No Shimmer: Why Scientists Want to Ban Glitter

livescience.com - It's sparkly, it's festive and some scientists want to see it swept from the face of the Earth.

Glitter should be banned, researcher Trisia Farrelly, a senior lecturer in environment and planning at Massey University in New Zealand, told CBS. The reason? Glitter is made of microplastic, a piece of plastic less than 0.19 inches (5 millimeters) in length. Specifically, glitter is made up of bits of a polymer called polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which goes by the trade name Mylar. And though it comes in all sizes, glitter is typically just a millimeter or so across, Live Science previously reported.

Microplastics make up a major proportion of ocean pollution. A 2014 study in the open-access journal PLOS ONE estimated that there are about 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic weighing a total of 268,940 tons (243,978 metric tons) floating in the world's seas. Microplastics made up 92.4 percent of the total count.

Most of those microplastics were flakes that had sloughed off plastic items that were originally larger, like water bottles, fishing gear or plastic shopping bags, that study found.

Microplastics are a problem because marine life mistakes the floating particles for food. Eurasian perch larvae, for example, often choose to eat plastic over its regular diet, according to a 2016 study in the journal Science. Unsurprisingly, that study found, a plastic-based diet was not great for the fish's long-term health and survival. Even zooplankton, the base of the ocean food chain, have been observed eating plastics.

(ontinueReading

Bosnian war criminal dies after swallowing poison in court

(CNN) - A former Bosnian Croat general has died after apparently swallowing poison as a judge at the Hague upheld his 20-year sentence for war crimes.

Footage from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) showed 72-year-old Slobodan Praljak tilt his head back and drink from a small glass bottle as the presiding judge read out the verdict.

"Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. I am rejecting your verdict with contempt," Praljak shouted before swallowing the liquid.

The judge was then heard immediately suspending proceedings and asking for the curtains to be drawn. An ambulance was at the building shortly and paramedics raced up to the courtroom, Reuters reported.

The courtroom was being treated as a crime scene, an ICTY spokesperson told CNN.
Croatia's Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, later confirmed the former general had died and offered his condolences.

"On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and on my own behalf, I want to express my deepest condolences to the family of General Slobodan Praljak," Plenkovic said, according to a tweet from an official government account.

The nature of the substance ingested by Praljak was not immediately clear.
Praljak, a former assistant defense minister of Croatia and commander of the Croatian Defense Council, was appealing a jail term of 20 years in prison.

He was one of six former Bosnian Croat leaders found guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the rape and murder of Bosnian Muslims, in 2013.

The offenses, which date to between 1992 and 1994, came as part of a wider conflict that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

The six were accused of trying to "ethnically cleanse" non-Croats from areas of the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian Croat leadership, along with Croat leaders, wanted to make this territory part of a "Greater Croatia," the ICTY said when the case first went through the court.

Praljak played an important role in securing weapons and ammunition for the Croatian Defense Council army, according to the original indictment. (ontinueReading

U.N. tribunal seeks answers after stunned by courtroom suicide

YouTube pulled 150,000 videos of children over predatory comments

- YouTube is taking extensive action after word broke that pedophiles were targeting videos of children with vile comments. The streaming service reported that it had taken down over 150,000 videos that had fallen prey to comment abuse, and had disabled comments for more than 625,000 clips. It also terminated the accounts of several hundred users behind those comments.

The move comes just days after YouTube cracked down on child-exploiting videos, and just as it had to pull disturbing autocomplete results. It has been promising stricter enforcement of its policies on both the content of videos and their comments.

As with YouTube's reaction to hate videos, the takedowns and policy enforcement measures are welcome, but also relatively late -- they're coming as advertisers are pulling out and the damage has already been done. The tougher enforcement should reduce the chances of a situation like this going forward, but the rash of discoveries suggests that there may need to be more proactive campaigns that catch abuse before it makes headlines. (ontinueReading

Video of migrants sold in apparent slave auction in Libya provokes outrage worldwide

AOL.com - After a video surfaced showing migrants apparently being sold at auction in Libya, people worldwide have been calling for action.

Last week, CNN published a report on modern slavery in Libya, featuring a video that reportedly was shot in August and appeared to show a man selling African migrants for farm work.

“Big strong boys,” the man said in the video, according to a CNN narrator. “400 … 700 … 800,” he called out the mounting prices. The men were eventually sold for about $400 each, CNN reported. The Libyan government said it has launched an investigation into slave auctions in the country.

Following the CNN report, demonstrators took to the streets in Paris and other cities last week to express their outrage, and Libyans showed their solidarity on Twitter with the hashtag #LibyansAgainstSlavery.

Several world leaders spoke out as well. The chairman of the African Union, Guinean President Alpha Condé, called it a “despicable trade ... from another era” on Friday. The U.N. Support Mission in Libya said Wednesday that it was “dismayed and sickened,” and is “actively pursuing” the matter with Libyan authorities.

“I am horrified at news reports and video footage showing African migrants in Libya reportedly being sold as slaves,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said to reporters on Monday. “Slavery has no place in our world, and these actions are among the most egregious abuses of human rights and may amount to crimes against humanity.”

Guterres called for the international community to unite in fighting the abuse and smuggling of migrants, notably by increasing avenues for legal migration and enhancing international cooperation in cracking down on smugglers and traffickers.

However, rights advocates caution that real action may be slow in coming. “People are rightfully outraged,” Human Rights Watch researcher Hanan Salah told Reuters of CNN’s video on Monday. “But don’t hold your breath that anything real is going to happen.”

There are more than 45 million people worldwide who are victims of modern slavery, including forced labor and human trafficking, according to a September report from the human rights group Walk Free Foundation.

In Libya, migrants have become particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. The country functions as the main gateway for Africans to reach Europe, but it is also one of the world’s most unstable, mired in conflict since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in 2011.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing poverty or conflict travel to Libya each year, hoping to set off from the country’s coast to Europe. Once in Libya, they find themselves at the mercy of smugglers operating the dangerous boat passages across the Mediterranean.

Operating without many constraints, smuggling networks have adopted ruthless methods ― often killing, torturing, extorting and detaining migrants at will. The Libyan government does not have the means nor the commitment to crack down. European countries’ efforts to keep migrants from their own borders have forced the travelers to take ever greater risks to reach the continent. (ontinueReading

Bangladesh wants amicable ties with all neighbors, says PM

DHAKA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Sunday that her country needed to develop amicable ties with all its neighbours.

She made the remarks at the inaugural session of a conference of Bangladeshi envoys based in foreign countries.

Being a peace-loving country, Hasina said: "We have to solve our problems through negotiations."

With reference to an agreement signed with Myanmar on Thursday for repatriation of the Rohingya refugees, Hasina said the consensus is a result of bilateral negotiations.

"We want to solve this (Rohingya) crisis without hampering our good relations with our neighbor (Myanmar)."

"Door with neighbours for negotiation should not remain closed. We have to keep contact with neighbors," she said, adding her country would be benefiting from the good relations with neighbors.

Hasina said the foreign policy principle of Bangladesh is "Friendship with All, Malice to None."

Bangladesh will remain a pacifist nation, she said.

"Our policy is very clear and we will not allow anybody to use our land for carrying subversive activities against any country, or as a route of smuggling arms, drugs or human trafficking."

She urged the envoys to promote the country's interest and image abroad, and specially to look into the matters of expatriate workers.

The prime minister said her government has opened 17 new missions abroad.

Terming poverty as the common enemy of South Asian countries, Hasina said: "We have to fight together against poverty."

"We're attaching utmost importance to sub-regional and interconnection initiatives," she said.

Meanwhile, Hasina said: "We have already joined BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) Economic Corridor, which is aimed at bolstering trade, strengthening friendly relations and socio-economic development of the region."

The three-day conference, the first of its kind since Bangladesh's independence, is participated by high commissioners, ambassadors and permanent representatives of Bangladesh. (ontinueReading

In retaliatory move, Putin signs media 'foreign agents' law

(CNN) Russian President Vladmir Putin has signed amendments into law that will allow foreign media outlets in Russia to be listed as "foreign agents," according to state-run news agency Sputnik news.

Russian officials have said the change is a retaliatory response to the US government's request that RT, the Russian TV network, register its American arm as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Sputnik reports the amendments signed by Putin had been previously approved by both chambers of the Russian parliament.

