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Saturday, March 10, 2012

Odd Stories: LaughFest 2012 Opens with 607 People Wearing Chicken Beaks to Set a Guinness World Record

Grand Rapids - LaughFest 2012 opened its 10-day festival with 607 chicken beak wearers dancing the “Chicken Dance” to set a new record.

The Bob and Tom All Stars showcase, Martin Short, Sinbad and more LaughFest headliners soon will be in town for Gilda’s LaughFest, inspired by the late Gilda Radner, an original cast member of “Saturday Night Live.”

But the second festival of laughter for the health of it opened today with more than 600 people wearing paper chicken beaks for more than 11 minutes to set a brand-new record for the largest gathering of people all wearing animal noses – in this case yellow chicken beaks, dancing to the polka music of Diddle Styx.

“Everybody dance! You’ll stay warmer,” encouraged Leann Arkema, president and CEO of Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids, named for the late Gilda Radner, who died in 1989 of ovarian cancer.

A preliminary count recorded 649 people in the official LaughFest “Chicken Coop” downtown next to the Grand Rapids Art Museum. But official chicken-beak spotters disqualified a few for removing their beaks during the 11 minute, 39-second stunt.

Details of the stunt will be forwarded to Guinness World Records for certification.

LaughFest 2011 opened with a rubber chicken toss in Rosa Parks Circle. A total of 925 faux fowl were flung to set a new record for the Guinness Book of World, shattering the previous record of 265 set near Boston.

Dozens of last year’s participants brought those birds back with them for this year’s stunt to open the second LaughFest, which continues through March 18 in downtown Grand Rapids with additional events in Holland and Lowell.

Radner’s brother, Michael Radner, of Detroit, returned for the second time to encourage the participants in today’s stunt.

“Gilda loved to make people laugh, and people loved to laugh at her,” he said. “This event is so wonderful because it leaves so many people laughing.”

Odd Stories: Broward Facebook Suspect Won't "Like' This

Status update: It was a bad idea to steal a judge's nameplate and then post a picture of yourself holding it on  Facebook.

That's exactly what Steven Mulhall, 21, of Coral Springs, is accused of doing.

Mulhall posted the photograph of himself holding the stolen nameplate, which was pried from the door of Broward Circuit Judge Michael Orlando courtroom on his girlfriend's Facebook account, according to arrest records.

Deputies picked Mulhall up on Thursday and booked him into Broward County's Main jail.

"The nameplate is like only $40, not that big of a crime, but what an idiot. He puts it on Facebook," said Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti. "Here he is flaunting it on Facebook. He violated the terms of his parole by stealing, from a judge no less. He's got multiple convictions for petty theft, so now this is a felony."

Lamberti said deputies picked up Mulhall after verifying the suspect had been in judge Orlando courtroom. The judge's nameplate was pried from the door around Feb. 23, according to the arrest report. A tip to Broward Crime Stoppers led authorities to Mulhall.

"The tipster gave us his address, name and the Facebook page," Lamberti said.

"We got the nameplate back. It will be returned to the rightful owner."



Steven is going to be a father. Yes really.

Odd Stories: Facebook 'Friend' Offer Exposes Man's Other Wife

Seattle - A corrections officer is facing bigamy charges after authorities said a Washington woman using Facebook discovered that she and a potential "friend" were married to him at the same time.

According to charging documents filed Thursday, Alan L. O'Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing her. The first wife first noticed O'Neill had moved on to another woman when Facebook suggested the friendship connection to wife No. 2 under the "People You May Know" feature.

"Wife No. 1 went to wife No. 2's page and saw a picture of her and her husband with a wedding cake," Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The Associated Press.

Wife No. 1 then called the defendant's mother.

"An hour later the defendant arrived at (Wife No. 1's) apartment, and she asked him several times if they were divorced," court records show. "The defendant said, `No, we are still married.'"

Neither O'Neill nor his first wife had filed for divorce, according to charging documents. The name change came in December, and later that month he married his second wife.

O'Neill allegedly told wife No. 1 not to tell anybody about his dual marriages, that he would fix it, the documents state. But wife No. 1 alerted authorities.

"Facebook is now a place where people discover things about each other they end up reporting to law enforcement," Lindquist said.

Athima Chansanchai, a freelance journalist who writes about social media, said Facebook over the years has played a role in both creating relationships and destroying them.

"It's just the latest vessel by which people can stray if they want to," she said.

O'Neill, 41, was previously known as Alan Fulk. He has worked as a Pierce County corrections officer for five years, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

He was placed on administrative leave after prosecutors charged him Thursday. He could face up to a year in jail if convicted.

O'Neill and his first wife had issues that went back to 2009. In 2010, his first wife was arrested after an altercation with the woman who later became the second wife.

A Facebook message to wife No. 1 was not immediately returned. There was no immediate phone number available for O'Neill and his second wife.

Lindquist said it's unclear why O'Neill and wife No. 1 didn't go through the divorce.

"Every few years we see one of these (bigamy) cases," he added.

O'Neill is free, but due in court later this month, which is standard procedure for non-violent crimes, Lindquist said.

"About the only danger he would pose is marrying a third woman," he said.

Odd Stories: Food Importer Jailed for Not Paying €1.6m in Garlic Taxes

By Conor Pope and Joanne Hunt

Dublin - A Dublin food importer was yesterday jailed for six years for failing to pay €1.6 million in tax due on Chinese garlic, which attracts an “inexplicable” rate of import duty 24 times higher than other fruit and veg.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told Paul Begley (46), of Begley Brothers in Blanchardstown, evaded paying duty on more than 1,000 tonnes of garlic from China by having it mislabelled as apples.

The court heard the duty on garlic imports was up to 232 per cent, compared with just over 9 per cent for other fruits and vegetables.

Imposing the maximum jail sentence of five years on one charge of tax evasion and a further year on a second count, Judge Martin Nolan said it gave him “no joy at all to jail a decent man”. He described Begley, of Woodlock, Redgap, Rathcoole, as a “success story” and an “asset to the country”, but pointed out he had engaged in a “grave” and “huge” tax evasion scheme.

Begley had pleaded guilty to four sample counts of evading customs duty between September 2003 and October 2007. All told, he imported more than 1,000 tonnes of garlic.

The tax evasion was uncovered in October 2007 when a Dublin Port customs officers opened a container said to hold 18 tonnes of apples and two tonnes of garlic. Inside were 21 tonnes of garlic, but no apples.
The duty on garlic is €1,200 per tonne and an additional 9.6 per cent of the total. The outstanding tax on just this consignment was €25,000. Pleading for leniency, defence counsel David Keane highlighted Begley’s charity work, labelling the rate of duty on garlic “inexplicable”.

Judge Nolan said the import tax “may or may not” be excessive, but stressed it was for the Oireachtas to decide, and not individuals.

The garlic tax is not, however, set by the Government, but by the EU. According to a Revenue spokesman, it “emanates from World Trade Agreement rates and it’s to do with industry protection within the EU”.

One reason for the tax is the impact Chinese garlic imports have had on growers in Spain and France.

Producers there have said they cannot compete with the high volume and low production costs in China.

