Thursday, January 26, 2017

Does Michael Moore matter anymore?

“This is the true joy in life – being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one: being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

Mike: I’m a fellow Michigander, a fellow filmmaker like yourself, raised with small town Midwestern values like the ones you claim to have. I’ve mostly applauded and admired your efforts in the past. Indeed, long before I became a filmmaker, I championed your documentary film, Fahrenheit 9/11. While working as an Alaska commercial fisherman, I lobbied the local theater owner, Rusty, to show the film there in Kodiak, Alaska in 2004. He said he despised you but I told him the Orpheum would be packed for several showings and he’d make a nice fat profit. And he did.

Speaking of nice fat profits, how’s your weight, buddy? You really should contact my friend Gillian Michael and get on a weight loss program. Maybe you could make a documentary while you do it. Call it High Fructose Snowflakes or Fast Food Fat Folks or something really fun and creative. Like that guy who made Supersize Me.

Sadly, in recent years, you’ve seemed to become almost a parody of yourself. Like a cartoon character or one of those loopy Saturday Night Live sketches that are more embarrassing than funny. Where, I wonder, is the old Mike Moore? The guy who tilted at windmills, who stood up to the powerful with homespun humor and a shaky camera? Indeed, the very same things you said to the auto industry in Roger and Me, years ago, are the very same things Donald Trump is saying to the auto industry today. Or so it seems to me. Full story...

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Davos elite admit globalization is a failure...

Elites at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, spent the week bickering about how best to address the rejection of globalization and the upending of the New World Order, a debate made doubly urgent for the terrified globalists by upcoming elections in Europe this year where anti-establishment parties stand to gain more ground.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde – recently convicted on charges of misusing public funds – urged a list of policies from programs to retrain workers to more social spending, while other globalist elites admitted they are “terrified of democracy” and fretted that the people of the world will continue to reject their agenda.

Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio warned on a panel chaired by Bloomberg Television that “we may be at a point where globalization is ending, and provincialization and nationalization is taking hold.”

That leaves the global elite in Davos trying to patch together expensive remedies to make the current system of global trade, bankster criminality and corporate rule that the Davos club represents acceptable to the public at a time when figures like President Trump threaten to dismantle it by scrapping trade deals and introducing tariffs. Full story...

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China fortifies its Great Firewall with crackdown on VPNs - after Xi Jinping called for 'global connectivity'

China has fortified its Great Firewall with a crackdown that will make it harder to access the dozens of overseas websites that are banned in the country, such as Facebook and Twitter.

The “cleaning up” operation, which would make it more difficult for some foreign businesses to operate websites in China, was announced after Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, spoke of Beijing's desire for increased globalisation at the Davos forum last week.

Authorities are rolling out a 14-month crackdown targeting China-based providers of virtual private networks (VPNs), which help people access popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The websites are blocked on the Chinese mainland.

The new rules, which force domestic VPN providers to register with regulators, come after a series of crackdowns on the Chinese Internet which observers see as part of wider assault on freedom of speech. Full story...

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Sri Lankans demand justice as journalists attacked...

‘Scientology knock-off’: Whistleblower exposes ‘cult’ that thinks ‘children are sexy’

Almost two years after Jane started ‘personal development’ course Access Consciousness, she realized she was no longer “thinking for herself.” Nearly £20,000 out of pocket and horrified at the group leader’s claim “children are sexy,” although not to be abused, she cut herself loose.

Access Consciousness claims to be about self-improvement – promising to assist people with their health, weight, money, sex, relationships and anxiety by helping members, known as ‘Accessories,’ to become more “conscious.”

Since Access Consciousness was created in America in the 1990s, thousands of people worldwide say it has transformed their lives. A quick internet search, however, dredges up accusations by some that it is a scam cooked up by a conman to rinse the vulnerable of their savings, a “scientology knock-off,” and even a cult. Full story...

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Donald Trump expected to order Mexican border wall and temporarily ban refugees...

Donald Trump is expected to sign multiple executive orders on immigration this week, beginning with the construction of his infamous, Mexican border wall on Wednesday. He’s also seeking to prevent Syrian refugees and Muslim immigrants from entering the United States.

The president will begin rolling out executive actions that include preparations for his wall on the US-Mexico border along with other enforcement plans, according to two administration officials who spoke to The Associated Press.

