- Signs of the Times Archive for Tue, 22 Jul 2008 -




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SOTT Focus

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Best of the Web
Free Expression; Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Les Visible
Smoking Mirrors
2008-07-22 15:19:00

When you enter this, "Les Visible" in Google you find my web page as the first possibility. When you click on it some strange things happen. They happen to me and they happen to other people. That is the only reason that I know something strange happens. I don't go there usually. It's just a page with links to what I do and I already know how to get to those places. Other people go there and then they tell me about the anti virus installer that appears. Strangely, when you just type in www.lesvisible.com everything is okay. So...

This has gone on for a while now. I kept asking my host to fix the problem. I didn't know what the problem was. Maybe the problem wasn't my host because they couldn't find anything. I'm not a geek. Picture me as a guy on his hands and knees, feeling for the wall, looking for the light switch and trying not to cause harm on my way to seeing what is going on... feeling my way.

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Congo: Women Left for Dead and the Man Who's Saving Them

Eve Ensler
OpEdNews
2008-07-12 09:53:00

Image
©Unknown


In the Congo, where hundreds of thousands of women are brutally raped every year, Dr. Denis Mukwege repairs their broken bodies and souls. Eve Ensler visits him and finds hope amid the horror.

I have just returned from hell. I am trying for the life of me to figure out how to communicate what I have seen and heard in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. How do I convey these stories of atrocities without your shutting down, quickly turning the page or feeling too disturbed?

How do I tell you of girls as young as nine raped by gangs of soldiers, of women whose insides were blown apart by rifle blasts and whose bodies now leak uncontrollable streams of urine and feces?

This journey was a departure for me. It began with a man, Dr. Denis Mukwege, and a conversation we had in New York City in December 2006, when he came to speak about his work helping women at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu. It began with my rusty French and his limited English. It began with the quiet anguish in his bloodshot eyes, eyes that seemed to me to be bleeding from the horrors he'd witnessed.



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U.S. News
D.C. drivers most accident-prone in nation, insurance study finds

Taryn Luntz
The Examiner
2008-07-21 05:35:00

WASHINGTON - D.C. drivers are more likely to be in auto accidents than drivers in any other city in the country, and Alexandria and Arlington drivers follow closely behind, according to a new study.

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UK & Euro-Asian News
British tourist charged with murdering her child after giving birth in Crete hotel room

Rachel Williams, Jo Adetunji and Helena Smith
The Guardian
2008-07-22 14:48:00

A British woman was facing a murder charge yesterday after allegedly strangling her newborn son moments after giving birth in a hotel room in Crete.

Leah Andrews, 20, who is believed to have two young sons, was under armed guard in hospital last night. Police said she had not known she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. In south London, her father said the family had no idea their daughter was expecting a child, and were in a state of shock.

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Venezuela's Chavez calls for alliance with Russia to protect his country from US

Mansur Mirovalev
Associated Press
2008-07-22 15:30:00

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, visiting Moscow to pursue weapons and energy deals, on Tuesday called for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect his country from the United States.

Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of plotting an invasion to destabilize his government, despite U.S. denials.

The alliance would mean "we can guarantee Venezuela's sovereignty, which is now threatened by the United States," Chavez told reporters shortly after his arrival in Moscow.

Chavez is in Russia to broker a number of deals involving weapons purchases, oil exploration and possibly the creation of a joint financial institution.

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Couple sell their pub for a penny after suffering a dramatic drop in customers since the introduction of the smoking ban


The Daily Mail
2008-07-22 15:21:00

Desperate landlady Lynne Peckett has put her beloved pub up for sale for just one penny.

Mrs Peckett hopes the virtual give-away will help her finally call time on 19 years of pulling pints at the Rose House after first putting it on the market two years ago.

The frustrated 53-year-old, who runs the drinking hole with her husband John, has been left exhausted by 50-hour weeks and soaring running costs.

They have also suffered a dramatic drop in customers since the smoking ban was introduced last year.

Now, in a bid to end their misery - and finally take a long-earned holiday - the couple have put the pub on the market for 1p, plus the costs of stock and fixtures and fittings.

Mrs Peckett said: 'We have a prime location on a main road and we have some lovely regulars. But we're not making enough money.

'It's not a sustainable business for us. We have had the lease up for sale for two years and no-one is interested.'

