Society's ChildS


Bulb

New Mexico to sue federal government over toxic waste spill into Animas River

yellow mine waste river
© EPA / ReutersYellow mine waste water from the Gold King Mine is seen in San Juan County, Colorado, in this picture released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) taken August 7, 2015
New Mexico has signaled that it will sue the federal government, along with the owners of two Colorado mines, for a massive spill of 3 million gallons of toxic metals into the Animas River. The spill contaminated rivers and agricultural lands in four states.

New Mexico made its intent to sue known in papers filed on Thursday claiming the government had created "an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of New Mexico's citizens and the environment of the Animas and San Juan Rivers," the Associated Press reported.

The notice targets the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management, as well as the Gold King and Sunnyside Mines, whose waste polluted the Animas and San Juan rivers on August 5, 2015.

"From the very beginning, the EPA failed to hold itself accountable in the same way that it would a private business," Ryan Flynn, cabinet secretary of New Mexico's environment department, said in a statement. "The EPA caused an unprecedented disaster that may affect our state for years to come; they must take responsibility."

Pills

Russia registers two extremely effective drugs for Ebola including one for immunodeficient patients

Russia ebola drug
© Thomas Peter / Reuters
Russia has registered a new Ebola drug that appears to be more effective than all of the other medicines currently being used to treat the disease, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced during a meeting with the Cabinet.

"We have registered a medicine for the Ebola fever that, after a series of tests, demonstrates high effectiveness. Its effectiveness is higher than that of those remedies that are used in the world up to now," the Russian president said, as quoted by TASS.

Russia has developed and registered two separate Ebola vaccines, both of which surpass their counterparts in effectiveness, with one of the medicines designed specifically for people with immunodeficiency, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said during the meeting.

"In December, Russia registered two Ebola fever vaccines, which were developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and tested in cooperation with the Health and Defense ministries," Skvotsova said, as quoted by TASS.

"One of the vaccines is absolutely unique and has no analogues in the world. It provides 100 percent immunity to the disease," she added, stressing that the second vaccine for people with immunodeficiency also surpasses its British counterpart in efficiency.

Comment: It should be noted that Russia will not try to make obscene profits from its research the way Western companies do. She has already been very generous with previous findings.


Red Flag

Hospital staff in Sweden facing criticism after racy photo shoot leaked online

Nurse
© AFP Photo
Staff at a children's hospital in Stockholm have faced criticism after stripping off to take part in a calendar shoot. Despite raising money for charity, the medics' sexy poses were not appreciated by everyone.

Around 100 copies of the calendar were printed for the nurses' family members and friends. However, the saucy photos of the staff at the Astrid Lindgren's Children's Hospital found their way onto the internet.

"It is clearly inappropriate and a sign of very poor judgment," hospital chief Svante Norgren said after he was made aware of the calendar by the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, which broke the story, The Local reported.

Amongst the images leaked online was a man 'straddling' a female colleague, while another nurse could be seen doing press-ups on the hospital roof.

Comment: Despite the proceeds from calendar sales going to charity, it shows a rather stunning lack of awareness for people who work in healthcare to think that this was a good idea.


Hearts

Sad society statistic: 80% of teachers bring food to feed hungry school children

UK school
© Russell Boyce / Reuters
Nearly one in three teachers in England and Wales are buying food for their students to prevent them from falling asleep in class, with 80 percent acting to stave off hunger, a poll has revealed. Trade unionists have blamed the crisis on Tory austerity measures.

Financial hardship is one of the main causes of child hunger in schools, according to a YouGov poll of 765 teachers for cereal company Kellogg's.

Eighty percent of teachers admitted to feeding children in class due to hunger, with many claiming their families couldn't afford to feed them in the mornings.

Some 82 percent said hungry children are unable to concentrate and 50 percent claimed hungry children are more disruptive in class.

Wall Street

Above the law: Goldman Sachs to settle federal and states probes with a $5bn payoff

Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs said it agreed to a $5.1 billion civil settlement to resolve federal and state probes into its handling of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis.

The proposed deal, which the Wall Street giant announced in a Thursday statement, would settle "actual and potential civil claims" by the US Justice Department and the attorneys general of New York and Illinois, as well as state regulators, against Goldman.

The authorities investigated the bank's securitization, underwriting and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities from 2005 to 2007.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to resolve these matters," Goldman CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein said.

Comment: Justice for the too-big-to-fail banks: small fine, no formal charges, arrests, or jail time.


Bizarro Earth

Whales and dolphins in danger of highly toxic waste still lingering in UK waters

dead Dolphins UK
© Reuters
Whales and dolphins in British waters could face extinction because of the presence of toxic chemicals banned over three decades ago, environmental researchers have warned.

Data from the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CISP) published Friday showed blubber taken from whales and porpoises contains some of the highest levels of a man-made chemical called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB).

The chemical was used to make a range of materials including flame retardants, electrical equipment and paints, but were banned in 1981.

Now a study has shown that the large marine mammals are extremely vulnerable to the chemical because they are "top marine predators" high up the food chain.

