tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71699547942565991812024-03-13T11:29:01.945-07:00Because I Can Cindy MarieBecause I Can Cindy MarieBloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01681903676969402809noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-29873879408927747992015-09-15T00:52:00.002-07:002015-09-15T00:52:31.460-07:00North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Warning To US<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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North Korea has said its main nuclear complex is fully operational and the country is ready to face US hostility with nuclear weapons "at any time".</div>
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Its nuclear weapons are being improved "in quality and quantity", an official quoted by the state news agency KCNA said.</div>
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The director of North Korea's Atomic Energy Institute said atomic scientists had "made innovations day by day" to "guarantee the reliability of the nuclear deterrent...as required by the prevailing situation".</div>
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He added: "In the meantime, the US anachronistic hostile policy toward the DPRK that forced it to have access to the nuclear weapons has remained utterly unchanged and instead it has become all the more undisguised and vicious with the adoption of means openly seeking the downfall of the latter's social system.</div>
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"If the US and other hostile forces persistently seek their reckless hostile policy towards the DPRK and behave mischievously, the DP</div>
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The words come a day after Pyongyang's warning that it is ready to launch "satellites" on rockets banned by the west. This would mark the ruling communist party's anniversary in October and could put pressure on the US to resume talks.</div>
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The North's National Aerospace Development Administration director said the satellite would be used for weather forecasts, adding that space development is "a sovereign state's legitimate right" and that the North Koreans are "fully determined to exercise that right".</div>
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He added that the world will "clearly see a series of satellites soaring into the sky at times and locations determined" by the Workers' Party.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-38710389837065020562015-09-14T00:53:00.000-07:002015-09-15T00:56:09.381-07:00Ghost Town: Raging Wildfire's Deadly Trail<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Take away the odd fire investigator or police patrol car and Middletown in California would be a ghost town.</div>
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There is very little for many residents to return to.</div>
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The small mountain community, just north of Napa wine country, took the full force of the Valley Fire that continues to rage across Northern California.</div>
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At least one person died here, an elderly woman who could not escape and was beyond the reach of emergency crews.</div>
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Her neighbours had raced to safety as the fire - described by officials as the most destructive and unpredictable in California for decades - swept in on Saturday.</div>
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Hundreds of buildings were destroyed. Much of what survived now stands twisted by the melting heat.</div>
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There is a randomness to how some blocks were wiped out and others left standing. An apartment block at the corner of Main Street and Barnes has completely gone.</div>
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The Valley Fire is just one of a dozen burning across California. The Butte Fire, a hundred miles to the east, has claimed dozens of homes. Another blaze, the Rough Fire, is bigger than both.</div>
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Drought conditions, a heatwave and strong winds have created the perfect conditions for fires which have exhausted fire crews and firefighting budgets.</div>
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But few have seen anything like what happened in Middletown.</div>
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Joyce Reim and Everett Francis filmed their escape, as flames bore down on their car.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-82699492911571910292015-09-13T00:56:00.000-07:002015-09-15T00:57:12.130-07:00Exclusive: Queen Rania Calls For Unity On Refugees<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Queen Rania of Jordan has called for European leaders to agree on a "holistic and cohesive" policy for tackling the refugee crisis.</div>
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Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Queen Rania said the arrival of 1.4 million Syrian refugees into Jordan had caused "immense strain" to the country's economy.</div>
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"This crisis has had an impact on us for coming up to five years now," she said.</div>
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"We have had a wave of refugees coming into Jordan. To date we have 1.4 million Syrians in Jordan - 630,000 of them registered refugees.</div>
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"That's 20% of our population. To put that into context for you, it’s the equivalent of 12 million people coming to the UK, or 16 million going to Germany.</div>
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"It has really been an immense strain on our economy, on our public services, on our infrastructure, and it has really overwhelmed our capacity to cope with the issue."</div>
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Queen Rania said Europe must form a "consensus" on how to cope with the refugee crisis.</div>
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"What would be ideal is to seek a consensus in Europe - a holistic and cohesive policy towards dealing with the refugees," she said.</div>
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"That will encourage other nations in the world to also be part of the solution, and not to be silent bystanders to what is unfolding."</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-44319921836856632312015-09-12T01:23:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:24:08.343-07:00Mississippi Double Shooting Suspect Is Dead<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A man who killed the woman he lived with and a university professor in Mississippi has apparently shot himself dead.</div>
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Greenville officers were following suspect Shannon Lamb when he pulled over, jumped out of his car and ran, police said.</div>
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The officers heard one gunshot and found Lamb with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.</div>
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The 45-year-old was pronounced dead in hospital.</div>
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Police said Lamb had earlier told authorities that he was "not going to jail".</div>
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Officers <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1552519/hunt-for-campus-gunman-after-professor-killed" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">believe Lamb killed Delta State University history professor Dr Ethan Schmidt</a> </span>as well as the woman Lamb lived with on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, who has been identified as 41-year-old Amy Prentiss.</div>
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Dr Schmidt's body was found in his office on Monday morning, prompting a campus-wide lockdown.</div>
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SWAT teams were seen clearing buildings and police helicopters patrolled above the school in Cleveland, about 20 miles east of the Mississippi-Arkansas state line.</div>
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The lockdown was lifted on Monday night but no classes have been planned for Tuesday.</div>
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Instead, students, faculty and staff are invited to the campus to attend a vigil in the evening to honour the murdered professor, who was 39.</div>
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The motive of the killings is not clear.</div>
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Lamb received a doctorate in education from Delta State University in the spring of 2015, according to his resume posted on the university's website.</div>
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He started working there in 2009 and taught geography and education classes, and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.</div>
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Dr Schmidt specialised in Native American and colonial history. A fellow professor at Delta State described him as "a gentlemen in every sense of the word".</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-21094172194251042812015-09-12T00:58:00.000-07:002015-09-15T00:58:36.885-07:00Germany Expects A Million Migrants This Year<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Germany is expecting one million migrants this year - 200,000 more than previously estimated, Angela Merkel's deputy has said.</div>
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In a letter to party members, the country's vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, said: "Everything points to the fact that we won't have 800,000 migrants as has been predicted by the Interior Ministry, but one million."</div>
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He also called for other EU nations to take their fair share of refugees, and warned a "common European effort" to tackle the crisis is badly needed.</div>
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With the Schengen system of border-free travel through much of the continent under increasing pressure, the European Commission is to outline plans to distribute 160,000 refugees across 22 EU member states over the next two years.</div>
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Several countries are opposed to the quota policy.</div>
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The UK is not involved in the scheme and instead is planning to accept vulnerable and displaced people from refugee camps in nations bordering Syria.</div>
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<a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1552101/cameron-visits-syrian-refugees-in-lebanon" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">Earlier today, David Cameron visited one such refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley</span></a> to see the impact of the humanitarian crisis "at source" days after vowing to take in 20,000 refugees over the next five years.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-32813921829728382422015-09-11T01:25:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:25:58.733-07:00Malcolm Turnbull Sworn In As Australian PM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Malcolm Turnbull has been sworn in as the 29th Prime Minister of Australia after a leadership challenge saw the ouster of Tony Abbott.</div>
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Mr Turnbull's Liberal Party colleagues <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1552342/tony-abbott-ousted-as-australian-pm" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">voted 54-44 to replace Mr Abbott during a surprise ballot on Monday</span></a>.</div>
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He becomes the nation's fourth leader in a little over two years, but despite division in his party, Mr Turnbull says he will lead a "very strong government".</div>
