Alaska: Mount McKinley to Be Renamed Denali

(wsj.com) - Having spent four decades in a towering identity crisis, North America’s tallest peak is changing names, from Mount McKinley to Denali.

The White House said Sunday that Sally Jewell used her authority as secretary of the Interior Department to switch to the name given to the mountain by Alaskan native tribes.

“Generally believed to be central to the Athabaskan creation story, Denali is a site of significant cultural importance to many Alaska natives,” the White House said in a written statement. The change was announced on the eve of President Barack Obama’s visit to Alaska.

Denali, an Athabaskan word meaning “the high one,” has been the name used by Native Alaskans for centuries, and Mt. McKinley has long been a politically controversial replacement. A prospector exploring the area named the 20,320-foot-high peak afterWilliam McKinley after his nomination for president in 1896. In 1901, after Mr. McKinley was assassinated, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names “hurriedly” endorsed it despite the fact that the president had no connection to the mountain, according to the 1995 cartography book “Drawing the Lines—Tales of Maps and Cartocontroversy” by Mark S. Monmonier. Full Story

Man to Be Sentenced in Suicide Bomb Plot at Kansas Airport

(nytimes.com) WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas man accused of plotting a suicide bomb attack at the Wichita airport will soon face his punishment.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot is scheduled to sentence Terry L. Loewen on Monday.

The 60-year-old man pleaded guilty in June to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He struck a deal with prosecutors for a 20-year sentence that the judge has said he's "almost certain" to impose.

The former avionics technician was arrested in 2013 while trying to bring a van filled with inert explosives onto the tarmac at what was then called Mid-Continent Airport.

The Center on National Security at Fordham Law School says Loewen's case is among 462 terror prosecutions associated with groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Pressure mounts on Malaysian PM as protests spill into second day

(Reuters) - Thousands gathered for a second day of protests on Sunday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak over a multi-million-dollar financial scandal, their spirits lifted by unexpected support from Malaysia's longest-serving leader.

Hundreds slept out overnight in central Kuala Lumpur after the first day of a rally that has brought into the streets a political crisis triggered by reports of a mysterious transfer worth more than $600 million into an account under Najib's name.

Najib, who denies wrongdoing, has weathered the storm and analysts say the two-day rally is unlikely to inspire broad public support for him to quit because it lacks a strong leader.

Security remained tight and anti-riot trucks stood ready. The first day passed without reports of violence and the rally resumed in a festive mood on Sunday with group exercises, a mass at the city cathedral and interfaith prayers.

City authorities rejected an application by pro-democracy organization Bersih for a protest permit, raising fears of a repeat of a 2012 rally when police used water cannon and teargas to disperse protesters.

China Blames Stock Market Crash on Tibetan Separatists

 (worldnewsdailyreport.com) 08/26/15 - President Xi Jinping announced that China will wage an unceasing fight against the “economic terrorism” led by the Dalai Lama and Tibetan separatists on the Chinese economy.

After watching share prices tumble around 25 percent in a little more than a week, China’s president reassured investors that “everything will be done to take care of the Tibetan problem” he acknowledged yesterday.

“We will increase our fight against the Tibetan separatist activities and the Dalai Lama menace” Xi was quoted as saying yesterday. “Until they stop their economic terrorism against the Chinese people and their economy, China will fight an unswerving battle against these terrorists” he acknowledged on a nationwide television broadcast.

“The Dalai Lama, through his ongoing pursuit to destroy the Chinese economy through guerrilla tactics and propaganda, is truly the greatest enemy of the Chinese people” admits leading Chinese economist Liu Huy Yang. “The Western world believes the Dalai Lama is a peace loving sect leader, but all he lives for is the destruction of Chinese pride and nationalism” he told journalists.

The Dalai Lama has vehemently denied any involvement in the ongoing troubles of the Chinese economy.

“I am exiled in India, all I do is meditate and pray. I barely read the newspaper, I find it hilarious that I am blamed for crashing the economy of a billion people” he told reporters with a large grin.

“Maybe President Xi Jinping is right after all, since everything is intimately connected in this universe, maybe I am responsible for the Chinese market crash, earthquakes in South America and all the misery in the world” said the 80-year-old Dalai Lama with humor.

The 14th and current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, fled south to India, where he established a government in exile, during the Tibetan uprising of 1959.

Guatemala: Prosecutors urge president to resign amid scandal

(washingtonpost) GUATEMALA CITY — Pressure grew Thursday on Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina to resign as business and government offices closed, protesters marched by the thousands and the attorney general’s office urged him to step down “to prevent ungovernability that could destabilize the nation.”

The government comptrollers’ office also issued a statement saying Perez Molina, whose government has been shaken by corruption scandals, should resign “to avoid greater social unrest that could have unpredictable consequences.”

Guatemala’s congress named a commission of five legislators Thursday to consider whether to remove the president’s immunity from prosecution, a process somewhat like impeachment. A previous effort failed.

Perez Molina, who is facing possible charges in a customs fraud scheme, has not spoken publicly since Sunday, when he denied any involvement and said emphatically that he would not resign. But his former ministers of defense and the interior, who had resigned from his cabinet recently, both left Guatemala between Wednesday and Thursday, the country’s immigration service confirmed.

