- Signs of the Times Archive for Tue, 02 Sep 2008 -



Sections on today's Signs Page:

SOTT Focus
Connecting the Dots: The Axis of Evil Steps on the Bear's Tail Under a Nuclear Fallout

SOTT editors
SOTT
2008-08-21 04:55:00

Putin and Bush
©Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
"Take the pawn and I'll take your knight."
"Yeah, but the Middle East will be open for check."
"We'll see about that. Nice ceremony."


While the world slept through the month-long cyclic dream of the Olympic Games, the Axis of Evil took the opportunity to move its pieces onto Russia's doorstep. The Eastern bear responded, and the US/UK/Israeli propaganda machine went into overdrive.

As usual, ordinary people paid a heavy price for this deadly game of global chess.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


Best of the Web
Safe in our cages

A. C. Grayling
The Guardian
2008-08-26 05:00:00

Proposals to monitor all our communications are an intolerable assault on liberty in the name of security

living in cage
©Unknown


In the Queen's speech this autumn Gordon Brown's government will announce a scheme to institute a database of every telephone call, email, and act of online usage by every resident of the UK. It will propose that this information will be gathered, stored, and "made accessible" to the security and law enforcement agencies, local councils, and "other public bodies".


Comment on this SOTT Focus

Minnesota Monster Mash: Police-State Zombies in a Dead Republic

Chris Floyd
Empire Burlesque
2008-08-31 03:25:00



I know the police cause you trouble;
They cause trouble everywhere.
But when you die and go to heaven,
You won't find no policeman there.

-- Goebel Reeves, "Hobo's Lullabye"



Glenn Greenwald tells a harrowing tale of police-state tactics in Minneapolis, with armed security forces conducting Baghdad-like raids on the houses of activists, terrorizing many and arresting some for thought crimes -- such as "planning to cause a riot" -- and other bogus charges. The sweeps -- guided and aided by the federal government -- are designed to "ensure domestic tranquility" during the imminent Republican convention in the city. As Greenwald points out, not one of those who were shackled, arrested and hauled out at gunpoint had committed any crime whatsoever.

Heinous indeed, and entirely worthy of the anger that Greenwald marshals in his reports from the scene. But we must disagree with him on one crucial point: his repeated declaration that these incidents are "extraordinary." On the contrary, there is nothing at all remarkable about them. They are all of a piece with the similar tactics employed to cleanse the city of Denver of any unseemly expressions of old-fashioned, long-gone American liberties during the Democratic convention, where any protests that escaped the grotesque official "cage" set aside for them were strangled by militarized police and mass arrests.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


U.S. News
Michigan balloonist survives crash at SC event


Associated Press
2008-09-01 16:34:00

Officials say a Michigan man survived a hot air balloon crash in South Carolina when the balloon's basket got caught in a tree about 10 feet above the ground.

Officials say pilot Chuck Walz of Munith, Mich., broke his leg and pelvis Sunday morning in a crash at a balloon festival in northwest South Carolina.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

One of America's most notorious unsolved serial killer cases: New lead on Zodiac serial Killer


Sky News
2008-09-01 14:45:00

Image
©Unknown
An artist's impression of the Zodiac killer wearing his hood


The killer, nicknamed the Zodiac, terrorised California's Bay Area in the late 1960s and early 1970s, murdering at least five victims and leaving another for dead.

He taunted the police and local newspapers with a series of coded letters signed with a zodiac symbol.

But despite a massive manhunt, his identity has never been established.

Now FBI agents are investigating whether there is a DNA link between objects found at the crime scenes and Jack Tarrance, a former navy and air force serviceman who died in 2006.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

100-Year-Old Woman Found Shot Dead In Long Island Home

Jennifer McLogan
wcbstv.com
2008-09-02 14:52:00

North Haven, NY - She may be the oldest murder victim in New York state history.

Police are hunting for the gunman who killed a 100-year-old woman in her home in the Hamptons.

CBS 2 HD got reaction Monday from stunned neighbors.

Just over the bridge and off a peninsula from Sag Harbor, the tiny 2-and-half square mile village of North Haven, where residents were stunned to learn of the murder of one of East End's oldest residents.

"Obviously, this type of crime is out of character for the area, but also a 100-year-old woman being shot is unique," said Suffolk County Homicide Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick.



Comment on this SOTT Focus

Fatimah Ali: We need Obama, not 4 more years of George Bush

Fatimah Ali
Philladelphia Daily News
2008-09-02 13:04:00

America is on the brink of a long, harsh and bitterly cold winter, with a looming recession that the GOP won't even admit to.

The policies of the current White House have brutalized our economy, yet the wealthiest think that everything is fine.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


UK & Euro-Asian News
Weather data to help monitoring for nuclear tests

Laura MacInnnis
Reuters
2008-09-01 15:18:00

Geneva - Weather data will help scan for nuclear tests and explosions under a tracking system unveiled on Monday by the U.N. weather agency and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO).



Comment on this SOTT Focus

Greece ratifies South Stream deal with Russia


RIA Novosti
2008-09-02 16:37:00

The Greek parliament voted on Tuesday to ratify an agreement with Russia to build the Greek section of the South Stream gas pipeline.

