Argentine Lab Clones Cow to Produce Human-Like Milk
June 10th, 2011Via: AFP:
An Argentine laboratory announced that it had created the world’s first transgenic cow, using human genes that will allow the animal to produce the equivalent of mothers’ milk.
“The cloned cow, named Rosita ISA, is the first bovine born in the world that incorporates human genes that contain the proteins present in human milk,” Argentina’s National Institute of Agrobusiness Technology said in a statement on Thursday.
Russia Halves Belarus Power Supply Over Unpaid Bills
June 10th, 2011Via: BBC:
Moscow has halved electricity supplies to Belarus over unpaid bills, piling on pressure for it to privatise lucrative assets.
A source at Russia’s energy export monopoly said supplies – which account for 10% of the country’s needs – might stop completely on 19 June.
Confirming the cut, Belarus said it owed $54m (£33m).
Gripped by an economic crisis, it is seeking a Russian-led $1.2bn bail-out which Moscow is tying to reform.
It has also asked the IMF for an emergency loan of up to $8bn.
The country, with its Soviet-era command economy, is grappling with its most severe balance of payments crisis since the collapse of the USSR.
It has announced it is raising its main interest rate from 14% to 16%, and is freezing prices on a number of staple foods until 1 July, amid panic-buying of goods by its citizens as prices soar.
Research Credit: minerva
Americans’ Equity in Their Homes Near Record Low
June 9th, 2011Via: AP:
Falling real estate prices are eating away at home equity. The percentage of their homes that Americans own is near its lowest point since World War II, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. The average homeowner now has 38 percent equity, down from 61 percent a decade ago.
The latest bleak snapshot of the housing market came as mortgage rates hit a new a low for the year, falling below 4.5 percent for a 30-year fixed loan. But even alluring rates have failed to deliver any lift to the depressed housing industry.
The Fed report is based on data from the first quarter of this year. Another report last week found that home prices in big cities have fallen to 2002 levels.
Farmageddon
June 9th, 2011Via: Farmageddon:
Farmageddon Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.
Research Credit: R
Surprise: Cost of War in Libya Exceeding Estimates
June 9th, 2011Via: Financial Times:
US military operations in Libya are on course to cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than the Pentagon estimated, according to figures obtained by the Financial Times.
Robert Gates, the outgoing secretary of defence, said last month that the Pentagon expected to spend “somewhere in the ball park of $750m” in the 2011 fiscal year as part of efforts to protect the Libyan people.
But according to a Pentagon memo which includes a detailed update on the progress and pace of operations, by mid-May US operations in Libya had cost $664m, a figure confirmed by the Department of Defence.
The document, entitled the “United States Contribution to Operation Unified Protector’’, adds that US costs are running at a rate of about $2m a day or $60m a month. The memo has been circulating on Capitol Hill since last week. The DoD declined to comment on the increased costs of the operation.
Britain: Attorney General Rules Against Dr. David Kelly Inquest
June 9th, 2011Drug Expert Claims David Kelly Was Murdered
Secret Knife Evidence Points to Murder
Via: BBC:
The attorney general has rejected calls for an inquest into the death in 2003 of government scientist Dr David Kelly.
Dominic Grieve said the evidence Dr Kelly killed himself was “overwhelming” and rejected claims of a “cover-up”.
Dr Kelly was found dead after he was exposed as the source of a BBC story which led to a row with the then Labour government over Iraq intelligence.
But a group of doctors say the subsequent Hutton inquiry ruling that he committed suicide was “unsafe”.
Dr Kelly’s body was found in woods near his home in Oxfordshire, after he was exposed as the source of a controversial BBC report casting doubt on the government’s claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capable of being fired within 45 minutes.
An inquest was opened but was then suspended – when the Hutton Inquiry was set up to look into the circumstances of his death.
A group of doctors have mounted a long-running campaign for the inquest to be re-opened, claiming the evidence did not point to suicide.
But Mr Grieve said his department had thoroughly investigated their complaints and could not find any legal basis for referring the case to the High Court, which has the legal authority to order an inquest.
Why Is The Federal Government Running Ads Secretly Created & Owned By NBC Universal?
June 9th, 2011Via: Tech Dirt:
We certainly suspected this when New York City first announced that it was running a series of silly and misleading videos as part of a media campaign to “Stop Piracy in NYC,” but now it’s been confirmed that these videos were not, in fact, New York City’s, but are purely NBC Universal’s. At the time, NYC had “thanked” NBC Universal (among others), but had not admitted that NBC Universal “owned” and had created the videos themselves. However, in response to one of the Freedom of Information requests that I filed with New York City, the city noted that the videos are property of NBC Universal. I had asked for any licensing info between NYC and Homeland Security/ICE because ICE was using the same videos. Since NYC had clearly suggested that those videos were the creation of the NYC government, I assumed that ICE must have licensed the videos from NYC. However, NYC responded to my request by saying that there was no such info to hand over, because it did not license the videos to Homeland Security. And the reason was that NYC did not own the videos:
The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment has no records responsive to your request. Please note that NBC Universal owns the material, not the City of New York.
Not The Onion: Real-Life Mercenaries to Star in Blackwater Videogame
June 9th, 2011Via: Wired:
Blackwater Worldwide, the real-life mercenary team linked to the killing of civilians and noncombatants in Iraq during U.S. operations there, will be the subject of a Kinect-supported videogame coming to the Xbox 360 later this year.
Published by 505 Games and titled, simply, Blackwater, the game is being produced in consultation with the private security contractor’s founder, the former Navy SEAL Erik Prince.
A news release called it “an intense, cinematic shooter experience,” set in a fictional North African town, in which players, as Blackwater operatives, battle two warlords’ factions to protect the city.
“This game and its immersive Kinect-based approach will give players the chance to experience what it is like to be on a Blackwater team on a mission without being dropped into a real combat situation,” Prince said in a statement issued by 505. The game was developed in conjunction with former Blackwater members “to ensure accuracy of moves, gestures and gameplay,” the 505 release said. “The game also features a selection of officially-licensed weapons for your soldier to choose from.”
The game may also be played using a standard controller.
U.S. General Wants to Train Afghans Until 2017
June 9th, 2011Via: Wired:
There once was a time when President Obama implied that the Afghanistan war would at least start to end in July 2011. Then that date got pushed back to 2014. Now, the general in charge of training Afghan forces to take over for departing Americans pegs that date closer to 2016 or 2017 — that is, if the U.S. doesn’t want the entire Afghan security apparatus to implode.
What will ensure Afghan soldiers don’t collapse? “Strategic patience and an enduring commitment,” Lt. Gen. William Caldwell told a crowd at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Translated from the mil-speak: many more years and billions of dollars. Asked by Danger Room how much longer the training mission needs to last, Caldwell replied, “We won’t complete doing what we need to do until about 2016, 2017.”
Corn at Three-Year High as USDA Slashes Inventory Estimates
June 9th, 2011This is pretty grim, considering that much of what Americans eat is corn, in one form or another.
Via: Bloomberg:
Corn jumped to the highest in almost three years after the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast tighter supplies, as adverse weather hurt crops.
U.S. stockpiles before the start of the 2012 harvest may fall to 695 million bushels, the lowest since 1996, even as farmers harvest a record crop, the USDA said. World inventories are projected to drop to the lowest since 2004 next year. Prices have more than doubled in the past year as global production trailed gains in demand for livestock feed and biofuels.