On Wednesday afternoon, the president will travel to the Department of Homeland Security to direct the agency begin construction on the wall and repair fencing along the border. The executive order will also increase the staff at the Customs and Border Protection agency by hiring an additional 5,000 employees. Full story...

Meet the people leaving Trump's America...

When people first started talking about Donald Trump running for president, Sarah thought it was a joke and not something she had to take seriously. But then on 8 November, she says the “unthinkable” happened; Trump won the election.

Sarah, who asked that we only use her first name out of concern for her safety, immediately called her husband, who was out of the country on business, and told him, “That’s it. I want to go, and I’m not kidding.” His response, she says: “I know. We can go.”

So, next month, Sarah, 43, her husband, 45, and their two school-aged daughters will uproot themselves from the small Midwest town where they have lived for the past three-and-a-half years, and leave the US for a country thousands of miles away. They have no plans to come back.

During the most contentious election in recent US history, there was much talk around office kitchens, in coffee shops, at dinner tables, and in the press from people who said that they would leave if Trump were to win the presidency. The day after Super Tuesday, when 12 states voted in the Republican primaries in the US, Google announced that searches for the phrase “Move to Canada” were higher than at any other time in Google history. And, increased traffic to Canada’s immigration and citizenship website caused problems, giving site visitors the message: “You may experience delays while using the website. We are working to resolve this issue. Thank you for your patience." Full story...

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Publisher printing more copies of Orwell's '1984' as sales surge...

The book publisher Penguin is printing more copies of George Orwell's dystopian classic "1984" in response to a sudden surge of demand.

On Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning the book was #1 on Amazon's computer-generated list of best-selling books. The list reflects hourly book sales.

The 68-year-old novel appeared on the list on Monday, hovered around the #6 spot for much of the day, rose to #2 by Tuesday afternoon and then hit #1.

Lower down on Amazon's best sellers list are two other classic novels with similar themes: "It Can't Happen Here," by Sinclair Lewis, and "Brave New World," by Aldous Huxley.

 It is hard to say for sure how much of the interest is related to Donald Trump's inauguration and the rise of "alternative facts," a term coined by Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway on Sunday. Full story...

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New Zealand and Denmark deemed the 'least corrupt' countries in the world...

New Zealand has regained its top spot in a global watchdog's rundown of the most corruption-free countries in the world.

Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption organisation, uses World Bank data, the World Economic Forum and other institutions to rank 176 countries by perceived levels of corruption.

New Zealand and Denmark were jointly ranked as the two least corrupt nations but the watchdog warned about the rise of populism risking greater corruption around the world.

The organisation said many other countries had slipped down the rankings and scored lower than previous years. More + index...

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Father and daughter perform "You got a friend in me"

Deaths from overwork plague Japan...

In the spring of 2015 Matsuri Takahashi, 24, joined the Dentsu advertising agency, one of the Japan’s most prestigious but demanding corporations, as a young recruit. Within a few months she was complaining to friends how exhausted she was.

“I want to die” she confided in a social media message to friends. And on Christmas day in 2015 she did just that, throwing herself from the roof of the company dormitory were she lived.

One year later, almost to the date, Tadashiki Ishii, the 65-year-old president of Dentsu, appeared at a press conference, bowing deeply in remorse and announcing that he would resign as corporate president early in the new year.

“We deeply regret failing to prevent the overwork of our new recruit, and I offer my sincere apology,” Ishii, said. “Although we took various counter measures, the issue of overwork has not improved,” he added.

Karoshi, a sinister-sounding Japanese word meaning death from overwork has become a hot topic ever since the Takahashi suicide. Last week the labor authorities in Fukui prefecture identified another suicide from overwork that took place last April. Full story...

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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Don’t eat food from China labeled “organic” … it’s frequently found to be contaminated...

Can you trust Chinese food certified as organic? You cannot. The US Department of Agriculture allows inclusion of the organic label on foods that meet a certain standard of production and handling. And China has come up woefully lacking in these standards. Specific requirements may vary, but the USDA approved methods call for avoidance of synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, irradiation, the use of sewage sludge, and GMO’s.

China seems to have a lower cultural standard for business ethics. News accounts abound of dangerous Chinese products in the US marketplace. Examples include toxic lead paint on children’s toys, deadly melamine in pet food, and human feces used as fertilizer for rice and farmed fish.