The deal was approved by 264 MPs out of a total of 300.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Rights group: Georgia admits dropping cluster bombs


The Guardian
2008-09-01 13:50:00

Georgia has admitted dropping cluster bombs during its attempt to regain control of its breakaway province of South Ossetia, a human rights group said today.

Human Rights Watch said it had received a letter from the Georgian defence ministry acknowledging the use of M85 cluster bombs near the Roki tunnel that connects South Ossetia with Russia.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

EU lawmakers open battle against sheep, goat tags

Jeremy Smith
Reuters
2008-09-02 13:11:00

British and Irish lawmakers in the European Parliament launched a campaign on Tuesday against a rule that would make electronic tags for millions of sheep and goats across the EU compulsory from next year.

Image
©REUTERS/Alessia Pierdomenico
A sheep grazes beside a closed road in Flexford, near Guildford, southern England August 4, 2007.


Britain has by far the European Union's largest flock, with around 33 million sheep, roughly a quarter of the bloc's total. Spain follows closely, then Greece.

Last year, EU farm ministers agreed to introduce electronic tags by the end of 2009, part of a strategy to prevent epidemics of contagious diseases like foot-and-mouth and replace a system where flocks of sheep and herds of goats are only tracked when moved from farm to farm, sold at market or sent for slaughter.

British MEPs have condemned the idea and have launched a cross-party campaign to pressure the European Commission, the EU's executive arm that authored the law later agreed by ministers, to reopen negotiations to make tagging voluntary.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Chinese railway damages ancient relics


Australian Associated Press
2008-09-02 12:12:00

A Chinese construction company has severely damaged relics dating back more than 3,000 years while building a section of a high-speed rail linking Beijing and Shanghai, state media says.

Work was halted on the section of rail in the eastern city of Nanjing and the company faces a fine of up to 500,000 yuan (AU$80,000) for ignoring warnings that the site contained ancient treasures, the China Daily said.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Unprecedented increase in Cyprus air traffic

Andy Ioannou
Famagusta Gazette
2008-09-01 09:10:00

plane
©Unknown
There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of planes crossing the Nicosia Flight Control Region (FIR).

Over the past two years, according to official figures, air traffic passing through the region has shot up by 36%.


Comment on this SOTT Focus

WWII diplomat proposed Britain, Germany split world


The Associated Press
2008-08-30 01:32:00

London, England -- An amateur diplomat alarmed British officials during World War II by proposing that Germany and Britain divide the world between them, according to records released Sunday.

James Lonsdale-Bryans, a fascist sympathizer, traveled to Italy early in the war to meet the German ambassador, Ulrich von Hassell.

"It would appear that Bryans may be taking part in unofficial discussions," said a Secret Service memo released by the National Archives.

"Bryans' idea is that the world ought to be divided into two parts. That Germany should be given a free hand in Europe and that the British Empire should run the rest of the world.

"I am not sure that this is a very desirable point of view to publish at the present time."

The records show that Bryans had been in touch with Britain's Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, and the Secret Service was unsure how much backing Lonsdale-Bryans may have had from the Foreign Office.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Russia's Collective Farms: Hot Capitalist Property

Andrew E. Kramer
New York Times
2008-08-31 01:26:00

PODLESNY, Russia - The fields around this little farming enclave are among the most fertile on earth. But like tens of million of acres of land in this country, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they literally went to seed.

Now that may be changing. A decade after capitalism transformed Russian industry, an agricultural revolution is stirring the countryside, shaking up village life and sweeping aside the collective farms that resisted earlier reform efforts and remain the dominant form of agriculture.

The change is being driven by soaring global food prices (the price of wheat alone rose 77 percent last year) and a new reform allowing foreigners to own agricultural land. Together, they have created a land rush in rural Russia.

"Where else do you have such an abundance of land?" Samir Suleymanov, the World Bank's director for Russia, asked in an interview.

As a result, the business of buying and reforming collective farms is suddenly and improbably very profitable, attracting hedge fund managers, Russian oligarchs, Swedish portfolio investors and even a descendant of White Russian émigré nobility.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Putin suspects that U.S. created conflict to boost presidential race: CNN Interview full transcript

Matthew Chance
CNN
2008-08-29 18:53:00

chance putin
©CNN


CNN's Matthew Chance interviewed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday.



- Russian military says U.S. citizens were in combat zone, Putin says
- Prime minister suspects that U.S. created conflict to boost presidential race
- Warnings to U.S. poultry plants were unrelated to Georgia issue, he says
- "We don't want to quarrel with anyone; we don't want to fight anyone"



Comment on this SOTT Focus


Around the World
More on China in Iraq

Helena Cobban
Just World News
2008-09-01 15:43:00

Last week we learned that China has 'beaten' all those bit-champing western oil companies, and has signed a $3 billion deal to help develop Iraq's al-Ahdab oil field.

It turns out that the relationships that Chinese businesses have with various different sectors of the Iraqi economy is far more extensive than I-- or, I suppose, most other Americans-- had realized.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Vogue's Fashion Photos Spark Debate in India

Heather Timmons
The New York Times
2008-09-02 14:10:00

An old woman missing her upper front teeth holds a child in rumpled clothes - who is wearing a Fendi bib (retail price, about $100).

A man modeled a Burberry umbrella in Vogue that costs about $200. Some 456 million Indians live on less than $1.25 a day.

