The sleeping infant, which had been rescued from the sewer pipe in a residential building is seen at a hospital in Jinhua, east Chinas Zhejiang province.Picture: Imaginechina/CorbisSource: Supplied
THE fall of a newborn baby into a toilet pipe in China was accidental and his mother won’t be prosecuted, officials say.
Local officials say the boy’s 22-year-old unmarried mother had kept her pregnancy secret and gave birth unexpectedly when she went to the toilet on Saturday.
The woman claimed she fell pregnant following a one night stand – and then the father of the baby boy abandoned her.
She also said she could not afford an abortion or cope with the stigma of being a single mum, The Daily Mail reports.
Chinese media said she went to the shared bathroom in a residential complex when she felt abdominal cramps last Saturday and gave birth.
But she said the baby slipped into the sewer pipe and she was unable to free him.
She also claimed she was the first to raise the initial alarm and the watched the entire two-hour rescue in secret
“Our investigations showed it was an accident,” a local police officer told AFP, and confirmed the mother won’t be prosecuted. She refused to give further details.
From the time he was found until when he was taken out, the 2.3kg baby was stuck in the tube for two to three hours, authorities and media reports said previously.
He suffered some cuts to his face and limbs and was put in an incubator at the Pujiang People’s Hospital, they said, where nurses dubbed him “Baby No.59″ after the machine’s number.
The head of the hospital, Wu Xinhong, said the infant was healthy and ready to be released.
“His condition is good but his relatives have not come to pick him up yet,” he told AFP.
The incident triggered hundreds of thousands of comments on China’s hugely popular weibos, services similar to Twitter, with users astonished by the circumstances and expressing good wishes for the baby.
Police have said the mother was in a serious condition due to complications from the delivery, while authorities were still looking for the baby’s father.
Erick Ericson"s neanderthalian views of gender roles will really make you scratch your head.
Conservative commentator Erick Erickson earned himself a lot of detractors Wednesday night when, responding to the news that a record number of families rely on women’s income, he argued on Fox News that it was “natural” for men to take the “dominant role” and that women being the primary breadwinner for families is “hurting our children, and it’s going to have impact for generations to come.”
But Erickson stood by his comments on Thursday, first tweeting, “Husbands and wives should play complimentary roles w/ dad as breadwinner,” and then penning a longer piece on the site he edits, Red State, making the case for why women shouldn’t be the primary earner in a household. In it, he said that single mothers currently are able to handle parenting on their own solely because society “will subsidize their doing it all”:
In modern society we are not supposed to say such things about child rearing and families. In modern society we are not supposed to point out that children in a two-parent heterosexual nuclear household have a better chance at long term success in life than others. In modern society, we are supposed to applaud feminists who teach women they can have it all — that there is no gender identifying role and women can fulfill the role of husbands and fathers just as men do.
[...]
Feminists and politicians on both sides of the aisle view these statements as insulting to single moms and antithetical to their support for gay marriage. What should be insulting to single moms is for society to tell them they can do it all and, in fact, will subsidize their doing it all. I know a number of wonderful, nurturing single mothers. They do as best they can. Most of them have wonderful children. But not one of them prefers to be a single mother.[...]
Actually, American society is far from subsidizing the lives of single mothers. In fact,compared to other wealthy nations, single mothers fare terribly in America. Twenty five percent of single parents hold low-wage jobs, and there is a huge wealth gapbetween dual parent and single parent homes. Single parents also suffer from the United States’ lack of paid parental leave, since when they are forced to leave the workforce to raise an infant, they lose their only source of income.
Erickson has a long history of making remarkably sexist, anti-woman remarks. Last year, he referred to an all-female line up of speakers at the Democratic National Convention as “The Vagina Monologues,” a comment that prompted over 100,000 people to call on CNN — where Erickson is a contributor — to fire him.
The Fukushima nuclear plant was crippled by the deadly earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011
Cancer rates are not expected to rise as a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, UN scientists say.
The evacuation of thousands of people shortly after the accident in 2011 sharply lowered their exposure to radiation, a draft report concluded.
The World Health Organisation has said local residents have a slightly higher risk of developing certain cancers.
Reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant were crippled by an earthquake and tsunami that killed some 19,000 people.
It was the world’s worst nuclear incident since Chernobyl in 1986.
‘No radiation-related deaths’
The findings of the draft report were presented by the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (Unscear) in the Austrian capital, Vienna.
Committee member Wolfgang Weiss said the decision by the Japanese authorities to evacuate large numbers of people had proved to be the right one.
“If that had not been the case, we might have seen the cancer rates rising and other health problems emerging over the next several decades,” he added.
Unscear’s report also stated that “no radiation-related deaths have been observed among nearly 25,000 workers involved at the accident site”.