Spain is the largest grower of garlic in Europe, producing more than 100,000 tonnes annually. Farmers there have warned Chinese imports were killing their business.

The problem of garlic smuggling is now widespread across the EU, and the European Anti-Fraud office,

Olaf, has repeatedly impounded garlic consignments illegally imported from China and mislabelled as other vegetables, most frequently onions. In recent months significant amounts of Chinese garlic have been impounded in Sweden and Poland, among other countries.

More information can be found here.

Odd Stories: Hiker Frees Bear Cub from Jug

Ketchikan, Alaska - A hiker on top of a snowy Alaska mountain said he saved the life of a bear cub by freeing its tiny head from a plastic jug in which it was stuck.

Hiker Michael Schuler Sunday trekked up Ketchikan's Deer Mountain with his dog, Josie, to do some informal avalanche testing and was about 10 feet from the peak when he saw something in the snow, the Ketchikan Daily News reported.

At first it looked human but then realized it was an animal, Schuler said Tuesday.

"I knew it wasn't a marten ... so I thought it was either a bear cub or a wolverine," Schuler said, adding he thought, "A bear cub I can handle, but if it's a wolverine and I pull that thing off, I'm toast."

He had his cellphone but was unsuccessful in contacting wildlife authorities and decided to take matters into his own hands, the newspaper said Wednesday.

Schuler tried holding onto the jar and letting the cub pull, then tried pulling while the cub also pulled, and then tried picking up the jar and shaking it a bit.

"He still didn't come out, poor thing," Schuler said.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and Schuler brought out his ice ax.

"I was basically able to sit on him, hold him by the scruff and make a slice into the neck of the jar," Schuler said.

When Schuler cut enough of the jar, the tiny 10-pound cub "popped out, backed up, spun around and went straight down the south side into the trees."

Schuler said he was upset so many people were careless about leaving trash around after they camped, the newspaper said.

"Just because some people are careless, doesn't mean we should overlook it," Schuler said. "Think about what's up there."

Odd Stories: US Regional Dictionary Gets in Last Word as It Wraps Up Work


 By Ian Simpson

United States - The Dictionary of American Regional English has finally reached its final word - "zydeco" - as researchers wrap up almost 50 years of work charting the rich variety of American speech.

The dictionary's official publication date is March 20 but lexicographers and word fans have been celebrating ever since its fifth and final volume emerged earlier this year.

"It truly is America's dictionary," Ben Zimmer, a language columnist and lexicographer, told a Washington, D.C. news conference on Thursday.

He said when the final printed volume was delivered to its longtime editor, Joan Houston Hall, at a meeting of fellow dialect scholars: "There were audible gasps in the room."

The Dictionary of American Regional English's (DARE) 60,000 entries running from "A" to "zydeco," a style of Louisiana Cajun music, serve as a comprehensive sample of how American speech changes from region to region.

That space between sidewalk and curb? Depending on what part of the United States it is in, it can be called "parking," "devil's strip," "swale," "parkway" or "tree lawn."

Hall, who has headed the DARE project since 2000, said she was convinced fears that American English was becoming homogenized through television and mass media were unfounded.

"I don't buy it. Yes, language changes at different rates and at different places," she said. "But most of the words among our family and friends that are regional we don't even recognize as regional."

Although the idea of a dictionary of American dialects had been around since the 1880s, the project did not take shape until 1962, when Frederick Cassidy, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was appointed editor.

The DARE project was based on interviews carried out in more than 1,000 communities from 1965 to 1970 by University of Wisconsin researchers.

They asked Americans about their ways of talking about kitchen implements, housing, animals, diseases, food, music and more.

For the next several decades, editors sifted the 2.3 million responses and a mass of written materials including newspapers, letters and diaries ranging from the Colonial period to the present.

The dictionary, published in five volumes by Harvard University's Belknap Press and running to over 5,500 pages, includes words from about 70 languages, ranging from Bantu to Lithuanian to Choctaw. It retails for about $545.

Hall, who took over the project with Cassidy's death in 2000, said the last volume took longer to complete, about 10 years, because of the wealth of materials that had become available online.

"We felt that there was so much of value we didn't dare ignore it," she said at the news conference at the National Endowment for the Humanities, one of the book's main sponsors.

Dictionary entries include "bealing" for an abscess, "bear claw" and "kolacky" for types of pastries, "calf rope" for surrender in children's games, "dew poison" for a foot rash, "Lucy Bowles" for diarrhea, "rippet" for a disturbance or fight, and "pogonip" to describe a thick, cold fog.

Odd Stories: The Gorilla and the Rabbit: A Tale of Friendship at the Erie Zoo

By Erica Erwin

Erie, Pennsylvania - They're an odd pair.

The female half is quiet and aloof, imposing even as she approaches a half-century of life.

The other is just a boy still, tiny with a twitchy nose and a propensity to hop around like young boys do.

Samantha and Panda.

The gorilla and the Dutch rabbit.

Erie Zoo officials introduced the two in mid-February after deciding that Samantha, a 47-year-old western lowland gorilla, ought to have a companion.

She's been without any other presence in her exhibit since Rudy, a male gorilla, died in 2005 at the age of 49. Those two never did interact much; Sam was hand-raised and relates more to humans than to other gorillas.

She's too old and fragile to be paired with another gorilla now, zoo officials said. But she needs the same thing any human does: a friend.

Panda is safe and small, no threat to the gorilla. He's something for her to watch and touch.

"To have something sharing their space that they can observe and interact with is always going to be beneficial," zoo Director Cindy Kreider said.

Zookeepers started slowly. Panda was moved to an area close to Samantha's night quarters. Then keepers held her up to Samantha for inspection. Panda was let into the exhibit by herself to get the lay of the land. Finally, he was let in while Sam was in there, too -- with an escape hatch for the rabbit, just in case.

"Right off the bat, they hit it off," Kreider said.

Scott Mitchell, the zoo's chief executive, recalled a time shortly after the two were introduced when Panda hopped up to Samantha's beloved Baby, a stuffed toy gorilla. Know this: No one messes with Baby.

Samantha "pushed the baby out of the way so Panda could go by," Mitchell said.

Another time, she scratched underneath Panda's chin. She shares her food. She reaches down to touch Panda, gently.

"It was amazing to see," Mitchell said. "And the reaction from the public has been amazing, too. People are intrigued by it. They like the fact that she has a companion."

Samantha has never been aggressive toward Panda. A younger gorilla might have been a different story, but keepers spend a lot of time with Sam and know her personality.

Still, Mitchell admits to having been a little nervous when the two were first introduced. He needn't have worried.

"He's fearless," Mitchell said of Panda. "He's not threatened by her. More often they're closer together than they are farther apart."

On Thursday, Panda nibbled and dug through hay while Samantha munched on kale and stolen rabbit food pellets. Samantha sat in one corner as Panda hopped along the exhibit's edge, near the window.

Finally, he hopped next to her, and they sat, together, the aging gorilla and the tiny rabbit with the pale pink nose.

