March 29, 2024

The Power Hour

Knowledge is Power

Today's News: May 16, 2019

World News
Stanton Friedman, famed UFO researcher, dead at 84
CBC – Stanton Friedman, the famed UFO researcher based in Fredericton, has died.
Friedman was returning from a speaking engagement in Columbus, Ohio, when he died suddenly at the Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday night, according to his family.
He was 84.
A nuclear physicist by training, Friedman had devoted his life to researching and investigating UFOs since the late 1960s.
He was credited with bringing the 1947 Roswell Incident — the famous incident that gave rise to theories about UFOs and a U.S. military coverup — back into the mainstream conversation.
Friedman “officially” retired last year but still booked speaking engagements “because he loved talking about UFOs,” said his daughter, Melissa Friedman, who works for CBC News.
“Dad was curious about anything he didn’t know about. He was always asking questions about how things worked.
“I think it’s rare for someone to stay so engaged and curious and open-minded for a life that’s that long.”
She remembered her father as encouraging, proud and caring and said she was fortunate to have one last visit a week ago in Nova Scotia.
Friedman was an accomplished writer, publishing dozens of papers about UFOs and writing or co-writing several books. Three of those books were written in tandem with Kathleen Marden.
“He will be greatly missed,” Marden, a UFO researcher, said in an interview from Florida.
UK raises threat level for Mideast personnel – report
RT – The British government has elevated the threat level for troops and diplomats throughout the Middle East, Sky News reported citing a government source. It comes amid a US military build-up to counter Iran.
The change of security situation for Britons affects Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, the British television channel reported. The decision to was taken due to a fear of “Iran or its proxies taking action against British, US or other allied interests,” it said.
The Sky source suggested Tehran may be plotting an attack that would provide plausible deniability, thus avoiding an all-out war with the US, which would still “signal Iranian anger” over sanctions imposed by the US.
Iran-backed militias move rockets in range of U.S. troops: Report
Washington Times – The current ramping up of U.S. military posturing against Iran was triggered by U.S. intelligence that showed Tehran-backed militias in Iraq moving rockets to locations that could hit bases where American troops are positioned in the nation, according to sources familiar with the intelligence.
‘Rogue doctor’ gives hundreds of people HIV with contaminated needle
Independent – More than 500 people have tested positive for HIV in southern Pakistan in an outbreak that local officials have blamed on a rogue paediatrician.
Almost 14,000 individuals have now been screened in the district outside Larkana where the sudden spike in HIV incidence was first detected, said Dr Sikandar Memon, the regional coordinator of the Aids Control Programme.
Of those testing positive, 410 are children, Dr Memon told Pakistani newspaper Dawn. He said that another 29 patients tested positive in the most recent round of blood screening on Wednesday at the main hospital in Rato Dero, 25km outside Larkana, seen as the centre of the epidemic.
Saudi Prince Says Iran Ordered Attacks on Pipeline
Bloomberg – Saudi Arabia accused Iran of ordering this week’s attack by Yemeni rebels on a key oil pipeline, stoking concerns that the world’s largest oil-producing region is edging toward another war. Crude prices rose.
Prince Khalid Bin Salman, the vice minister for defense and brother of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, said on Twitter that Tuesday’s drone attack, claimed by Iran-backed Houthis, had undermined political efforts to ease tensions in Yemen.
“The terrorist acts, ordered by the regime in Tehran, and carried out by the Houthis, are tightening the noose around the ongoing political efforts,” Prince Khalid said, without providing evidence of Iranian involvement. “These militias are merely a tool that Iran’s regime uses to implement its expansionist agenda in the region.”
Saudi-led forces launched retaliatory airstrikes against Houthi positions in the divided country, where the United Nations is working to end a four-year war that’s killed thousands and left millions facing hunger and disease.
The Latest: Venezuela gov’t, opposition in Norway for talks
AP – The latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):
9:15 p.m.
Officials in Venezuela say representatives of the government and opposition have traveled to Norway for talks on resolving the political crisis in the South American country.
Members of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress said Wednesday that senior members of both sides will be involved in the discussions in Oslo.
The National Assembly members spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, which they described as exploratory.
One official said delegations from the two opposing camps were traveling after receiving separate invitations from a group of Norwegians.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
USA suspends all flights to Venezuela
ABC – U.S. flights to Venezuela are being suspended due to safety and security concerns, officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.
White House rejects House panel’s demands, says investigation amounts to ‘unauthorized do-over’ of Mueller probe
NBC – The White House told the House Judiciary Committee in a letter Wednesday that it will not comply with a broad range of the panel’s requests and called on it to “discontinue” its inquiry into President Donald Trump.