True Activist reports that the Chinese government has no system in place to determine what is organic, and that Chinese food exporters have taken to using the organic label as a means of circumventing US Customs inspections, “especially those foods that appear dirty or unusual.” The report also notes that “US Customs personnel often reject entire shipments of food from China due to the addition of dangerous and unsavory additives, the presence of drug residues, mislabeling, or the poor hygienic state of the food.” Full story...

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As cops keep going after marijuana, the 3 deadliest drugs in America are All LEGAL...

While certain members of the mainstream media are fixated on President Donald Trump’s tweets, one story written by MSM may have flown under the radar. The Free Thought Project has consistently reported the safety of marijuana, its uses, and its benefits. However, the federal government, state governments, and local governments, all continue to lock away otherwise law abiding citizens for using, and sharing marijuana. Now, one member of the mainstream media is starting to sound a lot like The Free Thought Project. Vox, in its article “The 3 Deadliest Drugs in America Are Legal”, written by German Lopez, tells the truth about legal substances which are killing people left and right.

With respect to tobacco, the article states, “Overall, cigarette smoking is linked to one in five deaths in the US each year, according to CDC estimates for average annual fatalities based on deaths between 2005 and 2009. Nearly 42,000 of the total 480,000 deaths from smoking are caused by secondhand smoke.”

It is important to note that the Free Thought Project does not advocate for the prohibition of any substance as it always leads to more death, more crime, and more abuse. Full story...

Researchers uncover Twitter bot army that’s 350,000 strong...

There’s an army lurking in the underbelly of Twitter.

Legions of fake Twitter accounts, called bots, roam the virtual social media landscape, often wreaking havoc wherever they go. You’ve probably encountered these accounts, those so-called eggheads, in Twitter’s untamed wilderness. They seem drawn to political conversations, but are often used to artificially inflate the number of followers a profile has, send spam and manipulate online sentiment. Herded by shadowy “botmasters,” these accounts can be financially lucrative, especially after they’ve been around for a few years.

Two researchers from University College London claim to have discovered an army of 350,000 such bots hiding in plain sight, distinguished by their affinity for tweeting quotes from Star Wars novels. And, like Aragorn bursting into the throne room at Helm’s Deep to deliver the news of an encroaching orc army, they have come to warn us. Full story...

Do psychopaths run the world?

Lennon and others externalise the apparent paranoia that wells up inside us. “The world has gone mad!” More often than not we partition this voice off, content to view the world as others prescribe it. But who are these others, and what do they want?

The term psychopath is often criminally misjudged, thanks largely to unhelpful portrayals of sick, twisted and violent psycho-character types in the popular media. This has led, by way of public ignorance, to the common belief that the psychopath has no function, role or place in open society. A swift offload that allows us, the apparent sane majority, to circumvent our worst fears.

Any notion that the psychopath is incapable of functioning in open society is, according to M.E. Thomas1 – a self-confessed sociopath – flawed. The question is not the capacity to function, but rather what capacity or form that function takes. As Thomas says, psychopaths and sociopaths share an intertwined clinical history; both can function, they just do so differently. And though we are left to muse on what mask that function may take, in many social situations they excel. Full story...

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CNN caught reporting fake news on Russian hack...

Meet Kalki Subramaniam, the transgender woman who has been invited to speak at Harvard...

Kalki Subramaniam is an inspiration not only to the transgender community but to society as a whole. This multi-hyphenated writer, activist, media personality, and actor, has been at the forefront fighting for transgender rights in India.

Now she is preparing to take her message to a global platform, as Harvard University has invited her as a speaker.

Kalki will be among a panel of dignitaries who have been invited to speak at the two-day India Conference organised by Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. Speakers at past editions have included prominent personalities like Kamal Hassan and Shashi Tharoor.

“When I got the invitation on January 1, I was pleasantly surprised. This would be my chance to share with the world the beauty behind the transgender movement in India. I will be talking about this historical movement that also has a strong spiritual context. I will be providing a global context as well and putting the spotlight on how the Indian movement differs from the Western scenario,” she says. This is, as Kalki herself puts it, a chance to put a voice to a community that is often marginalised and invisible to the larger society. Full story...

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Trump signs order withdrawing U.S. from Trans-Pacific trade deal...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order formally withdrawing the United States from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, following through on a promise from his campaign last year.

In an Oval Office ceremony, Trump also signed an order imposing a federal hiring freeze and a directive banning U.S. non-governmental organizations receive federal funding from providing abortions abroad.

Trump called the TPP order a "great thing for the American worker." Source...

