We are the world:South Asia floods kill 1,200 and shut 1.8 million children out of school

dhakatribune.com - More than 1,200 people have died across India, Bangladesh and Nepal as a result of flooding, with 40 million affected by the devastation. At least six people, including two toddlers, were among the victims in and around India’s financial capital, the Guardian reports

Heavy monsoon rains have brought Mumbai to a halt for a second day as the worst floods to strike south Asia in years continued to exact a deadly toll.

More than 1,200 people have died across India, Bangladesh and Nepal as a result of flooding, with 40 million affected by the devastation. At least six people, including two toddlers, were among the victims in and around India’s financial capital, the Guardian reports.

The devastating floods have also destroyed or damaged 18,000 schools, meaning that about 1.8 million children cannot go to classes, Save the Children warned on Thursday.

The charity said that hundreds of thousands of children could fall permanently out of the school system if education was not prioritised in relief efforts.

“We haven’t seen flooding on this scale in years and it’s putting the long-term education of an enormous number of children at great risk. From our experience, the importance of education is often under-valued in humanitarian crises and we simply cannot let this happen again. We cannot go backwards,” said Rafay Hussain, Save the Children’s general manager in Bihar state.

On Wednesday, police said a 45-year-old woman and a one-year-old child, members of the same family, had died after their home in the north-eastern suburb of Vikhroli crumbled late on Tuesday, and a two-year-old girl had died in a wall collapse.

The rains have led to flooding in a broad arc stretching across the Himalayan foothills in Bangladesh, Nepal and India, causing landslides, damaging roads and electric towers and washing away tens of thousands of homes and vast swaths of farmland.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) says the fourth significant floods this year have affected more than 7.4 million people in Bangladesh, damaging or destroying more than 697,000 houses.

They have killed 514 in India’s eastern state of Bihar, where 17.1 million have been affected, disaster management officials have been quoted as saying. In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, about 2.5 million have been affected and the death toll stood at 109 on Tuesday, according to the Straits Times. The IFRC said landslides in Nepal had killed more than 100 people.

The IFRC – working with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and the Nepal Red Cross – has launched appeals to support almost 200,000 vulnerable people with immediate relief and long-term help with water and sanitation, health and shelter. (ontinueReading

FDA approval brings first gene therapy to the United States

via FDA.gov - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a historic action today making the first gene therapy available in the United States, ushering in a new approach to the treatment of cancer and other serious and life-threatening diseases.

The FDA approved Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) for certain pediatric and young adult patients with a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

“We’re entering a new frontier in medical innovation with the ability to reprogram a patient’s own cells to attack a deadly cancer,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “New technologies such as gene and cell therapies hold out the potential to transform medicine and create an inflection point in our ability to treat and even cure many intractable illnesses. At the FDA, we’re committed to helping expedite the development and review of groundbreaking treatments that have the potential to be life-saving.”

Kymriah, a cell-based gene therapy, is approved in the United States for the treatment of patients up to 25 years of age with B-cell precursor ALL that is refractory or in second or later relapse.

Kymriah is a genetically-modified autologous T-cell immunotherapy. Each dose of Kymriah is a customized treatment created using an individual patient’s own T-cells, a type of white blood cell known as a lymphocyte. The patient’s T-cells are collected and sent to a manufacturing center where they are genetically modified to include a new gene that contains a specific protein (a chimeric antigen receptor or CAR) that directs the T-cells to target and kill leukemia cells that have a specific antigen (CD19) on the surface. Once the cells are modified, they are infused back into the patient to kill the cancer cells.

ALL is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood, in which the body makes abnormal lymphocytes. The disease progresses quickly and is the most common childhood cancer in the U.S. The National Cancer Institute estimates that approximately 3,100 patients aged 20 and younger are diagnosed with ALL each year. ALL can be of either T- or B-cell origin, with B-cell the most common. Kymriah is approved for use in pediatric and young adult patients with B-cell ALL and is intended for patients whose cancer has not responded to or has returned after initial treatment, which occurs in an estimated 15-20 percent of patients.

“Kymriah is a first-of-its-kind treatment approach that fills an important unmet need for children and young adults with this serious disease,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). “Not only does Kymriah provide these patients with a new treatment option where very limited options existed, but a treatment option that has shown promising remission and survival rates in clinical trials.”

The safety and efficacy of Kymriah were demonstrated in one multicenter clinical trial of 63 pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor ALL. The overall remission rate within three months of treatment was 83 percent.

Treatment with Kymriah has the potential to cause severe side effects. It carries a boxed warning for cytokine release syndrome (CRS), which is a systemic response to the activation and proliferation of CAR T-cells causing high fever and flu-like symptoms, and for neurological events. Both CRS and neurological events can be life-threatening. Other severe side effects of Kymriah include serious infections, low blood pressure (hypotension), acute kidney injury, fever, and decreased oxygen (hypoxia). Most symptoms appear within one to 22 days following infusion of Kymriah. Since the CD19 antigen is also present on normal B-cells, and Kymriah will also destroy those normal B cells that produce antibodies, there may be an increased risk of infections for a prolonged period of time.

The FDA today also expanded the approval of Actemra (tocilizumab) to treat CAR T-cell-induced severe or life-threatening CRS in patients 2 years of age or older. In clinical trials in patients treated with CAR-T cells, 69 percent of patients had complete resolution of CRS within two weeks following one or two doses of Actemra.

Because of the risk of CRS and neurological events, Kymriah is being approved with a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS), which includes elements to assure safe use (ETASU). The FDA is requiring that hospitals and their associated clinics that dispense Kymriah be specially certified. As part of that certification, staff involved in the prescribing, dispensing, or administering of Kymriah are required to be trained to recognize and manage CRS and neurological events. Additionally, the certified health care settings are required to have protocols in place to ensure that Kymriah is only given to patients after verifying that tocilizumab is available for immediate administration. The REMS program specifies that patients be informed of the signs and symptoms of CRS and neurological toxicities following infusion – and of the importance of promptly returning to the treatment site if they develop fever or other adverse reactions after receiving treatment with Kymriah.

To further evaluate the long-term safety, Novartis is also required to conduct a post-marketing observational study involving patients treated with Kymriah.

The FDA granted Kymriah Fast Track, Priority Review and Breakthrough Therapydesignations. The Kymriah application was reviewed using a coordinated, cross-agency approach. The clinical review was coordinated by the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence, while CBER conducted all other aspects of review and made the final product approval determination.

The FDA granted approval of Kymriah to Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. The FDA granted the expanded approval of Actemra to Genentech Inc.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines, and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products. (ontinueReading

Domino's and Ford Join Forces to 'Kill' the Pizza Delivery Boy

thestreet.com - Domino's Pizza Inc. (DPZ) is working with Ford Motor Co. (F) on how they may axe the pizza delivery driver. OK, not literally.

Still, the companies' Tuesday, Aug. 28, announcement calls into question how long the pizza delivery boy (or girl) has left to live, as the Grim Reaper of self-driving cars looms.

Through a partnership with Ford, Domino's said on Tuesday that it will begin testing pizza delivery with the Ford Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research Vehicle. Ford plans to begin production on its self-driving vehicles in 2021.

The test will be conducted over the next several weeks by Domino's and Ford researchers in Ann Arbor, Mich., just west of Detroit. Domino's said it upgraded its delivery tracker to allow randomly selected customers to follow the autonomous car by GPS.

Participants will receive text messages along the way, updating them on the location of their order and how to retrieve it from the car when it arrives. Customers will get a special code via text to use to unlock the Domino's Heatwave Compartment, holding their food.

"As delivery experts, we've been watching the development of self-driving vehicles with great interest as we believe transportation is undergoing fundamental, dramatic change. This is the first step in an ongoing process of testing that we plan to undertake with Ford," Patrick Doyle, Domino's president and CEO, said in a statement on Tuesday.

To be sure, for this test, the self-driving car will be manually driven by a Ford safety engineer. So, customers needn't fret about glitches that could cause them, or their pizza, harm.