A family of three squeezes onto a motorbike for their daily commute, the mother riding without a helmet and sidesaddle in the traditional Indian way - except that she has a Hermès Birkin bag (usually more than $10,000, if you can find one) prominently displayed on her wrist.

Elsewhere, a toothless barefoot man holds a Burberry umbrella (about $200).

Welcome to the new India - at least as Vogue sees it.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

No sign of survivors after aid plane crashes in Congo


Reuters
2008-09-02 08:49:00

Kinshasa - A humanitarian plane carrying 17 passengers and crew that went missing in east Democratic Republic of Congo has crashed into a mountain and there is no sign of survivors, the contracting air company said on Tuesday.

Rescuers spotted the wreckage early on Tuesday of the 19-seat Beechcraft aircraft, contracted by Air Serv International, around 15 km northwest of the town of Bukavu, on Congo's eastern border with Rwanda.

The plane had been on its way to Bukavu from the city of Kisangani on Monday when it lost contact with ground control as it made its landing approach in bad weather at around 1:00 p.m. British time.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Indian military struggling to end flood chaos


Associated Press
2008-09-02 08:31:00

Troops and aid workers are scrambling to reach hundreds of thousands of stranded people across flood-devastated northern India in one of the country's largest-ever relief efforts, as hungry villagers began to riot, desperate families swam for their lives and widespread chaos ruled.

Nearly half of the 1.2 million people left homeless when the Kosi River burst its banks in Nepal two weeks ago, spilling over north India's vast plains, had been rescued said Prataya Amrit, a top disaster management official in Bihar state. Despite disjointed efforts, officials hoped to reach the rest in the next two days.

The massive relief effort was the first to deploy all three branches of India's military - the army, the navy, and the air force, Amrit said.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Australia: Two bodies pulled from South Stradbroke plane wreck


The Courier Mail
2008-09-02 03:37:00

The bodies of two men whose plane crashed into the surf off South Stradbroke Island on the weekend have been retrieved from the wreckage.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

UN Humanitarian Chief: Ethiopia In Danger of Famine


VOA News
2008-09-01 21:56:00

A top United Nations official is calling on the international community to make sure the drought in Ethiopia does not degenerate into a famine.

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes arrived in Ethiopia Monday to meet with officials and to get a first-hand look at the impact of the drought.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


Big Brother
Police State: Donna Brazile Hit by Pepper Spray at Republican Convention

Holly Watt
Washington Post
2008-09-01 17:45:00

St. Paul -- Donna Brazile was hit by pepper spray as she walked to the Xcel Center at the start of the Republican Convention here.

The well-known Democratic pundit and strategist confirmed the incident, but declined to comment further. Protests outside the convention center led to 56 arrests earlier in the day.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Police State: Police Tear Gas and Arrest Protesters at Republican National Convention - video

Bennett Gordon
utne.com
2008-09-01 17:38:00

While reporting from a protest at the Republican National Convention, Utne Reader intern Chelsey Perkins captured footage of police launching gas canisters at protesters and chasing them down the banks of the Mississippi river in St. Paul. You can view videos of that below.

Having seen protesters and police clash in the distance, Perkins asked an officer how to get away from the conflict zone. She was directed toward a river walk with a large group of people including both protesters and bystanders. The police followed closely behind, until multiple groups of officers on bikes, horses, and on foot surrounded and detained everyone in the area.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Police State: Scenes from St. Paul -- Democracy Now's Amy Goodman arrested, more mass arrests - video

Glenn Greenwald
Salon.com
2008-09-01 16:57:00

Following up on this weekend's extreme raids on various homes, at least 250 people were arrested here today in St. Paul, Minnesota. Beginning last night, St. Paul was the most militarized I have ever seen an American city be, even more so than Manhattan in the week of 9/11 -- with troops of federal, state and local law enforcement agents marching around with riot gear, machine guns, and tear gas cannisters, shouting military chants and marching in military formations. Humvees and law enforcement officers with rifles were posted on various buildings and balconies. Numerous protesters and observers were tear gassed and injured. Video of the day's events follow below.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Amy Goodman and two Democracy Now! producers unlawfully arrested at the RNC


Democracy Now!
2008-09-01 13:07:00

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her.

Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

Ramsey County Sherrif Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


Axis of Evil
Why Don't Zionists Adopt Gandhi's Methods?


Lawrence of Cyberia
2008-09-01 16:02:00

ghandi
©(AP/Muhammed Muheisen)
Backdropped by a section of Israel's separation barrier, Israeli troops fire rubber bullets at Palestinian stone throwers, not seen, during clashes in the West Bank village of Kalandia between Jerusalem and Ramallah, Friday, Feb 9, 2007.



Comment on this SOTT Focus

Biden denies 'nuclear' Iran comment


PressTV
2008-09-02 07:56:00

US Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden never said Israel would have to come to terms with a nuclear Iran, his spokesman says.

According to Haaretz newspaper, Israel's Army Radio cited Senator Biden as telling Israeli officials three years ago that sooner or later 'they would have to reconcile themselves to the reality of a nuclear-armed Iran'.

