Germany’s foreign ministry spoke on the question of Ukraine’s joining NATO Sunday, stating that the idea could not be on the agenda and that Ukraine was not on the way towards NATO, as far as he was concerned. The minister expressed concern over “adding fuel to the fire” over a continuingly dangerous conflict.
“I am all for transparency in the matter, as, I believe, it would not be helpful if we were to not speak about it,” said Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an interview with ZDF television channel.
Steinmeier said that it would be necessary to inform the public of the questions that it would be better not to ask for fear of “adding fuel to the fire.”
It was necessary to “remain realists,” said the minister. “We are in the centre of a dangerous conflict.”
Steinmeier said that the situation in Ukraine left much to be desired, but further escalation was still possible and he remained concern about the possible repercussions of Ukraine joining NATO.
“For me, Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance cannot be on the agenda. Anyway, I cannot see Ukraine on the way towards NATO,” he said.
The minister characterized the dispute with Russia as “major.”
““I keep saying, it may take just 14 days to provoke a conflict, but it could take 14 years to settle it.”
Unable to vote, hundreds of Moldovans remained at closed polling stations in Moscow, shouting, “Let us vote!” Officials, citing a shortage of ballot papers midway into the vote, stated that no more ballot papers would be issued, and the vote would not be extended.
Parliamentary election voting was cut short in the Russian capital after ballot papers ran out, according to election commission chairman Anatoly Patrashku.
Ballot papers ran out during the opening hours of polling at the Moldovan consulate building in Moscow.
“It has been decided that the work of the polling stations will not be extended since all of the 3,000 ballot papers have been used, said Patrashku.
Across Russia, the Moldovan government opened only five polling stations for the Sunday vote, despite the number of 700,000-one million Moldovans who reside in Russia. These stations were located within Moscow, Ramenskoye (Moscow region), Novosibirsk, St Petersberg and Sochi.
According to Moldovan election regulations, each polling station cannot have more than 3,000 ballot papers.
That England and South Korea agreed to swap votes the day before the ballot is just one of the claims included in a dossier of files that was handed to a UK government body this weekend. The collection of documents also includes allegations against Russia and Qatar, and prompted UK MP John Whittingdale to conclude that the whole body of evidence against the World Cup was highly damning.
“When it’s taken together with all the other evidence that has already been accumulated, it does paint a picture of a deeply corrupt organisation and that the whole of the bidding process was completely flawed,” said John Whittingdale, chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
The dossier was compiled by a team that included a former MI6 operative and several other investigators. The dossier was provided to the UK parliamentary body by the Sunday Times, who published some of the allegations Sunday.
Besides England and South Korea, Russia and Qatar also colluded to swap votes ahead of the ballot. Motives included financial and material incentives, according to the documents.
“I think what is alleged England to have been doing is mild compared to the allegations made against other nations,” said Whittingdale. “But nevertheless it’s obviously serious and it is a breach of the rules and therefore we will want to know whether it’s true and how the FA justify it.”
However, Whittingdale commented on the unproven nature of the documents.
“A lot of it is reports and hearsay. It isn’t necessarily hard evidence. It isn’t proven,” said Whittingdale.
This collection of damning information comes shortly after another report by US lawyer Michael Garcia, the summary of which cleared Russia and Qatar of foul play. However, Garcia commented on the summary of his report saying that it had been written by a senior FIFA ethics committee official and was factually wrong.
In response to the new dossier, Russia’s 2018 bid team issued a statement. “These allegations are not new, but the evidence has only ever indicated that Russia 2018 behaved professionally and fairly throughout the bidding process,” read the Russian teams statement, which “categorically rejected” all of the “entirely unfounded” claims published in the Sunday Times.
People are unaware that various innocuous-sounding things are actually affecting them on a regular basis, according to new research by Bayer College of Medicine. Newspapers, radio and tv can influence the way people act by using words that trigger powerful emotions, the researchers found–clean words cause clean thoughts, which produce ethical actions, and dirty words produce disgusted thoughts and immoral actions.
“People don’t know it, but these small emotions are constantly affecting them.” said Vikas Mittal, J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing Adjunct Professor of Family & Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, and lead researcher on the study.
“What we found is that unless you ask people, they often don’t know they’re feeling disgusted,” Mittal said. “Small things can trigger specific emotions, which can deeply affect people’s decision-making. The question is how to make people more self-aware and more thoughtful about the decision-making process.”
This is because disgust is an emotion that causes people to protect themselves–that is, focus on their self.
However, lessening disgust causes people to behave more ethically again. This can be done by causing people to think of clean things–cleaning products such as Kleenex or Windex, for example. When disgust is lessened, the likelihood of cheating goes away.
The study involved two sets of randomized experiments with 600 participants. The researchers randomly disgusted their participants in three ways.
In one, participants evaluated antidiarrheal medicine, diapers, cat litter, feminine care pads and adult incontinence products. In another experiment, participants wrote out their most disgusting memory. In a third, a disgusting scene from the film “Trainspotting” was played for the participants. The scene shows a man diving into a dirty toilet.
The disgusted participants engaged in consistently self-interested behaviors at a significantly heightened rate.
After the participants were disgusted, another set of experiments was conducted.
The researchers had some participants evaluate cleaning products–disinfectants, body washes, household cleaners. These participants were returned to a normal level of deceptive behavior.
Managers could use this information to understand how to impact decision-making and cause ethical or unethical behavior, Mittal said. He commented on office cleanliness and cleanliness in the workplace in general.
“At the basic level, if you have environments that are cleaner, if you have workplaces that are cleaner, people should be less likely to feel disgusted,” said Mittal. “If there is less likelihood to feel disgusted, there will be a lower likelihood that people need to be self-focused and there will be a higher likelihood for people to cooperate with each other.”
“If you’re making important decisions, how do you create an environment that is less emotionally cluttered so you can become progressively more thoughtful?”