Image
©Ross Parry
Last orders: Lynne and John Peckett's pub has been on the market for two years


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Russia puts fifth German spy satellite into orbit


RIA Novosti
2008-07-22 15:20:00

A Russian carrier rocket has successfully put into orbit a fifth German SAR-Lupe reconnaissance satellite, a Russian Space Forces spokesman said on Tuesday.

"A Cosmos 3M carrier rocket, launched at 06:40 Moscow time (02:40 GMT) from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia has successfully orbited a German SAR-Lupe satellite," Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said.

The German SAR-Lupe satellite is designed to provide high-resolution radar images to NATO military commanders in Europe. It offers spatial resolution of less than 1 meter, and allows imaging at night and through clouds.

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Russian bombers to fire live missiles in Siberia drills


RIA Novosti
2008-07-22 14:43:00

Five Russian Tu-22 Blinder bombers will fire live missiles at a test range in East Siberia's Irkutsk Region during tactical exercises starting on Wednesday, the Air Force said on Tuesday.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik said the three-man crews will receive training in combat flight theory and enhance their aviation weaponry skills.

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Cyprus protests to UN over new air violations


Famagusta Gazette
2008-07-21 13:01:00

Cyprus has protested to the United Nations over new violations of its national airspace by military aircraft of the Turkish Air Force during Sunday's celebrations in the Turkish-occupied areas.


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UK National Security? MoD loses 659 laptops in four years


Press Association
2008-07-20 07:26:00

The Ministry of Defence tonight confirmed another laptop with "sensitive information" on has been stolen while one of their officials checked out of a hotel.

An MoD spokesman said the theft from the Britannia Adelphi hotel in Liverpool city centre on Thursday brought the total of laptops stolen to 659.

On Friday the MoD admitted that 658 of its laptops had been stolen over the past four years - nearly double the figure previously claimed.

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Flashback: Brown warned of dangers in promoting GM crops

Michael McCarthy
The Independent
2008-06-23 04:57:00

Gordon Brown and the Government are today given a blunt warming about their new enthusiasm for genetically-modified crops and food by the head of the Government's own countryside and wildlife agency.

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Astronomers name asteroid after tennis player Nadal


Agence France-Presse
2008-07-12 20:46:00

Nadal
©Agence France-Presse
Rafael Nadal


Spanish tennis superstar Rafael Nadal has been honoured a week after his epic Wimbledon victory over Roger Federer by having an asteroid named after him.

The 22-year-old has had the asteroid - which is 4 kilometres in diameter - discovered in 2003 and previously known as 128036 named in his honour by the Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca, from where Nadal hails.

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Around the World
Japan residents protest against U.S. warship plan

Yoko Kubota
Reuters
2008-07-19 16:16:00

More than 10,000 people marched by a U.S. navy base near Tokyo on Saturday, calling for the Japanese government to stop the deployment of a nuclear-powered warship for the first time to Japan, rally organizers said.

The protest by local residents and activists against basing the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in Yokosuka, 45 km (28 miles) southwest of Tokyo, came amid growing concerns safety after a fire on the ship in May.

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Canada: Police identify the remains of the first foot


Canwest News Service
2008-07-21 15:16:00

Police confirmed on Monday that they have positively identified the remains of the first foot that washed up along British Columbia's coast, setting up a macabre mystery that puzzled police and drew international attention.

At the request of the family, the identity of the victim will not be released, but the RCMP did confirm he was from the B.C. Lower Mainland. Police also say the cause of death remains unknown but no evidence of foul play exists.

Previous media reports speculated that the victim was a depressed man who went missing about a year ago.

Image
©Handout
Police made a positive identification for the remains of a right foot found in this Adidas running shoe found on Jedediah Island on Aug. 20, 2007.


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'Taliban' capture district in Afghanistan


Daily Times
2008-07-22 14:27:00

talibani


Dozens of Taliban militants captured a remote district in central Afghanistan overnight, killing one police officer and injuring two others, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.


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At least 13 killed in Brazil road accident


RIA Novosti
2008-07-22 14:35:00

At least 13 people have died following a head-on collision between a bus and a truck in southern Brazil, national media reported on Tuesday.

The bus was overturned in the accident, which occurred in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

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Police in India say 17 killed in bus accident


Associated Press
2008-07-21 05:40:00

LUCKNOW, India - Police say a packed bus collided with a truck in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, killing at least 17 people and wounding 35 others.

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Seven perish in a grisly road accident

Beverly Gatimu
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
2008-07-21 05:29:00

Seven people perished Monday morning in a road accident involving a bus and a truck at Zambezi near Winda highway motel along the Nakuru Nairobi highway.

