Category: News

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Over 300 killed in DR.Congo massacre: rights group

AFP

Sun Mar 28, 8:38 am ET

KINSHASA (AFP) – Ugandan LRA rebels killed at least 321 civilians in a previously unreported “well-planned” four-day attack on villages in the DR Congo last December, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday.

In a report released in Kampala, HRW said 250 others, including at least 80 children, were abducted in the December 14-17 Lord’s Resistance Army attack in the remote Makombo area of northeastern Haut Uele district.

A Catholic clergyman at Isiro-Niangara in the same district, speaking before the report was issued, confirmed that 30 members of the rebel LRA attacked a dozen villages of Haut Uele, which is in Orientale province.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Pope under pressure over child abuse scandal

by Michele Leridon, AFP

2 hrs 6 mins ago

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – The child abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church homed in Saturday on Pope Benedict XVI, labelled the “biggest sinner” in one newspaper as the Vatican said his handling of the crisis would only strengthen his authority.

As allegations piled up of sexual molestation by priests in the scandal that has swept the United States and Europe, the media expressed shock and bewilderment in comments and editorials.

“How could the Catholics do such a thing?” asked Britain’s The Independent newspaper.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Vatican urged to end ‘secrecy’ over abuse

by Michele Leridon, AFP

2 hrs 6 mins ago

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – As Pope Benedict XVI struggles to stay above the paedophilia priest scandal engulfing the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican faces growing calls for an end to its “culture of secrecy.”

The pope is at a “crossroads,” said Vatican expert Marco Politi the day after Benedict was implicated for a second time in the snowballing scandal, accused of helping to keep the lid on the case of an American serial abuser.

“Either he proceeds on the path of greater transparency” or he hunkers down with defenders who claim he is being unfairly targetted, said Politi of the left-wing Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Pope accused of inaction in US child abuse case

by Michele Leridon, AFP

Thu Mar 25, 10:44 am ET

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – The Vatican hit back Thursday at new paedophilia revelations, defending Pope Benedict XVI against an allegation that he failed to act over a US priest accused of molesting up to 200 deaf children in the 1970s.

The Roman Catholic Church’s morals watchdog then headed by the future pope was reportedly alerted twice by the archbishop of Wisconsin of the accusations against Reverend Lawrence Murphy.

Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, did not respond to the letters, and a secret canonical trial authorised by his deputy was halted after Murphy wrote a pleading letter to the future pope, the New York Times said, citing documents provided by victims’ lawyers.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Sharks, elephants to reappear on CITES agenda

by Marlowe Hood, AFP

Wed Mar 24, 1:27 pm ET

DOHA (AFP) – Decisions to tighten or relax trade protection for elephants in Zambia and two species of sharks prized for their fins or meat could be overturned on the last day of a key UN wildlife meeting on Thursday.

The final plenary session of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) validates decisions taken over the previous 12 days, but a motion to reopen debate supported by a third of delegates can lead to a new vote.

The United States had said it will seek a second chance for the distinctive scalloped hammerhead shark, denied so-called Appendix II status by a handful of votes earlier in the week.

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Science

1 UN body rejects protection for shark species

by Marlowe Hood, AFP

Tue Mar 23, 2:19 pm ET

DOHA (AFP) – The UN wildlife trade body slapped down a trio of proposals Tuesday to oversee cross-border commerce for sharks threatened with extinction through overfishing, sparking anger from conservationists.

The only marine species granted protection at a meeting of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was the temperate zone porbeagle, a shark fished for its meat.

Earlier, bids to impose a global trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna and to require export monitoring for seven species of precious coral both fell well short of the required two-thirds majority.

Afternoon Edition

(6 pm)

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 For World Cup, South Africa’s football crafts go industrial

by Cecile de Comarmond, AFP

Tue Mar 23, 10:09 am ET

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – With reggae playing in the background, workers paint pictures of football players onto hardhats, transforming the mining gear into an essential South Africa football accessory, the makarapa.

Most makarapas are handmade, created by individual fans who carve shapes into the hats and adorn them with team colours, a process that can take four days to complete.

With the World Cup’s June 11 kick-off fast approaching, this cottage business has gone industrial, with workers in this factory using a machine to cut shapes into the hardhats in a matter of minutes.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Europe split amid rising Greek anger

by Roddy Thomson, AFP

2 hrs 20 mins ago

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Europe split on Monday amid rising Greek anger at Germany as Athens battles to keep financial market wolves at bay, three days from a tense-looking summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

Pressure initially mounted on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with the European Commission, the bloc’s current Spanish chair, France and Italy each urging her to nail down concrete aid plans.