Studies after Chernobyl linked cases of thyroid cancer to radioactive iodine that contaminated milk. But Mr Weiss said that had not been the case in Japan.
The report was prepared by 80 scientists from 18 countries and will be published in full later this year.
The findings contradicted a report published by the WHO in February, which said the risk of cancer for those living near the nuclear plant had risen.
Three U.S. Naval Academy football players are under investigation for alleged sexual assault last year against a female midshipman, sources have confirmed to NBC News.
It’s alleged that the victim and the three students had been drinking when she reportedly had sex with one of them, her boyfriend, in the back seat of a car, sources said. The other two then allegedly had sex with the woman.
One was a senior set to graduate last week; his graduation was put on hold pending the investigation. The other two are juniors at the Annapolis, Md., school.
The sources said the victim initially reported the incident in February 2012 and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service immediately launched an investigation. Four months later, the woman essentially withdrew her complaint when she stopped cooperating with investigators, and the investigation was halted.
This past February, the woman renewed her complaint and the investigation was restarted.
No charges have been filed. The investigation is ongoing.
In 2007, the Academy expelled Navy quarterback Lamar Owens, Jr. in a sexual assault case. Although he was acquitted of any sexual assault, he was found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer.
Check travel advisories on the State Department — or even the U.K. — website
Don’t make yourself a target by sticking out as a tourist
More than 2,500 Americans are arrested abroad every year
If you’re detained, you have a right to a visit with an official from U.S. consulate, expert says
(CNN) — Going to travel abroad? Here’s a tip: Blend.
Don’t stick out as a tourist because it’s like wearing a “Mug me!” sign, travel experts say.
The harrowing experience of an Arizona mother ending up in a Mexican border jail has prompted travel experts to renew some do’s and don’t"s for traveling.
Every year, more than 2,500 Americans are arrested abroad, with 30% of those cases related to illegal drugs, the U.S. State Department says.
The experience of Yanira Maldonado of Arizona — freed from jail Friday after being accused of drug possession — seems a case of a person “being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said travel expert Pauline Frommer, publisher of Frommers.com. A Mexican court determined that prosecutors did not provide evidence.
Still, the incident calls for globe trotters to be reminded of a few basics, experts say.
In fact, Frommer likes the U.K. government’s travel advisories better because they are time-stamped and more detailed. such as giving the number of pickpockets over what period of time in a country.
“The State Department has very good announcement about what areas are safe and what aren’t,” Frommer said. “There are certain parts of Mexico that aren’t safe: there are border regions you don’t want to be a tourist in, and Acapulco — that’s a problem.”
Still, many parts of Mexico remain enjoyable destinations for tourism, Frommer said. In fact, she’s visited the country three times in the past few years: Cancun, Cozumel and Mexico City.
If a U.S. citizen is arrested abroad, he or she is subject to that country’s laws and may not enjoy the same protections as provided in the United States. The State Department stands “ready to assist incarcerated citizens and their families within the limits of our authority in accordance with international law,” the agency says.
If you are detained abroad and there is U.S. consular representation in that country, you have a right to a visit from a U.S. government official, said Alex Puig, regional security director of Americas for International SOS, a medical and security services firm operating in 70 countries.
Be the gray man
This is a simple one: blend in.
Don’t look like a tourist.
It may make you an easy mark for muggers or thieves, Puig said.
“Most travelers the last thing they worry about is keeping a low profile,” Puig said. “The last thing you really think about is that I should dress in to fit in their local environment. Americans are quite casual in their dress. I land at a foreign airport, and I go into the immigration line and I can easily pick out the Americans by their dress. They like to wear jeans and white tennis shoes and they like to wear college shirts like Georgia Tech.
“You don’t want to raise your profile by the way you dress,” he added.
Think as if it’s going to be stolen
Don’t carry a lot of money.
There’s no reason to in this age of connectivity.
And leave the good jewelry at home. Take credit cards.
“The truth is that in all tourist destinations nowadays there are ATMs aplenty,” Frommer said. “You want to rely on your plastic because it can be replaced.”
And make sure you have a credit card with a sufficient cash advance in case you need to post bond to get out of jail, said Texas attorney Louis Lopez, who represented a man framed by drug cartels.
Be aware of your surroundings
You can bet that Americans traveling in Mexico are now looking under their seat — especially on buses — before they sit down, Puig said. That’s because the Arizona mother was jailed after the Mexican military allegedly found marijuana under her bus seat.
“Out of this bad situation comes good learning,” Puig said. “You can’t take anything for granted when you are outside of your normal environment.”
The Internet readily offers local news on the country you’ll be visiting. The U.S.-Mexico border, for example, is renowned for drug smuggling — all heading into the United States.
