Category Archives: environment

Mali Reports a Second, Larger Ebola Outbreak – NYTimes.com

The first case in the new outbreak was a 70-year-old religious figure, a grand imam, who fell ill in Guinea and traveled to Mali for better treatment at a major private clinic in Bamako, Mali’s capital.

He died there on Oct. 27, and because of his importance, his body was washed at a large Bamako mosque before being returned to Guinea for burial.

But the Pasteur Clinic, where he was treated, failed to diagnose Ebola as the underlying cause of the kidney failure it was treating him for. According to a World Health Organization description of the case, numerous tests were performed, but not one for Ebola.

It was only realized how infectious he was after a nurse at the clinic fell ill and died, and when the chief W.H.O. representative in Mali heard from his counterparts in Guinea that the imam’s family members were dying.

“It was a real failure by the clinic,” said Dr. Ibrahima Soce Fall, the W.H.O. Mali team leader, in a telephone interview.

via Mali Reports a Second, Larger Ebola Outbreak – NYTimes.com.

AFRICA/SUDAN – Alarm: haemorrhagic fever in Southern Kordofan – Fides News Agency

The inhabitants of the town of Kadugli, Abu Jubaiha and Habila, Southern Kordofan, have complained about the appearance of a fever unknown to them. Meanwhile, the local Ministry of Health has been informed about the spread of this potentially deadly hemorrhagic fever, known as leishmaniasis and have sent a team of doctors. The symptoms reported by people are high fever, vomit and headache. The mortality rate is increasing, there is lack of medicines and medical centers. The Minister of Health in the Country has declared the contagion of 25 people who are isolated in hospitals, but so far there have been no deaths. The government has told health officials to intensify surveillance in areas where the disease has been recorded, including the three locations indicated. According to WHO, the definition of viral hemorrhagic fever refers to very serious diseases that can be caused by various viruses. Visceral leishmaniasis, also known as “black fever”, is a parasitic disease that kills almost all of those who contract it. It is caused by the bite of a pappataceo.

via AFRICA/SUDAN – Alarm: haemorrhagic fever in Southern Kordofan – Fides News Agency.

Brazil’s indigenous population can use their land, but are not its owners | Latina Lista

In short – Brazil can do whatever it wants with the land since it belongs to the government and not the people who live there!

 

The geographer and researcher from the University of São Paulo, Camila Salles de Faria, tells the Americas Program that in Brazil there are only two modalities for possessing land, a public and a private one. According to her, although indigenous lands will be recognized through demarcation of space, the land does not actually belong to the indigenous people, since in Brazil’s legal system communal or collective property does not exist, thus it remains beneath the jurisdiction of the state, and if at any moment it decides to interfere in the area, it is able to.

via Brazil’s indigenous population can use their land, but are not its owners | Latina Lista.

3 Found With Drones Near Nuclear Plant Are Questioned in France – NYTimes.com

Adding to the mystery, Ségolène Royal, the environment minister, has said that she does not have any leads on who was behind the flights. While she said she would not let anyone undermine France’s reputation for security at its nuclear plants, she added that the threat posed by the drone flights should neither be minimized nor exaggerated.

France has 19 nuclear plants and 58 nuclear reactors that supply nearly 75 percent of its electricity.

The newspaper Le Figaro, citing an anonymous government official, has reported that police officers are under orders to shoot down any aircraft that could threaten the plants.

With sling shots? Air guns? A “drone” can be a 12 inch or smaller uav helicopter  for $29.95 from Amazon.com! Occupy EU? Greenpeace?

via 3 Found With Drones Near Nuclear Plant Are Questioned in France – NYTimes.com.

Vets gas 31,000 turkeys to stop flu spread – The Local

“This is the virus’s first hotspot and that has to be stamped out immediately,” veterinarian Holger Vogel said.

Turkeys in Heinrichswalde, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, were found to have the highly pathogenic influenza virus, H5N8, which was previously only found in Asia.

via Vets gas 31,000 turkeys to stop flu spread – The Local.

Industrialized farming does it and looks as though they were trying to save money buying hatchlings from China – 😦

What your brain looks like on magic mushrooms – Telegraph

Brain on right connected by shroom power!

It might look the uninspired doodlings from a Spirograph session but, this is how connections in the brain look when it is intoxicated with magic mushrooms.

Researchers analysed MRI scans of 15 people who were injected with psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, and compared them to scans of their normal brain activity.

The result shows how areas of the brain which are not normally linked are suddenly connected.

The scientists say it might explain how psychedelic drugs produce their mind-altering effects and a heightened state of awareness.

Study co-author Giovanni Petri, a mathematician at Italy’s Institute for Scientific Interchange, said: ““In a normal brain, many things are happening. You don’t know what is going on, or what is responsible for that, so you try to perturb the state of consciousness a bit, and see what happens.”

via What your brain looks like on magic mushrooms – Telegraph.

In France, Dam Is the Catalyst for a Flood of Young People’s Anger – NYTimes.com

Many of those who gathered to oppose the dam call themselves “Zadistes,” or partisans of the ZAD, the French acronym for zones à defendre, or areas to defend. They say they have come to build an independent society. Increasingly, they are seen as environmental extremists, or “green jihadists,” as Xavier Beulin, the president of the main agriculture union, put it.

“For once, we are fighting a project that represents symbolically what we reject,” said Jordan Samson, a geography student in the southern city of Toulouse. “Our movement is spreading to an entire generation.”

The protests here are the latest aimed at a widening number of projects that the demonstrators criticize as monuments to the overweening ambitions of local politicians and their business connections.

Last month, demonstrations in support of the Zadistes were held across France, including in Nantes, where more than a hundred protesters went on a rampage. In the nearby town of Gaillac, several shops and a memorial to war dead were vandalized.

via In France, Dam Is the Catalyst for a Flood of Young People’s Anger – NYTimes.com.

Winged beauties under threat – The Hindu

A recent study by the scientists of the Zoological Survey of India, (ZSI) has revealed that of the 1,677 species and subspecies found in India, more than one-fourth (close to 425) are either threatened or endangered.

Of the 425 species of butterflies, 123 species and subspecies of butterflies are included under Schedule- I (Part- IV) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, while 302 subspecies and species are under Scheduled II (Part II) of the Act.

via Winged beauties under threat – The Hindu.