Russell Weiner, president of Domino's U.S., said, in a statement, that the company will be focused on how customers react to this test, specifically how they feel about meeting the car to retrieve their order.

"The majority of our questions are about the last 50 feet of the delivery experience," Weiner said. "We need to understand if a customer's experience is different if the car is parked in the driveway versus next to the curb. All of our testing research is focused on our goal to someday make deliveries with self-driving vehicles as seamless and customer-friendly as possible."(ontinueReading

Make it rain: Scientists Create ‘Diamond Rain’ That Forms in the Interior of Icy Giant Planets

Menlo Park, Calif. — In an experiment designed to mimic the conditions deep inside the icy giant planets of our solar system, scientists were able to observe “diamond rain” for the first time as it formed in high-pressure conditions. Extremely high pressure squeezes hydrogen and carbon found in the interior of these planets to form solid diamonds that sink slowly down further into the interior.

The glittering precipitation has long been hypothesized to arise more than 5,000 miles below the surface of Uranus and Neptune, created from commonly found mixtures of just hydrogen and carbon. The interiors of these planets are similar—both contain solid cores surrounded by a dense slush of different ices. With the icy planets in our solar system, “ice” refers to hydrogen molecules connected to lighter elements, such as carbon, oxygen and/or nitrogen.

Researchers simulated the environment found inside these planets by creating shock waves in plastic with an intense optical laser at the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) instrument at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s X-ray free-electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). SLAC is one of 10 Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science laboratories.

In the experiment, the scientists were able to see that nearly every carbon atom of the original plastic was incorporated into small diamond structures up to a few nanometers wide. On Uranus and Neptune, the study authors predict that diamonds would become much larger, maybe millions of carats in weight. Researchers also think it’s possible that over thousands of years, the diamonds slowly sink through the planets’ ice layers and assemble into a thick layer around the core.

The research published in Nature Astronomy on August 21.

Earlier experiments that attempted to recreate diamond rain in similar conditions were not able to capture measurements in real time, because we currently can create these extreme conditions under which tiny diamonds form only for very brief time in the laboratory. The high-energy optical lasers at MEC combined with LCLS’s X-ray pulses—which last just femtoseconds, or quadrillionths of a second—allowed the scientists to directly measure the chemical reaction.

Other prior experiments also saw hints of carbon forming graphite or diamond at lower pressures than the ones created in this experiment, but with other materials introduced and altering the reactions.

The results presented in this experiment is the first unambiguous observation of high-pressure diamond formation from mixtures and agrees with theoretical predictions about the conditions under which such precipitation can form and will provide scientists with better information to describe and classify other worlds. (ontinueReading

Household dust makes people fat, groundbreaking research indicates

telegraph.co.uk - People should keep their homes spotless if they want to avoid putting on weight, new research suggests.

A pioneering study in the US revealed that normal house dust is capable of carrying hormone-altering chemicals that prompt cells in the body to accumulate fat.

Experiments found that even small amounts of dust, which can be inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin, were enough to provoke the effect.

The quantities were significantly lower than the amounts to which children are averagely exposed.

The dust particles were found to contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), synthetic or naturally occurring compounds that can interfere with or mimic the body’s hormones.

These include flame retardants in sofas and carpets, as well as phthalates, substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility.

It was already known that EDCs present a range of other potential health risks, including being associated with cognitive problems and learning disabilities, and putative research had suggested that exposure in early life may also cause weight gain later in life.

However, the new experiments by Duke University in North Carolina showed for the first time that house dust, laced with EDC chemicals, can cause cells to accumulate more fat.

Dr Christopher Kassotis, who led the research, said: “We were most surprised by how low the concentrations were that we saw having an effect.”

The researchers collected dust samples from 11 homes and introduced them to mouse cells - a model for the reaction in humans.

Dust from nine of the samples prompted the cells to divide, thereby creating a larger pool of precursor fat cells, while seven of the samples spurred the mouse cells to mature and accumulate more fat.

Only one dust sample had no effect.

The research team said the risk of disruption to metabolic health was likely to be particularly high in children.

EDCs are particularly harmful to humans during phases of intense development, namely pregnancy, early childhood and puberty, because of their power to disrupt crucial hormones needed for growth.

Dr Heather Stapleton, another of the researchers, said: "This suggests that the mixture of these chemicals in house dust is promoting the accumulation of triglycerides and fat cells."

"Amounts of dust as low as 3 micrograms - well below the mass of dust that children are exposed to daily - caused measurable effects."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has previously estimated that children consume 50 milligrams of house dust each day.

Among the 44 individual common house dust contaminants tested in the experiment, pyraclostrobin (a pesticide), the flame-retardant TBPDP, and DBP, a commonly used plasticizer, had the strongest fat-producing effects.

Some manufacturers have reduced the use of EDCs in products, but many are still common in consumer goods.

Last month, the European Chemicals Agency voted unanimously to recognise a prominent type of EDC, bisphenol A (BPA), as a threat to human health, meaning it could soon be restricted in EU countries.

The chemical found in CDs, DVDs, kettles and water bottles and has been linked to a range of hormone-twisting health effects including cancer, learning difficulties and diabetes.

BPA is currently one of the world’s best-selling chemicals, with around a third of the nearly 4 million tonnes produced each year sold in Europe.

Originally developed as a synthetic mimic of oestrogen, the female sex hormone, it helped spur the 1950s plastic revolution, but has since been linked to male infertility.

Despite the growing recognition of the dangers of EDCs, the chemicals remain ubiquitous in most homes.

The findings were published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. (Source)

Strength? Thousands of Rohingya Flee for Bangladesh as Fresh Violence Erupts in Myanmar

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh/YANGON (Reuters) - Thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar are trying to cross the border with Bangladesh, Bangladeshi security officials said on Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted in Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine state.

The death toll from widespread attacks staged by Rohingya insurgents on Friday has climbed to 96, including nearly 80 insurgents and 12 members of the security forces, the government said, prompting it to evacuate staff and villagers from some areas.

The attacks marked a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since last October, when a similar offensive prompted a major military sweep beset by allegations of serious human rights abuses.

The treatment of approximately 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in mainly Buddhist Myanmar has emerged as the biggest challenge for national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who late on Friday condemned the morning raids - in which insurgents wielding guns, sticks and homemade bombs assaulted 30 police stations and an army base.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been accused by some Western critics of not speaking out for the long-persecuted Muslim minority, and of defending the army's counteroffensive after the October attacks.

Some 3,000 Rohingya arrived at the Naf river separating Myanmar and Bangladesh on Saturday, Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Bangladeshi border guard commander, told Reuters.

"About 500 Rohingya, mostly women and children, spent the last night in a marshy area waiting to cross over," said Khan. "We protected them the whole night. Today they went back."

Reuters reporters saw hundreds of Rohingya crossing into Bangladesh near the border village of Gumdhum as gun shots could be heard from the Myanmar side. They could be seen squatting in a marshy area, hiding in the bushes from border guards.

"We managed to escape the shooting in Myanmar and tried to enter Bangladesh. We waited all night after we were pushed backed by Bangladesh border guards last night. This morning, we managed to enter somehow," said Hamid Hossain, 42, who crossed into Bangladesh on Saturday with a group of three families.

A 25-year-old man whose relatives said he had been shot by Myanmar security forces on Friday died as he was carried to Bangladesh for treatment. He was buried near a refugee camp close to the border on Saturday, according to camp resident Mohammed Shafi, who said he witnessed the burial.

Bangladesh's foreign ministry on Saturday said it was concerned that thousands of "unarmed Myanmar nationals" had assembled near the border to enter the country.

