tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73345688766912298312024-03-13T01:04:21.771+01:00Continually Expanding An Open Mind, InshallahAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.comBlogger1772125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-2350210570800333692016-12-27T02:48:00.001+01:002016-12-27T02:48:16.238+01:00Free exchange: Poor behaviour | The Economist<a href="http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21635477-behavioural-economics-meets-development-policy-poor-behaviour">Free exchange: Poor behaviour | The Economist</a>: "Conventional economic thinking assumes the poor will want to earn their way out of poverty. But as studies from countries as different as Ethiopia and France show, poverty makes people feel powerless and blunts their aspirations, so they may not even try to improve their lot. When they do, they face obstacles everywhere. They have no margin for error, making them risk averse. If they do not know where their next meal is coming from, saving and investing for the future is hard. George Orwell said, “Within certain limits, the less money you have the less you worry.” He was wrong. The poor are subject to exceptional levels of stress: childhood sickness is more likely to be life-threatening; crop failure can lead to destitution. And stress makes good decision-making harder. Above all, the poor lack the institutional framework which, in the West, improves decisions. Everywhere, people underestimate the benefits of education and save too little for their retirement. But children in the West go to school as a matter of course; pension systems make some savings automatic. Poor countries provide few such props.<br />
<br />
All this helps explain why the poor stay poor; why (for example) subsistence farmers do not buy fertiliser or put children into secondary school, though they would benefit from doing so. More important, though, behavioural economics provides a different way of thinking about some of the problems of poverty.<br />
<br />
Traditional development programmes stress resources and markets. People are poor, the argument goes, because they lack resources: not just money but roads, clinics, schools and irrigation canals. The job of development is to provide those things. And since resources also need to be allocated properly, prices have to be right. So a lot of development is about freeing prices and making markets more efficient.<br />
<br />
A behavioural approach to development is different. It focuses on how decisions are made and how they can be improved. For example, in Bogotá a conditional-cash transfer programme paid mothers a monthly stipend if they took their children to school. Attendance during the school year was good but re-enrolment rates were low. A shift in the timing of the hand-out—withholding a part of the regular payment until just before the start of the school year—boosted enrolment sharply. This makes little sense in conventional economic terms: going to school is so beneficial that families should not need extra incentives and the overall sum available did not change. Yet the pay-off was substantial."<br><br><a style="font-size:13px" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-42818810240449420112016-11-23T02:08:00.001+01:002016-11-23T02:08:05.745+01:00Impact investing for ocean ecosystems and users: Capital available, but projects needed! | Marine Ecosystems and Management (MEAM)<a href="https://meam.openchannels.org/news/meam/impact-investing-ocean-ecosystems-and-users-capital-available-projects-needed">Impact investing for ocean ecosystems and users: Capital available, but projects needed! | Marine Ecosystems and Management (MEAM)</a>: "Capital for marine impact investments appears to be available, and the limitation is the paucity of investor-ready projects. To me this is analogous to the food scarcity dilemma; the world produces enough food to feed the entire population, but nearly one billion people are underfed due to distribution and waste issues. We have growing evidence of the availability of investment capital – including a recent survey of 21 impact investors (publication forthcoming) – but we need to focus on developing and scaling projects to accept the capital."<br><br><a style="font-size:13px" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-17250249827359919702016-10-13T04:48:00.001+02:002016-10-13T04:48:52.042+02:00Why You Don't Realize That You're Probably Eating Endangered Fish | MUNCHIES<a href="https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/why-you-dont-realize-that-youre-probably-eating-endangered-fish">Why You Don't Realize That You're Probably Eating Endangered Fish | MUNCHIES</a>: "Nigel Preston—the Director General of WorldFish, an international aquaculture and fisheries nonprofit—said: “Most of the world’s fish comes from small-scale fisheries where access to certification schemes is an expensive luxury. Transparency in supply chains is crucial not only in terms of protecting fish stocks, but also for securing a just space for these small-scale fishers. WorldFish is working with partners including national governments to reduce the burden on these fishers by building capacities to meet international standard requirements and gain a better share of those markets. By doing so, poorer fishers will be less likely to draw on depleted resources.”"