Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Microsoft have all agreed to new EU rules to tackle hate speech

(BusinessInsider) BRUSSELS - Facebook, Twitter, Google's YouTube, and Microsoft on Tuesday agreed to an EU code of conduct to tackle online hate speech within 24 hours in Europe.

EU governments have been trying in recent months to get social platforms to crack down on rising online racism following the refugee crisis and terror attacks, with some even threatening action against the companies.

As part of the pledge agreed with the European Commission, the web giants will review the majority of valid requests for removal of illegal hate speech in less than 24 hours and remove or disable access to the content if necessary.

They will also strengthen their cooperation with civil society organizations who help flag hateful content when it goes online and promote "counter-narratives" to hate speech.

"The recent terror attacks have reminded us of the urgent need to address illegal online hate speech. Social media is unfortunately one of the tools that terrorist groups use to radicalize young people," EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said.

Germany got Google, Facebook and Twitter to agree to delete hate speech from their websites within 24 hours last year and even launched an investigation into the European head of Facebook over its alleged failure to remove racist hate speech.

"There's no place for hate speech on Facebook," said Monika Bickert, Head of Global Policy Management at Facebook.

"With a global community of 1.6 billion people we work hard to balance giving people the power to express themselves whilst ensuring we provide a respectful environment."

The code of conduct is largely a continuation of efforts that the companies already take to counter hate speech on their websites, such as developing tools for people to report hateful content and training staff to handle such requests.

Twitter has suspended over 125,000 accounts since the middle of 2015 for threatening or promoting terror acts, primarily related to Islamic State.

The United States has undertaken similar efforts to entice the cooperation of tech companies in combating online radicalization, focusing on promoting "counter-narratives" to extremist content.

EU ministers had called for cooperation with tech companies to be stepped up after the Brussels attacks in March.

Jewish lobbyists, frequently the target of hate speech, welcomed the code of conduct.

"This a historic agreement that could not arrive at a better time,” said Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress. (Source)

Killing of gorilla to save boy at Ohio zoo sparks outrage

First World Problems

(Reuters) - The killing of a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo after a 4-year-old boy tumbled into the ape's enclosure triggered outrage and questions about safety, but zoo officials called the decision to use lethal force a tough but necessary choice.

More than 2,000 people signed a petition on Change.org that sharply criticized the Cincinnati Police Department and the zoo for putting down the animal and called for the child's parents to be "held accountable for their actions of not supervising their child."

Cincinnati police on Sunday said the parents had not been charged, but that charges could eventually be sought by the Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Authorities did not identify the child or his parents. The family could not be reached on Sunday.

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Related: Wingnuttery: Black Outrage Over Gorilla Shot To Protect ‘White Privilege’

How Venezuela Fell Into Crisis, and What Could Happen Next

- Supermarket shelves in Venezuela are chronically bare, and power shortages are so severe that government offices are now open only two days a week. The health care system has collapsed, the crime rate is one of the world’s worst, and inflation is rapidly eroding what remains of the currency’s value.

“The economy has gone from bad to worse to horrific,” said Jason Marczak, director of the Latin America Economic Growth Initiative at the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, part of the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based research organization. “The Venezuelan government is doing a good job of leading itself into chaos.”

Here are some basic questions and answers on how Venezuela got to this point under President Nicolás Maduro and what could happen next.

New privacy rules for Internet service would be illegal, providers say

(WashingtonPost) - As we spend more of our time and money on the Internet, the big companies responsible for connecting you to it are becoming more interested in using your browsing history and online habits in the same way that Google or Facebook does — turning that valuable behavioral information into ad dollars and using the data to power new online services to compete with Web companies.

Now, Internet providers are working to thwart a federal proposal aimed at enhancing your online privacy, in the latest battle between industry and government regulators over the future of the Web.

The proposal from the Federal Communications Commission could put limits on some of that commercial activity, requiring broadband companies, such as AT&T and Comcast, to obey some of the same privacy regulations that govern traditional phone companies. Under the existing rules, carriers have to protect personal information that you provide as a part of receiving the service you pay for — things like your name, address and credit card information, among other types of data. And they can't share that information unless you actively say so.

Internet providers have not historically been required to follow these regulations, although they are legally obligated to carry out any commitments they make to consumers in their privacy policies and certain state laws. So it's no surprise to see broadband industry groups pushing back, arguing the proposed rules would be unconstitutional and illegal, not to mention burdensome. And it's raised a big debate over just how different, if at all, Internet providers are from digital media companies.

You see, if companies like Google basically know everything about you already, then an Internet provider that knows everything about you isn't all that different, and shouldn't have to live by different rules. That's the argument from the industry, which was laid out Friday in a blog post from AT&T. (Full Story)

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Related: China’s scary lesson to the world: Censoring the Internet works

In Hiroshima 71 years after first atomic strike, Obama calls for end of nuclear weapons

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Nearly 71 years after an American bomber passed high above this Japanese city on a clear August morning on a mission that would alter history, President Obama on Friday made a a solemn visit to Hiroshima to offer respects to the victims of the world’s first deployed atomic bomb.

In the Hiroshima Peace Park guest book, Obama wrote:

“We have known the agony of war. Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons.” In later remarks, he said that scientific strides must be matched by moral progress or mankind was doomed.

Obama’s visit, the first to Hiroshima by a sitting U.S. president, had stirred great anticipation here and across Japan among those who longed for an American leader to acknowledge the suffering of the estimated 140,000 killed during the bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, and its aftermath. That figure includes 20,000 Koreans who had been forced by the Japanese military to work in the city for the imperial war machine.