Rohingya have been fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh since the early 1990s and there are now around 400,000 in the country, where they are a source of tension between the two nations who both regard them as the other country's citizens. (ontinueReading

Related: US urges Myanmar to avoid inflaming tensions

Ancient Tablet May Show Earliest Use of This Advanced Math

Via nationalgeographic.com - For nearly 100 years, the mysterious tablet has been referred to as Plimpton 322. It was first discovered in Iraq in the early 1900s by Edgar Banks, the American archaeologist on which the character Indiana Jones is thought to have been largely based. It was later bought by George Arthur Plimpton in 1922 and has been called the Plimpton 322 tablet ever since.

Now researchers from the University of New South Wales are calling it one of the oldest and possibly most accurate trigonometric tables of the ancient world.

Findings published in the journal Historia Mathematica, the official journal for the International Commission on the History of Math, reveal how researchers dated the ancient clay tablet and came to conclusions about its use.

The tablet is arranged in a series of 15 rows intersected by four columns. According to the UNSW researchers the tablet uses a base number of 60, which may have been used to allow ancient Babylonians to derive integers instead of fractions.

Norman Wildberger, explained that the research team reached their conclusions that the tablet was used for the study of triangles by findings based on ratios, not angles. In the top row of the tablet, said Wildberger, relatively equal ratios create a near equilateral triangle. Descending down the tablet, the ratios decrease the triangle's inclination, creating narrower triangles.

"It is a fascinating mathematical work that demonstrates undoubted genius," said University of New South Wales researcher Daniel Mansfield in a press release.

The researchers speculate the tablet could have been used to survey fields or construct buildings. For example, knowing the height and width of a building, ancient builders would have been able to calculate the exact measurements need to build pyramid slopes. (ontinueReading

India’s Supreme Court says privacy is a fundamental right in blow to government

via washingtonpost.com - NEW DELHI — In a blow to the Indian government’s efforts to roll out the world’s biggest biometric database on its billion citizens, India’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that privacy was a fundamental right for people.

Over the past few years, the government has aggressively pushed to compile the database, known as Aadhar, by sending officials out to remote villages to take iris scans and fingerprints. To ensure complete enrollment, the government this year put out several notices restricting access to essential government services for those not part of the system.

The unanimous ruling by the nine-judge bench will have huge implications in a number of ongoing cases involving Aadhar, which means base or foundation in Hindi.

It could put an end to the government’s efforts of making enrollment mandatory. It also guarantees privacy for Indian citizens as an intrinsic right — removing it could have had far reaching implications beyond biometric IDs for the daily lives of Indians such as the possible decriminalization of homosexuality.

Though the full implications of the ruling will only be understood after further decisions from the court, activists say the court’s message to the government is loud and clear: “This judgment says that the people of this country have rights, in case you’ve forgotten,” said Usha Ramanathan, an independent law researcher and activist speaking over the phone.

With the right to privacy now guaranteed, opponents of Aadhar expect favorable rulings on petitions against the governments efforts to make enrollment mandatory.

The government says that Aadhar is crucial for better governance and can save Indian taxpayers billions of rupees by reducing welfare and tax fraud. In court, government lawyers argued that the right of all citizens to a dignified life was more important than the elitist preoccupation with privacy.

Google and Walmart are partnering on voice shopping in a challenge to Amazon’s Alexa

via recode.net - Alexa, how do you spell “competition”?

Google and Walmart have entered into a partnership to make hundreds of thousands of Walmart products available to purchase through the Google Home voice-controlled speaker, the tech giant’s answer to the Amazon Echo, the companies told Recode on Tuesday.

Owners of the Google Home gadget will be able to order one item at a time from Walmart completely by voice, or add multiples items to an online shopping cart for larger orders, and complete the purchase via the Google Home app later on.

Google first introduced voice shopping to Google Home earlier this year with partner retailers like Costco, Walgreens and PetSmart in a bid to offer commerce functionality like Amazon’s Alexa voice service already did.

In late September, Walmart will join those retailers in the program as well as on the Google Express shopping marketplace, which started out as a same-day delivery service in a handful of markets but has since expanded to include more traditional shipping speeds from partner retailers so that the service could cover the entire contiguous U.S.

On both sides, the partnership seems like a smart hedge in the event that shopping by voice actually takes off. For Google, Amazon has already emerged as an unlikely foe as more and more online shoppers start their product searches on Amazon instead of on the traditional search engine, where Google is used to placing lucrative ads alongside those type of search results. A study last year found that 55 percent of U.S. adults start their online shopping trips on Amazon.

And if voice commerce becomes popular and shoppers actually start searching for products by speaking to a device, Walmart is perhaps the only retailer in the U.S. that comes close to offering the breadth of Amazon’s product catalogue. (ontinueReading

Related:  Amazon Cutting Whole Foods’ Prices Cost Other Grocers $11 Billion In Value

Thousands of Trump-shaped ecstasy pills seized in Germany

via thehill.com - German police on Tuesday announced the seizure of thousands of pills of the club drug ecstasy bearing a likeness of President Trump.

In a translated statement on a police website, officials say the pills — worth tens of thousands of dollars — were allegedly in the possession of a 51-year-old man and his 17-year-old son, who said they were traveling in northwestern Germany after unsuccessfully attempting to buy a car in the Netherlands.

“In the control of the car, the officials found 5000 Ecstasy Tablets, with the portrait of the American President Donald J. Trump. In addition, a large amount of cash has also been secured,” reads the statement. Also in the car was a "larger amount of cash," according to police.

The orange pills are shaped to resemble the president's head, with his face on the front. The back features his name and may have been designed to look like the New York real estate mogul's campaign signs.

According to the report, the sales value of the pills is close to €39,000, or nearly $46,000, while they were likely purchased for about €11,000, or nearly $13,000. The arrest occurred on Saturday in the German state of Lower Saxony.

A judge has ordered the two be held in custody, and the car was seized and towed away, according to the report. (ontinueReading

U.S. Embassy in Moscow Suspends Non-Immigrant Visas for Russians

moscowtimes.com - The U.S. Embassy in Russia is temporarily suspending processing non-immigrant visa applications in response to Russia’s expulsion of American diplomats.

“Due to the Russian government-imposed cap on U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia, all non-immigrant visa operations across Russia will be suspended on Aug. 23,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement published Monday morning.

“Operations will resume in Moscow on Sept. 1; visa operations at the U.S. consulates will remain suspended indefinitely,” the statement added.

Non-immigrant visas are issued to travelers who want to visit the U.S. temporarily, as opposed to applying for permanent residency in the country.

The move is just the latest in a series of tit-for-tat measures between Russia and the United States as part of an ongoing diplomatic spat over fresh sanctions codified by U.S. President Donald Trump on Aug. 2.

After the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly voted in favor of the sanctions bill, the Russian government announced on July 28 it would cut the number of U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia to 455.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has also barred U.S. embassy staff access to a warehouse and recreational property in Moscow’s suburbs from the beginning of August.

“Russia’s decision to reduce the United States’ diplomatic presence here calls into question Russia’s seriousness about pursuing better relations,” reads the statement on the U.S. Embassy page.

Consular and embassy services for U.S. citizens will not be impacted by the measures, the embassy added in fact sheet published alongside the statement.

Russian citizens who have already paid their visa fees will not be eligible for refunds, according to the fact sheet, but the payments will remain valid for one year.

Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova previously said that if Russians were subjected to delays following the staff cuts at the U.S. Embassy, Russia would introduce retaliatory wait times for U.S. citizens applying for Russian visas.

Syria's Assad says Western plots against him foiled but war not yet won

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday his country had foiled Western designs to topple him but his army had not yet won the fight to end Syria's six-year-old insurgency.

In an televised address, Assad said that even though there were signs of victory after six-and-a-half years of civil war, the "battle continues, and where we go later and it becomes possible to talk about victory...that's a different matter".

He did not elaborate on that point.

However, he said the assistance extended by stalwart allies Russia, Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement had enabled the army to make battlefield gains and reduce the burden of war.

"Their direct support - politically, economically and militarily - has made possible bigger advances on the battlefield and reduced the losses and burdens of war," Assad added.

