Walgreens deal offers no lasting relief to Rite Aid

Reuters - A slimmed-down Rite Aid Corp (RAD.N) could lose much of its bargaining heft with insurers and makers of branded drugs at a time when it is trying to turn around its flagging pharmacy business, analysts said.

Rite Aid said on Thursday it would sell nearly half its U.S. stores to larger rival Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA.O) after the drugstore operators agreed to scrap a whole-sale merger.

Wall Street showed its displeasure at the new deal, pushing Rite Aid's shares down 30 percent to a near four-year low after the announcement. The stock added to its losses, falling 7 percent on Friday.

Rite Aid has been struggling with eroding profits in its pharmacy business, which sells prescription drugs, as increases in branded drug prices have slowed while reimbursement pressure for generics has intensified.

"I think Rite Aid is going to struggle to remain relevant in the pharmacy industry," said Adam Fein, president at Pembroke Consulting, which tracks the drug distribution industry.

"The pharmacy industry has become hyper competitive and it favors either large teams or nimble independents, and Rite Aid is buck in the middle and doesn't have geographic scale anywhere, except in the North East and the West Coast."

But it's not all bad news for the company.

Under the new deal, Rite Aid will gain access to Walgreen's centralized sourcing system, allowing it to procure generic drugs at low costs for 10 years and giving its pharmacy margins a much-needed boost.

Walgreens, the No. 1 drugstore chain in the country, has a sourcing contract with AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC.N), the second-largest U.S. drug distributor, giving the alliance bargaining clout against drugmakers.

"We estimate more favorable generic procuring costs could provide 3-5 percent of saving on RAD's total generic spend," Cowen & Co analyst Charles Rhyee said in a research note. (ontinueReading

G20: Angela Merkel sketches vision of France-German led Europe

dw.com - Germany and France will take a greater role in leading the European Union, and Europe must take a greater role in leading the world. That would be one way of summarizing Angela Merkel's speech to the German parliament on Thursday.

Merkel began her 30-minute address by reporting on the EU summit last weekend and discussing the bloc's prospects as it negotiates the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the union.

Significantly, Merkel spoke of "France and our other partners in the EU." She said that she had specifically talked with French President Emmanuel Macron about a "medium-term plan for deepening the EU and the euro zone." She also added that German and French interests were "connected in the closest possible way."

The German chancellor argued that the EU was recovering from its economic crisis, with all 27 remaining members recording growth and lower unemployment. The UK, Merkel suggested, was no longer at the center of European plans.

"Our priority is to prepare for our own future within the European Union, regardless of the Brexit," Merkel said.

The chancellor also reiterated the need, against the backdrop of tensions with the United States under Donald Trump, for the EU to take more responsibility.

"Europe has no choice but to increasingly take its fate in its own hands," Merkel said. (ontinueReading

Uh Oh: CNN faced $100M lawsuit over botched Russia story

nypost.com - The specter of a $100 million libel suit scared CNN into retracting a poorly reported story that slimed an ally of President Trump’s — and forcing out the staffers responsible for it, The Post has learned.

The cable network’s coverage of Trump transition team member Anthony Scaramucci came amid federal scrutiny of corporate parent Time Warner’s pending purchase by AT&T — and the widespread belief among media execs that CNN President Jeff Zucker can’t survive a merger.

CNN immediately caved after Scaramucci, a financier and frequent network guest, cried foul and threatened to take legal action, sources said Tuesday.

Scaramucci got an unusual public apology but still hired a top Manhattan lawyer to put further pressure on CNN and “look after [his] interests in this matter,” one source said.

Sources also said the three journalists responsible for the retracted story — reporter Tom Frank, editor Eric Lichtblau and Lex Haris, who headed the CNN Investigates unit — were urged to resign.

“They called them in and said they’d pay out their contracts, but they should leave immediately,” one source said.

Zucker was afraid of facing a high-profile suit from Scaramucci while the US Justice Department weighs the proposed $85.4 billion media merger.

Meanwhile, a CNN insider said staffers are furious at “having lost the moral high ground because of this story.” Sources said Zucker tried to rally his staff during a Tuesday morning conference call.

“Zucker stressed that this issue was a ‘lapse in editorial standards’ and said it was a lesson to all reporters and editors to continue to strive for strong, accurate reporting,” a source said.

At last week’s Cannes Lions festival in France — where Zucker boasted that viewers trust CNN “more than ever” — rumors were rife that he’d be out of a job if the AT&T deal goes through.

“It’s not just Jeff Zucker, all Time Warner executives are anxious about if they will survive the merger,” a media source said Tuesday.

“What is interesting is that the AT&T execs who will decide who goes and who stays are [AT&T CEO] Randall Stephenson and [AT&T Entertainment Group CEO] John Stankey — who have a very good relationship with the current administration.”

Trump — a fierce critic of CNN — publicly opposed the merger during the campaign. Sources said Scaramucci, a frequent guest on CNN to defend the president, was treated like a star at Saturday’s wedding of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Louise Linton in Washington, DC.

“Everyone at the White House has been high-fiving each other over Anthony’s success in embarrassing CNN,” one attendee said.

“Trump is thoroughly enjoying this, and Anthony got endless slaps on the back at Steve’s wedding.”

The retracted story was based on a single, anonymous source who claimed the Senate Intelligence Committee was probing ties between the Trump administration and a Russian government-owned investment fund.

The story, posted on CNN.com on Thursday, also claimed the Treasury Department was believed to be investigating Scaramucci over a purported Jan. 16 meeting with the fund’s director general.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday she wasn’t sure if CNN’s handling of the matter was “good enough” for her boss, who went on a Twitter tirade against the news channel earlier in the day.

“I think that we have gone to a place where if the media can’t be trusted to report the news, then that’s a dangerous place for America, and I think if that is the place that certain outlets are going, particularly for the purpose of spiking ratings, and if that’s coming directly from the top, I think that’s even more scary,” she said.

“I think that we should take a really good look at what we are focused on, what we are covering, and making sure that it’s actually accurate and it’s honest,” she added.

CNN’s retraction of the Scaramucci story was the latest in a string of recent embarrassments, including the firing earlier this month of “Believer” series host Reza Aslan after he called Trump a “piece of s–t” on Twitter. (ontinueReading

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Related: ’Going for jugular’: Undercover filmmakers take aim at CNN

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Ransomware virus hits computer servers across Europe

Reuters - A major ransomware attack on Tuesday (June 27)  hit computers at Russia's biggest oil company, the country's banks, Ukraine's international airport as well as global shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk.

Moscow-based cyber security firm Group IB said hackers had exploited code developed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) which was leaked and then used in the WannaCry ransomware attack that caused global disruption in May.

One of the victims of Tuesday's cyber attack, a Ukrainian media company, said its computers were blocked and it had received a demand for $300 worth of the Bitcoin crypto-currency to restore access to its files.

"If you see this text, then your files are no longer accessible, because they have been encrypted. Perhaps you are busy looking for a way to recover your files, but don't waste your time. Nobody can recover your files without our decryption service," the message said, according to a screenshot posted by Ukraine's Channel 24.

The same message appeared on computers at Maersk offices in Rotterdam, according to screenshots posted on local media.

The Danish shipping giant said it had been hit across multiple regions by a computer outage. "We can confirm the breakdown is caused by a cyber attack," a spokeswoman said.

