- Signs of the Times Archive for Tue, 20 May 2008 -



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Best of the Web
Inside The LC: The Strange but Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation: Part IV

Dave McGowan
Center for an Informed America
2008-05-20 13:05:00

Image
©Unknown
The bridge of the USS Bon Homme Richard, January 1964. Just months later, the guy on the right would guide his ship into the Tonkin Gulf, and the young man on the left would begin a remarkable transformation into a brooding rock god. The Bon Homme Richard, by the way, was launched on April 29, 1944, under the sponsorship of Catherine McCain, the grandmother of a certain presidential contender.



Until around 1913, Laurel Canyon remained an undeveloped (and unincorporated) slice of LA - a pristine wilderness area rich in native flora and fauna. That all began to change when Charles Spencer Mann and his partners began buying up land along what would become Laurel Canyon Boulevard, as well as up Lookout Mountain. A narrow road leading up to the crest of Lookout Mountain was carved out, and upon that crest was constructed a lavish 70-room inn with sweeping views of the city below and the Pacific Ocean beyond. The Lookout Inn featured a large ballroom, riding stables, tennis courts and a golf course, among other amenities. But the inn, alas, would only stand for a decade; in 1923, it burned down, as tends to happen rather frequently in Laurel Canyon.

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U.S. News
US: Paper money discriminates against blind


abc15.com
2008-05-20 17:55:00

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court says paper money discriminates against blind people.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld a ruling that could force the U.S. to redesign its money so blind people can distinguish between values.

Image
©Getty Images


Such changes could include making bills different sizes, including raised markings or printing oversized numbers for people who see poorly.



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Mom in room when toddler shoots self in head

Dan Wilson
abc15.com
2008-05-20 17:45:00

Phoenix police say a 3-year-old who accidentally shot himself in the head and later died on Monday afternoon was just a few feet away from his mother when the gun went off.

Tristan Dalton was with his Mom and younger brother as they visited friends at a home near Interstate 17 and Greenway, according to police.

Image
©Lori Jane Gliha
A 3-year-old is shot in the head in north Phoenix



The mom and a friend were apparently talking in the master bedroom while the two boys watched TV in the same room.

According to Phoenix Police authorities, Tristan's mother turned her back on the children for a couple of minutes. That's when Tristan went to the nightstand, removed the handgun from the drawer, and shot himself.

The owner of the handgun was not home at the time of the accidental shooting and investigators said Tristan's mother did not know the gun was in the nightstand.

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Arizona daycare owner accused of sex indecency, exposure

Deborah Stocks
abc15.com
2008-05-20 17:22:00

A Glendale daycare owner was arrested and charged with public sexual indecency and indecent exposure, according to information released Tuesday.

Michael Leslie McRae, 42, had run the home daycare with his wife, near 59th Avenue and Cactus Road, for six years.

Image
©Unknown
Michael Leslie McRae, accused of sexual indecency, ran a Glendale daycare


At least four victims have come forward, according to a Glendale police official.



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Superdelegates Turned Down $1 Million Offer From Clinton Donor

Nico Pitney and Sam Stein
Huffington Post
2008-05-20 16:39:00

One of Sen. Hillary Clinton's top financial supporters offered $1 million to the Young Democrats of America during a phone conversation in which he also pressed for the organization's two uncommitted superdelegates to endorse the New York Democrat, a high-ranking official with YDA told The Huffington Post.

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Update: Edward Kennedy has a brain tumor


Agence France-Presse
2008-05-20 15:58:00

Boston, Massachusetts -- Legendary political patriarch Senator Edward Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor, doctors said Tuesday, days after he was airlifted to a Boston hospital following a seizure.

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Texas: Imagery in Bastrop school mural stirs controversy

Andrea Lorenz
American Statesman
2008-05-15 12:40:00

Bastrop - A mural meant to bring people together is causing a rift in the Bastrop community.

bastrop mural
©Kelly West/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
A mural by Austin artist Raul Valdez and Bastrop students was installed at Bastrop High School in 2003. School board members this week heard criticisms of its religious and historical imagery.


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Two dead, 13 injured in Oklahoma prison brawl

Ben Fenwick and Erwin Seba
News Daily
2008-05-20 12:08:00

OKLAHOMA CITY - Two inmates were killed and 13 injured in a brawl on Monday in the recreation yard of a medium security prison in Granite, Oklahoma, officials said.

No guards were attacked in the battle at the Oklahoma State Reformatory between prisoners, said Kevin Rowland, chief investigator for the state medical examiner.

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Fueling the Faith: Church in Virginia Offers Free Gas

Imaeyen Ibanga
ABC News
2008-05-18 11:48:00

A Chesapeake, Va., church hopes to fuel its patrons' passion for Christ by filling up their gas tanks. When gasoline prices began making their slow creep toward $4 a gallon last year, Bishop E.W. Jackson Sr. of Exodus Faith Ministries noticed a drop-off in attendance.

"We started hearing this over a year ago that people were having difficulty getting to church, having to choose between going to church and going to work," Jackson said on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" today. "We just decided that we had to do something; so, we started helping our parishioners."

Exodus began giving out gas cards to church attendees who had trouble finding their way to church because of expensive gas prices. But with the continued increase of oil and gasoline, the problem has expanded.

"People are hurting," Jackson said.

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Obama Adopted by Native Americans

Jeff Zeleny
The New York Times
2008-05-19 10:09:00

CROW AGENCY, Mont. - As the Democratic presidential campaign has moved from season to season over the last 16 months, the political rallies and the town meetings often have taken on a similar feeling and a familiar flavor.

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Entertainment Now! In US election, every (written) word counts

Virginie Montet
AFP/Yahoo!News
2008-05-18 10:07:00

presidential candidates signatures
©AFP/HO
These signatures obtained on May 14 show the handwriting samples of the three US presidential candidates (top-bottom), Democratic US Senator Hillary Clinton, Republican US Senator. John McCain and Democratic US Senator Barack Obama. Brilliant but cold, idealistic but coleric, charismatic but mysterious: such is the portrait of the three candidates by US graphologists.



Washington - Hillary Clinton is smart and forceful, John McCain is proud but has a volatile temper, and Barack Obama is a diplomat who deals well with different people and situations.