Thousands of protesters marched in the capital following days of intermittent roadblocks by demonstrators who want the president to resign and the Sept. 6 presidential elections to be postponed.

Related: Guatemala’s Former President Detained After New President is Sworn In (09/03/15)

Wal-Mart to Stop Selling Semiautomatic Rifles, Citing Declining Demand

(wallstreetjournal.com)  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will soon stop selling semiautomatic rifles, removing what have become politicized items from shelves for reasons the retailer says are purely business.

Wal-Mart, the union’s biggest seller of guns and ammunition, will eliminate AR-15s and other modern sporting rifles, spokesman Kory Lundberg said Wednesday. Instead, the retailer will carry more shotguns and other hunting weapons. Mr. Lundberg said the decision was based on shifting demand from shoppers. “It’s about what customers are buying and what they’re not,” he said.

The change, reported earlier Wednesday by Quartz, comes as such semiautomatic arms, described by opponents as assault weapons, remain a flash point in the national gun debate that is faced with yet another high-profile shooting. On Wednesday morning, two television reporters were killed while conducting an interview in Moneta, Va.

Wal-Mart’s decision to phase out modern sporting rifles—a category that includes firearms based on the AR-15 platform, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation— was months in the making, Mr. Lundberg said. The changes are being rolled out to stores this week as Wal-Mart updates its sporting goods sections for the fall season. The guns Wal-Mart are removing are sold in less than a third of its 4,500 U.S. stores.

The retailer has long held that it will carry products, including firearms, to serve hunters and sportsmen, but it doesn’t sell items such as adult films, or music with explicit-lyric warning labels or, outside of Alaska, handguns. Earlier this year, it vowed to remove merchandise from its stores that depicted the Confederate battle flag.

Wal-Mart has also faced pressure from shareholders to stop selling these items. New York’s Trinity Wall Street Church tried to get the retailer to have shareholders vote on a resolution that would have required Wal-Mart’s board to review management decisions to sell such weapons, as well as any other products that could harm the company’s reputation. Wal-Mart objected to the resolution, saying the matter involved everyday business decisions.

The disagreement went to court and Wal-Mart prevailed in June when a federal appeals court said the shareholder resolution didn't have to be put to a vote. Full Story

US to welcome 5,000 to 8,000 Syrian refugees in 2016

(yahoonews)- Washington (AFP) - The United States expects to accept between 5,000 and 8,000 Syrian refugees in 2016, officials said.

State Department spokesman John Kirby on Monday also said 15,000 Syrian refugees have been referred to the US for resettlement by the UN refugee agency.

In December, Washington had said it had received 9,000 referrals from the UN.

It had also previously said it would admit between 1,000 to 2,000 Syrian refugees in fiscal year 2015, and increase that number by a few thousand in fiscal year 2016.

The United States has been criticized for not taking more of the estimated four million refugees fleeing the civil war that began in 2011.

Kirby argued that the US was a "leader" in terms of accepting refugees and contributing financially to resettlement efforts, but that this work was "not the metric of success here."

"And so, what we're really committed to is helping to foster the kind of political transition inside Syria, so that it is a safe environment for Syrian people to return, including the millions that are seeking refuge in Turkey right now," he added.

The US has contributed $4 billion in humanitarian aide to those affected by the Syrian violence since 2011.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has said that the number of Syrian refugees surpassed four million in July and was expected to grow to 4.27 million by the end of the year.

From Venezuela to Iraq to Russia, Oil Price Drops Raise Fears of Unrest

(nytimes) - Oil, the lifeblood of many countries that produce and sell it, appears to be rapidly turning into an ever-cheaper economic curse.

A year ago, the international price per barrel of oil was about $103. By Monday, the price was about $42, roughly 6 percent lower than on Friday.
Continue reading the main story

In oil-endowed Iraq, where an Islamic State insurgency and fractious sectarian politics are growing threats, a new source of instability erupted this month with violent protests over the government’s failure to provide reliable electricity and explain what has been done with all the promised petroleum money. In Russia, a leading oil producer, consumers are now payingfar more for imports, largely because of their currency’s plummeting value. In Nigeria andVenezuela, which rely almost completely on oil exports, fears of unrest and economic instability are building. In Ecuador, where oil revenue has fallen by nearly half since last year, tens of thousands of demonstrators pour into the streets every week, angered by the government’s economic policies.

Even in wealthy Saudi Arabia, where the ruling family spends oil money lavishly to preserve its legitimacy, the government has been burning through roughly $10 billion a month in foreign exchange holdings to help pay expenses, and it is borrowing in the financial markets for the first time since 2007. Other Arab countries in the Persian Gulf that are dependent on oil exports, including Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, are facing fiscal deficits for the first time in two decades.

While the price has been declining for months, forecasts have always been hedged with the assumption that oil would eventually stabilize or at least not stay low for long. But new anxieties about frailties in China, the world’s most voracious consumer of energy, have raised fears that oil, now 30 percent lower than it was just a few months ago, could remain depressed far longer than even the most pessimistic projections, and do even deeper damage to oil exporters. Full Story

Pokemon Championships Threatened; 2 Held on Gun Charges

(abcnews) - Two Iowa men suspected of making violent social media threats to people attending the Pokemon World Championships in Boston have been arrested on gun charges.

