U.S. Humanitarian Aid Going to ISIS
October 20th, 2014Via: Daily Beast:
While U.S. warplanes strike at the militants of the so-called Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq, truckloads of U.S. and Western aid has been flowing into territory controlled by the jihadists, assisting them to build their terror-inspiring “Caliphate.”
The aid—mainly food and medical equipment—is meant for Syrians displaced from their hometowns, and for hungry civilians. It is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, European donors, and the United Nations. Whether it continues is now the subject of anguished debate among officials in Washington and European. The fear is that stopping aid would hurt innocent civilians and would be used for propaganda purposes by the militants, who would likely blame the West for added hardship.
Updated Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) – IP Chapter
October 16th, 2014Via: WikiLeaks:
Today, Thursday 16 October 2014, WikiLeaks released a second updated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the world’s largest economic trade agreement that will, if it comes into force, encompass more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP. The IP Chapter covers topics from pharmaceuticals, patent registrations and copyright issues to digital rights. Experts say it will affect freedom of information, civil liberties and access to medicines globally. The WikiLeaks release comes ahead of a Chief Negotiators’ meeting in Canberra on 19 October 2014, which is followed by what is meant to be a decisive Ministerial meeting in Sydney on 25–27 October.
Despite the wide-ranging effects on the global population, the TPP is currently being negotiated in total secrecy by 12 countries. Few people, even within the negotiating countries’ governments, have access to the full text of the draft agreement and the public, who it will affect most, none at all. Large corporations, however, are able to see portions of the text, generating a powerful lobby to effect changes on behalf of these groups and bringing developing country members reduced force, while the public at large gets no say.
Our Imperial Rulers Are Deranged: Leon Panetta’s Memoir Proves It
October 16th, 2014Via: David Stockman’s Contra Corner:
Which brings us to the question of just what is being “defended” here. It sure isn’t South Korea, which would be obliterated in the event of a nuclear exchange with the North. So then what is it?
The answer is the sacred principle of American “world leadership,” which supposedly gives us a mandate to intervene everywhere and anywhere in the name of preserving the “world order.”
Research Credit: Pookie
Russia: Reduction in Gas Exports to Europe Possible
October 16th, 2014Via: CNBC:
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Russia will have to reduce gas supplies to Europe if Ukraine steals gas. Pipelines that supply Europe crosses Ukraine en route.
In June, Moscow halted gas supplies to Ukraine due to mounting debts and pricing disagreements.
Disturbance of Russian gas supplies to Europe has happened two times in the past ten years, in 2006 and 2009. A third of Europe’s gas comes from Russia.
New Lithium Ion Batteries Charge 70 Percent in 2 Minutes
October 16th, 2014Via: cNet:
The freedom to hold computers in our hands, pop wireless headphones in our ears and pilot drones through our backyards is all brought to us by batteries — especially rechargeable lithium ion batteries. The portable powerhouses are a critical component of our march toward tech mobility, yet most require hours of being plugged in to wall outlets to achieve a full charge.
A brand-new kind of battery to come out of the labs of scientists at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is set to change that. They’ve created a lithium ion battery that can get up to a 70 percent charge in just 2 minutes and can allegedly last up to 20 years.
The difference between their battery and the standard lithium ion type has to do with the substance used for the anode — the negative terminal.
Current lithium ion batteries have graphite anodes. Instead of graphite, the team at NTU used a titanium dioxide gel they developed that dramatically speeds up the chemical reaction that takes place in the battery, meaning it can charge much faster.
Saudi Arabia Beheaded 59 People So Far This Year – But Hardly Anyone is Talking About It
October 16th, 2014Via: Vice:
The string of beheadings of American and British hostages at the hands of the Islamic State has drawn horror and intense media scrutiny the world over, redoubling international determination to defeat the extremist group.
But with IS dominating headlines, it is easy to forget that Saudi Arabia, a member of the UN’s Human Rights Council and a close ally of America in the war against the Islamist fighters, is itself routinely carrying out the practice of beheading.
Since January of this year, 59 people have been beheaded in Saudi Arabia under the country’s antiquated legal system based primarily around sharia law.
Last month saw Saudi Arabia behead at least 8 people — twice the number of Western hostages who have so far featured in IS’s barbaric execution videos. In August those executed by Riyadh were sentenced to death for crimes such as apostasy, adultery and “sorcery.” In one case, four members of the same family were executed for “receiving large quantities of hashish,” a sentence imposed, according to Amnesty International, on the basis of “forced confessions extracted through torture.”