Three days after the Hiroshima bombing in 1945, a second U.S. atomic bomb hit Nagasaki, killing a total of 80,000, including another 30,000 Koreans. Most of those killed in both cities were civilians. The Japanese emperor announced his nation’s surrender a week later.

Samoan church leader calls for ban on Muslims

- A prominent Christian leader in Samoa has called for a ban on Muslims entering the republic.

Ma'auga Motu, secretary general of the Samoa Council of Churches, urged the government to ban Islam. He said he did not object in the least if people compared him to Donald Trump who last year suggested a ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Of the Samoan islands' population of about 200,000, just 0.03 per cent are currently Muslim. The rest are nearly all Christian.

The prime minister of Samoa, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, recently called for review of religious freedom. He wants Samoa's constitutional law changed to be more explicitly Christian.

Motu said he thought this would not be enough.

He said that Malielegaoi should impose a total ban because he claimed Islam represented a threat.

He told RadioNZ: "We are not going too far, no. We are still wanting our own people to be prevented from this kind of influence. There are so many people who are good people but still there are some dangerous people among them who might come and threaten our peace."

Mohammed Bin Yahya, chief Imam of Samoa, said Christians should learn not to discriminate. He also warned that such a ban could severely damage trading relationships.

Samoa, in the South Pacific, has been independent since 1962 and was ruled by New Zealand from 1914. The islands were governed by Germany for 14 years before that. (Source)

* * * *

Related: Academic says Islam stance in Samoa 'reasonable'

Zimbabwe: Thousands march for Mugabe

WashingtonPost

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Thousands gathered in Zimbabwe on Wednesday to support President Robert Mugabe, with speakers calling for him to rule for life.

On buses, trains, trucks and by foot, Mugabe’s supporters traveled to the capital, Harare, for the rally.

Speakers said 92-year-old Mugabe should rule until he dies. His wife, Grace, went a step further and described how she would like to see him rule from the grave, prompting wild cheers from the crowd.

“He is irreplaceable,” Grace Mugabe said before the president took to the podium, where he accused some party officials of leaking information that slandered his wife and criticized people who say he should quit.

“They say I must go. Why do they want me to retire?” Mugabe said in a speech lasting more than one hour. “They are afraid of me.”

Louisiana set to expand hate-crimes laws to include police

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana is poised to become the first state in the nation to expand its hate-crime laws to protect police, firefighters and emergency medical crews — a move that could stir the national debate over the relationship between law enforcement and minorities.

If signed by the governor, the new law would allow prosecutors to seek additional penalties against anyone convicted of intentionally targeting first responders because of their profession.

Existing hate-crime laws provide for more fines and prison time if a person is targeted because of race, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation or affiliation with certain organizations.

The state House unanimously supported extending the law, and the bill gained overwhelming support in the state Senate. The measure underwent little questioning and met no objection from committees in either chamber.

Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat whose grandfather, father and brother have served as sheriffs, is expected to sign the bill into law this week, said his spokeswoman, Shauna Sanford.

Lawmakers in five other states have recently tried to pass similar so-called Blue Lives Matter bills, but each effort stalled, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Critics regard the laws as unnecessary and say they could weaken current hate-crimes statutes.

Bayer defies critics with $62 billion Monsanto offer

Reuters - German drugs and crop chemicals group Bayer AG has offered to buy U.S. seeds company Monsanto for $62 billion in cash, defying some of its own shareholders in a bid to grab the top spot in a fast-consolidating farm supplies industry.

Monsanto Co's stock ended trading up 4.4 percent at $106 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, well below Bayer's $122 per share cash offer price, in a sign that it faces a tough task convincing the St. Louis-based company to sign off on the deal.

Monsanto has said it would review the proposal. Some analysts have suggested Bayer might still have to pay more.

"The price that has now been disclosed is at the upper limit and it is just about economical. Should it rise further, which is to be assumed, the takeover will become increasingly unattractive," said Markus Manns, a fund manager at Union Investment, Bayer's 14th biggest investor

Other Bayer shareholders have also responded coldly to the company's pursuit, condemned by one Bayer investor as "arrogant empire-building" when news of the proposal emerged last week.

The unsolicited proposal would be the largest all-cash takeover on record, according to Thomson Reuters data, just ahead of InBev’s $60.4 billion offer for Anheuser-Busch in June 2008.

The move would also eclipse a planned combination of peers Dow Chemical and DuPont's agriculture units and comes just three weeks after Werner Baumann took over as Bayer CEO.

U.S. Credit Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion Record Level

- Less than a decade after out-of-control mortgage debt nearly dragged down the entire U.S. economy, the Wall Street Journal reports that by the end of 2016, Americans will collectively hold $1 trillion in credit card debt. The all-time peak for national credit card debt was $1.02 trillion in July 2008, indicating that many Americans have already forgotten the lessons of the Great Recession.

The scenario of increasing debt complacency among borrowers and ever-loosening credit standards among lenders is chillingly familiar.

Cumulative U.S. auto debt also eclipsed $1 trillion for the first time earlier this year.

Since the Financial Crisis, banks have been under extreme pressure from heightened capital requirements and historically-low interest rates. Credit cards, which tend to have some of the highest interest rates among common varieties of debt, have been the saving grace for bank margins. According to CreditCards.com, the national average interest rate on credit cards is currently just above 15 percent.