"This is a lie peddled by partisan opponents of Senators [Barack] Obama and Biden and we will not tolerate anyone questioning Senator Biden's 35-year record of standing up for the security of Israel," Biden press secretary David Wade said in a statement.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

The Dutch Connection

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Information Clearing House
2008-09-01 07:48:00

'Without doubt, psychological warfare has proved its right to a place of dignity in our military arsenal.' - Eisenhower

The recent De Telegraaf article 'revealing' the Dutch intelligence cooperation with the CIA is a propaganda piece aimed at undermining the credibility of United Nations, its specialized agency, the IAEA, and its chief Mohammad ElBaradei. It also seeks to demoralize the Iranians and undermine their resolve in confronting outside enemies.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


Middle East Madness
Muzzling press freedom in Occupied Palestine

Khalid Amayreh
The People's Voice
2008-08-21 17:49:00

To begin with, I would like to point out that I am writing this article at the risk of being arrested for "incitement" and "tarnishing" the Palestinian Authority (PA) image.

However, the cause of press freedom in Occupied Palestine is too important to be compromised by fears for one's safety.

Hence, journalists and free-minded citizens must not allow themselves to be intimidated by a police-state apparatus that views itself as God's vicegerent on earth.

In recent weeks and months, the American-backed and Israeli-favored regime in Ramallah has been systematically violating the human rights and civil liberties of the Palestinian people in ways unseen since the start of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Why Iraqi 'Client' Blocked US Long-Term Presence

Gareth Porter
Inter Press Service
2008-09-02 15:00:00

puppet
©mahjoob.com


Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signaled last week that all U.S. troops - including those with non-combat functions - must be out of the country by the end of 2011 under the agreement he is negotiating with the George W. Bush administration.

That pronouncement, along with other moves indicating that the Iraqi position was hardening rather than preparing for a compromise, appeared to doom the Bush administration's plan to leave tens of thousands of military support personnel in Iraq indefinitely. The new Iraqi moves raise the obvious question of how a leader who was considered a safe U.S. client could have defied his patron on such a central U.S. strategic interest.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

The deceptive logic of Peaceonomics

Sami Aburoza
The Electronic Intifada
2008-09-01 13:25:00

I am often struck by the stark contrast between the endless amounts of advice and wisdom proffered by the ubiquitous international actors and "experts" to help Palestinians ameliorate their condition and the lack of action, comment or consequence from these same quarters toward the naked brutality of Israel's colonial policies. What's even more disturbing -- despite the obvious asymmetry between both parties to the conflict -- is the international conflict practitioners' mindset qualifying the actions of both sides as somehow equally wrong and right, with 50 percent right balancing and eventually canceling out 50 percent wrong, leaving us at zero, a simple equation, a matter of enlightened numeric logic.
palestinian prime minister fayyad
©Khaleel Reash/MaanImages
Appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad looks at the Israeli wall in the West Bank city of Qalqilya.


Comment on this SOTT Focus

Bolivia cements Iran ties amid US dismay


Press TV
2008-09-01 19:10:00

In a meeting with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bolivia's visiting president pointed to the two countries' opposing stance against imperialism and said that his visit is 'a symbol of unity and solidarity among Iranian and Bolivian nations.'

"In addition to promoting political relations, this visit aims at enhancing bilateral ties in the fields of commerce, industry, agriculture, gas and oil," the Bolivian president added.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


Grand Theft Economics
The Villains of the Housing Crisis Are Denying All Responsibility

Dean Baker
TruthOut.org.
2008-08-27 01:19:00

The central bankers of the world gathered last weekend for their annual meeting at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This was an opportunity to talk about the major issues confronting the world economy, as well as an opportunity to spend some time in a very beautiful vacation spot.

When they met in Jackson Hole in 2005, the meetings were devoted to an Alan Greenspan retrospective, honoring his 18-year tenure as Federal Reserve Board chairman, which was due to end the following January. A number of papers were presented analyzing his record at the Fed, including one that raised the question of whether Mr. Greenspan was the greatest central banker of all time.

The elite Jackson Hole crew did not debate whether Greenspan was the greatest central banker of all time this year. The world is now facing the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression. At least, that is the assessment of Alan Greenspan. With house prices plunging, unemployment and inflation rates rising and banks failures mounting, Greenspan has a pretty good argument.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


The Living Planet
Venison's fine, but wolves prefer salmon

Gursharan Randhawa
New Scientist
2008-09-02 16:39:00

Wolves are not quite the red-blooded hunters we thought they were. It appears they prefer to dine on a nice piece of salmon rather than deer.

Ecological studies into predator-prey relations have traditionally shown that wolves feed on hoofed animals like deer, elk and moose, particularly during the spring and summer. However, ecologists have recently noticed that the fanged animals can capture and eat salmon in the autumn when the fish swim upriver.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Monsoon misery spreads in India

Biswajyoti Das
Reuters
2008-09-02 12:59:00

Guwahati - Heavy rains and rising floodwaters forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in northeastern India and sent elephants and rhinos fleeing, as monsoon misery spread in South Asia.

floodwaters at Chandpura
©REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/Files
A girl holds a goat as she makes her way through floodwaters at Chandpura village of Madhepura district in India's eastern state of Bihar, August 31, 2008.


In the eastern Indian state of Bihar, desperate flood victims attacked a warehouse and looted food supplies, while in neighboring Bangladesh major rivers rose to danger levels and fresh parts of the country were submerged.