Odd Stories: Polish Woman Saves Babies with 75 Days in Labor


By Dagmara Leskowicz and Piotr Halawej

Poland - A Polish woman lay nearly upside down in labor for 75 days to save the lives of her two premature babies after the first of three foetuses growing inside her was born prematurely and died.

Joanna Krzysztonek eventually gave birth to baby girl Iga and boy Ignacy 2-1/2 months later on February 15 at a neo-natal clinic in the southwestern Polish town of Wroclaw and said the idea of lying in an awkward position for weeks on end hadn't bothered her.

 "I sighed with relief that there was a chance to keep the pregnancy and to give the babies a chance to be born successfully," she told Reuters.

The head of the Wroclaw obstetrics and neo-natal clinic where Krzysztonek gave birth, Mariusz Zimmer, said doctors managed to ease Krzysztonek's contractions, but considered her to be in labor from the birth of the first child.

"This procedure - I mean giving birth - has a beginning and an ending. If the first baby was born that means the birth had started," Zimmer said.

Human childbirth typically lasts between 8 and 12 hours, while a full-term pregnancy generally lasts around 40 weeks. With help from her awkward positioning and medical attention, Iga and Ignacy's term inside their mother was 32 weeks.

Iga and Ignacy remain in special incubators, but were expected to leave the hospital soon.

Their mum had problems with maintaining her balance after leaving her unusual hospital bed, but now visits and holds her babies every day.

Odd Stories: Spanish Town Wants to Grow Cannabis to Pay Off Debt





Spain - A small town in northeastern Spain, believes it has found a novel way to pay of its debt: cultivating cannabis.

Tucked in the hills of one of Spain's most picturesque regions, the Catalonian village of Rasquera has agreed to rent out land to grow marijuana, an enterprise the local authorities say will allow them to pay off their 1.3 million euro debt in two years.

Local authorities are keeping the location of the site top secret while Spain's attorney general investigates the legality of the project. The Catalan regional government has also asked the village for further information about the plan.

Spanish towns are swamped in debt after a decade-long construction boom that imploded in 2008. Almost one in four Spanish workers is jobless and many cities are months behind in salaries for street cleaners and other municipal employees.

Spain's central government is now forcing local authorities to tighten their belts even further as a euro zone debt crisis drags on, forcing greater fiscal austerity onto most countries using the single European currency.

The mayor of Rasquera, with 900 inhabitants, said the project will not only benefit locals, but also eliminate organized crime and the tax evasion associated with the cannabis industry thanks to government supervision.

 "We want to put an end to mafias, we want to finish with the black market, we want to put an end to the underground economy," said Bernat Pellisa, Rasquera's mayor of nine years said.

"The only thing this humble mayor wants and has tried to do is to supervise all this in order to benefit society and the neighbors of our village," he added.

The Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Association (ABCDA) will pay Rasquera 54,170 euros a month from July 2012 for a 15 hectare plot of land and local authorities hope the farm will generate 40 jobs in the village.

VILLAGERS WELCOME PLAN

The proposal has sparked debate on the legality of cannabis. Spanish law allows the cultivation of cannabis as long as it is for "personal and shared use." Trafficking, however, is punished with up to six years in jail.

The mayor said residents of Rasquera have welcomed the initiative, as long as it abides by the law, and that he is responding to the wishes of the people.

"It's a potential solution for the government to pay our debt. They are working to check out if it's legal and if they can regularize it. And if it is possible, then perfect," Rasquera resident Josep Francesc, 22, said.
For a 67-year-old woman who didn't want to give her name, the project would only be acceptable if the cannabis was used for medical purposes.

"They say it is going to be used by laboratories, to produce medicine. If that is the goal, then welcome.

There is almost no medicine that doesn't use drugs. But if it is used in a different way, then I don't agree," she said.

As cannabis must be planted in March, 36,000 euros ($47,200)has already been paid and cultivation could begin shortly.

Marta Suarez, spokeswoman of ABCDA, said the plantation in Rasquera was not a business-orientated project.

"The goal is not to maximize our profits or produce as much as possible, but to produce with quality in a controlled environment to supply users...in a responsible, appropriate and informed manner," she says.

ABCDA has 5,000 members and is based in Barcelona, the capital of the Catalonia region.

If the cannabis cultivation project goes through, the villagers of Rasquera will have an alternative to traditional jobs in olive groves, vineyards and citrus plantations, and the village debt could finally "go up in smoke."

Odd Stories: No nugget: Top Bidder for Commander in Chief Chicken Drops Out

By Nick Hytrek

Dakota City, Nebraska - George Washington didn't let the fact that many of his troops had no shoes on their feet stop him from attacking an enemy camp at Trenton, N.J.

Rebekah Speight isn't going to let a buyer's cold feet keep her from raising money to send kids to summer camp.

The owner of the now world-famous McDonald's McNugget bearing a resemblance to Washington remains optimistic about selling the frozen chicken chunk after the winner of an online auction backed out on the deal.

"They were very sorry," Speight said of the bidder, who had submitted the winning bid of $8,100 Monday on eBay.

Speight said eBay rules allow her to offer the McNugget to the second-highest bidder, who had bid $8,000.

Speight said she's been in contact with that bidder, but a deal might not be doable because the bidder lives overseas. Speight is concerned that she might not be able to ensure that the chicken will ship quickly enough to remain frozen.

If that deal falls through, Speight said, she can offer the nugget to the third-highest bidder, and so on. She has 60 days to decide what to do.

The Washington McNugget has taken on a life of its own, drawing interview requests from media in Germany and Canada. Speight said her goal remains to raise $15,000 to send 50 kids from the Family Worship Center in Sioux City to summer camp in Dayton, Iowa.

"I know the McNugget is fun, but it's really about the kids and getting them to camp," she said.

Speight, of Dakota City, noticed the nugget's resemblance to the first president when cleaning up her children's uneaten meals at a Sioux City McDonald's three years ago. It's been in her freezer since then.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

No Posts Today

Due to me riding my bike for 30 miles amongst other things, there will be no posts today. Please come back tomorrow for more news.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Irish Hacking Suspect Freed in Wake of FBI Sting


An Irish computer hacker accused of breaking into the email account of Ireland's top cybersecurity cop, then using its contents to eavesdrop on American and British anti-hacking detectives, was released without charges Wednesday.

Irish police said they were preparing a new evidence file for state prosecutors to use against Donncha O Cearbhaill. He's been arrested and released once before over alleged hacking attacks in Ireland last year.
FBI affidavits identified the 19-year-old Trinity College chemistry student as the Internet infiltrator responsible for recording and posting online a Jan. 17 trans-Atlantic conference call between American and British anti-hacking detectives.

The U.S. District Court in Manhattan, acting on FBI affidavits, issued indictments Tuesday against O Cearbhaill, two Britons, another Irishman and a Chicago man over their alleged role in a string of cyber attacks on several U.S. agencies and companies committed by an Anonymous hacker subgroup called Lulz Security, or LulzSec. The FBI built its case using the hackers' alleged leader, Sabu, as a turncoat informant who drew out incriminating online admissions from the others.