<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-84585962264668178742016-10-13T03:55:00.001+02:002016-10-13T03:55:51.216+02:00Dramatic photos show how Shiite Muslims mark Ashura, one of the most emotional events in Islam - The Washington Post<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/12/dramatic-photos-show-how-shiite-muslims-mark-ashura-one-of-the-most-emotional-events-in-islam/">Dramatic photos show how Shiite Muslims mark Ashura, one of the most emotional events in Islam - The Washington Post</a>: "The defeat and death of Hussein, at the hands of forces loyal to Yazid, a caliph from the Arab Omayyad dynasty, was the seminal event that led to the division of Islam into Sunni and Shiite sects, with the major difference relating to the line of succession after the death of the prophet and lesser differences over issues of ritual and prayer. That split has come to divide the Middle East into camps dominated by Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, and it has led to sectarian violence in countries such as Iraq and Pakistan. Sunnis also observe Ashura, but as a day of gratitude and fasting in honor of the prophet Moses, rather than a day of sorrow and public mourning for Hussein."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-54034485285455121582016-10-13T03:54:00.001+02:002016-10-13T03:54:35.657+02:00Syrian terror suspect Jaber al-Bakr found dead in cell in Germany - BBC News<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37638631">Syrian terror suspect Jaber al-Bakr found dead in cell in Germany - BBC News</a>: "When police raided the flat in the eastern city of Chemnitz, they found 1.5kg of TATP, a home-made explosive used in the deadly jihadist attacks in Paris last year and in Brussels last March. The explosives were "extremely dangerous", police said.<br />
But al-Bakr managed to slip the net, and made his way to the city of Leipzig where he asked the Syrians for help.<br />
The three told police they had heard about the manhunt and tied him up while one of them knelt on him.<br />
They alerted police who finally managed to arrest him.<br />
Since then there have been calls for authorities to honour the three. Bild newspaper described them as "the Syrian heroes from Leipzig"."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-34848233077464831272016-10-13T03:51:00.001+02:002016-10-13T03:51:09.800+02:00Russians, lies and WikiLeaks - POLITICO<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/wikileaks-russia-hillary-clinton-campaign-democrats-229707">Russians, lies and WikiLeaks - POLITICO</a>: "Still, security experts of both parties have been warning of potential Russian fakery in the document leaks since late July, shortly after the first huge batch of hacked internal emails from the Democratic National Committee forced the resignation of Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and widened the split between the party’s Clinton and Bernie Sanders factions.<br />
<br />
“It is not unthinkable that those responsible will steal and release more files, and even salt the files they release with plausible forgeries,” a bipartisan group of national security experts from the Aspen Institute said in a statement July 28.<br />
<br />
More broadly, the spreading of false information by intelligence services “is a technique that goes back to Tsarist times,” said James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in an interview Wednesday. Past examples include the Soviet-spread rumor that the U.S. government developed the AIDS virus, as well as a 2014 incident in which hackers modified the reported vote totals for the Ukrainian presidential election — falsely showing a right-wing victory that Russian state television reported almost immediately.<br />
<br />
Cyberspace offers Russia both increased opportunities for using faked information to sow chaos and improved chances of doing it convincingly."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-39583122421959618512016-10-06T03:35:00.001+02:002016-10-06T03:35:27.703+02:0010 countries host half world's refugees: Amnesty<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/10-countries-host-half-worlds-refugees-amnesty-001951874.html?ref=gs&utm_content=buffer28aca&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">10 countries host half world's refugees: Amnesty</a>: "Ten countries accounting for 2.5 percent of world GDP are hosting more than half the world's refugees, Amnesty International said Tuesday as it slammed what it called the selfishness of wealthy nations.<br />
<br />
In a report on the plight faced by the world's 21 million refugees, the London-based human rights body lamented that countries immediately neighbouring crisis zones bear the brunt of the global refugee problem.<br />
<br />
Fifty-six percent of refugees are being sheltered in 10 countries, according to the report, in which Amnesty proposed a solution whereby the world's countries find a home for 10 percent of the planet's refugees every year."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-38743596953353853502016-10-03T04:29:00.001+02:002016-10-03T04:29:52.217+02:00CSIRO scientists create world's first fish-free prawn food Novaq - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-11/csiro-develop-world's-first-fish-free-prawn-food/5384678">CSIRO scientists create world's first fish-free prawn food Novaq - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)</a>: "A team of CSIRO scientists has cracked the holy grail of aquaculture by developing the world's first fish-free prawn food.<br />