In the northeastern state of Assam, heavy rains caused water levels to rise on Tuesday, affecting more than a million people and disrupting road networks for the second consecutive day.

Animals fled to higher ground in Kaziranga National Park after the Brahmaputra burst its banks and flooded most of the park, home to more than half of the world's population of one-horned rhinoceros.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Storms swirl in Atlantic, Hanna over Bahamas

Michael Christie
Reuters
2008-09-02 12:45:00

Miami - A new tropical depression formed on Tuesday near the Cape Verde Islands off Africa while storm Hanna drenched the Bahamas and Ike sped westward as Atlantic storm activity reached a frenetic pace.

Hurricane Hanna
©REUTERS/NOAA/Handout
Hurricane Hanna is seen southwest of Nassau in a satellite image taken September 2, 2008.


These followed on the heels of Hurricane Gustav, which began to dissipate on Tuesday after slamming ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast near New Orleans the day before. The new tropical cyclones threatened vast areas, from South Carolina in the United States to the Caribbean islands.

The flurry of storms was the latest evidence that predictions for a busier than normal season were on the mark, and was worrisome news for U.S. oil and natural gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico, millions living in the Caribbean and on U.S. coasts, and farmers fearing flooded fields.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary In Fair Condition, Facing Emerging Threats


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:42:00

A new NOAA report on the health of Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary indicates that the overall condition of the sanctuary's marine life and habitats is fair. The report also identifies several emerging threats to sanctuary resources, including non-indigenous marine species, overfishing, waterborne chemicals from human coastal activities, and increased recreational use of the site.

Grays Reef
©NOAA
Soft corals, sponges, and fishes that are typical inhabitants of Gray's Reef.


The first-of-its-kind report about the sanctuary finds that its water quality is relatively good, although researchers have detected low levels of human-produced pollutants in the sanctuary's sediments and water-filtering organisms.

The report cites illegal anchoring, recreational fishing and spearfishing as additional human pressures on the living marine resources of Gray's Reef, and states that snapper and grouper are being overfished both within the sanctuary and throughout the region.

The report also notes that the red lionfish, a voracious and venomous predator native to Pacific waters, has been seen in the sanctuary and may pose a danger to local fish populations and recreational divers.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Endangered Black-footed Ferrets Sired By Males That Died 8 Years Ago


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:27:00

Two black-footed ferrets at the Smithsonian's National Zoo have each given birth to a kit that was sired by males who died in 1999 and 2000. These endangered ferrets - part of a multi-institutional breeding and reintroduction program - were artificially inseminated in May with frozen semen from the two deceased males, each giving birth to a kit on June 20 and 21 respectively.

black-footed ferret
©Jessie Cohen, Smithsonian's National Zoo
A two-month-old black-footed ferret (right) is pictured with its mother at the National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal. Va. on Aug. 18, 2008. The mother gave birth to the kit on June 21 after National Zoo reproductive scientists inseminated her with previously frozen semen from a male that died in 1998. Successful inseminations with frozen semen are extremely rare -- until now only three black-footed ferret kits have been born from this method.


The sperm samples were collected and frozen in 1997 and 1998. Successful inseminations with frozen semen are extremely rare - until now only three black-footed ferret kits have been born from this method.

The black-footed ferret is one of the most endangered animals in the world. Once inhabiting the grasslands of the western Great Plains, the black-footed ferret population declined with the loss of the North American prairie ecosystem. Prairie dogs are the ferret's primary prey, and only 2 percent of the original prairie dog habitat remains today. A recent outbreak of sylvatic plague (also known as bubonic plague) in a prairie dog population in South Dakota also threatens to decimate ferret populations there.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Greece: Storms cause heavy flooding


eKathimerini
2008-09-01 09:04:00

Storms and heavy rainfall hit much of the country over the weekend, causing serious flooding in places.

The eastern port of Volos was one of the worst hit areas, with rainwater turning streets into virtual torrents and damaging ground-floor homes and stores. The fire service received hundreds of telephone calls to pump out water from flooded basements.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Hanna becomes hurricane off Bahamas


AFP
2008-09-01 22:08:00

MIAMI - Tropical Storm Hanna on Monday developed into a full-fledged hurricane east of the Bahamas in the Atlantic ocean, US officials reported, as deadly Hurricane Gustav pounded the Gulf Coast near New Orleans.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Storm may follow Gustav evacuees, dump heavy rain


Associated Press
2008-09-01 21:01:00

DALLAS, Texas - For some of the 2 million people seeking safety from Hurricane Gustav, they could run but they couldn't hide.


Comment on this SOTT Focus


Health & Wellness
Genetic predisposition may play a role in anxiety disorders


Academy of Finland
2008-09-27 16:42:00

Finnish scientists have identified genes that may predispose to anxiety disorders. Research conducted under the supervision of Academy Research Fellow Iiris Hovatta have focused on genes that influence human behaviour, and some of the studied genes show a statistical association with specific anxiety disorders. The work is carried out as part of the Academy of Finland Research Programme on Neuroscience (NEURO).

Comment on this SOTT Focus

The Power of Positive Thinking: Truth or Myth?