Other companies that said they had been hit by a presumed cyber attack included Russian metal maker Evraz, French construction materials firm Saint Gobain and the world's biggest advertising agency, WPP - though it was not clear if their problems were caused by the same virus.

Food company Mondelez International also said its staff in different regions were experiencing technical problems. (ontinueReading

For Russians, Stalin is the ‘most outstanding’ figure in world history, followed by Putin

MOSCOW — More Russians consider Joseph Stalin the “most outstanding person” in world history than any other leader, according to a poll released Monday. Tied for second in the same survey is the man who has done more than anyone to restore the notorious Soviet dictator's reputation, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The poll by the Levada Center asked a representative sample of 1,600 Russians to name the “top 10 most outstanding people of all time and all nations.” It also compiled a list of all 20 names that received more than 6 percent of the vote.

Without prompting, 38 percent named Stalin, followed by Putin at 34 percent, in a tie with Alexander Pushkin, the renowned 19th-century poet often referred to as “the Shakespeare of Russia.”

Putin's 34 percent is his highest ranking on this list since he came to power 17 years ago. Stalin has actually slipped a few notches: He polled 42 percent in 2012, the first time he topped the survey of the world's most influential people, which has been conducted by Levada and its predecessors since 1989.

But there's little doubt of the connectivity between the popularity of the former and current Kremlin occupants.

Stalin in Russia is increasingly portrayed not as the murderous architect of the Gulag, forced collectivization, mass starvation and political purges that claimed millions of his citizens' lives, but as the steely architect of the Soviet victory in World War II — called the Great Patriotic War here.

The defeat of Nazi Germany is central to the Putin regime's portrayal of itself as the logical outcome of Russian history. In the Kremlin’s view, saving the world from fascism was the greatest achievement of the 20th century. Russia inherited this legacy, and thanks to Putin, it has returned to its proper place as a global power, his supporters say. (ontinueReading

Sheep Delivers what appears to be a 'Half-Human' Lamb In South Africa

techtimes.com - Fear and panic struck a small village in South Africa after a local sheep gave birth to what appears to be a "half-human" lamb.

Residents of Lady Frere in South Africa reported that a sheep in their village gave birth to a strange-looking creature that resembled a half-human half-beast. The odd appearance of the animal led elders to believe that it may have been "sent by the devil."

Experts from the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development were sent to the village after photographs of the half-human lamb began to spread around the community. They conducted several tests to find out what really happened to the deformed animal.

Investigators discovered that the lamb had died after having been born. While the creature did have physical features that looked like those of a human being, they said it was not part human.

Dr. Lubabalo Mrwebi, chief director of veterinary services for the village, said they can confirm that the photograph of the strange creature was not a hoax. It belonged to a newborn lamb that was severely deformed. At a quick glance, the creature may resemble a human form.

Mrwebi, however, clarified that the animal is not a human being but rather a deformed stillborn lamb. Its mother may have been infected with Rift Valley Fever (RVF) while it was going through the early stages of pregnancy.

To further dispel the notion that the creature may have been born through the union of a sheep and a human being, Mrwebi explained the difference between their chromosomes. He said that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes while sheep have 28 pairs. This means that it won't be possible to conceive a life form by combining human sperm and sheep ovum.

As far as the odd appearance of the lamb goes, Mrwebi said the creature shows signs that it may have experienced a problem during its early fetal development, likely a result of a viral infection to the mother.

Sheep often give birth after a gestation period of about five months. This means that the stillborn lamb may have been conceived between December 2016 and January 2017. Mrwebi believes the mother of the creature may have been infected by the RVF virus during this time since the period is known for plentiful rainfall. It is when virus carriers, such as mosquitoes and midges, are most active in the area.

In June 2015, a piglet in a village in Colombia was born with two heads and three eyes. The animal was believed to have been born with polycephaly, a condition where two heads are conjoined during development.

The owner of the piglet said his neighbors told him to sacrifice the animal out of fear that its condition might spread to other animals in the farm. He has also received offers from other people to buy the deformed piglet to use an attraction for their businesses.

Meanwhile, in April 2016, a farmer in Malaysia claimed that one of his goats gave birth to a human-like creature. It was born with a bi-pedal frame and a distinctively human face. However, the deformed animal did not survive long following its birth. ContinueReading

Best buds: Trump to host Indian PM Narendra Modi in effort to strengthen ties

via cbsnews.com - WASHINGTON -- President Trump will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday for his first dinner at the White House with a foreign head of state, rolling out the red carpet as the administration seeks to strengthen ties with India, a major defense partner and ally.

The dinner will be the first meeting between Mr. Trump and Modi. Both are flamboyant, combative leaders who came into office promising economic reforms on a wave of nationalist support.

"I think these two leaders have a lot in common. For one, they are the world's two most followed political leaders on social media," a senior White House official said on Friday ahead of the meeting. "They are both innovators and businessmen and committed to bringing greater prosperity to their people and thinking about innovative ways to do that. I think they are going to find a lot of common ground in their discussions."

Just weeks ago, Mr. Trump hammered India when announcing the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, slamming the country's participation in the accord as being "contingent on receiving billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid from developed countries."

With the upcoming dinner, the White House says it hopes to restate its commitment to working with India on counterterrorism efforts, trade, and global cooperation in North Korea and Afghanistan.

"This visit is an opportunity to advance that trade dialogue that will enhance prosperity and create jobs for both countries," the official said. "We believe a strong India is good for the United States."

The administration official would not comment on a $2-billion pending arms deal that would provide 22 naval surveillance drones to India. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., the company that makes the aircraft, announced Friday that the administration had approved of the sale, the first of its kind between the U.S. and a non-NATO country.

"We do take into account the regional situation," the official said of potential defense deals, adding that the administration wants to "avoid a situation that escalates tensions" between India and neighboring rival Pakistan.

"Some of the defense systems we're talking about, we don't believe that they represent a threat to Pakistan," the official said.

The official said the White House hopes to encourage a "normalization of ties" between the India and Pakistan through bilateral dialogue. The official also praised India's financial support for war-torn Afghanistan -- Pakistan's neighbor to the west -- where India has pledged over $3 billion in aid and funded various infrastructure projects.

The White House, which has deemed the final week of June as "Energy Week," will also highlight the energy partnership between the U.S. and India, citing $42 billion in long-term contracts for the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Louisiana and Maryland. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has prioritized efforts to review and approve LNG export terminals in the U.S. (ontinueReading

US: FCC proposes record $120 million fine for man in robocall scheme

cdbsnews.com - Nearly everyone hates robocalls. Federal regulators now want to fine a Florida man an unprecedented $120 million for allegedly running a massive robocall "spoofing" scam, which allegedly made more than a million calls a day in order to peddle timeshare services and other products, according to the government.

The financial penalty – which, if approved in court, would be the biggest ever against an individual – is warranted based on the massive scope and damage caused by the illegal robocalling and phone number spoofing scam masterminded by Adrian Abramovich of Miami, the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday.

Faking local numbers that mimicked the same area code and first three digits of the victim's phone number, Abramovich's marketing companies made 96 million illegal robocalls in a mere three-month stretch, the agency said. This form of "neighbor spoofing" is believed to increase the chance that even skeptical consumers will pick up the line, believing that the robocaller is actually a friend or neighbor.

When consumers did pick up, they were often urged to press a number on their telephone keypad to hear about "exclusive" vacation deals supposedly offered by major companies such as Hilton, Marriott, TripAdvisor and Expedia. In reality, the calls directed consumers to "travel agencies" that served as front operations for a group of timeshare companies operating in Mexico. The Mexican company has not been charged, but investigations continue.

