Category Archives: Global Politics

Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!

The workers who harvest cocoa crops can’t afford the luxury of buying a chocolate bar. Watch this bittersweet video where cocoa farmers try chocolate for the first time.

We talk a lot about the chocolate industry in this space. It’s easy to forget that chocolate is a first-world luxury. Workers on cocoa farms make pennies an hour and can’t even afford the chocolate they help produce.

via Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!.

JUST STOP! RETURN SOLDIER! HONOR CEASE FIRE EVERYONE! Israeli army threatens to call up 80,000 reservists, re-occupy Rafah | Maan News Agency

The Israeli response to the capture of a soldier in Rafah will be “crushing,” Israeli media quoted the army as saying on Friday.

Israeli news website Walla said on Friday that the Israeli army threatened to call up to 80,000 reservists and to “re-occupy” Rafah.

Earlier on Friday, Hamas captured an Israeli soldier in an attack on a post east of Rafah inside the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said that Israeli forces had used the announcement of the ceasefire earlier in the evening to expand operations into the area, and the group carried out the attack before a planned ceasefire came into effect at 8 a.m.

Israel, however, said that the attack began after the ceasefire began at 9:30 a.m.

Israel has killed more than 1,500 Palestinians in its assault on Gaza over the last 25 days.

The Gaza Strip was directly occupied by Israel for nearly 40 years beginning in 1967, but in 2005 Israeli forces pulled out and a year later imposed an economic blockade after Hamas was elected in democratic elections.

Israel maintains effective control over Gaza’s airspace, borders, and sea, meaning that under international law it is still considered to be occupied.

via Israeli army threatens to call up 80,000 reservists, re-occupy Rafah | Maan News Agency.

Promising Ebola Drugs Stuck in Lab Limbo as Outbreak Rages in Africa

{Although the writer is well respected using the term promising feeds doubts about regulations designed to keep people safe and researchers accountable. This is not just red tape for the sake of red tape. Years ago, a drug with great promise was released and “oops” babies with deformed arms and legs were being born. Just a few years ago, a widely prescribed drug was found to “oops” increase the likelihood of strokes and was withdrawn. Research at U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland is done to protect members of the military from disease in areas of the world where they may be asked to serve. If they had }

Yet, some experimental therapies and vaccines show promise. Some show excellent efficacy when given to nonhuman primates deliberately infected with the virus.

Of the experimental vaccines, most work only to protect against infection. But one—designed by scientists from the Public Health Agency of Canada in conjunction with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland—protected half of the animals injected with lethal amounts of Ebola virus when administered 30 minutes post exposure.

via Promising Ebola Drugs Stuck in Lab Limbo as Outbreak Rages in Africa.

WHO, West African countries launching emergency plan to combat Ebola | News | DW.DE | 31.07.2014

Finally getting really serious (after key doctor died, two Americans died and one still fighting for life)

The response identifies the need for “several hundred more personnel” to be deployed to affected regions in order to ease the strain on medical facilities, the WHO said, appealing to donor countries for clinical doctors and nurses, epidemiologists and logisticians.

It aims to stop the transmission of Ebola by boosting disease surveillance, particularly in border areas, protecting health workers from infection and doing a better job of informing communities about the virus.

“The plan sets out new needs to respond to the outbreak across the countries and bring up the level of preparedness in neighboring countries,” said WHO spokesman Paul Garwood. “They need better information and infection-control measures.”

Travel warning (Everyone in area had been resisting travel warnings to not harm income from tourists)

The severity of the epidemic prompted the US government on Thursday to issue travel warnings to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden said the outbreak “represents a potential risk to travelers.”

The CDC is also sending 50 extra specials to affected areas, he added.

Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency Thursday and called on troops to quarantine Ebola victims, joining neighbor Liberia in implementing strict government controls.

via WHO, West African countries launching emergency plan to combat Ebola | News | DW.DE | 31.07.2014.

Gaza death toll surpasses that of Cast Lead as count hits 1,422 | Maan News Agency

YOU CAN STOP NOW – YOU PASSED YOUR MARK FOR KILLING INNOCENTS ON ONE OPERATION! The Palestinian death toll in the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza surpassed that of Operation Cast Lead on Thursday as the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks hit 1,422.

In the most recent lethal Israeli attack, an airstrike hit Khan Younis, killing 21-year-old Mohammad Yusef Abadla, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.

According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, 1,417 Palestinians were killed during Israel’s infamous three-week offensive on Gaza in 2008-2009.

via Gaza death toll surpasses that of Cast Lead as count hits 1,422 | Maan News Agency.

India puts GM crop trials on hold | Environment | The Guardian

A significant victory but people need to watch carefully – Monsanto and its allies – have deep pockets and want to control your food!