The bus carrying Maldonado and her husband was traveling to Arizona from Mexico.
“Just be aware of drugs going from south to north, and drug traffickers are going to use every means available to move their drugs,” Puig said. “So you have to be alert.”
Erick Ericson"s neanderthalian views of gender roles will really make you scratch your head.
Conservative commentator Erick Erickson earned himself a lot of detractors Wednesday night when, responding to the news that a record number of families rely on women’s income, he argued on Fox News that it was “natural” for men to take the “dominant role” and that women being the primary breadwinner for families is “hurting our children, and it’s going to have impact for generations to come.”
But Erickson stood by his comments on Thursday, first tweeting, “Husbands and wives should play complimentary roles w/ dad as breadwinner,” and then penning a longer piece on the site he edits, Red State, making the case for why women shouldn’t be the primary earner in a household. In it, he said that single mothers currently are able to handle parenting on their own solely because society “will subsidize their doing it all”:
In modern society we are not supposed to say such things about child rearing and families. In modern society we are not supposed to point out that children in a two-parent heterosexual nuclear household have a better chance at long term success in life than others. In modern society, we are supposed to applaud feminists who teach women they can have it all — that there is no gender identifying role and women can fulfill the role of husbands and fathers just as men do.
[...]
Feminists and politicians on both sides of the aisle view these statements as insulting to single moms and antithetical to their support for gay marriage. What should be insulting to single moms is for society to tell them they can do it all and, in fact, will subsidize their doing it all. I know a number of wonderful, nurturing single mothers. They do as best they can. Most of them have wonderful children. But not one of them prefers to be a single mother.[...]
Actually, American society is far from subsidizing the lives of single mothers. In fact,compared to other wealthy nations, single mothers fare terribly in America. Twenty five percent of single parents hold low-wage jobs, and there is a huge wealth gapbetween dual parent and single parent homes. Single parents also suffer from the United States’ lack of paid parental leave, since when they are forced to leave the workforce to raise an infant, they lose their only source of income.
Erickson has a long history of making remarkably sexist, anti-woman remarks. Last year, he referred to an all-female line up of speakers at the Democratic National Convention as “The Vagina Monologues,” a comment that prompted over 100,000 people to call on CNN — where Erickson is a contributor — to fire him.
The second man arrested over the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby has been discharged from hospital, police say.
Michael Adebolajo, 28, has been taken into custody at a south London police station, where he will be questioned.
The other suspect, Michael Adebowale, 22, has been charged with the soldier’s murder and appeared before magistrates on Thursday.
Drummer Rigby’s family have called for calm amid reports of a rise in anti-Muslim incidents following the attack.
Mr Adebowale, of Greenwich, south-east London, and Mr Adebolajo, originally from Romford, east London, were shot by police and arrested at the scene of the killing near Woolwich Barracks on 22 May.
They were both held under police guard in hospital following the arrest.
Mr Adebowale was discharged from hospital earlier this week. He is due to appear in court again on Monday.
The sun shone for the first time in days as tea and biscuits were served outside Greenwich Islamic Centre.
Leaders at the centre, also known as Woolwich Mosque, had urged the community to drop in after Friday prayers. An inter-faith meeting also took place at the mosque.
Erica Wooff, rector of Charlton, said tea and a chat was a simple but effective way to respond to the events of last week.
“When words are impossible, the only way to respond is with actions. And what better way than with a cup of tea,” she said.
Locals Caz Shane, 70, and Fazilah Brooke, 55, who chatted animatedly over an orange juice, had not met before today.
“The more people who come the better so we can all get to know each other,” said Mrs Brooke.
Mrs Stone added: “I wanted to be here to say to the EDL and others, ‘I’m not with you’.”
Police investigating the Woolwich attack have also arrested a 42-year-old man in north London and a 46-year-old man in east London on suspicion of involvement in the supply of illegal firearms.
‘Harrowing experience’
Faith Matters, an inter-faith organisation aimed at tackling extremism, said it had recorded 212 incidents since last Wednesday, up from between four and six per day.
In a statement, Drummer Rigby’s family said: “Lee would not want people to use his name as an excuse to carry out attacks against others”.
“We would not wish any other families to go through this harrowing experience and appeal to everyone to keep calm and show their respect in a peaceful manner.”
Drummer Rigby’s regiment, the Royal Fusiliers, also issued a notice to veterans and serving soldiers warning them about being associated with far-right groups.
It said a number of retired soldiers had been approached to take part in demonstrations taking place in the wake of the soldier’s death.
Brig Ian Liles, regimental secretary to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, said: “It is wrong and disgraceful that the death of one of our own should be exploited in this manner.”