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"There's been a change of prime minister, but we are a very, very strong government, a very strong country with a great potential and we will realise that potential working very hard together," he said.</div>
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"This is a turn of events I did not expect, I have to tell you, but it's one that I'm privileged to undertake and one that I'm certainly up to."</div>
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Shortly before Mr Turnbull was sworn in, Mr Abbott spoke for the first time since his sudden ousting.</div>
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He warned that the persistent volatility in Australia's government could hurt the nation's standing on the global stage.</div>
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"Australia has a role to play in the struggles of the wider world: the cauldron of the Middle East and security in the South China Sea and elsewhere," he said.</div>
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"I fear that none of this will be helped if the leadership instability that's plagued other countries continues to taint us."</div>
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Mr Turnbull later had to meet with his coalition government to thrash out a new agreement with the National Party to replace the one that had been put in place by his predecessor.</div>
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Australian media reported that the agreement is thought to contain a series of promises to deliver more for people in rural communities, which make up majority of the Nationals' support.</div>
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Many conservative Nationals were upset at the removal of Mr Abbott, who is seen as more right of centre than his successor.</div>
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Mr Turnbull maintains some notoriety among the UK Conservative establishment for having been the lawyer who defeated a British attempt to stop the publication of the MI5 expose Spycatcher in the 1980s.</div>
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Despite being a Catholic, he is in favour of same-sex marriage and in his first speech to parliament as prime minister said Australians would vote on same-sex marriage after elections due next year.</div>
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He is also a staunch republican and led a previous failed campaign to remove the Queen as Australian head of state.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-57227859355215693642015-09-11T00:59:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:00:07.246-07:00Refugee Crisis On Brink Of Catastrophe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The great trek north goes on unabated. Thousands upon thousands heading for the sanctuary of the west; or at least that is what they hope.</div>
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This is already an intercontinental crisis but it could turn into a European catastrophe if previously open borders are shut.</div>
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It will leave tens of thousands, eventually perhaps hundreds of thousands, trapped and homeless within the confines of at least five unwelcoming countries. It will be chaos.</div>
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Over the past few days I have travelled with the refugees through the entire Balkan corridor that begins at the Greek border with Macedonia. Travelling through Macedonia and Serbia to Hungary and eventually Austria.</div>
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The sheer numbers of people walking, taking buses, trains and taxis is quite remarkable. But things could soon go badly wrong if the EU does not sort out a strategy it is legally obliged to observe.</div>
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Like it or loath it the European Union has a collective responsibility to deal with this refugee crisis. The UK and Ireland have opt-outs of course, but the rest of the countries do not, and that is now putting unprecedented stress on the Union.</div>
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We thought the economic bailout issues were bad. This utterly dwarfs that simply because we aren't just talking about banks and economics.</div>
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An issue that involves so many people, and it is millions, means that Europe in its entirety could actually be socially reshaped. This is sort of biblical stuff.</div>
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Given the hammering me and my colleagues are taking on social media for simply covering a factual story, it is clear that there is a collective ignorance of simple facts and recent history.</div>
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The danger is that any reasoned debate is overshadowed by hysterical Twitter bullying that is not based on anything other than prejudice.</div>
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These are REFUGEES not the economic migrants who have been dying in their thousands trying to get to Europe from north Africa. It does not matter how many times the tweeters, the bloggers and the political right insist they are, they are not.</div>
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The governments who find themselves at the centre of this storm have themselves to blame.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-84155219944484763112015-09-10T01:27:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:27:17.579-07:00US: Russia Positions Tanks At Syrian Airfield<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Russia has positioned seven tanks at a Syrian airfield where it has been building up defences, US officials claim.</div>
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One of the officials, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Russian T-90 tanks and artillery have been seen at the airfield near the port city of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar al Assad. </div>
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It comes following news last week that <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1549745/russian-military-aid-to-syria-amid-rebel-gains" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_self"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">Russia has sent military hardware and troops</span></a> to bolster Syria's embattled national forces.</div>
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The equipment said to have been deployed by Moscow included two tank landing ships and extra aircraft, along with a small number of naval infantry forces.</div>
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While the aim of the Russian military build-up remains unclear, a US official said last week that the purpose may be to help rebuild or defend the airfield.</div>
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Moscow has confirmed it has "experts" on the ground, but it has refused to give further details about its military presence in the country.</div>
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Damascus has denied Russian forces were involved in combat, but a Syrian official said the number of Russian "experts" had increased in the past year.</div>
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However, Syria's ambassador to Moscow has said talk of Russian troops on the ground is "a lie".</div>
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<a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1549225/refugee-crisis-pm-takes-aim-at-syrias-assad" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_self"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">:: Refugee crisis: PM takes aim at Syria's Assad</span></a></div>
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Sky's Foreign Affairs editor Sam Kiley said: "This is consistent with a build-up of Russian forces in Syria.</div>
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"The Russians are staunch allies of the Damascus regime, but they have been helping to rebuild two significant airfields including this one outside Latakia.</div>
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"They are now defending them with these Russian-manned Russian tanks and there is also an infantry battalion of around 1,000 men that has been deployed in western Syria to defend the port of Tartus."</div>
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Last week David Cameron declared that "hard military force" was needed to reduce the number of refugees fleeing Syria.</div>
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Millions are fleeing the country "because Assad has butchered his own people and because ISIL [Islamic State] have in their own way butchered others," the Prime Minister told MPs.</div>
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"Assad has to go, ISIL has to go and some of that will require not just spending money, not just aid, not just diplomacy but will on occasion require hard military force," he added.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-43620016206481396102015-09-09T01:28:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:28:28.738-07:00Syria: Russia's Motives Behind Military Build-Up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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US officials say they expect Russia to launch combat operations against rebels in Syria "very soon," following reports of a massive airlift of ammunition, Russian heavy armour and anti-aircraft missiles to back up the Damascus regime.</div>
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The Pentagon has now tracked 15 flights of Russian Antonov-124 "Condor" flights into Syria and has seen two more Russian ships offload military cargo - including half a dozen tanks - according to the latest intelligence, a defence official told Fox News.</div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1552419/us-russia-positions-tanks-at-syrian-airfield" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Russian T-90 tanks have been seen by independent observers on the perimeter of Latakia airport </a></span>on the Mediterranean coast, not far from the Russian naval base at Tartous.</div>
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Last weekend two Russian naval tank transport ships were seen docking in Tartous, and Latakia airport has been extended and re-surfaced.</div>
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The drastic increase in Russian support for the Syrian regime could be seen as an attempt to prevent it collapsing under a successful rebel onslaught by the Army of Islam, the Jaish al Islam, which is not associated with Islamic State.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-10031335631540048902015-09-08T01:30:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:31:01.042-07:00Corbyn Reveals Full Shadow Cabinet Line-Up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Jeremy Corbyn has unveiled his full shadow cabinet as his office sought to defuse a growing row over the lack of women in key roles in the Labour's frontbench team.</div>
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<a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1552352/corbyn-reveals-full-shadow-cabinet-line-up" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">:: Latest On This Story Here</span></a></div>
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A statement was issued after the newly elected party leader had refused to answer questions over the make-up of his shadow cabinet, which has been criticised.</div>
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Mr Corbyn had pledged to ensure half of the shadow cabinet is made up of women, but some politicians noted the most senior posts had all gone to men.</div>
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Labour MP Diana Johnson tweeted: "It is so very disappointing - old fashioned male dominated Labour politics in the top positions in Shadow Cabinet #notforgirls."</div>