The report, “Protect Thyself: How Affective Self-Protection Increases Self-Interested Behavior,” was authored by Mittal and Karen Page Winterich, associate professor of marketing at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, and Andrea Morales, a professor of marketing at Arizona State’s W.P. Carey School of Business, and will be published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
A band of Munduruku Indians occupied a Brazilian government building in Itaitiba city, Para state, Friday, demanding that the government address the problem of loggers and gold miners incurring on their traditional land. The tribe held the staff hostage peacefully, but threatened “a conflict of unimaginable proportions” if the government did not take action and the invaders persisted, which, they said, the government would be responsible for.
“We want [politicians in] Brasília to quickly demarcate our land,” said the chief Juarez Saw Munduruku, “because we look after this land much better than the Brazilian government bodies do.”
As the chief said this, around 40 Munduruku Indians cried “Sawe!”–an exclamation of appreciation, solidarity, celebration or battle cry in Munduruku tradition, as reported Agencia Publica, who accompanied the tribe to the building.
The occupation of the Funai (Brazilian government body responsible for indigenous affairs) building was an escalation of ongoing tensions regarding the tribe’s traditional land.
Previous to the occupation, The Munduruku had published a letter about the imminent conflict between the gold miners and the tribe. The later stated that if the demarcation process was not accomplished, Funai would be “provoking a conflict of unimaginable proportions between the Munduruku and the invaders.”
The Munduruku are demanding the demarcation of Sawre Muybu, land that has been occupied by the tribe for centuries and which is marked for demarcation by Funai technicians. However, the process has been stopped in Brasilia, the federal capital of Brazil.
The previous (interim) president of Funai left office in September without fulfilling a promise she had made to the Munduruku to publish a report that the Munduruku are stressing in their demands.
According to a report, the territory has been ready for demarcation for more than a year, but the report has not been published by the federal government.
Because demarcation has not been undertaken by the government, the Munduruku decided to demarcate their territory on their own. Four miles have already been opened in the forest. The occupation of the Funai building was precipitated by the discover that more than 300 miners were exploring the boundaries of Munduruku territory–a location considered sacred to the tribe. The miners said that they would not leave until after the land was demarcated.
The tribe made statements that they would occupy the building and hold its staff hostage so long as there was no effective answer from Brasilia. Brazil’s justice minister was reportedly to be contacted by Funai’s president in Brasilia, according to Agencia Publica, who was with the Munduruku inside the building.
However, after around seven hours without any indication that the government would give an answer, the tribe left to return to self-demarcation.
The Munduruku expressed concern, however, that the action would generate a retaliation from the miners and loggers present along the borders of their territory.
“If we get into a conflict with the invaders, the government will have to take responsibility,” said a representative of the women of the Munduruku, Maria Leusa Cosme Kaba.
The US intervention in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State (ISIS) has been going for just under two months now. While it has in some ways slowed the progress of ISIS forces, especially in fights against Kurdish units around Kobane, they are far from routed. In fact, in the last few days, the terrorist organisation has demonstrated a stunning degree of tactical flexibility, attacking the remainder of the Iraqi government garrison in Ramadi, prompting local leaders to claim that ISIS was “24 hours away” from total control of the province.
In the face of the US airstrikes failing to stop ISIS, Obama is left in a rather awkward position, and has taken a number of decisions which belie the chaotic decision making process within the White House. Firstly, on Tuesday this week, his Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel, was reportedly forced to resign following the poor response to the emergence of ISIS. Secondly, the announcement yesterday that the US Air Force was redeploying a squadron of A10 ‘Warthog’ close air support aircraft to Iraq in order to fight ISIS, and assist the Iraqi Security
Forces (ISF) in a last ditch defence of Anbar province. Together these decisions show an administration struggle to keep up with developments on the ground.
Obama’s Dilemma
The problems which the Obama Administration faces in this new engagement in Iraq and Syria are rooted in the limited form of warfare which they are trying to fight. By attempting to have the best of both worlds, attacking and attempting to destroy ISIS from the air, while at the same time promising not to send significant ground forces to the region, the US response is strategically crippled.
Without ‘boots on the ground’ the US is forced to work with local proxies, and arm and train them to fight ISIS. The problem is, the US simply has no real allies in the region. In Iraq they are working with the ISF, however the bulk of the ISF is made up of Shia-dominated militias who see the war as a religious struggle against the Sunni, and have been reported to be carrying out ethnic cleansing in areas under their control. Meanwhile in Syria, the US has made the even more dubious choice of working with “moderate” Sunni rebels. Putting aside questions on whether such rebels exist in any real number, these moderates are allied with extremists the US is actively attacking like Jabhat Al Nusra (the local AlQaeda affiliate), and as such, are of questionable allegiance.
A Nightmare Scenario
Unless some kind of miracle (or greater calamity) occurs, 3 to 6 months from now, the situation will likely grind into a bloody stalemate. The Assad regime will be fighting to finish off the non-ISIS rebels in Syria, while the ISF will hold their ground, and maybe make small gains against ISIS in Sunni regions of Iraq. The Kurds meanwhile will also not seek to overextend themselves and attempt to reclaim ISIS occupied region. So after billions of dollars spent and thousands killed, very little of the US’s strategic goals will be achieved.
In the face of this failure, there is a very real risk of mission creep. The current force of 23,000 US soldiers in Iraq could rapidly rise, and begin to see themselves move into a more combat-focused role. Furthermore, the tacit alliance between the US and Shia militia in Iraq could backfire, and further alienate the Sunni Arab world, leading to yet more potential recruits for ISIS’s growing army.
Stuck within the constraints of ‘limited war’, the question becomes not whether the US can defeat ISIS, but whether the they have the political will to do so. The continued existence of the Islamic State rests not on battlefield successes, but rather whether the US president is prepared to risk a more intense (and longer term) conflict with the group.
Although the world’s poorest countries are thriving in terms of market values–over the past decade they have grown vigorously due to rising developmental aid and export prices–the people of those countries are trapped in a system in which poverty cannot be reversed–a phenomenon newly identified by UNCTAD and termed the “LDC paradox.”
