October 2014 – Page 5 – The Speaker News Journal

Russia Building Europe’s Largest Prison – Kresty-2

September 28, 2015October 18, 2014 by Andrew Stern

Share this

Russia will open Europe’s largest prison in 2016. The detention center, known as Kresty-2, will replace one of Russia’s most notorious jails–the 120-year-old Kresty prison, in which Soviet-era dissidents such as Leon Trotsky were held. The first five facilities of the new facility were commissioned Friday.

“It will be the most modern prison in Russia and the biggest in Europe,” said Gennady Kornienko, head of Russia’s prison service.

The facility will be located in a suburb of St Petersberg, Russia’s secont largest city, and will cost 12 billion rubles to build.

Kornienko said that the prison would hold 4,000 inmates. The prison will also have over 150 visiting rooms, four large courtrooms, and elevators–a first in Russia.

Kresty-2 inmates will have 7 square meters of living space, which meets European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) standards.

Currently, the largest prison in Europe is France’s Fleury-Merogis, which houses 3,800 inmates.

By Andy Stern

Putin and Poroshenko Meet in Milan – Reach Deal on Gas Supplies

October 20, 2014October 18, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Putin and Poroshenko Meet in Milan - Reach Deal for Gas Supplies (1)

Share this

The presidents of Ukraine and Russia met in Milan, Italy Friday to work towards a resolution in the ongoing dispute over gas supplies to Ukraine. A gas deal was reached, according to the leaders, but European leaders felt that Russia still had much work to do regarding the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine.

“We agreed on all the parameters of this deal,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia will supply Ukraine with gas “at least for the winter,” Putin told reporters, but he urged European countries to assist Ukraine in settling its $4.5 billion gas bill with Russia.

Russia cut off Ukraine’s gas supply last June.

The Russian leader met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a one-on-one meeting Friday.

The closed meeting was followed by talks attended by European leaders.

“I cannot see a breakthrough here at all so far,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “We will continue to talk. There was progress on some details, but the main issue is continued violations of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

Italy, Ukraine and Russia agreed, however, to join France and Germany in monitoring the Ukraine-Russia border with surveillance drones through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is currently overseeing the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine.

Gas talks will continue in Brussels next week, according to EU officials.

Poroshenko told press that he hoped the deal reached Friday could be finalized by next week’s meeting.

“A deal on gas is now really within reach, which is very important for the Ukrainians and very reassuring for the Russians, because they really want to be paid,” said French President Francois Hollande of the prospective deal.

By James Haleavy

Japan to Make Concessions on Senkaku Islands, First Meeting Between Japanese and Chinese Leaders Possible

January 26, 2021October 18, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Japan Caves on Senkaku Islands, First Meeting Between Japanese and Chinese Leaders Possible

Share this

President Shinzo Abe of Japan and President Xi Jinping of China may meet for the first time at the upcoming APEC summit. Abe has reportedly agreed to significant concessions regarding the disputed Senkaku Islands. The leaders of Japan and China have not met since taking their current positions on the status of the Islands in 2012.

Abe is prepared to acknowledge that China has a case in their claim to the Senkaku Islands, which China calls the Diaoyu Islands, altough Abe maintains that the Senkakus are an inherent part of Japanese territory, according to Japanese government sources.

Previously, Japan has refused even to acknowledge that a territorial dispute exists, repeating on numerous occasions, “There exists no issue of territorial sovereignty to be resolved concerning the Senkaku Islands.”

Abe intends to propose settling the issue through mutual dialogue, according to the sources.

Abe and Xi have not met since the two leaders were elected in 2012, but it is reported that the two plan to meet for 15 minutes at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing next month.

The main roadblock to a meeting between the two leaders has been Japan’s refusal to acknowledge a territorial dispute. China has made repeated calls for such an acknowledgment, and the two governments engaged in a public dispute over the issue last year during the UN General Assembly meeting.

“Japan needs to recognize that there is such a dispute. The whole world knows that there is a dispute,” stated Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in September, 2013.

Shortly thereafter Abe stated, “Senkaku is an inherent part of the territory of Japan in light of historical facts and based upon international law, and the islands are under the valid control of Japan.”

Abe insisted that “Japan would not make a concession on our territorial sovereignty.”

However, both governments have asserted their desire for better relations.

The dispute over the Senkaku Islands, which Japan has administrated since 1895, intensified last year when China announced new borders for its air defense zone which overlapped existing Japanese air defense zones.