Read more: benzinga.com

Water Fluoridation Was A Soviet Plot to "Dumb Down America", Says Former KGB Agent

worldnewsdailyreport.com

Tel Aviv, Israel | In an astonishing interview broadcast on Israeli national television Channel 1 (הערוץ הראשון), Ivan Daaronovitch, a former KGB agent under USSR’s last president, Mikhail Gorbachev, admitted highly confidential information about a secret Soviet program which used water fluoridation as a tool of “psychological and biological warfare against the American government and its people”.

The former spy, that has lived in Israel since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, explained how the USSR sold the idea of adding sodium fluoride in tap water to the western world as a “benefit for children’s teeth” when in fact, it was meant to “sterilize the women and dumb down the men” he explained during the 45-minute interview.

“If the real reason behind water fluoridation was to benefit children’s teeth, there are many ways in which it could be done that are much easier, cheaper, and far more effective”.

“I find it very ironic that the United States and other countries around the world still practice this old sickening method that was propagandized by our secret services,” he said laughingly. 

(Full Story)

Oklahoma introduces measure to impeach Obama over bathroom rights

(Reuters) - Oklahoma's Republican-dominated legislature has filed a measure calling for President Barack Obama's impeachment over his administration's recommendations on accommodating transgender students, saying he overstepped his constitutional authority.

Lawmakers in the socially conservative state are also expected to take up a measure as early as Friday that would allow students to claim a religious right to have separate but equal bathrooms and changing facilities to segregate them from transgender students.

The bill introduced on Thursday night could force schools into costly construction, which would be difficult for them to complete after lawmakers significantly cut education funding to plug a $1.3 billion state budget shortfall.

The impeachment resolution also introduced on Thursday night calls on the Oklahoma members of the U.S. House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment against Obama, the U.S. attorney general, the U.S. secretary of education and others over the letter.

The Obama administration told U.S. public schools last week that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice, upsetting Republicans and raising the likelihood of fights over federal funding and legal authority.

The impeachment call seems to be on shaky ground since the letter offered non-binding guidance and did not have the force of law, legal experts told local media.

State Representative John Bennett, a Republican, said in a statement the White House directive was "biblically wrong," and a violation of state sovereignty.

The Oklahoma bill would allow for segregation at school restrooms, athletic changing facilities and showers if a request is made to accommodate religious beliefs.

It also allows the attorney general to file lawsuits to implement the changes.

Troy Stevenson, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, an LGBT advocacy group said the measure promoted fear-mongering and was out of place

"In a time when our state is facing an unprecedented economic crisis, our lawmakers should be focused on righting the ship rather than stigmatizing transgender youth," he said in a statement.

The measure was introduced just hours after lawmakers in the budget-challenged state set itself up for a bruising legal fight after approving a bill that would make abortions a felony punishable by up to three years in prison for doctors who perform them.

Abortion rights groups have promised a court battle if Governor Mary Fallin, a anti-abortion Republican, approves the measure.

GM foods are safe for humans and the environment, top scientists say

(cnbc.com) - Genetically Modified (GM) crops are safe for both human consumption and the environment, according to a report by top U.S. scientists on Tuesday.

Neither pest-resistant nor herbicide-resistant crops — the two widespread GM varieties — appeared to pose a threat, the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) said in the report. This was based on a review of more than 900 reports and other research over two decades.

"While recognizing the inherent difficulty of detecting subtle or long-term effects in health or the environment, the study committee found no substantiated evidence of a difference in risks to human health between currently commercialized genetically engineered (GE) crops and conventionally bred crops, nor did it find conclusive cause-and-effect evidence of environmental problems from the GE crops," the scientists said in a summary of the report.

'Career killer': Obama's new overtime expansion under fire

(FoxNews) May/18/2016  - As the Obama administration cheered “the worker wins” from a newly announced expansion of overtime pay, the directive drew a fierce backlash Wednesday from Republicans and the business community -- amid warnings that the move could backfire and hurt workers in the end.

“These rules are a career killer. With the stroke of a pen, the Labor Department is demoting millions of workers,” David French, a senior vice president for the National Retail Federation, said in a statement Wednesday morning.

Policy changes being formally unveiled Wednesday would make more than 4 million U.S. workers newly eligible for overtime pay. They’re intended to counter erosion in overtime protections, which require employers to pay 1 1/2 times a worker's regular salary for any work past 40 hours a week.

In the fast food and retail industries in particular, many workers have missed out on this because they’re deemed “managers” – they work long hours but are paid little more than the people they supervise.

Under the new rules, first released in draft form last summer, the annual salary threshold at which companies can deny overtime pay will be doubled from $23,660 to nearly $47,500.

That means a fast-food manager making $14 an hour – or roughly $30,000 a year – would now be eligible for overtime for those extra hours.

The White House estimates the rule change will raise pay by $1.2 billion a year over the next decade. In addition, some companies may instead choose to reduce their employees' hours to avoid paying the extra wages.

"Either way, the worker wins," said Vice President Joe Biden on a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon. He’s set to formally announce the rules at an event in Ohio Wednesday afternoon.

But critics warn workers could actually lose out as employers try to avoid the extra costs by converting salaried workers to hourly ones in order to more closely track working time, and cutting back in general.

Business groups say the changes will increase paperwork and scheduling burdens for small companies. The NRF’s David French said hundreds of thousands of workers in the retail sector alone will lose salaried-employee status.