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But Mr Corbyn's office argued the so-called great offices of state were an outdated concept and that society had changed significantly.</div>
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This echoed the comments of Labour's new shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, who said they did not recognise the traditional "hierarchical nature" of the jobs.</div>
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The statement issued in response to concerns over gender balance in the shadow cabinet said: "For Labour our proudest achievement is the creation of NHS.</div>
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"We are the party that delivered comprehensive education.</div>
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"We are the party that founded the open university, and that established and will defend the trade union and employment rights.</div>
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"The so-called 'great offices of state; as defined in the 19th Century reflect and era before women or workers even had the vote, and before Labour had radically changed the state."</div>
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Previously, Mr Corbyn had been pressed repeatedly by Sky News about why none of the key posts had gone to women but he did not respond.</div>
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As Mr Corbyn walked to his car outside Parliament early this morning, Sky's politics reporter Darren McCaffrey asked: "How do you face this criticism that there simply are not enough women in senior positions in the shadow cabinet?"</div>
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Mr Corbyn refused to answer, and continued walking as McCaffrey addressed several further questions to the Labour leader.</div>
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"Why do you just keep walking and not answer the question? Are you just going to keep walking?" McCaffrey said.</div>
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Eventually, Mr Corbyn said to a staffer: "There are people bothering me."</div>
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"Jeremy, we're not bothering you. We're just asking legitimate questions about your shadow cabinet appointments," McCaffrey replied.</div>
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The new Labour leader had been locked away in the opposition Chief Whips in the Commons from early Sunday afternoon with Rosie Winterton, his new chief whip and a team of close advisers.</div>
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Later, McCaffrey said only a small number of MPs actually visited Mr Corbyn in person yesterday, including Andy Burnham, David Lammy and Lord Falconer but most of the shadow cabinet was formed in frantic conversations.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-42695661054024491082015-09-07T01:32:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:32:52.655-07:00McDonnell: The Political Vision Versus Policy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It says something about Labour under Jeremy Corbyn that the party's new shadow chancellor declares that one of his hobbies is "generally fermenting the overthrow of capitalism".</div>
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Of all the people Mr Corbyn could have chosen to <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1552000/corbyn-reveals-full-shadow-cabinet-line-up" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">appoint</span></a> as his most senior colleague, few could have been more divisive and uncompromising than John McDonnell.</div>
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He is a Labour MP who has spent his political career calling for radical overhaul of the UK economy.</div>
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While in reality his ideas may not constitute a wholesale overthrow of capitalism, they are nonetheless more controversial than any which have thus far been proposed by a major political party.</div>
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They include dramatically raising taxes on the wealthiest earners, bringing them back to 1970s levels; stripping the Bank of England of its independence; forcibly splitting up Britain's banks; abolishing all business tax breaks and introducing price controls on energy, rail and bus fares.</div>
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And all these on top of the <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1551944/corbynomics-labour-leaders-radical-plans" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">controversial policies</span></a> put forward by Mr Corbyn, including the nationalisation of Britain’s rail, energy and banking systems, and "people’s quantitative easing", under which the Bank of England would print money to finance public investment projects.</div>
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Of course, we have yet to learn whether all or indeed any of these policies will find their way into Labour’s next manifesto, but they nonetheless raise a question: do they suggest that Britain and its electorate are moving leftwards, or are they a cry of desperation from a Labour party frustrated with years of suppression?</div>
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It will take some years to find out the answers. In the meantime, we now have more ideological distance between the two major parties in Parliament than ever before.</div>
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Another question is whether that will drag the Conservatives to the centre, as they attempt to win over moderate Labour supporters, or push them further to the right, in the absence of strong centrist opposition.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-26570991695940381462015-09-07T01:31:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:32:00.598-07:00Corbynomics: Labour Leader's Radical Plans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It wasn't all that long ago that many political and economic theorists had decided that the old era of left vs right politics was over.</div>
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As the country and its citizens had become richer, rendering everyone middle class, those old divisions between right-wingers who wanted lower taxes and left-wingers who wanted higher public spending were supposed to disappear.</div>
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But look at British politics today and you'll realise that precisely the opposite has happened.</div>
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With Jeremy Corbyn now in charge of the Labour party, the gap between the left and right leaning parties has never been wider.</div>
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Quite what Mr Corbyn's economic policies will consist of will become clearer in the coming weeks and months - they may well change their complexion now he has a large party to represent.</div>
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But to judge from his comments and proposals during the leadership campaign, Corbynomics may well even take the party to the left of Michael Foot.</div>
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There are the staple Labour policies: taxes are to be increased - particularly the highest rate, which will go back up to 50%.</div>
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There will be a special increase in National Insurance (income tax in all but name) for the wealthiest.</div>
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There will be a tax clampdown on companies and individuals, which promises to raise many billions.</div>
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There will be free tuition fees and higher public spending all round. A massive scheme of public investment projects will be paid for by coercing the Bank of England to print money.</div>
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The rail network will be re-nationalised, as will the energy companies and even the banking system. And all this before one gets to Mr Corbyn's foreign policy and defence proposals.</div>
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It all amounts to the most radical set of political proposals from a major party in decades.</div>
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Some might quibble and suggest that Foot's 1983 manifesto was more radical - but don't forget that at that stage, even after a full term of Margaret Thatcher, both taxes and spending were far higher than they are now.</div>
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Public expenditure was about 47% of gross domestic product; tax revenues amounted to about 44% of GDP.</div>
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Today public spending is under 40% of GDP and tax revenues are about 36% of GDP.</div>
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In other words, since then, the UK has become a significantly lower tax, lower-spending economy than it was in the 1980s.</div>
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One of the questions the rise of Mr Corbyn demands is whether that is likely to change. Will the presence of a far-left opposition leader in the Commons move the needle among the general public?</div>
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After all, the Chancellor has shown time and time again that he would be willing to steal ideas from his political opponents if they chime with the public mood.</div>
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Then again, it is difficult to see a Corbyn economic policy that George Osborne could easily adopt.</div>
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Rail nationalisation may be a popular idea, but privatisation was a Tory idea of the 1990s (further implemented by Labour under Blair, it should be added). The banks are currently in the process of being privatised.</div>
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When it comes to taxes, the Chancellor is actually in the process of raising them ever so slightly, but largely in order to meet his fiscal targets. His surplus rule makes big spending plans near-impossible.</div>
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Most fundamentally, it is not clear that Britons are particularly keen on a dramatic change to the country's fiscal profile.</div>
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Since the late 80s, leaving aside in recession times, public spending has been kept tightly between 35% and 40% of GDP. Taxes have barely risen much above their current level of 36% of GDP.</div>
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Such statistics may seem anodyne, but their stability would seem to suggest that Britons are relatively comfortable with taxes and spending where they are.</div>
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Who knows: perhaps Mr Corbyn will be able to move the needle. But it will take an extraordinary shift, given how reluctant voters seemed to be for even Ed Miliband's comparatively smaller tax increases at the last election.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-83467316079095209332015-09-06T01:39:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:39:34.685-07:00China: State Firm Shake-Up As Worries Mount<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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China has confirmed it is to open up its vast empire of state-owned companies to private investors, as part of efforts to boost investment as credit dries up in its economy.</div>
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The official Xinhua news agency said that guidelines issued by the Communist Party's Central Committee and the State Council, China's cabinet, included plans to merge some state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and allow part-privatisations.</div>
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Xinhua said the government expected "decisive results" by 2020.</div>
