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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
[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 … Read more
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 … Read more
In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan the world’s first big carbon capture coal power plant has begun. The project will sequester almost all of its emissions–about a million tons of carbon per year. Canadian utility SaskPower is undertaking the project at the 110 megawatt Boundary Dam power station near Estevan, Saskatchewan, where it will retrofit … Read more
For the first time, North Korean authorities have publicly acknowledged the existence of labor camps within North Korea. The admission came Tuesday, seemingly in response to critical UN reports published earlier this year. North Korean foreign ministry official Choe Myong Nam, who is in charge of UN affairs and human rights issues, qualified that North … Read more
Most studies have concluded that unemployment in the short run leads to a drop in fertility, but whether the negative effects persist–whether women simply postpone childbearing or if the effect is more long-term–has remained unknown. According to a recent study by Princeton University, living through a recession means that some women will never have a child, … Read more