“These regulations are full of false promises. Most of the people impacted by this change will not see any additional pay. Instead, this sudden and extraordinary increase will mean more red tape and fewer advancement opportunities for salaried professionals,” he said. (Full Story)

'Liquid Wire' Material Inspired by Spiders' Silk

(laboratoryequipment.com) - Why doesn't a spider's web sag in the wind or catapult flies back out like a trampoline? The answer, according to new research by an international team of scientists, lies in the physics behind a 'hybrid' material produced by spiders for their webs.

Pulling on a sticky thread in a garden spider's orb web and letting it snap back reveals that the thread never sags but always stays taut—even when stretched to many times its original length. This is because any loose thread is immediately spooled inside the tiny droplets of watery glue that coat and surround the core gossamer fibers of the web's capture spiral.

This phenomenon is described in the journal PNAS by scientists from the University of Oxford, UK and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.

The researchers studied the details of this 'liquid wire' technique in spiders' webs and used it to create composite fibers in the laboratory which, just like the spider's capture silk, extend like a solid and compress like a liquid. These novel insights may lead to new bio-inspired technology.

"The thousands of tiny droplets of glue that cover the capture spiral of the spider's orb web do much more than make the silk sticky and catch the fly. Surprisingly, each drop packs enough punch in its watery skins to reel in loose bits of thread. And this winching behavior is used to excellent effect to keep the threads tight at all times, as we can all observe and test in the webs in our gardens," said Fritz Vollrath of the Oxford Silk Group in the Department of Zoology at Oxford University.

The novel properties observed and analyzed by the scientists rely on a subtle balance between fiber elasticity and droplet surface tension. Importantly, the team was also able to recreate this technique in the laboratory using oil droplets on a plastic filament. And this artificial system behaved just like the spider's natural winch silk, with spools of filament reeling and unreeling inside the oil droplets as the thread extended and contracted.

"Spider silk has been known to be an extraordinary material for around 40 years, but it continues to amaze us. While the web is simply a high-tech trap from the spider's point of view, its properties have a huge amount to offer the worlds of materials, engineering and medicine," said Hervé Elettro, the first author and a doctoral researcher at Institut Jean Le Rond D'Alembert, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris.

"Our bio-inspired hybrid threads could be manufactured from virtually any components. These new insights could lead to a wide range of applications, such as microfabrication of complex structures, reversible micro-motors, or self-tensioned stretchable systems." (Source)

Colombia seizes more than 17,500 pounds of cocaine from drug gang

(CNN) The country where drug lord Pablo Escobar once wielded more power than many elected officials made a staggering announcement over the weekend.

Colombian authorities trumpeted what they said was their biggest cocaine seizure ever.
Police seized more than eight metric tons (more than 17,500 pounds) of cocaine from a gang in a series of operations.

The hefty haul weighs more than an African elephant and could have a street value of hundreds of millions of dollars.

But there's an even bigger question looming: Is the massive seizure a sign that Colombia is closing in on its most wanted criminal?

Wyoming: Yellowstone Tourists Put Baby Bison in Their SUV Because They Thought it Looked Cold

(yahoonews) - A couple of confused Yellowstone tourists happened upon a bison calf Monday and, thinking it appeared to be catching a chill, reportedly loaded it into their SUV and drove it to a ranger station.

“They were demanding to speak with a ranger,” witness Karen Richardson told EastIdahoNews.com. “They were seriously worried that the calf was freezing and dying.”

The father and son duo, who said they were from another country, were ticketed when park law enforcement was called.

Yellowstone rules clearly warn visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from the park's wild animals.

Officials then followed the visitors back to the spot where they said they picked the bison up and it was released.

Yellowstone's bison, like all bison, have a thick coat of fur and underfur--as well as tough skin--that allows even their calves to tolerate the intensesly cold winters of the Plains. (Full Story)

Call him Lord Prime Minister: Cambodia wants PM's title used

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — For years, some Cambodian media have referred to the country's longtime leader simply as Prime Minister Hun Sen. Authorities warned Thursday that has to stop.

Starting in August, all media must use his full, honorary, six-word title — "Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen" — in the opening lines of print articles, radio and TV stories about the leader.

The title translates roughly to "Lord Prime Minister and Supreme Military Commander" and was bestowed on Hun Sen by Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni in 2007.

The Information Ministry held a nearly three-hour meeting for journalists Thursday to announce the new guidelines and warn that legal action will be taken against media that don't comply. Officials gave no specifics on the punishment for flouting the rule, which they said was important to show respect for leaders who hold Cambodia's highest titles.

The new rule appeared aimed specifically at media viewed by the government as pro-opposition and pro-Western. Pro-government media typically refer to officials with their honorary titles.

It comes amid a series of moves by Hun Sen's government to put legal pressure on its critics and political opponents.

During his three decades in power, Hun Sen has long exerted strong control over the media, and expressing public dissent in Cambodia remains risky. The government has tightened controls on telecommunications and threatens prosecution of online critics, especially those commenting on Hun Sen and his family.

"We want you to state the full title of leaders in the story's lead or first sentence," said Ouk Kimseng, an under-secretary of state at the Information Ministry, who led the meeting. Subsequent references can drop the long title, he said.

The ministry has issued similar warnings before, which were largely ignored.

The rule also applies to several ruling party officials.

