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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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, … Read more
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, … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more