- Signs of the Times Archive for Tue, 06 May 2008 -



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SOTT Focus

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Best of the Web

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U.S. News
House to approve anti-genetic discrimination bill

Jesse J. Holland
The Associated Press
2008-05-01 19:00:00

Genetic testing can make it easier to determine a person's risk of debilitating diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's, but many people worry that it also makes them targets for insurance rate increases and job loss.

A bill expected to pass Congress overwhelmingly and be signed into law by President Bush should provide some relief by prohibiting insurance and job discrimination by companies using genetic informatio

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Big-pharma 'buys' justice: McKesson Corp. settles more than $13 million over suspicious drug sales


Net News Publisher
2008-05-03 18:28:00

McKesson Corp., one of the nation's largest distributors of pharmaceutical drugs, has agreed to settle allegations that it violated federal reporting provisions relating to its handling of certain prescription medications regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Under the agreement between the company and six U.S. Attorney's Offices, McKesson has agreed to pay $13,250,000 in civil penalties for alleged violations of its obligations under the Controlled Substances Act.

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Scandal Rocks Ohio Attorney General's Office


Corruption Chronicles
2008-05-05 00:00:00

The attorney general in a Midwestern state fired three top aides involved in a massive sexual harassment scandal but refuses to resign even though he too participated by having an extramarital affair with a young secretary in his office.

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UK & Euro-Asian News
South Korea: One Million Netizens Favor Impeachment

Kim Rahn
The Korea Times
2008-05-04 18:35:00

Internet users are stepping up their campaign against President Lee Myung-bak to protest the government's decision to import beef from the United States.

On Daum, a petition has been held to ask the National Assembly to impeach the President, aiming to collect as many as 10 million signatures. The number of people who joined the campaign had almost reached one million late Sunday, and was increasing fast, with about 1,000 signatures added in 10 minutes.

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Around the World
U.S. base is no longer welcome in Ecuador

Jim Wyss
The Miami Herald
2008-05-05 16:50:00

Manta -- Mayor Jorge Zambrano pulled up to the Manta City Hall in his black Ford Explorer, expecting to find a rally in support of the American military outpost that runs drug-surveillance flights from this gritty port city.

He left an hour later behind a wall of riot shields and a cloud of Mace, as police fended off banner-waving protesters who crashed the event in March. With 18 months left on its decade-long contract, the U.S. Forward Operating Location in Manta has few friends in this South American nation - and fewer still who believe that the agreement has any hope of being extended.

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Hysteria Alert: Thousands evacuated from Perth airport


Herald Sun
2008-05-04 18:12:00

Thousands of passengers and staff had to be evacuated from Perth International Airport after several suspicious cardboard boxes were found on a plane from Malaysia.

The international terminal was shut down for almost 12 hours from 6pm last night after baggage handlers noticed the packages on the incoming Malaysia Airlines Flight 125 from Kuala Lumpur.

The packages were eventually x-rayed by the bomb squad and found to contain nothing dangerous, but not before eight international flights were either cancelled, diverted or delayed.

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Big Brother
Canada: BC taser inquiry underway


CBC
2008-05-05 22:24:00

A Taser gun doesn't routinely kill people, although the conducted energy weapon delivers electric current up to 85 times what's lethal, an American electrical engineer told a public inquiry in Vancouver Monday.


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Axis of Evil

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Middle East Madness

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The Loan Gunmen
Credit squeeze pushes more firms into bankruptcy

Grainne Gilmore
Times Online
2008-05-02 18:44:00

The number of large companies going into administration in the first three months of this year rose by more than a fifth and the total number seeking bankruptcy jumped 25%, official figures revealed today.

The Insolvency Service said 2,125 firms in England and Wales chose to liquidate their business in the first quarter of this year, 25.4 per cent more than in the first three months of last year and 7.1 per cent up on the final three months of last year.

The deteriorating corporate picture comes as personal insolvencies are expected to climb from 106,000 to a record 130,000 this year.

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Oil Rises to Record After Report Shows Service Industries Grew

Robert Tuttle
Bloomberg
2008-05-05 18:44:00

Oil traders
©Jin Lee/Bloomberg


Crude oil rose above $120 a barrel to a record in New York after a report showed that U.S. service industries expanded in April, signaling higher energy use.

