Headlines – Page 24 – The Speaker News Journal

First European Nation Joins Majority of World in Recognizing Palestinian State

October 14, 2014October 7, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

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With Sweden’s recent announcement that the Nordic nation will recognize the state of Palestine, the first European nation has joined the majority of the world in supporting the two-state solution.

“The conflict between Israel can only be solved with a two-state solution, negotiated in accordance with international law,” said Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven during his inaugural address to Parliament.

“A two-state solution requires mutual recognition and a will to peaceful co-existence. Sweden will therefore recognize the state of Palestine.”

The move was welcomed by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, who called the Swedish recognition “courageous.”

“We salute the announcement by the Swedish prime minister,” stated Saeb Erekat, the “chief negotiator” for the PA.

Over 130 countries officially recognize Palestine. The majority of the world by number of people and by land area recognizes Palestine.

Among the most prominent opponenets of recognition are the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe.

The number is up from around 90 countries that recognized Palestine in 1988, before the Palestinian National Countcil unilaterally declared independence based on a two-state solution.

Although no other European nations recognize Palestine, some of the European Union’s 28 member nations do: Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia all recognize the state of Palestine.

The UK is set to consider recognition this year. The UK will vote on Palestine after the parliament’s summer recess ends Oct. 13.

By James Haleavy

Suicide and Depression Linked to Pesticides

October 14, 2014October 6, 2014 by Sid Douglas

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According to a recent study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, pesticide use is positively linked to suicide and depression. The study analyzed data from various pesticide classes and found evidence supported a positive association between pesticide exposure and depression. Several specific pesticides were also positively identified as associated.

“Few previous studies have considered the episodic nature of depression or examined individual pesticides,” wrote the researchers of their findings, “We evaluated associations between pesticide exposure and depression among male private pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.”

The team based their findings on reports competed by those exposed to pesticides over the past 20 years.

“We analyzed data for 10 pesticide classes and 50 specific pesticides used by 21,208 applicators enrolled in 1993–1997 who completed a follow-up telephone interview in 2005–2010,” wrote the team in a summary of their work.

The team calculated the amount of applicators who reported a physician diagnosis of depression and those who had previous diagnoses of depression.

The team concluded that their study “supports a positive association between pesticide exposure and depression, including associations with several specific pesticides.”

Several specific pesticides were directly linked to depression.

“[T]he fumigants aluminum phosphide and ethylene dibromide; the phenoxy herbicide (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy) acetic acid (2,4,5-T); the organochlorine insecticide dieldrin; and the organophosphate insecticides diazinon, malathion, and parathion—were all positively associated with depression in each case group.”

The study, “Pesticide Exposure and Depression among Male Private Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study,” was authored by John D. Beard, David M. Umbach, Jane A. Hoppin, Marie Richards, Michael C.R. Alavanja, Aaron Blair, Dale P. Sandler, and Freya Kamel, and was published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

By Sid Douglas

First Ebola Case in Europe

October 14, 2014October 6, 2014 by Cheryl Bretton

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A nurse who had served on the team that treated a Spanish priest who contracted the disease in West Africa has become the first Ebola case in Europe. She is also the first person to have contracted the disease outside Africa, despite the highest level of precautions having been taken.

The nurse tested positive for Ebola in two tests.

The woman was part of the team that had treated priest Manuel Garcia Viejo, a Spaniard who died Sept. 25 in a Spanish hospital after contracting the disease in Liberia.

The nurse began to feel ill last week while on holiday, and was admitted to a hospital near Madrid on Monday morning with high fever, according to Health Minister Ana Mato.

No information has been reported regarding those who would have been exposed to the woman during her illness.

The nurse is being held in quarantine in Spain, and is reported to be in stable condition.

The disease, which is spreading rapidly–with cases doubling every three weeks in West Africa–has killed 3,400 of at least 7,500 confirmed cases of infection–although the actual number is suspected to be much higher. Currently, over one hundred people are dying within 24 hour periods.

Ebola spreads through contact with any bodily fluids of an infected person. The only means of stopping the spread of the disease is isolation, according to authorities.

Despite numerous calls by politicians and experts for travel restrictions, the US and other nations have rejected any travel restrictions to the affected areas.

By Cheryl Bretton

Short Weight Lifting Sessions Boost Memory [video]

October 14, 2014October 6, 2014 by Cheryl Bretton

Short Weight Lifting Sessions Boost Memory, Research Finds

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According to a new study led by the Georgia Institute of Technology, just one short burst of weight-lifting can enhance long-term memory for young adults by around 10 percent.