A separate notice issued by Army headquarters and passed on by Col James Stopford warned that “extremist organisations (the English Defence League in particular) will seize any opportunity to align veterans with their cause”.
In other developments:
An inquest into Drummer Rigby’s death was adjourned after hearing he was hit by a car and attacked with a knife and cleaver on his return to the barracks from work at the Tower of London. His family did not attend the brief hearing.
Police in Scotland said they had detained a 24-year-old man in Inverness after receiving reports of an “inflammatory remark” made on a memorial page for the soldier on Facebook.
Woolwich Mosque invited the community to share tea and biscuits after Friday prayers, an occasion which was also attended by the Bishop of Woolwich.
Police asked the British National Party to alter the route of a planned march from Woolwich on Saturday. Instead, it will be allowed to take place in Westminster.
On Friday, the Queen visited Woolwich barracks where she met officers and soldiers associated with Drummer Rigby in private.
The BBC’s Daniela Relph said the Queen would be acknowledging the soldier’s death privately
The visit to see the new home of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery was planned before the attack.
During her visit, the Queen met Lieutenant Colonel Bob Christopher, commander of Woolwich Station, and his team, as well as staff from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers’ outreach team, Drummer Rigby’s regiment, based at the Tower of London.
The Queen’s visit to the Royal Artillery Barracks was long-standing and Buckingham Palace was keen for it to go ahead, despite last week’s stabbing.
Drummer Rigby, a member of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was not based at Woolwich, but did live there. The MoD acknowledged that it had been “a tough week” for staff at Woolwich, but would not be drawn any further on how troops had been affected.
The main purpose of the Queen’s visit to Woolwich was to present medals to two soldiers from the largely ceremonial King’s Troop, who have just returned from a tour in Afghanistan.
But before lunch, she privately acknowledged Drummer Rigby’s death by meeting a group of soldiers involved in coordinating the barrack’s response to the attack, and some of those who formed part of his chain of command.
The Palace said there would be no public acknowledgement of the stabbing, as the Queen’s route to and from the barracks would not pass the floral tributes that have been left outside the main entrance to the barracks.
Her tour of the base was hosted by the commanding officer of the King’s Troop, Major Mark Edward.
The regiment, which is a largely ceremonial one, is famed for firing gun salutes on royal anniversaries and state occasions, and for providing a gun carriage and a team of black horses for state and military funerals.
Baroness Thatcher’s coffin was carried on a gun carriage from the King’s Troop during her recent funeral, and on Monday the unit will fire a 41-gun royal salute from London’s Green Park to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.
During her visit, the Queen watched a gun team display in the riding school and visited the horses’ stables, the forge where they are shod and the veterinary clinic.
She also presented medals to two members of the King’s Troop – Lance Bombardier Dannielle Parker, 25, and Warrant Officer Second Class Jeremy Faulkner, 36 – who have recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan.
Her journey to the barracks in south-east London did not take her past the scene of Drummer Rigby’s murder, where thousands of flowers have been laid by members of the public in his honour.
The total number of arrests made in connection with the attack stands at 12. So far, six of those arrested have been bailed and two released without charge.
Russian media is reporting that an arms industry source says Russia has not yet delivered anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and may not do so for several months.
The source told the Russian news agency Interfax any delivery of the advanced S-300 air defense system missiles would be made no earlier than September.
On Thursday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hinted he had received new weapons from Russia and threatened retaliation against Israel if it carries out future airstrikes on his country.
Russia had vowed to proceed with the transfer of anti-aircraft missiles, saying it will help deter foreign involvement in Syria’s civil war.
In an interview with Lebanon’s Al-Manar television, Assad was vague on whether the new weapons include the S-300 air defense system.
“All we have agreed on with Russia will be implemented and some of it has been implemented recently. And we and the Russians continue to implement these contracts,” he said.
Israel has threatened to use force to stop the the transfer. That country’s main civilian airport would be within range of the S-300. Earlier this month, Israel attacked a suspected weapons supply in Damascus it says was headed for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Syrian troops and their Hezbollah allies have come closer to capturing the town of Qusair, which controls supply routes vital to the army and rebels, and provides access between Damascus and the Mediterranean.
Local media reported troops have cut off the supply routes of rebel forces in the Arjun district in northern Qusair. Pro-Assad forces have been surrounding Qusair in recent days.
Also, a U.S. citizen was killed in Syria while fighting for opposition forces. Syrian state media reported the woman, Nicole Mansfield, died in fighting in the town of Idlib.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed the death to Mansfield’s family.
On March 23rd, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment to prevent the U.S. from entering into the treaty. It passed by a vote of 53 to 46.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced another amendment to ensure “that the United States will not negotiate or support treaties that violate Americans’ Second Amendment rights under the Constitution of the United States.” This amendment passed in the Senate by a voice vote.