“The world’s 48 least developed countries (LDCs) are the battleground on which the post-2015 development agenda will be won or lost,” stated the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in a newly released report. “Its success will depend on action by the international community and the LDCs to structurally transform their economies and break the vicious circle of human and economic development that has trapped these countries in poverty.”
The poorest 48 countries are failing to meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) while growing economically. Growth in the least developed countries exceeded the seven percent target set by the international community. The LDC world even outstripped the rest of the developing world after the 2008 financial crisis, a time when LDCs grew an average of just under six percent per year, despite the uncertainty of export prices and a slowing of aid funding from donor countries facing austerity measures.
Of the MDG target countries, only one is on track to meet all of the MDG goals–the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
This failure to meet MDG targets despite strong growth has been dubbed the “LDC paradox” by UNCTAD.
“The economic performance of developing countries is based on two separate but interrelated processes: increasing labour productivity and productive structural transformation,” the report found. ” Structural transformation has different dimensions, especially changes in the composition of output, employment, exports and aggregate demand.”
“Under favourable economic and institutional conditions, a rise in labour productivity leads to a rise in output, and thus to higher incomes,” the report continued. “However, higher labour productivity also gives rise to trade-offs. For LDCs, the crucial trade-off relates to aggregate employment. Employment growth is limited if faster productivity growth is not accompanied by faster expansion of aggregate demand. Indeed, without strong demand for output, a rise in labour productivity could even reduce employment.”
Although the LDCs are experiencing unprecedented growth, this growth is not accompanied by the creation of decent jobs in higher-productivity activities.
The problem, as UNCTAD identifies it, is that policy makers don’t recognize the need for a framework of upward-tending development that would lead to real transformative growth.
The goal of the UN’s post-2015 development agenda is total eradication of poverty by 2030–zero poverty everywhere within 15 years. According to the report, meeting this goal will depend mostly on LDCs, in which lies the biggest developmental challenges
The report identified three key approaches to meeting MDG targets: mobilizing resources for investment, directing these resources towards transforming economies and establishing macroeconomic policies that promote investment and demand growth.
Diversifying rural economies was also identified as critical to eradicating poverty, and crucial to this was the inclusion of women, who are particularly important contributors to social and economic development in rural areas, according to the report.
The core of the agenda, UNCTAD concluded, should be a virtuous circle between economic and human development, in order to reverse the vicious cycle of the LDC paradox.
“For LDCs, greater progress in economic development will require not only economic growth, but also a dynamic transformation of their economies,” found UNCTAD.
Hundreds of paddle-powered boats raced at the Bon Om Touk water festival this month on the Siem Reap River, an occasion in which Cambodians celebrate the Mekong River’s biannual water flow reversal and the beginning of the fishing season. While the river itself wasn’t the main object of attention during the festivities in the Southeastern Asia country, it did serve to highlight the dire need of the country to clean up it’s drinking water after decades of inner turmoil.
There are several reasons for the lack of clean drinking water in the country, according to Nthabeleng Emmel, Programs Manager for Water for Cambodia in Siem Reap, who said that lack of access is a major inhibitor. “Most people in Cambodia have no access to safe drinking water; they use contaminated water sources such as rivers, ponds, [and] wells.” This can lead to many different kinds of complications, such as gastrointestinal diseases like diarrhea, Emmel explained. Also, many of the population, especially in the countryside, use large open jars called cisterns to collect lake, stream and rain water. If not properly treated, this water can contain mosquito larvae, leading potentially to malaria and dengue fever.
While wells can be dug and used to get water, the quality may not be so good, said Mrs. Emmel. “Deep wells are usually said to be clean and some organizations dedicate their time drilling wells for rural communities but the utilization of [these] wells is questionable. Some areas have high content of iron in the water which usually comes with color, smell and [a bad] taste.”
Emmel’s organization builds and installs Biosand Filters for rural populations–the ones which experience the greatest difficulty in obtaining clean drinking water. The filter uses sand and gravel to remove up to 99 percent of the bacteria and protozoa in the water which is poured into it. “Water for Cambodia has adopted a Biosand filter which provides safe drinking water to the rural population,” said Emmel. “By the end of 2014 we will have installed over 14,000 filters reaching out to at least 84,000 individuals.”
Once the filters have been installed, the organization soon returns to test the filtered water in their lab. “We follow up with water testing which we do in our own lab, do quality control by checking all installed filters for any maintenance that may be needed and any other support the families may need,” said Emmel. A part of this support is educating the receivers of the filter on its use. “The challenge which we hope to overcome is getting people to understand the importance of pouring water into this filter on a daily basis and doing proper maintenance which only requires a few minutes.”
Mrs. Emmel is hopeful that the Biosand filter will continue to give rural Cambodians clean drinking water well into the future. “Biosand filters are the best solution for Cambodia as they are easy to use, maintain and they have a long life span [at least 15 years]. Their maintenance is inexpensive as the contents of the filter do not need to be changed but rather cleaned [on a regular basis]”.
In what would be the first move toward cutting back pesticide use in North America, the Ontario government is planning to curb agricultural pesticides linked with honeybee deaths as part of a comprehensive Pollinator Health Action Plan. The plan seeks to battle the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which the province’s Environment Commissioner has called the biggest threat to ecological integrity since DDT–which was banned in Canada in 1972.
“Improving pollinator health is not a luxury but a necessity,” said Environment Minister Glen Murray of the move.
“Taking strong action now to reduce the use of neurotoxic pesticides and protecting pollinator health is a positive step for our environment and our economy.”
Bee populations in Ontario and Quebec have plummeted in recent years. According to the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, which has about 3,100 members, Ontario experienced 58 percent over-winter losses in 2014–three times the average of all other Canadian provinces and about 20 percent more than in 2012-2013.
But the plan is not sitting well with the province’s grain farmers.
“A reduction at this level puts our farmers at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the country and the rest of North America,” commented Barry Senft, the CEO of Grain Farmers of Ontario, a group that includes corn, soybean and wheat farmers, which has, according to its spokespeople, been investing in multi-year research to mitigate the risks of pesticide use on bee health.