"According to the text of the law, media that receive financial assistance from foreign states or organizations can be recognized as foreign agents, while the decision on which outlets will be classified as 'foreign agents' will be taken by the Ministry of Justice." (ontinueReading

Militants kill more than 230 at Sinai mosque in Egypt's deadliest attack

CAIRO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Militants killed more than 230 people at a mosque in North Sinai on Friday, detonating a bomb and gunning down worshippers in the deadliest such attack in Egypt's modern history, state media and witnesses said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but since 2013 Egyptian security forces have battled an Islamic State affiliate in the mainly desert region, and militants have killed hundreds of police and soldiers.

State media showed images of bloodied victims and bodies covered in blankets inside the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of El Arish, the main city in North Sinai.

Worshippers were finishing Friday prayers at the mosque when a bomb exploded, witnesses said. Around 40 gunmen set up positions outside the mosque with jeeps and opened fire from different directions as people tried to escape.

"Four groups of armed men attacked the worshippers inside the mosque after Friday noon prayers. Two groups were firing at ambulances to deter them, said Mohamed, a witness.

The public prosecutors' office said in a statement 235 people had been killed and 109 more wounded.

Rejoice!:Coffee Brings More Health Than Harm, Study Finds

forbes.com - Coffee drinkers have had a very good month. Last week, a study reported that coffee—up to six cups per day—waslinked to heart health. This week, a large analysis in The BMJ finds that coffee consumption is associated with a variety of health outcomes, from reduced risk of diabetes to reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The caveat, as always, is don’t pair your coffee with doughnuts: sugar, as studies are finding more and more, is decidedly on the list of foods that pose risk.

The new study, from the University of Southampton, was an umbrella review, meaning that it looked back over studies that were meta-analyses themselves, providing a deep look into the existing literature on coffee and health outcomes.

The major finding was that coffee at three to four cups a day conferred the greatest benefit: this amount was linked to reduced risk of dying from any cause and of developing heart disease, compared to people who drank none. Above four cups, coffee didn’t harm a person, but the benefits weren’t as obvious.

Coffee was also linked to reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, kidney stones, gout, and several types of cancer, including endometrial, skin, prostate and liver cancer. In fact, the largest benefit was for diseases of the liver, including cirrhosis.

One of the most fascinating benefits of coffee is that it’s been linked to neurological and psychological benefits. The new study too found coffee linked to a reduced risk for depression, as well as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Those who should not drink coffee, the study confirmed, are pregnant women, and possibly women who have an increased risk of bone fracture.

The drawback of the new research is that most of the studies analyzed were observational, meaning that they could only call out correlations—technically, we can’t assume that coffee caused the health benefits. It might be that people who don’t drink coffee abstain because of existing health issues. But the team suggests that, overall, coffee is safe enough to be tested in a true study—a randomized clinical trial, where participants would be assigned to drink coffee at various “doses” or to abstain.

Coffee was once considered a potential carcinogen, but that concern has largely been abandoned, for lack of strong evidence. And a fast-growing number of studies, including the current one, suggest that coffee’s benefits far outweigh its risks, even for cancer. What does seem to pose a risk, at least for esophageal cancer, is drinking very hot beverages, coffee and tea alike.

But overall, the research is more welcome news for those of us who enjoy our daily cup, or four, of coffee. (ontinueReading

'I don’t believe in science.' Man who thinks Earth is flat plans to launch self on a rocket

usatoday.com - The countdown to launch creeps closer and there’s still plenty for self-taught rocket scientist “Mad” Mike Hughes to do: Last-second modifications to his vessel. Pick up his flight suit. Leave enough food for his four cats — just in case anything happens.

Hughes is a 61-year-old limo driver who’s spent the last few years building a steam-powered rocket out of salvage parts in his garage. His project has cost him $20,000, which includes Rust-Oleum paint to fancy it up and a motor home he bought on Craigslist that he converted into a ramp.

His first test of the rocket will also be the launch date — Saturday , when he straps into his homemade contraption and attempts to hurtle over the ghost town of Amboy, California. He will travel about a mile at a speed of roughly 500 mph.

“If you’re not scared to death, you’re an idiot,” Hughes said . “It’s scary as hell, but none of us are getting out of this world alive. I like to do extraordinary things that no one else can do, and no one in the history of mankind has designed, built and launched himself in his own rocket.

“I’m a walking reality show.”

The daredevil/limo driver has been called a little bit of everything over his career — eccentric, quirky, foolhardy. Doesn’t bother him. He believes what he believes, including that the Earth is flat. He knows this thought is a conundrum, given that he’s about to launch himself into the atmosphere.

Down the road, he’s intending to build a rocket that takes him to space, so he can snap a picture and see with his own eyes.

“I don’t believe in science,” said Hughes, whose main sponsor for the rocket is Research Flat Earth. “I know about aerodynamics and fluid dynamics and how things move through the air, about the certain size of rocket nozzles, and thrust. But that’s not science, that’s just a formula. There’s no difference between science and science fiction.”

This will actually be the second time he’s constructed and launched a rocket. He jumped on a private property in Winkelman, Arizona, on Jan. 30, 2014 , and traveled 1,374 feet. He collapsed after that landing — the G-forces taking a toll — and needed three days to recover.

That distance, though, would’ve been enough to clear the Snake River Canyon, which is a jump daredevil Evel Knievel made famous when he failed to clear it during his attempt in 1974. Stuntman Eddie Braun did successfully zoom over the canyon — using Knievel’s original blueprints — in September 2016.

Just don’t mention Knievel around Hughes. He’s not a fan.

“He was an average stunt guy,” said Hughes, a former motorcycle racer. “He stole his look from Elvis.”

Hughes constructed his latest rocket at the “Rocket Ranch” in Apple Valley, California. It’s a five-acre property he leases from Waldo Stakes, the CEO of Land Speed Research Vehicles who’s currently working on a project to make a car travel 2,000 mph.

Their relationship formed a few years ago when Hughes approached Stakes about building a rocket. Stakes receives plenty of these sorts of requests, but this one stood out because Hughes was building it himself.

“Nothing is out of reach,” Stakes said. “Anything can be done. You just have to put enough money, time and thought into it.”

Here’s the thing: Hughes doesn’t make all that much money — $15 per hour as a limo driver, plus tips. That’s why he’s scrounged for parts, finding the aluminum for his rocket in metal shops and constructing the rocket nozzle out of an aircraft air filter. He gave it a good varnish of cheap paint, and his launch pad is attached to a motor home he bought for $1,500.

“I want to inspire others — and you have to do something incredible to get anybody’s attention,” Hughes said.

The location of the jump will be Amboy, a ghost town in the Mojave Desert and along historic Route 66. The fictional town of Radiator Springs in the Disney movie “Cars” was loosely based on Amboy.

Hughes got permission from the town’s owner, Albert Okura, who purchased the rights to Amboy in 2005 for $435,000. The launch will take place on an air strip next to a dilapidated hangar.

“It is absolutely the most wacky promotional proposal I have had since I purchased the entire town in 2005,” said Okura, who’s also the founder of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain. “He is a true daredevil and I want to be part of it.”

On the morning of the launch, Hughes will heat about 70 gallons of water in a stainless steel tank and then blast off between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. He plans to go about a mile — reaching an altitude of about 1,800 feet — before pulling two parachutes. They’re discouraging fans — safety issues — but it will be televised on his YouTube channel. He said he’s been in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Bureau of Land Management.

Following his jump, he said he’s going to announce his plans to leap into the race for governor of California.

No joke.

His future plans include an excursion into space. He and Stakes have already brainstormed on a “Rockoon,” which is a rocket that, rather than being immediately ignited while on the ground, is carried into the atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon, then separated from the balloon and lit. This rocket will take Hughes about 68 miles up.

First things first — this jump over a ghost town. He will be tinkering with his rocket right up to takeoff.

“A guy who builds his own rocket in his garage, about to jump a mile is pretty cool,” Hughes said. “It’s the most interesting human-interest story in the world.” (ontinueReading

Mugabe resigns under military pressure after 37 years as Zimbabwe’s leader

washingtonpost.com HARARE, Zimbabwe — Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s leader for nearly four decades, resigned on Tuesday, a week after the military moved to sideline him from power, according to the speaker of the country’s Parliament.

