Odd Stories: Dog Gets $30K Line of Credit

Kelly Sloan's daughter,Gabriella, holds up a picture of Spark and his credit card from Capital One

Sarina, Ontario - A dog that died more than ten years ago has been given a credit card by Capital One.

Spark, the dog of Kelly Sloan, was mailed a card for a $30,000 line of credit and told in the letter “We’re not offering our low long-term rate to just anyone.”

The story of Spark getting a credit card started ten years ago. When his father died in 1999, Capital One, with whom Kelly's dad had an account, continued to send information, notices, and updates despite Kelly telling them his father passed away numerous times.

Frustrated, he decided to fill out a form in his dog's name, thinking they would get the idea.  However it didn't and soon his deceased dog started getting offers.


The company, thoroughly embarrassed, issued an apology and an explanation.

“We do comb through to make sure we’re sending them to the appropriate people, but obviously there’s an error here and we apologize,” said Capital One representative Laurel Ostfield. He then said the company collects information in various ways and "somehow" Kely's dog's name slipped through the cracks.

This flies in the face of her next statement: “Once we receive a completed application, we do a number of additional checks that are designed to confirm the information provided is accurate and only legally approved applicants will be considered.”


Kelly has an overall good sense of humor about it, saying “They’ve got the right name, the right address, and it’s a heck of a deal. She can apply online today, and I guess, get her card. With the economy the way it is, I can understand they’re becoming a little more lenient than they were as far as passing out credit cards.”

Odd Stories: Cops Close in on Party Responsible for Vermont Pig

Odd Stories: Son Wants Mom Evicted From Her Own Hom

Odd Stories: England's Biggest Baby Born

Swindon, England - A baby weighing almost 13 lbs. is probably the heaviest born in the country.

Gemma Tevendale says her daughter Suzie Valentia was born naturally not just heavy, but with two teeth as well.

Gemma and her husband James Gzowski were born with a normal birth weight but the secret may lie in Gemma's diet. Her other two children were born at almost 11 lbs. The theory is that her eating a lot of fish, which she admitted to doing, contributed to her heavier than normal children.

Experts say the heaviest ever born previous to this was 12 lbs 9 oz., which is about three ounces less than Suzie.

The heaviest ever recorded was slightly less than 23 lbs and was born in Italy in 1955.

Odd Stories: Mickey Mouse Causes Shutdown of School.

In my off time, I'm Pedobear!

Canfield, Ohio - After a brief appearance at a school, the disappearance of Micky Mouse on  Valentine's Day caused an elementary school to temporarily shut down.


The lock-down was the result of a parent's unannounced appearance at her daughter's classroom as the famed Disney character. Although she filled out the proper procedure by singing in at the office when she arrived, the principal was unaware of her visit.  When he was told about Mickey Mouse showing up at the school, then disappearing, he was alarmed.


“It was a case of, Mickey Mouse was here, and then he was missing. Our building principal called our school resource officer and the building went into lock-down as a precaution...We do practice lock-down drills,[but] this is the one time we’ve had to put it in effect,” C. H. Campbell Elementary School superintendent Dante Zambrini said. He added the lock-down went well, and he is met with the school’s assigned police officer  to discuss it.

“We do practice lockdown drills,” Zambrini said. “This is the one time we’ve had to put it in effect.”

Odd Stories: Danish Police to Ask Robbers for Help

Copenhagen - City police think they have a new way to deal with a rash of burglaries: go straight to the experts.

In what can be called an unprecedented move by cops anywhere in the world, over the next few months burglars caught stealing in the Zealand district will be asked about their profession.

This comes after the area saw a 60 percent rise in break-ins about their targets, motives, and disposal of evidence.

Police spokeswoman Finn Bernth Andersen admits the force isn't sure if the project will succeed but said they'll do anything to decrease the amount of crimes.

J&J Recalls Infant Tylenol Due to Bottle Flaw

By Lewis Krauskopf

United States - Johnson & Johnson said it was recalling its entire U.S. supply of infant Tylenol after parents complained about problems with a new dosing system, the latest in a string of recalls for the healthcare giant.