Boston police said Sunday that convention security reported the threats on Thursday and the suspects were stopped as they were about to enter the event hours later.

Police said they released the men, but seized their car after learning they might have guns inside.

Police said a warranted search of the car Friday found a 12-gauge shotgun, an AR-15 rifle, several hundred rounds of ammunition, and a hunting knife. Police said 18-year-old Kevin Norton, of Ames, and 27-year-old James Stumbo, of Boone, were arrested at their hotel in Saugus, north of Boston.

They are being arraigned on firearms charges Monday. It's not immediately known if they have attorneys.

Does a dollar really go farther in South Dakota than other states?

(rapidcityjournal.com) - Could South Dakota actually have the highest minimum wage in the country?

Well, in a relative sense, when comparing the cost of living here with other states, the answer becomes a resounding "yes," according to a recent Washington Post analysis.

Of course, some Rushmore State residents may beg to differ, especially when comparing gas and food prices here to elsewhere.

But Niraj Chokshi, the Post’s state and local policy blogger, said the economic grass is indeed greener for South Dakota residents, whose buying power gets a boost from the state’s relatively low cost of housing and other living expenses.

"While minimum wages range from the federal floor of $7.25 in 20 states to $9.47 in Washington state, they are only as valuable as what they can buy, which also varies by geography, according to an analysis of purchasing power by state,” Chokshi wrote in a July 22 blog post, referring to one of three recent state-by-state comparisons of South Dakota's favorable cost of living.

Chokshi said South Dakota’s official minimum wage of $8.50 adjusts to $9.70 per hour, tops among adjusted wages in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Elsewhere among the top five states, that $9.74 per hour wage in Washington State drops to $9.18 in actual buying power when adjusted for buying power.

Neighboring Oregon ($9.25/hour) benefits slightly because of a cost of living adjustment, with $9.37 in buying power. Rhode Island and Vermont also offer minimums in excess of $9 per hour, with the adjusted minimum wages staying roughly the same, Chokshi wrote.

On the other end of the scale, New York’s high cost of living drops that state’s adjusted minimum wage from $8.50 to $7.59. Hawaii’s minimum of $7.50 per hour plummets to $6.67 after the cost of living adjustment.

“A dollar really does go a long way in South Dakota. That’s a true advantage when competing with businesses in other states,” said Bryan Walker, executive director of the Spearfish Economic Development Corporation, in a news release from the Rushmore Region Economic Development Group.

Home and housing prices appear to be the driving force in the state’s low cost of living.

According to a comparison of housing costs by state on trulia.com, an online residential real estate site for home buyers, sellers, renters and real estate professionals, South Dakota ranked 50th in the nation with an average for-sale listing price of $234,259.

Average rental costs in the state’s two largest metropolitan areas ranged from $372 per bedroom in Rapid City to $412 per bedroom in Sioux Falls.

Two other recent reports from the Tax Foundation included one ranking South Dakota among the top five states comparing the value of $100 in buying goods and services.

In Mississippi, $100 will buy $115.74, with South Dakota ($113.38) closely trailing Arkansas ($114.74), Missouri and Alabama (both at $113.51).

In the District of Columbia, that same $100 is only worth $84.60, the report said.

South Dakota also fared well in another Tax Foundation report that found the state’s per-capita disposable income rises 13.4 percent when the cost of living is factored, putting the state among the top 5 nationally.

All of that is music to the ears of state economic development officials tasked with bringing new business and industry to the state.

“South Dakota has always used our low cost of doing business and great business climate to attract employers, while at the same time highlighting the advantages of South Dakota's cost of living in our workforce marketing efforts. We plan to continue and expand those efforts,” said Mary Lehecka Nelson, marketing director for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development in Pierre.

Nelson said a new state website, youcanliveinSouthDakota.com, includes a real wage calculator that compares South Dakota to other locations. Full Story

Is Wal-Mart just the first victim of rising wages?

(cnbc.com) 08/19/15  Wal-Mart beat revenue estimates but missed on earnings, in a report that sent shares sliding and led to fresh questions about the company's wage boosts.

Wal-Mart said Tuesday its operating margin slid to 5.1 percent in the most recent quarter, down from 5.6 percent a year ago. The company said that issues in its pharmacy business and "shrinkage" (stealing plus spoilage) plus "higher wage investments" led to the problem with its bottom line.

In April, the retailer raised its lowest starting wages to $9 per hour, with a promise to raise them to $10 by February. On the company's earnings call, Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Greg Foran repeatedly referred to the hike as an "investment."

The company said that increased wages and hours will take a 24-cent bite out of earnings per share, a bit more than previously anticipated. The company now expects to earn $4.40 to $4.70 per share in the full year.

While slightly higher wages won't exactly sink the retail giant, they are a potential concern for investors. More generally, an improving labor market should cause wages to rise, potentially increasing cost pressures for many labor-intensive American businesses.

"I do see early signals of wage pressures," said Aneta Markowska, chief U.S. economist with Societe Generale. "I think it's a bit too early to worry, but once you start to get into Q2 next year, that's when I would expect cost pressures to take over and start to squeeze margins in a more pronounced way."

The most recent reading on the Labor Department's Employment Cost Index showed just a 0.2 percent rise in labor costs in the second quarter. Yet for Markowska, a more precise measure is the Atlanta Fed's wage growth tracker, which shows wages increasing at 3.2 percent as of June. The tracker directly compares the wages of each individual, rather than accidentally tracking demographic shifts.