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I knew JFK, says Gore Vidal, and believe me Obama's the better leader

Melvyn Bragg
Times Online
2008-05-18 07:53:00

Gore Vidal, the writer and long-time Clinton supporter, tells why Hillary is insane to keep on fighting

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New York Governor Paterson proposes legislation to reduce gun violence


WKTV-Utica
2008-05-19 00:00:00

Governor David A. Paterson today proposed legislation designed to reduce gun violence without infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. The proposed legislation would increase public safety by providing law enforcement officials with more complete information to ensure guns are purchased legally. The legislation also includes proposals in response to the Virginia Tech shooting last year.

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Iraqi Vets Testify to War Atrocities, Vow to Fight and Resist Bush Policy

Liliana Segura
AlterNet
2008-05-20 03:30:00

Iraqi vet
©Unknown


Angry vets testify to horrors of killing innocent people, and the way they came to dehumanize the people they were supposedly sent to "liberate."

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Complaining couple banned from cruise line

Anita Dunham-Potter
MSNBC.com
2008-05-20 00:54:00

Think you can't be blacklisted from the high seas? Meet the Morans

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Iraq Veterans Describe Atrocities to Lawmakers

Aaron Glantz
Antiwar.com
2008-05-17 00:17:00

Antiwar veterans of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan took their case to Capitol Hill Thursday, baring their souls with stories of killings of innocent civilians, torture and wrongful detentions.

"On several occasions our convoys came upon bodies that had been lying on the road, sometimes for weeks," said Marine Corps veteran Vincent Emanuele, who served in al-Qaim near the Syrian border in 2004 and 2005.

"When encountering these bodies standard procedure was to run over the corpses, sometimes even stopping and taking pictures, which was also standard practice when encountering the dead in Iraq," he told the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which organized the hearing.


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UK & Euro-Asian News
Gold miners chased from French Guiana flee to Suriname


Terra Daily
2008-05-20 17:11:00

GEORGETOWN - French President Nikolas Sarkozy's efforts to rid French Guiana of illegal gold miners has forced the precious metal hunters into neighbouring Suriname, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said here Tuesday.

"Most of the French Guianese miners come to Suriname because of our open borders and because of our weak legislation," said WWF-Suriname Gold Mining Pollution Abatement Officer, Nathalie Emanuels, during a Guyana gold-mining conference being held in this former British colony.

Bertrand Goguillon of WWF-French Guiana explained that French Guiana refused to authorize new exploration and exploitation before a new management plan for the gold-sector is put in place at year-end. Existing gold-miners would, however, be allowed to continue their operations.

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Bobby Sands film risks Cannes controversy

Anita Singh
The Telegraph
2008-05-15 13:33:00

Channel 4 is risking fresh controversy over a film that portrays Bobby Sands, the IRA hunger striker, in a sympathetic light.

Hunger premieres at the Cannes Film Festival today and is directed by Steve McQueen, the Turner Prize-winning artist.

It recounts the 1981 IRA hunger strike inside Northern Ireland's Maze Prison which Sands led for 66 days until his death.

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Czech Republic: Muslims address film controversy


The Prague Post
2008-05-14 12:06:00

Around 30 people gathered at the Islamic Foundation in Brno, south Moravia, May 5 for the screening of Fitna, a controversial new film by Dutch right-wing Deputy Geert Wilders.

The film starts off with the first lulling tones of the Arabian Dance from The Nutcracker ballet as a mock-up of a page from the Koran appears onscreen, along with an English translation of an excerpt from a verse: "Prepare for them whatever force and cavalry ye are able of gathering / to strike terror ... into the hearts of the enemies, of Allah and your enemies."

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Locals in Russia's Penza glad doomsday cult saga over


RIA Novosti
2008-05-19 11:38:00

People living in a village in the Penza Region, central Russia, said they were glad that members of a doomsday sect had finally quit the dugout where they had spent six months waiting for the end of the world.

"We are very glad that the people have come to the surface and no one was buried in the dugout," local residents in Nikolskoye village told RIA Novosti on Monday. People earlier said that they were tired of the permanent presence of journalists in their village.

The 35 doomsday sect members caught the public's attention after shutting themselves away in an underground cave in November to wait for the Apocalypse, which they claimed would come in May. They threatened to set themselves on fire if any attempt was made to remove them by force.

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Defending the Inhumane: Israeli reaction to pro-Palestinian text in Greece


Athens News Agency
2008-05-20 09:47:00

The Israeli embassy in Greece on Friday submitted a reply to a "statement of support" for the Palestinians, released the previous day and published by several newspapers in Greece, a statement which condemned celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel.

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Medvedev to head Russian anti-corruption council


RIA Novosti
2008-05-19 09:28:00

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will head an anti-corruption council to be set up in Russia in the near future, Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin said after a presidential conference on Monday.

Naryshkin said he had been appointed with heading an interdepartmental anti-corruption working group, while the Prosecutor's General Office would coordinate its activity.

"The determination with which the president is set to fight corruption inspires optimism," Naryshkin said, adding that "Corruption is not just a Russian phenomenon, it exists everywhere...but the extent and depth of the problem varies."

Medvedev also gave instructions to draw up a national action plan to counter corruption.

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Earthquake Opens Gap in Controls on Media

Howard W. French
New York Times
2008-05-18 08:00:00

SHANGHAI - Two and a half hours after a huge earthquake struck Sichuan Province on Monday, an order went out from the powerful Central Propaganda Department to newspapers throughout China. "No media is allowed to send reporters to the disaster zone," it read, according to Chinese journalists who are familiar with it.


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Italian Trial of C.I.A. Operatives Begins With Torture Testimony

Elisabeth Rosenthal
New York Times
2008-05-15 00:10:00

MILAN - A long-delayed trial of C.I.A. operatives and former top Italian intelligence officials moved forward here on Wednesday, as a judge ruled that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could be called to testify about the abduction of a radical Muslim cleric here in 2003.


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Around the World
Argentina: Smoke and Memories in Buenos Aires

Naomi Klein
Financial Times
2008-05-19 15:44:00

We are circling over Buenos Aires. The airspace is crowded with other planes, all of them holding like ours. The pilot explains that it is the fault of the humo, or smoke, a word I will hear a great deal in the coming week.

An hour and a half later I am on the ground, head pounding, breathing in the humo. The cover of the Clarín newspaper shows someone gagging and declares: "The Worst Atmospheric Contamination in History."