Friday's recall involves about 574,000 bottles of the grape-flavored liquid Tylenol for infants younger than 2 years old. Following earlier recalls, J&J had just returned to the market with the infant Tylenol in November, but now will be out of the market for an indefinite time.

The problems involves a new bottle design, which was intended to prevent accidental ingestion and ensure accurate dosing. But when parents inserted a syringe into the bottle, some accidentally pushed a protective cover inside. To date, J&J has received 17 complaints, company spokeswoman Bonnie Jacobs said.

No serious side effects from the infant Tylenol have been reported, and the risk of such problems are "remote," J&J said.

The recall is from stores and wholesalers; consumers can still use the product provided that the protective cover at the top of the bottle remains in place, J&J said.

The recall does not affect Tylenol for children 2 years and older, for which J&J also introduced a new but different design.

The company had said last summer that it was planning to return its products to the markets with the improved designs.

J&J spokeswoman Jacobs said the company did not have a specific date for when it would return to the market with infant Tylenol.

"We are looking for various alternatives for the redesign," Jacobs said. "Once we have reviewed those options, we will set a timeline for the product to return."\

The product was manufactured to specifications, so the company is investigating why it was not performing as expected, Jacobs said.

Jacobs said the company would only make note of a financial impact from the recall when it reports quarterly results, but that infant Tylenol was a "relatively modest" portion of overall sales.

The recall is the latest in a long series for J&J, including not only popular consumer medicine brands such as Tylenol, but also artificial hips and contact lenses.

EU Blames Iceland for Collapse of "Mackerel War" Talks

European Union - The latest round of talks to try to resolve a dispute over mackerel fishing rights in the northeast Atlantic has ended in failure, with the EU's fisheries chief blaming Iceland and the Faroe Islands for their collapse.


Officials have so far held five rounds of talks to try to end the ongoing "mackerel war," which began in 2010 when Iceland increased its annual catch quota for the fish from around 2,000 tons to 130,000 tons.

Faroese mackerel catches have increased six-fold in the last two years to reach 150,000 tons in 2011.

The massive increase in quotas has brought both countries into conflict with fishermen from Scotland, Ireland and Norway, and threaten to derail Iceland's bid to join the 27-nation EU.

Last month, Iceland's economics minister said the dispute over fishing rights would probably be the biggest hurdle in the country's EU membership bid, which is losing support among Icelanders.

"It is particularly disappointing that neither Iceland nor the Faroe Islands really engaged in the negotiating process," EU fisheries chief Maria Damanaki said in a statement after the talks in Reykjavik.

"The Union and Norway call on Iceland and the Faroe Islands to reduce their current unsustainable fishing levels," she said. "We remain ready in the future to continue to seek a reasonable and fair quota sharing arrangement."

Iceland and the Faroe Islands have said the increase in their quotas is justified because warmer temperatures have caused migratory mackerel to swim further north than ever before into their waters.

For its part, the EU has threatened to stop Icelandic and Faroese fishermen from landing their catches at EU ports.

Asian Demand for Ivory Drives Massive Slaughter of Elephants

Cameroon - In less than two months' time more than 200 of Cameroon's elephants have been poached, according to a local radio station and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Gambo Haman, governor of the country's north region said "We are talking about a very serious case of trans-frontier poaching, involving well-armed poachers with modern weapons from Sudan and Chad who are decimating this wildlife species to make quick money from the international ivory trade...In January we counted 146 (elephant) carcasses and since the beginning of this month we've had close to 60 already. This may only be a tip of the iceberg as some may have been killed in parts of the park that we cannot access." He also mentioned the poachers usually road on horses and got help from the local populace in exchange for the meat.  The locals also see the elephants as pests.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said cross-border poaching was common during the dry season but the sheer number of killed elephants so far is record-breaking.


TRAFFIC, a conservation group, warned last year that the huge demand for ivory in Asian countries such as Malaysia and China would cause a supply spike in Africa. This puts the number of killed elephants to about 2,500 and the weight of ivory to 25 tons. The elephants aren't the only ones in danger. So far six Chadian soldiers were also killed as they tried to arrest poachers.