However, a recent Health Canada report found that the majority of the bee deaths in Ontario and Quebec in 2012 had been caused by insecticides, and suggested that this was likely due to pesticide-laced dust during planting.
Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller recently called neonicotinoid pesticide use the biggest threat to ecological integrity since DDT, a pesticide that was banned in Canada in 1972.
“All the science is not done, but everything that I have before me… suggests to me that this is the biggest threat to the structure and ecological integrity of the ecosystem that I have ever encountered in my life, bigger than DDT,” said Miller.
The plan to curb bee killing pesticides is part of a comprehensive Pollinator Health Action Plan. The plan includes an 80 percent reduction in total acres planted with neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean by 2017. It also plans to cut the over-winter mortality rate for honeybees to 15 percent by 2020.
“The province’s goal to reduce the over-winter honeybee mortality rate to 15 per cent by 2020 will bring the industry back to the pre-neonicotinoid average winter loss and will support a thriving, sustainable beekeeping industry going forward,” said Tibor Szabo, president of the Ontario Bee Keepers’ Association.
Over the next two months, the Ontario government will be seeking information about the new rules from the industry, organizations, researchers and individuals.
If the plan is finally approved, the rules will be in place by the beginning of July.
A leading geoengineer has admitted that he is “terrified” of geoengineering technology. Dr Matthew Watson, principal investigator for the Spice project, said that humans may have to admit having failed as planetary stewards, commenting on his own and others’ technology–used to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the earth though manipulation of the atmosphere–science that, experts openly own, is not understood in terms of costs and benefits and which they suspect will be neither “magic bullet or Pandora’s box.”
“Personally, this stuff terrifies me,” said Dr Matthew Watson of University of Bristol, principal investigator for the Spice project (Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering), one of several teams at the forefront of geoengineering science.
“It’s a watershed for our relationship with the Earth and with nature. It fundamentally changes the way seven billion people are going to interact with the world, and I’m not sure the system is going to be controllable in the way we want.”
“I’m easily terrified,” qualified Watson. “I think if we ever deploy SRM (Solar Radiation Management) it will be the closest indication yet that we’ve failed as planetary stewards. I believe that.”
SRM is a process by which water droplets or sulphur particles are used to reduce the amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth, and the Spice project is looking at ways of simulating the cooling effects of volcanoes.
After major volcanic eruptions, the Earth is cooled because rays from the sun do not reach the surface of the planet.
However, the Spice experiment, despite being one of the first projects to take geoengineering out of the laboratory, was cancelled earlier this year over alleged conflicts of interest.
The Spice project was planning to test SRM by deploying a weather balloon that would inject 150 litres of piped water into the atmosphere.
Geoengineering is a science that is not fully understood. Scientists are still working out the potential hazards associated with blocking the sun’s rays from reaching Earth.
Among the hazards being considered is the risk of disturbing the delicate balance of land and sea influences. Disruption can lead to drought and extreme rainfall in different parts of the world.
Risks associated with the use of sulfur particles are also being considered. Sulphur particles have been linked to the destruction of atmospheric ozone. A depleted ozone layer has been associated with increased incidence of skin cancer and damaging effects on plants and animals.
Although Dr Watson did not suspect that SRM would be used within the current decade, he said he believed its use may be inevitable.
“Unless we’re very wrong about climate change or quickly change our ways, at some point we’re going to have to ‘go outside’,” said Watson, commenting on current trends in global warming. It is estimated that by 2100, global temperatures may increase almost 4C.
“That’s going to have a profound effect on the planet,” said Watson.
Another proposed solution involves spraying sea salt into low clouds. The brighter, more reflective clouds will capture and bury more carbon underground, raising levels of sea plankton, which absorb carbon. Another proposal involves the use of reflective materials to better bounce the sun’s rays back from the Earth’s deserts.
All of the proposed geoengineering solutions are considered to be too expensive still. Climate Geoengineering Governance (CGG) investigator Professor Steve Rayner, from Oxford University, said of the technology, “Mostly it is too soon to know what any of these technology ideas would look like in practice or what would be their true cost and benefit. But it’s almost certain that geoengineering will be neither a magic bullet nor Pandora’s Box.”
A new real-women’s-body inspired doll has been launched in the US. Named after its creator Nickolay Lamm, the Lammily doll is a 11” tall brunette, with a fuller waste and smaller breasts than Barbie’s, thus reflecting the proportions of an average 19 year old woman. The doll can be accessorized with acne, scars, stretch marks and cellulite. Lammily is the latest of a number of dolls which have sought to challenge Barbie’s 50 year sovereignty on our mainstream’s ideal of beauty.
Playing with a normal looking doll may give young girls a truer sense of what normal is, improve their body image and self-esteem, their acceptance of regular occurrences such as acne and cellulite, and therefore help reduce the anxieties that the “perfection” of Barbie can engender.
Barbie, and now Lammily, don’t exist in a vacuum and those images beaming daily from our TV screens, celebrity magazines and selfies, posters, film and music videos, through which an idealized, unrealistic version of beauty continues to be promoted as normal, will also need to be challenged.
The ubiquity of Barbie and all it represents is of course the result of a decades-long aggressive marketing and cross marketing strategy, and a whole “Barbie infrastructure” has developed–dollhouses and accessories, games, cartoons, books, Dreamhouse Experience events, and so on.
Any rival will need to shout quite loud to be heard above all this. However it seems that newborn Lammily, the creation of which was possible thanks to crowdfunding, may already be winning the hearts of many, with some 19,000 dolls have been preordered. Are those signs of ageing on Barbie’s face?
World markets rose following China’s interest rate cuts and comments made by the European Central Bank. China’s Central Bank has cut the interest rate on annual deposits to 2.75 percent from 3.00 percent in an attempt to revive the economy. During the first half hour of opening trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose to 1.00 percent to new record high at 17,866 points.
In Britain, the mining sector rose three to five percent, driven by economic growth expectations–based on sales of raw materials to China. The six largest rises on the index were for companies in the oil and mining sectors. The Australian and New Zealand dollars also rose, reflecting their adoption on trade with China. China’s rate cut, made Saturday, is the first since 2012 and it has worked.