Over the course of several years, Abramovich's companies disrupted emergency services, bilked vulnerable consumers out of thousands of dollars and hurt legitimate businesses, the FCC contends.

Indeed, the agency had help in uncovering Abramovich's operation from two companies directly impacted by the scam, according to documents filed by the FCC. Spok, a Virginia-based medical paging service, contacted the FCC in 2015 when a flood of robocalls disrupted its emergency paging service. From information provided by Spok, the FCC determined that Abramovich and his companies were the source of the disruptive phone calls.

Meanwhile, TripAdvisor was deluged by consumer complaints about robocalls that the company had not initiated or authorized. After conducting an internal investigation, TripAdvisor determined that the offending calls were linked to a Mexican hotel and resort chain that had contracted with Abramovich for advertising services.

The robocalls, most of which were made to cell phones, violate a number of telecommunications laws, according to the FCC. The Truth in Caller ID Act, for instance, prohibits callers from deliberately falsifying caller ID information to disguise their identity with the intent to harm or defraud consumers.

In March, the FCC announced a crackdown on robocalls, an industry that has ballooned in recent years. Last year, Americans received about 2.4 billion robocalls every month, according to the FCC. (ontinueReading

World population to hit 9.8 billion by 2050, despite nearly universal lower fertility rates – UN

21 June 2017 – The world population is now nearly 7.6 billion, up from 7.4 billion in 2015, spurred by the relatively high levels of fertility in developing countries – despite an overall drop in the number of children people have around the globe – the United Nations today reported.

The concentration of global population growth is in the poorest countries, according to World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, presenting a challenge as the international community seeks to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which seeks to end poverty and preserve the planet.

“With roughly 83 million people being added to the world's population every year, the upward trend in population size is expected to continue, even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline,” said the report's authors at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (ontinueReading



















At this rate, the world population is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and surpass 11.2 billion in 2100.



















The growth is expected to come, in part, from the 47 least developed countries, where the fertility rate is around 4.3 births per woman, and whose population is expected to reach 1.9 billion people in 2050 from the current estimate of one billion.



















In addition, the populations in 26 African countries are likely to “at least double” by 2050, according to the report.



















That trend comes despite lower fertility rates in nearly all regions of the world, including in Africa, where rates fell from 5.1 births per woman from 2000-2005 to 4.7 births from 2010-2015.

Astrophysicist warns devastating asteroid strike 'just a matter of time'

- An astrophysicist from Queen's University Belfast is warning that Earth is incredibly vulnerable to an asteroid strike.

That scientist is Alan Fitzsimmons and he believes, "it is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen."

"Astronomers find Near-Earth Asteroids every day and most are harmless. But it is still possible the next Tunguska would take us by surprise, and although we are much better at finding larger asteroids, that does us no good if we are not prepared to do something about them," said Fitzsimmons.

A news release on the astrophysicist and his warning notes that Fitzsimmons "is highlighting the threat for Asteroid Day, a global event on 30 June. On that day in 1908, a small asteroid exploded over Tunguska in Siberia and devastated 800 square miles."

Professor Fitzsimmons is warning that a similar unexpected strike in today's world could easily destroy a major city and a larger asteroid could be more dangerous."

Trove of new horror species discovered in Australian abyss

cnet.com - What lurks in the ocean's abyssal depths? That was the question the crew of research vessel RV Investigator sought to answer in a month-long expedition exploring Australia's eastern abyss for the first time.

The Marine National Facility boat was led by Museums Victoria, along with CSIRO and other research bodies, and departed mid-May from Launceston, Tasmania, docking in Brisbane, Queensland on Friday, June 16.

"The abyss is the largest and deepest habitat on the planet, covering half the world's oceans and one third of Australia's territory, but it remains the most unexplored environment on Earth," said Museums Victoria senior curator Tim O'Hara on the voyage's departure.

At 4,000 metres down in the ocean, the abyssopelagic zone has been difficult to explore. It is so deep no light can penetrate it, and consequently extremely cold. Moreover, the pressure at that depth is crushing. So far, only a small number of samples have been collected from Australia's abyss -- but there is much to learn from them.

"The data gathered on this trip will be crucial to understanding Australia's deep-sea habitats, their biodiversity and the ecological processes that sustain them. This will assist in its conservation and management and help to protect it from the impacts of climate change, pollution and other human activity," O'Hara said.

Using multibeam sonar, the team mapped the abyss floor, which allowed them to send collecting gear such as trawling sleds down without smashing it into rocks. And they brought back a treasure trove of over 1,000 different species of deep-sea creepy crawlies, over a third of which are completely new to science.

And, being abyssal creatures adapted to survive in the crushing, freezing darkness, they are pretty grotesque to our land-dwelling human eyes -- slimy and toothy and luminescent and, in one very memorable case, more than a little bit phallic.

The team also found a worrying amount of pollution.

"We have found highly concerning levels of rubbish on the sea floor," O' Hara said. "We're 100 kilometres off Australia's coast, and have found PVC pipes, cans of paints, bottles, beer cans, woodchips, and other debris from the days when steamships plied our waters. The seafloor has 200 years of rubbish on it. Hopefully information such as this is the first step in influencing social attitudes towards rubbish disposal."

Now that the crew has landed with its collection of specimens, a science crew is hard at work processing and photographing and preserving them for museums around the world. These can then be used for research purposes for years to come. (ontinueReading

Driver dies after ramming car into police vehicle on Champs-Elysees in probable terrorist attack

washingtonpost.com PARIS — A car exploded as it crashed into a police vehicle on Paris’s famed Champs-Elysees on Monday in what authorities called a probable terrorist attack.

Police were treating the incident as a deliberate act, and the Paris prosecutor opened a terrorism investigation.

The driver, whose identity was not immediately released, was killed in the crash, Gerard Collomb, France’s interior minister, told reporters at the scene. No one else was injured, Paris police sources said.

Police said the attacker — who was 31 and from the northwestern Paris suburb of Argenteuil — was known to French authorities, the Associated Press reported. He was reportedly listed on the government’s “Fiche S,” a dossier of people suspected of posing a threat to national security.

“Once again, French security forces were targeted with this attempted attack on the Champs-Elysees,” Collomb said. He added that “a number of weapons, explosives to blow up this car” were discovered at the scene.

In late April, before the first round of voting in France’s presidential election, there was a similar incident on the Champs-Elysees, when a man opened fire on police parked on the street, killing one and wounding two.

The Islamic State, through its affiliated Amaq News Agency, claimed responsibility for that attack.

Monday’s incident came less than a day after a vehicle attack on Muslim worshipers outside two mosques in north London. Since March, the British capital has suffered two other terrorist attacks, one of which involved a vehicle attack on Westminster Bridge outside the Houses of Parliament.

France also has a history of deadly vehicle attacks: In July, an Islamic State-inspired assailant plowed through crowds gathered to celebrate Bastille Day, the national holiday, on a seaside promenade in Nice, killing 86.

Security analysts say vehicle attacks often represent last-ditch attempts at violence and are difficult to prevent.

The information that has emerged in this latest incident could fit a recent pattern, said Jean-Charles Brisard, a French intelligence expert and director of the Paris-based Center for the Analysis of Terrorism.