Although Haman said he's released troops to respond as quickly as possible to the poaching, he said there weren't enough troops to cover the entire area.

When asked how many elephants may remain in the country, IFAW said they weren't sure but put the estimate to between 1,000 and 5,000.

Influence Game: Leaks Show Group's Climate Efforts

By Seth Borstein

Washington — Leaked documents from a prominent conservative think tank show how it sought to teach schoolchildren skepticism about global warming and planned other behind-the-scenes tactics using millions of dollars in donations from big corporate names.

More than $14 million of the money used by the Chicago-based Heartland Institute would come from one anonymous man, according to the leaked documents prepared for a meeting of the group's board.

Heartland is one of the loudest voices denying man-made global warming, hosting the largest international scientific conference of skeptics on climate change. Several of its documents were leaked this week to the news media, showing the planning and money behind its efforts. Heartland said some of the documents weren't accurate, but declined to be more specific.

As detailed in the papers, Heartland's plans for this year included paying an Energy Department consultant $100,000 to design a curriculum to teach school children that mainstream global warming science is in dispute, even though it's a fact accepted by the federal government and nearly every scientific professional organization. It also pays prominent global warming skeptics more than $300,000 a year and plans to raise $88,000 to help a former television weatherman set up a new temperature records website.

"The stolen documents appear to have been written by Heartland's president for a board meeting that took place on Jan. 17," Heartland said in a statement. "The authenticity of those documents has not been confirmed." The institute singled out one of the six documents — claiming to be a summary of efforts on the issue of global warming — as a fake.

Because Heartland was not specific about what was fake and what was real, The Associated Press attempted to verify independently key parts of separate budget and fundraising documents that were leaked. The federal consultant working on the classroom curriculum, the former TV weatherman, a Chicago elected official who campaigns against hidden local debt and two corporate donors all confirmed to the AP that the sections in the document that pertained to them were accurate. No one the AP contacted said the budget or fundraising documents mentioning them were incorrect.

David Wojick, a Virginia-based federal database contractor, said in an email that the document was accurate about his project to put curriculum materials in schools that promote climate skepticism.

"My goal is to help them teach one of the greatest scientific debates in history," Wojick said. "This means teaching both sides of the science, more science, not less."

Five government and university climate scientists contacted said they were most disturbed by Wojick's project, fearing the teaching would be more propaganda rooted in politics than peer-reviewed science.

Businesses and other interests often offer free curriculum materials to financially strapped schools, hoping that teachers will use them and help disseminate their views or promote their products.

Energy Department spokeswoman Jen Stutsman said Wojick's federal work has nothing to do with climate change and that the agency maintains that global warming is real and manmade.

Heartland also planned to spend $210,000 to help Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas tour the nation to speak about municipal debt, according to one document. Pappas lost to Barack Obama in the 2004 

Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat. Pappas confirmed this in a phone interview, saying what Heartland was doing was exposing a "financial tsunami" of municipal debt.

The leaked document also discusses a new million-dollar Heartland initiative to promote the ability of patients to use experimental drugs that have not yet received federal safety approval, and efforts to support embattled Wisconsin Republican leaders in "Operation Angry Badger." Those parts of the documents were not independently confirmed.

The documents also show Heartland has raised more than $2 million from large insurance companies and nearly half a million dollars from tobacco interests.

A person who emailed 15 media and bloggers as "Heartland insider" sent six different documents purporting to be from the libertarian think tank. The insider then killed the email account used to send the documents and could not be reached. Heartland spokesman Jim Lakely would not confirm or deny the claims made in the five documents that he did not call fake.

The most sensational parts of the documents — and much of what has been confirmed independently — had to do with global warming and efforts to spread doubt into what mainstream scientists are saying. Experts long have thought Heartland and other groups were working to muddy the waters about global warming, said Harry Lambright, a Syracuse University public policy professor who specializes in environment, science and technology issues.

"Scientifically there is no controversy. Politically, there is a controversy because there are political interest groups making it a controversy," Lambright said. "It's not about science. It's about politics. To some extent they are winning the battle."

