January 13, 2013

Six Arrested in New India Bus Gang-Rape Case: Police

Source: AFP

19 min 42 sec ago - int

Six arrested in new India bus gang-rape case: police

Six men have been held over the rape of a passenger on a coach in northern India, police said on Sunday, just weeks after the gang-rape and murder of a student on a bus in New Delhi sparked nationwide protests.

"Six men have been arrested on allegations of having raped a 29-year-old woman... after forcibly taking her to an unknown location on the night of January 11," local police officer Raj Jeet Singh said.

Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20130113-six-arrested-new-india-bus-gang-rape-case-police

January 13, 2013

Pollution "Worst on Record" in Beijing: Greenpeace

Source: Reuters

Pollution "worst on record" in Beijing: Greenpeace

Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:25pm EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - Air quality in Beijing was the "worst on record" on Saturday and Sunday, according to environmentalists, as the city's pollution monitoring centre warned residents to stay indoors with pollution 30-45 times above recommended safety levels.

The Chinese capital, home to around 20 million people, has been wrapped in thick smog since Friday, reducing visibility and disrupting traffic.

Data posted on Sunday by the monitoring centre (www.bjmemc.com.cn) showed particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) had reached more than 600 micrograms per square meter at some monitoring stations in Beijing, and was as high as 900 on Saturday evening.

- snip -

"This is really the worst on record not only from the official data but also from the monitoring data from the U.S. embassy -- some areas in (neighboring) Hebei province are even worst than Beijing," said Zhou Rong, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE90C01Q20130113

January 13, 2013

'Zero Dark Thirty' and Torture

http://ggsidedocs.blogspot.com/2012/12/frank-bruni-new-york-times-its-hard-not.html?m=1

Yes, this is from last month and, yes, you have to click on the link... I'm not cut-and-pasting and reducing the impact.

January 12, 2013

Experts Fear Collapse of Global Civilisation

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/01/experts-fear-collapse-of-global-civilisation

Experts Fear Collapse of Global Civilisation

Published on January 11th, 2013
Written by: Stephen Leahy

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jan 11 2013 (IPS) – Experts on the health of our planet are terrified of the future. They can clearly see the coming collapse of global civilisation from an array of interconnected environmental problems.

“We’re all scared,” said Paul Ehrlich, president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University. “But we must tell the truth about what’s happening and challenge people to do something to prevent it,” Ehrlich told IPS.

Global collapse of human civilisation seems likely, write Ehrlich and his partner Anne Ehrlich in the prestigious science journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society.

This collapse will take the form of a “…gradual breakdown because famines, epidemics and resource shortages cause a disintegration of central control within nations, in concert with disruptions of trade and conflicts over increasingly scarce necessities”, they write.

- snip -

Escalating climate disruption, ocean acidification, oceanic dead zones, depletion of groundwater and extinctions of plants and animals are the main drivers of the coming collapse, they write in their peer-reviewed article “Can a collapse of global civilisation be avoided?” published this week.

- snip -

“We talked to many of the world’s leading experts to reflect what is really happening,” said Ehrlich, who is an eminent biologist and winner of many scientific awards.

- snip -

“To continue with ‘business as usual’ is an act of suicide on a gargantuan scale,” Prince Charles concluded.

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January 12, 2013

Hostess Sells Bread Brands, Bakeries, Depots for $390M

Source: CBS News

NEW YORK Hostess Brands says it is selling most of its bread business, including the Wonder and Nature's Pride brands, to Flowers Foods (FLO) for $390 million.

Twinkies maker threatens to liquidate

Bidders cast hungry eyes on Hostess, Twinkies?

Twinkies maker Hostess Brands ready for big bake sale

The sale also includes Butternut, Home Pride, Merita and Beefsteak breads, along with 20 bakeries and 38 depots.


Read more: http://m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?pageType=moneywatch&catid=57563616&feed_id=76&videofeed=43

January 10, 2013

One in 25 U.S. Teens Has Attempted Suicide: Study

Source: Reuters

One in 25 U.S. teens has attempted suicide: study

Wed Jan 9, 2013 11:14pm EST

(Reuters) - About one in 25 U.S. teens has attempted suicide, and one in eight has thought about it, according to a national study based on interviews with thousands of teens.

Researchers, whose findings appeared in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, said those numbers are similar to the prevalence of lifetime suicidal thinking and attempts reported by adults, suggesting that the teenage years are an especially vulnerable time.

"What adults say is, the highest risk time for first starting to think about suicide is in adolescence," said Matthew Nock, a psychologist who worked on the study at Harvard University.