With Whole Foods, Amazon on collision course with Wal-Mart

Reuters - When Wal-Mart Stores Inc bought online retailer Jet.com for $3 billion last year, it marked a crucial moment - the world's largest brick-and-mortar retailer, after years of ceding e-commerce leadership to arch rival Amazon, intended to compete.

On Friday, Amazon.com Inc countered. With its $14 billion purchase of grocery chain Whole Foods Market Inc, the largest e-commerce company announced its intention to take on Wal-Mart in the brick-and-mortar world.

The two deals make it clear that the lines that divided traditional retail from e-commerce are disappearing and sector dominance will no longer be bound by e-commerce or brick-and-mortar, but by who is better at both.

Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods also brings disruption to the $700 billion U.S. grocery sector, a traditional area of retailing that stands on the precipice of a ferocious price war. German discounters Aldi and Lidl are battling Wal-Mart, which controls 22 percent of the U.S. grocery market, with each vowing to undercut whatever price the others offer.

The stakes are highest for Wal-Mart. Amazon's move aims at the heart of the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant's business - groceries, which account for 56 percent of Wal-Mart's $486 billion in revenue for the year ending Jan. 31. With the deal, Whole Foods’ more than 460 stores become a test bed with which Amazon can learn how to compete with Wal-Mart’s 4,700 stores with a large grocery offering that are also within 10 miles (16 km) of 90 percent of the U.S. population.

Amazon is expected to lower Whole Foods' notoriously high prices, enabling it to pursue Wal-Mart's customers. The push comes as Wal-Mart is headed in the opposite direction - going after Amazon's higher-income shoppers with a recent string of acquisitions of online brands such as Moosejaw and Modcloth and on Friday, menswear e-tailer Bonobos. (ontinueReading

Canada: Officials warn 'hacktavists' could target 2019 election

BBC - Canadian intelligence officials are warning "hacktavists" might try to meddle in the next federal election.

Communications Security Establishment (CSE) officials say Canada is not immune to cyber threats that have targeted a growing number of elections worldwide.

The agency made the assessment in a report looking at Canada's vulnerability to similar threats.

But it predicts efforts will be primarily "low sophistication".

CSE chief Greta Bossenmaier said on Friday that there is a range of online actors at play, from nation-states, motivated by economic and geopolitical interests, to so-called "hacktivists", motivated primarily by ideological interests.

Ms Bossenmaier said that in 2017, 13% of countries holding federal elections have had their democratic process targeted.

The most prominent such incidents in recent years have been in Europe and the US, where Russia has been accused of meddling in the democratic process.

In the US, intelligence agencies have said they believe Russia tried to help Donald Trump win in November by damaging Hillary Clinton, something Russian President Vladimir Putin flatly denies.

In France, newly elected president Emmanuel Macron's incoming emails were hacked and leaked during the recent campaign.

Such activity in Canada represented a "small fraction" of what is going around the world. The CSE notes it has not observed any foreign influence targeting Canadian elections.

The (CSE) is Canada's secretive eavesdropping agency responsible for monitoring foreign signals intelligence and protecting online federal government information and communication networks.

For their report, compiled at the Trudeau government's request, the CSE looked at three potential targets: elections, political parties and politicians, and traditional and social media.

It examined cyber threat activity against the democratic process in Canada and around the world over the past decade.

Online adversaries can attempt to tamper with election results, suppress voter turnout, use information to manipulate or discredit politicians, and to spread disinformation and propaganda.

Ms Bossenmaier noted that the agency had monitored "low-sophistication cyber threat activity" from groups like Anonymous prior to the 2015 general election, but underscored nothing suggested it had any impact.

The agency report says nation-states are the "most capable adversaries" and "have undertaken the majority of the cyber activity against democratic processes worldwide".

It says that whether they target Canada in the general election scheduled for 2019 depends on how they perceive the country's domestic and foreign policies, like those related to natural resources.

Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould said that all federally registered political parties have been invited to a briefing on cyber threats this month.

The government is also reviewing existing measures in place to protect critical infrastructure from cyber-threats. (Source)

Amazon moves into real-world stores with $13.7 billion Whole Foods deal

Reuters - Amazon.com Inc said on Friday June 16 it would buy grocer Whole Foods Market Inc for $13.7 billion in a move that gives the online retailer a physical network of stores to distribute fresh food and other goods to millennials and wealthy consumers.

Amazon, which is known for squeezing suppliers and has been experimenting with its own outlets, will take over a natural and organic grocer pioneer brimming with 456 stores and high-end shoppers but struggling to rein in prices and integrate technology.

The deal sent shockwaves across the food distribution market and beyond. Shares of grocer Kroger Co swooned 11 percent, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc fell 5 percent, signaling fears that Amazon could cut prices and broaden Whole Foods' product mix, turning it into a much broader retailer.[]

Amazon's shares were up 3 percent at $993.40, adding more than $14 billion to its market capitalization.

"Supermarkets will now have to contend with not only competition with each other and non-traditional grocers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp, but with a retailer like Amazon which has the financial capacity to price aggressively," said Mickey Chadha, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service.

"We expect this transaction to further accelerate the consolidation within the supermarket space."

Amazon has agreed to pay $42 per share in cash for Whole Foods, a 27 percent premium on the Austin, Texas-based grocer's closing share price on Thursday. Whole Foods shares were trading just above that level on Friday, as investors saw negligible regulatory risk to the deal closing.

A person familiar with Amazon's strategy said the company believed customers wanted a combination of online and real-world buying options.

Amazon has been looking at stores that could allow traditional in-store purchase, online ordering with on-site pickup, and home delivery, using the store's warehouse as a distribution point.

Still, Amazon is playing catch-up in the grocery business. Wal-Mart Stores Inc already offers in-store pickup. Amazon announced a similar service called AmazonFresh Pickup at two locations. Amazon also has dealt with technology problems at a prototype store inside its corporate office in Seattle, called Amazon Go, where sensors and tech-savvy cameras detect what shoppers pull off the shelves and charge their Amazon accounts when they leave, people familiar with the matter said. That has delayed opening the store to the general public, they added.

And while some analysts expected Amazon to bring vast buying power to Whole Foods, Amazon's heft in the food market is far smaller than in other areas, and high demand for organic products gives farmers unusual bargaining power.

Whole Foods has posted seven straight quarterly sales declines at established stores and had overhauled its board of directors in the face of pressure from activist hedge fund Jana Partners LLC.

"I think that this takes all of the pressure off Whole Foods and gives Whole Foods the opportunity to revitalize that business and, of course, it stems the criticism from all of these activist investors," said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail in New York.

The deal is for $13.4 billion in cash and the remainder in debt.

The acquisition price implies a trailing 12-month price-to-earnings multiple for Whole Foods of 31 times, versus a 14.4 average for the S&P 500 Food Retail index.

Amazon and Whole Foods expect to close the deal during the second half of 2017.

The grocer will continue to operate stores under the Whole Foods Market brand and John Mackey will remain as its chief executive officer, the companies said. Whole Foods' headquarters will still be in Austin. (Source)

Vladimir Putin Accuses U.S. of backing terrorists in Chechnya

newsweek.com - Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the U.S. of supporting the most violent insurgency in post-Soviet Russia, during an interview with American director Oliver Stone.

The pair spoke about a breadth of topics in conversations that make up Stone’s four-hour film, The Putin Interviews . The series took place in a variety of settings, from opulent reception halls and bucolic residences to the inside of Putin’s car, with the leader in the driver’s seat.

