US reports first locally acquired chikungunya cases | CIDRAP

A statement today from the CDC described the first of two local chikungunya cases reported in Florida, in a man who had not traveled outside the United States. The agency said it is working closely with the Florida Department of Health to explore how the patient got sick with the virus.

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Health (FDH) said today it has detected two locally acquired cases, one in Miami–Dade County and the other in Palm Beach County. The counties are on Florida’s southern tip, about 70 miles apart: Palm Beach County to the west and Dade County to the east.

via US reports first locally acquired chikungunya cases | CIDRAP.

$ponsored research: Eating lean beef daily can help lower blood pressure, study suggests — ScienceDaily

The Beef Checkoff Program and the National Institutes of Health-supported Penn State General Clinical Research Center funded this research.

via Eating lean beef daily can help lower blood pressure, study suggests — ScienceDaily.

The Beef Checkoff Program is a producer-funded marketing and research program designed to increase domestic and/or international demand for beef. This can be done through promotion, research and new product development, and a variety of other marketing tools. The Cattlemen’s Beef Board and USDA oversee the collection and spending of checkoff funds.

Microsoft to Fire 14 Percent of Its Staff – The Wire

In a memo to employees sent this morning, CEO Satya Nadella said most of the cuts will come from the Nokia division. Roughly 12,500 of those employees will be shed, which is just under half of the 30,000 Nokia employees who joined Microsoft when the company was acquired last September.

via Microsoft to Fire 14 Percent of Its Staff – The Wire.

Iranian commanders on front line of Iraq’s fight | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

A powerful Iranian general has emerged as the chief tactician in Iraq’s fight against Sunni militants, working on the front lines alongside 120 advisers from his country’s Revolutionary Guard to direct Shiite militiamen and government forces in the smallest details of battle, militia commanders and government officials say.

The startlingly hands-on role of Iranian Gen. Ghasem Soleimani points to the extent of the Shiite-led Iraqi government’s reliance on its ally Tehran. It also strikes a strong contrast with the more methodical, cautious approach of the United States, Iran’s rival for influence in Iraq. Shiite fighters have come to idolize the Iranians who have moved into the heat of battle alongside them – with two Iranian advisers killed in fighting – while government officials grumble the United States has failed to come to their aid.

The Iranian role, however, risks further sharpening the sectarian rifts in the conflict. At a time when the U.S. and others are pressing Iraq’s government to reach out to Sunnis to reduce support for the insurgency, the effective Iranian command of Iraq’s defense is likely to further alienate Sunnis, who have long accused Shiite-led Iran of trying to dominate Iraq through its allies here.

Soleimani, commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, is a frequent visitor to multiple battlezones in Iraq, most particularly in Samarra, a city north of Baghdad under siege by Sunni extremists in their march toward the capital. The city is vital to Baghdad’s Shiite-led government because it is the location of a revered Shiite shrine that Sunni insurgents have destroyed in the past and are targeting again now.

via Iranian commanders on front line of Iraq’s fight | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Malaysia Airlines passenger jet ‘shot down’ in east Ukraine | euronews, world news

{Looks/sounds like a big Oops by the DPR}

RIP those killed – mercy on their souls

According to the Interfax agency, separatists from the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” claimed on social media to have shot down a Ukrainian military AN-26 transport plane, at around the same time and close to the same area that the Malaysian airliner came down.

via Malaysia Airlines passenger jet ‘shot down’ in east Ukraine | euronews, world news.

Anger and bewilderment in Finland over Microsoft job cuts – FT.com

now almost a quarter of Nokia workers in the Nordic country of 5.5m people are facing the start of their summer holidays with the prospect of no job to come back to. Microsoft employs 4,700 former Nokia staff in the metropolitan area of Helsinki, and in Salo, Tampere and Oulu.

The company said it will withdraw entirely from its R&D Centre in Oulu, a city of 200,000 people on Finland’s northwest coast. The centre develops software for low-cost phones and employs 500 people. It would instead focus on the development of key technologies in Tampere and Salo, Microsoft said.

The news did not come out of the blue, senior Oulu shop steward Timo Pukinkorvaa told local media – there had long been rumours that something was afoot. What was shocking, he said, was the “massive” number of redundancies and the fact that the entire unit would close.

via Anger and bewilderment in Finland over Microsoft job cuts – FT.com.

US Civil rights shame: Photos of Japanese Evacuation in San Francisco, California, 1942

Photographs show Japanese civilians evacuating areas of California and Arizona for relocation to assembly centers in California, Oregon, and Washington. Includes families preparing for evacuation; travelling to centers; registering at Wartime Civil Administration control stations. Images also depict daily activities of families at the centers; views of center facilities; federal officials and military personnel working for the relocation program.

via vintage everyday: Photos of Japanese Evacuation in San Francisco, California, 1942.