“Our study indicates that people don’t have to dedicate large amounts of time to give their brain a boost,” said Lisa Weinberg, a graduate student and the Georgie Institute of Technology and leader of the research.

The report, “A single bout of resistance exercise can enhance episodic memory performance,” was published in the journal Acta Psychologica.

Previous research had already established that exercise could improve memory, but much subsequent research had focused on regular sessions of aerobic exercise, such as running.

Th Georgia Institute research looked instead at the effect of just one weight-lifting session conducted two days before a memory test.

The test subjects were asked to monitor a series of 90 random photographs–but not memorize them–and afterwards work out on a leg resistance machine.

Half of the subjects did leg exercises–50 leg presses at their maximum ability–and half of the subjects did no exercise.

Two days later, when participants were again shown the series of images along with 90 new images, the leg press group was able to remember the first set of photos at a 60 percent rate, while the group that did no exercise recalled the first images at a 50 percent rate.

The research based its approach on recent studies on animals that had suggested physical stress after learning can strengthen memory formation.

“Even without doing expensive fMRI scans, our results give us an idea of what areas of the brain might be supporting these exercise-induced memory benefits,” said Audrey Duarte, a researcher involved in the study. “The findings are encouraging because they are consistent with rodent literature that pinpoints exactly the parts of the brain that play a role in stress-induced memory benefits caused by exercise.”

By Cheryl Bretton

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikartHi08XU”][su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ctbc9kw1oHA”][/su_youtube]

Taliban Group Captures Afghan District Denied by Afghanistan Government

November 11, 2014October 5, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

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After the Taliban released a statement days ago claiming to have captured the Registan district of southern Kandahar, after routing Afghan forces and raising the “white flag of Islam” over the territory, the Afghan government has denied the Taliban claims, stating that they still controlled the area and insisting that they moved the district center not because the Taliban had overrun their forces but because it was difficult for people to reach it.

Pajhwok Afghan reported, “Authorities rejected the assertion as exaggerated.” The news network reported that the Registan district remained under the government’s control, and that Afghan officials insisted that the district center was moved for “administrative reasons.”

The Taliban had released a statement Oct. 2 that said that the organization had routed Afghan forces in Registan, forced them to flee after killing and wounding dozens, and “liberating the district center, unfurling the sublime white flag of Islam over it and bringing the entire district under their complete control.”

and al Qaeda-loyal group Junood al Fida was involved in the fighting, and also claimed on Twitter to have taken the Registan district, citing the “Commander of the faithful,” Mullah Omar, to whom Junood al Fida is pledged subject, as well as the late Osama bin Laden.

“Glad tidings O Ummah–the den of Shaykh Osamah will fall to the lions of the #Islamic_Emirates–by the will of Allah!” The accompanying hashtags are #Kandahar and #Afghanistan,” read one Tweet by the group.

Other Tweets showed photos of the fighting and a base the group claimed to have assaulted.

By James Haleavy

Source: Long War Journal

US Experts Warn US Not Prepared to Contain Ebola, US Officials Reject Travel Restrictions

October 6, 2014October 5, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

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While experts in the US warned that the US was not prepared to contain an Ebola outbreak, citing mistakes and missteps in the handling of the first US Ebola case which resulted in the death of Thomas Duncan last week, US officials and US President Barack Obama rejected increasing calls for travel restrictions to and from the affected areas of West Africa.

“It is America–our doctors, our scientists, our know-how–that leads the fight to contain and combat the Ebola epidemic in West Africa,” said Obama in rejecting travel restrictions, stressing his faith in US doctors and health facilities.

CDC Director Tom Friedman also dismissed calls for travel restrictions and isolation of the West African nations where the Ebola outbreak has claimed thousands of lives.

Friedman rationalized his position by saying that isolating the outbreak regions may cause the disease to spread more widely and cause greater risk to America.

“It’s a tough question that’s coming up and will keep coming up,” Friedman said. “Our perspective–very much like the situation with regard to the individual–is to take actions that seem like they may work. The approach of isolating countries–it’s harder to get help into that country and it may enable the disease to spread more widely there and potentially become more of a risk to us here.”

However, Friedman admitted that the risk was not controlled.

“The bottom line here is the plain truth that we can’t make the risk zero until the outbreak is controlled in West Africa,” said Friedman.

Several US politicians have made public calls for travel restrictions.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Humble) requested that the president restrict travel to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

“I believe that the recent Ebola case in Dallas highlights the fact that non-essential travel to the affected region is putting Americans at unnecessary risk,” Poe wrote in his request.