Hackers claiming allegiance to the amorphous Anonymous movement offered a defiant reply Wednesday by defacing dozens of Web sites connected to Internet defense firm Panda Security. The Anonymous activists justified their attacks citing Panda's links to law enforcement. The Bilbao, Spain-based company said its main site wasn't compromised.

Hackers from Anonymous also said they knocked out the Vatican's Web site Wednesday afternoon in a broad protest against Catholic doctrine, past and present, as well as the chronic cover-up of child abuse by clergy.

O Cearbhaill walked free from Terenure police station in south Dublin after a 24-hour interrogation period, the maximum permitted under Irish law for suspected hacking crimes.
Such releases are typical in Ireland, where state prosecutors can take months, even years, to mull whether to file charges.

He made no public comments following his release. His father John Carroll, a councilman in rural County Offaly, also declined comment.

The other Irish citizen indicted, Galway university student Darren Martyn, remained free Wednesday and conversed freely with followers on his Twitter account, in which he describes himself as a reformed "blackhat," slang for a criminal hacker.

Martyn said the FBI had got his age wrong — he's also just 19, not 25 — and he intended to keep working on his own Internet and school projects in expectation of potentially imminent arrest. He declined AP requests for an interview.

The U.S. court has indicted Martyn on two counts of hacking, with a potential 10-year prison sentence for each count, while O Cearbhaill faces one count of hacking and one count of disclosing an unlawfully intercepted wire communication, offenses that combined carry a maximum 15-year sentence.

Irish police arrested both O Cearbhaill and Martyn in September after their online noms de guerre claimed responsibility for a hacking attack on the Web site of Fine Gael, the major political party in Ireland's government. They were both released and files of evidence prepared for their potential prosecution, but they have yet to be charged over the Fine Gael attack.

According to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent George Schultzel, O Cearbhaill decided to crack the email codes of his recent police captors.

While Schultzel doesn't identify them by name, he testified that O Cearbhaill was able to crack into the private email accounts of two detectives in the Irish police's Computer Crime Investigation Unit, including its commander — and found a security gold mine because both detectives had been forwarding security-sensitive emails from their police accounts.

The FBI said it seized records of both Irish detectives' email accounts and found they'd been illegally accessed 146 times.

The affidavit reports that O Cearbhaill told his LulzSec contact Sabu Jan. 9 he had "just got into the iCloud for the head of a national cybercrime unit. I have all his contacts and can track his location 24/7." In a footnote, Schultzel identifies O Cearbhaill's target as the Irish police's cybercrime supervisor.

The Associated Press requested an interview Wednesday with the Computer Crime Investigation Unit's director, Detective Inspector Paul Gillen. He and the police force declined the request, citing their ongoing investigation.

The FBI affidavit suggests Gillen shipped a key email from the FBI — listing the invited officials and phone passwords for their Jan. 17 conference call — from his police email account to his private one.

The 15-minute discussion, and the list of security officials, both were leaked on to the Internet. In one telling moment, an FBI official asked about progress on investigating the two Irish hackers, O Cearbhaill and Martyn: "Is anyone on from Ireland?" Silence followed.

Internet security experts said they found it hard to believe that the head of a nation's cybersecurity unit would ship such a sensitive email to a poorly protected private account, then not bother to participate in the conference call.

"It's obviously deeply embarrassing," said Graham Cluley, a technology consultant for data security company Sophos. "It's a boo-boo. I would hope that more sensitive information isn't being shared via his personal account."

Thousands March as South Africans Strike

South Africa - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in South Africa as a trade union federation called a nationwide strike to demonstrate for improved worker rights and against plans to introduce unpopular road tolls.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), said that the country's system of casual labour, known as "labour broking" in which middlemen acted between employers and workers, amounted to "modern day slavery".

COSATU is part of a tripartite alliance with the African National Congress, South Africa's ruling party, and the South Africa Communist Party. But in the statement, COSATU called for protests against the government.

The body is concerned that after 18 years in power, the party revered for leading the battle against apartheid has become complacent and needs to be pushed to replace corrupt or incompetent leaders with politicians who can deliver.

"We must force the government and the ruling party, the African National Congress, to scrap the exorbitant e-tolling system and ban modern day slavery [labour broking]," COSATU said.

Police estimate 50,000 people marched in Johannesburg, South Africa's economic hub. Smaller crowds turned out in Cape Town and other cities and towns.

The demonstrations progressed peacefully, although there were reports early on Wednesday that people trying to board commuter trains to work were beaten, allegedly by protesters who wanted the demonstrations to shut down commerce.

Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Johannesburg, said frustration with labour brokers had drawn many out to join the protests.

"They say these labour brokers exploit the workers - they don't pay them enough and that they work for long hours and they do not get any benefits like health insurance," Mutasa said.

The e-tolling system, to come into effect in April, by which South Africans would have to pay to use public roads, has also proved unpopular, our correspondent said, with strikers saying that scheme is too expensive and that the government should fit the bill of servicing and maintaining roads.

In a speech on the eve of the march, Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU's leader, said the toll road debate summed up concerns about growing inequality in South Africa.

'Fancy cars'

"The logic of those who say that the poor do not use our motorways, except by public transport, is that they should be permanently excluded from access to the best roads. They must find the potholed side-roads to get from A to B, while the rich glide along in their fancy cars," Vavi said.

"Good health and education services currently belong to the wealthier sections of society, who can afford to pay. We do not want yet another addition to the list."

In a statement, the ANC said Wednesday's demonstrations were "unnecessary, but we nonetheless respect the right of those who want to protest".

The party said it had responded to concerns that the tolls would hurt the poor by exempting the buses and taxi vans used by many poorer South Africans.

The government also capped monthly toll fees at about $70, so no driver would pay more than that no matter how much he or she used the improved roads.

Mutasa said that COSATU has had a lot of power in the past in terms of shaping South African policy.
The strike was expected to be backed by the youth league of the ruling ANC, the ANCYL, and the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU).

The recently expelled chairperson of the ANCYL, Julius Malema, attended the protest briefly and was greeted to chants of his nickname "Juju", reported a local news agency, Sapa.

The marches, coming before an ANC policy-making conference in June and pivotal meeting in December to elect top party leaders, are seen by some as an attempt by COSATU to influence the ANC's course.

The ANCYL said on its website that it "fully and unreservedly supports the strike led by COSATU calling for labour brokers and immediate cancellation of e-tolling".

"We call on all members of society, particularly the youth to join in the mass protests across the country, because the issues COSATU is raising are genuine issues," the party said.

The ANC has been in power since the end of apartheid in 1994 is under pressure to show it can work more quickly to improve the lives of black South Africans, many of whom continue to live in poverty despite economic growth and greater political freedom and stability.

A quarter of South Africa's labour force is officially out of work, but experts say the percentage would be higher if the discouraged and the underemployed were counted.

Business groups have argued that instead of banning labour brokers, COSATU should work with them and the government to better regulate them.

Vets Prone to Drug Addiction Get Risky Painkillers

By Lindsey Tanner


Morphine and similar powerful painkillers are sometimes prescribed to recent war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress along with physical pain, and the consequences can be tragic, a government study suggests.