A 2010 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences surveyed more than 1,300 most cited and published climate scientists and found that 97 percent of them said climate change was a man-made problem. Yet, public opinion polls show far more doubt in the American public.

An environmental advocacy group, Forecast the Facts, on Thursday started a petition and social media campaign to complain to two of Heartland's corporate donors listed on the documents, Microsoft and General Motors. The two were not the biggest donors; Microsoft donated $69,000 over three years, while the General Motors Foundation gave $45,000. But those are companies that "need to hear from their customers" that they are not happy about promoting climate skepticism, especially after General Motors got a government bailout, campaign director Daniel Souweine said.

General Motors spokesman Greg Martin said the company's foundation gives money to "a variety of different groups holding a variety of opinions." Microsoft said through its public relations agency that it donates software to 44,000 nonprofits that pass IRS standards, as Heartland does, and that it considers climate change a serious issue.

The documents showed how heavily Heartland relies on a single person it identified only as "Anonymous Donor." In the past six years, the man has given $14.26 million to the institute, nearly half its $33.9 million in revenue.

Interracial Marriages Gaining Greater Approval in America

United States – Those who wish to see interracial marriages die off are not only going to be disappointed, but sorely so.

Marriages between people of different races and ethnic groups are at an all-time high in the United States and acceptance to it is high according to a Pew Research Center poll.

In 1980, interracial marriages made up just above three percent of the married population. Now that number is more than double, with almost eight-and-a-half percent. Also, compared to marriage data from the 80s, marriages between couples of different races or ethnicities more than doubled to 15 percent.

As far as the poll goes, it shows 43 percent of Americans view interracial marriages benefit society as a whole while 44 percent say it doesn't matter and about 11 percent see it as a detriment and . More than a third say someone in their immediate family or a relative is married to someone of a different race. As to be expected, minorities, the college-educated, people who identify as liberal, and younger adults see intermarriages as a good thing. Regionally the Northwest and West are more disposed to the idea, though it most happens in the Western section of the United States.  This is followed by 14% in the South (14%), Northeast (13%), and the Midwest (11%).

Asians are at the top of the list, with almost 28 percent, followed by Hispanics at almost 26 percent. Blacks and whites are at almost 17 percent and 9 percent respectively.

Unexplained Dolphin Strandings Continue in Massachusetts.

By Jay Lindsay

Wellfleet, Massachusetts - There's no good spot on Cape Cod for dolphins to continue this winter's massive and unexplained beachings, but a group of 11 has chosen one of the worst.

The remote inlet down Wellfleet's Herring River is a place where the tides recede fast and far, and that's left the animals mired in a grayish-brown mud one local calls "Wellfleet mayonnaise."

Walking is the only way to reach the animals, but it's not easy. Rescuers crunch through cord grass and seashells before hitting a grabby muck that releases a footstep only after a sucking pop. One volunteer hits a thigh-deep "hole" and tumbles forward. The mud covers his face like messy war paint the rest of the morning.

Rescuers make a quick assessment once they reach the animals.

One dolphin is dead, but the other 10 appear healthy, and some bang their tails in the shallows, struggling to move. Rescuers decide the best course is to wait for the incoming tide to free the dolphins, then boats can try to herd them out of trouble. The only other alternative is hauling them to a waiting trailer, and open water. But the trailer is nearly a mile away.

Waiting has risks. Dolphins can't survive long on land and there's no guarantee the boats can push the dolphins on to safety.

"Now's where we start crossing our fingers," said Brian Sharpe of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, as he heads for a boat.

A year ago, Tuesday's 11 stranded dolphins would have seemed remarkable. Now, they just add to a growing tally.

In the last month, 177 short-beaked common dolphins have stranded on Cape Cod, and 124 have died. The total is nearly five times the average of 37 common dolphins that have stranded annually during the last 12 years.

So far, there's no explanation.

Workers at the IFAW, which has led the rescue efforts, tag and take blood samples of the stranded animals, necropsies have been done on dead dolphins and a Congressional briefing was held early this month in the push for answers. But researchers can offer only theories about things such as changes in weather, water temperature or behavior of the dolphins' prey.