Assad vowed to pursue an offensive in Syria's vast deserts, where he is backed by Iranian-funded militias and heavy Russian air power that have allowed his troops to capture significant ground from Islamic State insurgents on several major fronts.

His government hopes to steal a march on U.S.-backed militias in the attack on Islamic State's last major Syrian stronghold, the Deir al-Zor region that extends to the Iraqi border. The eastward thrust, unthinkable two years ago when Assad seemed in danger, has underlined his ever more confident position and the dilemma facing Western leaders who still want him to leave power in a negotiated transition.

"Our army is achieving one gain after another every day to eliminate terrorists...We will continue to attack terrorists until the last terrorist on Syrian land," Assad said.

He said his country welcomed Russian-brokered local ceasefire deals that Moscow is seeking to extend elsewhere in Syria as these would end bloodshed and bring an end to the insurgency and pardoning of rebels who agree to lay down arms. (ontinueReading

Not Again! Several wounded in Russian knife attack, attacker shot dead

MOSCOW (Reuters) - From seven to eight people were wounded in a knife attack in the Russian Siberian city of Surgut, local criminal investigators said on Saturday, adding that the attacker had been shot dead by police.

The militant Islamic State group, monitored in Cairo, said one of its fighters had carried out the attack, though a Russian law enforcement spokeswoman would not comment on whether police regarded the incident as terrorism related.

"A man was moving along the main streets stabbing people", the local law enforcement committee in Surgut said in a statement on its website. No-one was killed in the attack.

The attacker, who was born in 1994, had been killed, it said. It did not identify him by name.

"The committee is investigating attempted murder", its spokeswoman told Reuters by phone.

"The attacker responsible for the stabbing incident in Surgut in Russia is a fighter of the Islamic State", the group said through the AMAQ news agency.

The militant Islamist group, whose fighters are hard pressed by international coalition and national forces in Syria and Iraq, regularly claims links with attacks carried out in Europe.

The perpetrators of many attacks have often been inspired by the group's beliefs and acted alone, rather than been directed or organized by an Islamic State network on the ground. (ontinueReading
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Related: Finland stabbings: Two dead and suspect shot in Turku

Barcelona: Van hits crowds in Ramblas tourist area

Pill Cures Peanut Allergy For Four Years in Limited Study

Via Gizmodo.com - You’ve no doubt heard a peanut allergy horror story sometime in your life. Maybe a friend’s friend was on a plane that needed to make an emergency landing for an allergy sufferer, or someone you knew had an allergic reaction from kissing their romantic partner. We now have things like epi-pens to help, but of course it would be better if allergies could just go away.

Scientists in Australia report that a trial of probiotics mixed with peanuts lasting four years lead to a peanut tolerance. Their results are fairly preliminary and feature a relatively small group of participants, 24 in each group. But the results suggest that there could be a safe way to deal with peanut allergies in the long-term.

“Our findings show that combined probiotic and peanut oral immunotherapy provides long-lasting clinical benefit compared with placebo,” the authors write in the paper, published this week in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, “with two-thirds of treated participants symptom free after peanut ingestion 4 years after completing treatment.”

The study followed participants who’d completed a successful previous trial of a bacteria mixed with peanut, compared to a placebo. These participants and their nurses received a quality of life survey and received skin prick tests to measure the body’s reaction to the allergen.

Four years after the last study, 16 of the 24 participants taking the peanut-probiotic mix were still eating peanuts, and 11 of them once a week, and 20 of the 24 said they hadn’t had an allergic reaction since stopping the previous trial. That’s compared to one of the 24 placebo takers still eating peanuts, six of whom had allergic reactions from accidentally eating peanuts since completing the last study. The skin prick test showed that the rash used to measure peanut sensitivity was smaller on average in the immunized group than in the placebo group.

Some participants also took part in a food challenge, where they ate peanuts in a controlled maner to see what would happen.

The study really did seem to prove that the probiotic-peanut therapy worked. But the authors reported a number of limitations. Only 27 subjects took part in the food challenge, and the overall study was still fairly small. And as they also point out, retrospective surveys aren’t the best way to collect data, but conclude that the study is a proof-of-concept.

So, an initial study and proof of concept means there’s hope but that bigger studies with more rigorous data collecting would be required to really confirm everything. Importantly, the study does come at an interesting time—just last year a peanut patch seemed to ward off allergies in some children.

It’s important to note that it can take a few years to run a study and the amount of time it takes for the FDA to approve a drug can also be a few years. That means an FDA-approved peanut immunotherapy as a medical treatment, rather than a supplement, is probably further away than some of the other headlines you’ve seen might make you think. (ontinueReading

Barcelona: Van hits crowds in Ramblas tourist area

BBC - A van has ploughed into crowds in Barcelona's Las Ramblas tourist area.

Spanish police say several people have been injured in a "massive crash", while emergency services are urging people to stay away from the area around Plaça de Catalunya.

Reports from the scene say people are taking cover in nearby shops and cafes.

Reuters news agency reports that emergency services have requested the closure of local metro and train stations.

El Pais newspaper said the driver of the vehicle had fled on foot after mowing down dozens of people.

Steven Turner, who works in the area, told the BBC: "People in my office saw a van ramming into people on Las Ramblas.

"I saw about three or four people lying on the ground."

"There are lots of ambulances and armed police with assault rifles around now."

Details of this incident are still unclear, but vehicles have been used to ram into crowds in a series of attacks across Europe since July last year.

Aamer Anwar said he was walking down Las Ramblas, which was "jam-packed" with tourists.

"All of a sudden, I just sort of heard a crashing noise and the whole street just started to run, screaming. I saw a woman right next to me screaming for her kids," he told Sky News.

"Police were very, very quickly there, police officers with guns, batons, everywhere. Then the whole street started getting pushed back.

"Police officers who got there just started screaming at people to move back, move back." (ontinueReading

India and China hold border meet, discuss peace a day after Ladakh scuffle

.hindustantimes.com - Indian and Chinese officials were meeting at the border in Ladakh on Wednesday, a day after their troops were involved in a scuffle in the area.

The clash near the Pangong Lake, which divides Indian and Chinese territory, was triggered by an incursion bid by Chinese troops that was foiled, sources said.

The incident came at a time when the two neighbours are in a standoff thousands of miles away in the disputed Doklam plateau close to Sikkim on India’s northeastern border.

Government sources said a “pre-scheduled border personnel meeting” was in progress in Ladakh’s Chushul area since Wednesday afternoon, adding the Pangong Lake incident was also on the agenda.

The two sides were also discussing strengthening of existing mechanisms for maintaining border peace and tranquillity, the sources said.

“This is not a subject on which the government normally makes a comment,” defence minister Arun Jaitley said.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said at a regular briefing in Beijing that she was not aware of any scuffle at the Ladakh border.

On Tuesday, two groups of Chinese armymen reportedly crossed the Line of Actual Control around the Pangong Lake. Indian border troopers asked them to return.

“The Chinese patrol refused to move when the Indian side first showed banners that they were in Indian territory, as per the settled drill. Heated arguments took place between the two sides, leading to a scuffle in which troops punched at each other and then finally stones were thrown,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

Indian troops involved in the incident said the Chinese patrol teams, consisting of around 15 personnel, started throwing stones first.

Around six men from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) suffered injuries. (ontinueReading

Is Moderate Drinking Good for Your Health? The Science Is Confusing

via fortune.com - Should you feel good or bad about drinking a glass of wine a day?

For years, moderate drinking was linked to a slew of health benefits, including a lowered risk of developing heart disease and longer life expectancy.

But more recently, these connections have been called into question. A 2016 meta-analysis of 87 long-term studies on alcohol and death rates found that many of these health benefits likely stemmed from baked-in design flaws in how the research was conducted. For example, many of the studies compared moderate drinkers to current abstainers, a group that included former heavy drinkers and those who avoided alcohol entirely because of health conditions, potentially skewing the comparison.

After correcting for these perceived biases, the study’s authors found no evidence that moderate drinking had protective health benefits.

But the debate is far from over.