Read also: Australia open to China and Indonesia joining TPP after US pulls out

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Monday, January 23, 2017

Trump team in fresh war of words with US media...

Key figures in Donald Trump's administration have become embroiled in a fresh war of words with the media.

On Saturday the president had condemned media reporting of the number of people attending his inauguration.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said there was "an obsession... to de-legitimise this president. We're not going to sit around and take it."

But photos show more people attended the inauguration of Mr Trump's predecessor Barack Obama in 2009.

Mr Priebus said on Fox News Sunday that the "media from day one has been talking about de-legitimising the election". He said Mr Trump's presidency would fight such coverage "tooth and nail every day".

The latest row was mainly sparked by the inauguration figures. Full story...

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Press publishing 'consistent stream' of inaccurate stories about Muslims...

British media organisations have been forced to make a string of corrections and retractions over recent months relating to coverage of Muslims following routine monitoring.

Miqdaad Versi, an assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, has undertaken a personal project to track articles about Islam and Muslims in order to spot misrepresentations and inaccuracies.

He has secured almost 20 corrections and retractions, and a further 20 complaints are being examined by the press regulator, Ipso. Several complaints have been rejected.

Among the published corrections was a story published on the Sun website last week, originally headlined: “SUPERMARKET TERROR: Gunman ‘screaming Allahu Akbar’ opens fire in Spanish supermarket while ‘carrying bag filled with petrol and gunpowder’.” Full story...

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Scanning pornstars into virtual reality...

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Many studies saying breakfast aides weight loss may be industry funded...

Cereal makers have happily encouraged the belief that eating breakfast can help keep us thin and bring other benefits, partly by paying for studies that seem to support the idea.

So, does that mean breakfast is bad for you? Not that either. What it does show is how difficult it can be to sort the hype from reliable dietary advice when studies are funded by the makers of Froot Loops, nutrition science is often inconclusive, and gray areas can be spun for marketing.

Take Special K. In the 1990s, Special K boxes featured findings that people who didn't normally eat breakfast lost more weight after they started doing so.

"That was the little piece they put on the cereal box," said David Schlundt, a co-author of the study of about 50 women. Not mentioned on those boxes: Regular breakfast eaters who started skipping the meal lost even more weight, compared to those who stuck with their routines.

That doesn't mean particular breakfasts can't help some people control their appetites, or bring other benefits like energy. Schlundt's study was tiny. But it shows how easy it is to simplify the complexities and limitations of nutrition science and cherry-pick the findings. Full story...

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Donald Trump warns journalists, calls them 'most dishonest human beings'

Describing journalists as the most dishonest human beings on Earth, US President Donald Trump+ has said he has been "running a war" with the
media and warned them of consequences for falsely reporting that less number of people attended his inauguration. .
.
 "We had a massive field of people. You saw them. Packed. I get up this morning, I turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field," Trump said. .
.
 "I say, wait a minute, I made a speech. I looked out, it looked like a million, million and a half people. They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing there. They (media) said, Donald Trump did not draw well. I said, it was almost raining, the rain should have scared them away, but God looked down and he said, we're not going to let it rain on your speech," he said. .
.
"Then I walked off and it poured right after I left. It poured. But, we have something that's amazing because, it looked like a million and a half people. Whatever it was, it was. But it went all the way back to the Washington Monument. And I turn on — and by mistake I get this network, and it showed an empty field. And it said we drew 250,000 people," he said. Full story...

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Germany could’ve but didn’t stop Berlin attacker. Why?

According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), German security and intelligence agencies were particularly familiar with the Berlin attacker, Anis Amri, long before he plowed a large truck into a Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring many more.

In an article titled, “All the cracks that Berlin suspect Amri slipped through,” a now familiar litany of excuses are peddled before audiences in a bid to explain why the suspect wasn’t stopped, weeks, months, even years before he carried out his attack, as soon as it became apparent he was both violent and a danger to society.

DW’s article admits:

The suspect first caught authorities’ attention in November 2015, when he unwittingly told an informant for the investigative police unit (BKA) in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia that he wanted to “do something in Germany,” according to a document obtained by the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. He also claimed that he could get an AK-47 for an attack.

The article claims that from that point onward, Amri was “watched” by German agencies. DW also admits: Full story...

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Saturday, January 21, 2017

“Hard work. A loving family. A wonderful marriage. And she never drank, she never smoked, but she was happy. And I think that was the key to her longevity.”