Geography may also play a role, if the dolphins are getting lost along the Cape's jagged inner coastline, in towns like Wellfleet.

In mid-February, Wellfleet feels like a place long emptied out after a dimly-remembered party. A closed mini-golf course, candy store and drive-in theater are among the dormant summer businesses seen on a drive into town. A downtown road rolls past shuttered cottages and motel cabins.

But Wellfleet is a hot spot for the dolphin strandings, in part because of features such as Jeremy Point, a thin peninsula that blocks the way to Cape Cod Bay if the dolphins wander too far into the town's harbor. The IFAW boat is charged with pushing the animals past the point Tuesday, once they're freed.

Meanwhile, rescuers in orange vests and black waders work in pairs to move the dolphins on slings, bringing them closer together and pointed the right way.

"We'll take advantage of the fact that they're social animals," said Kerry Branon, an IFAW spokeswoman. "We're hoping if we release them together, they'll stick together and then we'll herd them out around the point."

Not all the dolphins are on board, though. One drifts off to the left, where he could beach again. The manager of the stranding team, Katie Moore, slides over, grabs its dorsal fin, and gives it a push in the right direction.

"You're going the wrong way, buddy," she says.

The inlet continues to fill and the dolphins break into waters that are deeper than the rescuers can follow, but they're in two groups. The IFAW's boat eventually follows one pod and the Wellfleet harbormaster takes another. The noise from the motors pushes the dolphins ahead. So do acoustic pingers, devices that make a sound that annoys the dolphins.

From here, all the shore workers can do is await word from the boats, which will follow the dolphins until dark, if needed. The crew trudges off the beach and gathers later in a parking lot at the Wellfleet marina, where coffee and two boxes of doughnut holes will be served.

Volunteer Mike Giblin, muck still on his face, sits in his truck and explains why, at 64, he can't wait to get an early-morning call to help the dolphins. The animals are special, says the retired high school teacher. He adds that the dolphins somehow know the workers are there to help. He's certain.

Moore later smiles at the thought, but dismisses any mystical link with the animals.

"They're wild animals," she says. "This is not comforting for them. They don't want to be touched."

The day's gray cold has soaked through Moore and she's worn out. Help for her team is coming from different places; some workers from a Virginia aquarium assisted Tuesday. But she says the pace of the strandings has been exhausting.

"We just don't know when it's going to end anymore," she said. "That wears on people."

She's been encouraged by IFAW's success so far in getting dolphins back to sea. She also believes in the work.

"I think that as humans we have such a huge impact on the ocean environment and on these animals in other ways, that this is our opportunity to do the right thing."

As Moore speaks, her eyes flicker out to the harbor, where she can see the harbormaster's boat has led its group of dolphins to sea. But her agency's boat is still out, and she wonders if those dolphins will make it, or simply beach again. She wonders if she'll soon be second-guessing her decision to let the tide try to free the dolphins, rather than her workers.

But it's too soon for answers.

"Ask me tomorrow how I feel about that decision," she said.

First Handshake in Space Takes Place

Cape Canaveral, Florida - The first robot - human handshake in space occurred Wednesday.

Daniel Burbank, the commander of the International Space Station, shook hands with Robonaut.

Robonaut is a NASA robot that went into space last February on the Discovery shuttle. Its intended aim is to see how it can help astronauts perform space duties.

Using computer software, ground controllers made Robonaut extend his right hand. Burbank did the same with his and shook it up-and-down. Robonaut even slightly tightened his grip, which Burbank said was “a firm handshake.”

Robonaut said, on a Twitter account, “The handshake was definitely one of the highlights of the day, but I'm not done yet”

A future model could possibly go outside for spacewalks as well.

Justice Dept. Ignored Law Requiring Annual Submission of Surveillance Reports to Congress

United States - For five years, the U.S. Department of Justice failed to inform Congress about the surveillance by federal law enforcement of certain types of email and telephone information, despite a lawful requirement to do so.

 

Using what’s known as pen register and trap-and-trace capturing, agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives increasingly snooped on Internet communications by the tens of thousands from 2004 to 2008.

 

During this period, the frequency of this wiretapping method nearly doubled, from 10,885 to 21,152, according to Wired’s Danger Room.