“Congressional investigations are intended to obtain information to aid in evaluating potential legislation, not to harass political opponents or to pursue an unauthorized ‘do-over’ of exhaustive law enforcement investigations conducted by the Department of Justice,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote, citing special counsel Robert Mueller’s 448-page report on his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump sought to obstruct the investigation.
Cipollone wrote, however, that he was not exerting executive privilege, adding that he would consider more narrow requests from the committee if it can provide the legal support and legislative purpose for such requests.
USA Poised to Let Phone Companies Block Robocalls
Reuters – U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai on Wednesday proposed allowing phone companies to block unwanted “robocalls” by default in a bid to reduce the flood of nuisance calls from telemarketers and scammers.
Pai said many service providers have held off developing and deploying default call-blocking tools because of uncertainty about whether the tools are legal under the FCC rules.
Allowing the default call-blocking could significantly increase development and consumer adoption of the tools, Pai said, adding that providers should offer call blocking services for free. In addition, companies could allow users to block calls not on their contact lists, Pai said.
“By making it clear that such call blocking is allowed, the FCC will give voice service providers the legal certainty they need to block unwanted calls from the outset so that consumers never have to get them,” Pai said.
The U.S. telecommunications regulator is expected to approve Pai’s proposal at its June 6 meeting.
Police execute search warrant at Catholic Diocese of Dallas
AP – Investigators who were “thwarted” during earlier investigations of child sexual abuse by priests on Wednesday searched the offices of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas to obtain evidence of sexual misconduct, according to a police commander and police records.
Investigators searched the diocesan headquarters, a storage unit it uses and the offices of a church, police Maj. Max Geron told reporters.
“We believe at this point that the execution of the search warrants was wholly appropriate for the furtherance of the investigation at this point,” Geron said.
The events began last August with the investigation of Edmundo Paredes , a former priest who is believed to have fled Texas following claims that he abused three teenagers. That investigation resulted in allegations of abuse by others, Geron said.
San Fran Homeless Living on Makeshift Boats
WSJ – Homelessness has become such a big problem in the San Francisco area that waters outside the city are increasingly crowded with people living on makeshift boats.
The homeless population floating off the coast of wealthy Marin County, just north of San Francisco, has doubled in recent years to about 100, according to authorities. The ragtag collection of some 200 barges, sailboats, and other mostly decrepit vessels in which they live and store their belongings is a sign of an affordable-housing crisis in California that is being felt particularly acutely in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The boating homeless include some who are employed but say they can’t afford to live on land, some who prefer the independence and others who are jobless or mentally ill. The seafaring life isn’t easy for any of them.
Marines punish drill instructors after hazing
Greenwich Time – The Marine Corps punished at least eight drill instructors and some officers in response to allegations of hazing and other abuses last year at the service’s recruit training center at Parris Island, South Carolina, according to Marine officials and documents obtained by The Washington Post.
Investigators found numerous incidents in which recruits had been abused by the Marines training them, despite efforts by Marine Corps leaders to stamp out the problem following the death of a 20-year-old trainee, Pvt. Raheel Siddiqui, in 2016.
Trump Grants Full Pardon To Former Media Mogul Conrad Black
Deadline – Former media mogul Conrad Black has been granted a full pardon by President Donald Trump for his prior conviction on counts of fraud and obstruction of justice, for which he spent more than three years in prison.
Black, a Trump supporter who wrote the fawning biography Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other in 2018, once controlled Hollinger International, which at one point was the world’s third-largest English language newspaper company. Hollinger was the publisher of The Daily Telegraph (UK), Chicago Sun-Times (US), and The Jerusalem Post (Israel), as well as hundreds of smaller community newspapers.
But a complicated corporate controversy over some of the company’s assets saw Black found guilty in a Chicago court of diverting funds for personal benefit from money due to Hollinger International, as well as obstruction of justice.
He served nearly 42 months in Florida prison and was fined $125,000 as a result of the convictions. The Hollinger group was subsequently dismantled in a wave of criminal and civil lawsuits that followed. However, some contended Black had accurately predicted the decline of print media and tried to divest the company of those assets, saving shareholder value rather than manipulating for his own benefit.
Radioactive contamination found at Ohio school
NBC – Ashley Day has always worried about the health risks of living a few miles from a defunct nuclear power plant in Piketon, Ohio. So, when her son Kendon came home Monday and told her school had been canceled for the rest of the year, she had a sinking feeling there was a connection.
A few hours later, her fears were confirmed: The Scioto Valley Local School District declared in a letter that Zahn’s Corner Middle School would be shut down for the remainder of the school year because of possible radioactive contamination from the nearby Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which the federal Department of Energy is in the process of decommissioning.