<br />
The royalties from worldwide licensing deals for the Novaq product will earn the CSIRO tens of millions of dollars.<br />
<br />
"The research cost about $10 million. We are very confident that this will generate a return on investment back to Australian taxpayers of many, many times the initial investment," CSIRO's Dr Nigel Preston said.<br />
<br />
There is intense global interest in Novaq because it solves one of the farmed prawn industry's biggest problems - its reliance on wild fisheries as a core ingredient in prawn food.<br />
<br />
But aquaculture has reached "peak fish", where demand for wild harvested fish meal now outstrips supply.<br />
<br />
Without a solution, soaring world demand cannot be met.<br />
<br />
"It is absolutely a critical issue for the global aquaculture industry. There's no more room to get more wild harvest fish, so we've got to find alternatives," Dr Preston said."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-85500837829249949792016-09-21T08:06:00.001+02:002016-09-21T08:06:27.300+02:00Want to change the aid industry? Here's how to do it | Global Development Professionals Network | The Guardian<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/sep/20/how-change-aid-industry-humanitarianism?utm_content=buffer25616&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">Want to change the aid industry? Here's how to do it | Global Development Professionals Network | The Guardian</a>: "A note, because this step is important: Process and follow-through are bureaucracy. They’re politics. They’re not fun, and they’re supremely unsexy. You’re not going to get many likes on Facebook for pictures of process. But make no mistake: this is where aid industry change actually happens. I encounter ideas for positive aid industry change on a weekly basis, more or less. But the vast majority of these good and sometimes even brilliant ideas will never exist beyond the pub, the coffee room, or the Skype chat window. Why? Because they very often lack the capacity to follow through."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-7606471776086229582016-09-20T07:51:00.001+02:002016-09-20T07:51:50.057+02:00What the ‘Uber-isation’ of domestic work means for women | Overseas Development Institute (ODI)<a href="https://www.odi.org/comment/10436-what-uber-isation-domestic-work-means-women?utm_content=buffer4bee0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer">What the ‘Uber-isation’ of domestic work means for women | Overseas Development Institute (ODI)</a>: "While Uber has grabbed many headlines, similar changes are afoot in other sectors – including those traditionally least regulated and most often associated with insecure and exploitative work. When it comes to jobs and work, it’s always a question of quality as well as quantity.<br />
<br />
Which is why it matters that the gig economy apparently has both positive and negative impacts.<br />
<br />
It offers quick access to convenient, flexible and cheap services for consumers, and some choice and flexibility over working hours for workers. But the workers also face real challenges: they have less economic security, predictability, and ability to organise to demand improved pay and conditions.<br />
<br />
So will app-based services make things better or worse for those already on the margins?"<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-48028383673035142002016-09-16T09:31:00.001+02:002016-09-16T09:31:13.640+02:00EU hopes licensing system will help save Indonesian forests<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/eu-hopes-licensing-system-help-100227261.html?ref=gs&utm_content=buffere45ea&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">EU hopes licensing system will help save Indonesian forests</a>: "JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The European Union has admitted Indonesia to a special licensing system it hopes will prevent the illegally felled tropical timber that makes up a substantial part of the country's wood production from being shipped to the 28-nation bloc.<br />
<br />
The EU said Thursday that Indonesia is the first country to qualify for the licenses. It will mean that traders of goods such as wooden furniture, plywood and paper that earn the certification will find it easier to do business with Europe.<br />
<br />
But some environmental and civil society groups are already concerned the licensing system could become a conduit for illegal timber from a country where tropical forests are being cut down at an epic rate.<br />
<br />