 

But the Justice Department did not report as required to lawmakers on this activity. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which is supposed to receive these reports, also was not pro-active in reminding the agency that it had failed to comply with federal law.

 

Types of information collected through pen registers and trap-and-trace capturing include phone numbers of calls made and received, as well as the senders and recipients (and sometimes the subject lines) of email messages.

 

With a collective straight face, the Justice Department has claimed that the failure to submit the annual surveillance reports to Congress was an oversight or a “mistake.” In 2004, the Justice Department turned in its reports for 1999-2003, and in December 2010 it posted its reports online for the years 2004-2009.

5,000 Homeless Americans Live in Tent Cities

By Noel Brinkerhoff

 

United States - While the U.S. unemployment rate has improved slightly in recent months, the rosy news of better times ahead contrasts with the difficult reality still haunting many Americans, especially for those living in tents to survive.

 

It is estimated that at least 5,000 individuals today call “tent cities” their home. These makeshift, and unhealthy, settlements have sprung up in more than 50 cities, including Portland, Oregon; Lakewood, New Jersey; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Pinellas Park, Florida; and Bakersfield, California.

 

Some of the tent cities house a few dozen, while others provide shelter for as many as 300. Many are supported by local churches while others face eviction because of safety code violations.

 

The conditions of the encampment in Ann Arbor have been described as “unhygienic." There are no toilets and electricity is only available in the one communal tent where the campers huddle around a wood stove for warmth in the heart of winter,” according to the BBC News.

Hackers Claim Attack on American Tear Gas Company

United States/Egypt - A U.S. security company whose tear gas has been used against Egyptian demonstrators has become the latest victim of the Anonymous movement, hackers claimed Tuesday.

In a statement posted to the Internet, hackers claimed to have broken into Combined Systems Inc.'s website and stolen personal information belonging to clients and employees of the Jamestown, Pennsylvania-based firm. They accused the company of being run by war profiteers who sell "mad chemical weapons to militaries and cop shops around the world."

The hackers' claims could not immediately be verified, although the company's website was down Tuesday.

Messages left for Combined Systems executives Donald Smith and Jacob Kravel went unreturned. A customer service representative said senior employees were unavailable for comment because they were in a meeting.

Anonymous has claimed a series of Web attacks worldwide and has increasingly focused on security companies, law enforcement and governmental organizations. The group has often worked in tandem with the Occupy protest movement in the U.S. and has expressed solidarity with the pro-democracy activists across the Arab world.

Anonymous said it had targeted Combined Systems because it was supplying weaponry used "to repress our revolutionary movements."

It published a series of what it claimed were intercepted emails, one of which appeared to be a warning that Combined Systems' site had been sabotaged, but the messages' authenticity could also not be confirmed.

Combined Systems says it sells a variety of crowd control devices — including aerosol grenades, sprays and handcuffs — to law enforcement and military organizations across the world. Journalists and activists have reported finding the company's tear gas canisters at Egypt's Tahrir Square, where authorities have repeatedly cracked down on demonstrators with deadly force.

Last year human rights group Amnesty International said that Combined Systems had delivered some 46 tons of ammunition — including chemical irritants and tear gas — to the Egyptian government in three separate shipments.

Amnesty has asked the U.S. government to stop the shipments, which it said should be suspended "until there is certainty that tear gas and other munitions, weaponry or other equipment aren't linked to bloodshed on Egyptian streets."

Anonymous indicated that its attack had been timed to coincide the one-year anniversary of the uprising in Bahrain, the Gulf country hardest hit by upheaval during the so-called "Arab Spring" protests that began last year.

The main Bahrain government website was down for about an hour early Tuesday, but later appeared to be functioning normally. It wasn't clear whether the problem stemmed from any kind of cyberattack.

Jordani Cleric Released From English Jail

London – A cleric deemed Osama bin Laden's “right-hand man in Europe” is finally free, but on certain conditions. He must be home 22 hours a day, wear an electronic tag, isn't allowed to use the internet or cell phones, and any guests he has must first be vetted by British authorities. He is also not allowed to go to mosques or lead prayer sessions.