Yet when it comes to the nearer term, individual companies are likely to see "a big more top-line growth, so that helps to hedge against margin pressures," she told CNBC in a phone interview.

Indeed, Envestnet head of global strategy Zachary Karabell says that the calculus is even more direct for the behemoth that is Wal-Mart.

"If their 2 million workers cannot be viable consumers, then you're missing a massive internal market," Karabell said.

More generally, "if your margins are falling because wages are going up, that's ultimately good for you, because they'll also be able to raise prices. So when it comes to Wal-Mart, this is their way of investing in the future."

Still, judging by the stock's 3 percent slide Tuesday, investors may be a bit more skeptical.

Russian authorities propose prison time for smuggling of foreign food, equating it to poison

(FoxNews.com) MOSCOW – Russian customs officials have drafted a bill to make the smuggling of banned foreign foods an offense punishable by a prison sentence.

In retaliation to Western sanctions, Russia last year banned certain food imports from the European Union, the U.S. and a few other countries. President Vladimir Putin this month ordered the destruction of confiscated contraband food, with hundreds of tons of fruit and cheese steamrolled and burnt in a public display of the ban enforcement.

The Federal Customs Service published a draft bill Thursday suggesting that banned foreign foods be listed as "strategically imported," a label so far reserved for radioactive materials and poison. The re-classification would allow authorities to bring criminal charges, with prison terms of up to seven years, against individuals and companies involved in smuggling.

Missouri: More racial unrest in St. Louis after police kill black suspect

(Reuters) St. Louis police fatally shot a black teenager who they say pointed a gun at them on Wednesday and arrested three protesters, recalling racial tensions sparked by the killing of an unarmed African-American teen in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, a year ago.

St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said the shooting took place in the late morning as officers were carrying out a search warrant and two young black men ran out the back door of the targeted house.

Officers ordered the pair to stop in the alley behind the house. One suspect pointed a gun at officers who then fired four times, killing him, Dotson said.

Reuters video showed dozens of protesters blocking a nearby intersection shortly after the shooting, monitored by police. Three people were arrested for blocking traffic, police said.

Protesters gathered again at the intersection in the early evening. NBC television affiliate KSDK reported that they threw rocks at officers, who responded with what appeared to be tear gas.

Police identified the slain suspect as Mansur Ball-Bey, 18. The second youth fled and was described in his mid- to late teens.

Dotson told reporters Ball-Bey's gun was stolen. He said officers recovered crack cocaine at the scene.

"Detectives were looking for guns, looking for violent felons, looking for people that have been committing the crimes in the neighborhood," he said.

A 93-year-old member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a black aviation unit from World War Two, was robbed and carjacked in the neighborhood on Sunday. A woman was killed this week in the area.

St. Louis police said the officers involved in the shooting were white, ages 33 and 29, and each with about seven years on the force. They are on administrative leave.

The shooting came 10 days after the St. Louis area was flooded with protesters marking the anniversary of the Aug. 9 police killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer.

Brown's death helped spur a nationwide movement against what protesters say is a pattern of police violence against minorities.

Wednesday's shooting came as activists were in the area to mark the anniversary of the police shooting of another black man in St. Louis, Kajieme Powell.

Police say officers shot Powell when he approached them with a knife. Missouri prosecutors are reviewing the case for possible criminal charges, and Powell's family has filed a wrongful death suit.

Marks and Spencer mocked on social media over 'x-rated' advert

(Telegraph) - Marks & Spencer inadvertently sparked a social media frenzy over the choice of wording in their latest advertisement campaign.

The retail giant has been widely mocked by online commentators over an apparent x-rated reference in a slogan about baked goods.

Eagle-eyed shoppers spotted a sign in-store reading "putting the D in bread", referencing the presence of Vitamin D in their produce, a nutrient essential for the absorption of calcium.

While those of a certain age might well wonder 'what's wrong with that?', young people have taken an entirely different meaning from the advert.

(Image from Telegraph.co.uk)

M&S told the Telegraph: "We recently became the first retailer to add vitamin D to all of our bread to help customers get more vitamin D in their diet.”

Poor old M&S. However innocently-intended, it doesn't look like the jokes will end any time soon.

At least we don't need to wait for the Bake Off for double entendres about baked goods. Full Story

Marks & Spencer is a major British multinational retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London. It specialises in the selling of clothing, home products and luxury food products. M&S was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds.

Oil prices fall again as U.S. and Asian demand looks to weaken

(Reuters) Oil prices dipped again in early Asian trading on Tuesday as traders expected lower refinery consumption after the U.S. summer, while Asia's weakening economies and high global production raised concerns about oversupply.

U.S. crude futures CLc1 were trading at $41.84 per barrel at 0014 GMT, 3 cents below their last settlement and not far off more than six-year lows touched earlier this week. Brent futures LCOc1 were at $48.61 a barrel, down 13 cents but still some way from their 2015-low of $45.19.

Both crude oil benchmarks are now almost a third below their last peak from May, and analysts say more falls could lie ahead.

"Fundamentals suggest downside risks still remain in key markets - particularly iron ore and crude oil - in the months ahead," ANZ bank said on Tuesday.