The capital erupted in cheers, with crowds pouring into the streets and citizens giving high-fives to soldiers.

Mugabe’s departure marked the end of a tumultuous reign that spanned the country’s independence through its economic collapse.

His exit marks a historic moment that will echo across Africa, where Mugabe was among the last surviving heroes of the anti-colonial struggle to remain in power.

In the end, the world’s oldest head of state was a victim of his own party. After years of purging members of his inner circle, Mugabe had alienated the leaders of Zimbabwe’s military, who detained him and seized control of the country’s government.

The resignation was announced after Mugabe’s former vice president called for him to heed the “clarion call” to step aside and parliament opening impeachment proceedings.

The demand by the influential former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, marked his first public statement since the military’s takeover last week that was widely expected to pave the way for Mnangagwa to replace Mugabe.

But Mugabe remained defiant for days and the military gave mixed signals about its next move — further clouding an already confusing tumble of events since the military intervened last week against the 93-year-old president.

On Monday, Zimbabwe’s military appeared to open the door for Mugabe to somehow stay in power during a transition period.

During the impeachment debate, some Parliament members cheered as the list of accusations was read, including claims that Mugabe attempted to “usurp constitutional” control by seeking to make his wife, Grace Mugabe, his successor.

An alliance between the military and Mnangagwa was at the core of a plan to replace Mugabe, who has ruled since the country became independent from Britain in 1980. (ontinueReading

China Offers Solution for Rohingya Refugee Crisis in Myanmar

bloomberg.com - A top Chinese diplomat proposed a resolution to the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar that has seen more than 600,000 Muslims flee across the border into Bangladesh.

At a joint press conference on Sunday with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined a three-point solution that would allow Myanmar and Bangladesh to resolve the situation. The steps included a cease-fire, repatriation of refugees and talks on a long-term solution.

Wang had visited Bangladesh on Saturday before meeting with Myanmar’s top leaders. He’s scheduled to attend a meeting of Asian and European foreign ministers in Naypyidaw on Monday and Tuesday, at which the Rohingya issue is expected to be discussed.

The crisis in Myanmar has hurt the country’s image shortly after a democratic opening spurred a wave of interest from foreign companies. China had backed Myanmar’s military junta for over two decades as the West put sanctions on the regime, and is now seeking to build an economic corridor stretching from landlocked Yunnan province to the Bay of Bengal.

While State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said last month that the U.S. was assessing economic options available to target individuals associated with any atrocities, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on a visit to Myanmar last week that the introduction of broad-based economic sanctions at this time wouldn’t help resolve the crisis.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and former political prisoner, has rejected widespread accusations that she hasn’t done enough to protect the Rohingya.

The latest tensions were sparked in August when militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked 25 police and army posts, killing a dozen security officials in Rakhine state. The military responded with what it calls “clearance operations.” Multiple reports have since accused security forces and Buddhist vigilantes of indiscriminately attacking Muslims in the state and burning their villages, with the United Nations describing the campaign as "ethnic cleansing."

After meeting with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka on Saturday, Wang told reporters that China was “willing to play a constructive role” in resolving the situation.

In a statement, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said Wang had "acknowledged Bangladesh is facing the brunt" of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and pledged that China would continue providing humanitarian assistance to help Dhaka deal with the crisis.

The Bangladesh foreign ministry didn’t directly address China’s plan, but said "Bangladesh remains engaged bilaterally with Myanmar for the solution of the problem and will look forward to China’s support for the early return of the Rohingyas to their homeland in Myanmar with dignity and safety."

Despite opposition from China and Russia, the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee endorsed a resolution on Nov. 16 calling on Myanmar’s military to end its campaign against the Rohingya.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund predicted a rebound in Myanmar’s economic growth to 6.7 percent in 2017-2018. The crisis in northern Rakhine could affect development finance and investor sentiment, although the direct economic impact appears to have been largely localized so far, the IMF said. (ontinueReading

Related: China says Myanmar, Bangladesh back its Rohingya proposal

A great increase in strong earthquakes is predicted by scientists in 2018

- US geoscientists consider it very likely that in 2018, or perhaps in the next few years, there will be a significant increase in the number of strong earthquakes around the world. Their prediction is based on the periodic slowdown in Earth’s speed of rotation around its axis, which minimizes daylight.

Roger Bildham of the University of Colorado and Rebecca Bennic of the University of Montana, who made a statement to the annual conference of the Geological Society of America, argue that there is a clear correlation between the speed of rotation of our planet and global earthquake activity.

“This correlation is intense and shows that there will be an increase in the number of major earthquakes next year,” said Bilham.

Researchers who have published Geophysical Research letters , according to Guardian and Science, have analyzed earthquakes above seven degrees that have occurred on earth since 1990. As they say, they found (approximately every 30 years) with a significantly higher frequency of severe earthquakes, about 25 to 30 per year, compared with about 15 earthquakes averaging over the other periods.

Seeking to find phenomena that could explain this seismic periodicity, they discovered that when earth’s rotation slows down from time to time, it just follows periods of more powerful earthquakes.

According to the two scientists, during the past one and a half centuries there have been periods of about five years each, during which the earth’s rotation was slower by a few milliseconds a day. Then, after this five-year period of earth’s slowdown, the periods of increased earthquakes followed.

“The correlation is clear. earth gives us a five-year warning for future earthquakes, “said Bilham and pointed out today that more than four years have passed since the Earth began a new cycle of slowing its rotation.

“Consequently,” Bilham said, “we will see a significant increase in the numbers of major earthquakes over time. This year we made it clean. Until now, we only had six powerful earthquakes. But from 2018 we could easily have 20 years. ”

The exact relationship between Earth rotation (a slight decrease in the duration of the day) and earthquakes worldwide is unclear. Probably, according to scientists, it has to do with slight changes in the behavior of the fluid and hot iron nucleus of our planet, which can release vast amounts of energy and have “side effects” in the upper layers, namely the mantle of the earth .

The researchers stressed that it is certainly difficult to predict where the extra earthquakes will occur. However, based on the analysis of the past, it seems a tendency to occur in tropical regions near earth’s equator, where our planet rotates at a speed of about 460 meters per second. (ontinueReading

Germany Freaks Out And Bans Kid Smartwatches Over Eavesdropping And Privacy Concerns

hothardware.com - Germany's regulatory arm for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post, and railway markets, has issued a ban on smartwatches designed for children over concerns that they can be used by parents to spy on their kids and teachers. Furthermore, the regulatory office is urging parents to go a step further and physically destroy these smartwatches, should their children own one. The agency has also taken action against several firms that offer smartwatches designed for children.

"Via an app, parents can use such children's watches to listen unnoticed to the child's environment and they are to be regarded as an authorized transmitting system," said Jochen Homann, president of the Federal Network Agency. "According to our research, parents' watches are also used to listen to teachers in the classroom."

A large number of providers in Germany sell smartwatches designed for children between the ages of 5-12 years old. Most of the watches have a SIM card and limited telephone capabilities. They are set up and controlled with a companion app, and it appears that is where the Federal Network Agency takes issue, though it did not specifically reference potential vulnerabilities in software.

Just last month, the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) reported that some childrens' watches had security flaws, such as storing and transmitting unencrypted data. Without encryption, hackers would have an easier time hacking these devices, and could potentially track a child's location. Using basic hacking techniques, malicious agents could even make it appear as though a child was in a different location than what his or her smartwatch reports.

"This ban sends a strong signal to makers of products aimed at children that they need to be safer," Finn Myrstad, head of digital policy at NCC, told BCC.

Ken Munro, a security expert at Pen Test Partners, agrees with that assessment.

"Poorly secured smart devices often allow for privacy invasion. That is really concerning when it comes to kids' GPS tracking watches— the very watches that are supposed to help keep them safe," Ken Munro added. "There is a shocking lack of regulation of the 'Internet of things', which allows lax manufacturers to sell us dangerously insecure smart products."