England says the measures are necessary because Abu Qatada (aka Omar Othman), who is said to have made three videotapes made by three of the 9/11 terrorists, is still a national security risk.

Qatada was released from Long Lartin prison in England Monday night after he was arrested in 2002. Because he was never charged of any crimes, the European Court of Human Rights ruled his detention was unlawful. However it was also decided he shouldn't return to his native country of Jordan because he wouldn't receive a fair trial due to evidence extracted from others through the use of torture.

Under fire from members of his Conservative Party, David Cameron told reporters "We are committed to removing him from the country. We want to see him deported and we are looking at all the options for doing that."

Human rights groups say he should stand trial in Britain, which is highly unlikely due to fears some of the evidence against him was obtained using using torture.

Monsanto Guilty of Chemical Poisoning in France

By Catherine Lagrange and Marion Douet

France - A French court on Monday declared U.S. biotech giant Monsanto guilty of chemical poisoning of a French farmer, a judgment that could lend weight to other health claims against pesticides.
In the first such case heard in court in France, grain grower Paul Francois, 47, says he suffered neurological problems including memory loss, headaches and stammering after inhaling Monsanto's Lasso weedkiller in 2004.

He blames the agribusiness giant for not providing adequate warnings on the product label.
The ruling was given by a court in Lyon, southeast France, which ordered an expert opinion of Francois's losses to establish the amount of damages.

"It is a historic decision in so far as it is the first time that a (pesticide) maker is found guilty of such a poisoning," François Lafforgue, Francois's lawyer, told Reuters.

Monsanto said it was disappointed by the ruling and would examine whether to appeal the judgment.

"Monsanto always considered that there were not sufficient elements to establish a causal relationship between Paul Francois's symptoms and a potential poisoning," the company's lawyer, Jean-Philippe Delsart, said.

Previous health claims from farmers have foundered because of the difficulty of establishing clear links between illnesses and exposure to pesticides.

Francois and other farmers suffering from illness set up an association last year to make a case that their health problems should be linked to their use of crop protection products.

The agricultural branch of the French social security system says that since 1996, it has gathered farmers' reports of sickness potentially related to pesticides, with about 200 alerts a year.

But only about 47 cases have been recognized as due to pesticides in the past 10 years. Francois, who suffers from neurological problems, obtained work invalidity status only after a court appeal.

LESS INTENSIVE NOW

The Francois case goes back to a period of intensive use of crop-protection chemicals in the European Union. The EU and its member countries have since banned a large number of substances considered dangerous.

Lasso, a pre-emergent soil-applied herbicide that has been used since the 1960s to control grasses and broadleaf weeds in farm fields, was banned in France in 2007 following an EU directive after the product
had already been withdrawn in some other countries.

Though it once was a top-selling herbicide, it has gradually lost popularity, and critics say several studies have shown links to a range of health problems.

Monsanto's Roundup is now the dominant herbicide used to kill weeds. The company markets it in conjunction with its biotech herbicide-tolerant "Roundup Ready" crops. The Roundup Ready corn, soybeans, cotton and other crops do not die when sprayed directly with the herbicide, a trait that has made them wildly popular with U.S. farmers.

But farmers are now being encouraged to use more and different kinds of chemicals again as Roundup loses its effectiveness to a rise of "super weeds" that are resistant to Roundup.

And while the risks of pesticide are a generally known and accepted hazard of farming in most places, and farmers are cautioned to take care when handling the chemicals, increased use of pesticides will only cause more harm to human health and the environment, critic say.

"The registration process does not protect against harm. Manufacturers have to be held liable for adverse impacts that occur," said Jay Feldman, director of Beyond Pesticides, a non-profit group focused on reducing pesticide use.

France, the EU's largest agricultural producer, is now targeting a 50 percent reduction in pesticide use between 2008 and 2018, with initial results showing a 4 percent cut in farm and non-farm use in 2008-2010.
The Francois claim may be easier to argue than others because he can pinpoint a specific incident - inhaling the Lasso when cleaning the tank of his crop sprayer - whereas fellow farmers are trying to show accumulated effects from various products.