Why No Protective Gear For Man With Dallas Ebola Patient?
October 16th, 2014Via: CBS:
As the world watched the loading of Ebola patient Amber Joy Vinson onto a CDC plane Wednesday, something seemed odd to us, and a lot of you as well. On social media, and on the CBS 11 News phone lines, the biggest question became – who was the guy not wearing protective hazmat gear? CBS 11 News did some digging and got answers.
A news crew spoke with a number of different agencies that were involved in Vinson’s transport. Officials with AMR, the ambulance company that transported Vinson from Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas to Dallas Love Field Airport, said it wasn’t one of their guys.
From the CBS 11 Chopper video (seen at the top of this post) it looks like the man left with Vinson on the plane.
A spokesperson with Emory University Hospital in Atlanta said that, to her knowledge, none of their people were on the plane.
That pretty much leaves a worker from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Reveals Compact Fusion Reactor Details
October 16th, 2014Via: Aviation Week:
Hidden away in the secret depths of the Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin research team has been working quietly on a nuclear energy concept they believe has the potential to meet, if not eventually decrease, the world’s insatiable demand for power.
Dubbed the compact fusion reactor (CFR), the device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being “compact,” Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations. It may even revive the concept of large, nuclear-powered aircraft that virtually never require refueling—ideas of which were largely abandoned more than 50 years ago because of the dangers and complexities involved with nuclear fission reactors.
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This crucial difference means that for the same size, the CFR generates more power than a tokamak by a factor of 10. This in turn means, for the same power output, the CFR can be 10 times smaller. The change in scale is a game-changer in terms of producibility and cost, explains McGuire. “It’s one of the reasons we think it is feasible for development and future economics,” he says. “Ten times smaller is the key. But on the physics side, it still has to work, and one of the reasons we think our physics will work is that we’ve been able to make an inherently stable configuration.” One of the main reasons for this stability is the positioning of the superconductor coils and shape of the magnetic field lines. “In our case, it is always in balance. So if you have less pressure, the plasma will be smaller and will always sit in this magnetic well,” he notes.
Second Texas Healthcare Worker Diagnosed with Ebola Virus
October 15th, 2014How can Thomas Duncan’s family not have it?
Via: Guardian:
A second Texas healthcare worker who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient in the US to be diagnosed with Ebola, has tested positive for the virus, the department of state health services said on Wednesday.
The worker was immediately isolated after reporting a fever on Tuesday.
“Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored,” the department said.
At a press briefing on Wednesday morning, Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings said the city’s fire-rescue department has begun decontaminating common areas of the new patient’s apartment and outside the building, and has informed neighbors of the diagnosis. The new patient lives alone and has no pets, Rawlings said.
“The only way that we are going to beat this is person by person, moment by moment, detail by detail,” Rawlings said. “We want to deal with facts, not fear … It may get worse before it gets better, but it will get better,” he added.
A nurse, 26-year-old Nina Pham, was the first person to have been infected with Ebola in the US, and was diagnosed this weekend. She had cared for Duncan during much of his 11 days as a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas. He died in an isolation ward on 8 October.
The hospital said on Tuesday that Pham was in good condition.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was performing confirmation testing of Texas’s preliminary examinations on the new patient.
“An additional healthcare worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimise the risk to healthcare workers and the patient,” it said.
Crude Settles Down 4.6%, Lowest Since June 2012
October 14th, 2014Via: Reuters:
Crude oil futures settled down 4.6 percent at $81.84 a barrel, the biggest percentage drop since November 2012 and the lowest settlement since June 28, 2012.
Brent crude for November slid earlier and lurched lower toward the end of the day, dropping by more than $4 a barrel to dip below $85 a barrel for the first time since 2010. It was the biggest one-day drop in prices since 2011. The benchmark settled at $85.04, $3.85 lower on the day.
Oil dived more than $4 a barrel on Tuesday, its biggest drop in more than two years as mounting evidence of slackening demand and unrelenting U.S. shale output left traders struggling to peg a floor for crude’s four-month rout.
The abrupt acceleration of an over 26 percent slide in prices since June was triggered by three news items that epitomized the market’s turn: a downgrade in global oil consumption forecasts; projections for another big boost in shale oil; and reluctance by OPEC members to cut output.