On Monday a study was published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology that found light-to-moderate drinking did, in fact, lower the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. (Moderate drinking was defined as less than 14 drinks per week for men, and seven for women.)

The study used data from more than 333,000 people, who were tracked between 1997 and 2009. Of these participants, around 34,000 died sometime during the course of this eight-year period. Light-to-moderate drinkers were about 25% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who didn’t drink at all.

The researchers were careful to address issues present in previous studies on alcohol and health. For example, in the study, the non-drinker group only included lifetime nondrinkers, a strategy meant to exclude former heavy drinkers and those who gave up alcohol because they got sick.

“Our conclusions definitively show there is a J relationship” between drinking and heart health, says Dr. Sreenivas Veeranki, one of the study’s authors (i.e. as alcohol consumption goes up, at first the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease decreases slightly—the bottom of the J—before swooshing upwards once intake exceeds a certain level.) The curve illustrates “moderate drinking has a protective effect, while heavy drinking or binge drinking is harmful.”

Tim Stockwell, the director of the Centre for Addictions Research of BC who also happens to be the lead author of the 2016 meta-analysis, isn’t convinced. While he concedes this latest study solves for many of the design flaws present in previous research, problems still remain.

Most glaringly, in his view: lifetime nondrinkers, particularly in the U.S., are relatively rare. While the Journal of American College of Cardiology controls for a range of important factors—including smoking, BMI, physical activity, and smoking status—it’s close to impossible to control for everything. Abstainers could share other, unforeseen traits that impact their health, whereas “people who are moderate drinkers might be moderate in a lot of other ways,” leading to an overall healthier lifestyle.

The new study isn’t poorly designed, says Stockwell. But, as with most research that try to parse alcohol’s impact on health, it’s an observational study and can’t illustrate causation.

Stockwell has a lot of sympathy for people who are confused by the plethora of (often contradictory) research. His own position has wavered in the past. He used to advocate that moderate drinking came with positive health effects, before he caught wind of the industry’s systematic involvement (alcohol companies have funded studies in the past, a practice that continues today), and carefully reviewed previous research in-depth.

Today, his advice is simple (if somewhat frustrating). In the face of new articles proclaiming wine the solution to heart disease, maintain a sense of “healthy skepticism,” he says. “Drink for pleasure, but don’t kid yourself that it’s making you healthier.” (ontinueReading

As India marks 70 years of partition, memories fresh of border bloodshed

- AMRITSAR, India (Reuters) - India's independence from British colonial rule coincided with the partition of the subcontinent into two separate countries, setting off unprecedented communal carnage on both sides of the hastily created border.

A mass migration followed, marred by violence and bloodshed, as about 15 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, fearing discrimination, swapped countries in an upheaval that cost more than a million lives.

During the chaotic transition, train cars full of bodies arrived at railway stations in the twin cities of Lahore and Amritsar in the province of Punjab, which was split roughly down the middle at partition on Aug. 14, 1947.

As India prepares to mark 70 years of independence on Aug. 15, families who witnessed the death and destruction during partition recalled the tales of horror.

Brothers Santa and Niranjan Singh were lucky to survive the crossing from their village of Bhasin on the Pakistani side of the new border to their current home in Sarangra in India.

Santa, then aged 15 or 16, says everyone was baying for blood. People were running around with knives, swords and guns.

Up to a dozen people from their village were killed in the madness, Santa recalls, saying they carried an injured brother across the border after he was shot through the head.

"The bullet went in from one side and went out from the other side of his head," said Santa, reminiscing at a gathering of his extended family. "We carried him all the way and he died after reaching this side."

His younger brother, Niranjan, was barely 5 years old but still remembers the sight of houses being burnt and people being massacred, and hearing stories of women and girls being raped.

Now the brothers live with their children and grandchildren, tending their lush green farmland located just three kilometers from the troubled border.

The separation based on border lines created by the British at the end of their colonial rule came into effect at the stroke of midnight on the eve of Aug. 14, 1947.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947, and relations remain tense, particularly when it comes to the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both claim in full but rule in parts.

Even as the rawness of the carnage that marked partition fades into history, the nuclear-armed neighbors re-enact their hostilities in ritual form in a colorful flag ceremony staged as the sun is setting over the Wagah border post that lies midway between Amritsar and Lahore.

Thousands of supporters from each country come to witness a parade of patriotism from their border guards who, in a mock confrontation, goose-step up to each other, stomp their feet and shout their lungs out during their daily retreat.

"Amazing, amazing feeling about my country, about my army," said Phalguni Zaveri, who came from Mumbai with her husband Rahul to witness the parade.

"I am so happy and obliged for making us feel safe." (ontinueReading

Related:

Independence Day Live: India's Stature In The World Is Rising, Says PM Modi

India Independence Day 2017 – how are Pakistan and India celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of British rule?

Independence Day 2017: 70 things that only Indians do

Strength!: American tourist gives Nazi salute in Germany, is beaten up

- BERLIN (AP) — Police say a drunken American man was punched by a passer-by as he gave the stiff-armed Nazi salute multiple times in downtown Dresden.

Dresden police said Sunday the 41-year-old, whose name and hometown weren’t given for privacy reasons, suffered minor injuries in the 8:15 a.m. Saturday assault.

Police say the American, who is under investigation for violating Germany’s laws against the display of Nazi symbols or slogans, had an extremely high blood alcohol level. His assailant fled the scene, and is being sought for causing bodily harm.

It’s the second time this month that tourists have gotten themselves into legal trouble for giving the Nazi salute.

On August 5 two Chinese tourists were caught taking photos of themselves making the gesture in front of Berlin’s Reichstag building.

Related - Chinese tourist behavior in spotlight again after arrests

Trump Warns of Potential U.S. 'Military Option' in Venezuela

via bloomberg.com - President Donald Trump said he’s considering a military option in response to the political and economic crisis in Venezuela, raising the specter of a U.S. intervention in Latin America that could spread turmoil in the region.

Trump’s statement on Friday suggested the U.S. may get more deeply involved in Venezuela, which has been subject to increasing sanctions since President Nicolas Maduro convened a national assembly designed to rewrite the country’s constitution and consolidate his power.

“Venezuela is not very far away, and the people are suffering, and they’re dying,” Trump said during a brief news conference Friday at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. “We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option, if necessary.”

The president declined to say whether the U.S. would seek to overthrow Maduro. He gave no specifics on what the U.S. would do militarily or whether it would act unilaterally. Vice President Mike Pence is heading to South America this weekend, with stops including Colombia, Argentina and Chile over several days.

Trump’s comment on considering a military option in Venezuela prompted a negative response from a fellow Republican, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a member of the Armed Services Committee.

“No, Congress obviously isn’t authorizing war in Venezuela,” Sasse, a regular critic of the president, said in a statement. “Nicolas Maduro is a horrible human being, but Congress doesn’t vote to spill Nebraskans’ blood based on who the Executive lashes out at today.” (ontinueReading

India: More Troops Sent Along China Border, Caution Level Raised: Report

via ndtv.com - India has increased operational readiness by sending more troops along the eastern border with China, sources told news agencies Reuters and Press Trust of India. The latter said that the army has also raised the "caution level" among soldiers who are guarding the 1400-km border in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Army officials refused to comment on the reports because they said they cannot reveal operational details.

The Press Trust of India said its sources attributed the new activity to China's aggressive rhetoric and to a careful analysis of the existing confrontation.

Neither India nor China has shown any sign of backing off from a face-off that began nearly three months ago along the Sikkim border when Indian soldiers entered the Doklam plateau to stop the Chinese army from constructing a road.

China says that the plateau, which it calls Donglang, is a part of its territory and it has every right to build a road there. India and Bhutan claim the land belongs to the Himalayan kingdom. Delhi says it had warned Beijing that the road would be a serious security concern because it changes the status quo at the tri-junction of the borders of India, China and Bhutan.

The stand-off has so far involved about 300 soldiers on each side standing a few hundred feet apart.