During that time, the Chinese economy has slowed, and Japanese investment in China dropped 40 percent on an annual basis in the first half of 2014 after dropping one-fifth last year.

Obama Scrapped Disease Quarantine Regulations for Airlines Four Years Ago

October 20, 2014October 15, 2014 by Heidi Woolf

Share this

In 2010 the Obama administration did away with proposed quarantine regulations that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considered to be critical to protecting Americans in the event of deadly diseases being spread by travelers. The regulations, which had been proposed in 2005 as a reaction to the H5N1 avian flu virus that spread globally that year, would have given additional responsibilities to airlines dealing with passengers who could be infected with deadly diseases.

The regulations would have given federal government powers to detain sick airline passengers and people exposed to certain diseases. The regulations would have also created stricter airline policy with regards to reporting ill passengers to the CDC, and airlines would have been mandated to collect contact information from passengers in case that information was later needed to trace infection in the event of an outbreak.

The CDC would have been empowered to detain people involuntarily for three business days if they suspected certain diseases–namely pandemic flu, infectious tuberculosis, plague, cholera, SARS, smallpox, yellow fever, diphtheria and Ebola.

The regulations were initiated under the Bush Administration. In 2008, CDC spokesperson Christine Person said of the measures, “It’s important to public well being to move forward with the regulations. We require to update our quarantine regulations, and this final rule is an important step.”

Although CDC officials said that the additional powers would only be used in rare circumstances of health threats, the regulations were opposed by airlines and civil liberties organizations, which complained of the costs associated with the responsibilities, as well as the potential for privacy rights violations.

By Heidi Woolf

First Travel Restrictions in US Due to Ebola

January 26, 2021October 15, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Share this

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, working with county officials, will enact a control order limiting travel for people who have been exposed to Ebola, Jenkins said Wednesday, calling the situation in Texas a “very serious public health Ebola crisis.” Travel will be restricted on public transportation, including buses and airliners, and further restrictions are being explored by local and state governments.

“I’m not considering it. I’m going to do it,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, speaking of a legal order restricting travel for health care workers involved in the treatment of Thomas Duncan, who died of Ebola last week in Texas Presbyterian Hospital.

“We have the ability to have our county medical director sign a control order. I’m also working with the state–‘one team, one fight’–to join us in that, because some of the people under the order don’t live in Dallas County. They live in the surrounding counties.

“At a minimum,” Jenkins said, “it will follow the CDC guidelines on traveling by public conveyance.”

“This is a fluid and very serious public health Ebola crisis,” said Jenkins. He said that his office was doing something to stop travel–putting in place a control order that would restrict people from getting on public transportation. He was also working with higher levels of government to look at “other public venues where movement would be restricted.”

Jenkins clarified the risks people faced with regards to travel.

“It’s not a problem for you to ride next to a diseased contact in a car–if it were, I wouldn’t have driven people who were disease contacts to their new home. But it is a problem if you are in an enclosed area like an airplane on a cross-country flight and someone gets symptoms, and then they have body fluids that get on other people. And so, restricting long-distance buses or public transportation–there may be other sorts of venues where you’re kind of locked into an area. So that’s what we’re looking at.”

Jenkins stated that it was “very disappointing” to him that someone with a fever, such as Amber Vinson was reported to have had, would have been allowed on an airplane. “It is unacceptable that that happened.”

Jenkins spoke about the problems that he had been dealing with in Dallas, as well as the evolving challenges. “I feel good about what we thought was the scary problem last week, and that is Eric Duncan for five days with Ebola in my community, where I’ve got to go find everybody that touched him. We did that. Now we’ve got a breach at the hospital.”

Jenkins made the point that the health care workers were not at fault. “That’s a procedure, protocol or supervision problem–Those nurses are heroes.”

“This new problem with the hospital causes us to fight a two-front war,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins said that he thought that they had achieved a significant level of control over the hospital breach as well.

The current problems officials were dealing with, Jenkins said, were the two families of the infected health care workers, as well as the 75 people who were away from the patient population.

Of those 75 hospital workers, most were at home on furlough, Jenkins said. Officials were working on a situation in which those exposed people could choose whether to stay at home, or, if they were concerned about family members, they could transfer to a safer location.

“Two options. You can stay at home under the orders we’re putting there. Or you can go to a place where you’ll be cared for.

Some of the exposed health care workers, however, continue to treat Amber Vinson, because they have already been exposed, Jenkins said.

