66, 95%CI = −8.09, −1.23). IQ partially mediated the relationship between elevated blood lead concentrations and later school performance.
Conclusions
Findings support that blood lead concentrations in early childhood, even <10 µg/dL, have a long-term negative impact on cognitive development. The association between blood lead concentrations 8–10 µg/dL and cognitive development needs further study in Chinese children and children from other developing countries.

Detenido el sospechoso de colocar ‘un explosivo’ en el Disneyland de California

El sospechoso de poner ‘un explosivo’ en una papelera en el Disneyland de California, que hizo evacuar el parque de atracciones, ha sido detenido y se podría enfrentarse a una multa de un millón de dólares.

Se trata del empleado del parque Christian Barnes, que trabaja como vendedor en un carrito de comida.

Por el momento el incidente, que no dejó heridos, sigue siendo investigado.

The Importance of the Secure Base Effect for Domestic Dogs – Evidence from a Manipulative Problem-Solving Task

by Lisa Horn, Ludwig Huber, Friederike Range
Background
It has been suggested that dogs display a secure base effect similar to that found in human children (i.e., using the owner as a secure base for interacting with the environment). In children, this effect influences their daily lives and importantly also their performance in cognitive testing. Here, we investigate the importance of the secure base effect for dogs in a problem-solving task.
Methodology/Principal Findings
Using a manipulative task, we tested dogs in three conditions, in which we varied the owner's presence and behavior (Experiment 1: “Absent owner”, “Silent owner”, “Encouraging owner”) and in one additional condition, in which the owner was replaced by an unfamiliar human (Experiment 2: “Replaced owner”). We found that the dogs' duration of manipulating the apparatus was longer when their owner was present than absent, irrespective of the owner's behavior. The presence of an unfamiliar human however did not increase their manipulation. Furthermore, the reduced manipulation during the absence of the owner was not correlated with the dog's degree of separation distress scored in a preceding attachment experiment.
Conclusions/Significance
Our study is the first to provide evidence for an owner-specific secure base effect in dogs that extends from attachment tests to other areas of dogs' lives and also manifests itself in cognitive testing – thereby confirming the remarkable similarity between the secure base effect in dogs and in human children. These results also have important implications for behavioral testing in dogs, because the presence or absence of the owner during a test situation might substantially influence dogs' motivation and therefore the outcome of the test.

Bancos de Chipre pierden más de 6.000 millones de euros en depósitos en un mes

Los depósitos en los bancos de Chipre cayeron en 6.300 millones de euros (unos 8.159 millones de dólares) en abril, según anunció el Banco Central de la isla.

Según las estadísticas, se trata de la mayor caída desde el diciembre del 2005.

Actualmente los bancos tienen depósitos por valor de unos 57.400 millones de euros (74.344 millones de dólares) frente a los 63.700 millones (82.504 millones de dólares) en marzo, lo que supone una reducción en un 9,9% en un sólo mes.

CO2 Emissions higher in use than European Makers Claim

The gap has widened between the fuel-efficiency that carmakers declare for their models and the reality for drivers, with luxury German vehicles showing the biggest divergence, a study has found.
The research by the non-profit International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) found "real-world" carbon emissions for new cars based on fuel consumption are about 25% higher on average than carmakers say, compared with 10% a decade ago.

Seafloor 'breathing' may help forecast big quakes

By Miriam KramerLiveScienceNEW YORK — Tracking tiny earthquakes with advanced technology could help scientists forecast the next devastating temblor, one expert says.By deploying data-collecting ocean-bottom seismometers, marine researchers can keep track of small earthquakes created by the flow of the tides in the deep ocean. These small earthquakes are triggered by the expansion and contraction ...

Natural Catastrophes in 2012 Dominated by U.S. Weather Extremes

In 2012, there were 905 natural catastrophes worldwide, 93 percent of which were weather-related disasters. In terms of overall and insured losses (US$170 billion and $70 billion, respectively), 2012 did not follow the records set in 2011 and could be defined as a moderate year on a global scale. But the United States was seriously affected by weather extremes, accounting for 69 percent of overall losses and 92 percent of insured losses due to natural catastrophes worldwide

Doctor’s Doubts Imperil a Lucrative Diabetes Drug

Findings by Dr. Peter C. Butler on Merck’s medication Januvia are threatening the future of all drugs in its class, which has annual sales of more than $9 billion.