These vets are at high risk for drug and alcohol abuse, but they're two times more likely to get prescriptions for addictive painkillers than vets with only physical pain, according to the study, billed as the first national examination of the problem. Iraq and Afghanistan vets with PTSD who already had substance abuse problems were four times more likely to get these drugs than vets without mental health problems, according to the study.

Subsequent suicides, other self-inflicted injuries, and drug and alcohol overdoses were all more common in vets with PTSD who got these drugs. These consequences were rare but still troubling, the study authors said.

The results underscore the challenge of treating veterans with devastating physical injuries and haunting memories of the horrors of war. But the findings also suggest that physicians treating these veterans should offer less risky treatment, including therapies other than drugs, the study authors and other experts say.
Opium-based drugs like morphine and hydrocodone can dull excruciating physical pain. Relatively few veterans are prescribed such drugs. But some doctors likely prescribe them for vets who also have mental pain "with the hope that the emotional distress that accompanies chronic pain will also be reduced. Unfortunately, this hope is often not fulfilled, and opioids can sometimes make emotional problems worse," said Michael Von Korff, a chronic illness researcher with Group Health Research Institute, a Seattle-based health care system. He was not involved in the study.

The research involved all veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan wars who were diagnosed with non-cancer physical pain from October 2005 through December 2010 — or 141,029 men and women. Half of them also were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health problems.

The results were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Department of Veterans Affairs paid for the study, which is based on VA health care data.

Lead author Dr. Karen Seal, who treats patients at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, said she sometimes prescribes opiates for war vets, but only if other painkillers don't work, and only in collaboration with non-drug treatment from mental health experts, occupational therapists and other specialists.

That type of approach is part of a VA pain management policy adopted in 2009, toward the end of the study period.

Dr. Robert Kerns, the VA's national program director for pain management, said the study "draws attention to growing concerns" about the use of opiate painkillers in veterans. These drugs may have a role in treating chronic pain in vets but only as part of a comprehensive pain management plan, he said.

In a written statement about the study, the VA said its pain management approach has been cited as a model of care, but that "we recognize that more work needs to be done."

Retired Lt. Col. Steve Countouriotis, a 30-year Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, says that after returning home a few years ago, he received a morphine prescription for war-related back and shoulder pain. He refused to take it and used aspirin instead.

"I don't feel comfortable taking those kinds of medicines," said Countouriotis, 60, of Petaluma, Calif. "I don't like mood-altering drugs." He said he doesn't have PTSD, but that some colleagues who do have also been given the drugs.

Doctors are too quick to prescribe them, Countouriotis said, adding, "It's too many, too soon."

Army data provided to The Associated Press last year showed that referrals for opiate abuse among soldiers rose during the decade that ended in 2009, and totaled more than 670 between October 2009 and June 2010.

Some vets in the new study got the drugs from overburdened primary care physicians outside the VA health system.

"Imagine primary care doctors getting about 20 minutes to see a patient expressing high levels of distress," because of war-related physical and mental trauma, said Seal, the study author. The balance between providing pain relief while being cautious with drugs that can be habit-forming "is always in play," she said.

In the study, 15,676 vets received opiate prescriptions for physical pain. These prescriptions went to almost 18 percent of vets with PTSD and 12 percent of those with other mental health problems, compared with about 7 percent of vets without those problems.

Among those with PTSD, subsequent self-inflicted injuries, including suicides, occurred in 3 percent of vets who got the drugs, versus 2 percent who didn't receive those prescriptions. The study doesn't provide a breakdown of suicides vs. nonfatal self-injuries.

The study "brings much needed attention to the complexity of this problem," said Dr. William Becker, a Yale University instructor and primary care physician who treats substance abuse and has worked with veterans.
"Patients are typically younger individuals who are in many cases kind of struggling to find their feet again" after returning home from war, he said. The ideal treatment includes behavioral counseling, therapy for war wounds and management of chronic pain.

"The word is spreading and I think this paper is going to send another strong message that this has really got to become the standard of care," Becker said.

FBI: Irish Nisstep Led to Conference Call Leak


An Irish police officer's email blunder led to the spectacular leak of a sensitive conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard, U.S. law enforcement said Tuesday.

An indictment unsealed in a New York court alleges that a teenager linked to the Lulz Security group of hackers was able to eavesdrop on the call after an unnamed officer with Ireland's national police force forwarded a work message to his insecure personal email account.

The email, which apparently originated from the FBI's Timothy Lauster, invited dozens of law enforcement officers from across Europe and the United States to coordinate their efforts against LulzSec and its amorphous umbrella group, Anonymous.

The FBI's indictment said that 19-year-old Donncha O'Cearrbhail intercepted the email and used the information in it to access and secretly record the Jan. 17 call, which hackers subsequently broadcast across the Internet.

The indictment said O'Cearrbhail was charged with one count of computer hacking conspiracy, and one count of intentionally disclosing an unlawfully intercepted wire communication.

O'Cearrbhail was one of five people charged in a multinational operation targeting hackers linked to Lulz Security. His indictment was unsealed on Tuesday as authorities revealed the group's ringleader had secretly become an FBI informant and turned against his comrades.

A spokesman for the Irish police, known as the Garda Siochana, refused to comment either on the details of the O'Cearrbhail charge or on the nature of the email blunder.

There appear to be only two Garda-linked names in Lauster's email: Paul Gillen and Colm Gallagher.
Neither officer returned messages seeking comment.

Florida Universities Face $300 Million Budget Cut

By Denise-Marie Balona

Florida - Florida's public universities would lose $300 million under a budget proposal agreed upon by House and Senate negotiators — a plan that likely will spur further tuition increases.

The University of Central Florida, the state's largest university, would lose $52.6 million — the second-largest cut after Florida State University's.

he budget compromise also approves funding for a Polk County branch of the University of South Florida to become a stand-alone university.

Officials at UCF and some other universities already had planned to hike their tuition. But budget cuts next school year likely mean that most schools will pursue the 15 percent maximum increase to help make up the loss.

FSU would lose $65.8 million, an amount determined by a formula that legislators devised this year based partly on the size of each school's budget reserve.

The theory was that schools could use their reserves to help absorb financial losses in a year when the Legislature needed to carve out more than $1 billion to balance a $70 billion state budget. UCF expects to have $125 million in its reserve fund by July 1, UCF spokesman Grant Heston said.

Some university officials argued that the method penalizes institutions that have been more frugal in previous years. Still, universities prefer that option because it avoids permanent cuts to their base funding.

Heston said raising tuition will help but will not cover the loss entirely, partly because a chunk of the money must go toward financial aid for needy students.

Heston also stressed that the proposed cut comes on top of about $100 million that UCF has lost in state funding during the past several years.

UCF would not say how it might deal with cuts next school year, although Heston said that a cut "of this magnitude will, of course, impact our mission."

"There are many factors involved, and we are committed to a thoughtful and thorough review," he said. "Once that is complete, we will have recommendations about how to move forward."

Meanwhile, the presidents of USF and Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton expressed relief that the cuts were not greater. FAU President Mary Jane Saunders warned last month that an earlier budget proposal could have led to layoffs and the closing of academic programs and campuses at FAU.