A 109-year-old woman from southern Illinois has some advice for living a long life.

“I never smoked a cigarette in my life, I never drank liquor in my life, and I had one husband for 43 years,” said Ruth Benjamin. “And I love bacon!

Ruth just celebrated her 109th birthday. She was born in 1908 as one of her parents’ six children.

Later in life, she worked at Quakemaid in Terre Haute for 43 years. While her life may be more quiet now, she used to always be on the go.

“I’ve been to Hawaii, I’ve been to Washington D.C., I’ve been to Niagara Falls. I’ve been about everywhere.”

Dr. Jim Turner of Cork Medical Center is Ruth’s doctor.

You’d think he’d have a long list of ‘doctor’s orders’, but, “‘What do you do with someone who’s 109 years old?’ and my answer was ‘absolutely nothing. We don’t need to do anything.'”

As for a key to Ruth’s long life? Dr. Turner attributes that to her attitude.

“Hard work. A loving family. A wonderful marriage. And she never drank, she never smoked, but she was happy. And I think that was the key to her longevity.” Source...

Thailand's misbehaving monks...

India overturns bull-wrestling ban in response to massive protests...

A popular bull-wresting festival in India's Tamil Nadu state is to go ahead after the state and central government moved to temporarily overturn a ban on it.

People in Tamil Nadu have been bull-wresting for centuries as part of their culture and traditions surrounding the Pongal harvest festival, which was held last week.

India's Supreme Court banned the sport known as "Jallikattu" in 2014 in response to a petition by animal rights activists, who argue the practice of giving the animals alcohol and throwing chili powder in their eyes amounted to animal cruelty.

During the festival bulls charge down the road and are let into an open field, where young men try to subdue the bulls by grabbing them by the back or horns. The bull owners say the animals are treated well.

Anger over the three-year ban boiled over this week after several hundred people in Tamil Nadu were arrested for defying the law. In response, tens of thousands of people have been protesting in the state capital Chennai and other cities over the past week to demand the ban be lifted. The protests shut down transport, schools and and businesses. A number of prominent celebrities also threw their support behind the protestors. Full story...

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Roman Polanski picked for French film panel, sparking outrage...

France's minister for women's rights said it was a "shocking" decision to appoint filmmaker Roman Polanski as head of the jury for the country's equivalent of the Oscars.

The award-winning director has been wanted in the US for decades after admitting to sex with a minor.

Mr Polanski, now 83, fled ahead of his sentencing for statutory rape in 1978.

The Cesars have defended their choice, praising the director as an "insatiable aesthete".

His role in the 2017 awards has outraged women right's groups, who have called for a boycott of next month's televised ceremony. Full story...

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Who should be called an expat?

What is an expatriate, exactly? And when is an expat an immigrant — or not?

The word expat is loaded. It carries many connotations, preconceptions and assumptions about class, education and privilege — just as the terms foreign worker and migrant call to mind a different set of assumptions.

But what makes one person an expat, and another a foreign worker or migrant? Often the former is used to describe educated, rich professionals working abroad, while those in less privileged positions — for example, a maid in the Gulf states or a construction worker in Asia — are deemed foreign workers or migrant workers. The classification matters, because such language can in some cases be used as a political tool or to dehumanise — as the debate around the word “migrant” suggests.

Fears surrounding job security, concerns over immigration and nationalism inspire discussion across the globe about who falls into which category. But a key part of this dialogue is how exactly we define different people who cross borders to work. Full story...

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5 things you can do to cheer up quickly...

Life isn’t always easy, and it may seem like it is, in fact, difficult more often than not. Yet both ups and downs are a natural part of life, and we’ve all had our fair share of both. But when you do find yourself in a funk, why not, rather than dwell on it, which often just makes things worse, try to pull yourself out of it, and not let it ruin your day or week?

Sometimes when you’re in one of these moods it can feel impossible to break free, and sometimes it feels easier to just sit in it and brood instead of actively trying to get yourself out of it. Yet truthfully, there are some things you can do RIGHT NOW to instantly lift that extra weight off your shoulders and turn that frown upside down.

(...)

I don’t care if it’s snowing or raining, too windy, too cold, or too hot, I guarantee this will make you feel better, especially if you can walk somewhere green, which has been scientifically proven to make you feel better. Just getting active and breathing in some fresh air can almost instantly lift your spirits. When you are down in the dumps it can be hard to find the energy to even get up to do this, but once you do, you will be glad you did! Full story...