Due to the Senate’s response to the treaty, Obama’s signature will be symbolic at best. According to Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the President “shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.”
This article was posted: Friday, May 31, 2013 at 1:31 pm
IT WAS all toasts and effusions of mutual esteem when President Thein Sein welcomed Shinzo Abe to Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, on May 26th. Mr Abe was the first Japanese prime minister to visit the country since 1977. Both leaders looked determined to cement diplomatic and economic ties that had long been relatively good, even during the decades when the West shunned a brutal military regime. Mr Abe, who also met Myanmar’s opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, promised “all possible assistance” to support the country’s new commitment to reform, which Mr Thein Sein initiated in 2011.
Japanese deeds matched the fine words. Mr Abe cancelled Myanmar’s $ 1.8 billion of debt and promised another $ 500m in aid loans. This comes on top of Japanese commitments already agreed on over the past 18 months, including for a special economic zone at Thilawa, just south of Yangon, the commercial capital. Japan is spending an initial $ 200m on Thilawa, which will include a new port to replace Yangon’s old one, now largely silted up. Dozens of Japanese executives also came with Mr Abe to Myanmar, where he urged them to hunt for opportunities.
Myanmar is the region’s most fashionable destination for investment, but other countries in South-East Asia have benefited more from Japanese largesse of late. Since Mr Abe came to office in December, his ministers have tripped over each other in South-East Asian capitals, offering new investment, aid and more. Japan wants to perk up its own economy by dramatically increasing its presence in ASEAN, the ten-country Association of South-East Asian Nations, a rare economic bright spot.
But the ministers’ talk is not only about trade. Diplomatic alliances, naval training and even sales of defence equipment are also on the agenda. For hanging over the new South-East Asian push is Japan’s troubled relationship with China. Chinese confrontation over Japan’s control of the Senkaku or Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea has exacerbated differences between the two countries. Anti-Japanese sentiment in China has added to the concerns of Japanese businessmen about the long-term future of their investments there. Last year a Reuters survey of Japanese manufacturers found that almost a quarter of those questioned were considering delaying or reversing investment plans in China. For Japan, South-East Asia has fast become a diplomatic and economic hedge against China.
As part of a new financial pact with the region, Japan is investing in the government bonds of ASEAN members. Its finance ministry will also help Japanese companies borrow in local currencies. Some corporate giants are drawing together entire supply-chain clusters in South-East Asia, usually centred on Thailand—Honda, for example, expects to build 424,000 cars a year there by 2015. For this, Japanese companies increasingly need local funds. Thailand’s appalling floods in 2011, which closed car plants and many other Japanese manufacturers, have not fundamentally changed business plans; after all, insurance payouts minimised companies’ losses.
In Indonesia, another country with long-standing economic links to Japan, Japanese companies recently won a $ 370m contract to start building a new underground transit system in Jakarta. (The flood-prone capital is built atop a marsh, and is just the sort of challenge that Japanese engineers relish.) But it is in other South-East Asian countries with which it has traditionally had fewer ties that Japan is unusually active. In particular, it is forging new partnerships with Vietnam and the Philippines, both of which have their own maritime quarrels with China, over islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
In Vietnam the Japanese have been helping to bail out the country’s stricken state banking sector. In December Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ announced that it was buying a 20% stake in VietinBank, for $ 743m. Mizuho took a 15% stake in Vietcombank, for $ 567m, in September 2011. Japanese commitments to Vietnam rose to $ 5.1 billion in 2012, double the figure for the previous year. Japan has also started to improve Vietnam’s naval capabilities, training Vietnamese sailors in maritime surveillance, for instance.
As in Vietnam and Myanmar, memories in the Philippines still linger over Japan’s brutal wartime occupation (Thailand was spared, allying itself with Japan). Yet history has not spilled over into politics as relations with Japan have warmed. More pressing for the Philippines is the stand-off with China over the disputed Scarborough shoal. Japan has boosted aid to the Philippines. It has also given it naval assistance, promising ten patrol vessels, costing $ 11m each, to help with maritime surveillance. Just as in Myanmar, once in the China camp but now closer to the West and its Asian allies, Japanese business and diplomacy march hand in hand.
Broadcast news shows called small government protesters ‘anti-tax’ and ‘anti-government.’
The Tea Party grassroots protesters have made no secret of their support for limited government and lower taxes. But from the perspective of network reporters and anchors, the Tea Party’s message was more radical: “no government” and “no taxes.”
On May 10, the IRS admitted to flagging more than 100 Tea Party-related applications for higher scrutiny, including applications that included the words “Tea Party” and “patriot.” But even before that targeting began, the networks had portrayed the Tea Party as a extreme group opposed to taxation, instead of one supporting smaller government.