Some things, such as slight overstatement, haven't changed in Buenos Aires. Still, it's hard not to think of the first time I came here. It was January 2002. The economy had just crashed, the banks had locked out their customers and Argentines had thrown out five presidents in three weeks. There was smoke in the air then, too, but it was from the bonfires in the streets.

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Only half the story: World Bank's Zoellick says: Sustainable farming key to checking food prices

Hillary Kumanya
New Vision, Unganda
2008-05-20 13:16:00

The World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, recently called for a new coordinated global response to deal with spiralling food prices, exacerbating shortages, hunger and malnutrition around the globe.

Unknown
©Unknown
A lady bargains for pineapples at Nakasero Market in Kampala. The price of the delicious fruit has more than doubled.



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Flashback: The Real Cause Of Famine In Ethiopia - Statistical Data Included

Michel Chossudovsky
BNet Business Network
2000-09-20 14:01:00

Having sowed the seeds of famine in Ethiopia through structural adjustment, the IMF and World Bank are enabling US multinationals to exploit the disaster by providing GM seed as aid.
Unknown
©Time
This was the cover page on Time Magazine nearly 20 years ago.





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Philippines Shooting Leaves Five Kids Dead


Associated Press
2008-05-19 09:36:00

Police in the Philippines say that five children are among the dead after a man went on a shooting spree early Monday in a town south of Manila.

The gunman strafed several houses, killing eight people and wounding six others.

Five of the dead are children between the ages of four and 12 who were sleeping inside their homes in Calamba town when an unidentified attacker opened fire with a M-16 rifle, said the Laguna provincial police chief, Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas.

Rojas says the lone suspect escaped, and police are investigating.

Image
©AP Photo/Bullit Marquez
Mylene Neri, the widow of slain Manila police officer PO3 Francisco Neri, stays next to the flag-draped coffin of her husband during a hero's burial, May 18, 2008 at Manila's South Cemetery. Neri and another police officer were killed as they responded to a robbery and the killing of a lawyer-businessman who had just withdrawn money from a bank in Manila last week.


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India: 17 killed in Gurgaon building collapse


The Times of India
2008-05-18 09:24:00

17 labourers were killed and nearly 30 others injured when a wall of an warehouse under construction collapsed in a locality on the outskirts of this Haryana city adjoining Delhi.

Police officials at the site said the wall fell on the temporary huts of the labourers and their families.

The incident took place in Farooq Nagar area on Saturday night when a squall hit Delhi and its adjoining areas. The injured were rushed to a government hospital in Gurgaon.

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Australian Madam or slave owner?

Karen Kissane
theage.com.au
2008-05-16 00:00:00

An appeal before the High Court will decide how Australia defines slavery, giving the legal system a platform to deal with cases of exploitation of migrant sex workers.

It Was probably one of the more mixed audiences that Australia's seven High Court judges have had. Up the back sat a quiet Filipino nun in a habit and veil, interested to see what this nation's highest court made of issues surrounding the people she works with in her homeland: women trafficked for sex.

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Rights activists in Peru condemn corporations


Associated Press
2008-05-17 22:01:00

Human rights activists "ethically and morally" condemned 24 European corporations on Friday, accusing them of environmental contamination, labor exploitation and selling dangerous pesticides in Latin America.

The panel, known as the Permanent People's Tribunal, accused 24 companies - including Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Spanish oil company Repsol YPF and German pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer AG - at a symbolic trial held on the sidelines of a biennial Latin America-European Union summit.

Only one company attended the hearings: Norwegian-controlled agribusiness Camposol SA, accused of labor exploitation in Peru.

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Cuba: US carried funds to opposition

Will Weissert
Associated Press
2008-05-19 21:53:00

Cuba on Monday accused America's top diplomat in the country of ferrying funds to dissidents on the island from a man it characterizes as a terrorist.

E-mails and other correspondence suggest U.S. Interests Section chief Michael Parmly was asked to carry cash from Miami to dissidents in Havana, Cuban authorities said. In one e-mail, activist Martha Beatriz Roque urged her nephew in Miami to give "letters" to Parmly. Cuban officials claim the word "letters" was code for cash, but they gave no proof money was involved.

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Anti-foreigner violence escalates in South Africa

Paul Simao
Reuters
2008-05-19 21:06:00

Mobs armed with knives, clubs and jugs of petrol torched shacks and beat migrant workers on Monday in escalating anti-foreigner violence in Johannesburg squatter camps.

The unrest has killed at least 22 people since last week and increased political instability at a time of electricity shortages, rising inflation and disaffection among the poor over President Thabo Mbeki's pro-business policies.

Police fired rubber bullets at rioters and police helicopters hovered overhead as officers rounded up suspects involved in some of the worst township violence since the end of apartheid.

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Big Brother
What about impersonation on MySpace and Facebook?


WHAS11.com
2008-05-19 13:43:00

Online networking sites like Myspace and Facebook have become extremely popular over the past years. But what happens when there's an account someone else created about you? What protection do you have?

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Turkey widens smoking ban to most enclosed areas

Suzan Fraser
Associated Press
2008-05-19 11:29:00

A law extending a smoking ban in Turkey to most enclosed areas - including taxis, ferries and shopping malls - came into effect Monday in the nicotine-addicted nation.

As of midnight, outdoor smoking was also banned in locations such as stadiums and playgrounds. A ban on lighting up in bars, restaurants and coffeehouses will be implemented next year.

Smoking was already barred on buses and airplanes and in larger offices. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government expanded the ban to most enclosed places as part of an attempt to reduce smoking rates in the country and the effects of second-hand smoke.

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UK: Whitehall plan to log all phone calls and e-mails

Jack Doyle
The Scotsman
2008-05-20 07:25:00

MINISTERS are to consider plans for a database of electronic information, it emerged last night. The computer system would hold details of every phone call and e-mail sent in the UK. The information would be passed to the government by internet service providers and telephone companies.

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UK: Sinister TV licence advert shows how we have become slaves of the database state

Eamonn Butler
The Times Online
2008-05-15 06:39:00

The blades of the helicopter beat as it hovers over a city of computer components. A police siren sounds, changing pitch as it speeds to some crime scene. We hear a big dog barking. Then comes the authorities' message: "Your town, your street, your home. It's all in our database." The official voice is calm and patronising: "It's impossible to hide," we are reminded. There is a knock on the door. Our palms sweat. Everything fades to black.

