Oil found in Gulf crabs raises new food chain fears
By Geoff Pender | Biloxi Sun Herald
BILOXI, Miss. – University scientists have spotted the first indications oil is entering the Gulf seafood chain – in crab larvae – and one expert warns the effect on fisheries could last “years, probably not a matter of months” and affect many species.Scientists with the University of Southern Mississippi and Tulane University in New Orleans have found droplets of oil in the larvae of blue crabs and fiddler crabs sampled from Louisiana to Pensacola, Fla. The news comes as blobs of oil and tar continue to wash ashore in Mississippi in patches, with crews in chartreuse vests out cleaning beaches all along the coast on Thursday, and as state and federal fisheries from Louisiana to Florida are closed by the BP oil disaster.
Scientists discover what makes us live longer
New test unlocks secrets of life expectancy by predicting which of us will reach 100
By Steve Connor, Science Editor Friday, 2 July 2010
A genetic test has been developed that can predict whether someone is likely to live an extremely long life, but scientists have warned that society is still not ready for such predictions.The test is based on a scan of a person’s entire genome; so far it can predict whether someone is likely to live to 100 with an accuracy of 77 per cent. However, refinements to the test will improve its precision, raising the prospect that it could one day be used to predict whether someone is genetically predisposed to extreme longevity.
USA
Factory Jobs Return, but Employers Find Skills Shortage
By MOTOKO RICH
Published: July 1, 2010
BEDFORD, Ohio – Factory owners have been adding jobs slowly but steadily since the beginning of the year, giving a lift to the fragile economic recovery. And because they laid off so many workers – more than two million since the end of 2007 – manufacturers now have a vast pool of people to choose from.
Yet some of these employers complain that they cannot fill their openings.Plenty of people are applying for the jobs. The problem, the companies say, is a mismatch between the kind of skilled workers needed and the ranks of the unemployed.
U.S. housing market remains fragile despite low mortgage rates
By Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 2, 2010After showing signs of a fledgling recovery from the worst downturn in decades, the U.S. housing market appears to be heading back toward the doldrums, as the expiration of a lucrative tax credit for buyers and increased uncertainty about the economy cause home sales to plummet.The sudden weakness in residential real estate has struck nearly every region of the country, according to recent government and industry data, driving down sales of new and previously owned homes alike in May. On Thursday, the National Association of Realtors said an index that measures sales contracts signed on existing homes plunged 30 percent in May, more than twice what analysts had forecast, to the lowest level since the group started tracking the numbers in 2001.
Europe
Embarrassment for Sarkozy as £1bn L’Oréal feud comes to court
By John Lichfield in Paris Friday, 2 July 2010
Fabulous wealth; an iconic brand-name; a family divided; a supposedly dotty, octogenarian heiress; an allegedly predatory, celebrity photographer; secret tape recordings by a butler; a political scandal pointing to the pinnacle of the French state…All the incendiary plot-lines of a great TV melodrama – “Dallas-sur-Seine” meets “The West Wing of the Elysée” – twisted around the L’Oréal family feud trial which began just west of Paris yesterday. The trial lasted only one morning before it was adjourned, probably until the autumn, at the request of all parties. It was as if there was simply too much spicy evidence – or alleged evidence – for France’s greatest legal minds to savour all at once.
Austrians rally in support of teenage Kosovan asylum seeker
A Kosovan family in Austria who are due to be deported have gained huge support in Vienna. After a ten-year battle to stay in the country, their case has led to claims the country’s asylum laws are inhumane.
Deutsche Welle
A large demonstration was held Thursday in the Austrian capital Vienna, in support of a teenager who faces deportation.The Zogaj family, who are originally from Kosovo, have been battling for almost ten years to be allowed to stay in Austria. Their case has gathered huge media attention and divided the country over whether they should be allowed to stay.
According to Austrian newspaper Der Standard, the demonstration grew from around 500 people at the start to around 20,000. In the run-up to the protest, Austria’s Green party collected over 10,000 signatures for a petition.