Yesterday, army sources said they did not expect the tension to escalate. The military alert level has been raised as a matter of caution, two sources in New Delhi and in Sikkim told Reuters on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Each year, Indian troop formations deployed on the border go on such an "operational alert" usually in September and October. But this year the activity has been advanced in the eastern sector, sources said to Reuters.

"The army has moved to a state that is called 'no war, no peace'," said a source to NDTV yesterday. Under the order issued to all troop formations in the eastern command a week ago, soldiers are supposed to take up positions that are earmarked for them in the event of a war, the source said.

India has suggested that both countries withdraw troops while exploring a compromise through diplomatic talks. But China demands a unilateral troop withdrawal.

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said this week in parliament that the military is ready to meet any challenge to the country's security and that India has learnt lessons on being under-prepared from the 1962 war which was fought over Arunachal Pradesh and delivered a humiliating defeat to Delhi. "The armed forces have been made fully capable...because even today the nation faces challenges from our neighbouring countries" he said.

Indian sources say the road construction is a threat to the security of its northeastern states.

China has repeatedly warned of an escalation if India does not pull back its soldiers with state-controlled newspapers warning this week that a countdown to a military clash has begun. (Source)

TRIGGERED: Wal-Mart back-to-school sign hung above guns, sparking outrage

via cnbc.com - Wal-Mart is catching fire for a guns display at one of its stores, after a photo went viral on Wednesday of the sign that hung above it.

The photo shows a back-to-school banner that reads "Own the school year like a hero" situated above a glass case full of guns.

"What's seen in this photograph would never be acceptable in our stores," a Wal-Mart spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. "We regret this situation and are looking into how it could have happened."

Initial reports said the store was in Evansville, Indiana, but that has not been confirmed by Wal-Mart as of Thursday afternoon. They had started their investigation midday Wednesday, after the photo began circulating.

The customer who initially tweeted out the photo and who also spoke with The Washington Post has since taken her Twitter account private.

The woman, Leeanna May, insisted in an interview with the Post that the photo was taken in Evansville.

But Wal-Mart's latest tweets to unhappy customers tell a different story. It appears there is still some confusion regarding which store the sign was seen at.

This isn't the first time Wal-Mart has come under a viral attack for its products.

In July, Wal-Mart used a racist term to describe a wig cap sold online. Sold by a third party, the color of the hat was listed as "nigger brown."

The retailer also drew fire in 2016, prior to Sept. 11, when a store used Coca-Cola products to build two towers signifying the World Trade Center. A banner reading "We will never forget" hung above it. (ontinueReading

Related: Walmart says back-to-school gun display was a prank

View image on Twitter

Oprah Winfrey joins Kraft Heinz in new supermarket food venture

usatoday.com - Oprah Winfrey, whose endorsement and investment has breathed new life into Weight Watchers, is branching out into food branded under her own name.

Winfrey is behind a new line of refrigerated soups and side dishes in conjunction with Kraft Heinz that will come with a clever name: "O, That's Good." The products start coming to store shelves this week.

Marketed as healthy riffs on comfort food, the inaugural offerings include mashed potatoes with cauliflower mixed in, creamy parmesan pasta with white bean puree replacing some of the cheese and broccoli cheddar soup infused with butternut squash.

Winfrey was involved in the recipe development, including a trip to the Kraft Heinz test kitchen in Chicago . The ad campaign featuring Winfrey launches Oct. 2.

"It all started with the idea for the cauliflower mashed potatoes -- the twist is really what sparked this whole idea," Winfrey said. "I was sitting at my table in my own home and had whipped up some cauliflower, trying to make myself think I was eating mashed potatoes, but it was not working. So I thought, 'What if I used a portion of the mashed potatoes and added the cauliflower? Then, I would have a substantive mashed potato-cauli dish.'"

Refrigerated foods add another dimension to Winfrey's empire that spans everything from entertainment and O, The Oprah Magazine, to her involvement as an investor and pitchwoman for Weight Watchers. Winfrey became a major stakeholder in Weight Watchers in October 2015 and has served as a company booster. On Thursday, the company reported second-quarter profits of $45.2 million and 67 cents in earnings per share -- almost 50% higher than what it'd been a year ago.

Winfrey's name and image could help bolster Kraft Heinz at a time when supermarkets "are decreasing for the space for center store and increasing space for refrigerated. That’s where the growth is," explained analyst Phil Lempert of supermarketguru.com, an industry website.

All eight items in the line will have no artificial flavors or coloring and 10% of the profit will go to charities working to reduce hunger.

"O, That's Good brings together the three things the consumer really wants – great tasting food, convenience and nutrition they can feel good about," said Nina Barton, senior vice president of marketing, innovation and research & development for the U.S. business at Kraft Heinz.

Suggested prices will be $4.99 for the soups and $4.49 for the sides.

"I’ve been asked over the years to attach my name to many product lines and would turn them down, because it really has to feel authentic to me," Winfrey said. "In this case, everyone knows I love healthy foods and cooking with food straight from my garden. I am always looking to make my meals more nutritious, without compromising on the comfort elements I love. Kraft Heinz approached me with a food line and they mentioned the idea of making nutritious food accessible to everyone...and I was hooked."

Kraft Heinz brands include Oscar Mayer, Grey Poupon and Jell-O.

Kraft Heinz stock closed at $86.16 Tuesday, down 86 cents or 0.99%. (Source)

US job openings hit record high in June

via washingtonexaminer.com - The number of advertised job openings rose to a record-high 6.2 million in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

Tuesday's release marked the first time that advertised job vacancies cleared the 6 million mark, which had been approached but not hit a few times in the past few years of the recovery. The data goes back to December of 2000.

Thanks to the month's strong job creation, there is almost one advertised job opening for every unemployed worker. The ratio of unemployed workers to openings was 1.1, the lowest since 2001. In contrast, that ratio spiked to over 6 during the depths of the recession.

While the record high in job openings was good news, actual hiring declined in the month, and the number of workers quitting their jobs — a gauge of confidence in the jobs market — wasn't significantly changed.

The new data for Tuesday comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, a report that includes more fine-grained detail on the jobs market than the monthly jobs report. JOLTS, as it is known, is released on a one-month lag from the payroll jobs report, but is still valued by investors and Federal Reserve officials because it contains valuable information about hiring and layoffs.

The report shows that layoffs have become rarer and rarer in the past year, with about one worker in 100 getting laid off per month.

With layoffs so infrequent, it doesn't take much net job creation to keep the unemployment rate trending down. In July, according to the monthly jobs report, unemployment stood at 4.3 percent, already below the point that Fed officials think would signal a fully healthy economy. Yet job creation has averaged 195,000 over the past three months, about twice as much as is needed to keep up with population growth to maintain a steady unemployment rate.

That is good news for President Trump, suggesting that the long-running jobs recovery is not at risk of petering out in the near term.

It also will come as validation to Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen and others at the central bank who have charted a course to raising interest rates and withdrawing stimulus this year on the belief that the strong jobs market must eventually translate to higher wages and inflation.

"An economy at full employment eventually sends off the sparks of inflation," noted MUFG chief financial economist Chris Rupkey. "The Fed has no justification for keeping rates down here at less than normal levels." (ontinueReading

Chinese tourist behavior in spotlight again after arrests

via globaltimes.cn - Two Chinese tourists were arrested and fined in Berlin for making Nazi salutes outside the German parliament on Saturday, triggering heated discussions on Chinese social media about Chinese tourists' behavior.

The two tourists, aged 36 and 49, could face a fine or a prison sentence of up to three years, BBC News reported, citing a Berlin police officer, adding that the pair have each been released on €500 ($600) bail.

The incident has triggered heated discussions on Chinese social media, with most netizens accusing some Chinese tourists of having bad manners in foreign countries.

A Chinese tourist surnamed Yu who has visited Berlin told the Global Times that the incident reflects the lack of respect some Chinese have for other countries' history and culture.