Chimpanzees and Bonobos Exhibit Emotional Responses to Decision Outcomes

by Alexandra G. Rosati, Brian Hare

The interface between cognition, emotion, and motivation is thought to be of central importance in understanding complex cognitive functions such as decision-making and executive control in humans. Although nonhuman apes have complex repertoires of emotional expression, little is known about the role of affective processes in ape decision-making. To illuminate the evolutionary origins of human-like patterns of choice, we investigated decision-making in humans' closest phylogenetic relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus). In two studies, we examined these species' temporal and risk preferences, and assessed whether apes show emotional and motivational responses in decision-making contexts. We find that (1) chimpanzees are more patient and more risk-prone than are bonobos, (2) both species exhibit affective and motivational responses following the outcomes of their decisions, and (3) some emotional and motivational responses map onto species-level and individual-differences in decision-making. These results indicate that apes do exhibit emotional responses to decision-making, like humans. We explore the hypothesis that affective and motivational biases may underlie the psychological mechanisms supporting value-based preferences in these species.

Un avión aterriza de emergencia en EE.UU. debido a un intento de suicidio a bordo

Un avión de la compañía estadounidense United Airlines, que cubría el vuelo Chicago-Pekín, realizó el jueves un aterrizaje de emergencia en el estado de Alaska, EE.UU., después de que uno de los pasajeros intentara suicidarse, informa la edición electrónica del diario 'South China Morning Post'. 

Según el artículo, una mujer de mediana edad trató de suicidarse en el baño del avión, pero los miembros de la tripulación lo impidieron. Después del aterrizaje, los médicos prestaron la atención médica necesaria a la pasajera, cuya vida quedó fuera de peligro.

Sleep Promotes Consolidation of Emotional Memory in Healthy Children but Not in Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

by Alexander Prehn-Kristensen, Manuel Munz, Ina Molzow, Ines Wilhelm, Christian D. Wiesner, Lioba Baving

Fronto-limbic brain activity during sleep is believed to support the consolidation of emotional memories in healthy adults. Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is accompanied by emotional deficits coincidently caused by dysfunctional interplay of fronto-limbic circuits. This study aimed to examine the role of sleep in the consolidation of emotional memory in ADHD in the context of healthy development. 16 children with ADHD, 16 healthy children, and 20 healthy adults participated in this study. Participants completed an emotional picture recognition paradigm in sleep and wake control conditions. Each condition had an immediate (baseline) and delayed (target) retrieval session. The emotional memory bias was baseline–corrected, and groups were compared in terms of sleep-dependent memory consolidation (sleep vs. wake). We observed an increased sleep-dependent emotional memory bias in healthy children compared to children with ADHD and healthy adults. Frontal oscillatory EEG activity (slow oscillations, theta) during sleep correlated negatively with emotional memory performance in children with ADHD. When combining data of healthy children and adults, correlation coefficients were positive and differed from those in children with ADHD. Since children displayed a higher frontal EEG activity than adults these data indicate a decline in sleep-related consolidation of emotional memory in healthy development. In addition, it is suggested that deficits in sleep-related selection between emotional and non-emotional memories in ADHD exacerbate emotional problems during daytime as they are often reported in ADHD

Drupal hacked, resets passwords after millions of accounts exposed

Websites running our CMS are safe, insists top brass
Hackers are believed to have compromised the accounts of millions of users operating or developing the Drupal open-source content management system (CMS).…

Predicting Cognitive State from Eye Movements

by John M. Henderson, Svetlana V. Shinkareva, Jing Wang, Steven G. Luke, Jenn Olejarczyk

In human vision, acuity and color sensitivity are greatest at the center of fixation and fall off rapidly as visual eccentricity increases. Humans exploit the high resolution of central vision by actively moving their eyes three to four times each second. Here we demonstrate that it is possible to classify the task that a person is engaged in from their eye movements using multivariate pattern classification. The results have important theoretical implications for computational and neural models of eye movement control. They also have important practical implications for using passively recorded eye movements to infer the cognitive state of a viewer, information that can be used as input for intelligent human-computer interfaces and related applications.