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UK: Lax British bankruptcy rules worsen credit crunch

Grainne Gilmore and Gary Duncan
The Times (UK)
2008-05-05 18:38:00

Britain's bankruptcy rules have exacerbated the effect of the credit crunch across the country, the UK's leading economics institute said today.

Bankruptcy reforms introduced in 2004 under the Enterprise Act allowed bankrupts to be discharged after one year instead of three to help to reduce the stigma of "honest failure". However, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said that this had fostered an environment in which people were happy to take on debt that they could not repay, inflating the losses of banks and other lenders.

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30 Years Ago Haiti Grew All the Rice It Needed. What Happened?

Bill Quigley
Counterpunch
2008-04-21 18:19:00

The U.S. Role in Haiti's Food Riots

Riots in Haiti over explosive rises in food costs have claimed the lives of six people. There have also been food riots world-wide in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivorie, Egypt, Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

The Economist, which calls the current crisis the silent tsunami, reports that last year wheat prices rose 77% and rice 16%, but since January rice prices have risen 141%. The reasons include rising fuel costs, weather problems, increased demand in China and India, as well as the push to create biofuels from cereal crops.

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Jolly gene giant

Hope Shand
gristmill
2008-05-02 06:36:00

A review of Claire Hope Cummings' Uncertain Peril

In October 1996, a spokesman for Monsanto told Farm Journal why his company was buying up seed companies left and right: "What you're seeing is not just a consolidation of seed companies, it's really a consolidation of the entire food chain."

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The Living Planet
Aussie Finds Meteorite Crater on Google Earth

Brook Borel
Cosmos Online
2008-03-10 20:48:00

Sydney: A rare meteorite impact crater in remote Western Australia has been discovered by an Australian geologist using Google Earth.

The Hickman Crater, located in the Pilbara region around 1000 km northeast of Perth, was named for its discoverer, Arthur Hickman, who was using Google Earth to conduct research on channel ore deposits.

If confirmed, the Hickman Crater will be Australia's second largest preserved rim crater - one that has not eroded significantly from its original shape. The crater's rim, which is 80 per cent preserved, stands 30 m above its floor, and consists mainly of rhyolite, a rock similar to granite.

Image
©Google Earth
The Hickman Crater as viewed from satellite


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Florida: Mysterious algae blooms worry biologists

Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
2008-05-03 18:19:00

florida algae
©Daivd Walters / Miami Herald Staff
Peter Frezza, a biologist with Audubon of Florida's Keys office, measures water clarity on the Twin Key banks. The photo was taken from just below the surface and reveals the water's green tinge as a result of the algae bloom in parts of Florida Bay.


Algae has turned Florida Bay's waters a murky green, threatening the ecosystem below. What's causing the sudden blooms isn't clear.

Only a day earlier, the heart of Florida Bay's world-renowned fishing ground was clear enough to count turtle grass blades six feet down. Now, Pete Frezza stared into water so thick with algae it looked an awful lot like pea soup.

Stick an arm in and you wouldn't see your hand.

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Health & Wellness
Anxiety, mood disorders put cancer patients at risk for PTSD

Barbara Andersen
Ohio State University
2008-05-05 18:31:00

Breast cancer patients who have a prior history of mood and anxiety disorders are at a much higher risk of experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder following their diagnosis, new research suggests.

A study of 74 breast cancer patients at the Ohio State University Medical Center found that 16 percent of them (12 women) suffered from PTSD 18 months after diagnosis.

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Science & Technology

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Our Haunted Planet
UK: Todmorden, Adamski UFO case in focus


Todmorden Today
2008-05-01 18:34:00

Film and television company Firefly is to feature a famous Todmorden UFO case in a new series it is making for Channel 5.

The London based company is making a series that is factually based and simply tells the UFO sighting stories from as many peoples perspectives as possible, said assistant producer Kerry Western.

She said the series would include a programme about Todmorden man Alan Godfrey's story from 1980, which is one of the best known cases in the world, and also other sightings at the time.

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Don't Panic! Lighten Up!

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