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Senate Moves Forward on Orwellian "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act"

Tom Burghardt
Centre for Research on Globalization
2008-05-14 05:07:00

In the wake of Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins' (R-ME) alarmist report, "Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorism Threat," the Senate may be moving towards passage of the Orwellian "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" (S. 1959).

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Tokyo: A new wrinkle in smoking enforcement

Yoko Kubota
Reuters
2008-05-12 04:43:00

Cigarette vending machines in Japan may soon start counting wrinkles, crow's feet and skin sags to see if the customer is old enough to smoke.

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Why Myanmar should fear us

Pablo Ouziel
Online Journal
2008-05-14 00:14:00

In the chaotic "West" it is often difficult to gain the attention of the public, but one must be committed to trying due to the severity of our current existential crisis.

We are psychotic as a society, we have become so dumb and manipulable that we are truly being led towards digging our own graves and smiling while working. We cannot go on like this. We cannot pretend that we are a decent society with good intentions any longer. We are not! The "West" as a civilization is corrupt and decrepit; "we" are not the bearers of morality in the eyes of the "other" peoples. We are not an exemplary civilization which people admire and adulate. We are too arrogant and ignorant to realize, that we are seen by the "others" as the enemy, because "we" are.


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Google makes health service publicly available

Rachel Metz
AP Business Writer
2008-05-19 21:08:00

Google makes public service that gives consumers electronic medical record access

Google's online filing cabinet for medical records opened to the public Monday, giving users instant electronic access to their health histories and worrying a privacy advocate.

Called Google Health, the service lets users link information from a handful of pharmacies and care providers, including Quest Diagnostics labs. Google plans to add more.



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Axis of Evil
Inverted Totalitarianism: A New Way of Understanding How the U.S. Is Controlled

Chalmers Johnson
Alternet
2008-05-20 16:46:00

A new book offers a controversial but ultimately convincing diagnosis of how the U.S. has succumbed to an unacknowledged totalitarian temptation.

Reviewed: Democracy Incorporated by Sheldon S. Wolin (Princeton University Press, 2008)

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Bush memo expands government secrecy

Walter Pincus
Washington Post
2008-05-19 16:44:00

Sometime in the next few years, if a memorandum signed by President Bush this month ever goes into effect, one government official talking to another about information on terrorists will have to begin by saying: "What I am about to tell you is controlled unclassified information enhanced with specified dissemination."

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Hypocrisy alert! Bush sends apology over Koran shooting in Iraq


Agence France-Presse
2008-05-21 16:13:00

Baghdad -- US President George W. Bush has apologised to Iraq after an American soldier riddled a Koran with bullets near Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said on Tuesday.

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White House denies Israeli Army Radio report on plan to attack Iran


Jerusalem Post
2008-05-20 09:54:00

The White House on Tuesday flatly denied an Army Radio report that claimed US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term. It said that while the military option had not been taken off the table, the Administration preferred to resolve concerns about Iran's push for a nuclear weapon "through peaceful diplomatic means."

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Propaganda Alert! We face a common Islamist threat, Netanyahu tells Mubarak


Agence France Presse
2008-05-19 10:30:00

Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt - Israel and Egypt face the same threat from radical Islam, Israel's right-wing Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Hosni Mubarak & Benjamin Netanyahu
©AFP
Hosni Mubarak (R) talks to Benjamin Netanyahu


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US, Israel accountable for Shiraz terror - Iran Prosecutor-General


Islamic Republic News agency
2008-05-18 09:28:00

Prosecutor General Qorban-Ali Dorri Najaf- Abadi said on Sunday that US and Israel are accountable for bombing a mosque in Iran's southern city of Shiraz that claimed 12 lives last month.

Qorban-Ali Dorri Najaf- Abadi
©IRNA
Qorban-Ali Dorri Najaf- Abadi


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Bush's Middle East policy in tatters

M K Bhadrakumar
Asia Times
2008-05-20 08:04:00

The George W Bush administration's failure in rolling back Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon pales in comparison with the withering away of its Arab-Israeli "peace process". Time and again during Bush's recent Middle East tour, what emerged was the palpable sense that the US has been all but marginalized from a new Middle East that is taking shape. And now China, too, has appeared on the region's chessboard.

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US plot to nail Iran backfires

Gareth Porter
Asia Times
2008-05-16 08:00:00

WASHINGTON - The George W Bush administration's plan to create a new crescendo of accusations against Iran for allegedly smuggling arms to Shi'ite militias in Iraq has encountered not just one but two setbacks.


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US 'violated Venezuela airspace'


BBC News
2008-05-19 22:55:00

Venezuela has demanded an explanation from Washington after a US military aircraft violated its airspace.

The US ambassador in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, has been summoned to explain Saturday's event.

US officials admitted a naval plane on a counter-narcotics mission had "navigational problems" that led it to briefly enter Venezuelan airspace.

Tension has been rising in the region with both the US and Colombia accusing Caracas of financing Colombian rebels.



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Middle East Madness
'Perfect Opportunity': Elections in Israel this year, say Barak and Netanyahu


Israel Today
2008-05-20 10:51:00

Israel will hold a national election by the end of 2008 as a result of the corruption scandals plaguing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, insisted Defense Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Netanyahu told his Likud Party that the investigation into Olmert's financial improprieties during his time as minister of industry and trade had provided the opportunity needed to remove a government that has no mandate from the Israeli public to be taking the diplomatic steps it is taking.



Comment: Indeed a perfect opportunity for Netanyahu to regain power and to further the pathocratic agenda of attacking Iran. To get a glimpse into his mind and motives, read the following article.



Netanyahu pointed out that the Israeli public opposes Olmert's planned concessions to the Palestinian Arabs as part of US President George W. Bush's push to birth a Palestinian state by the end of this year.

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Australia: Wars Between Worlds - The article you were never meant to read

Media Watch
ABC Television
2008-05-20 04:56:00

For more than five years Ed O'Loughlin was Fairfax's Middle East Correspondent, filing for both The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. His farewell piece appeared in The Age but was missing from the pages of the Sydney Morning Herald. Why?

Media Watch 1
©ABC Television
The article you were never meant to read.


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Nablus: Israeli Troops Shoot Citizen, Leave him Bleeding until Death


Palestine News Agency WAFA
2008-05-19 04:51:00

A citizen who was shot and wounded on Monday by an Israeli gunfire on Hawwara military checkpoint in the West Bank city of south Nablus died, medical sources said and witnesses said.