The EU has been trying to implement its timber system internationally for over a decade and over the same time Indonesia has developed its own legal wood verification scheme that has become a key part of its admission to the EU's program."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-8992016213175747432016-08-19T08:28:00.001+02:002016-08-19T08:28:38.237+02:00Stopping the World’s Most Rapacious Invasive Species, One Fillet at a Time | Foreign Policy<a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/17/stopping-the-worlds-most-rapacious-invasive-species-one-fillet-at-a-time/?utm_source=Sailthru">Stopping the World’s Most Rapacious Invasive Species, One Fillet at a Time | Foreign Policy</a>: "Since Pacific lionfish were first detected off the coast of Florida three decades ago, they have spread around the Caribbean, gobbling up everything that fits in their mouths and reproducing at a phenomenal rate. Scientists have shown that soon after they descend upon a reef, there is a sharp fall in the number of small fish, notably the herbivores on which coral depends for survival. “They’re eating their way through the reefs like a plague of locusts,” said Mark Hixon, a lionfish specialist at the University of Hawaii. It is by far the most destructive invasive species ever recorded at sea, and the blight is believed to have started with aquarium fish released off the Florida Atlantic coast in the mid-1980s.<br />
<br />
However, in the last few months, a set of unrelated trends has resulted in two U.S. supermarket chains, Whole Foods and Wegmans, offering Florida lionfish, which has a white, delicate flesh, to consumers with much fanfare. Early signs suggest that the state’s fishery might just be big enough to protect the native denizens of at least some reefs from being decimated.<br />
<br />
“If the commercial fishermen can keep their numbers down, we should see an increase in the native species that are being eaten by lionfish,” said Lad Akins, the founder of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) in Key Largo, Florida, and head of its lionfish study project. “That would be the first time a commercial market controls an invasive species.”"<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-48344245279857780142016-08-16T12:25:00.001+02:002016-08-16T12:25:30.871+02:00From California, a Better Way to Retire - The New York Times<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/16/opinion/from-california-a-better-way-to-retire.html">From California, a Better Way to Retire - The New York Times</a>: "At any given moment, about half of the private-sector employees in the United States — some 60 million people — do not have any type of employer-sponsored retirement plan. The result is a growing American underclass, in which a third of current retirees live almost entirely on Social Security and fully half of future retirees will face reduced standards of living. Worse, the coverage gap has long proved intractable, with Congress and the financial industry unable or unwilling to design or support truly simple and low-cost retirement savings plans.<br />
<br />
And yet, retirement prospects are about to improve for the 6.8 million employees without retirement coverage who work in California for businesses with five or more workers. Next week, the California Legislature is set to vote on a plan, nearly four years in the making, to automatically enroll most uncovered workers in individual retirement savings accounts. Employee advocates are confident the measure will pass, and Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign it. When that happens, Californians will gain more security — and the rest of the nation will gain a national model for promoting retirement savings.<br />
<br />
Under the plan, uncovered employees would have up to 5 percent of pay deducted from their paychecks, unless they opted out. Those contributions would be pooled and managed by investment professionals chosen by the state through a bidding process. The plan, called the California Secure Choice Retirement Program, would be overseen by a board of public- and private-sector leaders, appointed by the governor and the Legislature in 2012, when the legislative effort first got underway."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-21287408952845434112016-08-12T04:02:00.001+02:002016-08-12T04:02:14.566+02:00Mexico mothers searching for loved ones turn up hidden graves<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexico-mothers-searching-loved-ones-turn-hidden-graves-160414171.html?ref=gs&utm_content=buffere6be9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">Mexico mothers searching for loved ones turn up hidden graves</a>: <br /><br />
<br /><br />
<div class="canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom" data-reactid=".8pk7n30dms.$tgtm-Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$0" data-type="text" style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em;">Coatzacoalcos (Mexico) (AFP) - Mothers searching for missing loved ones said they have found seven clandestine gravesites with remains of an undetermined number of people in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, one of the most afflicted by drug gang violence.</div><div class="canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom" data-reactid=".8pk7n30dms.$tgtm-Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$1" data-type="text" style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em;">Marcela Zurita Rosas, a participant in the search, said Tuesday the graves were found this week in a plot of land in the city of Veracruz, in an area near a major seaport.</div><div class="canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom" data-reactid=".8pk7n30dms.