During one of their sit-down exchanges, broadcast on Showtime, Putin gave credence to a claim about the wars in Russia’s Chechnya region often made by the more fringe elements among the Russian establishment, that the U.S. directly supported “terrorist” rebels.

Putin said the Kremlin hoped for U.S. support in quelling a separatist movement in the Russian republic, but had observed “instead, U.S. special services supporting the terrorists.”

The Chechen Wars took place in 1994, when secular Chechen militants declared independence from Russia, and 2009, when, after two bloody military operations, Russia announced it had quelled the insurgency that had morphed into a radical Islamist force.

Putin did not say at which point he thought the West had backed the “terrorists.” However, he seemed to endorse a theory frequently espoused by the current Chechen regional leader, who switched allegiances during the conflict to join Moscow’s ranks, that the U.S. was enmeshed in the conflict.

“If we are talking about political support, this does not need proving,” Putin said, referring to the negative reaction internationally to Russia’s use of force in the tiny region. “This was done publicly, openly. And as far as operational and financial support is concerned—we have such evidence and above all some of it we have already submitted to our American colleagues.”

Fighting the Chechen insurgency was instrumental in Putin’s rise to the presidency—he became prime minister in 1999, before being elected president on the promise of taking a hard line on Chechen separatists. His stance on the issue won him popularity after a series of controversial bombings in Moscow and elsewhere attributed to Chechen groups.

“In my view, the important thing is that upon us fell the absolutely lasting opinion that our American partners speak about supporting Russia in words, they speak about their preparedness to cooperate, including in fighting terrorism, but in deeds they use these terrorists to unsettle the internal political situation in Russia,” Putin told Stone.

Putin made similar claims in a state-TV documentary dedicated to his 15-year anniversary in power, two years ago. Much of Stone’s documentary consisted of Putin reiterating claims unfavorable to the U.S., the West and Ukraine, messages that frequently have an outlet in the Russian state-dominated media establishment. (ontinueReading

Belgium: Parents convicted in son's death linked to alternative diet

cbsnews.com DENDERMONDE, Belgium -- A Belgian court has convicted two parents for their part in the death of their infant, who succumbed to malnutrition and dehydration because they were firm believers in alternative diets.

The court gave both a suspended six-month sentence Wednesday because they failed to take adequate action to take care of baby Lucas, who died with organs shrunk to half their size and without any fat around them.

Britain's Independent newspaper reported, the seven-month-old baby died weighing just 9lbs after his parents fed him an alternative gluten-free, lactose-free diet.

According to local media, the parents of baby Lucas ran a natural food store in the town of Beveren in Belgium. They were attempting to raise their son on an alternative diet that included quinoa milk. Doctors had warned that such a diet is generally unsuitable for such young children.

According to The Independent in Britain, the court heard that his mother and father failed to seek medical attention despite the baby gasping for air in the days before his death. An autopsy showed he was dehydrated and his stomach was completely empty.

Judge Mieke Butstraen said the demise of seven-month-old Lucas was "the result of the systematic offer of food which was not suitable."

Because of that "his health was seriously impeded and he eventually died."

Public prosecutors in Belgium blamed the parents for their son's death, according to The Independent, saying: "The parents determined their own diagnosis that their child was gluten intolerant and had a lactose allergy.

"Not a single doctor had a dossier about Lucas and child protection services did not know about them."

They also said the parents drove to a homoeopathic doctor on the other side of the country when the baby was starving instead of going to the nearest hospital.

"We never went with Lucas to a doctor because we never noticed anything unusual." Lucas's father, identified only as Peter S, said in court.

The mother, identified as Sandrina V, said: "Sometimes he gained a little weight, sometimes he lost a little. We never wished for the death of our son."

According to their lawyer Karine Van Meirvenne, the parents thought Lucas had an eating problem, according to the independent article.

The case has caused a major uproar about the use of alternative medicine and the responsibility of parents in raising their kids.

The parents could still appeal the sentence.

No full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a 2-bedroom apartment in any US state

cnbc.com - The absolute least that an employer is legally allowed to pay an employee for an hour's work varies across the country, but one fact remains constant: In no state does working 40 hours a week for minimum wage enable a person to rent a two-bedroom apartment.

That's according to new research by the National Low Income Housing Coalition covered by The Washington Post. Across the country, it reports, even full-time workers would have to make about or more than twice as much to afford a home.

In states such as Alaska, Washington, Colorado, Florida, Virginia, Illinois and most of the Northeast, workers would have to make over $20 an hour. Workers in California, D.C. and Hawaii are the hardest hit by the price of housing: They need to earn a whopping $30, $33 or $35 an hour, respectively, to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25.

Not all workers are subject to the federal minimum wage. Some are, as five states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, have no official minimum wage, and two more, Georgia and Wyoming, have a minimum wage of $5.15, or about $10 less an hour than full-time employees would need to make to be able to afford a two-bedroom. In those places, the federal minimum wage applies, with a general exception for workers who receive tips.

By contrast, states such as Connecticut and California mandate that even entry-level workers receive about $10 an hour, while cities and, increasingly, states such as Illinois and New York are phasing in a new minimum wage of $15 an hour. That minimum supersedes the federal one.

The Fight for $15, a worldwide effort to raise wages and strengthen unions, has successfully led to better pay in many places since its launch in 2012, and a proposed federal minimum wage of $15 an hour is now part of the Democratic Party platform. According to these numbers, however, even that wouldn't make housing affordable.

As things stand, an American making the federal minimum wage of $7.25 would have to work 94.5 hours a week, or more than two full-time jobs, to afford a two-bedroom rental.

The Post notes that "many of the occupations projected to add the most jobs by 2024 pay too little to cover rent. These are customer service representatives, personal care aides, nursing assistants, home health aides, retail salespeople, home health and food service workers who make, on average, between $10 and $16 an hour. ... as a result, more than 11.2 million families end up spending more than half their paychecks on housing," money they could otherwise direct toward transportation, education, food, clothing or savings. (ontinueReading
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Related: A Wealthy Capitalist on Why Money Doesn’t Trickle Down

American capitalism has failed us: We’re overworked, underemployed and more powerless than ever before

Puerto Rico governor vows statehood push after referendum win

Reuters - Puerto Rico's governor on Monday said the island's vote in favor of becoming a U.S. state, despite low voter turnout and widespread boycotts, was "a fair and open" process that U.S. Congress should act upon.

An island-wide referendum on Sunday favored statehood in a 97 percent landslide, though voter turnout reached just 23 percent as opponents of Governor Ricardo Rossello's push to become a state boycotted the vote.

The non-binding plebiscite is not expected to sway the U.S. Congress, which would have to agree to make Puerto Rico a state.

Currently a U.S. territory, the island is struggling with $70 billion in debt and a 45 percent poverty rate, and is not viewed as a priority in Washington.

Rossello, who campaigned on a push for statehood, said in a telephone interview with Reuters that he will go to the U.S. capital this week to urge federal lawmakers to begin the process of admitting Puerto Rico into the union.

"We will make sure this becomes an issue," Rossello said.

The vote comes at a critical time for Puerto Rico, whose hazy status - which dates to its 1898 acquisition by the United States from Spain - has contributed to its ongoing economic crisis.

Last month, the island filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Its woes make statehood even more urgent, Rossello said. "Statehood brings stability, allows us to have fewer rule-changes from Congress, provides resources to our people," he said. (ontinueReading

Trump says US committed to NATO's mutual defense pledge

Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States remained committed to NATO's mutual defense pledge, after he failed to endorse it in a speech in Brussels last month.