The sources added that the citizen who has not identified yet was shot and left bleeding until he pronounced his death at the checkpoint.

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Human rights group documents Israeli use of illegal force against civilians in Gaza

Saed Bannoura
IMEMC
2008-05-20 04:31:00

The Al Haq Center for Human Rights, based in Gaza, has issued a report documenting numerous violations of international law by Israeli forces during a May 14th invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Image
©IMEMC


According to the report, the incursion on 14 May 2008 into 'Izbet 'Abed Rabba, in the occupied Gaza Strip provides clear examples of the impact on civilians of Israel's consistent willful misinterpretation of its obligations under international humanitarian law.

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France Discloses 'Contacts' With Hamas

Molly Moore
The Washington Post
2008-05-19 21:49:00

France has had contacts with the leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas "for several months," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday.

"We must be able to talk if we want to play a role," Kouchner said in a radio interview. "These are not relations, they are contacts."

Kouchner's remarks followed the publication Monday of an interview with France's emissary to Hamas -- a former ambassador to Iraq -- in the daily newspaper Le Figaro.

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Palestinians cool to embrace from al-Qaida leader

Mohammed Daraghmeh and Matti Friedman
Associated Press
2008-05-19 21:21:00

Bin Laden mask
©AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen
In this Monday, Jan. 7, 2008 file photo, puppets of U.S. President George W. Bush, left, and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, right, are displayed in a shop in the West Bank city of Ramallah.


In his latest message, Osama bin Laden portrays himself as the only true defender of the Palestinians. But the Palestinians, even the Islamic militants of Hamas, didn't seem too enthusiastic Monday over the bear hug from the fugitive al-Qaida leader.

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Grand Theft Economics
Squatters "rent out" abandoned homes

Jason Szep
Reuters
2008-05-20 16:29:00

They enter through a broken first-floor window each night to sleep on a moldy bed in the abandoned four-family house at 827 Main Street, part of a new generation of squatters emboldened by America's housing foreclosure crisis.

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Microsoft proposes to buy Yahoo search: source

Anupreeta Das
Reuters
2008-05-20 11:28:00

Microsoft Corp has proposed to buy Yahoo Inc's search business and take a minority stake in the Web pioneer, stopping short of a full-out merger, a person familiar with the discussions said on Monday.

As part of the deal Yahoo would put its Asian assets, including significant minority stakes in Yahoo Japan and China's Alibaba Group, up for sale, while Microsoft would buy a chunk of what remains of the company, the source said.

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Soros warns global boom is over

Steve Schifferes
BBC
2008-05-20 09:13:00

Billionaire investor George Soros has given his gloomiest assessment of the state of the US and world economies.

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Fed pause promises financial disaster

Hossein Askari
Asia Times
2008-05-20 08:00:00

On the heels of the most expansionary monetary policy in the post- Word War II period, pushing the US ratio of domestic credit to gross domestic product to an unsustainable 226% in 2007 as compared with 184% in 2000 and 142% 1980 respectively, the US Federal Reserve has adopted an even more aggressive expansionary policy since August, with the stated objective of re-inflating the economy to jerk up housing prices and bail out failing banks.


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ECB warns of 'very significant market correction'

Miles Costello
Times Online
2008-05-19 07:57:00

Fears of a sustained downturn in world economies was back on the agenda today after Jean Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, gave warning that the worst of the credit crunch has not passed and the economy was still heading for a "very significant market correction".

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Iraq could have largest oil reserves in the world

Sonia Verma
The Times (UK)
2008-05-20 04:26:00

Iraq dramatically increased the official size of its oil reserves yesterday after new data suggested that they could exceed Saudi Arabia's and be the largest in the world.

The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister told The Times that new exploration showed that his country has the world's largest proven oil reserves, with as much as 350 billion barrels. The figure is triple the country's present proven reserves and exceeds that of Saudi Arabia's estimated 264 billion barrels of oil. Barham Salih said that the new estimate had been based on recent geological surveys and seismic data compiled by "reputable, international oil companies . . . This is a serious figure from credible sources."


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(Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents: Just Being Middle Class Is Becoming out of Reach

Nan Mooney
Beacon Press
2008-05-20 04:05:00

The following is an excerpt from "(Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents" by Nan Mooney (Beacon, 2007).

Since the 1950s, what we've considered the American experience -- be it sock-hopping, suburban living, or SUV buying -- has been largely dictated by the professional middle class. In her 1989 social critique, Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class, Barbara Ehrenreich defined this mainstream population in terms of education, occupation, lifestyle and tastes, but also in terms of income. "Middle class couples," she wrote, "earn enough for home ownership in a neighborhood inhabited by other members of their class; college educations for the children; and such enriching experiences as vacation trips, psychotherapy, fitness training, summer camp and the consumption of 'culture' in various forms."

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Hollowing out the government: Abertis preferred for biggest U.S. toll road deal


Reuters
2008-05-20 03:15:00

A consortium led by Spanish infrastructure company Abertis was named preferred bidder on Monday in the largest U.S. toll road deal ever after offering $12.8 billion to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said Citigroup was also part of the group, which had pledged total investment on the road of $14.5 billion over the 75-year lifetime of the contract. However, the state legislature, which rejected previous privatization plans, still must approve this deal.

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More U.S. spots see $4-a-gallon gasoline

Ronald D. White
Los Angeles Times
2008-05-20 01:38:00

$4 a gallon gas
©Justin Sullivan / Getty Images


Gasoline averaging more than $4 a gallon has arrived in more cities in the U.S.

The average price for a gallon of self-serve regular was over the $4-a-gallon mark in 15 metropolitan areas Monday, according to a survey of 100,000 service stations around the country released by AAA.

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Vietnam raises interest rates to fight inflation


Agence France Presse
2008-05-19 01:33:00

Vietnam raised interest rates from Monday in a move that aims to tackle double-digit inflation by strengthening the dong, the local currency, putting money into banks and reducing credit growth.

The State Bank of Vietnam increased its base rate to 12 percent from 8.75 percent, and allowed commercial banks to offer depositors rates of up to 150 percent of the benchmark rate, or 18 percent.

Vietnam has suffered double-digit inflation for half a year. Consumer prices surged more than 21 percent year-on-year in April, driven mainly by food and energy prices, fuelling popular anger and labour unrest.