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Beijing: Police shoot dead five members of 'Chinese al-Qaeda'

Jane Macartney
timesonline.co.uk
2008-07-09 20:18:00

With less than a month to go before the Olympics open in Beijing, Chinese police have shot dead five members of a Muslim ethnic minority they said were bent on waging holy war inspired by al-Qaeda and setting up an independent state.

Several dozen police entered a residential building hunting for three men believed to have attacked an ethnic Han Chinese woman in a city hairdressing salon in late May but opened fire after an officer was wounded as they tried to enter an apartment to make an arrest, it was reported.

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Congolese General 'Summarily' Executing Civilians


Rwanda News Agency
2008-07-21 19:36:00

Forces loyal to DR Congo dissident General Laurent Nkunda are not only provoking the fighting against other militias but are also targeting civilians - accusing them of being rebels, according to Human Rights Watch.

In the last months, the campaign group says CNDP - Nkunda political movement - combatants launched a military offensive to dislodge Coalition of Congolese Patriotic Resistance (PARECO) and Mai Mai Mongol fighters from the Bukombo area killing some 100 civilians as they indiscriminately fired on more than a dozen villages.

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Canadian soldier charged in fatal shooting of friend


Canwest
2008-07-21 19:08:00

The Canadian Forces formally charged on Monday a soldier in the shooting death of his comrade in Afghanistan.

Cpl. Matthew Wilcox faces one charge each of manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death, and negligent performance of duty.


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Immigrant in Vancouver airport taser murder buried in Polish hometown

Stuart Hunter
Canwest
2008-07-21 12:20:00

Robert Dziekanski was laid to rest in his native Poland yesterday beneath a simple grave marker with his photo and an inscription saying he died tragically in Canada.


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Big Brother
One Step Further: Tracking kids with GPS

Christine S. Moyer
The Beacon News
2008-07-14 15:54:00

Oswego missing-child case shows why devices are becoming popular with parents

When 3-year-old Ryan Flake went missing from his Oswego Township home last week, family, law enforcement and neighbors mobilized into search teams with flashlights and all-terrain vehicles.

These armies of volunteers and professionals scoured back yards and ponds, woods and cornfields, not relenting during a late-night thunderstorm.

But what if, father Read Flake later wondered, his toddler were wearing some type of global-positioning system or tracking device that could have pinpointed his location on a computer screen?


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Papua New Guinea dancers' "Trip of a lifetime" ends in ban from Canada

Kelly Sinoski and Gerry Bellett
Vancouver Sun
2008-07-22 12:15:00

PNGdancers
©Handout
These Papua New Guinea dancers were refused entry into Canada after customs petty tyrants decided they were here to work. Chief Felix Arnouse (centre left) of the Little Shuswap Indian Band, was bringing the dancers here as part of a cultural exchange.


A group of dancers from Papua New Guinea who were refused entry into Canada are at the centre of an international trade dispute brewing between the two nations.


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Flashback: Martial Law: A License to Loot, a Permit to Plunder

William N. Grigg
Pro Libertate Blog
2008-06-22 05:27:00

Police breaking into a home
©Unknown
Breaking and entering: Where does this fit under the heading "To protect and serve"? A paramilitary "strike team" commits a felonious break-in of a home in the flood-ravaged Midwest.


Digging up the planted axioms that litter our ordinary conversations can be a revealing exercise. We learn how deeply rooted our supposedly free society has become in collectivist and militarist assumptions.

For example: How often do we hear or read language that draws a distinction between "police" and "civilians"?

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Federal Agency Defends Itself Against ACLU Criticism of Terror Watch List


Foxnews.com
2008-07-15 19:30:00

Federal officials are defending claims by civil liberties advocates that the government's watchlist of suspected terrorists, which critics say has topped a million names, is bloated and ineffective.

At a news conference on Monday, officers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) charged that the Bush administration has turned air travel into a "Kafkaesque" nightmare and urged systematic changes in the way the government compiles the names of individuals targeted for detention at airports and other points of entry.

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Axis of Evil
How to make the case for Israel and win

Gabriel Ash
Jews sans frontieres
2008-07-18 15:39:00

To the benefit of the many not-very-bright zionist wannabe apologists who read this blog assiduously, I decided to offer a clear and simple method of arguing the case for Israel. This clear and simple method has been distilled from a life spent listening to and reading Zionist propaganda. It is easy to follow and results are guaranteed or your money back.