Amid worries by Washington's European partners that the US leader had not fully bought into the Atlantic alliance, Trump told reporters: "I'm committing the United States to Article Five. Certainly we are there to protect."

"That's one of the reasons that I want people to make sure we have a very, very strong force, by paying the kinds of money necessary to have that force," Trump told a joint press conference with visiting Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

The US president stunned Europe's leaders at a summit in Brussels on May 25 when he failed to publicly back the now 29-member bloc's founding mutual defense guarantee.

Instead he castigated the allies for failing to pay their way with contributions to NATO forces, singling out especially Germany.

According to Politico, Trump's defense and security advisors included in his prepared speech a clear endorsement of the mutual defense pledge, but Trump himself struck it out just before speaking.

Doubts have remained since then, despite US diplomats and military leaders themselves restating the pledge.

- Trump to visit Poland -

Just days before his January 20 inauguration, Trump rocked the post-World War II western alliance by calling NATO "obsolete."

Article Five has been the core of the NATO treaty's strength since it was formed amid a budding Cold War with communist states -- particularly the Soviet Union -- in 1949.

It has only been invoked once -- in support of the United States, after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

On Thursday, Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee had called on Trump to declare his support for Article Five.

Trump's pledge on Friday came shortly before the White House announced that he would travel to NATO ally Poland ahead of the Group of 20 summit in early July.

"The visit will reaffirm America's steadfast commitment to one of our closest European allies and emphasize the administration's priority of strengthening NATO's collective defense," the White House said. (ontinueReading

Pressure in Britain builds on Theresa May to step aside as her top aides resign, her party plots her possible ouster

washingtonpost.com LONDON — The pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May to step aside following a humiliating election result grew Saturday, with her two top aides resigning, a leading newspaper pronouncing her “fatally wounded” and a former minister acknowledging that Tories were plotting possible replacements via the messaging service WhatsApp.

The aides who resigned, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, May’s fiercely loyal co-chiefs of staff, had been widely blamed within the prime minister’s Conservative Party for the lackluster campaign that ended with the Tories losing their majority in Parliament.

Their departures were widely seen Saturday as a Downing Street bid to stave off a far more dramatic resignation: that of the prime minister herself.

But it was unclear whether it would be enough, with some Conservatives acknowledging that May has effectively become a lame-duck leader following a vote that was supposed to give her a resounding mandate for the next five years, but instead morphed into a stinging rejection that could end her premiership within days.

May has insisted she will not step aside, and will instead form a new government that will lead the country through the treacherous currents of the Brexit talks to come.

Several senior members of her Conservative Party have backed her, saying the country can’t afford the chaos of starting to pick a new leader only days before negotiations with European leaders are to kick off.

But other senior Tories have been conspicuous in their silence, and behind the scenes the party has been engaged in fevered debate over whether to push for May’s ouster now or to wait several months until after Britain’s E.U. divorce talks are launched.

If May does move out of 10 Downing Street, it would be the second time in the past year that Britain has been left leaderless after a Tory prime minister gambled and lost in calling a national vote.

May came to office last summer after her predecessor, David Cameron, called a referendum on an exit from the European Union, a move he opposed. The referendum passed, and Cameron resigned the next morning.

The question of whether May will stay on is taking longer to answer — at least in part because no one expected her to lose Thursday, and therefore no one in her party had prepared for the possibility of trying to topple her.

Although May technically has the votes she needs to carry on — assuming she can agree to a deal in which the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland props her up — she will have to step down if enough Tories move against her. (ontinueReading

Statehood? Sovereignty? Bankrupt Puerto Rico heads to ballot box for ‘status’ vote

cnbc.com SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The question of "status," whether Puerto Rico should be admitted as a U.S. state, remain a commonwealth or seek sovereignty — has been an undercurrent of every major policy decision here for the last century.

But rarely has the issue been as prevalent as it is today, with the economy in a recession for a decade and the island triggering the largest municipal bond market bankruptcy in U.S. history in May, a process being overseen by a seven-member oversight board appointed by Washington.

Voters in Puerto Rico will head to the polls on Sunday, for the second time in five years, to share their views on status, as it is known here. Some see statehood as the best way to pull Puerto Rico out of its economic crisis, others blame the U.S. for the malaise and would rather seek independence after five centuries of what they call colonial rule.

The sovereignty view is and has been a minority in Puerto Rico. Statehood was prominent during Puerto Rico's election in November when two pro-statehood candidates won: Ricardo Rossello, a Democrat, became governor and Jenniffer Gonzalez, a Republican, was elected resident commissioner — Puerto Rico's sole representative in U.S. Congress who can write and submit legislation, but doesn't have the authority to vote.

The truth is, whichever way the residents vote, the plebiscite is largely ceremonial. Admittance as the 51st state would require a statute by the U.S. Congress. The last time Puerto Rico voted on the issue in 2012,when a majority opted for statehood, nothing changed. It's largely up to the government to lobby officials in Washington to change the island's status.

Now, given Puerto Rico's financial distress, many on the mainland are questioning whether the timing could be any better. The governor insists that statehood isn't about using federal tax dollars to save Puerto Rico. But rather, it would put the island on equal footing with other states, which would improve its economic situation, he said.

Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since a law made them so in 1917. However, their benefits relative to mainland citizens have been limited. One issue prevalent among many residents is that they pay in full for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security but can only collect on a restricted amount of these benefits relative to mainland citizens. Thousands of Puerto Ricans serve in the U.S. military but cannot vote for their commander in chief. (ontinueReading

Ancient Aztec temple, ball court found in Mexico City

Mexico City (AFP) - A giant temple to the Aztec god of the wind and a court where the Aztecs played a deadly ball game have been discovered in the heart of Mexico City.

Archaeologists unveiled the rare finds Wednesday after extensive excavations, giving journalists a tour of the semi-circular temple of Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl and nearby ball court.

Records indicate that Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes first watched the ritual Aztec ball game at the court in 1528, invited by the last Aztec emperor, Montezuma -- the man whose empire he went on to conquer.

Historians believe the game involved players using their hips to keep a ball in play -- as well as ritual human sacrifices.

Archaeologists uncovered 32 sets of human neck bones at the site, which they said were likely the remains of people who were decapitated as part of the ritual.

Only part of the structure remains -- a staircase and a portion of the stands. Archaeologists estimate the original court was about 50 meters (165 feet) long.

The temple, meanwhile, is a giant semi-circle perched atop an even larger rectangular base. The whole thing once measured some 34 meters across and four meters high, archaeologists said.

The ancient structures stand in startling contrast with the sprawling mega-city that now surrounds them, which was built atop the ruins of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.

They are just the latest ancient vestiges to be discovered in the historic city center, at what is known as the Great Temple site.

"The discovery we are looking at is a new chance to immerse ourselves in the splendor of the pre-Hispanic city of Tenochtitlan," Culture Minister Maria Cristina Garcia said.

A hotel formerly stood on the site of the newly discovered ruins until 1985, when it collapsed in a catastrophic earthquake that killed thousands of people.

The hotel's owners then noticed the ancient remains and alerted the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Archaeologists believe the temple celebrated the god of the wind and was built between 1486 and 1502.