"It's like lying on a bed of thorns and trying to say which one cut you," said a farmer, who has recovered from prostate cancer and asked not to be named.

The French association of crop protection companies, UIPP, says pesticides are all subject to testing and that any evidence of a cancer risk in humans leads to withdrawal of products from the market.

"I think if we had a major health problem with pesticides, we would have already known about it," Jean-Charles Bocquet, UIPP's managing director, said.

The social security's farming branch this year is due to add Parkinson's disease to its list of conditions related to pesticide use after already recognizing some cases of blood cancers and bladder and respiratory problems.

France's health and environment safety agency (ANSES), meanwhile, is conducting a study on farmers' health, with results expected next year.

Canadian Government to Keep Up Pressue for Keystone XL

United States/Canada - Canada's finance minister announced his feeling that the Keystone XL pipeline project will be revived after the United States' presidential elections.

Finance minister Ron Liepert said the United States' government's stance on the pipeline is likely to shift toward its approval.  Given that one of the Republican Party's candidates - almost all of whom have expressed their support for it - or Obama - who won't have to face any threat the environmental side of his base presents to him - his assertion may be spot-on.

Although President Obama delayed the project, Canada's government is continuing to look for more options such as shipping their tar sands oil through the West Coast to Asia or using the Eastern Seaboard using one of the country's pipelines. Earlier this month Stephen Harper, Canada's Prime Minister, visited China to talk to the country's government about shipping their oil to the country.


"We believe Keystone will be revived and approved after the presidential election, but it's not a sure thing," said Liepert.

Fears of how the proposed pipeline would affect the Midwest's water supply, where America gets a vast amount of its food resources, have prompted environmentalist groups to oppose its construction. One of the main fears is that a pipeline rupture would devastate the aquifer, while another is the gas output would forever destroy the climate due to the massive CO2 emissions.

Thinking Obama's delay was caused at least in part to the environmentalist side of the left, a majority of Republicans have been trying to introduce a legislative bill which would require Obama to make his decision before the presidential election while promoting the idea that Keystone XL's passage would "create more jobs", a claim which has been proven wrong numerous times.

Iris Photographs by Police, Not So Optional, Occupiers Among Others Subjected

By Common Dreams

United States -  In 2010 the NYPD began a new iris-photographing program. Officials began photographing the irises of suspects arrested for any reason as a routine procedure. Once an individual's iris is in the database, a hand-held scanning device can identify a 'suspect' in seconds.

The program has now been expanded across all five boroughs of New York, and many are now coming forward to protest the procedure; the NYPD has allegedly coerced some into this 'optional' scanning.
New York Times reports:

After her arrest at an Occupy Wall Street protest in December, Samantha Wilson expected to be booked, fingerprinted and subjected to a mug shot. But when a police officer raised a small device to her face and began photographing her eyes, she declined

Ms. Wilson, 32, said her refusal resulted in a threat from the officer.

“He said: ‘It’s not really optional. It’ll take you longer to get out of here if you don’t do it,’ ” she recalled.
The New York Police Department began photographing the irises of people arrested in Manhattan in 2010; officials said then that the images would help prevent suspects from escaping. But the program drew criticism from criminal defense lawyers and civil liberties experts who expressed concern that it could infringe on individuals’ privacy, especially in cases in which the charges were eventually dropped

More than a year later, as the program has been extended across the city, opponents have renewed their objections and accused officers of sometimes pressuring people to submit to the photographs — which are supposed to be optional — by keeping those who do not comply in custody longer.

Concern over the program has taken several forms. Some opponents object to the fact that it was instituted without public announcement or comment. Others fear that cataloging eye data could place the innocent under a lasting cloud of suspicion.

Steven Banks, the attorney in chief for the Legal Aid Society said it was problematic that the police were applying the program “without any legislative authorization to New Yorkers who may well be wrongfully accused of misconduct.”

Megan Morris, a lawyer who has been helping coordinate the defense of people arrested in connection with Occupy Wall Street demonstrations for the National Lawyers Guild, said that dozens of the group’s clients had been held longer than usual after refusing iris photographs.