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"The SOE system should be more modernised and market-oriented. It should make for higher economic vitality, higher control, greater influence and SOEs will be more risk-resistant."</div>
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China has more than 100 SOEs - many of them utilities, infrastructure and mining firms - with 25,000 more at a local government level, employing millions.</div>
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Companies such as China Mobile and the massive ICBC bank have remained in state hands because they are seen as crucial to national security.</div>
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The support from Beijing has meant SOEs have enjoyed preferential rates on loans but many are now suffering as the availability of credit dries up across the country - a core reason behind China's economic woes.</div>
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It is hoped that new investors can bring greater experience though many might be put off by the threat of state interference and the country's <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1544546/chinese-savers-shaken-by-stock-market-chaos" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">recent stock market crash</span></a>.</div>
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There would also be huge pressure to maintain employment, as a big worry for the Chinese authorities is the prospect of social unrest arising from the economic slowdown.</div>
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Sheng Hong, director of the independent research group the Unirule Institute in Beijing, exercised caution on the reforms, saying they were "not meaningful" and failed to address critical issues including curtailing monopolies.</div>
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He told the AP news agency: "They have been only playing with words and don't intend to carry out real reform."</div>
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Credit conditions may be about to get further squeezed in China.</div>
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Stocks across Asia, including China, fell on Monday as investors continued to fret on whether the US Federal Reserve would start raising interest rates this week from their 2008 low.</div>
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Rising borrowing costs would exacerbate the loss of super-cheap money from quantitative easing - hitting not just China but <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1549944/brazil-credit-rating-cut-to-junk-by-s-and-p" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">wider emerging markets</a></span>.</div>
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The latest factory output data from Beijing disappointed, growing by 6.1% in August, adding to <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1548691/china-in-trade-slump-as-imports-dive-13-8-percent" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">worries about China's industrial activity</span></a> after exports fell 5.5%.</div>
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The worse-than expected data - coupled with the prospect of rising US rates hitting credit availability and exchange rates - has left China at risk of missing its GDP growth forecast of 7% for this year.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-66479219968405888022015-09-06T01:33:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:33:58.304-07:00Users Gear Up For Apple's New Software<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The latest edition of iOS, Apple's mobile software, is nearly here - with people able to download it on Wednesday.</div>
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All devices from the iPhone 4s onwards should receive a notification that the software - iOS 9 - is available to install.</div>
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As well as being offered as a free upgrade for owners of older models of the iPhone, it will come pre-installed on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus models.</div>
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The big new feature is Apple News, a platform which publishers can send stories directly to consumers.</div>
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Users choose their favourite news sources, and the articles are then streamlined into one continuously updating feed.</div>
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The Notes app is also beefed up, with the ability to add check-lists, inline images, basic sketches, and web links.</div>
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You can also add items from whatever app you are in directly to Notes.</div>
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A number of other smaller tweaks have been made, including to the reintroduced search screen and the app-switching mechanism.</div>
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Meanwhile, those using iPads will see a number of device-specific changes.</div>
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The main one is that two apps can now "snap" side-by-side on screen, allowing you to multitask.</div>
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And while watching a video or making a FaceTime call, it is possible to swipe the video to the bottom of the screen while you work on something else in another app.</div>
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Apple customers are advised to back up before upgrading, so they are safe if anything goes wrong.</div>
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Because the file size is hefty, it is wise to be connected to a power source while downloading and installing the software.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-25637150704884145032015-09-05T01:46:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:46:39.838-07:00Rocky Relations: Labour Leaders And The Unions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sky News reflects on the rocky relationship previous leaders of the Labour Party have had with Britain's trade unions.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">:: Harold Wilson</span></div>
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Labour and the trade union movement were almost one-and-the-same thing for many years. The party was formed by the unions, was funded by them, and remained inextricably linked to them. </div>
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Indeed, the role of the party in the first place was as a mechanism to get working-class union members into Parliament.</div>
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Harold Wilson, in the 60s and 70s, has come to epitomise the "beer and sandwiches" era, where union leaders were routinely consulted on major decisions. </div>
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But Wilson also led the party into its first confrontation with the TUC. In 1969 he asked his employment minister Barbara Castle to write a new policy governing industrial relations, called 'In Place of Strife'. Though to modern eyes it seems mild, it was ferociously - and successfully - resisted by the unions.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;">:: Neil Kinnock</span></div>
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Though well within living memory, the 1980s was a whole different era for trade unions compared to now. With more than 12 million members they truly represented a vast swathe of the British workforce. But one thing was the same as today - a Tory government determined to clip their wings.</div>
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Margaret Thatcher's succession of bills saw the biggest retreat in union power since the "beer and sandwiches" days. </div>
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Kinnock's battles against the hard left within the Labour Party had an echo in his relations with the TUC. While his alliances with most unions were strong, he came under attack for criticising the National Union of Mineworkers for not having a ballot for strike action.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-82844307607739004662015-09-05T01:42:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:42:26.178-07:00Web Firm Alibaba Denies Stock About To Tank<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Chinese internet giant Alibaba - which had the world's biggest public stock offering in history last year - has denied its share price is about to halve.</div>
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The company raised $25bn (£16bn) in its November share flotation, as demand drove shares to open at $92.70 on the New York Stock Exchange - almost 40% above its $68 initial public offering (IPO) price.</div>
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But after rocketing 75% in their first two months of trading, shares recently slipped below their IPO price.</div>
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Now weekly financial newspaper Barron's has warned its share price could be cut in half as a result of China's struggling economy, and increasing competition in e-commerce.</div>
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After Alibaba warned of lower-than-expected sales, the Barron's report said: "That may only worsen as China's economic growth drops to its lowest pace in six years."</div>
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The report prompted Alibaba to hit back, saying the article "contains factual inaccuracies and selective use of information, and the conclusions the reporter draws are misleading".</div>
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In a letter published on its website addressed to Barron's editor, Alibaba said: "Your 12 September article with the sensational headline 'Alibaba: Why It Could Fall 50% Further' lacks three key ingredients - integrity, professionalism and fair play.</div>
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"We take strong issue with the reporting about the state of our company, and we feel compelled to set the record straight.</div>
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"Jonathan Laing's story contains factual inaccuracies and selective use of information, and the conclusions he draws are misleading.</div>
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"The facts above provide a clear and compelling case for the lack of integrity, professionalism and fairness of Mr Laing's reporting. </div>
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"We urge you to issue a correction and we stand ready to discuss this with you at any time."</div>
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Alibaba said Barron's wrongly compared the company to eBay, and said it should instead be compared instead with its Chinese peers because eBay does not operate in China.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-31280107513550456322015-09-05T01:34:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:34:54.288-07:00NS&I Cuts ISA Rate As Popularity Soars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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National Savings & Investments (NS&I) is slashing the interest rate on its Direct ISA because of its soaring popularity among savers.</div>
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The savings organisation said it was taking the decision to "balance the interests of its savers, taxpayers and the stability of the broader financial services sector."</div>
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NS&I is unique in the UK marketplace in that it is backed by the Treasury, meaning its products are 100% protected but laws govern their management to help ensure market fairness.</div>
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It said the interest rate on the tax-free cash ISA would fall to 1.25% from 1.5% on 16 November.</div>
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NS&I said the move would affect 404,210 customers with savings of more than £3.8bn in total and it was writing to them to explain the rate reduction.</div>