Officials said they plan to open the site to the public, although no date has been set. (Source)

Oldest Homo sapiens fossils discovered in Morocco

washingtonpost.com - Bones found in a cave in Morocco add 100,000 years to the history of modern human fossils. These bones are from “early anatomically modern” humans — our own species, Homo sapiens, with a mixture of modern and primitive traits, an international team of anthropologists, paleontologists and evolutionary scientists report in a pair of papers published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Despite their primitive features, these ancient people could blend in with a modern crowd, study author Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said in a news briefing Tuesday — particularly, he added, if hats covered their somewhat oddly shaped heads.

The oldest Homo sapiens bones known date to about 200,000 years ago, but the new analysis shows these bones are surprisingly old: 300,000 to 350,000 years old.

Workers discovered the bone site in the 1960s. Barite miners excavating a hill in western Morocco hit a pocket of red sediment with ancient stone tools, limbs and a human skull, which the workers gave to the quarry doctor. The doctor turned the skull over to scientists. It was a puzzling bone. At first the skull was linked to Neanderthals, a species that has been found in Europe but not Africa.

Discoveries of human fossils in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania soon overshadowed the bones from the Moroccan hill. Complicating matters still, the quarry miners took few detailed records of where they found the bones. But the hill, named Jebel Irhoud, was not forgotten. Hublin explored the site several times in the 1980s and 1990s, though he had little luck.

In 2004, a cave at Jebel Irhoud yielded a tooth. And a year later, a second tooth. And then, finally, another cranium.

The Jebel Irhoud fossils are roughly 100,000 years older than any previously described modern human bones. In the late 1960s, Richard Leakey and his fellow paleoanthropologists found Homo sapiens fossils from the Kibish Formation of Ethiopia, dated at the time as 130,000 years old. In 2003, in Herto, Ethiopia, anthropologists said they found older Homo sapiens, about 160,000 years old. Two years later, a reanalysis of the Kibish specimens added 35,000 years, pushing fossil evidence of Homo sapiens to just under 200,000 years ago.

Based on the previous discoveries, experts suggested that human ancestors evolved into our species 200,000 years ago. But the new fossils shift that window in time back half again as long, to 300,000 years. (ontinueReading

The Middle Eastern kingdom of Bahrain is quietly heading towards a ‘total suppression of human rights’

Independent.co.uk - Overshadowed by the influence of its wealthier Gulf neighbours and the drama of the massive conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain has nonetheless been plagued by unrest since the Arab Spring protests of 2011.

Dozens of pro-democracy protesters were killed in the initial uprising against the Sunni minority government; perfunctory attempts by the regime to start a dialogue with activists failed after government infighting about how best to deal with the problem.

While the new political opposition became less vocal in the wake of successive crackdowns, it has never really gone away, instead morphing into increasingly sectarian movements.

Moderate ministers have time and again promised constitutional reform – as well as investigations into allegations of torture – but little in the way of legislation has actually passed.

This week, the High Civil Court ordered the dissolution of the main secular opposition party, the National Democratic Action Society (Waad), on terrorism charges, in a sign that the government may be trying to do away with opposition altogether.

The accusations levelled at the group included violating the law by describing three men executed earlier this year for killing police officers as “martyrs”, expressing solidarity with outlawed Shia political party Wefaq and declaring Bahrain’s 2002 constitution “illegitimate”.

The move comes on top of the banning of Wefaq last year and the revoking of the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim – the kingdom’s most prominent Shia critic – and escalating clashes between protesters and police.

Five demonstrators were killed and 300 arrested when police broke up a peaceful sit-in at Sheikh Qassim’s house on 23 May.

The decision to ban Wefaq is widely believed to have triggered the new chapter of unrest; the Bahraini authorities have since openly accused Iran of fomenting anti-government sentiment in the country amid a string of attacks on public targets and members of the security services.

Last month, a government advisory body passed a constitutional amendment which means civilians suspected of attacking security forces can be tried in military courts.

Amnesty International has called the latest crackdown “baseless and absurd”.

“By banning major political opposition groups, Bahrain is now heading towards total suppression of human rights,” said Lynn Maalouf of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa office.

“The suspension of Waad is a flagrant attack on freedom of expression and association, and further proof that the authorities have no intention of delivering on promises of human rights progress.”

The international community has been noticeably silent on Bahrain’s rights issues, and the country receives little English-language media attention; part of the reason for that is that the West is reliant on Bahrain’s diplomatic assistance in the fight against Isis.

“The government of Bahrain is acting with the aim of totally silencing all peaceful voices, leaving open the alternative of underground opposition and violence,” said Sayed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy for the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy.  (ontinueReading

Scientists discover switch-off mechanism in DNA that can cure asthma

- Scientists have discovered a DNA switch which can 'turn off' our reaction to allergies, an advance that may lead to gene therapies providing life-long protection from diseases like asthma with a single treatment.

Researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia were able to switch off the immune response which causes allergic reaction in animals. "When someone has an allergy or asthma flare-up, the symptoms they experience results from immune cells reacting to protein in the allergen," said Ray Steptoe, Associate Professor at the UQ Diamantina Institute. "The challenge in asthma and allergies is that these immune cells, known as T-cells, develop a form of immune 'memory' and become very resistant to treatments," said Steptoe.

"We have now been able 'wipe' the memory of these T-cells in animals with gene therapy, de-sensitising the immune system so that it tolerates the protein," he said. "Our work used an experimental asthma allergen, but this research could be applied to treat those who have severe allergies to peanuts, bee venom, shell fish and other substances," he added. The next step being to replicate results using human cells in the laboratory.

The eventual goal would be a single injected gene therapy, replacing short-term treatments that target allergy symptoms with varying degrees of effectiveness. The research was published in in the journal JCI Insight. (ontinueReading

CDC Warns: Don't Get Too Close To Your Chickens, Ducks, And Geese

forbes.com - Don't snuggle with chickens, ducks, or geese. I know what you are thinking. There go your weekend plans. But your're not alone. Recently released Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data suggest that too many people are getting too close to their feathered friends, and its resulting in Salmonellainfections and outbreaks.

Last year, 2016, was a record year for vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever...not from the Presidential election..but 895 people getting sick withSalmonella from interacting with birds. This year is already off to a flying start. From January 4 to May 3, at least 372 people got sick from handling pet ducks, chickens and geese. Eight multi-state outbreaks have occurred. So far, no deaths but over 70 hospitalizations have resulted. Keep in mind that these are just recorded cases. The actual number of cases is probably much higher, maybe 20 to 30 times higher. Most people who get Salmonella don't tell the authorities. They just suffer in silence and poo for several days with their ducks. Even if they see the doctor, they may not mention the warm embraces with chickens.

Salmonella infections are usually not life threatening, unless you have a weakened immune system. The bacteria typically enters through your mouth and cause symptoms to emerge 8 to 72 hours after infection and then several days of misery. While most patients don't need special treatment, when the vomiting and diarrhea lead to several dehydration or the bacteria enter your bloodstream, medical care is necessary.

Eggs can transmit salmonella too. Therefore, apply the same precautions to raw eggs. Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly after touching them and don't snuggle with eggs. Don't let eggs sit in the nest for a long time, because they may get dirtier and dirtier and break, Removing eggs may result in an argument with the hen but c'est la vie. Don't wash eggs because cold water can actually cause bacteria to seep into the egg. Keep eggs refrigerated and for goodness sake, cook them thoroughly before eating them. You are not Rocky Balboa (if you have watched the first Rocky).