"On the demand side, U.S. refiners normally start to cut operations soon – with reduced refinery rates in September occurring in 9 of the past 10 years and weaker gasoline demand. The current situation suggests that we may witness increases in U.S. crude stockpiles in coming months," the bank added.

In Asia, the two biggest economies are slowing down fast, with China recording its sharpest slowdown in decades and Japan's economy contracting.

Underscoring the bearish sentiment, money managers and hedge funds cut their net long holdings of Brent crude futures for a fourth straight week and have raised their bearish bets on gasoil as prices have fallen, exchange data showed on Monday.

Speculators reduced their net long Brent crude positions by 21,295 contracts to 125,889 lots in the week to Aug. 11, figures from the Intercontinental Exchange showed.

Brazilian protesters call for President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment

(BBC) - Tens of thousands of people have taken part in protests across Brazil calling for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.

Support for Ms Rousseff has fallen to single-digit figures in recent polls.

Many voters have accused her of failing to stamp out corruption and blame her for the economy's worst slump in 25 years.

Marchers took over Copacabana beach in Rio and also demonstrated outside congress in the capital Brasilia.

Many wore the yellow shirts of the Brazilian football team, and sang the national anthem, carrying banners saying "Dilma Out".

Police said about 137,000 people took part, but tens of the thousands of others were also involved in a demonstration in Sao Paulo.

The national day of action is the third major protest against Ms Rousseff and her left-wing Workers' Part this year. Hundreds of thousands took part in demonstrations in March and April.

"We want things to change and if the people don't go in the street that's impossible," said retired engineer Elino Alves de Moraes, who joined the march in Brasilia.

Ms Rousseff is less than a year into her second term as president.

There have also been demonstrations in recent months showing support for the embattled leader, with many claiming calls for her impeachment amount to a coup attempt. Full Story

Air pollution kills over 4,000 every day in China

(timesofindia) BEIJING: Outdoor air pollution contributes to the deaths of an estimated 1.6 million people in China every year, or about 4,400 people a day, according to a newly released scientific paper.

The paper maps the geographic sources of China's toxic air and concludes that much of the smog that routinely shrouds Beijing comes from emissions in a distant industrial zone, a finding that may complicate the government's efforts to clean up the capital city's air in time for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The authors are members of Berkeley Earth, a research organization based in Berkeley, California.

According to the data in the paper, about three-eighths of the Chinese population breathe air that would be rated "unhealthy" by United States standards. The most dangerous of the pollutants studied were fine airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which can find their way deep into human lungs, be absorbed into the bloodstream and cause a host of health problems, including asthma, strokes, lung cancer and heart attacks.

The researchers analyzed four months' worth of hourly readings taken at 1,500 ground stations in mainland China, Taiwan and other places in the region. Berkeley Earth's analysis is consistent with earlier indications that China has not been able to tackle its air pollution problems. Greenpeace found in April that, of 360 cities in China, more than 90% failed to meet national air quality standards in the first three months of 2015.

The Berkeley Earth paper's findings present data saying that air pollution contributes to 17% of all deaths in the nation each year. The authors calculate that the annual toll is 95% likely to fall between 7,00,000 and 2.2 million deaths, and their estimate of 1.6 million a year is the midpoint of that range.

The Chinese government is sensitive about public data showing that air pollution is killing its citizens, or even allusions to such a conclusion.

Researchers concluded that much of the smog afflicting Beijing came not from the city, but from coal-burning factories 200 miles southwest in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province and a major industrial hub. Promises to clean up Beijing's air were a centerpiece of the nation's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

North Dakota oil production up slightly despite low prices

(grandforksherald.com) BISMARCK – North Dakota oil production rose slightly in June to 1.2 million barrels per day, the second-highest production month behind only last December, the Department of Mineral Resources said Friday.

Director Lynn Helms wrote in his monthly update that the current number of active drilling rigs, 74 on Friday, and the inventory of wells that needs to be completed is sufficient to maintain production of 1.2 million barrels per day for 24 months.

Hydraulic fracturing crews completed 149 wells in June, up from 116 in May, according to preliminary figures. An estimated 848 wells were drilled but waiting on fracking crews at the end of June.

Operators plan to run fewer rigs than they planned in 2015 as oil prices stay low and companies are improving efficiencies, Helms wrote.

Natural gas production increased 1.2 percent to nearly 1.7 billion cubic feet per day, a new all-time high, preliminary figures show.

The percentage of gas flared decreased from 18 percent to 17 percent.

The percentage of crude oil hauled by rail fell to 47 percent in June, the North Dakota Pipeline Authority said. Full Story

New Zealand: Parliament passes law to change flag

Legislation clearing the way for referenda on changing the nation's flag has passed its third and final reading in Parliament.

(radionz.co.nz) 8/13/15 - The first part of the referendum is expected to be held later this year, when voters will pick their favourite of four proposed flag designs.

The bill was passed by 63 votes to 59 with the support of National, United Future, ACT and the Maori Party.

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English said it was over to the public to choose an alternative flag and whether it should replace the current one.

"The passing of the New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill, with the support of four Parliamentary parties, will secure New Zealanders their first opportunity ever to vote on the flag that best represents them and our country," Mr English said.