Texas US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration questioning the measures it was taking to protect America from Ebola.

“Due to the Obama administration’s unclear approach to addressing the threat of the Ebola virus, Americans–particularly the Texans who have possibly been exposed–deserve specific answers to how the administration is addressing travel to and from the countries impacted by the disease,” Cruz wrote.

US Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Upper St. Clair) also warned of a need to increase health security. “The propensity of people coming out of those countries may be to get out of there as fast as possible,” said Murphy. “Even if that means lying on their records. We can’t necessarily just use that verbal screening process. CDC and NIH are going to tell us how they are adapting and changing this, because the current process apparently is not effective.”

Experts in the US have also called for restrictions.

Gavin MacGregor-Skinner, an assistant professor of public health at Penn State University, who helped set up an Ebola clinic in Nigeria weeks ago, said of the outbreak, “This is a Category 5 hurricane. It just happens to be viral.”

Phenelle Segal, president of Montgomery County-based Infection Control Consulting Services and a former infection prevention analyst for the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, warned, “Unless the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention take extreme measures to prevent the universal spread of the disease, we could possibly end up with a pandemic.

“I think as soon as we started seeing West Africa go out of control with Ebola, that was the time [to impose travel restrictions.]”

In West Africa, the disease has claimed 3,300 lives with no end in sight. The UN has said of the outbreak that it is surging “beyond control,” and warned of a worldwide disaster.

Ebola cases in West Africa have doubled every three weeks. In Sierra Leone 121 people died of Ebola Sunday.

UN officials have stated that a total air quarantine would not stop the spread of Ebola, but would delay it.

By Day Blakely Donaldson

Kazakhstan-China Immigration Surprising, Expert Finds

October 14, 2014October 5, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

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Several unexpected trends were reported by international migrations specialist Elena Sadovskaya, who is based at the Moscow Institute for Economic Forecasting, regarding immigration patterns between China and neighboring Kazakhstan. Among those findings were that many less Chinese are working in Kazakhstan than commonly thought, and that many of those migrants counted as Chinese are in fact other ethnicities.

“Chinese migration to Kazakhstan is not especially ‘Chinese,’” Sadovskaya stated. “[It includes] not only ethnic Chinese [Hans] but also Kazakhs, Uyghurs, Dungans, Uzbeks, Koreans and even [ethnic] Russians.”

Sadovskaya’s analysis was reported in the current issue of Karavan, a Kazakhstan weekly.

Different ethnic groups dominate different parts of the migratory flows in and out of Kazakhstan, Sadovskaya reported.

Most immigrants to Kazakhstan that are counted as Chinese are actually non-Han ethnic groups from the restless Chinese-controlled land of Xinjiang, and include ethnic Kazakhs.

Most migrants coming to Kazakhstan for work, however, are Han Chinese. Around 6,000 to 7,000 Han relocate to Kazakhstan per year for work, and form about one quarter of Kazakhstan’s guest workers. This finding has been remarked as surprising because of a widespread belief that Han workers in Kazakhstan are a much larger group.

Although most job-seekers coming to Kazakhstan are Han, those coming for business include Hans, Dungans, Uyghurs and Kazakhs, and those seeking permanent resident are primarily ethnic Kazakhs, known as “Oralmany,” who are returning to their homeland from a period of residence in China.

Sadovskaya pointed out that a large number of these returning Oralmans have not become Kazakhstan citizens–only about half of those who return from China have done so. The reasons for this range, Sadovskaya said, from partiality to Oralmany government benefits to language barriers.

Within Kazakhstan, recent polls have shown that locals are increasingly hostile towards Chinese immigrants. Those expressing some hostility toward Chinese immigrants rose from 18 percent in 2007 to 33 percent in 2012.

Immigrants to China from Kazakhstan, on the other hand, are largely students to are relocating to study at Chinese higher learning institutions. About 10,000 Kazakhstani students are studying in China in the current academic year–eight to 10 times the number of Chinese studying in Kazakhstan.

The two nations mirror each other’s deficits, Sadovskaya commented. Official corruption in Kazakhstan has led to a large number of illegal immigrants, while poor education in Kazakhstan has led to Kazakhs moving to China to study.

“It is possible to call Chinese migration a mirror image of the problems which exist in Kazakhstan,” said Sadovskaya.