He called the ban a "game changer," saying it will stop manufacturers from "playing fast and loose" with kids' security. And it probably will have that effect, though it is interesting that the Federal Network Agency largely ignored that angle, choosing instead to focus on parents having the ability to spy on their kids and especially their teachers (along with anyone else in the vicinity). The same could be said of smartphones, though perhaps not as slyly as through a smartwatch.
Read more Here

Colorado doctors "claim" first marijuana overdose death

KUSA - Two poison control doctors claim to have documented the first known case of death by marijuana overdose, sparking a medical debate over what killed an 11-month-old baby in Colorado two years ago.

The case report was published in the journal Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine and is co-authored by a pair of doctors at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, which is housed at Denver Health.

The doctors behind the case report, Doctors Thomas Nappe and Christopher Hoyte, worked on the baby’s care as part of their duties at the regional poison control center. They claim that damage to the child’s heart muscle, which was listed as the boy’s cause of death, was brought on by ingesting marijuana. This is the first news story in which either of the doctors publicly discussed the case that was published in a medical journal in March of this year.

“The only thing that we found was marijuana. High concentrations of marijuana in his blood. And that’s the only thing we found,” Hoyte said. “The kid never really got better. And just one thing led to another and the kid ended up with a heart stopped. And the kid stopped breathing and died.”

The case report makes what amounts to a very bold statement in the scientific world, “As of this writing, this is the first reported pediatric death associated with cannabis exposure.”

If correct, the phenomenon Dr. Hoyte claims to have documented would remain the only time a marijuana overdose is known to have caused a human death.

Other doctors are deeply skeptical of the strong language used in the report.

“That statement is too much. It’s too much as far as I’m concerned,” said Dr. Noah Kaufman, an emergency medicine specialist based in Northern Colorado. “Because that is saying confidently that this is the first case. ‘We’ve got one!’ And I still disagree with that.”

It’s widely accepted as fact that marijuana overdoses are not fatal. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration fact sheet on pot says simply that “no death from overdose of marijuana has been reported” and the National Institutes of Health says there is “insufficient evidence” to link THC overdose to fatalities.

The claim that an overdose death happened in Colorado has the potential to change the way people think about the steady march toward marijuana legalization in the US. (ontinueReading

Further Reading - Washington Post: The truth behind the ‘first marijuana overdose death’

Robert Mugabe refuses to quit as President of Zimbabwe after ‘bloodless coup’

metro.co.uk - Robert Mugabe has refused to resign as President of Zimbabwe during talks with generals who have taken control of the country. A source close to the top brass of the country’s military said: ‘They met today. He is refusing to step down. I think he is trying to buy time.’ A political source who spoke to senior allies holed up with Mugabe and his wife, Grace, in his lavish ‘Blue Roof’ Harare compound said Mugabe had no plans to resign voluntarily ahead of elections scheduled for next year. ‘It’s a sort of stand-off, a stalemate,’ the source said. ‘They are insisting the president must finish his term.’ Yesterday it was believed that Grace Mugabe had fled to Namibia after the army took control of government buildings and parliament. The army’s takeover signalled the collapse in less than 36 hours of the security, intelligence and patronage networks that sustained Mugabe through 37 years in power and built him into the ‘Grand Old Man’ of African politics.

A priest mediating between Mugabe and the generals, who seized power on Wednesday in what they called a targeted operation against ‘criminals’ in Mugabe’s entourage, has made little headway, a senior political source told Reuters. The army has described the takeover as a ‘bloodless correction’, but insisted that it was not a coup.

Mugabe was kept under house arrest following a night of unrest that included a military takeover of the state broadcaster. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called for Mugabe’s departure ‘in the interest of the people’. In a statement read to reporters, Tsvangirai pointedly referred to him as ‘Mr Robert Mugabe’, not President. The army appears to want Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, to go quietly and allow a smooth and bloodless transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president Mugabe sacked last week triggering the political crisis. The main goal of the generals is to prevent Mugabe from handing power to his wife Grace, 41 years his junior, who has built a following among the ruling party’s youth wing and appeared on the cusp of power after Mnangagwa was pushed out. (ontinueReading (ontinueReading

If the U.S. went vegan, emissions would drop. But there’s a catch, a new study says

Sacramentobee.com - If the entire United States went vegan, it could be great for the environment. But it’s a lot more complicated than advocates for an all-vegan country might hope, a new study found.

Agriculture and forestry alone make up a quarter of the United States’ total greenhouse emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — and animals produce roughly half of those agricultural emissions, Science Magazine reported.

That means animal agriculture is a perennial target for those hoping to cut emissions and tackle global warming. So what would happen if all 320 million Americans went vegan, entirely eliminating animals from our diets — and from our farming and ranching practices?

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that such a radical diet change would slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 28 percent. But the study — authored by Robin White, of the Virginia Tech department of animal and poultry science, and Mary Beth Hall, a U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher in Madison, Wisc. — also found that an animal-free diet would harm Americans’ nutrition.

And you might be wondering about the math, too: If animals produce 49 percent of U.S. agriculture’s greenhouse emissions, shouldn’t eliminating animals cut emissions by the same amount — that is, 49 percent?

For better or worse, it’s not that simple, scientists told Science Magazine. Eliminating animals altogether would leave behind tons of corn stalks, potato waste and other plant byproducts that right now end up in livestocks’ stomachs. And if that uneaten waste got burned to eliminate it, the waste would churn out 2 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, the researchers told Science Magazine.

With no more livestock-produced manure, demand for artificial fertilizer would rise as well, Science Magazine reported, driving an additional 23 million tons in carbon emissions each year.

So even though 65 percent of farm-related emissions come from methane belched by cows and from putting nitrous oxide fertilizer and waste in the ground, according to the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based think tank, taking animals out of agriculture altogether doesn’t solve the problem.

Cutting out animals would hurt Americans’ diets, too.

“Although modeled plants-only agriculture produced 23% more food, it met fewer of the US population’s requirements for essential nutrients,” the study says.

White, one of the study’s authors, told Science Magazine that it’s not surprising an all-vegan diet in the U.S. would lead to deficiencies in calcium, vitamins A and B12, and important fatty acids.

“With carefully balanced rations, you can meet all of your nutrient requirements with a vegetarian diet,” White told the magazine. “But the types of foods that seem to do that, we don’t currently produce in sufficient quantities to make it a sustainable diet for the entire population.”

That’s not to say that eating a little (or a lot) less meat on an individual level can’t have an impact on your carbon footprint, though – especially considering how much of our individual greenhouse emissions come from meat consumption.

The meat consumed by the average family of four, for example, puts out more greenhouse emissions than driving two cars would produce, according to the BBC. Yet it’s fuel efficiency – not hamburger and chicken nugget bans – that policymakers hoping to tackle greenhouse emissions focus on.

“Most people don’t think of the consequences of food on climate change,” Tim Benton, a food security expert at the University of Leeds, told the BBC. “But just eating a little less meat right now might make things a whole lot better for our children and grandchildren.” (ontinueReading

The Richest 1% Now Own More Than 50% of the World’s Wealth

fortune.com - The richest 1% now owns more than half of all the world’s household wealth, according to analysts at Credit Suisse. And they say inequality is only going to get worse over the coming years, with millennials having a particularly tough time.

The Swiss bank released its latest Global Wealth Report on Tuesday, together with a statement that contained the immortal phrase, “The outlook for the millionaire segment is more optimistic than for the bottom of the wealth pyramid.”

The research showed that there are increasing numbers of dollar millionaires. This is partly because the strength of the euro has created 620,000 more of them in Germany, France, Italy and Spain (conversely, depreciating currencies in the U.K. and Japan have seen 34,000 and over 300,000 people in those countries respectively lose the status).

But almost half of the new dollar millionaires are in the U.S. itself. “So far, the Trump Presidency has seen businesses flourish and employment grow, though the ongoing supportive role played by the Federal Reserve has undoubtedly played a part here as well, and wealth inequality remains a prominent issue,” said Michael O’Sullivan, CIO for International Wealth Management at Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse expects to see a 22% rise in dollar millionaires by 2022, from 36 million to 44 million. The problem is, the numbers of adults who have less than $10,000 are expected to shrink by only 4%.

The bank’s researchers see wealth inequality as largely being a result of the financial crisis— it rose across the world between 2007 and 2016, because financial assets were growing faster than non-financial assets. The top 1% started the millennium owning 45.5% of all wealth, and now they have 50.1%.