The first postal referendum is planned to take place between 20 November and 11 December where voters will rank four alternative designs.

The most-preferred design from that first referendum will then go to a second binding referendum in March, where voters will choose between the status quo and the most preferred alternative flag.

The Labour Party said the millions of dollars earmarked for the referenda was a waste of money.

The four final flags will be announced by mid September.

Top Army leader: Russia is "most dangerous" threat facing U.S.

Washington (CNN) - The outgoing Army chief of staff said Wednesday that Russia posed the "most dangerous" threat facing the United States today, thanks to its "sophisticated" operations in Ukraine.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, who is leaving his post, estimated that only a third of U.S. brigades are capable of operating at the level of the hybrid warfare Russia is undertaking there. And he worries that Russia could next intervene in NATO allies like Latvia or Estonia.

"They are more mature than some other of our potential adversaries, and I think they have some stated intents that concern me in terms of how the Cold War ended," Odierno said of Russia when asked by CNN. "They have shown some significant capability in Ukraine to do operations that are fairly sophisticated, and so, for me, I think we should pay a lot of attention."

Odierno explained that he's concerned that Russia underestimates the extent to which NATO partners would defend the Latvians and Estonians, a miscalculation that could lead to conflict. The solution, he argued, would be to increase response capabilities in order to deter any possible Russian aggression.

"We have deterrent there and I think we're doing a good job with that," he said. "What we have do in the next several years is continue to increase that so the risk goes up for anybody who might consider operations in Eastern Europe."

UN forecasts end of global population explosion

(IrishTimes) 8/12/15 - For the past 200 years the global population has risen explosively. There were 1 billion humans in 1850. There are 7.3 billion today. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, humanity has lived in quiet dread that somewhere there is a limit, and the Malthusian horsemen of plague, starvation and war will one day punish our effrontery.

Demographic change is easy to miss, because it happens slowly, but we stand on the cusp of a profound change in the human condition. New projections from the UN suggest that, in a few decades, we could secure a stable global population.

To be clear, the forecasts do not show an imminent end to population growth – far from it. The global population has the momentum of an elephant on an ice rink. The UN’s medium-variant projection shows a rise to 9.7 billion people in 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100.

But recent data and short-term forecasts also show a dramatic slide in fertility rates. People everywhere are having fewer babies. If the trend continues then, in decades, the global population will flatten out. The UN says there is a 23 per cent chance of that happening by 2100.

The plunge in childbearing is startling. Eighty-three countries containing 46 per cent of the world’s population – including every single country in Europe – now have fertility below replacement rate of about 2.1 births per woman. Another 46 per cent live in countries where the birth rate has fallen sharply. In 48 countries the population will decline between now and 2050.

‘Slender Man’ stabbing: 13-year-old Wisconsin girls will be tried as adults

- Two 13-year-old girls charged with stabbing a classmate 19 times and leaving her for dead in the high-profile “Slender Man” case will be tried as adults, a Wisconsin judge ruled Monday.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren’s decision to keep the girls in the adult court system has major implications for Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, who are charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and could face sentences of up to 45 years each, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The Washington Post is naming the juvenile defendants since they will be tried as adults.

“This was an effort to kill someone, not a mistake by hitting someone too hard,” Bohren said, ABC affiliate WISN reported.

The horrific 2014 stabbing attracted national attention in part because of its connection to the Slender Man, a mythological creature and Internet meme born out of an obscure online forum in 2009. The girls told authorities that they hatched a plot to kill a friend during a birthday slumber party in May 2014to prove their loyalty to Slender Man; they also said Slender Man had threatened their families, according to the criminal complaint.

Geyser and Weier were 12 years old at the time of the alleged attack; a passerby found the victim bleeding in a wooded park, and the girl survived. Full Story

Super Sweet: Toasting Singapore’s golden jubilee

 (thestar.com.my) SINGAPORE: Malaysia joined Singapore in toasting to the republic’s golden jubilee with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak attending the celebrations that has been tagged as SG50.

The Prime Minister was among top leaders who congratulated Singapore for the milestone it has achieved as a “little red dot”.

(The little red dot, supposedly uttered by a previous Indonesian leader as an insult to Singapore, has been embraced down south as their emblem of sorts.)

Most of the Singaporeans wore red for the “Majulah Singapura” occasion at the Padang, the venue of its first national day parade.

Lee Kuan Yew was on their mind.

“I believe he would have been moved to tears seeing today’s parade. We have come a long way,” said C.K. Cheah, 60.

Lee, Singapore’s founding father, died at the age of 91 in March. Full Story

World's first venomous frogs discovered in Brazil

(zeenews.india.com) - Scientists claimed to have discovered the world's first known venomous frogs with spikes on their heads in Brazil.

Scientists have long known of poisonous frogs, but the two species of frog discovered in the wilds of Brazil have been found to be capable of injecting poison into predators using horns on their head.

According to the study that describes the species, these frogs have well-developed delivery mechanisms, utilising bony spines on the skull that pierce the skin in areas with concentrations of glands.

The study added that even tiny amounts of these secretions introduced into a wound caused by the head spines could be dangerous and these frogs are capable of using their skin toxins as venoms against their would-be predators.