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Chief executive Jane Platt said: "Interest rates in the easy access ISA market have been in decline over the year and our Direct ISA rate has stood out at the top of the best buy tables for some time.</div>
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"To ensure that we continue to strike a balance between the needs of our savers, taxpayers and the stability of the broader financial services sector, we have taken the difficult decision to reduce the rate on our Direct ISA.</div>
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"However customers continue to benefit from a competitive rate and 100% security on all their deposits."</div>
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NS&I said its decision would move the product back to the middle ground for rates available in the ISA market currently.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-68785369096750187022015-09-03T01:49:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:51:20.732-07:00Inflation Falls Back To 0% In August<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) was unchanged in the year to August 2015, that is, a 12-month rate of 0%, down from 0.1% in the year to July 2015.</div>
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Smaller increases to clothing prices on the month compared with a year ago was the main driver behind the slowdown to price level growth.</div>
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Lower prices at the pumps together with cheaper ferry fares also helped to suppress price growth.</div>
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Bucking the lower price trend were soft drinks and furniture prices which helped prevent the UK from entering negative inflation again.</div>
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The UK entered <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1486734/inflation-below-zero-for-first-time-in-55-years" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(203, 203, 203); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3157a1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">negative inflation in April</a></span> for the first time in 55 years.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-71336503388022721362015-09-02T01:35:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:36:05.862-07:00Get-Rich-Quick Case Cost Taxpayers £1.4m<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://media.skynews.com/media/images/generated/2015/9/14/417932/default/v1/10682657-1-1-589x442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.skynews.com/media/images/generated/2015/9/14/417932/default/v1/10682657-1-1-589x442.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The prosecution of a group of women who ran a £21m pyramid scheme cost taxpayers at least £1.4m, according to a Freedom of Information request.</div>
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The scheme, which generated £21m before it was shut down, conned at least 10,000 people between May 2008 and April 2009.</div>
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But the perpetrators paid back as little as £1 each, according to an investigation by the Press Association.</div>
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The victims were encouraged to "beg, borrow or steal" to take part in the scam, which promised £23,000 for each £3,000 investment if a player recruited two people.</div>
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Bristol Crown Court heard the scheme's committee members pocketed up to £92,000 each, while up to 88% of their members lost between £3,000 and £15,000.</div>
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The eleven women prosecuted for the scheme were the first in the UK to face prosecution for a pyramid scheme under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Act.</div>
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Six women who were convicted of operating and promoting the scheme paid back a total of £535,454 in confiscation orders and prosecution costs.</div>
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The prosecution cost taxpayers "not less" than £1,465,000 - not including defence costs, legal aid costs or court costs.</div>
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A spokeswoman for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said there was a "strong public interest" in bringing the case to act as a deterrent, warn the public and achieve justice for victims.</div>
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"Investigating and prosecuting complex economic cases of this kind are invariably costly, often taking a significant time to investigate fully and resulting in lengthy trials," she said.</div>
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"In particular, they will typically involve sifting through millions of physical and electronic documents, complicated money tracing exercises and interviewing of a large number of potential witnesses.</div>
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"All this calls for a team of staff working full-time, including expert staff, and the advice of specialist counsel.</div>
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"The costs associated with this particular case are in no way unusual or unexpected for a case of this kind."</div>
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Judge Mark Horton ordered the defendants to pay back individual amounts following a Proceeds of Crime hearing held in July.</div>
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Chairwoman Laura Fox, 70, was ordered to pay £156,000. Treasurer Jennifer Smith-Hayes, 69, paid £111,912, while secretary Susan Crane, 69, paid £81,162.</div>
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Hazel Cameron, 55, paid £65,012, charts co-ordinator Mary Nash, 65, paid £53,362 and Carol Chalmers, 69, paid £47,862.</div>
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In 2012, Sally Philips, 35, of Hengrove, Jane Smith, 51, of Bishopsworth, and Rita Lomas, 50, of Whitchurch, received suspended sentences after they admitted promoting the scheme.</div>
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Two other women accused of being involved with the scam were cleared of all charges.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-60466135805115347522015-08-06T21:45:00.004-07:002015-08-06T21:45:31.868-07:00Meet the Window Washers That Transform Into Superheroes for Sick Kids<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Roger Corcoran has been a window washer for 35 years. But on Wednesday, he was Batman.</div>
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The 61-year-old grandfather of two rappelled down the side of <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/mayo-clinic.htm" id="ramplink_Mayo Clinic_" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Mayo Clinic</a> Children’s Center alongside Spiderman and Superman.</div>
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“When a kid wanted to know why I was so old, I told him I played the original batman,” Corcoran said with a chuckle.</div>
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/03/young-patients-at-indiana-childrens-hospital-diagnose-stuffed-bears/" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;">Young Patients at Indiana Children’s Hospital Diagnose Stuffed Bears</a></div>
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/rappelling-elves-delight-patients-indiana-hospital/story?id=21124888" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; background-color: white; color: #2e538f; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;">Rappelling Elves Delight Patients in Indiana Hospital</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cancer-patients-attend-pediatric-prom/story?id=23931710" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;">Cancer Patients Attend Pediatric Prom</a></div>
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John Carroll, 48, dressed up as Spiderman.</div>
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“It’s one thing I look forward to doing all year,” said Carroll, who has worked as a window washer for 15 years.</div>
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After rappelling down the side of the building, Carroll and Corcoran went inside to meet the kids, who were appropriately shocked to come face-to-face with their high-flying heroes.</div>
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“The first time it happened, I was kinda crying because it means a lot to those kids,” Carroll said.</div>
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Carroll and Corcoran work at ISS Facility Services, which washes windows for Mayo Clinic. Charlie Kleber worked with Mayo Clinic to set up the special event, and said he picked some of his best guys to swing down and make the kids smile.</div>
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He said he’s watched even the sickest kids come alive when they’re face-to-face with the superheroes.</div>
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He called Wednesday’s superhero experience “life-changing,” and said they were all struck by a special patient: 13-year-old Claire Strawman, who in April became the youngest heart-lung patient Mayo Clinic had ever transplanted.</div>
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She told them about how she went into lung failure and underwent a transplant in April. She was hospitalized for about seven months before being released a few weeks ago. But she got sick on Monday and needed to come back.</div>
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“I got goose bumps right now telling you that story,” Kleber said.</div>
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Claire is on immunosuppressant drugs to prevent her from rejecting the new organs, but the drugs also make her more prone to infections. When she got sick, her parents worried and brought her back to the hospital, according to her mom, Ellen Strawman. She was in the pediatric ICU when the superheroes visited.</div>
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“Just seeing them put a big smile on her face,” Strawman said, adding that Claire left the hospital today for her home in Bloomington, Minnesota.</div>
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“She told us what happened to her and everything. We were all standing around her tearing up,” Carroll said. “That story made you feel so proud to do it for the kids because it means so much to them. It was great.”</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-36312604971168045862015-08-05T21:48:00.000-07:002015-08-06T21:48:48.804-07:00Twinless Twins Grieve Together<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It’s been 10 years since Alyssa Dreiver’s twin sister died, but people still mistake her for Anissa.</div>
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They were identical, with blonde hair, brown eyes and matching smiles. When they spoke the same word at the same time, their throats would vibrate, Dreiver said.</div>
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But then a driver hit Anissa’s car head-on, killing her instantly when she was 25 years old.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Losing Their ‘Other Half’</strong></div>
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“On February 1st 2004, my world was shattered,” Dreiver, now 35, told ABC News. “When I looked at her in the casket, I felt as if I was looking at myself.”</div>
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The two were inseparable growing up in Oklahoma, Dreiver said. They wore matching outfits, but in different colors. When Dreiver cut her hair during her senior year of high school, Anissa cried because they no longer looked exactly alike. Even after they moved to separate cities and got married, they would still drive six hours to see one another every few months and sleep in the same bed.</div>
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<img alt="PHOTO: When Alyssa cut her hair in high school, Anissa cried because they no longer looked exactly the same.