China also will cut interest on loans for a year to 5.6 from 6.00 percent. Chinese economic data last Thursday showed a drop in industrial output for the first time in six months. China’s growth has dropped to its lowest level in five years (7.3 percent) in the last quarter. The Chinese Central Bank has allowed flexibility for banks through which it can move interest rate on deposits to 1.2 percent of the standard rate instead of 1.1 percent. This is in part a measure to recompense savings owners in China for the cut on interest on deposits.
Meanwhile, European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said, “This moves will increase pressures to stimulate the European economy, which faces troubles.” Draghi noted that he is ready to take large-scale actions to stimulate the economy, including buying assets, to make sure the European economy does not face a new crisis. He added, “What we must do is lift inflation expectations as quick as possible.”
Inflation rates in the Euro zone reached 0.4 percent last month and are well below the inflation target which the ECB estimated–2.00 percent. Draghi said that the ECB, if current efforts fail, will expand channels through which it can intervene to remedy the situation. Many experts consider this as an implicit declaration that the ECB will buy government bonds.
Draghi’s comments came amid a state of fragility in the European economy, that recently escaped from falling into a recession. Reading growth in the third quarter ose 0.2 percent compared with the second quarter of this year. Reading growth in Germany–Europe’s strongest economy– rose only 0.1 percent from the third quarter, after a similar contraction in the second quarter.
China has sought to reassure the world that its economy will not see further slowdown. Earlier this month, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, spoke to Executive Heads of major companies. Within the framework of summit on economic cooperation for Asia and the Pacific, Xi stated that “the risks facing the Chinese economy are not scary. The Government is confident that it will exceed these risks.” He noted that even if Chinese growth reading fell to 7.00 percent, China will remain the most developed economy in the world.
The World Bank commented on the Chinese economy last June, saying that China had conducted important structural changes. Chinese economic growth engines continue to turn from manufacturing sector to service sector, and from investment to consumption in strong demand.
The first National Bicycling Day assembly of the Philippines took off in Pasig City in a venue named ‘Tiendesitas’. Bicycle riders of all ages and genders were there to celebrate the love and passion of the cycling outdoor sport. They were about 20,000 who filled the large parking road , and you could see the myriad of bicyclists waiting for the sunrise, all taking their time on a warm Sunday morning. With security surrounding the vast congregation, different cycling groups from all over the city and the provinces gathered for a long grand ride –a first ever to make the National Bicycling Day a momentous occasion.
All types of bikes were present–simple folding bikes, commute bikes, childrens’ bikes, the majority of both mountain bikes, road bikes and vintage bikes were widespread! It was massive to observe the use of all types of electronic gadgets every minute–smartphones, digital point and shoot and professional cameras, tablets, ‘Go Pro’ helmet cameras ( the rage of gratuitous quick focused riders everywhere), The riders of all mixes seemed to know it was a memorable event for all and souvenirs are social media viral topics–both videos and photos are what online “streaming” on the web is all about.
The traffic marshalls were all the required bodyguards of the peloton people. They were quite a horde,to make the entourage free from roadside hazards–accidents are to be avoided as much as possible. As you glide along the highways when the ride already rolled, you’ll see the marshalls yelling to wayward riders who speed on two-way routes, and the guiding of the travellers in detours and sharp turns.
Without them, the cyclists would lose sight of their paths and discipline would have not been enforced.
With all the concerns of the security, the whole trip was brilliantly covered. Participants saw the different virtues of bikes: from expensive bicycles with their ease of maneuvering and lightweight luxury to the cheapest commute bikes looking dirty, heavy and with pretty much old school gears. Some had the latest models–full suspension bikes that could handle the awful terrain on some parts of damaged asphalt while Italian imports displayed high-end components and cut through the throngs of riders like a blur. It wasn’t a race–it was a thrill ride for all, as all viewers would have seen. Joining here was not a Tour de France thing nor some Olympic BMX challenge–it was a pedal to the metal joyride.
The ride ended with a lesser number of riders that reached their destination safe and sound. Others seem to have bailed out due to the 75 kilometer radius of the ride. It didn’t faze the finishers at all–no trophies, no medals nor grand prizes. But the event was a statement to the crowds along the pavements and the vehicles who saw the sweat-drenched riders –that bikes on the road will always be symbols of zero emission machinery. Bicycles are pure human power–no gas stations, no rollbacks, no diesel headaches at all. Despite the trends like electric bikes, pocket bikes (little sportbikes in dwarf sizes) and Chinese so-called “underbone” motorcycles’ which have sold like hotcakes everywhere, the presence of bicycles have shown support from the people. You can ride more races, have more fun rides, more track competitions, and more participants with the pedal-powered citizens. It won’t be until next December when this event will happen again. We all can look forward to another trek with social impact.
While Costa Rica prepares for its annual high-season, store fronts reopen, restaurants become chaotic, and tourists flock to the elegant beachfront hotels of Guanacaste. Despite the surplus of business and affluent tourists, a devil lurks within the most peculiar of places: the Aedes mosquito.
With globalization on the rise, infectious, virulent diseases have become an increasing problem, causing previously extinct diseases to resurface and others to become virtually uncontrollable. Dengue has reemerged in the last decade and has been raving havoc upon the inhabitants of Costa Rica. With over 100 cases seen this week in the Tamarindo area alone, dengue is certainly turning heads and making a name for itself in the viral-borne world. Though dengue has become one of Costa Rica’s most prominent vector-borne diseases, few precautions have been taken to avoid infection.
Although the Ministry of Health (MOH) is the organization that handles, manages, and investigates health complications, they have failed to provide Costa Rican inhabitants with proper preventive measures.
In accordance with Municipality of Santa Cruz, mosquito-preventive sprays are only occurring after a case has been confirmed in an area, leaving thousands of people at risk. A tactic which professional fumigation expert, Leo Perron, find useless, “Personally, I believe it is totally inefficient. That smoke kills almost nothing, it chases the mosquitos away for awhile, but they come back after an hour or so.”