As for what’s been happening since mid-2016, Credit Suisse described a mixed picture. Non-financial wealth has been increasing “substantially,” but inequality is still rising.

“Despite higher mean wealth per adult, median wealth fell again this year in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Our projections for 2022 suggest more pessimistic scenarios for the immediate years ahead,” the researchers said.

“Looking at the bottom of the wealth distribution, 3.5 billion people—corresponding to 70% of all adults in the world—own less than $10,000. Those with low wealth tend to be disproportionately found among the younger age groups, who have had little chance to accumulate assets, but we find that millennials face particularly challenging circumstances compared to other generations,” they wrote.

Essentially, millennials are more likely to be unemployed or earning less, priced out of the housing market, and unable to get a pension. Baby boomers have most of the wealth and the housing, so “millennials are doing less well than their parents at the same age.”

Millennials may be better educated than earlier generations, but Credit Suisse’s researchers said they expected only a “minority of high achievers and those in high-demand sectors such as technology or finance to effectively overcome the ‘millennial disadvantage.'” (ontinueReading

Scientists warn Earth is on the road to ruin

bostonglobe.com - More than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries worldwide, including scores from Massachusetts universities, have signed a letter warning that Earth’s environment is on the road to destruction.

The “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: Second Notice,” calls for action to avert irreversible damage to the planet. The letter was published as a Viewpoint article in Monday’s edition of the journal Bioscience.

The number of signatories may be the largest for any published scientific paper ever, said co-author Thomas Newsome, a research fellow at Deakin University and The University of Sydney.

“It’s an overwhelming response we didn’t quite expect,” he said in a statement. “People just started sharing the letter; it was added to a few e-mail lists and things just took off from there.”

The paper is a “second notice” because 25 years ago, a majority of the world’s Nobel laureates and other scientists signed a warning letter, saying issues such as ozone depletion, forest loss, climate change, and population growth needed to be addressed.

“In this paper we look back on these trends and evaluate the subsequent human response by exploring the available data,” Newsome said. Of nine areas, only one has seen improvement: There’s been a reduction in chemicals that harm the ozone layer, the university said.

The scientists said that especially troubling was the “current trajectory of potentially catastrophic climate change.”

The letter is being released as the UN Climate Change Conference is underway in Bonn, Germany, amid what organizers say is a renewed urgency due to extreme weather events like this year’s hurricanes and wildfires..

“To prevent widespread misery and catastrophic biodiversity loss, humanity must practice a more environmentally sustainable alternative to business as usual. This prescription was well articulated by the world’s leading scientists 25 years ago, but in most respects, we have not heeded their warning,” the article said.

“Soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory, and time is running out. We must recognize, in our day-to-day lives and in our governing institutions, that Earth with all its life is our only home,” the article said. (ontinueReading

White Red Power: Nationalist protesters disrupt Poland independence day events

Warsaw, Poland (CNN) Tens of thousands of nationalist protesters disrupted Poland's independence day events Saturday, waving flags and burning flares as they marched down the streets of Warsaw.
Demonstrators carried banners that read "White Europe, Europe must be white," and "Pray for an Islamic Holocaust."

Some wore masks and waved red and white Polish flags, chanting "Death to enemies of the homeland," and "Catholic Poland, not secular."

Police estimate that 60,000 people took part in the nationalist demonstration. While the vast majority were Poles, other protesters came from all over Europe.

One of the lead organizations behind the nationalists march is the National Radical Camp, which has previously taken to the streets to protest against Muslim immigration,gay rights, the EU and anything it considers undermines Polish Catholic values.

While support for the group remains small, its critics argue that the Polish government, which has struck a nationalistic tone and linked immigrants to crime and disease, has fostered an atmosphere of intolerance and xenophobia that has emboldened it.

Earlier on Saturday, the Polish capital had seen a far smaller demonstration by groups condemning the protesters' hijacking of Polish independence day, which falls on November 11.

The day celebrates the re-birth of Poland in November 1918, 123 years after the Prussian, Habsburg and Russian empires carved up Poland among themselves and erased it from the map of Europe.
But in the past few years, the holiday has been overshadowed by the far-right march and fears of violence.

Polish President Andrzej Duda led the formal celebrations of Polish independence day in central Warsaw. After laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier, he told the crowd to remember the price of freedom and independence.

Toxic smog chokes Indian capital of New Delhi

chicagotribune.com - As thick smog crept over India's capital this past week and smudged landmarks from view, Nikunj Pandey could feel his eyes and throat burning.

Pandey stopped doing his regular workouts and said he felt tightness in his lungs. He started wearing a triple layer of pollution masks over his mouth. And he became angry that he couldn't safely breathe the air.

"This is a basic right," he said. "A basic right of humanity."

Pandey is among many people in New Delhi who have become more aware of the toxic air in recent years and are increasingly frustrated at the lack of meaningful action by authorities.

This past week the air was the worst it's been all year in the capital, with microscopic particles that can affect breathing and health spiking to 75 times the level considered safe by the World Health Organization.

Experts have compared breathing the air to smoking a couple of packs of cigarettes a day. The Lancet medical journal recently estimated that some 2.5 million Indians die each year from pollution.

United Airlines suspended its flights between New Delhi and Newark, New Jersey, for Saturday and Sunday because of the heavy air pollution in the Indian capital, said Sonia, an airline official who uses one name.

Pandey said the millions of rural folk who have moved to the city understand the problem better than they once did, and are trying everything from tying scarves over their faces to eating "jaggery," a sugar cane product that some people believe offers a range of health benefits.


Masks once considered an affectation of hypochondriac tourists are these days routinely worn by government workers and regular people on the street.

Volunteers handed out thousands of green surgical masks this week to make a point about the pollution, but such masks likely have a limited impact on keeping out the tiny particles from people's lungs.

"This is truly a health emergency," said Anumita Roychowdhury, the executive director of research and advocacy at New Delhi's Centre for Science and Environment.

She said doctors in recent days have been dealing with a 20 percent spike in emergency hospital admissions from people suffering heart and lung problems. And that's in a city, she said, where one in every three children already has compromised lungs.

Seema Upadhyaya, who heads a primary school, said she has never before witnessed so many children suffering from respiratory illnesses as she has this year. That has prompted changes to the curriculum.

"It's impacting everybody," she said.

Authorities have been taking extraordinary measures to try to mitigate the immediate crisis. They have temporarily closed schools and stopped most trucks from entering the city.

The government put off a decision for rationing car usage starting Monday as pollution levels started coming down in the city, said Kailash Gahlot, New Delhi's transport minister.

But everyone agrees such measures don't address the root causes, which remain hard to solve. (ontinueReading

Russia threatens retaliation against U.S. media after RT network told to register as a foreign agent

DRAMA

latimes.com - Russia said Thursday it could begin next week to take measures against U.S. media outlets working in Russia in retaliation for a decision by the U.S. Department of Justice to make the Kremlin-funded RT news agency register as a foreign agent.

The Justice Department set a deadline of Nov. 13 for RT to register as a foreign agency based on accusations that the Russian government-funded cable news network and website was a Kremlin propaganda outlet. The decision came in the wake of investigations into Kremlin attempts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

RT’s chief editor, Margarita Simonyan, said the outlet would register by the deadline but planned to challenge the decision in a U.S. court. Failure to register could result in the seizure of RT’s U.S. bank accounts and the arrest of the senior editor, Simonyan told Russian news outlets.

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a news briefing that Russia was now considering retaliatory measures against U.S. media outlets.

“I think that our patience that is nearly run out will take some legal shape. I don’t rule out it will be done next week,” Zakharova told the Rossiya 24 television channel in an interview, the Russian news agency Tass reported.

In the past, Russia has threatened to target Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America, both of which receive U.S. government funding. In the past, the ministry also has mentioned CNN, which does not receive U.S. government funds, but is a frequent target of criticism by the Russian government for what it says is anti-Russian bias in its reporting.

RT, formerly known as Russia Today, was started in 2005 with a large budget provided by the Kremlin. The news channel broadcasts in several languages and in dozens of countries around the world, promoting what it calls an alternative view to Western media. Critics have said RT’s programming promotes conspiracy theories and anti-Western ideas.

In a statement posted to its Facebook account Thursday night, the Russian Embassy in the United States said the Justice Department’s decision “created a dangerous precedent.”

