Plankton Bloom, Black Sea : Image of the Day – Polluting the Black Sea

The Black Sea, a large inland water body that connects eastern Europe and Asia Minor, frequently hosts widespread blooms of phytoplankton during the spring and summer seasons. This astronaut photograph, taken from the International Space Station, highlights a recent bloom in the Black Sea’s eastern half.

The phytoplankton are visible as blue to turquoise streams and swirls, carried by currents along the coastline and further out towards the middle of the sea. The urban areas of Anapa and Novorossiysk—the largest Russian seaport on the Black Sea—are visible along the northern shoreline as grey-white regions nestled between the sea and uplands dotted with limestone quarries. (Note that north is to the upper left in this image.)

Phytoplankton occupy the base of most aquatic food chains and therefore serve as the primary producers in these ecosystems, despite being microscopic in size. The term “phytoplankton” includes a number of organisms—cyanobacteria, diatoms, dinoflagellates, algae, and coccolithophores—that feed larger creatures such as fish and shrimp.

The Black Sea receives contributions of freshwater from several river systems, including the Danube, Dnieper, Dniester, and Don, but it is also connected to the saline Mediterranean and Marmara Seas. These same river systems transport nutrient-filled urban and agricultural runoff to the Black Sea; the nutrients are consumed by phytoplankton and lead to blooms.

via Plankton Bloom, Black Sea : Image of the Day.

(Politically motivated) Culls risk illegally exterminating badgers, animal expert warns | Environment | The Guardian

England’s highly controversial badger culls risk illegally wiping out every badger in the cull zones because the animals’ numbers are so poorly known, according to one of the UK’s leading badger experts.

The culls, intended to curb tuberculosis in cattle, are authorised to begin on 1 June but could prove unworkable because of the uncertainty over badger numbers, said Prof Rosie Woodroffe, at the Zoological Society of London.

The government is determined to have an impact on the disease which in 2012 meant that more than 37,000 cattle had to be slaughtered at a cost to the taxpayer of £100m. But the costs of carrying out and policing the culls will mount as animal rights campaigners mobilise to disrupt the night-time shoots and last-minute legal challenges loom.

The two pilot culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset were postponed in October after farmers’ low estimates of badger numbers were rejected in favour of higher government numbers. Now the population estimates have been reduced again, after further government study.

Sources have told the Guardian that David Cameron has made clear to the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, that another U-turn on the culls is unacceptable and that Paterson’s job is at stake. An insider said that key officials in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are “pale with worry”.

via Culls risk illegally exterminating badgers, animal expert warns | Environment | The Guardian.

 

More about securing cattle producers votes than protecting their herds

(Racist and Far-Right) Protests over murdered British soldier, pressure on Cameron | News , International | THE DAILY STAR

Neo-Nazi Brits

In a tense but largely peaceful demonstration, supporters of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) rallied in London outside Prime Minister David Cameron’s residence waving placards and shouting anti-Islamic obscenities.

“Islamic extremism is probably the number one threat to Britain,” said one protester, Ben Gates. Other demonstrators chanted “Muslim bombers off our streets”.

Another protester, Samuel Hames, said, of Rigby: “He survived his tour of foreign lands and comes home to his family and what happened to him is disgusting.”

Nearly 2,000 people marched at a similar demonstration in the northern city of Newcastle on Saturday. Two men were arrested overnight for throwing firebombs at an Islamic cultural centre in Grimsby, in the northeast of England. Similar attacks were recorded last week.

As anti-racist groups warned there could be more reprisals, Cameron came under intense pressure on Monday for going on holiday, with pictures of him relaxing in Ibiza prompting newspapers to question his leadership at a time of unease.

“Is Ibiza chillaxed [relaxed] enough for you, Prime Minister?” asked the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper.

Faith Matters, a charity working to defuse religious tensions, said it had registered a spike in reports of Islamophobic attacks in calls to its hotline, describing incidents as “very focused, very aggressive attacks”.

Two war memorials in London were vandalised with red graffiti overnight, including the word ‘Islam’ spray-painted onto one monument.

via Protests over murdered British soldier, pressure on Cameron | News , International | THE DAILY STAR.

Racism, is racism. is racism…

Egyptian Aak: Week 21

As per usual, she is right on the mark on many things. I do wish that the government stops making excuses and finds people who can make things work!

Nervana

ethipia(President Morsi in Ethiopia was welcomed by the Mining Minister. Photo via Almogaz)

Main Headline

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

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Warning! Expert: Transgenics could head off ‘the end of orange juice’

(First green revolution made Indian and South Asian farmers dependent on massive amounts of fertilizer and pesticides – same farmers ow recovering with updated traditional way of farming and using greenhouses. Transgenics become monoculture crops subject to new diseases that can wipe out whole crops. these are still folks who think/believe they are smarter than nature.)

Expert: Transgenics could head off ‘the end of orange juice’

Key players will converge on Texas A&M University June 4-6 to chart the course for the release of improved fruits and vegetables designed to head off deadly plant diseases and lead the world to a second Green Revolution, according to Dr. Bill McCutchen, executive associate director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

The North American Agricultural Biotechnology Council’s 25th annual conference, “Biotechnology and North American Specialty Crops: Linking Research, Regulation and Stakeholders,” will be held at the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M, College Station.

Stakeholders, including scientific researchers, government officials and industry leaders, will gather to discuss the role of biotechnology and regulatory policy in improving agriculture to continue feeding a growing world population, according to McCutchen.

via Expert: Transgenics could head off ‘the end of orange juice’.

Myanmar reaffirms two-child rule for Rohingya Muslims: Official

Authorities in Myanmar’s strife-torn Rakhine state said Sunday they had reaffirmed a longstanding ban on Rohingya Muslims having more than two children, in a rare acknowledgement of the controversial rule.