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The Living Planet
Some biofuel crops could become invasive species, experts warn


Terra Daily
2008-05-20 17:18:00

BONN - Countries thinking of joining the rush for biofuels run the risk of planting invasive plant species that could wreak environmental and economic havoc, biologists warned on Tuesday.

In a report issued on the sidelines of a major UN conference on biodiversity, an alliance of four expert groups urged governments to select low-risk species of crops for biofuels and impose new controls to manage invasive plants.

"The dangers that invasive species pose to the world couldn't be more serious," said Sarah Simons, executive director of the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP).

"They are one of the top causes of global species loss, they can threaten livelihoods and human health and they cost us billions in control and mitigation efforts. We simply cannot afford to stand by and do nothing."

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Heavy dust storm enshrouds Beijing


Terra Daily
2008-05-20 17:14:00

A heavy sandstorm hit Beijing Tuesday, shrouding the Chinese capital in a cloud of yellow dust and hampering visibility, the local environmental department said.

Clouds of dust were being blown in from neighbouring Inner Mongolia and Shanxi province as a cold front moved in from the north, the Beijing environmental protection bureau said on its website.

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Storm passes in Philippines leaving 13 dead


Terra Daily
2008-05-20 17:07:00

MANILA - Tropical storm Halong has blown out of the Philippines leaving 13 dead and thousands without power or vital communication lines, the civil defence office said Tuesday.

As of early Tuesday, the storm was barrelling towards Okinawa, Japan with sustained winds of 95 kilometres (58.9 miles) an hour near the centre and gusts of up to 120 kilometres (74 miles) an hour.

Thirteen people were reported killed, according to the latest toll, while two others were missing after the storm brought heavy rains, flooding and landslides as it cut across northern Luzon island at the weekend.

Nearly half a million people were affected by the storm, which blew off tin roofs, toppled power and telecommunication lines, the civil defence office said.

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Saudi Arabia: Dust haze covers Bahrain

Mandeep Singh
Gulf Daily News
2008-05-20 16:23:00

A severe dust storm over the eastern part of Saudi Arabia resulted in a thick dust haze over Bahrain yesterday, according to the Civil Aviation Meteorology Directorate.

The haze, which began early in the morning, lasted for a greater part of the day and is expected to continue until Friday, said an official.

"The dust has already started to settle down, but we will have hazy weather with rising sand in places for the next four days," he said.

Though the haze reduced visibility at Bahrain International Airport to less than 1,000 metres, no flights were affected, said a Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) official.

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China comes to a standstill in silent tribute to earthquake victims

Jane Macartney and Sophie Yu
The Times
2008-05-20 00:00:00


China stood still. Heads bowed, helmets in their hands, soldiers balanced on the rubble of a town devastated by last week's earthquake. A mother whose child had died wept quietly in her van. Thousands gathered under the portrait of Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square.

China's 1.3 billion people stopped yesterday at 2.28pm - the exact time of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake a week ago - for three minutes of silence to grieve for as many as 70,000 people who are feared dead. In Hongbai, one of the worse-affected towns, a single siren wailed and the few dozen people still in the town pressed their car horns. A military helicopter hovered overhead, its emergency siren howling over the roar of its blades.


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China: Heavy dust storm enshrouds Beijing


Agence France-Presse
2008-05-20 16:18:00

A heavy sandstorm hit Beijing on Tuesday, shrouding the Chinese capital in a cloud of yellow dust and hampering visibility, the local environmental department said.

Clouds of dust were being blown in from neighbouring Inner Mongolia and Shanxi province as a cold front moved in from the north, the Beijing environmental protection bureau said on its website.

Air quality has become a key concern ahead of the August Beijing Olympic Games, with city officials vowing to limit the number of cars on city streets and halt construction projects during the Games.

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Ancient Deep-sea Coral Reefs Off Southeastern US Serve As Underwater 'Islands' In The Gulf Stream


Science Daily
2008-05-20 12:19:00

Largely unexplored deep-sea coral reefs, some perhaps hundreds of thousands of years old, off the coast of the southeastern U.S. are not only larger than expected but also home to commercially valuable fish populations and many newly discovered and unusual species. Results from a series of NOAA-funded expeditions to document these previously unstudied and diverse habitats and their associated marine life have revealed some surprising results.

brisingid sea-star
©Ross et al, NOAA, HBOI
The brisingid sea-star (Novodinia antillensis) perches high in the coral branches of Lophelia pertusa to filter feed. This photo was taken off the North Carolina coast in about 370 meters (roughly 1,200 feet) of water, far north of the normal range of this species.



Some of those findings and images of the reef habitats 60 to 100 miles off the North Carolina coast will be featured in a high-definition film, "Beneath the Blue", to be shown for the first time in public May 17 at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, N.C. Research scientists, joined by museum staff, conducted a series of expeditions to the deep coral habitats on the continental slope off the east coast from North Carolina to central Florida, in an area known as the Blake Plateau.

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Global Warming Has Little Impact In Tropical Storm And Hurricane Numbers


Science Daily
2008-05-20 12:11:00

A new model simulation of Atlantic hurricane activity for the last two decades of this century projects fewer hurricanes overall, but a slight increase in intensity for hurricanes that do occur. Hurricanes are also projected to have more intense rainfall, on average, in the future.

Hurricane Ophelia
©NOAA
Satellite of Hurricane Ophelia on September 14, 2005. (Credit: )


"This study adds more support to the consensus finding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other reports that it is likely that hurricanes will gradually become more intense as the climate continues to warm," said Tom Knutson, research meteorologist and lead author of the report. "It's a bit of a mixed picture in the Atlantic, because we're projecting fewer hurricanes overall."

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Frog march sparks new quake alarm


Sydney Herald Sun
2008-05-20 12:12:00

THOUSANDS of Chinese fled for cover in fear of an earthquake today, alarmed not only by warnings from seismologists but also by an unusual mass movement of frogs, state media said.

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Peruvian 'Switzerland' melting under climate change


Agence France-Presse
2008-05-15 11:56:00

LIMA - Peru's Cordillera Blanca, a snow-topped northern mountain range sometimes called the "Peruvian Switzerland," is slowly disappearing because of climate change, a key issue on the table of a Latin America-EU summit being held in Lima this week.

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India: Girl killed in roof collapse; rains, squall in Delhi


The Hindu
2008-05-18 11:34:00

A minor girl was killed and 20 others were injured in separate incidents of wall and roof collapse during the overnight rains and thunder-squall that lashed the national capital.