Edmund Brodie of Utah State University in the United States explains:

“Discovering a truly venomous frog is nothing any of us expected and finding frogs with skin secretions more venomous than those of the deadly pit vipers of the genus Bothrops was astounding,” said Edmund Brodie of Utah State University in Logan, Utah.

The venomous traits of the two species, Corythomantis greeningi and Aparasphenodon brunoi, were discovered after one of the researchers - Carlos Jared of the Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo – was jabbed in the hand by a C. greeningi specimen while collecting frogs in Brazil.An intense, radiating pain immediately accured through Jared's arm lasting for about five hours.

The team, which includes researchers from Brazil's Instituto Butantan and the University of Sao Paulo, is now studying several other frog species from around the world that they suspect are also venomous.

The findings have been published online Thursday in the journal Current Biology. Full Story

North Korea sets clocks back 30 minutes creating its own time zone

(CNN) North Korea is its own world in many ways. Now, it is getting its own time zone to match.

State news agency, KCNA, has announced that North Korea will set its clocks back by 30 minutes to "Pyongyang time" on August 15--the 70th anniversary of liberation from Japan.

That will reset the time to GMT+08:30, as it was before Japanese colonization.

"The wicked Japanese imperialists committed such unpardonable crimes as depriving Korea of even its standard time while mercilessly trampling down its land with 5 000 year-long history and culture and pursuing the unheard-of policy of obliterating the Korean nation," KCNA reported on Friday. Full Story

Russia's Putin Lays Claim to North Pole

"I shall claim this as part of my kingdom"

(news.discovery.com) )8/06/15 - Russia is petitioning the United Nations for exclusive economic control over 463,000 square miles of the Arctic, including the North Pole.

The area is potentially home to valuable deposits of oil and gas, which have become more accessible as Arctic ice has continued to melt at unprecedented rates.

According to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, each nation is entitled to an exclusive economic zone that extends 200 nautical miles into the ocean from the nation's baseline. Russia, however, is invoking a separate rule because it "can demonstrate that the continental shelf on which it sits actually extends farther than 200 miles. In such cases, the law recognizes a 350-mile limit," according to CNBC.

The United Nations rejected a similar claim by Russia in 2002, citing a lack of scientific evidence to substantiate it. This time around, Russia has pulled out all of the stops. Russian leaders claim to have sent a mini-submarine to the region to collect scientific evidence. The sub reportedly planted a small Russian flag on the sea floor beneath the North Pole, the New York Times reports.

Poll shows Eleanor Roosevelt a favorite for the new $10 bill

(Reuters) 08/05/15 - More than one in four Americans are hoping the soon-to-be redesigned $10 bill will feature Eleanor Roosevelt, according to a McClatchy-Marist poll released Wednesday.

The poll showed the former first lady in first place with 27 percent, trailed by African-American abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who received 17 percent of 1,249 votes, and Native American explorer Sacagawea, who received 13 percent.

Who will replace Alexander Hamilton on the bill has been the subject of much debate since Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced in June it will be the first in more than a century to feature a woman.

'Wiccan Ritual Killing' Leaves Family of Three Dead in Pensacola: Police

Florida.

(nbcnews.com) - A triple homicide in Florida is suspected to be a "Wiccan ritual killing" related to the "blue" moon, police said Tuesday.

The three victims, all from the same family, were found after a welfare check on Friday, July 31, said Escambia County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Andrew Hobbes.

"It appears that this might be connected to some type of Wiccan ritual killing and possibly tied to the blue moon," Hobbes told NBC News.

A "blue" moon is what it's called when there are two full moons in the same calendar.

Voncile Smith, 77, and her two sons, Richard, 49, and John, 47, were discovered when one of the son's employers realized he hadn't shown up for work.

Voncile and John both died of blunt force trauma and had their throats cut, police said. Richard was shot in the ear, "as he came into the house," and had his throat cut, Hobbes said. Police believe a claw hammer was used to commit the murders, Hobbes said.

No evidence of a forcible entry was found and, while police have spoken with a person of interest in the case, no arrests have been made, Hobbes said.

When asked how the evidence suggests these are ritualistic or Wiccan killings Sgt. Hobbes said, "The injuries to the victims, the positions of the bodies and also the person of interest right now is also a practitioner."

According to Hobbes, Richard Smith worked for Homeland Security and a supervisor contacted the sheriff's office, who dispatched a unit to check the home at 4605 Deerfield Drive in Pensacola. Full Story

Hundreds take to Taiwan's streets to demonstrate against 'one China' textbook revisions

(abc.net.au) - Hundreds of people have taken to Taiwan's streets to protest against revisions to textbooks that students say aim to brainwash them into accepting a "one China" view of history.

More than 100 youths stormed Taiwan's ministry of education on Friday in a bid to repeal changes to history books likely to hit school shelves this week.

Dozens were still camped out in the building's courtyard on Monday (local time).

The demonstrations follow months of smaller protests in which students threw paint balloons, shouted slogans and staged sit-ins in front of the ministry.

Last month, dozens were arrested for scaling ladders and breaking into the building.

One later took their own life, though the motivation was unclear.

The protests, the largest in over a year, reflect a surge of nationalism among Taiwan's youth, who are far more likely than their elders to identify as Taiwanese rather than Chinese.

They also come ahead of January elections in which the youth movement will likely help sweep in a party which leans towards independence from China, something Communist Party rulers in Beijing will never condone, even though the island is self ruled.