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ACLU: 'Mukasey calls on Congress to subvert Constitution'

Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story
2008-07-22 08:12:00

Attorney General Michael Mukasey prompted Congress Monday morning, during a speech to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, to create new rules governing the rights of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The American Civil Liberties Union immediately responded to Mukasey's request, calling his proposals nothing short of asking Congress to subvert the Constitution.



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Officials against torture memo feared wiretaps, physical danger

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Raw Story
2008-07-22 07:50:00

According to Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, two top lawyers in the Justice Department who attempted to push back against the authorization of torture by Vice President Cheney's staff became so paranoid that they worried they were being wiretapped and even feared they might be in physical danger.

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Relentless Propaganda Alert! U.S. says Iran has missile that could hit Europe

David Morgan
Reuters
2008-07-22 05:17:00

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that Iran has the ability to launch a ballistic missile capable of hitting sections of eastern and southern Europe.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, director of the Missile Defence Agency, told reporters he believes Iran now has a missile with a range of 2,000 km, but he declined to say whether the weapon has been test-fired.

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Key Questions Arise In 'Liquid' Bomb-plot Trial

Elaine Sciolino
New York Times
2008-07-21 19:40:00

Reagan_National_Airport_passengers
©Getty Images
Airport security was beefed up at Reagan National Airport and elsewhere after British police stopped what it said was a plot to blow up planes.


When Scotland Yard disrupted what it called a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners with liquid explosives in August 2006, officials in Britain and the United States said the deadliest terrorist attack since Sept. 11 had been averted.

Air traffic on two continents was paralyzed, and passengers around the world were permanently barred from carrying most liquids onto planes. Terrorism alert levels in both countries were raised. There were claims by U.S. officials that the suspected scheme resembled the work of al-Qaida.

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Middle East Madness
Israel: Two killed in separate train track accidents


Jerusalem Post
2008-07-21 14:37:00

Two pedestrians were killed Monday as a result of being hit by a trains in separate incidents.

The first incident took place in the early afternoon, next to Kfar Menahem, and the second some two hours later near Hadera. In both incidents, passenger trains hit men that were standing on the train tracks, for unknown reasons.

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What's going on? Bulldozer driver rampages in Jerusalem near a hotel where Obama was due to stay

Rebecca Harrison
Reuters
2008-07-22 14:24:00

A bulldozer driver went on a rampage in Jerusalem on Tuesday, hitting vehicles near a hotel where U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was due to stay later in the day, before he was shot dead.

Police described the incident -- which took place while Israeli President Shimon Peres hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at Peres's official residence less than a kilometre (half-mile) away -- as a "terrorist" attack.

It was the second bulldozer attack in Jewish west Jerusalem in less than a month. Emergency services said at least 11 people were injured, one seriously.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Image
©Dudi Vaaknin


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Hamas threatens to capture Israeli occupying soldiers

Mohammed Mar'i
Arab News
2008-07-22 08:26:00

RAMALLAH: The Hamas' armed wing, Ezzedine Brigades, yesterday threatened to capture more Israelis if the Jewish state does not accept the Palestinian demands in the prisoner swap talks.



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Israel kidnaps Palestinian lawmaker, 19 others from West Bank in preparation for prisoner swap


Associated Press
2008-07-22 08:24:00

Palestinian security officials say Israeli troops have arrested a Hamas lawmaker from the West Bank city of Nablus.

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While Nablus is Raided Gordon Brown Praises Israel

Khalid Amayreh
Desert Peace
2008-07-21 07:19:00

Image
©Unknown


As British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was having an audience with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, the Israeli occupation army was raping anew the Palestinian town of Nablus, rounding up and humiliating innocent people, violating homes and vandalizing businesses.

On Sunday and early Monday, the so-called Israeli Defense Forces raided the northern city, for the fourth time in less than three weeks, as thousands of CIA-trained Palestinian security personnel were watching from their comfortable headquarters nearby.

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Grand Theft Economics
US: Women Are Now Equal as Victims of Poor Economy

Louis Uchitelle
The New York Times
2008-07-22 15:03:00

Image
©Erol Reyal for The New York Times
Lisa Craig, standing, volunteers at the Milwaukee office of 9to5, National Association of Working Women. She hopes to draw a modest salary soon as a community intern.


Across the country, women in their prime earning years, struggling with an unfriendly economy, are retreating from the work force, either permanently or for long stretches.

They had piled into jobs in growing numbers since the 1960s. But that stopped happening this decade, and as the nearly seven-year-old recovery gives way to hard times, the retreat is likely to accelerate.