Maggie Koerth-Baker
Live Science
2008-08-29 15:40:00

You might call Maarten van der Weijden the anti-Lance Armstrong. Last week, the Dutch Olympic long-distance swimming champion and cancer survivor told the British newspaper The Telegraph that he didn't want to be compared to the American cycling star.

"Armstrong says that positive thinking and doing a lot of sports can save you. I don't agree," said van der Weijden. "I even think it's dangerous because it implies that if you are not a positive thinker all the time you lose ... The doctors saved me. I am just lucky."

Comment on this SOTT Focus

B-vitamin Deficiency May Cause Vascular Cognitive Impairment


Science Daily
2008-09-02 15:24:00

A deficiency of B-vitamins may cause vascular cognitive impairment, according to a new study. Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University used an experimental model to examine the metabolic, cognitive, and microvascular effects of dietary B-vitamin deficiency.

"Metabolic impairments induced by a diet deficient in three B-vitamins -folate, B12 and B6- caused cognitive dysfunction and reductions in brain capillary length and density in our mouse model," says Aron Troen, PhD, the study's lead author. "The vascular changes occurred in the absence of neurotoxic or degenerative changes."

Troen, who is an assistant professor at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, explains, "Mice fed a diet deficient in folate and vitamins B12 and B6 demonstrated significant deficits in spatial learning and memory compared with normal mice." Troen and colleagues observed similar but less pronounced differences between normal mice and a third group of mice that were fed a diet enriched with methionine.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Children With TVs Or Computers In Their Room Sleep Less


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:56:00

Middle school children who have a television or computer in their room sleep less during the school year, watch more TV, play more computer games and surf the net more than their peers who don't - reveals joint research conducted by the University of Haifa and Jezreel Valley College.

The research, conducted by Prof. Yael Latzer and Dr. Tamar Shochat of the University of Haifa and Prof. Orna Chishinsky of the Jezreel Valley College, examined 444 middle school pupils with an average age of 14. The children were asked about their sleep habits, their use of computer and television, and their eating habits while watching TV or using the computer.

The study participants reported an average bedtime of 11:04 P.M and wake-up time of 6:45 A.M. On the weekends, the average bedtime was somewhat later - at 1:45 A.M. and wake-up much later - at 11:30 A.M. Those children with TVs or computers in their room went to sleep half an hour later on average but woke up at the same time.

According to the study, middle school pupils watch a daily average of two hours and 40 minutes of TV and use their computer for three hours and 45 minutes. On weekends, they watch half an hour more TV than during the rest of the week and use their computers for four hours. Children with a TV in their room watch an hour more than those without and those with their own computer use it an hour more than their peers.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Early Onset Gene For Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Identified


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:48:00

A study of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in children has identified a gene that influences whether children get these diseases early in life, and points to a potential new target for treatment.

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic inflammatory diseases that affect the intestines, resulting in pain, severe diarrhea, intestinal bleeding, weight loss and fever. In ulcerative colitis, the inner lining of the colon is inflamed, while in Crohn's disease the inflammation extends deeper into the intestinal wall and can involve both the small and large intestine.

While several genes that influence susceptibility to the two diseases have been found previously, this study is the first to focus on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with childhood onset, says co-first author Subra Kugathasan, MD.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Happiness And Satisfaction Might Lead To Better Health


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:37:00

It's the opposite of a vicious cycle: Healthy people might be happier, and a new study shows that people who are happy and satisfied with their lives might be healthier.

Moreover, the benefit comes with a quick turnaround time, with greater happiness possibly boosting health in as little as three years.

"Everything else being equal, if you are happy and satisfied with your life now, you are more likely to be healthy in the future. Importantly, our results are independent of several factors that impact on health, such as smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption and age," said lead author Mohammad Siahpush, Ph.D.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

New Master Switch Found In Brain Regulates Appetite And Reproduction


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:22:00

Body weight and fertility have long known to be related to each other - women who are too thin, for example, can have trouble becoming pregnant. Now, a master switch has been found in the brain of mice that controls both, and researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies say it may work the same way in humans.

Findings from the study, published ahead of print in the Aug. 31 online edition of Nature Medicine, suggest that variations in the gene that produces this master switch, known as TORC1, could contribute a genetic component to obesity and infertility, and might be regulated with a novel drug.

"This gene is crucial to the daisy chain of signals that run between body fat and the brain," says Marc Montminy, Ph.D., a professor in the Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, who led the study. "It likely plays a pivotal role in how much we, as humans, eat and whether we have offspring."

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Fear, stress among the poor hinder learning

Rosemary Clandos
Los Angeles Times
2008-09-01 08:56:00

These emotions are a constant for the poverty-stricken. New ideas are emerging to combat the long-term effects.

Raised in poverty, Dr. Shauna Blake Collins fought fear during nearly 14 years of education. A dropout from a South-Central Los Angeles high school, she earned a GED diploma at 22, became a licensed vocational nurse, a registered nurse, and finally, at 41, a physician. Confidence came only during the last two years of medical school.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Brain tumour surgery on conscious patient


The Hindu
2008-08-30 08:53:00

London: Surgeons have conducted what they claim is the world's first successful brain tumour surgery on a conscious patient. Using keyhole laser surgery, a French team destroyed a brain tumour on the patient who remained wide awake and said to have felt nothing throughout the operation at the famous Piti-Salptrire hospital in Paris.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Study: Abused Children More Likely to Develop Asthma

Alice Turner
eFluxMedia
2008-09-01 02:01:00

A study by scientists at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston has concluded that childhood abuse is a factor which influences chances that a person develops asthma. The researchers found that children in Puerto Rico who endure physical or sexual abuse are twice as likely to suffer from asthma as in their youth than those who do not face maltreatment.