The battle over testing of genetically modified crops in India took a new turn this week with the Bharatiya Janata party-led government putting field trials on hold.

The move reverses the previous Congress party-led government’s push for GM trials, which had resulted in approvals in the past few months for rice, maize, wheat and chickpea crops. Trials are the first step towards sale and plantation of GM seeds in India.

The BJP, which came to power in May, took a stand against GM crop trials in its election manifesto.

But this week’s announcement came after the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (Forum for National Awakening) and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (Indian Farmers Association) , two grassroots groups affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist outfit that supports the BJP, met environment minister Prakash Javdekar on Tuesday to reiterate their opposition to holding GM trials.

The groups expressed concern about the potentially unknown effects on health and biodiversity as well as about the longer-term prospect of putting food production in the hands of a few multinational companies. “If a country’s food production becomes overly dependent on seeds and other inputs from a handful of such companies, will it not compromise its food security?” said the Manch in a press statement.

The biotech industry responded with dismay to the news. Stocks of Monsanto India slipped. An association of leading biotech companies in India criticised the government’s decision as “anti-science, anti-domestic research recommendations which seem motivated to kill the biotechnology sector in India.” Field trials are necessary, proponents say, to test the efficacy of seeds in real-world conditions.

But the introduction of GM crops has always been controversial in India. Opposition ranges across political lines, and many states, worried about contamination, refuse to allow field trials within their borders. Bt cotton is the only commercially available GM crop in India.

via India puts GM crop trials on hold | Environment | The Guardian.

UN: ‘world stands disgraced’ as shelter for Gaza children is shelled by Israel | World | The Guardian

United Nations officials described the killing of sleeping children as a disgrace to the world and accused Israel of a serious violation of international law after a school in Gaza being used to shelter Palestinian families was shelled on Wednesday.

At least 15 people, mostly children and women, died when the school in Jabaliya refugee camp was hit by five shells during a night of relentless bombardment across Gaza. More than 100 people were injured.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said the attack was “outrageous and unjustifiable” and demanded “accountability and justice”. The UN said its officials had repeatedly given details of the school and its refugee population to Israel.

via UN: ‘world stands disgraced’ as shelter for Gaza children is shelled by Israel | World | The Guardian.

Ebola outbreak: Royal Air Force ‘on standby’ to bring back infected Brits – Telegraph

Hard to get more racist and elitist than this – ya think? But there is an election coming soon and Cameron has to look like he is doing something – like sticking foot in mouth again!

The Royal Air Force could be called in to bring back UK citizens infected with the deadly Ebola disease from West Africa.

David Cameron has said that Ebola outbreak is a ‘very serious threat’ to the UK and the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, is preparing to chair an emergency meeting today on how to tighten Britain’s defences against the virus.

Major Thomas Fletcher, of the Royal Army Medical Corps said it was likely the meeting would discuss putting the military on alert to ‘repatriate’ Britons infected with the disease.

The Royal Air Force’s Infection Prevention Control Team is likely to be placed on standby to collect UK citizens and return them to Britain in quarantine conditions.

via Ebola outbreak: Royal Air Force ‘on standby’ to bring back infected Brits – Telegraph.

Regulations.gov – Importation of Fresh Blueberries from Morocco into the Continental United States

Spanish firm growing blueberries in desert in hot houses for export to US and Europe – Adds to carbon load on atmosphere since they must be flown to US – go figure!

Importation of Fresh Blueberries from Morocco into the Continental United States

This Rule document was issued by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

For related information, Open Docket Folder

Action

Final rule.

Summary

We are amending the regulations concerning the importation of fruits and vegetables to allow the importation of fresh blueberries from Morocco into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, the blueberries must be produced under a systems approach employing a combination of mitigation measures for two quarantine pests, Ceratitis capitata and Monilinia fructigena, and must be inspected prior to exportation from Morocco and found free of these pests. The blueberries may be imported in commercial consignments only and must be treated with one of two approved postharvest treatments to mitigate C. capitata. The blueberries will have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that the conditions for importation have been met. This action will allow the importation of blueberries from Morocco while continuing to protect against the introduction of plant pests into the United States.

via Regulations.gov – Rule Document.

Why the Islamic State has no sympathy for Hamas – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

{The guy in the photo missed his Dr. Strangelove moment by not straddling the rocket like riding a horse. They do not seem to have learned yet the the illusion that is the hardest to overcome is self-delusion.}

Most of today’s Salafist jihadist movements have no interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for the time being regarding it as irrelevant. Instead, their call is to engage in intense, bloody confrontations involving bombings, executions, and suicide attacks against governments headed by Muslims and against Muslim civilians.

via Why the Islamic State has no sympathy for Hamas – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.