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Courtesy Alyssa Driever</div>
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PHOTO: When Alyssa cut her hair in high school, Anissa cried because they no longer looked exactly the same.</div>
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Though Dreiver had experienced other close family members’ deaths, Anissa’s death was different, she said.</div>
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“Anissa is half of me. She is half of my soul. She’s a part of me. She’s my best friend. She’s like my shadow,” Dreiver said. “And I no longer have that.”</div>
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Dreiver said she has had a hard time coping. Every time she looks in the mirror, she remembers what she lost, she said.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Finding Twinless Twins</strong></div>
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Last week, Dreiver found a Facebook support group for “twinless” twins – people who have lost their twin.</div>
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“I already feel a wonderful connection with them that I haven’t felt with any counselor or friend or anything like that,” she said. “No counselor I have ever been to can help me because they don’t understand.”</div>
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The national Twinless Twins Support Group has been around for decades, but the Facebook group has helped connect even more people over the last few years, especially those between 25 and 35 years old, said the group’s administrator, Dawn Barnett. Although there were 250 Twinless Twin Facebook group members in 2012, there are now nearly 1,500.</div>
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“We believe that by helping other twinless twins who are grieving, it helps you,” Barnett said, echoing Alyssa’s point about how other people don’t quite understand. “Twin loss is so deep because you were bonded from the womb on.”</div>
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Domenick Abbate, 40, who said he always felt like the big brother figure to his twin Frank, said the two of them were so close that they swore they could share dreams as children.</div>
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<img alt="PHOTO: Domenick Abbate became depressed after his twins death, but he recently discovered Twinless Twins, a support group that understands what hes going through.
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Courtesy Domenick Abbate</div>
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PHOTO: Domenick Abbate became depressed after his twin's death, but he recently discovered Twinless Twins, a support group that understands what he's going through.</div>
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Frank, a canine handler for the New Brunswick Fire Department following the September 11 attacks, died of lymphoma in 2010, Abbate said. He tried to keep moving forward, but eventually he started drinking, missing work and experiencing marital problems.</div>
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“The minute I got home, I wanted to crawl into a ball,” he said. “You still feel that missing connection. It was basically eating me up inside."</div>
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His wife was the one who found the twinless twins group and suggested he go to their annual conference in mid-July. He felt an almost immediate connection, he said. He loved how the group members would know when he needed a hug even before he did.</div>
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“We almost all had the same story in the end -- how we were feeling” he said. “No one else understood. My sister, my mother, they all say ‘I understand how you feel,’ but they didn’t.”</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">No Longer Living as ‘We’</strong></div>
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Carolyn Landis, a psychologist at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, said how someone handles the death of a twin can vary depending on a variety of factors, including how close the twins were and even how much they looked alike.</div>
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“Especially with identical twins, you would remind yourself of your twin,” Landis said. “It’s a similar phenomenon to a parent that loses a spouse and sees aspects of their spouse in their child.”</div>
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Landis said the surviving twin should focus on how he or she is unique as part of the healing process. Writing down memories in a journal can help, too.</div>
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But regardless of whether twins are identical, Landis notes that they went through every milestone -- from starting kindergarten to leaving for college to turning 30 -- together. Experiencing new milestones alone may be especially hard for the surviving twin, she said.</div>
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“Now you’re a single person, and you’ve been living as a ‘we,’” Barnett said. “You live a different normal.”</div>
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Landis said that technology from Skype to unlimited long distance calling can keep twins connected in a way that growing up might have pushed them apart in decades past. As a result, the death is painful even if twins didn’t live in the same city.</div>
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Landis said some surviving twins may fall into depression and should not be afraid to seek help from a therapist. Some survivors seek religion, too.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Early Twin Loss</strong></div>
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But not all surviving twins remember the twin they lost. Dawn Barnett, who runs the Facebook group, said her identical twin died when the two were 10 months old in 1948. “All my life, I felt I wasn’t a twin because I didn’t get to live with her,” Barnett said. “My parents were in such grief. My parents never talked about her.”</div>
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But she came to embrace being a twin after seeing the Twinless Twins Support Group on a talk show in the mid-1980s and deciding to get involved.</div>
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Barnett felt especially close to her twin after having a heart attack in 2005. Her twin’s cause of death had been a heart problem in infancy nearly six decades earlier. Barnett spent several days in a coma and said her twin came to her and told her it wasn’t time to die yet.</div>
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<img alt="PHOTO: Twinless Twins support group brings people whose twin has died together." border="0" height="480" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/ht_twinless_twins_walk_kb_140731_4x3_992.jpg" style="font-size: 15.4545450210571px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="640" /></div>
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Courtesy Dawn Barnett</div>
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PHOTO: Twinless Twins support group brings people whose twin has died together.</div>
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At the annual Twinless Twins conference this year, about 120 attendees – 10 percent of the total group – lost twins in utero or as babies, Barnett said, noting that the organization doesn’t keep statistics.</div>
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Kevin Mullen, 33, of Vermont, is among them. Mullen’s twin died when his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and a blood clot formed, he said. Mullen himself was born with cerebral palsy. The only photo Mullen has of the two of them is an ultrasound photo.</div>
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“I’ve always been around twins. I have twin cousins, several sets of twin cousins,” he said. “Even though I do miss my twin, I honor him in different ways.”</div>
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Mullen happened upon Twinless Twins in the 1990s and said he honors his twin by participating in memorial walks and fundraisers for the group.</div>
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He said milestones, like turning 16 and going to Europe, always made him think of his twin because it would have been something they could share together.</div>
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<img alt="PHOTO: Twins Domenick and Frank Abbate grew up so close that they said they could share dreams. When Frank died, it was especially hard on Domenick.
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Courtesy Domenick Abbate<div itemprop="articleBody" style="margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">
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PHOTO: Twins Domenick and Frank Abbate grew up so close that they said they could share dreams. When Frank died, it was especially hard on Domenick.<div itemprop="articleBody" style="margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">
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Kendra Felder, 24, said she feels the same way. She found out about her twin sister when she was about 8 years old. Her twin, Courtney, died 11 days after they were born premature. On their birthday, she said she likes to find Courtney’s baby blanket and put it in a shadow box. She always thinks of her twin when a friend or family member dies and when she finds herself in a period of transition.</div>
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Landis said she’s had patients who don’t remember their twins but still think about them and talk to them.</div>
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“The fact that you were together in the womb, there’s something about that connection,” Landis said.</div>
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It’s important for parents to be transparent about the deceased twin by talking about it openly and making sure the surviving child doesn’t feel guilty, Landis added. The missing twin should never be a secret, and may even become a source of comfort.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Remembering Anissa</strong></div>
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Driever talks about her twin sister, Anissa, every day even though she’s been dead for 10 years, she said. When she switched jobs, her coworkers said they felt like they were losing two people instead of just one because Driever talked about Anissa so much that she became alive for them.</div>
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“I love whenever somebody mistakes me for Anissa,” she said. “It warms my heart because I don’t want my sister to be forgotten. I talk about her or I think about her every day.”</div>
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<img alt="PHOTO: Alyssa Drievers twin sister Anissa died nearly a decade ago, but the loss still hurts, she said.