$tgtm-Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$2" data-type="text" style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em;">"On Monday, we found three graves with bones and on Tuesday four more were found with remains of people who were murdered," she said.</div><div class="canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom" data-reactid=".8pk7n30dms.$tgtm-Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$3" data-type="text" style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em;">Rosas, who has received training in forensic anthropology and search techniques, is a member of a group called El Solecito. It was formed by mothers who decided to organize their own searches for missing loved ones after growing tired of waiting for the authorities to act.</div><div class="canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom" data-reactid=".8pk7n30dms.$tgtm-Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$4" data-type="text" style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em;">Rosas is looking for her son, Dorian Javier Rivera Zurita, who disappeared in Cordoba, Veracruz in October 2012.</div><div class="canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom" data-reactid=".8pk7n30dms.$tgtm-Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$5" data-type="text" style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em;">The latest finds were made on the same plot of land where five decapitated bodies were found in 2015.</div><br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-25066923397627508252016-08-12T03:08:00.001+02:002016-08-12T03:08:26.315+02:00The Nauru files: cache of 2,000 leaked reports reveal scale of abuse of children in Australian offshore detention | Australia news | The Guardian<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/10/the-nauru-files-2000-leaked-reports-reveal-scale-of-abuse-of-children-in-australian-offshore-detention">The Nauru files: cache of 2,000 leaked reports reveal scale of abuse of children in Australian offshore detention | Australia news | The Guardian</a>: <br /><br />
<br /><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">The devastating trauma and abuse inflicted on children held by Australia in offshore detention has been laid bare in the largest cache of leaked documents released from inside its immigration regime.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">More than 2,000 leaked incident reports from Australia’s detention camp for asylum seekers on the remote Pacific island of Nauru – totalling more than 8,000 pages – are published by the Guardian today. The <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/nauru" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Nauru</a> files set out as never before the assaults, sexual abuse, self-harm attempts, child abuse and living conditions endured by asylum seekers held by the Australian government, painting a picture of routine dysfunction and cruelty.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">The Guardian’s analysis of the files reveal that children are vastly over-represented in the reports. More than half of the 2,116 reports – a total of 1,086 incidents, or 51.3% – involve children, although children made up only about 18% of those in detention on Nauru during the time covered by the reports, May 2013 to October 2015. The findings come just weeks after the <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/26/abu-ghraib-images-children-detention-australia-public-inquiry" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">brutal treatment of young people in juvenile detention in the Northern Territory</a> was exposed, leading to the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/26/malcolm-turnbull-announces-royal-commission-northern-territory-detention" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">announcing a wide-ranging public inquiry</a>.</div><br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-30620545655331895052016-08-04T04:56:00.001+02:002016-08-04T04:58:30.125+02:00All Politicians Lie. Some Lie More Than Others. - The New York Times<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/opinion/campaign-stops/all-politicians-lie-some-lie-more-than-others.html?_r=1">All Politicians Lie. Some Lie More Than Others. - The New York Times</a>: "Falsehood Face-Off<br />
Statements since 2007 by presidential candidates (and some current and former officeholders) ranked from most dishonest over all to least dishonest, as fact-checked by PolitiFact. “Pants on Fire” refers to the most egregious falsehoods.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-87083509797297203772016-07-28T15:39:00.001+02:002016-07-28T15:39:39.177+02:00Donald Trump Calls On Russia To 'Find' Hillary Clinton's Emails : NPR<a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/07/27/487634941/trump-calls-on-russia-to-hack-into-clintons-emails">Donald Trump Calls On Russia To 'Find' Hillary Clinton's Emails : NPR</a>: ""Today, Donald Trump once again took Russia's side," Panetta said. "He asked the Russians to interfere in American politics. Think about that for a moment. Donald Trump, who wants to be president of the United States, is asking one of our adversaries to engage in hacking or intelligence efforts against the United States to affect our election."<br />
<br />