Currently there is no vaccination to protect oneself from exposure, but there are measures that can be used to prevent the disease from consuming a patient’s health. Removing oneself from mosquito vulnerable situations is the first and foremost action one can take to avoid exposure to dengue. Remaining inside a home two hours before sunrises and sunsets, avoiding standing water, and liberally applying mosquito repellent will decrease your chances of a bite.
The incubation period of dengue lasts roughly fifteen days, a period in which patients normally reveal signs of high fever, headaches, weakness, and skin rashes. “When I see these types of symptoms, I immediately administer a blood test. My dengue patients are suffering from a loss of blood platelets and faltering immune systems,” Dr. Amanda Robles said in a recent interview.
According to Dr. Amanda Robles, sustaining a healthy immune system and leading a healthy lifestyle are two of the easiest ways to prevent dengue, “We cannot compete with the fact that mosquitos are present and that they will bite us. If you keep a strong immune system and live a healthy life, your chances of infection are considerably lower.”
Dengue is a vector-born disease, meaning, it can strike at any moment. A disease which was once only detected during the wet season is now appearing year-round. The mass dispersion and mutational perseverance of the Aedes mosquito has allowed it to become permanently relentless.
Unfortunately, the Aedes species of mosquito prefers to dwell in close proximity to human environments. “They’ve adopted an inclination to prefer human blood, and commonly breed in water-bearing containers such as, flower pots, vases, and trash bins,” says Dr. Ivan Mendez.
Admittedly, the number of dengue cases is considerably lower than last year, a number that is a direct reflection of the extreme drought that hit the Guanacaste region earlier this year. There were nearly 50,00 confirmed cases of dengue by the end of 2013, while only 9,692 have been recorded as of November 19, 2014 (Ministerio de Salud, Santa Cruz).
Russia President Vladimir Putin and the leader of Abkhazia have signed an agreement under which Putin will become the commander of a joint military force in the breakaway region.
“I’m sure that cooperation, unity and strategic partnership between Russia and Abkhazia will continue to strengthen,” stated Putin after signing the agreement Monday.
Russia already has a military presence in the territory. Russian troops have served in Abkhazia since it broke away from Georgia in a separatists war in the early 1990s.
The United States issued a statement in response to the deal. “The United States will not recognize the legitimacy of any so-called ‘treaty’ between Georgia’s Abkhazia region and the Russian Federation,” read a press release issued by the US State Department.
The deal was signed by this president, Raul Khadzhimba.
“The United States’ position on Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains clear,” wrote Jeff Rathke, Director of the Bureau of Public Affairs at the Office of Press Relations for the State Department, “these regions are integral parts of Georgia, and we continue to support Georgia’s independence, its sovereignty, and its territorial integrity.
“We once again urge Russia to fulfill all of its obligations under the 2008 ceasefire agreement, to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions, to reverse its recognition of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, and to provide free access for humanitarian assistance to these regions.
“We renew our full support for the Geneva international discussions as a means to achieving concrete progress on security and humanitarian issues that continue to impact the communities on the ground in Georgia.”
Georgia also condemned the move towards greater Russian involvement in Abkhazia, and called on the international community to speak out against the move.
However, Khadzhimba was more optimistic in his assessment.
“Ties with Russia offer us full security guarantees and broad opportunities for socio-economic development,” said Khadzhimba.
Chinese authorities have expelled 26 nuns from a nunnery in Pekar Township, Driru County, Tibet Autonomous Region. The nuns were expelled for refusing to defame their highest spiritual leader. Chinese authorities used a new law regulating religious institutions to expel the nuns legally.
The nuns were expelled from Jhada Gon Palden Khachoe Nunnery by a large number of Chinese “work team” members tasked with removing the nuns from their the religious community.
The work team was following up on the results of a police raid on the monastery, during which many nuns refused to criticize their religious leader, the Dalai Lama, who is considered a splittest and terrorist orchestrator and is a wanted criminal in China. After the refusals, officials examined the registration records of the nunnery to check its population.
The nuns were expelled legally under new Chinese legislation that restricts the number of registered pupils that are permitted in religious institutes in Tibet. In this case the number was set at 140, and the 26 extra nuns were expelled.
This is the first instance of enforcement of a new measures detailing causes for expulsions of monks and nuns from religious institutions. The new Chinese “rectification” drive also warns of the destruction of “illegal” monasteries and mani walls.
Billions in banknotes, gold bars, land title deeds, rare images of the Buddha and other religious artifacts were seized from the home of a Thai police chief Sunday. Central Investigation Bureau commander Lt-General Pongpat Chayaphan has been charged with several crimes, including the lese majeste–an offense against the dignity of a sovereign or against the state.
The case also involves six other police officers, who are being detained along with Pongpat at seven separate metropolitan police stations, as well as three civilians who are currently on the run.
The officers include Marine Police commander Maj-General Bunsueb Phrai-thuen, Samut Sakhon Immigration Chief Colonel Kowit Muangnual, Senior Sgt Major
Bangkok Post image
Surasak Jan-ngoa and Senior Sgt Major Chattrin Laothong. Malfeasance in office, taking bribes and violating protected species laws were among the charges laid against the officers.
All of the officers have confessed to the crimes, including Pongpat.
In a related incident, Thai police officer Colonel Akkharawut Limrat was killed Friday ago after falling from a height. Akkarawut had reportedly attempted suicide at least three times after he was transferred from a top position along with Pongpat.
The two officers had been transferred from top positions to inactive posts after an urgent transfer order Nov. 11.
According to police officials, Akkharawut had killed himself due to fear of prosecution for criminal activities.
Royal Thai Police spokesman Lt-General Prawut Thawornsiri said that Akkharawut had been cooperative with police in their investigation following a previous suicide attempt. Prawut said, “After giving his statements, he jumped off a building to kill himself out of distress and fear for prosecution.”