Indeed, for the first time since the women's movement came to life, an economic recovery has come and gone, and the percentage of women at work has fallen, not risen, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Each of the seven previous recoveries since 1960 ended with a greater percentage of women at work than when it began.

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Wachovia has $8.9B loss, cuts 6,350 jobs, dividend

Ieva M. Augstums
Associated Press
2008-07-22 08:54:00

Wachovia Corp. lost $8.86 billion in the second quarter, and said Tuesday it was slashing its dividend and cutting 6,350 jobs after losses tied to mortgages soared.

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Flashback: Soaring gas prices forcing lifestyle changes across US


Agence France-Presse
2008-06-26 06:47:00

Trains are bustling, scooter sales are booming and manual lawn-mowers are back in vogue. But charities are grimly facing up to a drop in volunteer workers while some cash-strapped families are cutting expenditure on fresh meat and vegetables.

In a myriad of ways, the effects of soaring gasoline prices are being felt directly and indirectly across America, forcing many into lifestyle changes as they rethink monthly budgets.

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Flashback: Who Benefits From High Food Prices?

Nomi Prins
Dissent Mag
2008-06-24 05:15:00

Last week, new consumer price data released by the US Labor Department confirmed what most shoppers already suspected: Food prices, which took their biggest one-month leap in nearly two decades in April, rose even further in May. Energy costs, too, went up last month. The big question, though, is why?

Commodity analysts are quick to pinpoint reasons: Midwest flooding affecting food, livestock feed overdrive provoked by the Chinese, biofuel-related demand, and a weak dollar. These reasons all have some merit, but I'd argue it's speculation that's skyrocketed prices higher faster, not supply vs. demand.

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Vietnam fuel prices rise by 36%


Reuters
2008-07-21 04:29:00

Vietnam raised domestic fuel prices by as much as 36 per cent on Monday, the first hike in five months, raising the spectre of even higher inflation, more interest rate rises and slower economic growth.

The steep increase in the price of petrol and diesel came as a shock to consumers, many of whom were seen thronging gas stations before the new prices came into effect at 0300 GMT.

Less than two weeks ago, the government had ruled out rises in fuel prices for the rest of this year, suggesting it preferred to bear the cost of subsiding gasoline rather than pushing consumer prices any higher.

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The Living Planet
Texas, Mexico prepare for Tropical Storm Dolly


Associated Press
2008-07-22 11:03:00

McALLEN - Texas mobilized National Guard troops and residents along the Gulf Coast near the Mexican border were buying plywood, flashlights and other supplies as Tropical Storm Dolly - expected by forecasters to strengthen into a hurricane this week - headed their way.


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Amazon River Powers Tropical Ocean's Carbon Sink


Science Daily
2008-07-21 22:38:00

Nutrients from the Amazon River spread well beyond the continental shelf and drive carbon capture in the deep ocean, according to the authors of a multi-year study.

The finding does not change estimates of the oceans' total carbon uptake, but it reveals the surprisingly large role of tropical oceans and major rivers.

The tropical North Atlantic had been considered a net emitter of carbon from the respiration of ocean life. A 2007 study estimated that ocean's contribution to the atmosphere at 30 million tons of carbon annually.

Amazon River
©iStockphoto
Amazon River.


The new study, appearing in PNAS Early Edition the week of July 21, finds that almost all the respiration is offset by organisms called diazotrophs, which pull nitrogen and carbon from the air and use them to make organic solids that sink to the ocean floor.

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Adding Lime To Seawater May Cut Carbon Dioxide Levels Back To Pre-industrial Levels


Science Daily
2008-07-21 22:19:00

Scientists say they have found a workable way of reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere by adding lime to seawater. And they think it has the potential to dramatically reverse CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere, reports Cath O'Driscoll in SCI's Chemistry & Industry magazine.

Image
©iStockphoto/Chuck Babbitt
New research suggests there may be a workable way of reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere by adding lime to seawater.


Shell is so impressed with the new approach that it is funding an investigation into its economic feasibility. 'We think it's a promising idea,' says Shell's Gilles Bertherin, a coordinator on the project. 'There are potentially huge environmental benefits from addressing climate change -- and adding calcium hydroxide to seawater will also mitigate the effects of ocean acidification, so it should have a positive impact on the marine environment.'