The junta-era policy, described by activists as “abhorrent”, has been reaffirmed in two townships, according to Win Myaing, spokesperson for the Rakhine government, in the wake of deadly religious unrest last year.

“Because the birth rate is so high in that area, a district order was imposed a long time ago to enforce monogamy and not to have more than two children. It was approved again (last week),” he said.

He said the policy had previously been put on hold because of fears over “conflicts among communities” in the state, where up to 140,000 people – mainly Rohingya Muslims – were displaced in two waves of sectarian unrest between Buddhists and Muslims last year.

via Myanmar reaffirms two-child rule for Rohingya Muslims: Official.

And the West is saying business as usual will be OK with Burma? Such cultural terrorism is as unthinkable as their suppression of full freedoms in Burma.

Migrant jobs squeeze alarms UK fruit farmers | Business | The Observer

The rise of Ukip is having unexpected consequences for Britain’s countryside. Farmers fear that the political upstart’s success has the government running scared on immigration, with the result that foreign workers could soon be absent from Britain’s fields.

“We can see there’s a toxic mix brewing,” says Alastair Brooks, who employs 200 temporary foreign workers to pick strawberries and raspberries at Langdon Manor Farm in Faversham, Kent. “People have understandable concerns about immigration, but temporary migrant workers have got tied up in the debate,” he said.

Brooks has 130 acres of his farm devoted to fruit. Without foreign workers, he says, he will have to cut production. Many other farmers are in a similar position, says the National Farmers Union, because they fear that without foreign workers they will not have the staff to do the job.

It is not an idle concern. A shortage of foreign workers in 2007 and 2008 resulted in crops being left unharvested. Since then, the seasonal agricultural workers’ scheme (Saws), which supplies about a third of the sector’s temporary labour, has been open only to Romanians and Bulgarians. However, at the end of this year, both countries’ citizens will gain full access to the EU job market. There are concerns that many of the 21,500 on the Saws scheme – which was established after the iron curtain came down to help the families of Polish and Czech servicemen unable to return home – will look for permanent jobs rather than seasonal work.

However, Brooks questions whether many will even come to the UK once the restrictions are lifted, given that their countries are closer to a booming Germany mode

via Migrant jobs squeeze alarms UK fruit farmers | Business | The Observer.

The Conclusion of Dahye’s Missiles: Tripoli Is Not a Lebanese City

I cannot imagine that the art of self-delusion has reached such levels in Lebanon that the north of the country has left in a manner similar to the south some years ago. The world and the people of all Lebanon – need one Lebanon!

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

2 missiles fell in Beirut today, targeting Hezbollah’s stronghold Dahyeh. Nobody knows why the missiles were fired.
They could be to serve as further proof for the need to extend parliament’s mandate. They could be to show that Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria is not inhumane but very needed.
They could have a multitude of reasons. But I don’t really care.

Minutes after Dahyeh was hit with the two missiles, the level of panic rose to enormous levels. Lebanese media was all over it with live coverage from the sites of the missile launch, conspiracy theories along the lines of المؤامرة على سوريا were being thrown around, to name a few.

Our minister of interior Marwan Charbel was the first Lebanese official to visit the site in question. More will soon follow because can you imagine them not visiting an area that was just targeted with two missiles?

Guess again.

Over…

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Chinese Tourist Damages 3000-Year-Old Temple in Luxor

Sigh… Wish Egyptian government was willing and able to better protect its share of the world’s treasures.

Egyptian Streets

A Chinese tourist damaged a 3,000-year-old site in Luxor causing outrage in China and Egypt after photographs taken by an embarrassed Chinese tourist were publicly shared on Chinese social media.

The tourist carved “Ding Jinhao was here,” while visiting Luxor in Egypt. Chinese social media and newspapers were quick to condemn and identify the offender, and the incident has attracted widespread criticism in China with headlines such as “China’s Tourist Shame.” The vandalist has reportedly been identified by Chinese internet users as a 15-year-old  middle-school student from Nanjing.

Shortly after the outrage, Ding Jinhao’s parents issued a statement to Chinese media.

“We want to apologize to the people of Egypt and to people across China,” said Ding’s mother.

According to Chinese bloggers, several tourists attempted to remove the markings themselves, resulting in the white smudge that appears in the photograph above.

In recent statements to the media, The Ministry of…

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Lebanon Mountain Trail inspires youth

Way too many dead birds or really bad shots for so many shotgun shells in one place.

Leelouz Café

Lebanon Mountain Trail (LMT) is a 440km long hiking trail connecting Lebanon’s northern villages by its most southern ones. The idea was born many years ago, and thousands of people have already marked their steps on that enchanting trail.

To maintain a clean and attractive trail, the LMT organizes punctual events where people, young and old, gather and clean up part of the trail.

Few weeks ago, a Lebanese school called Melkart participated with one of their classes in cleaning up part of the trail in Baskinta area (part 15 on the map) from its thousand empty gun shells, gathering no less than 50 bags of shells in only two hours! Indeed a wonderful achievement, making young people aware of the disastrous state of neglect in some places, and the continuous effort that it entitles to sustain their country with a minimum of cleanness.

LMTA - Melkart 1 2013 _DSC7059 Jpeg for webLMTA - Melkart 1 2013 _DSC7084 Jpeg for webLMTA - Melkart 1 2013 _DSC7089 Jpeg for webLMTA - Melkart 1 2013 _DSC7111 Jpeg for webLMTA - Melkart 1 2013 _DSC7116 Jpeg for webLMTA - Melkart 1 2013 _DSC7123 Jpeg for webLMTA - Melkart 1 2013 _DSC7146 Jpeg for webLMTA - Melkart 1 2013 _DSC7168 Jpeg for web

Educating kids, creating awareness around the…

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