Billions in banknotes, gold bars, land title deeds, rare images of the Buddha and other religious artifacts were seized from the home of a Thai police chief Sunday. Central Investigation Bureau commander Lt-General Pongpat Chayaphan has been charged with several crimes, including the lese majeste–an offense against the dignity of a sovereign or against the state.
The case also involves six other police officers, who are being detained along with Pongpat at seven separate metropolitan police stations, as well as three civilians who are currently on the run.
The officers include Marine Police commander Maj-General Bunsueb Phrai-thuen, Samut Sakhon Immigration Chief Colonel Kowit Muangnual, Senior Sgt Major
Bangkok Post image
Surasak Jan-ngoa and Senior Sgt Major Chattrin Laothong. Malfeasance in office, taking bribes and violating protected species laws were among the charges laid against the officers.
All of the officers have confessed to the crimes, including Pongpat.
In a related incident, Thai police officer Colonel Akkharawut Limrat was killed Friday ago after falling from a height. Akkarawut had reportedly attempted suicide at least three times after he was transferred from a top position along with Pongpat.
The two officers had been transferred from top positions to inactive posts after an urgent transfer order Nov. 11.
According to police officials, Akkharawut had killed himself due to fear of prosecution for criminal activities.
Royal Thai Police spokesman Lt-General Prawut Thawornsiri said that Akkharawut had been cooperative with police in their investigation following a previous suicide attempt. Prawut said, “After giving his statements, he jumped off a building to kill himself out of distress and fear for prosecution.”
The Speaker recently interviewed Dr Shane Gero, a marine biologist who has been studying sperm whales in the Caribbean for the past 10 years. We talked to Gero
Dr Shane Gero
about his research in Dominica as well as his current project, which represents many firsts in the science of sperm whale communication. Gero’s findings offer a greater understanding of what happens when sperm whales talk to each other.
The whales, Gero has found, are using language for many communicative purposes–including, it seems, greeting other whales using first and last names. Also, sperm whales from different parts of the world and from different social groups speak the differently. Not only do they speak their language differently, they also exhibit varying cultures depending on where they live and which social group they belong to.
“The focus of my study has been at the level of the individual whale.” Gero told us. “We’ve been able to follow these animals year after year–the same about two dozen families–some of them we’ve spent hundreds of hours wit.”
“We’ve collected a huge data set on who has spent time with who–but also, from a communications standpoint, who says what to whom. And that’s really a first: being able to look at individuals chatting with each other at a conversational level.
“This new study that’s happening in the next couple of years is, for the first time, going to be able to place those conversations into a context in the open ocean.”
The new project takes Gero’s previous decade of experience with sperm whales one step further, and will serve as a lead-up to a fuller understanding of what sperm whale language is.
“Previously we would record animals, and be able to figure out who was saying what, but we didn’t know where they were relative to each other, or the ‘when’ context… in terms of when they were actually talking to each other…
“We’ve done well in the last 10 years to answer the ‘who’ and the ‘what’ of these conversations. The ‘where’ and the ‘when’ are the subject of the current research. Hopefully this will lead us to one day answer the really interesting ‘why’ questions. ‘What are they saying to each other? What does it all mean?'”
Gero gave us some details about sperm whale society. These whales live in a hierarchical society, and spend their day to day life in what the researchers call “social units.” In Dominica, there are some 400 sperm whales, and all of them belong to one matriline–grandmothers, mothers and daughters–which spend their full lives together. The Dominica group spends most of their lives within 20 miles of the shore.
“These animals in the Caribbean are really island-associated animals,” said Gero of the group. “It’s really easy to call them families, because that’s what they are.”
“On the average day, there’s only one family off the coast of the island. But every now and again, two families will join up and spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days together socializing.
When talking about language, Gero told us that we must keep in mind that sperm whale language is very different from human language–and is also different from the language of other whales–including the language of the more familiar humpback whale.
“Language is a big question. Language comes with syntax and it comes with meaning and orders, and we haven’t figured all that out yet. But what we do know is that sperm whales use a system of clicks to communicate with each other.
“It’s kind of like Morse code. So, some calls sound like this: ‘tap-tap-taptaptap,’ where others sound like this: ‘taptaptaptaptaptaptap.’ And different rhythms are used at different times. Animals exchange these back and forth, kind of like you would using Morse code.”
Sperm whales throughout the world exhibit common features of communication, but also exhibit variation, Gero explained. The variation seemingly depends on the geographic origin of a particular whale, among other factors, and serves the whales as a social marker.
“So, what’s interesting about variation in the world is that animals in the Caribbean sound different from animals in the Mediterranean, and they sound different from animals in the Gulf of Mexico and so on.
“At least in the Atlantic, it seems like it’s geographic. So all the animals in the Caribbean sound very similar, but they sound different from the animals in the Med–that sound very similar.
“But in the Pacific it’s different. In the Pacific you actually have different sperm whale dialects living in the same area. So some of the animals off the Galapagos sound one way, and some of the animals sound differently. But what’s really neat about that is that they seem to use these dialects to segregate their society.
“So as a whale that means making a certain type of coda,” said Gero. Codas are patterns of clicks used by whales to communicate.
Gero offered an example of the individuals that live in these segregated sperm whale groups. “I only spend time with animals that make that same sound. It would be similar to living in a multi-cultural country like Canada or the United States, but then only socializing with anyone who speaks the same language as you.”
“In the Caribbean we hear a lot of a one-plus-one-plus-three coda. So it sound like this: ‘tap-tap-taptaptap.’ And that’s the only place that it’s been recorded–in the Caribbean. And all the animals make it very similarly. So, we think that it acts as a marker of ‘I’m from the Caribbean.’ Whereas in the eastern tropical Pacific, the Galapagos, the coast of Chile and Ecuador–there are several different coda repertoires.”
Gero contrasted this five-part coda with the five-part codas used by other whales around the world.
“One of the groups makes very regularly timed codas. So, they’ll make a five-regular, which is five clicks that are very evenly spaced, so it sounds something like this: ‘tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.’ And they also make a six-regular and a seven-regular, and so on.