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90 Billion Tons Of Microbial Organisms Live In Deep Marine Subsurface: More Archaea Than Bacteria


Science Daily
2008-07-21 22:07:00

Biogeoscientists show evidence of 90 billion tons of microbial organisms--expressed in terms of carbon mass--living in the deep biosphere, in a research article published online by Nature, July 20, 2008. This tonnage corresponds to about one-tenth of the amount of carbon stored globally in tropical rainforests.

Researcher Julius Lipp
©Albert Gerdes, MARUM/Bremen
Researcher Julius Lipp, Ph.D., of Bremen University, Germany, with some of his samples.


The authors: Kai-Uwe Hinrichs and Julius Lipp of the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) at University of Bremen, Germany; and Fumio Inagaki and Yuki Morono of the Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) concluded that about 87 percent of the deep biosphere consists of Archaea.

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Health & Wellness
Flashback: Fibromyalgia improved by balanced exercise program


Health Bulletin News
2007-11-18 17:06:00

A recent fibromyalgia study reveals that an exercise program that incorporates walking, strength training and stretching may improve daily function and alleviate symptoms in women with fibromyalgia, as reported in the November 12, 2007 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. These benefits appear to be enhanced when the exercise is combined with education about managing fibromyalgia.

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UK: Mother wins £800,000 payout after 'four pints of water a day' detox diet leaves her brain damaged


The Daily Mail
2008-07-22 15:50:00

Mother-of-two Dawn Page has won more than £800,000 in damages at the High Court after a radical new detox diet left her brain damaged and epileptic.

The 52-year-old was told to drink an extra four pints of water per day and reduce her salt intake in a bid to prevent fluid retention and lose weight.

She began vomiting uncontrollably within days of going on 'The Amazing Hydration Diet'.

But nutritionist Barbara Nash assured her it was all 'part of the detoxification process'.

Mrs Nash even urged her to increase the amount of water she drank to six pints per day and eat fewer salty foods.

But Mrs Page - who weighed just 12 stone - suffered a massive epileptic fit brought on by severe sodium deficiency less than a week after she started the diet in 2001.

She was rushed to intensive care, but doctors were unable to prevent permanent brain injuries.

Image
©Unknown
Dawn Page was told to drink four extra pints of water a day and reduced her salt intake


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How carrots help us see the color orange

Holger Mitterer
Association for Psychological Science
2008-07-22 14:40:00

One of the easiest ways to identify an object is by its color -- perhaps it is because children's books encourage us to pair certain objects with their respective colors. Why else would so many of us automatically assume carrots are orange, grass is green and apples are red?

In two experiments by Holger Mitterer and Jan Peter de Ruiter from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, perception of color and color constancy (the ability to see the same color under varying light conditions) were examined using different hues of orange and yellow. By using these hues on different objects, the researchers hoped to show that knowledge of objects can be used to identify color.

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Using tobacco plants to fight cancer

Julie Steenhuysen
Reuters
2008-07-21 14:09:00

A personalized vaccine made using tobacco plants -- normally associated with causing cancer rather than helping cure it -- could aid people with lymphoma in fighting the disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday.


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British study links IMF loans to tuberculosis

Michael Kahn
Reuters
2008-07-21 22:01:00

Austerity measures attached to International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans may have contributed to a resurgence in tuberculosis in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, researchers said on Tuesday.

Governments may be reducing funding for health services such as hospitals and clinics to meet strict IMF economic targets, the British researchers said.

Image
©REUTERS/Thomas Peter
An inmate sits in the multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) ward in a prison hospital in the Siberian city of Tomsk, about 3500 km (2175 miles) east of Moscow, in this file photo from June 4, 2008.


The study, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine, found that countries participating in IMF programmes had seen tuberculosis death rates increase by at least 17 percent between 1991 and 2000 -- equivalent to more than 100,000 additional deaths. About one million new cases were recorded during the same period.

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Breakthrough In Fight Against Deadly Superbug: Early Detection Method Greatly Increases Chances Of Survival


Science Daily
2008-07-21 21:53:00

A research team led by University of Sunderland scientists has made a major breakthrough in the fight against a deadly hospital infection which kills tens of thousands of people every year, and it will be available within the next year.

Alexandre Bedernjak
©University of Sunderland
University of Sunderland PhD student Alexandre Bedernjak takes a closer look at the new superbug test that could save thousands of lives.


Experts have discovered a technique for the early detection of the superbug pseudomonas aeruginosa which particularly infects patients with cystic fibrosis. 70,000 people worldwide are affected by cystic fibrosis and on average around 50 percent of those will be infected with the superbug - 50 percent of those will die.