Under the legislative proposal, FAU would lose $24.8 million — about half of what Saunders had feared losing.

USF President Judy Genshaft said the latest proposed cuts are more fairly distributed. She had argued that her school was disproportionately hurt under an earlier spending plan.

The newest plan is expected to go before the full House and Senate for a vote by Friday. Gov. Rick Scott also needs to sign off on it.

"We pushed for equitable funding, and while there will be significant cuts to all of Florida's universities, those cuts will be made equitably," Genshaft said in a letter she sent to faculty and staff Monday night, after legislators reached the last-minute budget deal.

Included in the budget is money that would help a USF branch campus break away and become an independent university — a contentious issue that had pitted Genshaft against the Senate's budget chairman, JD Alexander, a Republican from Polk County.

Under the proposal, USF Polytechnic, located in Polk, would become Florida Polytechnic University. Polk community leaders had pushed for the change, for which officials with the State University System had already voiced support, provided the campus meet certain goals in coming years.

Scott is not yet saying whether he would support the new university.

"Governor Scott has said he will keep an open mind about creating a 12th university but he will have to look at the details before making any decision," said Lane Wright, a Scott spokesman.

Although Scott has spoken out against tuition increases, Wright said he also has not yet taken a position on bills that would give FSU and the University of Florida in Gainesville the authority to raise their tuition higher than those of the other public universities.

The House version of the bill was approved last week and the Senate is expected to take up the issue this week.

Though an FSU faculty leader said employees hope the measure is approved so the school has more money to deal with funding cuts, state Rep. Bill Proctor, one of the bills' sponsors, said the new tuition would be earmarked specifically for program improvements.

"It's not a bill that is trying to replace reduced funding," said Proctor, a Republican who is chancellor at the private Flagler College in St. Augustine. "What it's trying to do is … give the universities an opportunity to propose certain types of programs and then propose whatever tuition might be necessary to carry out those programs."
 

Suspicion Rises Between Western Advisers, Afghans


"Shoulder to shoulder" is the mantra of the NATO-Afghan military partnership. Now, after Afghan soldiers and police turned their guns on their foreign partners during outrage over the Quran burnings, even Western advisers — not just combat troops — are looking over their shoulders.

The deepening distrust is jeopardizing the U.S.-led coalition's strategy of training Afghan security forces and helping government workers so that international troops can go home.

The advisers do a variety of jobs. While some focus on the battlefield, others pore over geological surveys, lure outside investors or make sure that key mountain passes are clear of snow. They work closely with their Afghan counterparts to build a government strong enough to fend off threats and attacks from the Taliban and other militants trying to destabilize their country.

There has been lingering distrust for years. Afghan soldiers and police, or militants dressed in their uniforms, have shot and killed more than 75 U.S. and other coalition forces in Afghanistan since 2007.
But tensions soared Feb. 25 when two U.S. military advisers were found dead with gunshots to the back of the head inside the Afghan Ministry of Interior, one of the most heavily guarded buildings in the capital, Kabul.

The two were among six U.S. troops killed by Afghan security forces during a week of demonstrations over the burning of Islamic books and Qurans at a U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan. President Barack Obama and U.S. military officials say the burnings were a mistake and not intentional.

Hours after the military advisers' bodies were found on the floor of their office, Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, took the unprecedented step of recalling hundreds of coalition personnel working in more than two dozen government ministries in Kabul. He said the decision was made "for obvious force protection reasons." Britain, France, Germany and Canada quickly followed suit, putting much of the West's mentoring and advising work on hold.

"It's a declining relationship. It has been for years," said Martine van Bijlert, co-founder of the Afghan Analyst Network in Kabul. "You won't be able to fix that. The big question is 'Will it remain a workable relationship?' I think it's possible. It could settle down, but it won't fully settle down to the old level."

"These advisers are crucial, especially in the security sector when we're talking about transition," said Haroun Mir, director of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies in Kabul. "Certainly the Afghan government can function without them, but if they don't return, it will take a toll on the financial situation of the government. Many of these projects financed by donors require the presence of these advisers."

Allen is determined to get the advisers back into the ministries as soon as possible — when he deems it is safe enough to do so, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, a coalition spokesman. The coalition has not disclosed the total number of advisers who work in the ministries.

Their work has not completely stopped, he said.

"Though they are not physically standing beside them, the advisers are still in daily communication with their Afghan counterparts, as Gen. Allen directed to keep the lines of communication open," Cummings said. "We are committed to our partnership with the government of Afghanistan. ... Tens of thousands of Afghan and coalition troops continue to effectively work together on significant missions every day."

A few dozen advisers critical to the mission have trickled back to work, but with additional security, Cummings said.

A senior Western adviser who oversees advisers in several ministries said that when they go back they probably will be required to wear body armor and travel in groups with armed escorts. The adviser said they also might have to get permission to visit the ministries, reducing day-to-day contact with their Afghan partners.

Some advisers, such as the ones involved in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Hands program, will balk at increased security, the adviser said. The U.S. established the program in September 2009 to create a team of military and civilian experts who could develop close working relationships with their Afghan and Pakistani counterparts.

Contractors who serve as advisers generally are not so eager to rush back to the ministries, and some told the adviser they are ready to head home.

The adviser and all others who spoke on condition of anonymity for this article did so because of increasing tensions in the NATO-Afghan relationship.

Restoring trust between Western advisers and their Afghan counterparts will be challenging.

"If an adviser gets killed and you're an adviser, it's going to be difficult," said Nadia Gerspacher, a senior program adviser for the United States Institute of Peace in Washington.

"Is it going to make people less trusting and feeling more insecure in the ministry? Probably," said Gerspacher, who has been in contact with advisers in Kabul since the killings.

An international security contractor said he could feel the tension when he visited an Interior Ministry office the day after the U.S. advisers were killed. Usually Afghan police there greet him with "Salamou Aleikom," meaning "Peace be with you." This time, 14 or 15 armed policemen standing in a hallway outside the office were silent, he said. The policemen asked an interpreter whether the Western contractor was American or British. He and a colleague soon left.

An Afghan National Police general at the Interior Ministry said he felt ashamed by the killings and would welcome the advisers back.

They are the teachers for Afghanistan's new system of providing security and if they don't return, the work being done to reform the unprofessional and corrupt policemen will collapse, said the general. A lot of work has been suspended since the killings, the general said.

Another official at the Interior Ministry said the Western advisers' morale had been shattered.

When two Western advisers visited his unit a few days ago, he tried to break the tension. Jokingly, he shook his finger at them, smiled and said: "You've been absent for four or five days. Your pay will be docked." He said that he has developed strong bonds with a few of the Western advisers and will consider them good friends forever.

Some ministries aren't so dependent on the advisers, according to an official at the Finance Ministry. He said the advisers were badly needed three or four years ago, but that the ministry was now staffed with talented, well-trained Afghan employees who no longer need the 20 to 25 well-paid Westerners who currently work there. The ministry could hire five Afghans with the salary paid to one Westerner, he said.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Eight Women Allege Rape, Assault in Military Suit


By Ian Simpson

United States - Eight current and former U.S. service members alleged in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday they were raped, assaulted or sexually harassed while in the military and were retaliated against when they complained.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington accuses military leaders of having a "high tolerance for sexual predators in their ranks, and 'zero tolerance' for those who report rape, sexual assault and harassment."
The eight women include a Marine on active duty and seven veterans of the Marine Corps and Navy. Seven allege that a fellow service member raped or tried to sexually assault them, and an eighth said she was harassed while deployed outside the United States.