Fleeing Kosovo
In 2001, the Zogaj family, along with thousands of others fled the chaos in Kosovo following the conflict with Serbia.
Middle East
Iranian students fight hard and soft
By Ali Reza Eshraghi
On a cold February morning, primary-age schoolchildren are lined up for a ceremony in which they will shout “Death to America” and hurl old shoes at effigies of Uncle Sam, the Great Satan.The event, part of annual celebrations of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, is the work of the Student Basij, a subdivision of Iran’s powerful paramilitary movement which is seen as a bulwark of the regime.
The Basij force made its name in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, as an army of fearless volunteers who acted as auxiliaries to the regular troops, marching across minefields and through concerted Iraqi fire to clear a way through.
Palestinian President Reaches Out to Israelis
By DINA KRAFT
Published: July 1, 2010
TEL AVIV – The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, made a rare effort to reach out directly to the Israeli public, calling on Israel’s leadership to step up peace efforts while suggesting that his people were growing weary waiting for a state.“We want to live in peace. Don’t kill the hope,” Mr. Abbas said in comments published Thursday after a group interview with six correspondents from Israel’s leading newspapers.
Over dinner in his Ramallah headquarters on Wednesday, Mr. Abbas told the correspondents that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was not moving quickly enough in the indirect negotiations being brokered by George J. Mitchell, the Obama administration’s special representative to the Middle East.
Asia
China funds English TV news channel CNC World in push for soft power
Low-key launch for state news agency’s venture as controller promises news, not propaganda
Tania Branigan in Beijing
The Guardian, Friday 2 July 2010
China’s state news agency launched an international English language news channel yesterday – the latest step in the government’s multibillion-pound soft power push.The authorities hope expanding foreign language media will help promote the country’s image and viewpoint, and ultimately challenge the BBC or CNN. But the low-key launch of Xinhua’s new CNC World channel suggests that day is some way off. Despite early reports that in Europe it would be screened in supermarkets and outside embassies, a Xinhua employee said she believed it was available only via the internet.
US misses history lessons on Korea
By Sung-Yoon LeeTwo days after the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War on June 25, United States President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak put on a firm show of unity against North Korea at a press conference on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Toronto.
Speaking of the need for “consequences” in the wake of North Korea’s apparent sinking of a South Korean corvette in March, Obama announced that the US would retain wartime operations control of South Korean armed forces until late 2015, extending the deadline of a planned transfer by over three years.
Africa
South Africa bracing itself for post World Cup violence
South Africa is bracing itself for a wave of bloody violence after the World Cup as police numbers are scaled down and anger towards foreigners increases among the country’s poorest.
Aislinn Laing, Southern Africa Correspondent
Published: 11:05PM BST 01 Jul 2010Experts have warned that in the country’s most deprived areas, there is renewed and growing resentment towards immigrants, who are perceived as taking scarce jobs and resources.
There is widespread anger too about the 33bn rand (£2.9bn) poured into hosting Africa’s first football World Cup while millions of people remain in poverty.
Although an extra 40,000 police officers helped to ensure that the tournament passed off smoothly with few incidents of violent crime, it is unlikely the numbers can be maintained.
Despite government appeals for calm and pledges that police remain on “high alert” for trouble, many foreigners say they no longer feel safe.
South Africa takes fire for arms sales to blacklisted nations
A new report finds that the government of South Africa has made $1.7 billion in arms sales over the past decade to 58 blacklisted countries that do not meet South Africa’s own criteria for arms customers, including those with poor human rights records or ongoing internal conflicts.
By Scott Baldauf, Staff Writer / July 1, 2010
Johannesburg, South Africa
South Africa, which has been winning applause for its hosting of the 2010 World Cup, is now coming under fire for another success: global arms sales.
According to the South African watch group, Ceasefire Campaign, South African arms merchants have sold $1.7 billion worth of weapons in the past decade to “problematic” countries that are either involved in internal conflicts or with poor human rights records. The arms sales would appear to be in violation of South African law, which prohibits the sale of arms to countries that are on United Nations embargo lists, have poor human rights records, or that are involved in conflicts