Today's News: January 16, 2018

World News

Palestinian leaders reconsider recognition of Israel
Al Jazeera – The Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO) Central Council, the second-highest Palestinian decision-making body, has recommended revoking recognition of Israel until the latter recognises the State of Palestine in its 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. During a meeting in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah late on Monday, the PLO, which is an umbrella of major Palestinian political parties, said it “assigned” its Executive Committee “to suspend recognition of Israel until it recognizes the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders and revokes the decision to annex East Jerusalem and expand and build settlements,” according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.
US and Canada hold summit on North Korean nuclear threat
The Christian Science Monitor – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson huddles Tuesday with nations that fought on America’s side in the Korean War, looking to tighten the economic noose around North Korea over its nuclear weapons even as hopes rise for diplomacy. The 20-nation gathering on Canada’s western coast comes days after a mistaken missile alert caused panic on Hawaii, a stark reminder of the fears of conflict with the North after a year of escalating tension. The meeting in Vancouver, hosted by Mr. Tillerson and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland, was called before the recent start of talks between North and South Korea, the first in two years. The North restored a military hotline and agreed to participate in the Winter Olympics being hosted in February by the South, a close US ally.
Lebanon Bans ‘The Post’ Over Director Steven Spielberg’s Support of Israel
(AP) — Lebanon’s censorship authorities have effectively banned Steven Spielberg’s newspaper drama, “The Post,” because the American director is on a regional blacklist for supporting Israel.
The directive by the country’s General Security agency still needs to be signed by Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk to enter into effect, but that is considered a formality that is unlikely to stop the ban. The directive accompanied another ban on “Jungle,” a survival movie based on the memoirs of Israeli national Yossi Ghinsberg. Lebanon and other Arab nations have long maintained a cultural boycott against Israel. But the twin bans reflect the growing strength of a once-fringe movement to extend the boycott to people and companies seen as too friendly to Israel. General Security, which is also charged with running Lebanon’s only commercial airport, detained acclaimed Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri as he arrived last year to promote his latest film, “The Insult.” The drama is Lebanon’s entry to the Foreign-Language awards category at this year’s Oscars. Doueiri was questioned on charges of doing business with Israel. His previous film, “The Attack,” was banned in Lebanon and most Arab countries because it was filmed in Israel and featured several Israeli actors. All charges were dropped against him after news of his detention caused a scandal in the national media. Also last year, Lebanese authorities banned “Wonder Woman” hours before it was due to premiere, following a campaign against its lead actress, Gal Gadot, who served in the Israeli army.
Japan issues false alarm over missile launch, days after Hawaii alert gaffe
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese public broadcaster NHK issued a false alarm on Tuesday saying North Korea appeared to have launched a missile and urging people to take shelter, but it managed to correct the error within minutes. The mistake took place at a tense time in the region following North Korea’s largest nuclear test to date in September and its claim in November that it had successfully tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach all of the U.S. mainland. Pyongyang regularly threatens to destroy Japan and the United States.
But there were no immediate reports of panic or other disruptions following the NHK report. A similar gaffe caused panic in the U.S. state of Hawaii at the weekend. NHK’s 6.55 p.m. (0955 GMT) alert on its web site said: “North Korea appears to have launched a missile…The government urges people to take shelter inside buildings or underground.” The same alert was sent to mobile phone users of NHK’s online news distribution service. In five minutes, the broadcaster put out another message on the website correcting itself and said no government warning, called “J-alert”, had been issued. “This happened because equipment to send a news flash onto the Internet had been incorrectly operated. We are deeply sorry,” an NHK announcer said on its 9:00 p.m. news program, bowing deeply in apology. Last Saturday, a false missile alert during a civil defense drill caused panic across Hawaii. A state emergency management agency spokesman attributed it to human error and a lack of fail-safe measures.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Trump Russia: Bannon ‘ordered to testify to grand jury’
BBC – Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to US President Donald Trump, has been summoned to testify before a grand jury, US media report. He was reportedly subpoenaed by former FBI director Robert Mueller, who is leading an inquiry into alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election campaign. Mr Bannon appeared separately on Tuesday before a Congressional panel. Mr Bannon was subpoenaed last week, the New York Times reports, quoting an unnamed person with direct knowledge of the matter. However the summons could be a negotiating tactic by Mr Mueller to persuade Mr Bannon to agree to be questioned by investigators in the less formal setting of the special counsel’s offices in Washington, the paper’s source added.
Exceptionally Critical Audit Exposes Costly Failures in DOD’s Afghanistan Reconstruction
Judicial Watch – An exceptionally critical audit of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) scandal-plagued initiative to help rebuild Afghanistan reveals that hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted on failed “strategic business and economic activities” and hundreds of millions more were blown on unwarranted “indirect and support costs.” It marks the latest of a multitude of reports documenting atrocities in the U.S. government’s multi-billion-dollar Afghanistan reconstruction, a huge debacle that continues fleecing American taxpayers. The recent probe, conducted by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), further exposes the DOD’s egregious strategic and operational failures, revealing that programs intended to reduce violence, enhance stability and support economic normalcy in Afghanistan had a mere 22% success rate despite their astounding $316.3 million price tag. Incredibly, this type of fraud and corruption is so pervasive in the government’s mission to reconstruct Afghanistan, that it isn’t news anymore. It is simply par for the course, the unacceptable norm in a horribly mismanaged Pentagon program that has failed miserably.
Four Officers Shot in South Carolina, Suspect Captured
Breitbart – Three sheriff’s deputies and a police officer were were shot early Tuesday following a domestic violence call in York County, South Carolina.
The conditions of the wounded law enforcement personnel have not been released, but York County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Trent Faris said, “The sheriff’s office can really use your prayers and your thoughts.” According to CNN, the standoff lasted roughly six hours before 47-year-old Christian Thomas McCall was captured. McCall was shot and wounded during an exchange of gunfire and his condition has not been released either. Faris explained that deputies originally went to a call that a male was beating a female just after 10 p.m. McCall allegedly “left the home on foot before deputies arrived” and a search was launched that involved a K-9 officer from York Police Department. Fox News reports that the K-9 officer was shot early Tuesday morning while searching for McCall and that the York County deputies were shot around 3:30 a.m. They, too, were shot while searching the woods for McCall. McCall was wounded during exchanges of gunfire and eventually taken into custody.
‘New California’ declares independence from state, blames high taxes & poor services
A group hoping to breakaway from California because of high taxes and their unhappiness with how the state is run has declared independence for ‘New California.’ The group’s leaders released a Declaration of Independence on Monday in the hopes that it will eventually lead to independence from the state capitol, Sacramento. Unlike the Calexit movement, which is looking for independence from the United States for the entire state of California, the New California group wants to remain a part of the US but it no longer wants to be governed by the state of California.
READ MORE: ‘Calexit’: Yes California movement opens ‘embassy’ in Moscow