Jenkins stressed that those people affected by the ban had done nothing wrong.

“These are not criminals. These are heroic health care professionals. They are not trying to get out into the community and cause any harm. And they don’t need to be vilified, and their children don’t need to be vilified. If an order is in place, I expect it to be followed, and we would use the law to enforce it, but that won’t be necessary.

“These are heroic health care professionals who just need some guidance on what they can and can’t do in a very difficult time in their life.”

Jenkins current interest was, he said, keeping the two and a half million people who live in Dallas safe.

“My job is to correct mistakes as fast as I find them, whoever made them. ‘One team, one fight.’ To find those mistakes. We’ll worry about whose fault it was later. Let’s get it corrected. Let’s make sure nobody else gets on an airplane. Let’s move forward and keep this community safe.”

The World May Have to Live With Ebola Forever – UN

October 14, 2014October 13, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

The World May Have to Live Ebola Forever - UN

Share this

The United Nations repeated its calls for immediate aid, saying that response efforts must be hundreds of times greater than they currently are in order to meet the threat of an epidemic that, the UN has stated, was outstripping all current efforts. The UN warned that without much higher levels of response, the world would have to live with the Ebola virus forever.

“The world has never seen anything like it. Time is our enemy. The virus is far ahead of us,” said Anthony Banbury, head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).

“The world must now act to help the people and governments of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia,” said Banbury. “Failing to help will lead to unpredictable but very dire consequences for the people of the countries and well beyond. As long as there is once case of Ebola in any of these three countries, no country is safe. We must rise to the occasion. We must defeat this disease.”

“We have an illness where there were 300 cases in March, where there were more than 6000 cases in September,” said President of Doctors Without Borders USA, Dean Marchbein, “and the World Health Organization is estimating that if nothing is done by February, there will be 1.4 million cases.”

The threat of Ebola is international, according to the UN. UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Sam Kutesa said that Ebola could quickly spread to other nations. “Ebola is a threat that can easily land at any nation’s doorstep,” said Kutesa at a recent meeting.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Risk Assessment, “In the current outbreak, infected travelers have crossed land borders with neighboring countries or have traveled internationally. More EVD cases might be exported to non-affected countries.”

Dr. David Nabarro, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Ebola, said of the current outbreak, “I’ve worked as a public health doctor for 35 years… but I have never encountered a public health crisis like this in my life.”

Nabarro and other UN officials called for immediate, coordinated international efforts and funding of at least a billion dollars to combat the immediate threat of Ebola, saying that without this level of response, “it will be impossible to get this disease quickly under control, and the world will have to live with the Ebola virus forever.”

By James Haleavy

Source: UN

WHO Update on Ebola: “The situation is worse than it was 12 days ago–It’s entrenched”

November 9, 2014October 10, 2014 by Andrew Stern

Share this

WHO officials provided an update Friday on the progress of the Ebola epidemic gripping West Africa and outpacing all efforts to control it. The WHO warned that without immediate, concerted action Ebola could become a global pandemic on the scale of HIV, and added that the current response was only half of what it needed to be.

“The situation is worse than it was 12 days ago. It’s entrenched in the capitals. Seventy percent of the [infected] people are definitely dying from this disease and it is accelerating in almost all settings,” said Bruce Aylward, assistant director general of the World Health Organization.

Aylward offered three numbers: 70, 70 and 60. To control Ebola, 70 percent of Ebola-victim burials must be conducted safely, 70 percent of those infected must be in treatment, and within 60 days.

“The virus is moving on virus time; we’re moving on bureaucracy or program time,” commented Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “The virus is actually picking up the pace. Even as we add resources, we get farther behind.”

Ebola cases are doubling every three weeks in West Africa, and global health officials are watching closely the “reproduction number” of the virus. This number estimates the number of people, on average, who will contract the virus from each person already stricken. The current number is estimated to be 1.5 to two. In order for the epidemic to decline, the number must be below one.

“The speed at which things are moving on the ground, it’s hard for people to get their minds around. People don’t understand the concept of exponential growth,” said Frieden. “Exponential growth in the context of three weeks means, ‘If I know that X needs to be done, and I work my butt off and get it done in three weeks, it’s now half as good as it needs to be.'”

“Maybe we can bring [the reproduction number] from two to 1.2 or 1.3, which would indicate that the number of new cases will be dramatically reduced, and that will give you time,” commented Gerardo Chowell, a mathematical epidemiologist at Arizona State University, who worked on the current reproduction number estimate. “Even modest gains in lowering the number could give health officials and the military a better chance of controlling the epidemic,” considered Chowell.