“But then there’s another dialect that’s all plus-one. So, rather than making a five-regular, they would make a four-plus-one, which sounds like this: ‘taptaptaptap-tap.’ And they also make a five-plus-one and a six-plus-one and so on.
Gero and his fellow researchers assume that the whales are using their calls to identify themselves on a first and last name basis. The assumption is based on the common usage of a one-plus-one-plus-three coda in a similar way, while each individual whale uses a five-R in a slightly different way. “It seems as though they sort of have this nested, hierarchical recognition, so there seems to be the five-R coda, which you hear everywhere in the world.”
Gero then explained the first names.
“It has the variability to function as an individual identifier,” said Gero. “It’s potentially used to mark differences between individuals. So if you’re looking within an family, you can actually tell the individuals apart by how they make that coda. So its kind of like a first name. And, at least in the Caribbean, it seems that they use different codas that are all four clicks in length, but each family unit has a different four click coda. So that’s sort of like a last name. And then we know for sure that the animals in the animals in the Caribbean use the one-plus-one-plus-three, and that’s the only place that has been recorded. So we think that it probably functions in a way of marking their geographic origin or their cultural group–the vocal dialect that they have. So they have this nested kind of first name-last name cultural group.
“In the same way, I would say that my first name is Shane, my last name is Gero, and I come from Canada.”
Gero told The Speaker that testing the function of these calls is a matter of his current research. They are looking at how the animals use the calls and when they use them. The whales may use the calls like the bottlenose dolphins being studied by the Sea Mammal Research unit at the University of St Andrews, which have been observed exchanging their calls when meeting at sea. “They actually say, ‘Hey it’s me’–‘Oh, hey, it’s you. Great,'” commented Gero.
Sperm whales not only vary in the languages they speak, they vary culturally based on what group they live among.“And the neatest part about them is that these vocal clans–these whale cultural groups that use these different dialects–don’t only segregate their society socially, but they also behave differently. They have different movement patterns and different foraging habits and reproductive success, as it turns out. And so they really are really equatable to human ethnic groups.”
When we asked Gero about whether different codas were used by the animals to represent various parts of their lives, he gave us an idea of where his research was headed.
“That’s really what I’m studying in Dominica, because it’s the first time we’ve been able to follow families over such a long period of time, and hear them communicate with each other in different contexts.”
Although the “why” of sperm whale calls is a matter of Gero’s future research, he was willing to offer some educated guesses.
“The ocean is mostly a dark space on a big-area scale of thousands of square kilometers in which there is not a lot of stuff. And the most important thing that you have with you is your family members. And so, keeping track of where your family members are as individuals–whether it’s your mom or your baby-sitter or your aunt or your grandmother–is important.
“But then even more importantly, its critical to figure out what family you’re coming up on. So if one family is swimming north and the other family is swimming south, they need to figure before it’s too late whether or not they want to spend time with each other or avoid each other, and whether or not they recognize that family group.
“So having that layer of recognition to recognize individuals and families and the society that they come from is really important when you live in a vast, dark ocean,” said Gero.
This has a lot to do with feeding habits, explained Gero.
“Sperm whales feed on squid, and squid is very patchily distributed in the ocean. And so, you don’t want to spend time in a bigger group with animals that you don’t know, in order to deplete that resource. So, we know that sperm whales–at least on the day to a week scale–travel around basically following the squid that they’re trying to eat. And so, in order to maximize the amount of food you get, you want to minimize the amount of animals that are eating that patch of squid.
“So, it’s important to find out who is there in order to maximize your foraging success in some respects.”
Tag developers Mark Johnson (right) and Peter Tyack (left) with the DTAG. (WHOI)
“D-tags were pioneered out of Woods Hole Oceanographic in the US. They are being heavily used at [Gero’s] lab at Aarhus University,” Gero told us.
“Basically, they’re about the size of your cell phone. And it works like your cell phone in some respects. It can measure the 3-d movement. So, it’s kind of like if you’re looking at a picture on your phone, and you turn your phone sideways: the picture orients itself and gets bigger. That’s because the phone knows that it’s being turned sideways. And these tags know that as well. So, we get 3-dimensional fine-scale movement by putting them out on the animal.
“But they also have two little microphones at the front, so we also get really high-resolution stereo sound.
Tagging of a Whale using a cantilever pole.
“The tags get deployed with a really long pole, and they stick to the whales with four small suction cups. So they don’t implant into the whale. You basically poke the animal with a long stick, and the suction cups stick onto the back of the animal, and then they can last for about two days. And then they computer inside tells the suction cups it’s time to release, and it lets a little bit of water into the suction cup and the suction cup falls off, and the tag floats back to the surface.
“And then it has a little VHS transmitter in it, and that allows us to track it down. Just as other biologists in Africa tracking lions or elephants would.
“And what this gives us, if we put out three of them at the same time, or five of them at the same time on a family of whales… If the family of whales is only seven animals, we get all the relative positions of all the adult females in the family. And so we get all of the exchanges of the calls between them as well. So we know that Pinchy–a female–just dove and has left her calf, Tweak, at the surface, and is now calling to Fingers, whose coming back up from the deep, and so it gives us not only the context but also what they’re saying to each other.
“And the context is really important. So now we know that it’s a mother diving, leaving her baby at the surface, and communicating with the primary baby-sitter.
“And so its a lot easier to interpret what the meaning of that conversation was, because we know all of this background information about the animals, and now we know the physical relative position of them when they’re talking with each other.”
To be continued…
Look forward to part two of this interview, in which Dr Gero explains the dangers and concerns facing sperm whales and other marine life in our increasingly trafficked oceans.
Dr Shane Gero completed his doctoral studies at Dalhousie University, Canada, and is currently an FNU Research Fellow at Aarhus University in Denmark. Gero splits his time between Dr. Peter Madsen’s Marine Bioacoustics Lab in Denmark, his human family in Canada, and the sperm whale community off the island of Dominica in the Caribbean.
Photos: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Three Fish Sleeping, Jessie Hodge, Flying Kiwi Tours, Bing, Chelsea Leven