Hun Sen's wife Bun Rany was given a royal title in 2013, "Samdech Kittipritbandit Bun Rany Hun Sen," which translates to "Celebrated Senior Scholar Bun Rany Hun Sen." It refers to an honorary Ph.D. that was given to the first lady, who never formally graduated from university.

Could a gluten-free diet in kids do more harm than good?

(cbsnews.com)

- Placing children on a gluten-free diet without consulting a physician could be damaging to their health, medical experts warn.

Gluten-free diets are critical for people living with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder in which ingesting gluten -- a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye -- leads to damage in the small intestine. There is no treatment available for the disease and currently the only therapy is adhering to a gluten-free diet.

An estimated 1 percent of Americans live with celiac disease. That number has been growing in recent years -- likely because of increased awareness and improved detection. However, that increase does not account for the explosive growth of the gluten-free food industry. Millions of people now shun gluten even though there's no medical reason for them to do so.

A recent survey of more than 1,500 adults in the U.S. found that the most common motivations for going gluten-free were "no reason" and the belief that it's somehow a "healthier option."

Now, some health care providers raising concerns about the growing trend. A new commentary published in The Journal of Pediatrics specifically addresses the potential risk for children whose parents place them on a gluten-free diet without consulting a doctor, warning that it could do more harm than good.

Middle Class Shrinks in 9 of 10 US Cities as Incomes Fall

(abcnews.com)

- In cities across America, the middle class is hollowing out.

A widening wealth gap is moving more households into either higher- or lower-income groups in major metro areas, with fewer remaining in the middle, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

In nearly one-quarter of metro areas, middle-class adults no longer make up a majority, the Pew analysis found. That's up from fewer than 10 percent of metro areas in 2000.

That sharp shift reflects a broader erosion that occurred from 2000 through 2014. Over that time, the middle class shrank in nine of every 10 metro areas, Pew found.

The squeezing of the middle class has animated this year's presidential campaign, lifting the insurgent candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Many experts warn that widening income inequality may slow economic growth and make social mobility more difficult. Research has found that compared with children in more economically mixed communities, children raised in predominantly lower-income neighborhoods are less likely to reach the middle class.

Pew defines the middle class as households with incomes between two-thirds of the median and twice the median, adjusted for household size and the local cost of living. The median is midway between richest and poorest. It can better capture broad trends than an average, which can be distorted by heavy concentrations at the top or bottom of the income scale.

By Pew's definition, a three-person household was middle class in 2014 if its annual income fell between $42,000 and $125,000.

Middle class adults now make up less than half the population in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Houston.

"The shrinking of the American middle class is a pervasive phenomenon," said Rakesh Kochhar, associate research director for Pew and the lead author of the report. "It has increased the polarization in incomes."

The report documents several other key trends:

— Income for the typical household fell in 190 of the 229 metro areas studied, further evidence of the decline in U.S. living standards since 1999. Median incomes fell even in wealthier cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Denver.

— Income inequality is lifting some Americans closer to the top even as people in the middle fall further. Median incomes fell 8 percent nationwide from 1999 to 2014. Yet the share of adults in upper-income homes rose to 20 percent from 17 percent. Middle-income households declined to 51 percent from 55 percent.

— The hollowing out of the middle class has occurred even as the income needed to meet Pew's definition of the middle has declined. A three-person household had to earn $45,115 in 1999 to qualify as middle-class. Now, that figure is just $41,641.

Wendell Nolen, 52, has experienced the slide from middle-class status firsthand. Eight years ago, he was earning $28 an hour as a factory worker for Detroit's American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings, assembling axles for pickup trucks and SUVs.

But early in 2008, things unraveled. After a three-month strike, Nolen took a buyout rather than a pay cut. Less than a year later, the plant was closed and American Axle shipped much of its work to Mexico.

Now Nolen makes $17 an hour in the shipping department of a Detroit steel fabricator, about 40 percent less than he made at the axle plant.

"America is losing jobs because of the free trade stuff," Nolen argued. "They're selling America out."

UK: Is it legal to force women to wear high heels at work?

Appropriation!

(BBC) - A 27-year-old woman working for a City firm in London says she was sent home for refusing to wear high heels. But is this legal, fair or healthy?

Nicola Thorp says she was laughed at when she told her bosses that she didn't want to wear high heels on her first day as a corporate receptionist.

"I was expected to do a nine-hour shift on my feet escorting clients to meeting rooms. I said I just won't be able to do that in heels," she told the BBC.

She had arrived at the accountancy firm PwC wearing flats and she says she was told to go home without pay unless she went out and bought heels that were between two and four inches high. She refused and alleges Portico - the firm that runs PwC's reception at its office in Embankment, central London - followed through with its threat.

Now Thorp has set up a petition to the government, demanding "women have the option to wear flat formal shoes at work". It has picked up more than 7,000 signatures. The petition says the law as it stands is "outdated and sexist".

China to relocate 2 million people this year in struggle to banish poverty

(Reuters)

- China, fighting to stamp out poverty, will this year move more than two million of its poorest citizens from remote, inland regions to more developed areas, an official of the cabinet, or State Council, said on Tuesday.

The mass relocation of people is a strategy targeted at lifting 10 million citizens out of poverty by 2020, state news agency Xinhua has said.

Some of the villagers will move to areas with better social services, such as schools and hospitals, while others in remote areas will move to places with better roads and water supply, the official, Liu Yongfu, told a briefing.