“Blatant pressure on the Russian mass media confirms that the United States pursues the course of deliberately hurting our relations,” the statement said. “We consider its demand as a wish to eliminate an alternative source of information, which is an unacceptable violation of the international norms of free press.”

The threat of retaliation against U.S. media from the Kremlin is the latest in a diplomatic standoff that has resulted in both Moscow and Washington being forced to reduce embassy staff and give up diplomatic compounds. (ontinueReading

Related:

What You Need to Know About RT’s Pending Foreign Agent Registration

Is Russia Today Controlled Opposition?

12 tons of cocaine, worth $360 million, seized in massive Colombia raid

foxnews.com - Colombian authorities seized 12 tons of cocaine worth an estimated $360 million in the country's largest-ever drug bust -- and they put the goods on display.

Four hundred anti-narcotics officers found the cocaine stored underground in four farms in a banana-growing region of northwest Antioquia province, near the border with Panama.

Officials said the drug belonged to the Clan del Golfo, an illegal armed group that has sought to take over drug trafficking operations in zones previously occupied by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

President Juan Manuel Santos, surrounded by armed soldiers, walked on hundreds of packets of cocaine which had been laid out like a carpet at a police base.

“Thanks to a police operation with overseas intelligence, from friendly countries, the largest seizure in history was made,” he said, according to Reuters.

The seizure comes as the United States and the United Nations have raised concerns over an increase in coca cultivation. Both say coca and cocaine production surged last year in Colombia.

Santos, who leaves office next year, has pledged to send military and police to areas once controlled by FARC.

FARC rebels reached a peace agreement with the government last year that includes provisions to reduce coca production through voluntary and forced eradication.

Police said four people were arrested during the seizure.

El Clan del Golfo, or Gulf Clan, is led by fugitive Dairo Antonio Usuga, or Otoniel.

The United States has offered a reward up to $4.9 million for information leading to his capture or death.

Colombia is one of the world’s leading producers of cocaine, with output of around 910 tons per year, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Anti-drug police have confiscated 362 tons of cocaine this year. (ontinueReading

“Killer” mosquitoes are being unleashed in the US to fight disease

zmescience - Not only are mosquitoes annoying, but they can transmit a whole host of dangerous viruses. To tackle the mosquito-problem, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the release of lab-reared mosquitoes. These mosquitoes are under-cover agents that have one goal: to kill other mosquitoes. They will be released in 20 states and Washington DC. Here’s what you need to know.

The Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus is a vector for viruses, such as dengue, yellow fever, and Zika. These diseases are a large health threat and now the EPA has decided which direction they will take to reduce the threat. They have paired with the Kentucky-based biotechnology start-up MosquitoMate, which engineers special mosquitos. The mosquitoes will be raised to contain the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis and the males are sorted out from the females. Only the males, called ZAP males by the company, will be released because they don’t bite so you don’t have to worry. These males will then mate with unsuspecting wild females and produce fertilized eggs that don’t hatch because the paternal chromosomes do not form correctly. As the number of released males increases, then the total population eventually declines.

The benefits are that this is a non-chemical approach and that other insects and mosquitoes are not harmed. It will still require millions and millions of mosquitos to have any effect on the population. The setback at the moment is that male and female mosquitoes are sorted by hand and mechanically. Either MosquitoMate will be putting out many jobs ads for “mosquito sorter” or have to automate the process.

This mosquito strategy is already being implemented in Guangzhou, China where 5 million Wolbachia-infected mosquitos are released each week. Their secret? They use mechanical sorters bases on the difference in size between males and females at the pupal stage, which is more than 99% efficient. The rest of the mosquitoes are sterilized with low-dose radiation that is just enough to only affect the females.

For now, the southeastern US, which has the densest mosquito populations is excluded from the trials as testing was not conducted under those climates. However, Florida has been hosting trials of the more-controversial genetically modified versions of the Zika vector, Aedes aegypti. We will see soon if this strategy is successful at reducing mosquito populations and mosquito-carried diseases. (ontinueReading

Iran's actions may be 'act of war,' Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince says

oh deer...

(CNN)Supplying rebels in Yemen with missiles was a "direct military aggression by the Iranian regime," declared Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz on Tuesday.
In his first direct statements regarding a thwarted missile strike on the Riyadh airport that occurred over the weekend, bin Salman laid the blame for the attempt at the feet of Iran's government, claiming it was "supplying its Houthi militias [in Yemen] with missiles."

In comments reported by the Saudi Arabian official news agency SPA, the Crown Prince told British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that Iran's actions "may be considered an act of war against the Kingdom."

A spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry dismissed Saudi Arabia's allegations over the missile strike as "false, irresponsible, destructive and provocative," the Iranian news agency Tasnim reported Monday.

Bin Salman's remarks were the latest by the Saudi government accusing Iran of not only being behind the actions taken in Yemen, but also for its purported behavior in Lebanon.

Iran sponsors Lebanese Hezbollah, the Shiite militant and political group that holds tremendous sway in the Cabinet and as part of a pro-Syrian alliance in Lebanese parliament.

Iran and Hezbollah were blamed by Saad Hariri for meddling in "the internal affairs of Arab countries" when he announced that he was resigning as prime minister of Lebanon on Saturday. Hariri, a Sunni politician with Saudi backing, made the announcement from Riyadh.

"Iran controls the region and the decision-making in both Syria and Iraq," Hariri said in his announcement. "I want to tell Iran and its followers that it will lose in its interventions in the internal affairs of Arab countries."

For the Saudis, there would now be "no more distinction between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government," Saudi minister for Gulf affairs Thamer al-Sabhan said Monday. Hezbollah "has become a tool of death and destruction against Saudi Arabia and participates in all terrorist acts in the Kingdom," the minister claimed.

Because of this, Saudi Arabia will treat the Lebanese as "a government declaring war," al-Sabhan told al-Arabiya, the Saudi-backed broadcaster.

While the United States considers Hezbollah a terrorist group, its political wing is the most powerful bloc in Lebanon's deeply divided coalition government, and several of its politicians are ministers.
It was not clear what this statement would do to Saudi-Lebanese relations, but al-Sabhan said the ramifications "would be severe."

Saudi Arabia accuses Hezbollah of smuggling missiles into Yemen. The Saudi military was able to intercept the missile before it struck the airport. (ontinueReading

Catalan leader fuelling Belgian tensions: Spanish MEP

expatica.com - A Spanish member of the European Parliament said Monday that the sacked Catalan president, who is in Belgium awaiting possible extradition to Spain, was being used to fuel tensions between French- and Flemish-speakers.

In a series of statements and tweets since Sunday, Esteban Gonzalez Pons, a member of Spain's ruling Popular Party, also denounced Belgium's interior minister for accusing Madrid of mismanaging the secessionist crisis.

"There is no conflict between Belgium and Spain but there is an internal conflict between Belgians, between Flanders and Wallonia," he told Spanish television, referring to the Dutch-speaking northern and French-speaking southern regions.

Sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont's arrival in Belgium last week has caused problems for the government led by Prime Minister Charles Michel, who rules in a coalition with Flemish separatists sympathetic to the region's independence cause.

On Sunday, Belgium's Interior Minister Jan Jambon, a member of nationalist party New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), questioned why the EU had not denounced Spain's detention of Catalan leaders.

A Spanish judge on Thursday ordered eight members of Catalonia's deposed government put into custody pending an inquiry into their push to break the region away from Spain.

Puigdemont and four sacked ministers will appear in court on November 17 as Belgium considers a Spanish request for their extradition.

"The Flemish are pro-independence and want the Catalan process to succeed," Gonzalez Pons said.

He accused Jambon of belonging to a "party that collaborated with the German occupation in World War II, a xenophobic party that is an unsavoury ally for anyone."

Jambon stirred outrage in 2014 by suggesting that Flemish groups who collaborated with the Nazis "had their reasons".

Puigdemont acknowledged last week that he had gone to Belgium partly to take the Catalan issue to the heart of the European Union, which has backed Madrid during the crisis.

(ontinueReading

Related: Flemish minister hopes Belgium won’t exist in 2025

DRAMA BOMB!: Flemish leader tells Spain’s ruling party to ‘keep its mouth shut’

Is daylight saving time worth the trouble? Research says no

pbs.org - Today the sun is shining during my commute home from work. But this weekend, public service announcements will remind us to “fall back,” ending daylight saving time by setting our clocks an hour earlier on Sunday, Nov. 5. On Nov. 6, many of us will commute home in the dark.