To date, over 4,000 people have died in West Africa out of 8,000 reported cases. The current assumption regarding the numbers is that they are significantly underreported, and that for every four known cases, six more go unreported.

By Andrew Stern

Men and Women Judge Art Differently, According to New Study

October 14, 2014October 10, 2014 by Joseph Reight

Share this

Whose art is worth more? The ordinary painter who just took up the craft or the authentic artist who has spent 20 years working at it and believes he will paint until he dies? According to a new joint marketing study, women and men judge the value of art differently, and how an artist is presented could have a significant effect on how much of the $65bn worldwide art market he or she will claim.

The research looked at the responses of 518 subjects–male and female–to two unfamiliar paintings which were each accompanied by a fabricated artist biography. Some participants read a biography that described the artist as an ordinary painter who only recently took up art. Other participants read a biography that described a much more authentic painter.

Men and Women Judge Art Differently (2) — Stephanie Mangus

“The more authentic artist was described as having been painting for over 20 years and believes they will paint ‘until he dies,'” Stephanie Mangus, assistant professor in MSU’s Broad College of Business and an author of the report, told The Speaker.

Both male and female subjects were found to be more willing to buy the more authentic artist’s work and to pay a higher price for that work.

However, males were much more likely to base their decisions on the artist’s “brand” than females, according to the research.

Women were more likely to “go through a complicated process of actually evaluating the artwork,” the researchers found.

“Regarding the complicated process,” Mangus explained to us, “women rely more heavily on the attitude they form toward the art itself, even if they are not an art expert, when determining their behavioral intentions toward the art (purchase and purchase price). Women rely more strongly than men on their own judgments of the actual piece of artwork. Men, in contrast, place more emphasis on the attitude they develop toward the artist when making these same downstream decisions related to purchase and price.”

The research has several implications, for both business and the everyday art viewer, Mangus told us.

“On the management/business side, we would like the folks that manage artists and other creative sorts (and even brands) to understand that authenticity is important to consumers. Consistency between an artist’s authentic ‘story’ and the image/brand they present to the outside world factors into how consumers judge them and their work. Ultimately, whether or not artists make any money off of consumers is partially a function of their authenticity and ability to convey it.

“On the consumer side, it’s a nice note to the non-connoisseur that they can still make evaluations of art and not shy away from making these types of decisions.”

The findings may extend to other creator-based product industries as well, such as clothing, shoe, jewelry and restaurant and food industries.

“While designers and chefs oftentimes operate in the background, this research suggests that more emphatically communicating their passion and commitment to their craft could significantly benefit that brand’s image and sales,” the team found.

The report may also help to fill in the dearth of consumer research relating to the steadily growing art market, according to Mangus, which has outperformed the equities market during the past 10 years of growth.

“For the average person trying to purchase art, knowing something about the artist–and knowing that the artist is authentic–can reduce the risk of buying a worthless piece,” Mangus stated. “All consumers in the study, but especially men, evaluated art with a strong emphasis on how motivated and passionate the artist was. So if you’re an artist or if you’re managing an artist, developing that human brand–getting the message across that you’re authentic–becomes essential.”

The report was authored by Julie Guidry Moulard from Louisiana Tech University, Dan Hamilton Rice from Louisiana State University and Carolyn Popp Garrity from Birmingham-Southern College, in addition to Mangus, and was published in Psychology & Marketing.

By Joseph Reight

McDonald’s Wins in Russia

October 14, 2014October 10, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Share this

McDonald’s has won a ruling in Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court after Russia’s Federal Agency for Consumer Rights Protection (Rosportrebnadzor) shut down a dozen McDonald’s in Russia, claiming that the fast food restaurant sold products that violated national dietary standards.

“The lawsuit was filed due to the chain’s violation of the legal requirements. An examination of samples revealed that the information on energy values and the composition of the products provided to consumers was not correct. This is consumer fraud,” stated the plaintiff in court.

Rospotrebnadzir had requested a court order to “stop [McDonald’s] unlawful activity” and remove violating products from menus.

“The results of a second inspection showed that the products fully complied with the regulations. We do not understand what violation is being committed. The information that is not included in the energy value tables on the customer’s trays are posted in the customer’s dining area. You can see everything,” the defendants responded.