The numbers would be stepped up gradually and may eventually hit 3 million, added Liu, who heads the cabinet's Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

"We will talk it over with the localities and accumulate some experience, after that we will increase step-by-step," he said.

Despite two decades of rapid economic growth, poverty remains a huge issue in China, mainly in rural areas, where a lack of jobs drives out adults, leaving behind children and the elderly, often with limited access to schools and healthcare.

China's poor, who make up about 5 percent of a population of nearly 1.4 billion, live mostly in the countryside, and earn less than 2,300 yuan ($362) a year, government and state media say.

In March Premier Li Keqiang promised a boost of 43 percent in funding for poverty relief programs. Last October, the cabinet said China aimed to lift all its 70 million poor above the poverty line by 2020.

In December, Li urged local authorities to provide housing, healthcare, schooling and employment for relocated citizens.

Since kicking off market reforms in 1978, China has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty, but it remains a developing country and the reforms are incomplete, the World Bank says.

Sea Level Rise Swallows 5 (useless) Whole Pacific Islands

(scientificamerican.com)

- Sea-level rise, erosion and coastal flooding are some of the greatest challenges facing humanity from climate change.

Recently at least five reef islands in the remote Solomon Islands have been lost completely to sea-level rise and coastal erosion, and a further six islands have been severely eroded.

These islands lost to the sea range in size from one to five hectares. They supported dense tropical vegetation that was at least 300 years old. Nuatambu Island, home to 25 families, has lost more than half of its habitable area, with 11 houses washed into the sea since 2011.

- This is the first scientific evidence, published in Environmental Research Letters, that confirms the numerous anecdotal accounts from across the Pacific of the dramatic impacts of climate change on coastlines and people.

Previous studies examining the risk of coastal inundation in the Pacific region have found that islands can actually keep pace with sea-level rise and sometimes even expand.

However, these studies have been conducted in areas of the Pacific with rates of sea level rise of 3-5 mm per year – broadly in line with the global average of 3 mm per year.

For the past 20 years, the Solomon Islands have been a hotspot for sea-level rise. Here the sea has risen at almost three times the global average, around 7-10 mm per year since 1993. This higher local rate is partly the result of natural climate variability.

These higher rates are in line with what we can expect across much of the Pacific in the second half of this century as a result of human-induced sea-level rise. Many areas will experience long-term rates of sea-level rise similar to that already experienced in Solomon Islands in all but the very lowest-emission scenarios.

Natural variations and geological movements will be superimposed on these higher rates of global average sea level rise, resulting in periods when local rates of rise will be substantially larger than that recently observed in Solomon Islands. We can therefore see the current conditions in Solomon Islands as an insight into the future impacts of accelerated sea-level rise.

We studied the coastlines of 33 reef islands using aerial and satellite imagery from 1947-2015. This information was integrated with local traditional knowledge, radiocarbon dating of trees, sea-level records, and wave models. (Full Story)

Does swaddling babies raise risk of SIDS?

(cbsnews.com)

- If infants are swaddled during sleep, their risk of dying from SIDS is higher, especially if they are placed on their stomachs, new research suggests.

Swaddling is defined in various ways, but it typically refers to wrapping a child snugly in a blanket or cloth, with head exposed but arms inside. Swaddling is thought to have a calming influence on babies that helps them sleep.

However, swaddling can be risky, the new study finds.

"Babies who were swaddled were 50 to 60 percent more likely to die of SIDS," said lead researcher Dr. Rachel Moon, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Moon's team analyzed the results of four previously published studies. The studies spanned two decades and included regions of England, Tasmania in Australia, as well as Chicago.

While the overall SIDS risk was increased with swaddling, the risk was even greater when swaddled babies were placed on their stomachs to sleep, Moon said. Those infants, compared to those not swaddled, had about 13 times the risk of dying from SIDS, also known as sudden infant death syndrome, she said.

The risk also increased as infants approached 6 months of age, Moon said, when they are likely to be able to roll over by themselves. Most babies can do that by around 4 months of age, she noted.

Moon said she couldn't explain the link, and the study could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between swaddling and SIDS risk.

The analysis also had some limitations, such as the fact that swaddling was defined differently in the four studies.

SIDS killed about 1,500 children in the United States in 2014, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's the leading cause of death in babies under 1 year of age. It is defined as a sudden death in an infant that cannot be explained after a thorough investigation, including an autopsy.

In the studies reviewed, 760 babies who died of SIDS were compared with 1,759 who did not.

The findings seem to support current medical advice to avoid placing infants on their stomach or side to sleep, Moon said.

"The take-home messages are, if the baby is getting old enough where they can roll, they shouldn't be swaddled," and they shouldn't sleep on their stomachs or sides, Moon said.

However, another expert sees a slightly different take-home message.

"I normally don't recommend swaddling to put them to sleep for the night," said Dr. Gloria Riefkohl, a pediatrician at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami.

"I think swaddling should be done [only with observation]," she said. "Any swaddling should be done with the baby in your arms, or [while] observing the baby."

Even if the baby "co-sleeps" with the parents, Riefkohle does not recommend swaddling for nighttime sleep at all. (Full Story)

Want to keep fruits fresh without refrigeration? Put a silk coating

indianexpress.com

Your favourite apples and bananas can stay fresh for more than a week without refrigeration if they are coated in a thin, odourless, biocompatible silk solution, says a study.

Silk’s unique crystalline structure makes it one of nature’s toughest materials. Fibroin, an insoluble protein found in silk, has a remarkable ability to stabilise and protect other materials while being fully biocompatible and biodegradable.