Although the research concentrated on the superbug's relation to cystic fibrosis, pseudomonas aeruginosa also attacks patients with localized and systemic immune defects, such as those suffering with burns, patients with AIDS and cancer.

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UK government warns world over killer flu pandemic

Ben Russell
The Independent
2008-07-21 21:35:00

The world is failing to guard against the inevitable spread of a devastating flu pandemic which could kill 50 million people and wreak massive disruption around the globe, the Government has warned.

In evidence to a House of Lords committee, ministers said that early warning systems for spotting emerging diseases were "poorly co-ordinated" and lacked "vision" and "clarity". They said that more needed to be done to improve detection and surveillance for potential pandemics and called for urgent improvement in rapid-response strategies.

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Science & Technology
Sea Surface Maps Help Extreme Weather Forecasting


RedOrbit
2008-07-22 17:15:00

Image
©NASA/JPL
Satellites passed over the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. Two of those satellites--Jason 1 and Topex/Poseidon--were equipped with altimeters that for the first time measured the height of a tsunami in the open ocean.


For humans in the path of destructive hurricanes and tsunamis, an accurate warning of the pending event is critical for damage control and survival. Such warnings, however, require a solid base of scientific observations, and a new satellite is ready for the job.

The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason 2 adds to the number of eyes in the sky measuring sea surface and wave heights across Earth's oceans. The increased coverage will help researchers improve current models for practical use in predicting hurricane intensity, while providing valuable data that can be used to improve tsunami warning models.

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Carbon emissions case for global warming is seriously weakened

David Evans
the Australian
2008-07-18 15:38:00

I devoted six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia's compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector.

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Scholar Finds New Archaeological Sites by Googling

Dani Cooper
ABC Science Online
2008-07-22 15:37:00

Indiana Jones's next adventure may well be in front of a computer if Hollywood scriptwriters decide to embrace a new approach to archaeological research in war-torn zones.

David Thomas, a Ph.D. student in La Trobe University's archaeological program in Melbourne, has used Google Earth to safely uncover historic sites in a remote part of war-torn Afghanistan.

Using the free Internet resource, Thomas found up to 450 possible archaeological sites in Registan, which borders Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan. The decision to use Google Earth was "partly born out of adversity", Thomas said, when a planned field trip was cancelled because of security concerns.

The region has been made inaccessible because of the ongoing military conflict between western and Afghan government forces and the former Taliban government.

Image
©Google Earth
Using the free Internet resource, Google Earth, a scholar found up to 450 possible archaeological sites in Registan, which borders Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan. Shwn is the citadel of Bust. Bust was the tenth to twelfth century Ghaznavid dynasty's winter capital that stretches along the Helmand River.


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American physicists warned not to debate global warming

Andrew Orlowski
The Register
2008-07-21 15:28:00

Bureaucrats at the American Physical Society (APS) have issued a curious warning to their members about an article in one of their own publications. Don't read this, they say - we don't agree with it. But what is it about the piece that is so terrible, that like Medusa, it could make men go blind?

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Coral isotopes show quake history; Absorbed carbon may also improve disaster forecasts

Eric Hand
Nature
2008-07-18 14:58:00

Carbon isotopes trapped for thousands of years in coral skeletons could establish the long-term frequency of major earthquakes in southeast Asia and the South Pacific, and perhaps enable these events to be forecast.

Geoscientists have used corals before to look at earthquake history, by studying the terraced growth patterns that result. A major quake can push up an entire region, thrusting parts of a reef above the low-tide level, killing the exposed coral polyps. The rest of the coral continues to grow, producing a 'hat-brim' pattern that can indicate elevation changes as small as a few centimetres. This phenomenon has allowed scientists to date many earthquakes, including major ones in 1797 and 1833 off Sumatra, Indonesia. But the pattern erodes over time, so it can only be used to identify quakes that occurred within the past few hundred years.

Image
©Soc./EPA/Corbis
Wildlife Conservation


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Codex Sinaiticus, the world's oldest Bible, goes online

Harry de Quetteville
Telegraph
2008-07-22 12:10:00

Almost 1700 years after scribes in the Holy Land first created it from vellum, one of the world's oldest Bibles this week makes its debut on the internet.

codex
©EPA
Prof. Schneider [left] and Dr. Carsten Dorgerloh, of Microsoft, hold two facsimiles of the papyrus Ebers (circa 1550) and a paper of the Codex Sinaiticus (313) at the library of the University of Leipzig



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Saharan dust storms help sustain life in North Atlantic Ocean


The Hindu
2008-07-20 05:15:00

Working aboard research vessels in the Atlantic, scientists mapped the distribution of nutrients including phosphorous and nitrogen and investigated how organisms such as phytoplankton are sustained in areas with low nutrient levels.