Having chickens, ducks, and geese can be fun, but take proper precautions. Having backyard flocks seems to be an increasing trend (as Diana Hembree writes here for Forbes) but does require hard work and the proper precautions. Give your ducks, chickens, and geese their space. Remember birds can be like boy bands. They may look cute but could make you sick.

This risk means be careful with your winged friends. Yes, ducks, ducks, and geese may seem to understand you. They may not argue with you about politics or yell at you to take out the trash. But despite how fuzzy and fluffy they may appear, they are not harmless and like some passive aggressive people don't always tell you what they really think. They along with chickens can carry a lot of bacteria, don't typically use hand sanitzer, and won't tell you when they are sick. Just like with people, looks can be very deceiving. Many birds don't have obvious symptoms when they are infected with Salmonella. The cleanest looking birds and people can in actuality be very, very filthy.

In general, you want to be careful about giving people and yourself the bird. Wash your hands thoroughly after touching birds or anything they pooped in or touched. Don't kiss birds, share food with them, or eat very closely to them. They may surreptitiously eat your food or even worse poop in it, something good roommates usually don't do. Don't let fowl into your bathrooms. They may contaminate areas (e.g., toothbrush, soap, faucet, towels, and medications) that touch your mouth and other sensitive areas and are very bad on putting the toilet seat down. Keep birds away from kids who are younger than 5 years, adults (and kids) older than 65 years of age, and anyone else who may have a weaker immune system (e.g., chronic disease). Salmonella can be especially devastating and deadly among such people. In fact, you probably want to keep chickens, ducks, and geese outside your house, because you can't really control where they go. (ontinueReading

U.S. hackers could have framed Russia in election hack: Putin tells NBC

DRAMA!

Reuters - American hackers could have planted false evidence that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election, President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying by NBC News on Saturday.

U.S. intelligence officials have said Russia tried to interfere in the U.S. election by hacking the Democratic Party to sway the vote in favor of Donald Trump, a charge the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.

In an interview with NBC News' Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, a preview of which was released to media, Putin said hackers in the United States could have made it look like Russia was behind the hack for political reasons.

"Hackers can be anywhere. They can be in Russia, in Asia ... even in America, Latin America," Putin said. "They can even be hackers, by the way, in the United States, who very skillfully and professionally, shifted the blame, as we say, on to Russia."

"Can you imagine something like that? In the midst of a political battle. By some calculations it was convenient for them to release this information, so they released it, citing Russia. Could you imagine something like that? I can."

Speaking at Russia's flagship St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, Putin said the hacking accusations were no more than "harmful gossip" and any evidence cited by U.S. intelligence could easily have been faked.

Wal-Mart employees can now deliver your online orders on their way home from work

cnbc.com -Walmart. com and Jet. com shoppers in three U.S. cities now have a new delivery person, and it's not employees of one of the major shipping companies like FedEx or UPS or a delivery start-up like Instacart or Deliv.

It's a Wal-Mart store employee.

"Unlike crowdsourced delivery, where the driver has to travel (often out of the way) to pick up the package, then drive the full distance to deliver it, our associates are starting at the same place as the packages," said Marc Lore, president and CEO of Walmart eCommerce U.S., in a blog post for the retailer.

It all works through a proprietary app the retailer built for this test.

The app matches online order delivery addresses with employees' driving routes home from work, built to minimize any more driving than what the employee would do anyway to get home. Delivering is completely voluntary, and the employees can choose when they want to deliver, how many packages they can take and what size.

"Once they're done working at the store for the day, they pick up the packages from the backroom, load them into their vehicle, enter the delivery addresses into the GPS on their phone and head towards home," Lore said.

Wal-Mart compensates the employees for it but declined to elaborate how it works.

The discount retailer said the test has only been in progress for a month but so far "hundreds" of deliveries have been completed in two locations in New Jersey and one in Arkansas.

So far, "the response from associates and customers has been great," Lore said.

Its locations and labor — some 4,700 U.S. stores with 1.3 million employees — are quite an asset that Lore has been working on further integrating with its digital operations. The retailer says 90 percent of the country's population live within 10 miles of a Walmart store.

While the retailer does not provide a delivery cost breakdown, it's the last leg — commonly referred to as the "last mile" — that is the most expensive when it comes to fulfilling and shipping online orders.

Consultant group McKinsey & Company estimates "the last mile" can sometimes be more than half of an item's total delivery cost.

Last month, Wal-Mart Stores said it would offer shoppers a discount for 10,000 online-only orders that are picked up by shoppers in store rather than delivered to their homes. The discount, Marc Lore said, is "meant to be equivalent to what the last-mile delivery costs are," which in most cases averages to about a 4 percent discount per item.

The store pickup option saves Wal-Mart delivery costs, which it passes on to shoppers in the form of discounts, but the new employees-as-delivery-service test does not offer shoppers a discount. Wal-Mart said the benefit is that most orders are delivered the next day. (ontinueReading

Vucic sworn in as Former Yugoslav Republic of Serbia's new president amid protests

abcnews.com - Populist leader Aleksandar Vucic was sworn in as Serbia's president on Wednesday, pledging to work for peace and stability in the war-weary Balkans while strengthening the country's armed forces.

Hours before the oath in parliament, Vucic's supporters clashed with opposition groups that were prevented from protesting in downtown Belgrade. Opposition groups said there were no injuries.

Later on Wednesday, a few thousand people joined an opposition protest against Vucic. Carrying banners that read "not our president" or "against dictatorship," opposition supporters marched through the Belgrade city center, blocking traffic while chanting slogans against Vucic and blowing whistles.

"There are two roads for Serbia: one led by Vucic, which is the road of dictatorship and destruction of freedom, and the road of freedom and democracy cherished by the people who gathered here today," said liberal leader Sasa Jankovic, who trailed Vucic at the presidential vote last month.

No incidents were reported.

Vucic, a former ultranationalist turned self-declared pro-European Union reformer, formally stepped down on Wednesday from his prime minister's post after winning the presidential election by a landslide in April.

The opposition has alleged irregularities during the election campaign including muzzling the media and accuses Vucic of autocratic rule.

"We must create a region where differences are an advantage and not the basis for clashes," Vucic said in his inaugural speech.

"There have been enough burials in the Balkans, it is time to give birth," he added, referring to the wars in the southern European region in the 1990s in which he supported the expansion of Serbia's borders at the expense of its neighbors.

Vucic also said Serbia won't join NATO nor become a member "of any other military alliance."

"While we have to talk to everyone, we also have to strengthen our defense capacity," he said.

During three years as prime minister, Vucic repeatedly called EU membership Serbia's "strategic goal." At the same time, he has been strengthening ties with Serbia's traditional ally, Russia, which has agreed to supply fighter jets and battle tanks to its military — heightening tensions in the Balkans.

Vucic only briefly mentioned Serbia's integration into the EU, noting that "no one should doubt Serbia's EU path."

He said the country will cherish good ties with Russia and China, but that it also should improve ties with the United States.

Addressing thousands of his cheering supporters in front of parliament, Vucic promised to "keep peace and stability, guard and protect the future of our children."

Serbia's presidency is largely a ceremonial post, but Vucic indicated he intends to continue playing a leading role in Serbian politics.

The opposition group that was prevented from protesting in front of parliament, Against the Dictatorship, said the attack against them before the ceremony resembles the time when former Serbian autocrat Slobodan Milosevic ruled the country in the 1990s. (ontinueReading