This semiannual ritual shifts our rhythms and temporarily makes us groggy at times when we normally feel alert. Moreover, many Americans are confused about why we spring forward in March and fall back in November, and whether it is worth the trouble.

The practice of resetting clocks is not designed for farmers, whose plows follow the sun regardless of what time clocks say it is. And it does not create extra daylight – it simply shifts when the sun rises and sets relative to society’s regular schedule and routines.

The key question is how people respond to this enforced shift. Most people have to be at work at a certain time – say, 8:30 a.m. – and if that time comes an hour earlier, they simply get up an hour earlier. The effect on society is another question. Here, the research shows that daylight saving time is more burden than boon.

No energy savings

Benjamin Franklin was one of the first thinkers to endorse the idea of making better use of daylight. Although he lived well before the invention of light bulbs, Franklin observed that people who slept past sunrise wasted more candles later in the evening. He also whimsically suggested the first policy fixes to encourage energy conservation: firing cannons at dawn as public alarm clocks, and fining homeowners who put up window shutters.

To this day, our laws equate daylight saving with energy conservation. However, recent research suggests that it actually increases energy use.

This is what I found in a study co-authored with Yale economist Matthew Kotchen. We used a policy change in Indiana to estimate daylight saving time’s effects on electricity consumption. Prior to 2006, most Indiana counties did not observe it. By comparing households’ electricity demand before and after daylight saving time was adopted, month by month, we showed that it had actually increased residential electricity demand in Indiana by 1 to 4 percent annually.

The largest effects occurred in the summer – when shifting clocks forward aligns our lives with the hottest part of the day, so that people tend to use more air conditioning – and late fall, when we wake up in a cold dark house and use more heating, with no reduction in lighting needs.

Other studies corroborate these findings. Research in Australia and in the United States shows that daylight saving time does not decrease total energy use. However, it does smooth out peaks and valleys in energy demand throughout the day, as people at home use more electricity in the morning and less during the afternoon. Though people still use more electricity, shifting the timing reduces average costs to deliver energy because not everyone demands it during typical peak usage periods.

Other outcomes are mixed

Daylight saving time proponents also argue that changing times provides more hours for afternoon recreation and reduces crime rates. The best time for recreation is a matter of preference. However, there is better evidence on crime rates: Fewer muggings and sexual assaults occur during daylight saving time months because fewer potential victims are out after dark.

Overall, net benefits from these three durational effects of crime, recreation and energy use – that is, impacts that last for the duration of the time change – are murky.

Other consequences of daylight saving time are ephemeral. I think of them as bookend effects, since they occur when we change our clocks.

When we “spring forward” in March we lose an hour, which comes disproportionately from resting hours rather than wakeful time. Therefore, many problems associated with springing forward stem from sleep deprivation. With less rest, people make more mistakes, which appear to cause more traffic accidents and workplace injuries, lower workplace productivity due to cyberloafing and poorer stock market trading.

Even when we gain that hour back in the fall, we must readjust our routines over several days because the sun and our alarm clocks feel out of synchronization, much like jet lag. Some impacts are serious: During bookend weeks, children in higher latitudes go to school in the dark, which increases the risk of pedestrian casualties. Dark commutes are so problematic for pedestrians that New York City is repeating the “Dusk and Darkness” safety campaign that it launched in 2016. And heart attacks increase after the spring time shift – it is thought because of lack of sleep – but decrease to a lesser extent after the fall shift. Collectively, these bookend effects represent net costs and strong arguments against retaining daylight saving time.

Pick your own time zone?

Spurred by many of these arguments, at least 16 states have considered changes to daylight saving time this year. Some bills would end daylight saving time, while others would make it permanent. For example, Massachusetts is studying whether to move in coordination with other New England states to Atlantic Time, joining Canada’s Maritime provinces one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. If they shift, travelers flying from Los Angeles to Boston would cross five time zones.

Some states have good reason for diverging from the norm. Notably, Hawaii does not practice daylight saving time because it is much closer to the equator than the rest of the nation, so its daylight hours barely change throughout the year. Arizona is the sole contiguous state that abstains from daylight saving time, citing its extreme summer temperatures. Although this disparity causes confusion for western travelers, the state’s residents have not changed clocks’ times for over 40 years.

In my research I have found that everyone has strong opinions about daylight saving time. Many people welcome the shift in March as a signal of spring. Others like the coordinated availability of daylight after work. Dissenters, including farmers, curse their loss of quiet morning hours.

When the evidence about costs and benefits is mixed but we need to make coordinated choices, how should we make decisions? The strongest arguments, with the exception of energy costs, support not only doing away with the switches but keeping the nation on daylight saving time year-round. This provides the benefits of after- work sun without the schedule disruptions. Yet humans adapt. If we abandon the twice-yearly switch, we may eventually slide back into old routines and habits of sleeping in during daylight. Daylight saving time is the coordinated alarm to wake us up a bit earlier in the summer and get us out of work with more sunshine.

Men could get prgnant "tomorrow", fertility professor claims

Independent.co.uk - Men could get pregnant as soon as “tomorrow” thanks to developments in womb transplantation, according to one of the world’s leading fertility professors.

The success of womb transplants in women means that the science is now available to allow similar operations to be carried out on those who began life as men, Dr Richard Paulson, President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine says.

He also adds that with trans medicine now becoming “mainstream”, that people who have undergone gender reassignment surgery will also want to take advantage and consider the possibility of a womb transplant.

This would allow them to carry a baby, and he adds that there is no scientific reason why it could not happen.

Speaking at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, Dr Paulson explained that there was no anatomical reason why a womb could not be successfully implanted into a transgender woman.

“You could do it tomorrow,” he said.

“There would be additional challenges, but I don’t see any obvious problem that would preclude it.

”I personally suspect there are going to be trans women who are going to want to have a uterus and will likely get the transplant.”

He also added that while men and woman have a different shaped pelvis there would nevertheless be room for an implanted womb.

However, the procedure would be extremely complicated and it’s likely that transgender women would have to give birth by caesarean section.

In addition, hormones might have to be given to replicate the changes that occur while a woman is pregnant.

Despite advances, womb transplant is still very much an experimental procedure with British experts warning that initiating a pregnancy in a transgender woman may be unethical as it could pose “significant” risk to the foetus and future child.

While there may be a “psychological benefit” to the mother carrying her own baby, this had to be “weighed against any psychological harm to the child being born in this atypical way,” said Julian Savulescu, professor of practical ethics at Oxford University.

Since 2014 at least five babies have been born to women who had received wombs in Sweden, while the first British attempt is attempted to be carried out next year by Dr Richard Smith of Imperial College London.

As it stands, it would be illegal for an IVF clinic in the UK to create an embryo for the purpose of implanting it in a man under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008. (ontinueReading

Going Ape: New great ape species identified in Indonesia

BBC. - Scientists who have been puzzling for years over the genetic "peculiarity" of a tiny population of orangutans in Sumatra have finally concluded that they are a new species to science.

The apes in question were only reported to exist after an expedition into the remote mountain forests there in 1997.

Since then, a research project has unpicked their biological secret.

The species has been named the Tapanuli orangutan - a third species in addition to the Bornean and Sumatran.

It is the first new great ape to be described for almost a century.

Publishing their work in the journal Current Biology, the team - including researchers from the University of Zurich, Liverpool John Moores University and the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme - pointed out that there are only 800 individuals remaining, making this one of the world's most threatened ape species.

Early on in their study, researchers took DNA from the orangutans, which showed them to be "peculiar" compared to other orangutans in Sumatra.

So the scientists embarked on a painstaking investigation - reconstructing the animals' evolutionary history through their genetic code.

One of the lead researchers, Prof Michael Krützen from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, explained to BBC News: "The genomic analysis really allows us to look in detail at the history.

"We can probe deep back in time and ask, 'when did these populations split off?'."