The results are based on in-person interviews of close to 6,500 teens in the United States and questionnaires filled out by their parents. Along with asking youth about their suicidal thinking, plans and attempts, interviewers also determined which teens fit the bill for a range of mental disorders.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE90904720130110

January 9, 2013

Frankenyear 2012: Hottest on Record, as US emits 5 bn tons of CO2 Annually

http://www.juancole.com/2013/01/frankenyear-hottest-annually.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+juancole%2Fymbn+%28Informed+Comment%29

Frankenyear 2012: Hottest on Record, as US emits 5 bn tons of CO2 Annually

Published on January 9th, 2013
Written by: Juan

Can we sue the Koch brothers and all the other dirty-energy, climate change-denying moguls yet for the billions they are costing us in climate disasters every year because of their poisonous carbon emissions?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that:

“2012 marked the warmest year on record for the contiguous United States with the year consisting of a record warm spring, second warmest summer, fourth warmest winter and a warmer-than-average autumn. The average temperature for 2012 was 55.3°F, 3.2°F above the 20th century average, and 1.0°F above 1998, the previous warmest year.”



The temperatures set records in 19 states and they were warmer than average in all of the lower 48.

Frankenyear was also the 2nd most destructive on record, lashing the nation with 11 catastrophes that reached at least $1 bn. in losses — including hurricanes, drought, wildfires, tornadoes and the great storm surge in New York City. Hurricanes are fed by warm water, and warmer water makes them more destructive and longer-lasting. It was the unusual warmth of the ocean off the New York coast that allowed Sandy to strike up there with such force. The average surface temperature of the earth has increased one Centigrade degree (1.8 Fahrenheit degrees) in the past century, and is heading for a calamitous 4 C. degrees increase in this century.

It was the 15th driest year on record. In summer of 2012, a massive drought smothered 61% of the country. Hawaii likewise was extremely dry, with drought in 63.3% of the state. On the mainland, wildfires raged through 9.2 million acres of forest, the third highest on record. The Mississippi River is so low that bigger river ships can’t go out on it, stretches of it are deserted like a ‘ghost town,’ and some of it could be closed altogether as it heads below 3 feet in depth. Ironically, the Mississippi carries a lot of hydrocarbons like petroleum, the very fuels that are causing its current travails.

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January 9, 2013

USADA Head: I Got Death Threats During Lance Armstrong Probe

Source: CBS News

USADA head: I got death threats during Armstrong probe

January 08, 2013 (CBS News) Travis Tygart is the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which polices U.S. Olympic sports. Lance Armstrong won the world's most grueling event, the Tour de France, seven times. But after Tygart's investigation, Armstrong lost all of his titles. In his first interview, Tygart spoke with us for the premier of a new program, "60 Minutes Sports" on Showtime. Tygart says Armstrong was doping in his very first win at the Tour de France in 1999. The drug was EPO, which boosts endurance.

TRAVIS TYGART: Six samples that were taken from Lance Armstrong were retested in '05. And they were positive.

Read more: http://m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?&pageType=eveningNews&catid=57562869&feed_id=29&nb_splitPage=1

January 8, 2013

Breaking: Judge Reduces Possible Sentence for Manning (Unlawful Pretrial Punishment)

Source: Associated Press

@BreakingNews: Judge reduces possible sentence for Bradley Manning, Army private accused of sending secret information to WikiLeaks - @AP

@kgosztola: Military court grants Bradley Manning 112 days sentencing credit for unlawful pretrial punishment

JUDGE REDUCES POSSIBLE SENTENCE IN WIKILEAKS CASE

By DAVID DISHNEAU
— Jan. 8 4:14 PM EST

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A military judge has reduced the potential sentence for an Army private accused of sending reams of classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.

Col. Denise Lind ruled Tuesday during a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade for Pfc. Bradley Manning.

Lind found that Manning suffered illegal pretrial punishment during nine months in a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va. She awarded a total of 112 days off any prison sentence Manning gets if he is convicted. Defense attorneys had sought to have the charges against him dismissed.

Manning was confined to a windowless cell 23 hours a day, sometimes with no clothing. Brig officials say it was to keep him from hurting himself or others.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/gis-hearing-wikileaks-case-focuses-motive

January 8, 2013

Climate Change is Turning Australia Purple with Blazing Heat

http://www.juancole.com/2013/01/turning-australia-blazing.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+juancole%2Fymbn+%28Informed+Comment%29

Climate Change is turning Australia Purple with Blazing Heat

Published on January 8th, 2013
Written by: Juan

The heat wave or “dome of heat” afflicting Australia may produce a record temperature of over 122 degrees F. (over 50 degrees C.). For temperatures above 122 F., Australian weathermen have developed a new color scheme, purple, which they hadn’t had to use before (the last record temperature in that range was just about 122 F. on one day in 1961). The average temperature across the country is unprecedentedly hot nowadays.



Climate change is implicated in this disaster. Average temperatures have risen 1 degree Centigrade in the past century, and may rise by 5 degrees C. (9 degrees F.) by 2070, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Nine of Australia’s 20 highest recorded temperatures in the past century have occurred since 2000.

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