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Courtesy Alyssa Driever</div>
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PHOTO: Alyssa Driever's twin sister Anissa died nearly a decade ago, but the loss still hurts, she said.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-55651204567407373642015-08-04T21:54:00.000-07:002015-08-06T21:55:07.546-07:00How Scientists and Doctors Use Baby-Friendly Tricks to Study Infants<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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For all the impressive advancements in medical technology, researchers and scientists still face a daunting challenge when they study the habits of the adorable but uncommunicative subjects called human infants.</div>
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In order to study infants without overwhelming them, scientists often try to mask the massive machines needed to view brain activity either by having the child sleep through it or by covering it in kid-friendly decorations. Other researchers have devised decidedly low-tech ways of reading an infant’s interest in a subject, even when they can’t say a single word.</div>
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In a study released Monday in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, doctors used a special machine to examine infant brain activity as they start to learn language skills.</div>
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Patricia Kuhl, a professor of speech and hearing sciences at University of Washington and the lead author of the study, said the research indicated the area of the infants’ brain that controlled motor skills lit up when they heard certain words. The activity indicated that the infants are trying to mimic adults and speak much earlier before they say their first word.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">However, Kuhl said, the study was important because of both the surprising findings and the way researchers were able to get them. To “read” the infant’s brain activity, they used the cutting-edge device called a magnetoencephalograph, that was quiet and nimble enough to read the chaotic world of infants’ brain activity.</span></div>
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/08/26/pirate-themed-scanner-a-hit-at-nyc-hospital/" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;">Pirate-Themed Scanner a Hit at NYC Hospital</a></div>
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/11/06/babys-gaze-could-signal-autism-risk-study-finds/" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;">Baby's Gaze Could Signal Autism Risk, Study Finds</a></div>
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<img alt="PHOTO: The pirate-thesed CT scanner" border="0" height="480" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/ht_pirate_themed_ct_scanner_thg_130826_4x3_992.jpg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="640" /><span class="image_icon" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><div class="embed_credit" style="background: none 0% 0% repeat scroll rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039); bottom: 0px; color: #f0f0f0; font-family: proxima-nova, arial; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 3px; position: absolute; right: 0px; z-index: 1;">
NY-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital</div>
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PHOTO: The pirate-thesed CT scanner</div>
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_MindBodyNews/mri-anxiety-eased-therapy-dog/story?id=13491740" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; background-color: white; color: #2e538f; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;">MRI Anxiety Eased by Therapy Dog</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;"></span></div>
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Kuhl said unlike an MRI machine, which is extremely loud and requires a patient to be totally still, the magnetoencephalograph is nearly silent. However the infants still had to be strapped into a chair, so to keep them entertained the researchers were tasked with making silly faces and holding up toys all in the name of science.</div>
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“You want them to like the lab,” said Kuhl. “It’s decorated with fish and it’s got little stickies [on it.] It’s ... very baby friendly. We wave toys and we’re very aware and of their curiosity and of their desire to play. We do everything to make them comfortable.”</div>
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In a 2013 study published in Psychological Science, researchers used MRI machines to examine baby’s brain activity in response to different stimuli. However, to get the infants into a machine where they could not move, the researchers had the babies go in after they fell asleep naturally. They also used ear coverings so the loud MRI machine didn’t wake the infants.</div>
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MRI machines can be so distressing for patients because of claustrophobia or other fears about being in the hospital that a New York Hospital installed a pirate-themed scanner to put children (and some parents) more at ease.</div>
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“The genius is in this machine. ... There’s no noise and the baby can listen and can move,” said Kuhl of the magnetoencephalograph. “The ability for the first time to do this kind of recording in this kind of technical advanced machine ... [it’s like] we’re putting [on] a stethoscope.”</div>
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Aside from technological advancements, researchers rely on some decidedly low-tech approaches when studying infants.</div>
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Fei Xue, a professor of psychology at the University of California Berkeley, has done numerous studies examining how infants learn and react to new toys or information. She said researchers have plenty of tricks to keep babies focused on the tasks at hand.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-6967766491089142032015-08-03T21:58:00.000-07:002015-08-06T21:58:56.407-07:00Cancer Tops List of Surprising Health Problems Tied to Obesity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By now you’ve probably heard that<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/obesity-and-overweight.htm" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;">obesity</a> increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes. But you might not know that the extra weight can have other serious health consequences, including cancer.</div>
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A new study found that 10 percent of all gallbladder, kidney, liver, and colon cancers could be attributed to excess weight. A whopping 41 percent of uterine cancers were tied to obesity, according to the study published today in <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)60892-8/fulltext?_eventId=login" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="external">The Lancet</a>.</div>
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More than 36 percent of Americans are now considered obese, according to the U.S. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/center-for-disease-control.htm" id="ramplink_Centers for Disease Control and Prevention_" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>. An additional 34 percent are considered overweight.</div>
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Read on to learn eight surprising effects of obesity.</div>
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The Lancet study of 5.4 million people found that every 1-point population-wide increase in body mass index or BMI would result in 3,790 additional cancers each year. That’s worrying, considering that the average BMI in the U.S. has risen nearly 2.5 points for men and almost four points for women since 1971, according to a 2013 study.</div>
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The National Cancer Institute estimates that obesity contributes to 34,000 new cases of cancer in men and 50,000 in women each year. But if every adult reduced their BMI by 1 percent – a loss of roughly 2.2 pounds – about 100,000 new cases of cancer could be avoided, according to the agency’s website.</div>
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A study published in the journal Neurology revealed what a real headache carrying extra weight can be.</div>
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Johns Hopkins researchers surveyed nearly 4,000 people to find that the higher their body mass index, the greater their chances were of having episodic migraines. Those who were obese were 81 percent more likely to experience at least 14 migraine headaches each month compared to people who were a healthy weight. Obese women over the age of 50 suffered from chronic headaches the most.</div>
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Overweight women have a harder time getting pregnant. One Indian study of 300 morbidly obese women found that over 90 percent of them developed polycystic ovarian disease, a condition associated with infertility, over a three-year period.</div>
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As with cancer, the association between obesity and infertility isn't entirely clear.</div>
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"Obesity is an inflammatory state and that alone might decrease fertility," noted Dr. Marc Bessler, director of the Center for Weight Loss and Metabolic Surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center. "It may also be the result of hormone changes produced by the fatty tissue."</div>
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Bessler said that many of his heavier patients experienced difficulty getting pregnant. And many infertility clinics don't accept female patients with high body mass indexes given their diminished chances of conceiving. However, Bessler said some of his patients become pregnant just months after weight-loss surgery once they had dropped a few pounds.</div>
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For heavier women who do get pregnant, the worries aren't over. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that obesity increases a woman's chance of having a pre-term baby, especially when her body mass index is 35 or higher.</div>
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The study's authors speculate that having too much fat may inflame and weaken the uterine and cervical membranes. Whatever the reason, it can have devastating effects. Premature birth is the leading cause of infant death and long-term disabilities.</div>
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Sleep and excess weight do not make good bedfellows. Nearly 80 percent of older, obese Americans report having problems with sleep, an American Sleep Foundation survey found.</div>
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Poor sleep contributes to a host of diseases including diabetes, heart disease and, ironically, obesity itself. Numerous studies link short sleep to expanding waistlines, including the Harvard Nurses' Study, which found that those who slumbered less than five hours a night were 15 percent more likely to gain weight than those who enjoyed at least seven hours of sleep.</div>
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Dr. Donald Hensrud, a nutritionist and preventive medicine expert in the department of endocrinology, diabetes, metabolism and nutrition at the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/mayo-clinic.htm" id="ramplink_Mayo Clinic_" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Mayo Clinic</a>, said one of the most immediate health dangers for many obese people is <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/sleep-disorder.htm" id="ramplink_sleep apnea_" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">sleep apnea</a>, a condition in which a person gasps or stops breathing momentarily while asleep.</div>