Athens then accused Berlin of profiteering amid a euro currency slump.

Weekend News Digest

I’m going to deviate from the usual news sources that I use for news. Today’s main sources will be from the other side of the pond and the Pacific. Mishima is part of the inspiration for the slight change from the “usual suspects” as sources. It’s good to see what their perspective is on world affairs and what we here in the US are missing from our MSM. America needs to hear how others perceive the news.

Anti-war protesters take to streets, defy US indifference

Demonstrators march during an anti-war protest in Washington, DC. Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets of the US capital Saturday, on the seventh anniversary of the US-led war in Iraq in a show of frustration widely ignored by the media and public.

(AFP/Nicholas Kamm)

Sat Mar 20, 7:24 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets of the US capital Saturday, on the seventh anniversary of the US-led war in Iraq in a show of frustration widely ignored by the media and public.

As the National Marathon wound down in the city, protesters after midday gathered outside the White House bearing signs alluding to the high cost of the war both in money and human lives and decrying the use of unmanned aircraft, or drones, to bomb US enemies.

Under sunny skies and the watchful but discreet gaze of uniformed police, some demonstrators carried coffins draped in the Iraqi and Afghan flags in homage to civilian deaths the fighting in both countries has caused.

As always, this is also an Open Thread.

Weekend News Digest

Happy Vernal Equinox. At 1332 hrs EDT, it will officially be Spring. Hurrah! A time when we start thinking about gardens, spring cleaning, Easter, Passover, barbecues, parks beached vacations…..The sun hovers directly over the equator and there is an equal amount of day and night. We Wiccans call this day Ostara and decorate with green candles, spring flowers and colored hard boiled eggs, symbols of fertility and the new growing season.

This Week in Health and Fitness

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.

Women More Likely to Die After Heart Attack

Study Suggests Women Aren’t Treated as Aggressively as Men Who Have Heart Attacks

By Charlene Laino

WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

March 16, 2010 (Atlanta) — Better heart treatment of women could help close the gender gap in heart deaths. Women would be more likely to survive a heart attack if they were treated more like men, French researchers say.

In a study of more than 3,500 people admitted to the hospital for a heart attack, women were far less likely than men to get angiography to visualize heart artery blockages or angioplasty to open up blocked arteries.

Women were about twice as likely to die within a month of having the heart attack, according to the study, presented at the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting.

The higher death rate in women “is related to the fact that they don’t get the same treatments as men,” says Maria Rosa Costanzo, MD, an American Heart Association spokeswoman who was not involved with the study.

Women do not have the typical “chest pain” that is related to a heart attack. They often ignore the symptoms of tightness in the chest and indigestion that is not relieved with antacids are more typical symptoms in women.

Women’s Heart Attack Symptoms Different from Men’s

Symptoms may appear up to a month before attack

Research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicates that women often experience new or different physical symptoms as long as a month or more before experiencing heart attacks.

Among the 515 women studied, 95-percent said they knew their symptoms were new or different a month or more before experiencing their heart attack, or Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). The symptoms most commonly reported were unusual fatigue (70.6-percent), sleep disturbance (47.8-percent), and shortness of breath (42.1-percent).

Many women never had chest pains

Surprisingly, fewer than 30% reported having chest pain or discomfort prior to their heart attacks, and 43% reported have no chest pain during any phase of the attack. Most doctors, however, continue to consider chest pain as the most important heart attack symptom in both women and men.

The women’s major symptoms prior to their heart attack included:

# Unusual fatigue – 70%

# Sleep disturbance – 48%

# Shortness of breath – 42%

# Indigestion – 39%

# Anxiety – 35%

Major symptoms during the heart attack include:

# Shortness of breath – 58%

# Weakness – 55%

# Unusual fatigue – 43%

# Cold sweat – 39%

# Dizziness – 39%

As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.  

Afternoon Edition

Good afternoon. I’ll be your editor through the weekend, keeping you informed and entertained. This is also an Open Thread.

Obama backs “framework” to revamp immigration

Reuters) – President Barack Obama, under pressure to keep a campaign promise to revamp U.S. immigration policy, embraced a “promising, bipartisan framework” on Thursday offered by two senior senators.

Obama said the proposal by Democrat Charles Schumer and Republican Lindsey Graham, which features a new identification card for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who want a job, “can and should be the basis for moving us forward.”

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