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People are knitting giant sweaters to keep rescued elephants cozy...

Cozy winter garments, made with love, are a bit like hugs that you can wear. And these lucky elephants clearly couldn't be happier to feel that warm embrace from people who took the time to care.

A cold snap is underway across northern India, home to the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Center, and everyone is feeling the chill.

Fortunately, the sanctuary's pachyderm residents, each of whom was rescued from a sad life of exploitation and abuse, aren't having to face the freezing temperatures unprotected.

As it turns out, a group of big-hearted local villagers have been knitting giant sweaters to keep the elephants warm. More + pics...

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Jallikattu: Thousands protest at India bullfighting ban...

Thousands of people in India's southern Tamil Nadu state are protesting against a ban on bullfighting.

At least 4,000 people have been camping at Marina beach in the state's capital, Chennai (Madras), since Tuesday night.

Traditional bull-taming contests, known as Jallikattu, have been popular for centuries in the state. Protesters say they represent its identity.

But the Supreme Court banned it in 2014 after objections from animal rights groups. It upheld the ban in 2016.

BBC Tamil reports that similar protests are being organised on Wednesday in other parts of the state. Calls have been made on social media asking people to join the protests. Full story...

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‘Molested when we confessed’: Duterte fires up at Catholic priests over pedophilia, corruption...

Unshaken by a blessing from Pope Francis, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has hit back at priests and bishops critical of his war on drugs, accusing clergymen of homosexuality, child molesting, hypocrisy and corruption. “You asked for it,” he said.

“You expose me, fine. I expose you. Why? When you commit mistakes it's OK, but when we do, no? Bullshit. That’s stupid,” the president said during a speech to newly-promoted police officers at Malacañan on Thursday.

Duterte, who revealed in 2015 that he was molested by a priest when he was young in an act of “sexual awakening,” but did not file a complaint for fear of “what would happen,” said Catholic priests had their skeletons in the closet.

“You asked for it. If you want a showdown, then let's have a showdown. You mend your ways. If you cannot even give justice to the small boys that you have molested in the past, you do not have that moral ascendancy to lecture [me] on what to do. Sanctity of life? You're enjoying your worth,” he said, as quoted by The Philippine Star. Full story...

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Friday, January 20, 2017

A triple execution in Bahrain has provoked national outrage – and international silence...

(...)

Since the report, which the King accepted to much international acclaim, the Bahrain government has emphasised its commitment to reforms. Yet implementation of the recommendations has been frequently documented as inadequate. Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) found that only two of the report’s 26 recommendations had been fully implemented, and eight had not even begun. Many of these reforms centred around creating mechanisms to ensure an end to torture and an increase of state accountability. Even Professor Cherif Bassiouni, the head of the BICI team, wrote in June last year that most of the reforms had not been fully implemented.

But things are actually getting worse. Amid the token reforms, the January executions show that Bahrain is regressing with regards to political development and human rights. The country’s only remotely critical newspaper, Al Wasat, which was shut down in 2011, has now been ordered by the government to close its online paper, too. The official reason given was that it was “jeapordising national unity and disrupting public peace”. In fact, it had been slighty critical of the executions.

Earlier this year, the government of Bahrain announced that it was reversing one of the BICI reforms which stipulated that Bahrain’s National Security Agency (NSA) have its powers of arrest removed. The power separation was considered important in controlling torture. Other laws enacted which have clamped down on freedom of expression, alongside the arrest of activists, have prompted accusations not of reform, but of de-democratisation. The fact that these are the first official executions to have occurred since 2010 suggest Bahrain is becoming more, not less authoritarian. Full story...

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10 ways a hospital stay can make us sicker...

Especially when we’re sick and vulnerable, we rely on health-care providers to treat us. We depend on their knowledge, training, skills, and compassion. We expect them to help us to heal so that we can return to our duties and responsibilities as employers or employees, spouses, parents, neighbors, and friends.

We certainly don’t expect to get worse as a result of being hospitalized. However, there’s a chance that, in fact, we will get worse as there are 10 ways a hospital stay can make us sicker.

Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Yale School of Medicine has coined the term “post-hospital syndrome” to identify a temporary period during which patients are susceptible to an illness following a hospital stay. This requires their readmission within 30 days of their initial discharge.