By James Haleavy

World Has In Fact Not Begun Deleveraging Crisis-Linked Borrowing, ICMBS Warns

October 14, 2014October 2, 2014 by Andrew Stern

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The world has not yet begun to deleverage its crisis-linked borrowing, a recent report by the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies (ICMBS) found. Despite currently prevailing popular opinion that the global economy is deleveraging, the world is in fact not reducing the burden of its debts, according to the organization’s research; in fact, public sector debt in rich countries and private debt in emerging markets–notably China–have not stopped rising, and this may cause a new economic crisis.

“Contrary to widely held beliefs, the world has not yet begun to delever and the global debt to GDP ratio is still growing, breaking new highs,” said the report.

The document, the 16th annual Geneva Report, titled “Deleveraging? What deleveraging?,” was commissioned by the ICMBS and written by a panel of senior economists, and was published on the Centre for Economic Policy Research website.

The total burden of world debt–private and public–has reached 215 percent of national income. For perspective, the whole world would need to consume nothing while continuing current levels of production for two years in order to pay back the world debt.

That burden was only 160 percent of national income in 2001, and under 200 percent in 2009.

The report notes that debt growth was primarily in the private sector of the developed world before the financial crisis. After the crisis, Western governments accepted a lot of debt, which reduced the burden on the private sector.

Meanwhile, developing countries like China increased debt when they saw that Western economies would not be able to sustain the rapid growth, the report found.

The report characterized the combination of record debt and slowing growth as a “poisonous combination” that pointed toward further economic crisis.

The report stressed economies with high debts and persistently slow growth–such as the eurozone periphery in southern Europe and China–as economies that were most concerning.

An author of the report, Luigi Buttiglione, compared China to past miracle economies. “Over my career I have seen many so-called miracle economies – Italy in the 1960s, Japan, the Asian tigers, Ireland, Spain and now perhaps China–and they all ended after a build-up of debt.”

The report suggested a possible model that may explain the current existence of debt bubbles: innovation tends to increase productivity–therefore growth. Market participants become more optimistic and credit is easier to obtain, leading to more loans. Loans are often tied to a project and show up as more growth, which further nurtures optimism and increases loans, even if the underlying productivity gains have run their course.

The authors of the report concluded that in order to avoid another crash, interest rates across the world will have to stay low for a “very, very long” time to enable households, companies and governments to alleviate their debts.

The report was published a week before the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting in Washington and concerns that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates within the year.

By Andrew Stern

America’s Most Prominent Southern Secession Group Forms Paramilitary Unit for Action

October 14, 2014October 1, 2014 by Sid Douglas

America's Most Prominent Southern Succession Group Forms Paramilitary Unit for Action (1)

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A previously vocal but nonviolent neo-Confederate group–the League of the South (LOS), the most prominent Southern separatist group in the US–has begun training a uniformed paramilitary unit for any-means-necessary style action, according to civil rights watch group Hatewatch, which based its revelations on leaked internal documents and sources within the LOS.

“We are for the survival, well-being, and independence of the Southern people,” said LOS president Michael Hill of the movement. “And when we say ‘the Southern people,’ we mean white Southerners. We are an ethno-nationalist movement and we want a free and independent South for our people, as our homeland. That’s pretty much what we are fighting for.”

The move to train a paramilitary unit comes after years of rhetoric threatening violence, Hatewatch reported. The unit has been named “The Indomitables” and is comprised of former Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis, Hatewatch reported.

The unit was conceptualized at a LOS meeting earlier this year, according to Hatewatch. The lead trainer for the unit is US Army and Navy veteran Floyd Eric Meadows, 43, of Rome, Ga., whose online name is Eric Thorvaldsson.

Hill responded to the SPLC revelations on his blog, “Even if we are–and you really have no idea on earth if we are or not–setting up a Southern militia or some other form of paramilitary organization, we are doing nothing that free men have not done for centuries. Deal with it and stop your whining.

“The primary targets will not be enemy soldiers; instead, they will be political leaders, members of the hostile media, cultural icons, bureaucrats, and other of the managerial elite without whom the engines of tyranny don’t run.”

Of LOS’s motives, Hill has stated, “We desire that our women and children be warm and snug while the world outside rages. And as our due for that we must face the world.”

The current roster of the group is as follows:

By Sid Douglas

White House Changes Neutral Position on Hong Kong, Supports the Hong Kong Vote

September 29, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

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The White House, which had maintained a neutral stance regarding attempts by Hong Kong citizens to regain universal suffrage in the face of Chinese national oppression, changed its position Monday and supported democracy in Hong Kong.

“The United States supports universal suffrage in Hong Kong in accordance with the Basic Law and we support the aspirations of the Hong Kong people,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest in a press briefing, Monday.