Veteran News

Anonymous Bitcoin Millionaire Funding MDMA Therapy for PTSD—Making Ecstasy Mainstream
The Free Thought Project – As TFTP reported last year the government granted “breakthrough therapy designation” to a drug which was previously in the Schedule 1 category—MDMA or ecstasy—to treat PTSD. The ‘party drug’ was used in Phase 2 trials on roughly 200-300 patients with severe PTSD. Results showed a remarkable improvement in most patients, with 61 percent reporting no PTSD symptoms after 2 months and 68 percent being PTSD-free after a year. With the “breakthrough” status granted by FDA, Phase 3 trials can proceed much more quickly, and with input on “design, primary endpoint, and statistical approach” from FDA. The only problem with the FDA legalizing clinical trials is the fact that these trials cost money. That’s where MAPS steps in. The very next day after going to the Pineapple Fund website, MAPS received a whopping 59.8 bitcoins or roughly one million dollars. This donation created a trend and the very next day they received 51.54 bitcoins from another anonymous donor. Only a few days after that, Lunyr (LUN) tokens worth over $769,000 were anonymously given.
The response was so overwhelming that Pine stepped up the game and announced last week that they would match the next $4 million donated to MAPS for the shared goal of attempting to cure PTSD with MDMA. The money raised and donated by Pine will allow MAPS to make MDMA-assisted psychotherapy legally available to millions of people suffering from PTSD. Because their research challenges the status quo, they receive no government funding and the group relies entirely on contributions from individuals, businesses, and foundations.

Economy & Business

Dow roars past 26,000
CNN – The market’s latest milestone, reached on Tuesday just after the opening bell, easily sets the record for the fastest rise between 1,000-point barriers. The Dow has been around for 121 years. The Dow has spiked almost 8,000 points, or about 42%, since President Trump’s election. The stock market boom reflects enormous excitement on Wall Street about record corporate profits and strong economic growth at home and abroad — all of which could be boosted by the GOP tax overhaul.