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"Sleep apnea can be caused by increased fat around the neck area that presses down and closes off the soft tissues of the airways while a person is lying down, especially on his back," Hensrud said. "This means the person does not get good quality sleep, has less oxygen in the blood stream, and the heart has to work harder."</div>
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Though fat people are often the butt of the joke, obesity stigma is no laughing matter.</div>
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A Yale study found that weight is the number one reason people are bullied at any age and those who are bullied have lower self-esteem, higher levels of depression and increased risk of suicide.</div>
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The main source of ridicule, according to the Yale researchers: Loved ones.</div>
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The number two source of stigma, after loved ones?</div>
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Puhl said her studies have found that 67 percent of overweight men and women report being shamed or bullied in the doctor's office. And 50 percent of doctors found that fat patients were "awkward, ugly, weak-willed and unlikely to comply with treatment" while 24 percent of nurses said they were repulsed by their obese patients.</div>
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Wider waistbands seem to widen the pay gap.</div>
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One George Washington University School of Public Health study found a strong connection between greater obesity and shrinking wages. Examining data from the 2004 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the researchers discovered that wages among the obese were $8,666 less for females and $4,772 lower for males compared with their thinner counterparts. In 2008, the researchers found wages were $5,826 less for obese females -- a 14.6 percent penalty over normal-weight females.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-2474720878814292302015-08-02T22:01:00.000-07:002015-08-06T22:01:17.008-07:00Legionnaires' Disease: What's Being Done to Stop Deadly Outbreak<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The worst-ever outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in New York City has yet to be stopped as health officials today raised the total number of dead to 10 with 100 people infected.</div>
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Those who died were older adults with underlying medical conditions, according to city health officials.</div>
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Mayor <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/us/bill-de-blasio.htm" id="ramplink_Bill de Blasio_" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Bill de Blasio</a> said earlier this week that officials had expected cases to wane in upcoming days to weeks, but an increased number of cases have highlighted how difficult it can be to stop a Legionnaires’ outbreak.</div>
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The bacterial disease is spread when contaminated water-mist is inhaled. It can be spread through fountains, shower heads or air conditioning cooling units that mist water from the machinery. The New York City <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/health-department.htm" id="ramplink_Health Department_" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Health Department</a> said it has found and tested 17 cooling towers in the area where the outbreak occurred and five tested positive for the bacteria.</div>
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/outbreak-legionnaires-disease-sickens-46-nyc/story?id=32780569" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Legionnaire's Disease Reported in South Bronx Area of NYC</a></div>
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/legionnaires-disease-nyc-outbreak-leaves-dead-michigan-woman/story?id=32872499" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Legionnaire's Disease Leaves 7 Dead in NYC, One Woman Dead in Michigan</a></div>
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Officials have already cleaned and flushed those cooling towers, but they are continuing to investigate whether there are any other potential sources for infection. De Blasio said this outbreak prompted him to introduce new legislation to cut down on future outbreaks.</div>
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In a news conference, he said the legislation would require new inspection standards for buildings with cooling and condensing units. If the bacteria is detected in the units, the building managers will be immediately required to take action or face penalties. If building managers fail to act, the city will step in.</div>
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Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said stopping such outbreaks could be difficult because the Legionella bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease is naturally occurring in the environment.</div>
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"First of all, Legionnaires’ disease is not a predictable event; it occurs here, there and everywhere," Schaffner said. "Very few [outbreaks] are this large."</div>
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The source of the outbreak can also be hard to identify, Schaffner said, because of the difficulty of connecting bacteria found in cooling towers to the people affected by the disease.</div>
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ABC News' chief health and medical editor, Dr. Richard Besser, said he was concerned about statements made by city health officials saying they were confident that one or more of the five cooling towers was the source of the outbreak.</div>
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"Outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease can be very difficult to sort out. Most people who are exposed don't get sick and the bacteria can travel in mist through the air over large distances," Besser said. "They [health officials] say they are confident that one or more of those cooling towers is the source.</div>
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"However, I think it's pretty hard to be certain without matching bacteria from the cooling tower to a patient -- something that has not been possible, or seeing that the number of cases declines. Without that decline, it seems a bit premature to be confident that this is over."</div>
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Schaffner said the next few days to weeks will be key to determining whether the source of the outbreak had been stopped or whether people are still presenting with new cases.</div>
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"It could [take] time for a diagnosis to be made and information to be reported to health department," Schaffner said. "We’d hope that cases clearly diminish in next week or two."</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585801279638427560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169954794256599181.post-29624216280540030102015-08-01T22:02:00.000-07:002015-08-06T22:02:20.652-07:002nd Colorado Plague Death Reported as Health Officials Warn Residents to Protect Themselves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A second person has died of the plague this summer in Colorado and health officials are warning residents to take steps to guard against contracting the bacterial disease as the weather creates an opportunity for more cases to develop.</div>
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Officials from the Pueblo City Council <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/health-department.htm" id="ramplink_Health Department_" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Health Department</a> announced this week the unnamed patient died from to a suspected case of septicemic plague, which leads to a dangerous blood infection. About seven people are diagnosed with a form of the plague in the United States every year, according to the U.S. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/infectious-diseases.htm" id="ramplink_Centers for Disease Control_" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Centers for Disease Control</a> and Prevention.</div>
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Dr. Chris Nevin-Woods, medical officer at the Pueblo City Council Health Department, said they've recently seen a rise in zoonotic diseases, or diseases spread by bugs or animals in the area.</div>
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"We’re seeing a lot of zoonotic diseases but plague is relatively rare," she said. "Each case is very worrisome."</div>
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/outbreak-legionnaires-disease-sickens-46-nyc/story?id=32780569" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Legionnaire's Disease Reported in South Bronx Area of NYC</a></div>
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/girl-survived-brain-eating-amoeba-swims/story?id=24887364" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">Girl Who Survived Brain-Eating Amoeba Swims Again</a></div>
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The disease is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria and will incubate in a person between two to six days before they show symptoms. There are three kinds of plague: bubonic, which leads to swollen lymph nodes; septicemic, which leads to a blood infection; and pneumatic, which is when the bacteria settle in the blood and cause <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/pneumonia.htm" id="ramplink_pneumonia_" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s; color: #2e538f; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px !important; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;" target="_blank">pneumonia</a>.</div>
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Nevin-Woods explained that prairie dogs can become infected with fleas that carry the virus and, eventually, those fleas can spread the disease to other animals or even people in the area.</div>
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"They’re everywhere and they have lots of fleas this year [because] we have a cool and very wet summer," she explained.</div>
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She said health officials are warning residents not to let their dogs or cats roam outside because the animals can pick up the infected fleas and bring them in the house. Dogs can be especially problematic because they can be asymptomatic and owners can have no idea the fleas they bring back are infected.</div>
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Dr. Frank Esper, infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, said about 80 percent of plague cases are bubonic, which is also the least dangerous form of the disease with death from it extremely rare in the United States.</div>
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"The amount of human infections is quite low," Esper said. "That’s not to say that plague itself is eradicated. It follows infections from rodents with the fleas," to pets in the home.</div>
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He explained in rare cases a bite from an infected flea will lead to an infection in the blood stream rather than in the lymph nodes. In that case, the septicemia form of the disease can occur, which can cause heart and lung failure as the immune system responds to the bacteria in the blood.</div>
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"If it goes to an artery or vein … It gets into the heart and spreads to other places of the body," he said. "Thankfully, it doesn’t happen very often."</div>
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Esper said the disease can be treated with antibiotics but that the septicemic form of the disease can work quickly. A vaccine for the disease exists and is given to those who are likely to come in close contact with the disease, such as scientists in a lab or animal-control workers.</div>
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