The crowd at the DNC bood loudly, then cheered this remark from Panetta:<br />
<br />
"As someone who was responsible for protecting our nation from cyberattacks, it's inconceivable to me that any presidential candidate would be this irresponsible. Donald Trump cannot become our commander in chief.""<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-63308701588371023522016-07-22T07:35:00.001+02:002016-07-22T07:35:20.535+02:00U.S. lawsuits link Malaysian leader to stolen money from 1MDB fund<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-sues-seize-1-billion-assets-tied-malaysian-035842280--sector.html?ref=gs&utm_content=buffera476e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">U.S. lawsuits link Malaysian leader to stolen money from 1MDB fund</a>: "KUALA LUMPUR/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday judgment should be withheld until all the facts are known after the U.S. government filed lawsuits seeking to seize $1 billion in assets bought with money stolen from a state fund he oversaw.<br />
<br />
The U.S. Justice Department lawsuits filed in a federal court on Wednesday did not name Najib, instead referring to "Malaysian Official 1." Some of the allegations against this official were the same as those in a Malaysian investigation into a $681 million transfer to the premier's personal bank account.<br />
<br />
The lawsuits said $681 million from a 2013 bond sale by sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was transferred to the account of "Malaysian Official 1".<br />
<br />
A source familiar with the investigation confirmed that "Malaysian Official 1" was Najib.<br />
<br />
In Malaysia, the hashtag #MalaysianOfficial1 was trending on Thursday."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-41570334429858582792016-07-22T06:03:00.001+02:002016-07-22T06:03:49.295+02:00Big Fish: Indonesia's Minister Susi Pudjiastuti's crowd pleasing performance<a href="http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2015/10/27/Big-Fish-Minister-Susi-Pudjiastuti.aspx">Big Fish: Indonesia's Minister Susi Pudjiastuti's crowd pleasing performance</a>: "When Susi Pudjiastuti was sworn in as Indonesia's Maritime and Fisheries Minister this time last year, the local tabloids didn't think she stood a chance. Of the eight women in President Jokowi's 'Working Cabinet', Susi was singled out for her failure to conform to conventional ideas of how a woman, or indeed a minister, should behave. She was labelled an eccentric for having a tattoo, being a divorcee, and for smoking a cigarette outside the State Palace. She was described by local media as a poor example of Jokowi's promised 'mental revolution'. But since then, Susi has not only survived a cabinet reshuffle and transformed into a media darling, but has become by far the best-known and most widely liked of Jokowi's ministers. So how did she do it?<br />
<br />
The short answer is: by blowing things up. "<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-67079841819256131862016-07-20T12:43:00.001+02:002016-07-20T12:43:45.333+02:00In rare move, Pakistan bars family from 'forgiving' son for honor killing<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/rare-move-pakistan-bars-family-forgiving-son-honor-053154927.html?ref=gs&utm_content=bufferd6587&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">In rare move, Pakistan bars family from 'forgiving' son for honor killing</a>: "ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have barred the family of a murdered social media celebrity from legally "forgiving" their son for strangling her, sources said, in a rare stand against the so-called practice of "honor killings".<br />
<br />
Muhammad Waseem drugged and strangled Qandeel Baloch on Friday in a murder that has shocked Pakistan, a deeply conservative Muslim nation where the 26-year-old both titillated and outraged with her risqué social media photos and videos.<br />
<br />
Waseem told media he had "no regrets" about killing his sister as she violated the family's honor by her social media pictures, including "selfie" photographs with prominent Muslim cleric Abdul Qavi. In a video post with Qavi, she appears to sit on his lap.<br />
<br />
A police source said the government of Punjab, the country's largest province, has made it impossible for the family to forgive the son who murdered her - a common legal loophole that sees many honor killings go unpunished in Pakistan.<br />
<br />
"It was done on the instructions of the government. But it happens rarely," said the Punjab police official."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-40013116246585979602016-07-20T12:42:00.001+02:002016-07-20T12:42:19.648+02:00Turkey coup: Purge widens to education sector - BBC News<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36838347">Turkey coup: Purge widens to education sector - BBC News</a>: "The army, judiciary, security and civil service have all been targeted following Friday's coup attempt:<br />
6,000 military personnel have been arrested, with more than two dozen generals awaiting trial<br />
Nearly 9,000 police officers have been sacked<br />
Close to 3,000 judges have been suspended<br />
Some 1,500 employees of Turkey's finance ministry have been dismissed<br />
492 have been fired from the Religious Affairs Directorate<br />