The suit says the Pentagon has failed to take enough steps to deal with the problem despite avowals to do so.
Defendants include Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, and former Defense and Navy secretaries and Marine commandants.

"Men and women should not have to check their constitutional rights at the door. No one should have to submit to being raped to be able to serve," Susan Burke, the women's attorney, told Reuters on the margins of a news conference.

Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement that it would be inappropriate to comment on pending litigation but that sexual assault had no place in the Defense Department.

Under a policy announced in December, service members who report a sexual assault can quickly transfer from their unit or base, she said.

The Defense Department has boosted funding for investigators and judges to get training in sexual assault cases and is putting together a database to track cases, Smith said.

"One sexual assault is one too many," she said.

Scientists See Rise in Tornado-creating Conditions


By Sharon Begley

Worldwide - When at least 80 tornadoes rampaged across the United States, from the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico, last Friday, it was more than is typically observed during the entire month of March, tracking firm AccuWeather.com reported on Monday.

According to some climate scientists, such earlier-than-normal outbreaks of tornadoes, which typically peak in the spring, will become the norm as the planet warms.

"As spring moves up a week or two, tornado season will start in February instead of waiting for April," said climatologist Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Whether climate change will also affect the frequency or severity of tornadoes, however, remains very much an open question, and one that has received surprisingly little study.

"There are only a handful of papers, even to this day," said atmospheric scientist Robert Trapp of Purdue University, who led a pioneering 2007 study of tornadoes and climate change.

"Some of us think we should be paying more attention to it," said atmospheric physicist Anthony Del Genio of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, part of NASA.

The scientific challenge is this: the two conditions necessary to spawn a twister are expected to be affected in opposite ways. A warmer climate will likely boost the intensity of thunderstorms but could dampen wind shear, the increase of wind speed at higher altitudes, researchers say.

Tomorrow's thunderstorms will pack a bigger wallop, but may strike less frequently than they have historically, explained Del Genio.

"As we go to a warmer atmosphere, storms - which transfer energy from one region to another - somehow figure out how to do that more efficiently," he said. As a result, thunderstorms transfer more energy per outbreak, and so have to make such transfers less often.

In a 2011 paper, Del Genio calculated that, "especially in the central and eastern United States, we can expect a few more days per month with conditions favorable to severe thunderstorm occurrence" by the latter part of this century if the global climate grows warmer.

Indeed, the world has been experiencing more violent storms since 1970, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in its most recent assessment.

EXTENDING TORNADOES' PATH

Purdue's Trapp and colleagues got a similar result in their 2007 study, which they confirmed in research published in 2009 and 2011. "The number of days when conditions exist to form tornadoes is expected to increase" as the world warms, he said.

In addition, they found, regions near the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts not normally associated with tornadoes will experience tornado-making weather more frequently. They projected a doubling in the number of days with such conditions in Atlanta and New York City, for instance.

More powerful thunderstorms would be expected to produce more tornadoes, but wind shear could prove a mitigating factor.

Because climate change is not uniform, Del Genio wrote in the 2011 paper, "in the lower troposphere, the temperature difference between low and high latitudes decreases as the planet warms, creating less wind shear."

Other scientists are not so sure, and they see a surge in tornadoes last year as ominous. April 2011 was the most active tornado month on record, with 753, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), compared to the previous record of 267 in April 1974.

"I have no doubt that there will be many times when wind shear is plenty strong to create a tornado," said Trenberth.

That is what Trapp's team concluded in their 2007 study. "Over most of the United States," they wrote, the increase in the power of thunderstorms will "more than compensate for the relative decreases in shear."
As a result, "the environment would still be considered favorable for severe convection" of the kind that creates tornadoes.

From March to May the projected increase in severe storms is "largest over a 'tornado-alley'-like region extending northward from Texas," Trapp found. From June through August, the eastern half of the country is projected to experience such an increase.

If there are more days in the future when wind shear is too weak to produce a tornado from a thunderstorm, said Trenberth, then "the frequency of tornadoes may decrease but the average intensity might increase. You could have a doozy of an outbreak, and then they could go away for a while."

On average, about 800 tornados are reported annually in the United States. About 70 percent are "weak," finds NOAA, with winds less than 110 mph. Just under 29 percent are "strong," with winds between 110 and 205 mph. Only 2 percent of all tornadoes are what NOAA characterizes as "violent," with winds in excess of 205 mph, but they account for 70 percent of all twister deaths.

Alien Invasion a Threat to Antarctic Ecosystem


By Pauline Askin

Antarctica - In the pristine frozen continent of Antarctica scientists fear an alien invasion -- not from outer space, but carried in people's pockets and bags.


Seeds and plants accidentally brought to Antarctica by tourists and scientists may introduce alien plant species which could threaten the survival of native plants in the finely balanced ecosystem.


Invasive alien plants are amongst the most significant conservation threat to Antarctica, especially as climate change warms the ice continent, said a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Journal published on Tuesday.


More than 33,000 tourists and 7,000 scientists visit Antarctica each year by ship and aircraft, and a two month survey of visitors has found that many are carrying plant seeds picked up from other countries they have already visited.


The study vacuumed travelers' pockets, trouser and sleeve cuffs, shoes and inside their bags, and used tweezers to pry out accidentally hidden seeds. On average each person checked had just 9.5 seeds in clothing and equipment.


"The people that were carrying the most had lots and lots of seeds. They really were substantial threats," said Dana Bergstrom, from the Australian Antarctic Division.


"When we take things in through hitchhiking then we get species which are competitive. The plants and animals there are not necessarily competitive, so there's a good chance... we'd start losing various precious biodiversity on the (Antarctic) continent," Bergstrom told Reuters.


Amongst the alien species discovered were the Iceland Poppy, Tall Fescue Velvet grass and Annual Winter Grass -- all from cold climates and capable of growing in Antarctica.


The Antarctic Peninsula, where most tourists travel, is now considered a "hot spot" on the frozen continent and the warmer the climate, the easier for seeds to propagate.


"The peninsula is warming at some of the greatest rates on the planet," said Bergstrom.


The study, the first continent-wide assessment of invasive species in Antarctica, surveyed about 1,000 passengers during 2007-2008, the first year of the International Polar Year, an international effort to research the polar regions.


It has taken almost three years to identify the seed species and their effects on the icy continent.

Bergstrom said the one alien seed that had gained a foothold is Annual Winter Grass. It is a substantial weed in the sub-Antarctic and is on the Antarctic island of King George. It has also made its way to the tail part of the Antarctic continent.


"That's just one example of the weeds we picked up and a population of it has just been found in the last couple of seasons," she said.


Annual Winter Grass grows very well in disturbed areas like seal and penguin areas, and could propagate amongst the slow growing mosses around those colonies.