Energy & Environment

Winter Storm Inga’s Snowy Swath to Sweep Through Northeast and South; Dangerous Ice in Central, Southeastern Texas
The Weather Channel – Winter Storm Inga is bringing snow and ice to the South on Tuesday and will also spread accumulating snow to the East Coast through Wednesday.
EU declares war on plastic waste
The Guardian – The EU is waging war against plastic waste as part of an urgent plan to clean up Europe’s act and ensure that every piece of packaging on the continent is reusable or recyclable by 2030. Following China’s decision to ban imports of foreign recyclable material, Brussels on Tuesday launched a plastics strategy designed to change minds in Europe, potentially tax damaging behaviour, and modernise plastics production and collection by investing €350m (£310m) in research.
12,000 flee as Philippines warns of volcano eruption
The Telegraph – The crater of a rumbling Philippine volcano was glowing bright red Monday, with vulcanologists warning it could erupt within days, sending thousands fleeing from their homes.
Volcanic earthquakes and rockfalls have shaken the summit of Mayon over the last 24 hours, after a number of steam-driven eruptions, scientists said. More than 12,000 people have been ordered to leave a seven-kilometre (four-mile) evacuation zone, and there are warnings of destructive mudflows and toxic clouds.

Science & Technology

Skynet Now: Pentagon Deploys Terrorist-Hunting Artificial Intelligence
Activist Post – The most recent disclosure comes directly from the Pentagon, where after only 8 months of development a small team of intel analysts has effectively deployed an AI into the battlefield in control of weaponized systems to hunt for terrorists. The military minds in charge of this new form of warfare feel it is nothing less than the future of armed conflicts. For example, Air Force Lt. Gen. John N.T. “Jack” Shanahan, director for defense intelligence for warfighter support and the Pentagon general in charge of the terrorist-hunting AI, says Project Maven – the name given to the flagship weaponized AI system at the Defense Department — is “prototype warfare” but also a glimpse of the future.

Health

Apples and tomatoes help heal the lungs
Natural Health News – If you are an ex-smoker, a diet rich in fruits such as apples and tomatoes could help restore lung damage caused by smoking. Poor lung function has been linked with mortality risks from all diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, and lung cancer. The researchers from Imperial College London and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health assessed diet and lung function of more than 650 adults in 2002, and then repeated lung function tests on the same group of participants 10 years later. Participants from three European countries – Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom – completed questionnaires assessing their diets and overall nutritional intake. They also underwent spirometry, a procedure that measures the capacity of lungs to take in oxygen.
Results published in the European Respiratory Journal found that adults who on average ate more than two tomatoes or more than three portions of antioxidant-rich fresh fruit a day had a slower decline in lung function compared to those who ate less than one tomato or less than one portion of fruit a day, respectively. The benefits persisted even after controlling for factors such as age, height, sex, body mass index (an indicator of obesity), socio-economic status, physical activity and total energy intake.
Fresh is best – The researchers inquired about other dietary sources such as dishes and processed foods containing fruits and vegetables (e.g. tomato sauce) but the protective effect was only observed in fresh fruit and vegetables. Among former smokers, the diet-lung-function connection was particularly striking, with apples and tomatoes being particularly effective, but improvements were seen in all adults surveyed including those who had never smoked.
Broccoli Sprouts: One of Nature’s Top Cancer-Fighting Foods
Dr. Axe – Until the last couple of decades, vegetable sprouts were given little to no attention from a nutritional standpoint. However, a 1997 piece in the New York Times changed all that, making the general public aware of the incredible cancer-fighting compounds found in broccoli sprouts.
Because they aren’t as readily available as regular broccoli, you might be tempted to pass on broccoli sprouts. However, once you know the amazing things scientists have discovered these sprouts can accomplish, you’ll rethink that position.
Benefits of Broccoli Sprouts:

May Fight and Prevent Cancer – including throat, lung, colon, prostate, breast, bladder, skin cancers
Might Benefit the Heart
Support Strong Bones
Might Help Fight H. pylori Infection
Detoxify the Body
May Improve Respiratory Function
Can Be Part of a Multiple Sclerosis Diet
Could Protect Your Brain

Final thoughts:

Broccoli sprouts are a surprisingly powerful little food with thoroughly researched health benefits. Most notably, they have been shown to significantly impact several types of cancers.
This and other benefits of broccoli sprouts are often related to the sulforaphane they contain, a protein found in these sprouts between 10 and 100 times more often than mature broccoli.
Sulforaphane from broccoli sprouts is associated with heart health, strong bones, fighting H. pylori infection, detoxification, respiratory health, support in multiple sclerosis, and even brain protection from traumatic injury or stroke.
Broccoli sprouts are easy to grow.. Try them on salads, burgers, with noodles or even as part of a smoothie.