More than 250 staff in Mr Yildirim's office have been removed<br />
Turkey's media regulation body on Tuesday also revoked the licenses of 24 radio and TV channels accused of links to Mr Gulen."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-49001580750055125282016-07-16T12:30:00.001+02:002016-07-16T12:30:15.442+02:00IS and the future of Malaysia | Free Malaysia Today<a href="http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2016/07/16/is-and-the-future-of-malaysia/">IS and the future of Malaysia | Free Malaysia Today</a>: "A couple of weeks ago, an IS attack in Puchong changed the security landscape in Malaysia. Until last week many Malaysians believed such attacks will not happen in this country because the IS threat is only outside Malaysia.<br />
For the security and intelligence forces this attack was a surprise. The choice is not obviously in the city centre or crowded places visited by foreigners but rather one that was unimaginable. This has shown that ISIS supporters, sympathisers or terrorists have read and scaled down their targets well.<br />
Worst of all the attack was carried out in the holy month of Ramadhan, a month of peace and supplication when people will least expect such an attack to happen.<br />
Therefore, officially IS has declared war against Malaysia. The intelligence and security forces can expect a future wave of attacks here. The fatwa issued by IS in Syria urged its supporters and sympathisers to attack places like nightclubs because these clubs do not observe the sanctity of the month of Ramadhan. Furthermore, it is stated in the Prophetic Traditions that the last 10 days of the month of Ramadhan is most rewarding.<br />
The Movida attack is a target of convenience and it’s the first attempt, with less risk and less effort for the terrorist rather than high-security places like KLCC, Bukit Bintang or Putrajaya."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-37478784601989057062016-07-16T12:29:00.001+02:002016-07-16T12:29:53.383+02:00Pakistani model killed after offending conservatives - The Washington Post<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistani-model-killed-after-offending-conservatives/2016/07/16/f4ec76ba-4b28-11e6-8dac-0c6e4accc5b1_story.html">Pakistani model killed after offending conservatives - The Washington Post</a>: "Hundreds of Pakistani woman are murdered by family members each year in so-called honor killings, which are seen as punishment for violating conservative norms."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-42840809803834340422016-07-14T12:26:00.001+02:002016-07-14T12:26:58.945+02:00Silicon Valley denizens have their own language | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com<a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jul/13/silicon-valley-language/">Silicon Valley denizens have their own language | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com</a>: "You can’t talk to people in Silicon Valley anymore. They don’t even speak our language.<br />
<br />
By that, I’m not referencing Mark Zuckerberg’s mediocre Mandarin or the software code underlying so many Valley endeavors. I’m talking, literally, about the words Valley denizens use when they speak, in sentences like: “Yeah, that startup has some cool gamification, but it’s an X for Y model, they don’t even have a minimum viable product, and that space is already in Hype Cycle. Their only hope is to pull off an acqui-hire. And even then, I don’t know if they have a total addressable market.”<br />
<br />
In other words (rough translation of above sentence: that startup is a cool place to work but will die), our technological masters no longer speak the same language that most Californians do. And that is just one sign of a growing divide between tech and non-tech here. The Valley’s growing cadres of wealthy and powerful technocrati have turned the Bay Area into an island, cut off from the rest of struggling California. Their outlook and lives are global, while most of the rest of us exist locally. There are chasms between their technological sophistication and ours, between their venture-backed business methods and our adherence to accounting principles, and between our ethnic and gender diversity and their lack of it."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334568876691229831.post-2039560030709319772016-07-14T12:25:00.001+02:002016-07-14T12:25:34.440+02:00Google, LinkedIn paid big bucks to swap land in Mountain View - Silicon Valley Business Journal<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/07/13/heres-what-google-and-linkedin-paid-to-swap-land.html">Google, LinkedIn paid big bucks to swap land in Mountain View - Silicon Valley Business Journal</a>: "Google and LinkedIn's complicated land swap — announced Tuesday— also came with a big price tag, with each side realizing significant gains when compared to the original acquisition prices.<br />
<br />
Public records show that Google paid $215.2 million to acquire LinkedIn's assets at Shoreline Boulevard and Highway 101. LinkedIn paid about $100 million to assemble those properties in late 2014 and 2015. They include the Lester Industrial Park, a small retail building, and a Caltrans easement. (See the chart below for more details.)"<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18221450507184962648noreply@blogger.com0