The cause of readmission ranges from a hospital-acquired infection (HAI), stress experienced during hospitalization, sleep deprivation during the hospital stay, a lack of nutrition or exercise, lowered immune system functioning, and depression. Research conducted in 2009 shows that, among Medicare patients, 2.6 million discharged patients (20 percent) were readmitted to the hospital within a month of their discharge. Full story...

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As Jallikattu protests swell, Tamil Nadu looks at legal way out: 10 points...

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today that he cannot use an ordinance or executive order to remove a ban on bull-taming festival Jallikattu, the AIADMK government is said to be considering bringing an ordinance under a state law to circumvent the ban. Mr Panneerselvam has extended his stay in Delhi to get legal opinion on his options as a protest by thousands of people at Chennai's famous Marina Beach entered its third day. The protesters demand that Jallikattu be brought back to Tamil Nadu.

1 The centre's top lawyer Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told NDTV that Tamil Nadu can bring a new law or ordinance under sports, which is exclusively a state subject, to allow Jallikattu, keeping in mind the Supreme Court ban and imposing penalties to ensure bulls are not treated cruelly.

2  Mr Rohatgi said Jallikattu is a local event and the state has the power to enact laws on local events.

3  Mr Panneerselvam told reporters after his meeting with PM Modi today that the state government would, along with the centre, would take steps to ensure that Jallikattu is held during the harvest festival of Pongal. The event hasn't been held for three years since the Supreme Court banned it in 2014. Full story...

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Thursday, January 19, 2017

Why can't you use cell-phones on a plane?

Polanski to preside at French Oscars: 'We feel sick', say French feminists...

Feminists called for protests Thursday at the "French Oscars" next month after controversial film director Roman Polanski agreed to preside over the ceremony.

The maker of "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" has been wanted in the US for almost four decades for the rape of a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles in 1977.

Polanski, 83, last month defeated a bid to extradite him from his native Poland, telling reporters, "I'll finally be able to feel safe in my own country."

But the decision to honour him at the annual Cesars ceremony has infuriated women's groups, with many taking to social media calling for a boycott of the televised show.

The leading group Osez le feminisme (Dare feminism) called the decision by the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques "shameful", and urged people to protest outside. Full story...

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Rohingya crisis: Malaysia PM says Muslims must act...

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has called on Muslim countries to lead international action over the plight of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims.

Mr Razak made the comments in an opening statement to members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathering in Kuala Lumpur.

The OIC is made up of 57 countries with large or majority-Muslim populations.

It is holding the emergency session to discuss what it says is a humanitarian crisis faced by the Myanmar minority.

Approximately 65,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state since Burmese soldiers began intensive counter-terrorism operations there in October. Full story...

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Japan government mulls stopping employees from fatal overworking...

Japan's government has announced measures to prevent employees from overworking in an attempt to stop people literally working themselves to death, a report says.

The Independent newspaper reported on Wednesday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would soon seek to impose a cap on the number of overtime hours employees can work.

Yoshihide Suga, a government spokesman, has said that Japan needs to end the "norm of long working hours so people can balance their lives with things like raising a child or taking care of the elderly."

Some Japanese companies have begun a routine of switching all the lights off at night to encourage workers to leave the office.

The Japan Business Federation is also set to launch a campaign that will allow workers to leave the office early on the last Friday of every month. Full story...

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After Big Pharma Failed, Parents Risked All to Save Daughter’s Life with Cannabis — It Worked!

(...)

The outlook for children with schizencephaly is grim. Some patients are stillborn, others are “not compatible with life” and others succumb to medication-induced organ failure. Barbara has connected with parents of children suffering from this condition, and many have lost the battle.

By the time Nova was two years old, she was having all types of seizures and was taking six anti-seizure medications. But they weren’t working. Doctors had turned to simply trying to sedate her, including the use of benzodiazepines – potent psychoactive drugs known through names such as Xanax and Valium.

If Nova wasn’t in a state of seizure, Barbara says the cocktail of drugs kept her in an immobilized, completely unresponsive state, with no apparent awareness of her surroundings. Barbara tearfully described a moment when she tried to get Nova to play with some small bells, lifting Nova’s hand to touch them. But Nova, eyes rolled to the back of her head, just let her hand drop.

Barbara began to “question how [Nova] could ever have a quality of life.” After several MRI and EEG scans, the Texas neurologist said Nova was a good candidate for brain surgery called lesionectomy, which would remove most of the brain she had left. There is no guarantee it would work, and the extreme procedure could result in Nova’s death. Full story...

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