They found that plants are able to grow in these regions because they are able to take advantage of iron minerals in Saharan dust storms. This allows them to use organic or 'recycled' material from dead or decaying plants when nutrients such as phosphorous - an essential component of DNA - in the ocean are low.

Professor George Wolff, from the University's Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, explains: "We found that cyanobacteria - a type of ancient phytoplankton - are significant to the understanding of how ocean deserts can support plant growth. Cyanobacteria need nitrogen, phosphorous and iron in order to grow. They get nitrogen from the atmosphere, but phosphorous is a highly reactive chemical that is scarce in sea water and is not found in the Earth's atmosphere. Iron is present only in tiny amounts in sea water, even though it is one of the most abundant elements on earth.

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Spitzer Reveals 'No Organics' Zone Around Pinwheel Galaxy


Science Daily
2008-07-21 22:30:00

The Pinwheel galaxy is gussied up in infrared light in a new picture from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

The fluffy-looking galaxy, officially named Messier 101, is dominated by a mishmash of spiral arms. In Spitzer's new view, in which infrared light is color coded, the galaxy sports a swirling blue center and a unique, coral-red outer ring.

Pinwheel galaxy
©NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI
The Pinwheel galaxy, otherwise known as Messier 101, sports bright red edges in this new infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.


A new paper appearing July 20 in the Astrophysical Journal explains why this outer ring stands out. According to the authors, the red color highlights a zone where organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are present throughout most of the galaxy, suddenly disappear.

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Awaiting a Messenger From the Multiverse


NotEvenWrong
2008-07-21 21:06:00

As particle physicists eagerly await results from the LHC, many theorists are already promoting interpretations of what they hope it will find. This week's Chronicle of Higher Education has a cover story on the LHC entitled The Machine at the End of the Universe (see associated articles here and here). In it, Gordon Kane enthusiastically describes the LHC as "It is certainly the most important experiment of any kind in the past century, without qualification" and "the most important thing ever in our quest to understand the fundamental laws of nature and the universe."

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Asteroids and Comets: The Earth's Scars

Richard Stone
National Geographic
2008-07-15 20:26:00

earth_scars
©Stephen Alvarez
Asteroids and comets in nearby space pose a constant threat to our planet. Can we avert catastrophe the next time around?


The first sign of the threat was no more than a speck on a star-streaked telescope image. Just after 9 p.m. on June 18, 2004, as twilight faded over Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, David Tholen was scanning for asteroids in an astronomical blind spot: right inside Earth's orbit, where the sun's glare can overwhelm telescopes. Tholen, an astronomer from the University of Hawaii, knew that objects lurking there could sometimes veer toward Earth. He had enlisted Roy Tucker, an engineer and friend, and Fabrizio Bernardi, a young colleague at Hawaii, to help. As they stared at a computer, three shots of the same swath of sky, made a few minutes apart, cycled onto the screen. "Here's your guy," said Tucker, pointing at a clump of white pixels that moved from frame to frame.

Tholen reported the sighting to the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, a clearinghouse for data on asteroids and comets. He and Tucker hoped to take another look later that week, but they were rained out, and then the asteroid disappeared from view.

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Our Haunted Planet

No new articles.


Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
California deserted: Russian village named California to be removed from maps


RIA Novosti
2008-07-22 15:47:00

A deserted village named California in a Russian Volga province is likely to be removed from maps, following a decision by a committee of local lawmakers, a legislature spokesman said.

The decision to end the existence of the village in the Nizhny Novgorod Region was taken "because there is now not a single person living in the village," the spokesman said, adding that the regional legislature will reach a final decision on the issue on July 31.

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Finns take karaoke marathon title to 18 days


Agence France-Presse
2008-07-21 14:46:00

A tiny mistake ended a Finnish karaoke club marathon that set a new world record Monday for the longest sing-along session of more than 18 days.

The Kouvola Karaoke Club began singing on July 2, and the Guinness Book of World Records awarded the club a world record certificate on July 11 after they beat the previous record of 214 hours held by a club in China.

The group had vowed to carry on the marathon for another couple of weeks, aiming to sing for 600 hours non-stop.

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