Even before the IRS scandal came to light, ABC, CBS and NBC referred to the Tea Party movement as “anti-tax activists.” In one instance, it was CBS’s political director, and political correspondent for the liberal online magazine Slate, John Dickerson, on Dec. 2, 2012, “Face the Nation” who used that phrase.
But he wasn’t alone in that view of the Tea Party, which was repeated over and over again in recent years. On Nov 8, 2011, “Today” show host Ann Curry spoke of “the Tea Party’s anti-government rhetoric.”
Similarly, correspondent Mike Viqueira told NBC “Nightly News” viewers, “[T]his Weekend Tea Party backed anti-tax rallies were held across the country,” on April 16, 2011.
On the Oct. 7, 2010, edition of CBS “Evening News,” correspondent Dean Reynolds interviewed a Chicago resident who said that “They [the Tea Party] represent a very small sliver of Americans who are upset about paying taxes. There is [sic] always going to be people who don’t want to pay taxes” to illustrate an apparent disparity between the views of the Tea Party and the views of most Americans. No defense of the Tea Party was offered in the segment.
CBS’s Bob Schieffer interviewed the liberal “watchdog” ProPublica’s Kim Barker (See related article) on “Face the Nation” on Aug. 19, 2012. Barker complained that political groups, especially conservative ones, were trying to mask themselves as nonprofits. Schieffer seemed appalled at that picture she painted of nonprofits evading IRS scrutiny, concluding the segment with “that’s an eye opener.” ProPublica has received $ 300,000 from liberal billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations since 2000, but the Soros connection was not mentioned during the interview.
Cities like Houston are dotted with air-sniffing monitors that measure levels of benzene and other potentially unhealthy air pollutants. But those monitors can’t answer the question we care about most: Is the air safe?
That’s because there’s no simple relationship between toxic air pollutants and health risks. Researchers at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill are trying to get a leg up on that problem. They are building an instrument that uses human lung cells to measure health hazards in the air more directly.
To work on the instrument, researchers here cook up their own dirty air in a greenhouse on top of a campus building. Professor Harvey Jeffries leads us up a steep ladder and into the greenhouse, which is made of clear Teflon film.
“So it’s filled with clean air to begin with, but we can create any kind of atmosphere in here that simulates any place on the earth — or any place in Los Angeles,” Jeffries says. “We can try diesel cars, or we can try diesel trucks.”
Harvey Jeffries, in a greenhouse on the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, campus that can simulate the atmosphere of any location on Earth.
Richard Harris/NPR
Harvey Jeffries, in a greenhouse on the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, campus that can simulate the atmosphere of any location on Earth.
Richard Harris/NPR
Pipes draw exhaust from tailpipes right up to this chamber. You wouldn’t want to inhale the gases right out of a tailpipe, of course. But breathing exhaust from the air turns out to be even worse.
“If you put the same material in here and cook it in the sun for a day, it becomes anything from five to 12 times more toxic,” Jeffries says.
He suspects that sunlight triggers these particles to soak up nasty chemicals in the air. The particles, which might start out as a puff of carbon in diesel exhaust, get transformed into little packages that deliver chemicals deep into lung tissue when you inhale.
Unfortunately, health officials don’t take that sort of synergy into account. Jeffries says they assume a particle is a particle is a particle.
“If you don’t do this kind of chemistry, you miss what’s really going on in the atmosphere,” he says.
The air from here gets piped into a laboratory directly below. Jeffries’ collaborator, Will Vizuete, says this research is challenging the conventional wisdom about particles and health. It’s not simply how much of the stuff you breathe in that counts.
“Not all particles are created equal. Some particles happen to be more toxic than other particles,” Vizuete says.
And Jeffries concurs: “The health effects for particle exposure in New York are different from health effects for particle exposures in South Carolina and in the desert or in California.”
The effects depend on what happened to that particle while it was circulating in the sunny air. And that’s where the new instrument comes in.
In a lab directly underneath the rooftop “greenhouse,” Vizuete and Jeffries show off a machine that sucks in air from the chamber above. The air blows across samples of human lung cells, which grow in small indentations in the instrument. If the air is toxic, the cells send out hormone-like distress signals that scientists can measure. The worse the air, the more “Help! Help!” signals the cells send out.
“The advantage of using a biological sensor is it says ‘I’m being harmed. I don’t care if you don’t know what’s causing me harm, I’m being harmed,’ ” Jeffries says. “That means it draws attention, it makes you do the work and do a better job of figuring out what’s going on.”
And it tells you, whatever’s going on — watch out for that air.