There were at least four incidents of wall and roof collapse as showers and strong winds with a speed of 100 km per hour hit the city on Saturday night.

Reports of uprooting of trees and power cuts were also received from several areas of the city. The Met Office recorded a rainfall of 7.7 mm till Sunday morning.

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China says over 70,000 dead or missing from quake

Lucy Hornby
Reuters
2008-05-20 11:14:00

Chengdu, China - China raised the number of dead or missing from a devastating earthquake to more than 70,000 on Tuesday, as rescuers found more survivors eight days after the huge tremor hit.

chinese earthquake
©Reuters/China Daily
A woman cries for her child who died during the earthquake near a collapsed school in Juyuan town of Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, May 19, 2008.


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Water Shortage Anticipated in Israel due to Climate Change, Water Pollution and Urbanization


Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection
2008-05-18 11:03:00

Fifty years of observation in the Mediterranean Basin reveal several trends: increased warming in the summer and increased precipitation in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea as opposed to decreased precipitation in most of the Mediterranean Sea Basin, including countries near Israel such as Greece, Turkey and Cyprus.

The Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Dr. Yeshayahu Bar Or, warns that existing desalination plans will not respond to the water shortage which is anticipated in Israel due to climate change, pollution of water reservoirs and urbanization processes.

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China's earthquake: the most destructive in modern history

John Chan
World Socialist Website
2008-05-19 08:37:00

A week after the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province, the Chinese government has declared three days of national mourning, beginning today, for those who lost their lives in the disaster. The mourning period is the longest since the death of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1997. For three days, all national flags will fly at half-mast and all public recreational activities, including the Olympic torch relay, will be suspended.

Yesterday, Chinese authorities revised the earthquake's magnitude from the initial 7.8 up to 8 on the Richter scale. Premier Wen Jiabao has declared that the destruction caused by the earthquake was the most severe in the entire 60-year history of Peoples Republic of China. The Tangshan quake in 1976 killed up to 300,000 people, but its impact was largely restricted to one city. In Sichuan, an estimated 10 million people have been affected over a huge area.

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Bees Killed an Elderly Austin Man : More bees could be in neighborhood after attack

Amy Jonston
KVUE News
2008-05-19 00:00:00

The tranquil Crestview neighborhood was punctured by chaos Saturday morning.

"I really didn't know what was going on. I came out about 11:00 and I saw the cars, the fire truck and the ambulance," said Frances Daugherty, neighbor.

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Health & Wellness
Men Experience Domestic Violence, With Health Impact


Science Daily
2008-05-20 13:38:00

Domestic violence can happen to men, not only to women, according to Group Health research in the June American Journal of Preventive Medicine. "Domestic violence in men is under-studied and often hidden--much as it was in women 10 years ago," said study leader Robert J. Reid, MD, PhD, an associate investigator at the Group Health Center for Health Studies. "We want abused men to know they're not alone."


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Tuberculosis Not The Only Risk From New Immunological Drugs


Science Daily
2008-05-20 13:17:00

A new survey cautions physicians that drugs commonly prescribed for patients suffering from immunological disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease may carry risks of serious infections other than the known risk of tuberculosis.

As many as 50 million Americans may suffer from immunological disorders that are treated with drugs that suppress immunity. Among these drugs are agents that inhibit tumor necrosis factor-á (TNF), a cytokine receptor involved in cellular communication. It is known that anti-TNF therapies are associated with an increased risk of tuberculosis.

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Glycemic Stability May Be Important Key To Recovery From Critical Illness


Science Daily
2008-05-20 12:54:00

Widely varying blood glucose levels may pose as great a threat, or possibly a greater threat, to critically ill patients as high, but steady, glycemic levels, according to researchers in Saudi Arabia, who will present their findings at the American Thoracic Society's 2008 International Conference in Toronto on May 20, 2008.

"We found that patients with wide fluctuation were significantly more likely to die in the intensive care unit and the hospital than those who experience low glycemic variability," said Hasan M. Al-Dorzi, M.D., who led the research at King AdbulAziz Medical City, in Riyadh. "This finding may lead to further research that changes our focus from only treating high blood glucose to also minimizing changes in glycemic levels."


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Burning Incense Is Psychoactive: New Class Of Antidepressants Might Be Right Under Our Noses


Science Daily
2008-05-20 12:31:00

Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. An international team of scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses.


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US: E. coli scare prompts beef recall in 11 states


Associated Press
2008-05-18 12:01:00

A Chicago-based company is recalling beef products distributed in 11 states because of possible E. coli contamination, federal officials say.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday that no illnesses have been reported from the meat, produced by JSM Meat Holdings Co. The agency was uncertain how much meat is being recalled.

The meat being recalled is used in ground beef products. Included are 30-pound and 60-pound boxes and 47-gallon barrels of "MORREALE MEAT" beef products.

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Against The Grain: 'There are schools that preach violence'

Nick Jackson
The Independent
2008-05-15 09:35:00

Clive Harber is professor of education at the University of Birmingham. He argues that education is not always a good thing

brain in prison
©Unknown



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Obesity may start as early as baby's bottle: researchers


Associated Press
2008-05-14 07:55:00

Early exposure to chemicals used in the making of products such as baby bottles or plastic food wraps may lead to obesity, according to new research presented Wednesday.

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The truth about organic gardening

Beth Botts
McClatchy Newspapers
2008-05-19 03:11:00

CHICAGO - Jeff Gillman believes in the bedrock idea of organic gardening: that maintaining healthy soil, full of organic matter and beneficial microorganisms that release nutrients to plants, is the way to make plants thrive.

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Maternal Exposure To Persistent Organic Pollutants Linked To Urologic Conditions In Boys


Science Daily
2008-05-17 04:05:00

Higher incidences of congenital anomalies, including cryptorchidism (undescended testicles) and hypospadias, were found in boys whose mothers had higher serum levels of certain organochlorine compounds, researchers say.

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Pain Free Without Numbness: Substance Combination With Chili Peppers


Science Daily
2008-05-19 22:35:00

A dentist's injection typically causes numbness for several hours. This experience could soon be history. Now, Clifford Woolf, professor at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA, and his colleagues have developed a combination of two agents which is able to specifically block pain without producing numbness or motor paralysis. The substance is composed of a normally inactive derivative of the local anesthetic lidocaine, called QX314, and capsaicin, the pain-producing substance in chili peppers.

chili peppers
©iStockphoto/Angel Rodriguez
Scientists have developed a combination of two agents which is able to specifically block pain without producing numbness or motor paralysis. It includes an ingredient from chili peppers.