The study's lead author, Dr Paul Jepson, from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), said: "Our findings show that, despite the ban and initial decline in environmental contamination, PCBs still persist at dangerously high levels in European cetaceans.

2 + 2 = 4

Teachers in Detroit protest crumbling, pest-ridden schools with 'sickout' strike

Colin Powell Academy run down scool
© Joshua Lott / ReutersColin Powell Academy in Detroit, Michigan, one of the many schools abandoned since 2009. Teachers at the remaining schools are complaining about deteriorating conditions.
Detroit, Michigan teachers have been calling in sick to protest working conditions, forcing a number of schools to close. Buildings are falling apart, while rats and roaches roam the hallways; teachers blame the state-appointed emergency manager.

Five schools were closed on Wednesday, down from 24 on Tuesday and 64 on Monday, due to teacher absences. Michigan law prohibits teacher strikes, with fines up to $5,000 a day for teachers involved, but a "sickout" is technically not a strike.

According to examples provided by the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), one high school "is literally falling apart." A special education school has "infestations of rats, other rodents, roaches and bed bugs." At a preparatory academy, "pieces of the ceiling are falling on kids' heads," while one elementary school has "a classroom without power due to black mold in the wiring."

Comment: It's not only unfair to the teachers to force them to work in these types of conditions, but it's just plain wrong to force kids to attend a school where they have to worry about getting diseases from rodents or insects. Disgusting!


Info

12 feared dead in military helicopters collision off Oahu, Hawaii

Helicopter
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for two Marine helicopters with 12 aboard that reportedly collided north of the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

Coast Guard District 14 said two CH-53 helicopters, the Marine Corps' largest helicopter, collided shortly after midnight local time (3 a.m. Eastern). Emergency workers found debris including an empty life raft and fire on the water. Waves reaching 40 feet are hampering rescue efforts.

The aircrafts are from Kaneohe Bay U.S. Marine Corps Air Station with six people aboard each.

Handcuffs

UN chief Ban Ki-moon: Syria starvation is 'a war crime'

Ban Ki-moon
© AFPUnited Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
UN chief Ban Ki-moon says the use of food as a weapon against the Syrian people is a war crime amid reports of severe malnourishment in some besieged towns. Some 400,000 people in Syria are under siege as a foreign-backed insurgency is wreaking havoc across much of the country.

"Let me be clear: the use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime," Ban said on Thursday. "I would say they are being held hostage, but it is even worse. Hostages get fed." Ban's remarks came after humanitarian aid made its way into the town of Madaya in the southwest and Kefraya and al-Foua in Idlib Province which are besieged by militants.

The government recently agreed to facilitate the flow of relief aid into Madaya which is under the army siege. Fifty trucks carrying international aid supplies left Damascus for Madaya on Thursday. Another convoy of 44 humanitarian aid trucks entered the city on Monday.

While the city has come under the spotlight amid claims of starvation, there has been a virtual media blackout on the situation in Kefraya and al-Foua. Ban said, "In 2014, the UN and partners were able to deliver food to about 5 per cent of people in besieged areas. Today, we are reaching less than 1 per cent. This is utterly unconscionable."

Earlier, the Syrian government reiterated its commitment to cooperating fully with the UN and the Red Cross to deliver humanitarian aid to all civilians "without any discrimination." Last week, the Lebanese al-Manar TV said terrorist groups had hoarded aid packages for Madaya and sold it to the locals at inflated prices. Syria's Ambassador to the UN, Bashar al-Ja'afari, confirmed the report, saying aid delivered to Madaya had been looted by terrorist groups and sold to civilians.

Comment: It seems the UN picks and chooses its admonishments for human rights infractions/war crimes while letting others off the hook. Where is this guy with the ongoing atrocities perpetrated on the Palestinians, the bombing of hospitals by the US, the formation, funding and unleashing of proxy terrorists by the US/UK/Israel cabal? An example: He caved in to pressure from Israel and the United States and removed the Israeli military off an official list of serious violators of children's rights. The 557 children killed in occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2014 was the third highest after Iraq and Afghanistan. Was this not a war crime? The UN is just a tool in someone's pocket. Who is wearing that coat? Apparently those with leverage and undeserved impunity.


Quenelle

Wannabe Sultan Erdoğan lashes out against academics, Noam Chomsky hits back

Erdogan
© UnknownTurkey's President Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu lashed out at more than 2,000 scholars from Turkey and elsewhere, including renowned philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky, for signing an open letter, which called Ankara's ongoing operation against the Kurds a "deliberate and planned massacre."

The document, titled "We will not be a Party to This Crime," urges the Turkish government to end its operation in the areas populated by the Kurds and launch an inclusive and internationally monitored peace process. The letter was published on Monday.

A day later, Erdogan accused those who signed the documents of being "dark and ignorant." The Turkish president also invited foreign scholars to Turkey, so that they could see the operation with their own eyes. He specified that Chomsky could be "hosted" in the Kurdish regions.

Comment: Further reading: Wannabe Sultan Erdoğan and the Dark Side of the Late Ottoman Empire