Meanwhile, some Weibo users said that one should study a country's taboos he or she plans to visit to avoid offending other cultures.

"The two men may think that their behavior is a joke. However, it has generated a negative impression," Zhang Shengjun, an international politics professor at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday.

"People tend to look at all things from an entertainment perspective, which makes most citizens lose respect for history and culture. The government should create rules and laws to regulate Chinese tourists' behavior not only in the country but also overseas," Zhang said.

The pair took cell phone photos of each other making the Nazi salute outside the Reichstag, which were seen by police officers assigned to guard the numerous historic sites in the area, the BBC News reported.

Germany has strict laws on hate speech and symbols linked to Hitler and the Nazis. The same charges are most commonly used to prosecute members of the far right, according to the BBC report.

Around 1.4 million Chinese tourists visited Germany in 2015, news site cnr.cn reported. Tourist organizations said they expect 2.2 million Chinese to visit Germany in 2020, the New York Times reported on Sunday. (ontinueReading

On 72nd A-bomb anniversary, Hiroshima highlights Japan’s refusal to join U.N. nuke ban

via japantimes.co.jp HIROSHIMA – Hiroshima on Sunday marked the 72nd anniversary of its atomic bombing by the U.S., with Mayor Kazumi Matsui using the annual memorial ceremony to call on the central government to help make a treaty banning nuclear weapons a reality.

This year’s ceremony at Peace Memorial Park near ground zero follows the adoption by 122 U.N. members last month of the world’s first treaty to comprehensively ban nuclear weapons.

The treaty’s preamble uses the term hibakusha in mentioning “the unacceptable suffering” experienced by the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-bombings, which had killed an estimated 214,000 people by the end of 1945.

But Japan — together with the world’s nuclear weapon states and other countries under the U.S. nuclear umbrella — refused to participate in the U.N. treaty.

In the city’s annual Peace Declaration, Matsui stopped short of demanding that Japan join the treaty, but urged the government to “manifest the pacifism in our Constitution by doing everything in its power to bridge the gap between the nuclear weapon and non-nuclear weapon states, thereby facilitating the ratification.”

He said the countries that adopted the treaty “demonstrated their unequivocal determination to achieve abolition,” and that now is the time for all governments to “strive to advance further toward a nuclear weapon-free world.”

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe avoided any mention of the U.N. nuclear weapons ban treaty in his speech at the ceremony.

“For us to truly realize a ‘world without nuclear weapons,’ the participation of both nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states is necessary,” he said.

Later in the day, after meeting with representatives of seven local hibakusha groups who protested Japan’s refusal to participate in the U.N. treaty, Abe defended the decision to stay out, saying “a realistic approach” is needed to reach the goal of having a world without nuclear weapons.

“We think (the treaty) must not result in the distance between the nuclear weapon and non-nuclear weapon states being further widened and the realization of a world without nuclear weapons getting further away,” Abe said at a news conference.

“By firmly maintaining our three non-nuclear principles and continuing to appeal to both sides, Japan is determined to lead the international community,” Abe said in his speech, referring to the government’s policy of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory.

At the news conference, however, Abe said he did not see any need to turn the three-point policy into law.

About 50,000 people came to the park for the ceremony, at which 80 nations plus the European Union were represented.

Nuclear states Britain, France, the United States and Russia sent representatives, as did India, Israel and Pakistan, which are also known to possess atomic weapons.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for all states to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons “in their own ways,” in a message read on his behalf by Izumi Nakamitsu, U.N. undersecretary-general and high representative for disarmament affairs.

“Hiroshima’s message of peace and the heroic efforts of hibakushas have reminded the world of the devastating humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. … The United Nations stands with you in our shared pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons,” the message said.

A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 a.m., when the atomic bomb dubbed “Little Boy” exploded about 600 meters above Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, leaving an estimated 140,000 people dead by the end of the year.

A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9 and Japan surrendered six days later, bringing an end to World War II.

Matsui demanded in his speech that the government give more compassionate assistance to elder hibakusha, as well as to “the many others also suffering mentally and physically from the effects of radiation.”

City officials said “the many others” reference includes people affected by the March 2011 triple core meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

This year’s anniversary is the first to follow the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose predecessor, Barack Obama, last year became the first sitting U.S. leader to visit Hiroshima. Trump had suggested before his election that Japan and South Korea should acquire nuclear weapons in the future, and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson refused to rule this out in a U.S. interview in March.
(ontinueReading

PM Benjamin Netanyahu suspected of bribery, fraud, Israeli police say

cbsnews.com - JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suspected of crimes involving fraud, breach of trust and bribes in two corruption cases, Israeli police revealed Thursday.

Police have been questioning Netanyahu for months over the cases but have released few details. A gag order was released Thursday night on reporting the details of talks that are underway to enlist a state witness.

The document says the cases involving Netanyahu deal with "a suspicion of committing crimes of bribery, fraud and breach of trust."

On Friday, police said Netanyahu's former chief of staff and onetime close confidant agreed to testify against him.

The police said in a statement that Ari Harow will serve six months of community service and pay a fine of 700,000 Shekels (about $193,000) for his involvement in a separate corruption case, apparently a lighter-than-expected sentence in exchange for his testimony.

Netanyahu's office has repeatedly denied wrongdoing over the investigations, portraying the accusations as a witch hunt against him and his family by a hostile media opposed to his hard-line political views.

A statement from his office Thursday night said, "We completely reject the unfounded claims against the prime minister." It said the allegations are part of a campaign to "replace the government" and "there will be nothing, because there was nothing."

In a video posted to Facebook Friday, he refered to the news as "the inevitable scandal of the week," according to the Reuters news agency.

"I would like to tell you, citizens of Israel, that I do not heed background noises," he said. "I continue to work for you."

One investigation, dubbed "File 1000," reportedly concerns claims that Netanyahu improperly accepted lavish gifts from wealthy supporters, including Australian billionaire James Packer and Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

The second investigation, "File 2000," reportedly concerns Netanyahu's alleged attempts to strike a deal with publisher Arnon Mozes of the Yediot Ahronot newspaper group to promote legislation to weaken Yediot's main competitor in exchange for more favorable coverage of him by Yediot.

The U.S.-born Harow has been under investigation for the past two years for fraud and other crimes regarding the sale of his consulting company while working as chief of staff, according to media reports.

Police reportedly have a copy of a recording made by Harow of a 2014 conversation between Netanyahu and the publisher.

After eight years in office, in addition to an earlier term in the 1990s, Netanyahu has garnered an image as a cigar-puffing, cognac-drinking socialite who is as comfortable rubbing shoulders with international celebrities as he is making deals in parliament. His wife, Sara, has been accused of abusive behavior toward staff.

Scandals have long dogged the couple over their lavish tastes and opponents have portrayed both as being out of touch with the struggles of average Israelis. (ontinueReading

Further Reading - Israel's Netanyahu not forced to resign if indicted on corruption charges: minister

Boycotting Israel for political purposes is unfair and creates a double standard 

*Posted links are not direct/political endorsements. 

Inside researchers’ amazing — and terrifying — gene editing discovery

news.com.au - WELCOME to the brave new world of gene editing.

An international team of scientists in the United States have safely repaired a gene mutation that causes a heritable heart defect in human embryos — sparking debate about the new frontier of genetic engineering.

The first-of-its-kind research, which was spearheaded by the Oregon Health and Science University and published last week in the journal Nature, could one day help families affected by inherited diseases.

“I, for one, believe, and this paper supports, the view that ultimately, gene editing of human embryos can be made safe. Then the question truly becomes: If we can do it, should we do it?” said Dr. George Daley, the dean of Harvard Medical School.

One major fear is that this kind human embryo modification could give rise to “designer babies,” allowing parents to pay for desirable traits they want in their kids. “I think gene editing can be used to help people who are sick,” Marcy Darnovsky, director of the Center for Genetics and Society said.

“But the idea of using it on the front end to engineer a future generation — we need to draw a bright line there.”