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Science & Technology
Missing matter found in deep space

Maggie Fox
News Daily
2008-05-20 16:57:00

WASHINGTON - Astronomers have found some matter that had been missing in deep space and say it is strung along web-like filaments that form the backbone of the universe.

The ethereal strands of hydrogen and oxygen atoms could account for up to half the matter that scientists knew must be there but simply could not see, the researchers reported on Tuesday.

missing baryons
©REUTERS/NASA/ESA/A. Feild (STScI)/Handout
This illustration shows how the Hubble Space Telescope searches for missing baryons or normal matter, by looking at the light from quasars several billion light-years away. In an extensive search of the local universe, astronomers say they have definitively found about half of the missing normal matter, called baryons, in the spaces between the galaxies.


Scientists have long known there is far more matter in the universe than can be accounted for by visible galaxies and stars. Not only is there invisible baryonic matter -- the protons and neutrons that make up atoms -- but there also is an even larger amount of invisible "dark" matter.

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Martian north pole consists of layers of dust and ice

John Johnson Jr.
Los Angeles Times
2008-05-20 16:41:00

Mars' north pole, like a French parfait, comes in layers.

Scientists analyzing radar images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft have found as many as seven distinct layers of ice and dust beneath the north pole.

Roger J. Phillips, a scientist with the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., said the layering was probably caused by changes in the planet's orbit over the last 4 million years.

When the planet tilts strongly on its axis, the surface ice erodes and is covered by a layer of dust, Phillips said.

Image
©AP
This image provided by NASA is a small portion of an exposure taken in March 2008 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Some high-latitude areas on Mars and Earth exhibit similarly patterned ground where shallow fracturing has drawn polygons on the surface. This patterning may result from cycles of freezing and thawing.


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Cosmic dust helps in water formation on interstellar clouds


ANI
2008-05-19 16:39:00

Scientists have come up with an answer to how water comes about in the interstellar clouds that give birth to stars, planets, and life, by suggesting that tiny grains of cosmic dust in the clouds help in the process.

According to a report in New Scientist, though water forms easily when hydrogen and oxygen exist as gases, models of interstellar clouds suggest that this route is unlikely to produce the abundance of water seen in them.

Most of the water that is seen has formed icy sheaths around tiny grains of dust in the clouds, and it is believed oxygen atoms accumulate on the grains and react with hydrogen to form water.

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First Evidence Of Native Dendritic Cells In Brain Surprises Scientists


Science Daily
2008-05-20 16:29:00

In a finding that has the potential to change the way researchers think about the brain, scientists at Rockefeller University have found dendritic cells where they've never been seen before: among this organ's neurons and connective cells. The immunity-directing dendritic cell had previously been seen in the human nervous system only after brain injury or disease. But the new study shows for the first time that the brain has its own, resident population of dendritic cells that may serve as a line of defense against pathogens that sneak past the blood-brain barrier.

dendritic cells
©Rockefeller University
Immunity inside. The brain's population of immunity-directing dendritic cells (green and yellow) can be seen here in the subventricular zone -- an area of postnatal neuron development.



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Simple, Low-cost Carbon Filter Removes 90 Percent Of Carbon Dioxide From Smokestack Gases


Science Daily
2008-05-20 15:25:00

Researchers in Wyoming report development of a low-cost carbon filter that can remove 90 percent of carbon dioxide gas from the smokestacks of electric power plants that burn coal and other fossil fuels.

Coal-burning power plant
©iStockphoto/Brittany Carter Courville
Coal-burning power plant.


Maciej Radosz and colleagues at Wyoming's Soft Materials Laboratory cite the pressing need for simple, inexpensive new technologies to remove carbon dioxide from smokestack gases. Coal-burning electric power plants are major sources of the greenhouse gas, and control measures may be required in the future.



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Boeing tests airborne laser gun


RIA Novosti
2008-05-20 12:04:00

The Boeing Company said it has fired a high-energy chemical laser aboard a C-130H aircraft in ground tests for the first time.

The successful ground tests, "a key milestone for the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program," took place on May 13 at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

"First firing of the high-energy laser aboard the ATL aircraft shows that the program continues to make good progress toward giving the warfighter an ultra-precision engagement capability that will dramatically reduce collateral damage," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.

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World First Discovery: Genes From Extinct Tasmanian Tiger Function In A Mouse


Science Daily
2008-05-20 11:47:00

Researchers from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and the University of Texas, USA, have extracted genes from the extinct Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), inserted it into a mouse and observed a biological function -- this is a world first for the use of the DNA of an extinct species to induce a functional response in another living organism.

Image
©Pask AJ, Behringer RR, Renfree MB
From extinction to gene expression. Functional analysis of the thylacine non-coding DNA fragment. (a) Diagram of transgene construct. 4 copies of a 264-bp fragment containing the Thylacine Col2a1 enhancer (TcyCol2a1) region was ligated to the human b-globin minimal promoter (black box) and ligated to lacZpA. (b--e) X-gal stained 14.5 dpc TcyCol2a1-lacZpA transgenic mouse embryo showing varying levels of reporter gene expression within the developing cartilage (blue). (f) Non-transgenic littermate, negative control fetus. (g) Top panel; Magnified image of forelimb from fetus in (b) black line indicates the plane of section shown in (g) bottom panel. Bottom panel; Histological section of transgenic forelimb digit, showing lacZ-expressing chondrogenic tissue (blue) counterstained with eosin (pink).


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Suffolk company invests in organic bug-buster


Business Weekly UK
2008-05-16 09:32:00

A Suffolk company has invested in ground-breaking Dutch technology that controls pests and bugs in food without the need for chemicals.

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Flashback: One-Fifth of Human Genes Have Been Patented, Study Reveals

Stefan Lovgren
National Geographic News
2008-05-20 01:03:00

A new study shows that 20 percent of human genes have been patented in the United States, primarily by private firms and universities.

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Our Haunted Planet
UFOs and Perception Management: You Are the Target

Ed Komarek
OpEd News
2008-05-14 06:10:00

People should not be complacent and just assume their own mind is under their personal control because often it is not. Our whole society is geared toward taking advantage of each other in many different ways that include subtle forms of mind control.

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