Jeffries and Vizuete see this approach as an important departure from the way air is tested today. Current tests measure chemicals in the air and then infer health risks based on some simple assumptions. Vizuete says the goal here is to build devices like this, and sell them to scientists who can put them up all around cities, to monitor the air for actual biological hazards.
This devices uses lung cell to checks the air smog components the hurt human health.
Richard Harris/NPR
This devices uses lung cell to checks the air smog components the hurt human health.
Richard Harris/NPR
Hardware is actually being built in the building’s basement. This school of public health has an unusual facility: a fully equipped machine shop, full of lathes and other digitally-driven shop tools.
On the day of our visit, the first prototype was still under construction. Eventually they hope to put the parts together into a plastic frame about the size of a paperback book.
Of course this being a university, not a factory, the instrument is only being developed here.
“So right now, the hope is to maybe get two — or hopefully five — of these out of this shop, and then immediately find another kind of tech shop to produce these at a large scale,” Vizuete says. Chapel Hill has small tech companies that could easily do this work. The human lung cells are already commercially available.
The instrument isn’t as simple to operate as the current chemical “sniffers,” though — technicians must collect samples from the devices by hand. Those samples then get analyzed in a lab.
Vizuete has started a company, called Biodeptronics, to mass-produce these instruments. And he’s hoping that they’ll be for sale later this year. The first customers would be academics who are interested in learning more about air pollution. But Vizuete’s vision is that someday these biological sensors will get scattered around cities. Instead of simply telling us what chemicals are in the air, they might tell us something about the actual health risks.
Police search teams looking for missing teenager Georgia Williams have found a girl’s body.
The body was found in woodland near Wrexham. West Mercia Police said the girl had not been formally identified.
Seventeen-year-old Georgia, from Wellington, Shropshire, was last seen in the town on Sunday evening.
Jamie Reynolds, 22, from Wellington, who was arrested in Glasgow on Tuesday, has been charged with murder and is due before Telford magistrates on Saturday.
The body was found at about 14:00 BST in woodland off the Nant-y-Garth pass in north Wales.
Supt Nav Malik, from West Mercia Police, said: “During our enquiries, sadly, late yesterday afternoon new evidence came to light that proved Georgia was deceased and that she died at an address in Wellington.
“For obvious legal reasons, particularly to ensure that future court proceedings are not jeopardised, we are not able to reveal further information about this evidence at this time.
“However, I can now confirm that the body of a female was found earlier this afternoon.
Supt Nav Malik: “The body of a young female has been found in woodland”
“The body has not yet been formally identified but early indications suggest that the discovery relates to our investigation into the disappearance of Georgia Williams.”
The 17-year-old student, the daughter of a West Mercia Police detective constable, was last seen in Wellington on Sunday evening.
Supt Malik added: “Georgia’s family have been kept fully informed of all the recent developments and this has only added to the devastation they are feeling about this week’s events.
“We are totally committed to every investigation we launch but dealing with events that directly affect a colleague and fellow member of the policing family – especially one that many of us know so well – is unusual and has proved extremely tough and emotional for everyone.”
Soft data, commodity prices take TSX to 1-week low
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada‘s main stock index slipped on Friday as lower commodity prices triggered a slump in shares of natural resource companies and weak economic data out of Europe and the United States dampened investor sentiment. While almost every major sector declined, the index still looked on track for a gain in May, reversing losses in the previous two months.
Canada GDP jumps to 2.5 percent growth in first quarter on exports
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising exports helped rouse the Canadian economy from a sluggish second half of 2012 to grow at an annualized rate of 2.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, the fastest pace in six quarters, Statistics Canada reported on Friday. The real growth rate was well above the Bank of Canada’s forecast in April of 1.5 percent, topped the median projection of 2.3 percent in a Reuters survey and outpaced U.S. growth of 2.4 percent for the quarter. Statscan also revised up fourth-quarter growth to 0.9 percent from 0.6 percent.
China Inc’s Smithfield bid expected to pass Washington test
(Reuters) – Washington may still be digesting news of China Inc’s latest bold move into America with the nearly $ 5 billion takeover of Smithfield Foods Inc , but early indications are the deal will not inflame enough nationalistic opposition to kill it, and success could pave the way for more Chinese purchases. Shuanghui International Holdings‘ agreement to buy Smithfield would be the largest ever acquisition of a U.S. company by a Chinese one. The bid – an effort to feed a growing Chinese appetite for U.S. pork – has stirred some concern among U.S. politicians and will face review by a Treasury committee.
Exclusive: Bain, Advent cancel sale of WorldPay‘s U.S. unit
NEW YORK (Reuters) – WorldPay’s private equity owners, Bain Capital LLC and Advent International Corp, have canceled the auction of the payment processing firm’s U.S. unit, WorldPay told Reuters on Friday. No potential buyer was willing to meet Bain’s and Advent’s price expectations of $ 800 million to $ 1 billion, sources familiar with the matter said.