"We are Taiwan. China is China," Liu Tzuhao, 18, said in front of a makeshift memorial to the suicide victim at the protest site.

Taiwan's ruling Nationalist Party fled to the island after losing the civil war against China's communists in 1949. Full Story

The Corn (GMO) Syrup in Coke makes it Highly Damaging: It’s the Real (Unhealthy) Thing

(theweeklyobserver.com) - One of the most popular Coke Commercial was “Things go Better with Coke.” Well, it seems somebody just broke the bubble although a lot of health conscious people know that soft drinks are really bad to health.

“It’s the real Thing” was another popular Coke Commercial. The corn syrup in coke is the real health damaging ingredient in coke. It’s disguised as vegetable oil. Corn in this case is GMO generated which means it has a built in pesticides which makes it even worse. So what more does the infographic has to offer. Much, much more I suoose.

An infographic that shows how Coke damages the body becomes viral. The infographic was created by Niraj Naik aka The Renegade Pharmacist. Although some people claim that it is exaggerated, much of it is true.

Naik says that it is the high fructose corn syrup in Coke that makes it damaging. Naik explains: “High fructose corn syrup is found in pretty much all processed foods such as ready meals, fast foods, sweets, and fizzy drinks and most people are totally unaware of its danger.”

Naik also narrated that his experience as a pharmacist has given him a close up of the debilitating effects of the soda on ailing people whose conditions were made worse by the addiction to the softdrink. He advises people to “wean themselves” of the beverage. He shares a secret to ending the addiction through HuffPost UK Lifestyle:

“My first piece of advice to them would be to do a simple swap, replacing fizzy drinks with water and fresh lemon or lime juice. In many cases just doing this would have a dramatic effect on their health. This indicates to me that fizzy drinks and sugar are big issues relating to blood pressure and metabolic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.”

Segments of the infographic however were contested by two experts interviewed by Buzzfeed. The part which states that people may vomit “from taking in Coke’s 10 teaspoons of sugar if it weren’t for the phosphoric acid that cuts the flavor” was dismissed by associate research nutritional biologist from the University of California Davis,Kimber Stanhope as untrue. Stanhope explains:

“By far the majority of people have no trouble consuming 10 teaspoons of sugar-sweetened beverage. We have studied hundreds of participants in our studies who consumed beverages that contained more than 10 teaspoons of sugar, but no phosphoric acid. Not one ever vomited due to the sweetness, and I don’t remember any of them ever reporting that they felt nauseated due to the sweetness.”

Stanhope also denied that increased insulin levels cause the liver to create fat.

On the other hand, Michael A. Taffe, associate professor for the Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders at the Scripps Research Institute opined that the claim that likens the effect of the high caffeine content of Coke on the brain to the effect of heroin is also highly exaggerated. “Everything about drugs needs to be understood in terms of dose and tolerance. This sensationalistic description makes it sound more dramatic than is the experience for the average Coke drinker. It’s way overblown, as such things tend to be,” says Taffe.

The infographic however, was for the most part, able to present factual information of what Coke does to the body within one hour since it is consumed:

In the first 10 minutes, 10 teaspoons of sugar, equivalent to 100 percent of the recommended daily intake, enters the body. Within 20 minutes, blood sugar levels increase, creating “insulin burst”. It takes another 20 minutes before caffeine is fully absorbed by the body. “The adenosine receptors in [the] brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.” Within 60 minutes since the intake of Coke, “the phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.” After an hour, one feels the urge to pee. Along with urine, calcium, magnesium and zinc as well as sodium, electrolyte and water, are excreted. Then one experiences “sugar crash” and feels “irritable and/or sluggish.” Full Story

Cruel Summer: Mideast Hit With 165F Heat, 'Highest Ever Recorded'

(newsmax.com) - Scorching heat has put temperatures as high as 165 degrees in the Middle East, as a "heat dome" passes its way through the region.

"That was one of the most incredible temperature observations I have ever seen — and it is one of the most extreme readings ever in the world," AccuWeather meteorologist Anthony Saglia told The Telegraph of the 165-degree heat-index reading in the western Iran city of Bandar Mahshahr.

Saglia said the heat index — the "feels-like temperature" — in the city was among the highest ever recorded.

The index was recorded by weather experts, who also predicted that the country could be enduring some of the hottest urban temperatures ever, the Telegraph reports.

The dew point, which measures the moisture in the air, reached 90 degrees, Popular Science reports. The figure is very unusual and very high, indicating that a lot of moisture is in the air.

However, the temperature figure was just a few degrees lower than the heat index ever recorded: 178F in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on July 8, 2003, according to the Telegraph.

The National Weather Service says that with a heat index over 125 degrees, "heat stroke is very likely."

In Iraq and other neighboring countries, the government has urged residents to drink lots of water and stay out of the sun amid fears they could be struck down by what weather officials called a "heat dome."

The dome is a high-pressure ridge that is passing over the region. It has exacerbated electricity and water supplies, making the heat even more unbearable.

Last month in Pakistan, a heat wave killed more than 1,200 people, Al Jazeera reports.

The temperatures in the Middle East are expected to remain high for the next few days, according to The Weather Channel, leading some countries to order mandatory days off to keep people from venturing into the heat.

Read more HERE