At least a dozen McDonald’s were shut down in Russia afer Rospotrebnadzor began filing suits against the restaurant chain in May. Rospotrebnadzor conducted examinations of over 100 of Russia’s 430 McDonald’s restaurants in August, and claimed that the restaurants violated the listing standards for protein, fat, carbohydrate and energy values.

The bans instituted included cheeseburgers, royal cheeseburger, filet-o-fish, chicken burger and berry ice cream and milkshakes.

McDonald’s is thriving in Russia. Although the company reported poor Q4 sales globally, and 1.4% decline in the US, sales in Russia have been up, thanks to promotions like the current “American Classics” cheeseburgers, according to industry experts.

By James Haleavy

First Sitting President Arrives for Hearing at International Criminal Court, Allies Warn Trial Risks Destabilizing Already Threatened Nation

October 14, 2014October 8, 2014 by Sid Douglas

Share this

Uhuru Kenyatta, the president of Kenya, arrived at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague Wednesday for a hearing over his indictment on charges of crimes against humanity. Kenyatta is the first sitting leader to appear at the ICC, and his trial court proceedings are taking place as Kenya is under threat from active militant groups in the region.

Kenyatta is accused of orchestrating a wave of violence in Kenya in 2007. The violence followed a set of contested elections. Kenyatta has denied the charges.

Kenyatta and his allies have warned that the trial poses a risk of destabilization for Kenya, where an active threat exists. Al-Qaeda-linked militant Islamists in Somalia are conducting ongoing attacks in the region.

“This is no time to weaken a country and a region by removing its President for trial,” said Mahboub Maalim, head of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional organization, who attended the hearing.

The ICC has secured only two convictions in its 11 years of service. Both convictions were of Congolese warlords for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

All of the ICC’s cases to date have been in Africa. Many Africans leaders continue to ignore the court, and the African Union has decided not to cooperate with the ICC.

The ICC has 34 judges, over 700 staff, and a budget of $166 million annually. To date, the court has cost $2 billion.

By Sid Douglas

Spread of Ebola Across Europe “Inevitable” – WHO Chief

October 7, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Share this

[BRIEF] According to the World Health Organization, the spread of Ebola across Europe is “quite unavoidable.”

WHO European Director Zsuzsanna Jakab commented Tuesday on the recent first case of Ebola contracted in Europe and said, “Such imported cases and similar events as have happened in Spain will happen also in the future, most likely.”

“It is quite unavoidable … that such incidents will happen in the future because of the extensive travel both from Europe to the affected countries and the other way around.”

Read more: First Ebola Case in Europe

Jakab warned that more cases will spread across Europe and that the continent should be well prepared to control the disease.

At the top of the list of those at risk for infection are health workers, according to Jakab, who added, “The most important thing in our view is that Europe is still at low risk and that the western part of the European region particularly is the best prepared in the world to respond to viral haemorrhagic fevers including Ebola.”

After Death Consciousness Suggested by Largest Near-Death Experience Study

October 14, 2014October 7, 2014 by Cheryl Bretton

Share this

According to the largest study ever conducted treating near-death experiences, evidence suggests that there is consciousness after clinical death.

A University of Southampton team spent four years examining 2,060 cardiac arrest patients at 15 different hospitals on three continents.

The report, “AWAREness during CPR: Be careful with what you say!” was authored by Drs Edgardo Olvera-Lopez and Joseph Varon, and was published in Resuscitation magazine.

Overall, the team found that 40 percent of people who survived cardiac arrest–140 of 330 people–described some kind of awareness during the time they were clinically dead.

The kinds of experiences reported by the survivors included an unusual sense of peacefulness and alterations in time perception. Some said time slowed down while other said it speeded up.

Some survivors reported seeing a bright light. Some described it as a golden flash or like the Sun shining.

Others, however, reported feelings of fear, of drowning or being pulled down through deep water.

Of the survivors, 13 percent reported experiences commonly referred to as out-of-body. Another 13 percent reported that their senses had been heightened.

“We know the brain can’t function when the heart has stopped beating,” said Dr Sam Parnia, a former research fellow at Southampton University, now at the State University of New York. However, Parnia went on to describe specific instances of patients who reported things that suggested that after death consciousness was possible, including accounts of out-of-body like experiences.

Dr Jerry Nolan, Editor-in-Chief at Resuscitation said: “Dr Parnia and his colleagues are to be congratulated on the completion of a fascinating study that will open the door to more extensive research into what happens when we die.”

By Cheryl Bretton