"If it got into those areas in the peninsula it would have the potential to overrun things," Bergstrom said.

France to Restore GMO Maize Ban Within Days: Ministry


France - France will reinstate a ban on the cultivation of Monsanto's MON810 maize (corn) in the next few days, in time to prevent the genetically modified grain being sown this year, an official at the farm ministry said on Tuesday.

Paris banned MON810 maize in 2008, citing environmental risks. The decision was overturned by the country's highest court in November on the basis that it was not sufficiently justified, leading the government to say it would look at all ways to maintain the freeze.

France, which will face a presidential election next month and where public opinion is fiercely opposed to genetically modified organisms (GMO), asked the European Commission last month to suspend the authorization to sow the maize, the only GMO crop allowed for cultivation in the European Union.

The ministry will publish a safety clause banning the growing of MON810 maize based on evidence sent to the EU executive and on any new evidence coming out of a public consultation it launched after sending its request to Brussels, the official said.

"A safety clause will be taken in the coming days on the basis of what was given to the Commission and the return of the public consultation," the official told Reuters.

The source declined to say whether comments submitted during the consultation, which closes on Tuesday evening, contained new evidence the ministry could use to back its upcoming decision to ban cultivation of the insect-resistant MON810 maize.

The French government's request to the EU Commission was based on "significant risks for the environment" shown in recent scientific studies, mainly one by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) in December on "bt11" GMO maize which said its conclusions also apply in some respects to the MON810.

Global seeds giant Monsanto, which says its GMO maize is perfectly safe, said in January it would not sell MON810 in France in 2012 and beyond.

Bankers Hire BP Oil Spill PR Man to Boost Image


By Tom Bergin

Europe - Europe's bankers have hired the man responsible for leading oil giant BP's public relations campaign during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as head of the lobby group striving to restore their battered reputation in Europe.

Andrew Gowers has been appointed director of external relations at pan-European lobby group the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), whose membership includes most of the big U.S. and European banks operating across the continent.


Gowers, who was also head of communications and brand management at Lehman Brothers during its collapse, left BP in the wake of the spill.


BP was criticized for an array of PR blunders, including issuing computer-modified photographs of the spill.

Former Chief Executive Tony Hayward also sparked public fury with a series of gaffes in the wake of the rig blast that killed 11 men and led to the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, including saying he wanted his "life back."


Gowers, a former editor of the Financial Times newspaper, has been working as a consultant to AFME for the last three months, helping edit the AFME book 'Investing in Change'.

Bankers remain the subject of public anger, with many blaming them for causing the financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn.


A number of British bankers have been forced to cut or decline their bonus payments following criticism from politicians.

Report: Minority Students Face Harsher Punishments


More than 70 percent of students involved in school-related arrests or cases referred to law enforcement were Hispanic or African-American, according to an Education Department report that raises questions about whether students of all races are disciplined evenhandedly in America's schools.

Black students are more than three times as likely as their white peers to be suspended or expelled, according to an early snapshot of the report released to reporters. The findings come from a national collection of civil rights data from 2009-10 of more than 72,000 schools serving 85 percent of the nation.

The Education Department said it would release more details Tuesday.

"The sad fact is that minority students across America face much harsher discipline than non-minorities, even within the same school," Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters.

Duncan said some school officials might not have been aware of inconsistencies in how they handle discipline, and he hoped the report would be an eye-opener.

According to the report, 42 percent of the referrals to law enforcement involve black students and 29 percent involved Hispanics, while 35 percent of students involved in school-related arrests were black and 37 percent were Hispanic.

Black students made up 18 percent of the students in the sample, but they were 35 percent of students suspended once and 39 percent of students expelled, the report said.

Warm Winter May Bring Pest-filled Spring

Hartford, Connecticut - The mild winter that has given many Northern farmers a break from shoveling and a welcome chance to catch up on maintenance could lead to a tough spring as many pests that would normally freeze have not.

Winters are usually what one agriculture specialist calls a "reset button" that gives farmer a fresh start come planting season. But with relatively mild temperatures and little snow, insects are surviving, growing and, in some areas, already munching on budding plants.

Almost every state had a warmer-than-usual January, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In Albany, N.Y., for example, the average high in January was 37 degrees, when it's usually less than freezing, according to the National Weather Service. In Tulsa, Okla., the average high last month was about 57 degrees, 9 degrees higher than normal.

The Upper Midwest, Great Plains and a few other areas were "much above normal" in temperature, NOAA said.

Dawn Allen, who has an 89-year-old, family-run bog in Freetown, Mass., said her family will likely start sweeping bogs with a contraption similar to a butterfly net in April to catch winter moth caterpillars, instead of waiting until mid-May, when they typically start. The winter moth caterpillars are aggressive and eat buds, potentially ruining a crop for a whole year.

"It's a big stress factor that gets us out on the bog early," said Allen, whose farm sells cranberries for juice and pulp converted into cranberry vitamins.

Martha Sylvia, a research technician at the University of Massachusetts cranberry station, said growers should expect to start spraying earlier and more often because there's "definitely an upswing" in winter moths, she said.

"We just know we're in for it," Sylvia said.

Tim Tucker, a beekeeper in Niotaze, Kan., said he saw flies in February when "all flies should be gone" and bumble bees that usually don't appear until May or June. The warm weather hasn't been entirely good for beekeeping, though. Usually, queen bees won't lay eggs in the cold, but this year, his hives have been active.
"This year, we have some hives that raised bees all winter," Tucker said. "I don't think they ever stopped."
Because so many bees are being raised, Tucker has had to buy supplemental food, such as sucrose, so they don't eat all the honey he wants to sell.

While bees are good for pollination, many of the insects that are surviving have a destructive bent, such as the bean leaf beetle that targets soybeans, corn flea beetle that damages corn, and the alfalfa weevil. Those insects live close to the surface of the ground so the mild temperatures give them a head start, said Christian Krupke, a Purdue University entomologist.

"Winter is like a big reset button for the Midwest," Krupke said. "It wipes out lots of insects usually."
However, the warmer temperatures generally don't affect insects that spend their winters burrowed deep into the ground, he said. And some insects may be threatened by a lack of snow.

Erin Hodgson, an entomologist at Iowa State University, said a drought there due to a lack of snow could threaten boxelder bugs and beetles, who will die if food fails to emerge. And insects that pass the winter in dormancy above ground could die of dehydration or starvation without the insulating cover of snow, she said.

"Making predictions about overall insects surviving or not can be kind of tricky," Hodgson said.
But the warmer weather hasn't been all bad, said Henry Talmage, executive director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau. He compared this winter with last year, when southern New England endured back-to-back snow storms and an ice storm. In early February 2011, farmers in Connecticut lost nearly 150 barns and other structures as feet of snow accumulated. Those in Massachusetts and upstate New York also struggled with roof collapses.

This year, farmers were able to spend the winter working outside, maintaining equipment and buildings, Talmage said.

"Instead of shoveling snow, farmers can do something more productive," Talmage said. "Nobody is complaining. We're all happy at this point it's been as mild as it has been."