The presence or absence of childhood abuse was shown to be more important for the development of asthma than the family's social status. Unfortunately, around 25 percent of Puerto Rican children are diagnosed with asthma during childhood. White, non-Hispanic children have a 13 percent chance of being diagnosed, while black children are facing a 16 percent chance.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


Science & Technology
Strange Clouds Spotted at the Edge of Space

Jeremy Hsu
Space.com
2008-09-02 16:53:00

A weirdly wonderful sight appeared to astronauts aboard the International Space Station this summer - thin blue clouds hovering at the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and the void.

Polar Mesospheric Clouds
©NASA
Polar Mesospheric Clouds (also known as noctilucent clouds) are transient, upper atmospheric phenomena observed usually in the summer months at high latitudes (greater than 50 degrees) of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. This image was acquired at an altitude of just over 200 miles in the pre-dawn hours of July 22, 2008 as the International Space Station was passing over western Mongolia in central Asia.


The noctilucent or "night-shining" clouds are at an altitude of 47 to 53 miles (76 to 85 km), where meteors and bright aurora lights are not uncommon and the atmosphere gives way to the blackness of space. The clouds remain a scientifically baffling phenomenon more than 120 years after their discovery.

"It's lovely," said Gary Thomas, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado after looking at a photo taken from the space station. "And it shows just how high these clouds really are - at the very edge of space."

The clouds form at dizzying heights where the air is one hundred million times drier than the Sahara. By contrast, the common high-altitude cirrus clouds only reach heights of 11 miles (18 km) up.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Monogamy gene found in people

Priya Shetty
ABC News
2008-09-02 12:53:00

What if you could tell whether a man is husband material just by peering at his genes?

There has been speculation about the role of the hormone vasopressin in humans ever since we discovered that variations in where receptors for the hormone are expressed makes prairie voles strictly monogamous but meadow voles promiscuous; vasopressin is related to the "cuddle chemical" oxytocin. Now it seems variations in a section of the gene coding for a vasopressin receptor in people help to determine whether men are serial commitment-phobes or devoted husbands.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Venus: Global Structure Of Winds And Clouds Have Been Mapped


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:52:00

Venus is a planet similar in size to the Earth. Nevertheless, it is quite different in other aspects. On the one hand, it spins very slowly on its axis, taking 224 terrestrial days and, moreover, it does so in the opposite direction to that of our planet, i.e. from East to West.

Venus winds
©Basque Research
Scientists have determined in detail the global structure of the winds on Venus at the level of the clouds while, at the same time, observing unexpected changes in the wind speeds.


Its dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide with surface pressures 90 times that of Earth (equivalent to what we find at 1000 metres below the surface of our oceans), causes a runaway greenhouse effect that raises the surface temperatures up to 450ºC, to such as extent that metals like lead are in a liquid state on Venus. At a height of between 45 km and 70 km above the surface there are dense layers of sulphuric acid clouds totally covering the planet.

It was in the 1960s that they discovered, by means of telescopic observations, that the top level of cloud layers moved very rapidly, orbiting the planet in only four days, compared to the planet's own orbit of 224 days. This phenomenon was baptised the "superotation" of Venus: the winds carrying these clouds travel at 360 km/h.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Thousand-ruby Galaxy: Pinwheel Shines In The Darkness


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:32:00

ESO's Wide Field Imager has captured the intricate swirls of the spiral galaxy Messier 83, a smaller look-alike of our own Milky Way. Shining with the light of billions of stars and the ruby red glow of hydrogen gas, it is a beautiful example of a barred spiral galaxy, whose shape has led to it being nicknamed the Southern Pinwheel.

spiral galaxy Messier 83
©ESO
Colour-composite image of the startling spiral galaxy Messier 83, made using data from the Wide Field Imager on the ESO/MPG 2.2-m telescope at La Silla.


This dramatic image of the galaxy Messier 83 was captured by the Wide Field Imager at ESO's La Silla Observatory, located high in the dry desert mountains of the Chilean Atacama Desert. Messier 83 lies roughly 15 million light-years away towards the huge southern constellation of Hydra (the sea serpent). It stretches over 40 000 light-years, making it roughly 2.5 times smaller than our own Milky Way.

However, in some respects, Messier 83 is quite similar to our own galaxy. Both the Milky Way and Messier 83 possess a bar across their galactic nucleus, the dense spherical conglomeration of stars seen at the centre of the galaxies.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Origin Of Cosmic Dust That Lands On Earth Discovered


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:17:00

The origin of the microscopic meteorites that make up cosmic dust has been revealed for the first time in new research out September 1, 2008.

chondrite interplanetary dust particle
©E.K. Jessberger, Institut für Planetologie, Münster, Germany, and Don Brownlee, University of Washington, Seattle (via Wikipedia)
Porous chondrite interplanetary dust particle.