“We believe that the basic legitimacy of the chief executive in Hong Kong will be greatly enhanced if the Basic Law’s ultimate aim of selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage is fulfilled,” said Earnest.

“We have consistently made our position known to Beijing, and will continue to do so.”

“We do not take sides in the discussion of Hong Kong’s political development, nor do we support any particular individuals or groups involved in it. We encourage all sides to refrain from actions that would further escalate tensions, to exercise restraint, and to express views on the SAR’s political future in a peaceful manner.”

The US government had faced criticism in recent weeks for an apparent lack of action regarding the events in China.

Tens of thousands of Hong Kong citizens have been demonstrating for their right to universal suffrage over the past week, after the Chinese government decided it would only allow political candidates to run for the 2017 elections in Hong Kong who met the approval of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China (CPC).

By Day Blakely Donaldson

Men May Be Getting More Abuse Online Than Women – Study

October 14, 2014September 29, 2014 by Eli Ramos

Men Getting More Abuse Online Than Women - Study

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According to a recent study, and despite popular sentiment that the internet is not safe for women, men may be ones who receives the most abuse on social media. According to think tank Demos, male public figures are several times more likely than female public figures to receive abuse on Twitter.

The think tank analyzed over 2 million tweets over a two-week period. The sample of public figures included celebrities, politicians, journalists and musicians. An equal number was chosen for males and females.

Despite recent claims that the internet is misogynist and is particularly unsafe for women, the think tank found that men were more often abused than women, at least on Twitter.

Over 2.5 percent of tweets directed at the males–tweets containing the @username–contained abuse. Less than 1 percent of the tweets directed at the females was abusive.

That is, over 1 in 20 tweets sent to the males included abuse. Only 1 in 70 tweets directed at the females included abuse.

There was one category, however, where female celebrities received more abuse than men: journalism. Females in this line of work recieved abuse around 3 times as often as men.

Males were found to also be the most common abusers. Men were behind 75 percent of abusive tweets toward other men, and were behind over 60 percent of abusive tweets directed toward women.

There may be more to the issue than can be understood based on these figures alone, however.

According to a recent Harvard study, men have 15 percent more followers than women, men are almost twice as likely to follow another man than a woman, women are 25 percent more likely to follow men than women, and the average man is 40 percent more likely to be followed by another man than by a woman.

The Harvard team concluded that, although there are more women on Twitter, and unlike most other social networks, men dominate the action on Twitter.

By Eliana Ramos

IBM Develops New Brainlike Chip, 180,000x More Efficient Than Modern CPUs

October 14, 2014September 29, 2014 by Andrew Stern

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The new chip developed by IBM has 4096 cores, 1 million programmable neurons, and 5.4 billion transistors, heralding what some are calling a new era in computing.

The chip, called TrueNorth, is the most advanced neuromorphic (brain-like) chip created, and is incredibly efficient.

The chip consumes only 72 milliwatts at maximum load–equivalent to 400 billion synaptic operations per second per watt. The chip is therefore around 180,000 times more efficient than a modern CPU, and almost 800 times more efficient than other cutting-edge neuromorphic approaches.

Spokespeople for IBM commented on the TrueNorth chip, “One of the key problems with developing a new chip based on a novel architecture is that you also have to create developer tools and software that actually make efficient use of those thousands of cores and billions of synapses. Fortunately, IBM’s already got that covered: Last year it released a specialized programming language (Corelet) and simulator (Compass) that let you program and test your neuromorphic programs before running them on actual hardware.”

“Ultimately, the main purpose of the SyNAPSE project is to take existing systems that simulate the functionality of the brain in software — such as deep neural networks — and run them on hardware that was specifically designed for the task. As you may already know, dedicated hardware tends to orders of magnitude more efficient than simulating/emulating the hardware in software on a general-purpose CPU. This is why IBM is touting some utterly incredible efficiency figures for TrueNorth. For neural networks with high spike rates and a large number of active synapses, TrueNorth can deliver 400 billion synaptic operations per second (SOPS) per watt. When running the exact same neural network, a general-purpose CPU is 176,000 times less energy efficient, while a state-of-the-art multiprocessor neuromorphic system (48 chips, each with 18 cores) is 769 times less efficient. While it’s not directly comparable, the world’s most efficient supercomputer only manages around 4.5 billion FLOPS per watt.

“I don’t think IBM is actually getting back into the consumer electronics market (though that would be amusing). Rather, this is just a concept of the kind of thing the TrueNorth chip might one day enable.”

A technical reserach paper was published in Science today, titled “A million spiking-neuron integrated circuit with a scalable communication network and interface.”

By Andy Stern