All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Photos: 7 Arrested At “Hands Up Walk Out” March For Michael Brown: Gothamist

Hundreds of protesters marched from Union Square to Times Square yesterday in another demonstration against a grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. In an attempt to sustain the momentum generated last week, activists urged high school and college students to walk out of class nationwide in solidarity.

via Photos: 7 Arrested At “Hands Up Walk Out” March For Michael Brown: Gothamist.

{Really?}Three H5N8 Introductions In Europe and Netherlands = Wild Birds

{So, where is the report of a die off in large numbers of Wigeon or Teal?}

Of a group of 150 wigeon 52 dung samples collected of which two dung samples the virus was found. The wigeon were in a pasture between Kockengen and Kamerik in the municipality Woerden, Utrecht province. The part of the bird flu virus wigeon that has been explored is genetically almost identical to the virus that has previously been found in a poultry farm in Hekendorp

via Three H5N8 Introductions In Europe and Netherlands = Wild Birds.

Avian influenza case confirmed in Guangdong, China | Vaccine News Daily

A 31-year-old woman from Dongguan in the Guangdong Province of China was diagnosed with avian influenza A (H7N9), Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health (DH) announced on Friday.

The patient is currently in critical condition at a Guangzhou hospital.

via Avian influenza case confirmed in Guangdong, China | Vaccine News Daily.

Bribery in international business – OECD

Most international bribes are paid by large companies, usually with the knowledge of senior management, according to new OECD analysis of the cost of foreign bribery and corruption.

Bribes in the analysed cases equalled 10.9% of the total transaction value on average, and 34.5% of the profits – equal to USD 13.8 million per bribe. But given the complexity and concealed nature of corrupt transactions, this is without doubt the mere tip of the iceberg, says the OECD.

Bribes are generally paid to win contracts from state-owned or controlled companies in advanced economies, rather than in the developing world, and most bribe payers and takers are from wealthy countries.

The OECD Foreign Bribery Report analyses more than 400 cases worldwide involving companies or individuals from the 41 signatory countries to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention who were involved in bribing foreign public officials. The cases took place between February 1999, when the Convention came into force, and June 2014.

via Bribery in international business – OECD.

Poultry Industry Urges Exemption for Breeders from Bird Flu Bans – The Poultry Site

{Crazy! This is probably one of the chief means of spreading disease – unintentionally!}

Recent findings of highly pathogenic H5N8 influenza in poultry flocks in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK have caused several governments around the world to suspend trade of poultry with the three countries, including hatching eggs and day-old chicks.

via Poultry Industry Urges Exemption for Breeders from Bird Flu Bans – The Poultry Site.

Artist Threatened with Censorship for Critiquing Contemporary Art Organization’s Practices

ArtLeaks

via Daniel Djamo

Daniel Djamo // Dear Mr. Luca Curci, 2014 Daniel Djamo // Dear Mr. Luca Curci, 2014

Dear Mr. Luca Curci / 2013

This work was sent to the call for artists BorderBody – Mixing Cities, an exhibition that was supposed to take place at Palazzo Barone Ferrara, from Bari (Italy), organized by International ArtExpo and Mr. Luca Turci, after they had mailed me, informing me of the deadline (November 7th, 2013). The exhibition was supposed to take place between November 28th and December 6th, 2013 (for one whole week). I never thought that they would invite me to participate yet again in an exhibition organized by them, after the following:

From: International ArtExpo
To: dndjamo@yahoo.com 
Sent: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 11:27 AM
Subject: Border Cities & New Identities | Romania 2013 – Confirmation

Dear Daniel, 

we are glad to confirm your participation in Border Cities & New Identities | Romania 2013.

Border Cities &…

View original post 969 more words

Bird flu: chickens are coming home to roost – DutchNews.nl

Bird flu: chickens are coming home to roost – DutchNews.nl.

Almost every farmer or farmers’ representative is singing from the same hymn sheet these days: it’s those dangerous migrating birds that are visiting the disease on a helpless industry. Chickens shouldn’t roam free, they say, although outbreaks occurred at six chicken farms in north west Europe where the animals were kept indoors. Scientists from the Royal Dutch Academy of Science (KNAW) are exasperated at the industry’s making scapegoats of migrating birds as there is no evidence whatsoever to support their claim. Time bomb And even if the evidence were there it would not exonerate the industry. Contamination and culls are a choice, not an inevitability. The sector and the government are consistently going for the wrong option. The sector is sitting on a time bomb. There are some hundred million chickens in the Netherlands. No other country has so many chickens caged up on such a small surface. They are also concentrated in two neighbouring regions: the Peel and the Gelderse Vallei. In the words of an epidemiologist from Wageningen university: ‘The proximity between the farms and the number of chickens means an outbreak in one single farm would be the end of the whole valley. That is the problem.’ What we should do then is scale down the livestock industry.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: Bird flu: chickens are coming home to roost http://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2014/12/bird-flu-chickens-are-coming-home-to-roost.php/

More Competition Helps Restrain Premiums In Federal Health Marketplace | Kaiser Health News

In Clark and Harrison counties in southern Indiana, where only one insurer offered coverage this year, four more are jumping in. Monthly premiums for the cheapest silver plan are decreasing by 25 percent, with 40-year-olds paying $197 for the Ambetter plan from a Medicaid-managed care company, MHS.

“As a direct result of those new players being part of the market, they displaced what had been the lowest-cost silver plan,” said Brian Liechty, an Indiana insurance agent. “So it changed the dynamics.”

via More Competition Helps Restrain Premiums In Federal Health Marketplace | Kaiser Health News.

Three Egyptian women die of bird flu | Business Standard News

Three Egyptian women have died of the H5N1 bird flu after coming into contact with infected birds, the country’s health ministry said Monday.

A 29-year-old woman from Minya province, south of Cairo, died Monday after having breathing difficulties and pneumonia, Xinhua reported citing a ministry statement.

Two other women, aged 25 and 40, died in the Upper Egyptian province of Assiut. One of them worked in a bird farm.

The health ministry has confirmed a total of 11 cases this year, including six deaths.

via Three Egyptian women die of bird flu | Business Standard News.