She insisted that current embryo-screening technology, done routinely at in-vitro fertilisation clinics across America, already helps parents avoid passing on genetic diseases to their kids.

“If you’re worried about passing on some inherited disease, you can already do that without mucking around with your child’s genes,” she said.

David King, of the Human Genetics Alert, a UK-based organisation, said governments need to “wake up and pass an immediate global ban on creating cloned or GM [genetically modified] babies before it is too late.”

“If irresponsible scientists are not stopped, the world may soon be presented with a fait accompli of the first GM baby,” he said.

But Shoukhrat Mitalipov, an embryologist at OHSU who led the gene-editing experiment, said the research was about “correcting” genes that cause diseases, not altering them.

“Really, we didn’t edit anything. Neither did we modify anything,” Mitalipov said. “Our program is toward correcting mutant genes.”

The researchers used a gene-editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9 — which acts like a pair of “molecular scissors” — to target a mutation that causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease that weakens the heart and has led to the sudden deaths of many apparently healthy young athletes.

They then injected sperm from a donor with the heart disease, which affects 1 in 500 people worldwide, into eggs from 12 healthy patients, along with the genetic scissors to snip out the mutated gene. Scientists were surprised to discover the embryos then repaired themselves, taking a healthy copy of the gene from the egg as its cells began to multiply.

“The embryos are really looking for the blueprint,” Mitalipov said. “We’re finding embryos will repair themselves if you have another healthy copy.”

All told, the experiment was successful in 42 of the 58 embryos used, about 72 per cent of the time.

Mitalipov now hopes the strategy could one day be used to prevent a slew of heritable diseases caused by gene mutations, which include Huntington’s disease and cystic fibrosis. (ontinueReading

Vaccines for everybody: Mosquito season is spreading Zika & West Nile Across the U.S.

Newsweek.com - When U.S. temperatures rise in the summertime, most states anticipate growth in the mosquito population, and a corresponding increase in transmission of blood-borne viruses that can cause serious illnesses.

The biggest threats are Zika and West Nile viruses. Once confined to remote tropical locales, these viruses now crop up in seasonably warm and damp regions of North America, carried by two species of mosquito: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.

In June, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that populations of both these mosquito species have significantly increased in the southern parts of the U.S. Reporting on findings from a study in the Journal of Medical Entomology, the agency said the number of A. aegypti has increased by 21 percent, and the population ofA. albopictus increased by 10 percent. Together, these two mosquito species have reached a cumulative new 165 counties within the past year.

The emerging threat of mosquito-borne diseases in the U.S. has led researchers and private companies to find novel ways to shrink the population of these “little ninjas,” as some specialists call them. On July 14, a startup known as Verily, owned by Google, began releasing a million specially engineered male mosquitoes in Fresno, California. These lab-bred bugs are carrying a bacteria that stops successful mating. If the approach works, the mosquito populations could die out. Only female mosquitoes bite, which means these engineered bugs aren’t capable of spreading the virus to more people. (ontinueReading

OOPS: Norway "Anti-immigrant" group mocked after mistaking empty bus seats for women in burqas

sfgate.com - A Norwegian anti-immigrant Facebook group is the laughingstock of the internet after some members of the group thought a photo of an empty bus showed six women in burqas.

Fedrelandet viktigst, or "Fatherland first" in Norwegian, is a private group with over 13,000 members. The group was thrown into turmoil when a user posted an image of a bus allegedly packed with burqa-wearing women.

"What do people think about this?" the image was captioned.

"It looks really scary, should be banned," one user commented. "You can never know who is under there. Could be terrorists with weapons."Seems unlikely, considering we do know what was "under there": An empty bus seat.

The optical illusion-turned-xenophobia-test went viral when Facebook user Sindre Beyer posted screenshots from the group on his public page. The post has nearly 2,000 shares and plenty of comments making fun of Fedrelandet viktigst.

"This is the best thing I've seen from blind racists since The Chappelle Show," one person commented.

"I think I passed the test because the first thing I saw was a group of Darth Vaders," wrote another.

According to the Washington Post, journalist Johan Slattavik posted the original photo as a "little practical joke" to see how riled up the group would get.

"I ended up having a good laugh," Slattavik told WorldViews.

Fedrelandet viktigst members called his photo "frightening" and "tragic," which is also how their negative reaction to burqa-clad women on public transit was described by detractors.

"People see what they want to see and what they want to see are dangerous Muslims," Norwegian Centre Against Racism head Rune Berglund Steen told The Local, an English-language Norwegian news site. "In a way, it's an interesting test of how quickly people can find confirmations of their own delusions." (ontinueReading
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Related: Idiot Islamophobes Mistake Empty Bus Seats For Burqa-Wearing Women

‘Competitive Victimhood’ Among Racial Minorities Backfires, Study Finds

Multiculturalism: A Failed Concept

Xi Jinping Says China’s Sleek, Modern Military Will Never Allow Threats to Its Sovereignty

Time - Speaking in Beijing’s cavernous Great Hall of the People to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Chinese President Xi Jinping called upon "capable, brave and virtuous" soldiers "with soul" to lead the modernization of the nation’s armed forces, while warning that China “will never allow any people, organization or political party to split any part of Chinese territory out of the country at any time.”

It was Xi’s latest move to assert his authority ahead of the 19th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress in the fall, a crucial five-yearly meeting when key leadership positions are chosen. It also marks what should be the mid-point of Xi’s ten-year leadership term, which has been characterized by an ideological tightening and a crackdown on free speech.

Xi's 50-minute address on Tuesday included several calls for the 2 million-strong armed forces to rally around the Party. “Our army will remain the army of the party and the people,” Xi said. “The army should increase its political awareness … and carry forwards and implement the Party’s absolute leadership."

Xi was once again dressed in his familiar immaculate white shirt and red tie, dispensing with the military fatigues he’d donned at the weekend for a military parade at PLA’s Zhurihe training base in Inner Mongolia. More than 12,000 service personnel from across the army, air force, navy, police and strategic support troops marched below clear blue skies, as tanks and missile launchers rumbled by. Fighter jets roared and dozens of commandos leapt out of whirring helicopters.

It was China’s largest parade since the 70th anniversary of the culmination of World War II in September 2015. Then, Xi announced a reduction of 300,000 troops and other high-level organizational changes aimed at transforming the PLA into a modern, sleek fighting force, with significant implications for global security. More than 100 high-ranking military officers have been punished for various offenses including corruption since Xi took office in 2012. Seven PLA regional commands have been consolidated into five “theaters” and its schools cut from 74 to 43.

China’s military is modernizing rapidly as the Asian superpower attempts to sure up its global leadership position and project greater power beyond its borders. The PLA was formed in 1927 in response to anti-communist purges launched by China’s then-ruling Kuomintang, or Nationalists. Following the Allied victory in World War II, the PLA successfully defeated the Nationalists and forced their retreat across the Taiwan Strait. Since this time the PLA has had a reputation as a bloated, unsophisticated and poorly trained fighting force — though that is now changing.

“The force is modernizing very rapidly, probably more rapidly than most Westerners grasp,” says Lyle Goldstein, associate professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College. “Across the board it’s hard to find any weaknesses.”

New missiles were on display in Inner Mongolia, including the road-mobile DF-31AG, a new variant of its DF-31A intercontinental ballistic missile, as well as the the DF-16G and DF-26. The HQ-22 surface-to-air missile (SAM), the HQ-9 SAM, and the YJ-12A anti-ship missiles were also eagerly examined by cooing weapons experts. New generation aircraft on display included the Shenyang J-16 strike fighter and Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter. In April, China launched its first aircraft carrier and has long been reclaiming and militarizing islands in the South China Sea.

“In the long term, they have a vision for what kind of order they would like to see in Asia, and that’s clearly one where China has regional military dominance,” says Richard Weitz, director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at Washington DC’s Hudson Institute. “Anything west of Hawaii they would like to have conventional superiority over any potential adversary.” (ontinueReading