Ireland rejects U.S. senator claims as tax spat rumbles on
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland has rejected claims by two U.S. senators that Ireland is a tax haven and had handed Apple Inc a special tax deal, a charge the pair stood by on Friday. Ireland’s ambassador to the United States Michael Collins has written to the two senators, Carl Levin and John McCain, arguing Ireland’s tax system is transparent, according to the text released by the finance ministry.
Unlocked engine covers caused BA emergency landing: regulator
LONDON (Reuters) – British air safety regulators ordered Airbus to notify operators of its A320 jets to make specific safety checks after finding unlocked engine covers had forced a jet to make an emergency landing at London’s Heathrow airport last week. An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report published on Friday said two coverings or cowls on the Airbus A319′s engines were left unlatched after maintenance and this was not noticed before the aircraft departed.
New Scotiabank CEO says to drive international growth
TORONTO (Reuters) – Brian Porter, who will take over as Bank of Nova Scotia’s chief executive in November, said on Friday he plans to continue the bank’s growth in Latin America and Asia, while looking for opportunities to boost its Canadian credit card business. “We’ve got a number of strategic initiatives in Canada … and we’ll look at acquisitions selectively as they come about,” he told Reuters, shortly after being announced on Friday as the replacement for current CEO Rick Waugh.
EU trade chief to protect cultural subsidies in U.S. trade talks
MADRID (Reuters) – Europe will protect its cultural subsidies in a proposed free-trade pact with the United States, the EU trade chief said on Friday. But he called on EU states to allow the inclusion of the movie, television and music industries in negotiations.
Louis Vuitton owner faces maximum fine in luxury row
PARIS (Reuters) – A battle between French luxury handbag makers spilled out into the public eye on Friday with market regulators seeking the maximum fine for Louis Vuitton owner LVMH for failing to disclose moves to build a stake in rival Hermes . The row centers around deals, first disclosed in late 2010, by LVMH owner and France’s wealthiest man Bernard Arnault that have left the firm with a roughly one fifth stake in its biggest rival, the producer of the iconic Kelly and Birkin handbags.
Boeing to open design and support sites away from Seattle
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Boeing Co on Friday began a major move to spread its commercial aircraft engineering talent and aircraft support staff around the U.S., announcing plans for engineering design and airplane-support centers outside of the Seattle area. The Chicago-based company said it will establish engineering design centers in Washington state, South Carolina and Southern California. The centers will compete with each other for work based on their ability to supply skills at the lowest cost, spokesman Doug Alder said.
Today marks the fourth anniversary of the murder of Dr. George Tiller, a 67-year-old abortion provider who was shot point blank in the forehead as he attended church services in Wichita, Kansas. Tiller’s clinic was one of a handful in the nation that performed abortions after the 24th week of pregnancy. He faced constant threats and incidents of violence and vandalism in the decades leading up to his death. The man who assassinated him, anti-choice extremist Scott Roeder, is serving a life sentence and was recently reprimanded in prison for making intimidating remarks against other abortion providers. The four years since Tiller was murdered have seen a wave of new abortion restrictions. Eight states now ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Meanwhile, clinics across the country have been threatened by laws aimed at shutting them down. After working with Tiller for eight years, our guest Julie Burkhart joins us from South Wind Women’s Center, the newly reopened abortion clinic where Tiller worked. She is director and founder of the Trust Women Foundation. “We have had approximately 200 patient visits in just the two short months that we’ve been open. We are just so happy to be back in this community,” Burkhart says. On threats made against the clinic and her life she says, “These threats are definitely to be taken seriously and they are chilling. However, women still need abortion care. … I don’t think that the rights of women in this part of the country should be curtailed just because we have extremists.”
It’s low self-esteem and the need for a “sense of belonging” that drives terrorists to join groups that kill in the name of religion, according to an online lesson plan for Florida high school students.
The world history course on “Invisible Warfare” — offered by the Florida Virtual School, the nation’s first statewide Internet-based public high school — begins by asking students “what comes to mind” when considering the concept of fundamentalism and then prompts them to think of the term in a religious context. It later defines terrorism as the act of using fear or violence to accomplish certain political or religious goals.
“Common traits that psychologists have found in terrorists are that they are often risk-takers and many suffer from low self-esteem,” according to the lesson plan, which was obtained by FoxNews.com. “Sometimes joining a terrorist group provides these individuals with a sense of belonging.”
Given the Department of Justice’s current track record – the IRS Scandal, Fast and Furious, subpoenaing the press, and other law bending activities – it is not surprising that it would reach inside its own organization and blatantly overstep the First Amendment rights of employees.