For the study, the researchers dipped freshly picked strawberries in a solution of one percent silk fibroin protein. The coating process was repeated up to four times.

The silk fibroin-coated fruits were then treated for varying amounts of time with water vapour under vacuum (water annealed) to create varying percentages of crystalline beta-sheets in the coating.

The strawberries were then stored at room temperature. Uncoated berries were compared over time with berries dipped in varying numbers of coats of silk that had been annealed for different periods of time.

At seven days, the berries coated with the higher beta-sheet silk were still juicy and firm while the uncoated berries were dehydrated and discoloured.

Tests showed that the silk coating prolonged the freshness of the fruits by slowing fruit respiration, extending fruit firmness and preventing decay.

“The beta-sheet content of the edible silk fibroin coatings made the strawberries less permeable to carbon dioxide and oxygen. We saw a statistically significant delay in the decay of the fruit,” said senior study author Fiorenzo Omenetto, professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts, US. 

Similar experiments were performed on bananas, which, unlike strawberries, are able to ripen after they are harvested. The silk coating decreased the bananas’ ripening rate compared with uncoated controls and added firmness to the fruit by preventing softening of the peel. 

The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. 

Half of the world’s fruit and vegetable crops are lost during the food supply chain, due mostly to premature deterioration of these perishable foods, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. - 

See more: HERE

California raises smoking age to 21, tightens vaping rules

SacramentoBee

(May 4 2016)  - Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday enacted California’s most significant new tobacco regulations in decades, signing laws that will place tight restrictions on use of the increasingly popular e-cigarette and make California the second state to raise its smoking age to 21.

Brown signed five closely watched bills, which will also expand smoking restrictions in the workplace and on school properties. California now joins jurisdictions like Hawaii, New York City and San Francisco that have bumped the tobacco-buying age to 21 in an effort to block young people’s route to obtaining tobacco.

But Brown vetoed one measure that would have allowed cities and counties to impose local taxes on tobacco products.

“Although California has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the nation,” he wrote in his veto message, “I am reluctant to approve this measure in view of all the taxes being proposed for the 2016 ballot.”

For public health advocates, Brown’s embrace marked a rare victory in a statehouse where tobacco interests often stub out anti-smoking bills.

“I am in a great mood this evening,” said Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-Azusa, who authored the bill raising the smoking age. “It’s been decades since we’ve actually done anything to reduce tobacco use.”

He said his measure would save lives and health care costs by removing easy access during the teenage years when most smokers take up the habit.

“It puts the stake in the ground and reaffirms that California is the leader,” he said. “What I hope from this is that the rest of the country follows.”

The political focus for the coalition pushing the bills, which included health groups and organized labor, now shifts to winning a $2-a-pack tax through a November ballot initiative.

Brown’s signature dealt a rebuke to the burgeoning electronic cigarette industry. While soaring adolescent vaping rates have public health officials worried about a new wave of addiction, e-cigarette advocates call their product a safer alternative to tobacco that can help smokers quit.
 Read more: HERE

Third World USA: Woman berates Walmart customer for using food stamps in viral video

REAGAN'S FAULT!

- A video that is going viral shows a woman berating a man for using food stamps at Walmart.

“This all started by her saying to her son ‘see this is why you go to college so you don’t take handouts,'” the YouTube description states.

In the beginning of the video, you can hear the woman complaining to the father about how she is paying for his food.

“You know, I put in 50-60 hour weeks… trying to provide for my family,” the man says.

“You’re not providing for it, I am,” the woman says. “The government is.”

“You’re not,” the man says.

“They take it out of my check,” the woman says. “Bullsh*t they don’t.”

“Contact your local senators and congressmen and issue a complaint,” he says. “Vote Republican. I’m sorry; I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Oh, trust me, I am not a bleeding heart fu*king liberal,” the woman replies.

The woman later tells the man that he must be a Bernie Sanders supporter.

“That’s who you vote for,” she says. “They give it to you, so you vote that way.”

Both customers were with their children at the time of the argument.

The video of the confrontation has gone viral, receiving more than 3.8 million views on YouTube.

The video contains strong language viewer discretion is advised 

Zimbabwe to sell wildlife in bid to tackle drought

(newsweek)

In the midst of a depleting drought, Zimbabwe is putting its wildlife up for sale.

The Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife Management Authority, known as Zimparks, said that “in light of the drought… [the Authority] intends to destock its park estates through selling some of the wildlife,” in a statement reported by Reuters on Tuesday.

It asked interested parties “with the capacity to acquire and manage wildlife”—including enough land to house the creatures—to get in contact.

Zimbabwe is home to 10 national parks and a wide variety of wildlife, including elephants, rhinos, lions and leopards. Wildlife populations are threatened by poaching, with Zimbabwean authorities recently having to put down a rare black rhino—one of just 5,000 remaining in the world—called Ntombi after she was badly hurt by poachers. The poaching of a popular Zimbabwean lion called Cecil in July 2015 near the Hwange National Park by American dentist Walter Palmer also sparked global outrage.

The southern African country is in the grip of a devastating drought that has left more than 4 million people in need of food aid. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe declared a state of disaster in February in several rural areas hit hardest by the drought, which has been exacerbated across southern Africa by the El Niño weather pattern—a periodic weather event caused by the warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean that results in disruption to weather patterns across the world. The event has caused rainfall levels to fall to their lowest in more than three decades in large parts of Zimbabwe, South Africa and other countries in the region, according to the World Food Program.