The analysis of a total 37 complete orangutan genomes - the code for the biological make-up of each animal - has now shown that these apes separated from their Bornean relatives less than 700,000 years ago - a snip in evolutionary time. (ontinueReading

Beware the China-Pakistan nuclear axis

thehindubusinessline.com - Led by the US and the Soviet Union, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council tried to ensure some five decades ago that they alone had the right to possess nuclear weapons in perpetuity, with the signing of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Their nuclear arsenals steadily increased and pleas for disarmament were arrogantly disregarded.

The scenario today is different from what the five envisaged. Nuclear stockpiles have steadily grown. In the past few decades Israel, Pakistan, India and North Korea have joined the ‘nuclear club’. Others like Japan and Iran are capable of doing so when needed. There are an estimated 14,900 nuclear warheads in nine countries, with 93 per cent of these in the possession of the US and Russia.

Little-known facts

While China tested and acquired nuclear weapons in the 1960s, the next country to acquire nuclear weapons was Pakistan, which commenced its quest after the 1971 Bangladesh conflict. India crossed the nuclear threshold only after it received a veiled threat from Pakistan during tensions over military exercises named Operations Brasstacks in January 1987. Instructions were issued in 1988 to nuclear scientist PK Iyengar and scientific adviser VS Arunachalam to assemble a nuclear arsenal. India’s distinguished strategic thinker, K Subrahmanyam, provided the rationale for the nuclear weapons programme. India decisively demonstrated its nuclear weapons capabilities ten years later, with the Pokhran nuclear rests. Pakistan followed barely a fortnight later.

India is today confronted with a situation where China has not only provided Pakistan with designs and equipment to manufacture nuclear weapons, but has also given Pakistan the know-how and materials for manufacturing missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons to every part of India, including the Andaman Islands. While these facts are known to those involved inside and outside the Government in monitoring nuclear developments, it is astonishing that public knowledge on this crucial issue is limited. Sadly, it has never been debated seriously in Parliament. Surely, the public and Parliament need to know more about these issues to promote awareness of the challenges the nation faces from two hostile neighbours working together. American nuclear analyst Gary Milhollin has perceptively noted: “If you subtract China’s help from Pakistan’s nuclear programme, there is no Pakistani nuclear weapons programme.”

While Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto moved to establish nuclear weapons capability within weeks of the Bangladesh conflict, his prison memoirs suggest that he was guaranteed Chinese assistance after his meeting with Chairman Mao in 1976. China, with antiquated uranium enrichment facilities, benefited from designs stolen by Pakistani nuclear physicist AQ Khan from European (URENCO) enrichment facilities. By the early 1980s, China was providing Pakistan designs for nuclear weapons. China currently has approximately 280 nuclear warheads for delivery by 150 land-based and 48 sea-based missiles and fighter aircraft. While India is estimated to possess 110-120 nuclear warheads, Pakistan has 130-140 nuclear warheads, designed for delivery by ballistic and cruise missiles and aircraft. Experts estimate that Pakistan’s stockpile could potentially grow to 220-250 warheads by 2025, making it the world’s fifth-largest nuclear weapons state. Pakistan’s missiles, with ranges up to 2,750 km, are all of Chinese design and produced at the National Defence Complex facilities in the Kala Chitta Dhar mountain range, to the west of Islamabad. The development, production and test-launching of missiles is done at locations south of Attock, using mobile Chinese designed missile launchers produced in Fateh Jang.

Chinese hand

According to former US Air Force Secretary Thomas Reed, himself a designer of nuclear weapons at America’s Los Alamos Laboratories: “The Chinese did a massive training of Pakistani (nuclear) scientists, brought them to China for lectures, even gave the design of the CHIC-4 device, which was a weapon that was easy to build a model for export. There is evidence that AQ Khan used Chinese designs for his nuclear designs. Notes from those lectures later turned up in Libya. And the Chinese did similar things for the Saudis, North Koreans and Algerians.” The great champions of nuclear non-proliferation in the US, who lectured India for decades, covered up and did nothing to curb the Chinese activities. Pakistan is also known to have received liquid-fuelled ballistic missiles from North Korea in exchange for information on uranium enrichment, in a deal evidently undertaken with Chinese blessings.

Though Pakistan has not enunciated a formal doctrine, its then head of strategic planning at its Nuclear Command Authority, Lt-Gen Khalid Kidwai, had averred that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are “aimed solely at India”. Kidwai added that Pakistan would use nuclear weapons if India conquers a large part of Pakistani territory, or destroys a large part of its land and air forces. Kidwai also held out the possibility of using nuclear weapons if India tries to “economically strangulate” Pakistan, or pushes it to political destabilisation. India has declared that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons and will use them only if its territory or armed forces face an attack in which nuclear, chemical or biological weapons are used. Since India has no desire to conquer large parts of Pakistani territory or destroy its armed forces, there is no possibility of India provoking a nuclear conflict. But, given Kidwai’s utterances about a “full spectrum” deterrent involving the use of tactical nuclear weapons, issued after he retired, New Delhi has to carefully review its nuclear strategy imaginatively, bearing in mind that our “no first use “ doctrine has served us well internationally.

Pressure remains

It is obvious, especially after Xi Jinping’s recent enunciation of Chinese global ambitions at the party congress that missile and nuclear proliferation by China to Pakistan will continue in its efforts to “contain” India. Pakistan has already tested a sea-based missile and China is set to strengthen Pakistan’s navy with substantial supply of submarines and frigates. China appears determined to use Pakistan as its stalking horse for its maritime ambitions, to promote its OBOR projects in the Indian Ocean.

The most crucial challenge we face is how to deal with a jingoistic China for whom “containing” India has been a strategic effort for over four decades. Balancing Chinese power involves developing partnerships with others across the Indo-Pacific region. China’s policies are multi-faceted and Beijing will likely avoid open hostility, even as it continues to keep up the pressure along its borders with India and uses proxies across India’s immediate neighbourhood to keep India tied up in South Asia. These issues will, hopefully, be reviewed and discussed in Parliament. (ontinueReading

London to Set Northern Ireland Budget in Move Towards Direct Rule

Oh deer...

BELFAST/DUBLIN (Reuters) - The British government is to move to directly impose an annual budget on Northern Ireland for the first time in a decade after attempts to form a power-sharing government between Irish nationalists and pro-British unionists collapsed.

The move is a major step towards a return to direct rule from London, which many fear would destabilize the delicate political balance in Northern Ireland.

It also creates a major headache for British Prime Minister Theresa May as she negotiates Britain's exit from the European Union.

Irish Nationalists Sinn Fein and the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party have shared power in Northern Ireland for a decade under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, which ended three decades of violence in which 3,600 died.

But Sinn Fein pulled out in January, complaining it was not being treated as an equal partner. The latest round of talks on re-establishing the devolved executive collapsed in failure on Wednesday.

"Sinn Fein is disappointed that the last few weeks of negotiations have ended in failure," Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, told journalists.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the party was open to dialogue, but only it was meaningful.

Britain's minister for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire said as there was no immediate prospect of a new executive being formed that he had no choice but to start the process of setting a budget directly from London to ensure funding for essential services.

"This can't simply continue forever and a day ... There are decisions that have been stored up that have to be taken," he told journalists.

The budget process could be handed back if agreement is reached between the two parties, he added.

IRISH ROLE?

In a bid to put pressure on the politicians, Brokenshire said he would take advice as to whether the salaries of the deputies in the Northern Ireland devolved parliament should be cut while there is no executive.

He said such a move would require legislation in the British parliament at Westminster.

The budget move also revives the question of what role the government of the neighboring Republic of Ireland should have in the governance of Northern Ireland if power-sharing collapses.

Dublin argues that under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement it should have a role in the direct running of the region, which borders Ireland, if power-sharing breaks down.

Foreign Minister Simon Coveney in September said "there can be no British-only direct rule," which prompted a British government spokesman to say Britain would "never countenance" joint authority.

Sinn Fein on Wednesday called on Ireland to play a role, saying the British and Irish governments should together "act urgently to deliver equality" in Northern Ireland.

Coveney on Wednesday said the collapse of talks was "regrettable and deeply concerning" and that direct rule could complicate relations with London at a time when it is trying to negotiate favorable terms of Britain's exit from the European Union.

"The prospect of direct rule in Northern Ireland and the Irish government's insistence on having a role in that - an appropriate role consistent with the Good Friday Agreement - is not where we want to be," he told RTE radio. (ontinueReading