The research shows that some of the cosmic dust falling to Earth comes from an ancient asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. This research improves our knowledge of the solar system, and could provide a new and inexpensive method for understanding space.

Cosmic dust particles, originally from asteroids and comets, are minute pieces of pulverised rock. They measure up to a tenth of a millimetre in size and shroud the solar system in a thin cloud. Studying them is important because their mineral content records the conditions under which asteroids and comets were formed over four and a half billion years ago and provides an insight into the earliest history of our solar system.

The study's author, Dr Mathew Genge, from Imperial College London's Department of Earth Science and Engineering, has trekked across the globe collecting cosmic dust. He says: "There are hundreds of billions of extraterrestrial dust particles falling though our skies. This abundant resource is important since these tiny pieces of rock allow us to study distant objects in our solar system without the multi-billion dollar price tag of expensive missions."

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Prehistoric Funerary Precinct Excavated In Northern Israel Dating Back To 6,750-8,500 BCE


Science Daily
2008-09-02 12:13:00

Hebrew University excavations in the north of Israel have revealed a prehistoric funerary precinct dating back to 6,750-8,500 BCE.

Image
©Professor Nigel Goring-Morris
(1) Phallic figurine, (2) Small symbolic axe made with serpentine, (3) Shell pendants, (4) Engraved token


The precinct, a massive walled enclosure measuring 10 meters by at least 20 meters, was discovered at excavations being undertaken at Kfar HaHoresh. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site in the Nazareth hills of the lower Galilee is interpreted as having been a regional funerary and cult center for nearby lowland villages.

Prof. Nigel Goring-Morris of the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology, who is leading the excavations, says that the precinct is just one of the many finds discovered at the site this year - including remains of a fully-articulated, but tightly contracted 40 year old adult male.

Accompanying grave goods include a sickle blade and a sea shell, while a concentration of some 60 other shells were found nearby. The sea shells provide evidence for extensive exchange networks from the Mediterranean and Red Seas. Symbolic items include small plain or incised tokens. An entire herd of cattle was also found buried nearby.

While fertility symbols during this period are often associated with female imagery, at Kfar HaHoresh only phallic figurines have been found to date, including one placed as a foundation deposit in the wall of the precinct.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Why Butterflies Have 'Eye Spots'

Stéphan Reebs
Live Science/Natural History Magazine
2008-08-31 09:13:00

owl butterfly
©Iowa State University Extension
Owl butterflies in the genus Caligo are so named because of the large eyespots, or ocelli, on the undersides of the hind wings. When the butterfly lands and folds its wings over its back these eyespots are prominent and threaten would-be predators.


Some moths and butterflies bear circular, high-contrast marks on their wings that have long been thought to scare off predators by mimicking the eyes of the predators' own enemies.

Not so, say Martin Stevens and two colleagues at the University of Cambridge in England, who argue the marks work simply because they are conspicuous. (Predators are wary of prey with striking patterns, as those patterns often warn of toxic substances.)

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Internet traffic begins to bypass the U.S.

John Markoff
The New York Times
2008-08-31 02:59:00

The era of the American Internet is ending.

Invented by American computer scientists during the 1970s, the Internet has been embraced around the globe. During the network's first three decades, most Internet traffic flowed through the United States. In many cases, data sent between two locations within a given country also passed through the United States.

Engineers who help run the Internet said that it would have been impossible for the United States to maintain its hegemony over the long run because of the very nature of the Internet; it has no central point of control.

And now, the balance of power is shifting. Data is increasingly flowing around the United States, which may have intelligence--and conceivably military--consequences.

Comment on this SOTT Focus

Human genes can map persons' ancestry to home countries

Mohit Joshi
TopNews Health
2008-09-01 21:42:00

London - Human genomes can actually provide a geographical map through which one can map a person's ancestry down to his/her home country, according to new research.


Comment on this SOTT Focus

In Our Genes, Old Fossils Take On New Roles

David Brown
Washington Post
2008-09-01 21:37:00

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."

-- William Faulkner

Over the past 15 years, scientists have been comparing the inherited genetic material -- the genomes -- of dozens of organisms, acquiring a life history of life itself. What they're finding would impress even novelist William Faulkner, the great chronicler of how the past never really goes away.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


Our Haunted Planet
Are UFOs lighting up the skies over Australia's outback?

Larry Greenemeier
Scientific American
2008-09-02 15:33:00

Move over Roswell. New Mexico's UFO Museum and Research Center may attract more than 150,000 visitors annually who are curious about the alleged 1947 alien crash landing there, but some residents of Australia's outback claim their skies are alive with unidentified flying object activity now.

Comment on this SOTT Focus


Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
Satire: McCain Speechwriter Trying To Write Lines That Don't Lead To Creepy Smile


The Onion
2008-09-02 17:01:00

Phoenix, AZ - According to campaign sources, Joseph Chappel, a 38-year-old speechwriter for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), has spent the last two weeks attempting to combine words and phrases in such a way as to not provoke a tight-jawed, dead-eyed smile from the presidential hopeful.

McCain smile
©Unknown
The McCain 'smile'


Comment on this SOTT Focus



Remember, we need your help to collect information on what is going on in your part of the world!
Send your article suggestions to: sott(at)signs-of-the-times.org

Click here to return to the Signs of the Times Archive

Click here for today's Signs Page