Zimparks spokeswoman Caroline Washaya-Moyo told Reuters that the Authority did not have a target number of animals to sell but that it would depend on the number of bids received. The Authority said that the funds raised would be used to preserve grassland and water resources before the next rainy season. Zimbabwe’s Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told CNN that the funds would be directed “to buy food and water facilities for distressed animals.”

Muchinguri-Kashiri said in January that Zimbabwe would increase its exports of wildlife to China, including elephants. The ivory from elephant tusks is seen as having medicinal properties in parts of Asia including China. Between July 2015 and January, Zimbabwe sold around 100 elephants out of a total population of 84,000 to China, each fetching around $40,000 each, the BBC reported.

7 of 10 most profitable US hospitals are nonprofits

mcall.com

CHICAGO — Seven of the 10 most profitable U.S. hospitals are nonprofits, according to new research, including one in Urbana, Illinois, where hospital tax exemptions are headed for a contentious court battle that soon could determine whether medical facilities are paying their fair share of taxes.

The "Top 10" list accompanies a study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs. The analysis is based on federal data from 2013 on nearly 3,000 hospitals. The authors measured profits using net income from patient care services, disregarding other income such as investments, donations and tuition. Researchers say the measure reflects how hospitals fare from their core work, without income from other activities.

The research comes amid a legal inquiry into Lehigh Valley Health Network's charitable giving and as cities in New Jersey, Michigan and Wisconsin wage battles over their hospitals' tax breaks. Officials are scraping for revenue and pressuring hospitals to either pay up or justify their tax-exempt status.

So, who's making money, and how? According to the study, delivering patient care was a money-loser for 55 percent of hospitals in the year studied. About a third made some money — up to $1,000 — per patient. And a small group — about 12 percent of the total — made profits of more than $1,000 per discharged patient from payments by insurers, government and patients themselves.

Starbucks iced coffee contains too much ice, not enough coffee, lawsuit claims

(washintonpost)

Just how important is the ice in an iced coffee?

That question is now up for debate, as an Illinois woman has filed suit against Starbucks, claiming that the coffee chain is “underfilling” its cold beverages, duping customers and serving drinks that contain less coffee than advertised.

“Starbucks is misleading customers who expect to receive the advertised amount of fluid ounces,” states the class-action lawsuit, which was filed last week in federal court. “For example, if a gallon of gas is advertised as costing three dollars, and a customer pays three dollars and pumps gas, that customer is expecting to receive a gallon of gas — not approximately half a gallon.”

The plaintiff who filed the suit, Stacy Pincus, alleges that those who purchase cold beverages at Starbucks receive far less coffee than advertised. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, notes that the claims also apply to iced tea and other cold beverages prepared by Starbucks employees.

“We are aware of the plaintiff’s claims, which we fully believe to be without merit,” Starbucks spokeswoman Jaime Riley said in a statement emailed to The Washington Post on Monday. “Our customers understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any ‘iced’ beverage. If a customer is not satisfied with their beverage preparation, we will gladly remake it.”

On its menus, Starbucks advertises “tall” drinks as 12 fluid ounces; “grande” drinks as 16 fluid ounces; “venti”-sized cold drinks as 24 fluid ounces; and its “trenta” cold drinks as 30 fluid ounces.

However, the lawsuit claims, Starbucks baristas pour a smaller amount of coffee into the beverage, then fill the rest with ice. That practice leaves the consumer with less coffee than they pay for, according to the suit.

This common hair style is making you go bald, and here’s why

(Morningticker)

A new study claims that this common hair style is resulting in major hair loss, and people don't realize it.

You may be doing major damage to your hair and not even realize it — and it’s all because of the hair style you chose.

As we reported recently, a new study claims that women who wear their hair extremely tightly pulled back are damaging their hair follicles and resulting in hair loss. The study noted that scalp-pulled hair styles favored by African-American women were particularly damaging to follicles.

They blame it on what is known as “traction alopecia” — but what exactly is that, and how likely is it that you have it?

Alopecia means gradual hair loss. Traction references the fact that great stress is being put on the hair resulting in this hair loss. Those who wear particularly tight ponytails or braids are actually yanking on the follicles where the roots of the hair are located. When the follicles are damaged past a certain point, the hair can’t grow back.

Braids are particularly bad because they require frequent maintenance. The hairpiece must be removed, the hair must be braided again, and the yanking and tugging continues on a regular basis, repeatedly damaging the follicles.

“Moderate-risk styles, the authors say, include some of the same styles noted to be high risk, but because they are performed on natural, unprocessed hair, they are less likely to result in hair loss,” the statement reads. “Low-risk styles generally included low-tension styles, such as loose buns, and loose-hanging styles, such as wearing the hair down, as well as practices that decrease the amount of friction on the hair and scalp and avoid chemical relaxers.”

The statement goes on to note that braids, dreadlocks, weaves, and extension — especially in the case of chemically straightened hair — represent the highest-risk hair styles.

“In their review, the investigators also offered guidelines for dermatologists and other care providers to prevent and manage hair loss from traction alopecia,” it adds. “The first line of therapy, they say, is to loosen braids and other high-tension styles, as well as weight on the follicle permanently or periodically. Braided hairstyles should be in place no longer than two to three months, they say, and weaves and extensions should also be removed for a period of time after six to eight weeks.” (Source)