“I felt anxiety, anger, and paranoia all at once,” she said. “It’s so scary that my child has been exposed to this because I have no idea how it’s going to affect him.”
The district said enriched uranium and neptunium-237, highly carcinogenic radioactive chemicals, were detected not only inside the building but also at a Department of Energy air monitor adjacent to the school.
“It is the position of the Board that any level of contamination on or near our school is unacceptable,” board President Brandon Wooldridge wrote in a letter shared on Facebook. He also admonished the Department of Energy, urging it to “take appropriate actions to ensure radiological contaminants are not being released from the site.”
The former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant was one of three large plants in the United States that supported the nation’s nuclear weapons program. The plant produced enriched uranium from 1954 to 2001.
The Department of Energy began an “environmental cleanup program” while the plant was converted into a waste disposal site harboring “radioactive material, chemically contaminated waste and construction debris,” according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Economy & Business
Banks fined €1bn by EU for currency rigging
BBC – Five banks have been fined €1.07bn (£935m) by the European Commission after traders clubbed together to rig the foreign exchange market.
Four banks in the “Banana Split” cartel – Barclays, RBS, Citigroup and JP Morgan – were fined €811m in all.
Three banks in the “Essex Express” cartel – Barclays and RBS again, plus MUFG – were fined €258m.
A sixth bank, UBS, was excused financial penalties for revealing the cartels’ existence.
The European Commission said the market-rigging took place from 2007 to 2013.
The Commission’s investigation, which began in September 2013, revealed that some individual foreign exchange traders, using online chatrooms, exchanged trading plans and occasionally co-ordinated their trading strategies.
China sells most U.S. Treasuries in nearly two-and-a-half years
Reuters – China sold the most U.S. Treasuries in almost 2-1/2 years in March amid uncertainty about a trade deal between Beijing and Washington, data from the U.S. Treasury Department released on Wednesday showed.
Since last week after a dismal 10-year Treasury auction, there has been renewed speculation whether China may sell its U.S. debt in retaliation for increased tariffs on $200 billion of its exports to the United States.
The latest data on China’s U.S. bond holding were collected before a sudden breakdown in trade talks between the world’s two biggest economic powers 1-1/2 weeks ago and prior to the U.S. duty hike on Chinese goods, which went into effect on Friday.
China sold $20.45 billion in Treasuries in March, the most since October 2016, following $1.08 billion in purchases the month before.
Burger King To Deliver Whoppers To LA Drivers Stuck In Traffic
CBS – After a successful test in Mexico City, fast-food chain Burger King will begin delivering food to drivers caught in traffic in Los Angeles in what they have dubbed The Traffic Jam Whopper. According to several reports, the direct-to-car delivery service will use motorcyclists to delivery food to those stuck in traffic jams using real-time data to pinpoint Burger King fans on the road.
Energy & Environment
UN chief concerned nuclear ‘coffin’ leaking in Pacific
AFP – UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres raised concerns Thursday that a concrete dome built last century to contain waste from atomic bomb tests is leaking radioactive material into the Pacific.
Speaking to students in Fiji, Guterres described the structure on Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands as “a kind of coffin” and said it was a legacy of Cold War-era nuclear tests in the Pacific
“The Pacific was victimised in the past as we all know,” he said, referring to nuclear explosions carried out by the United States and France in the region.
In the Marshalls, numerous islanders were forcibly evacuated from ancestral lands and resettled, while thousands more were exposed to radioactive fallout.
The island nation was ground zero for 67 American nuclear weapons tests from 1946-58 at Bikini and Enewetak atolls, when it was under US administration.
The tests included the 1954 “Bravo” hydrogen bomb, the most powerful ever detonated by the United States, about 1,000 times bigger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Science & Technology
Chinese rover finds strange rocks that may come from deep inside the moon
National Geographic – Kicking off the new year with a bang, China made history in early January by landing the first-ever spacecraft on the far side of the moon. Now, results from that mission suggest another bombshell: the first signs of lunar mantle material available for scientific study.
Yutu-2, the rover partner to the Chang’e-4 lander, used reflected radiation to analyze the minerals within its landing site inside the moon’s Von Kármán crater. In doing so, it spotted layers rich in two mineral types that aren’t a match for typical lunar crust. The study authors argue that it is likely these mineral patches represent upper mantle material, according to work appearing today in the journal Nature.
If confirmed, mantle rock from the moon would give researchers a game-changing look at our celestial companion’s inner workings, perhaps helping to solve long-standing mysteries about the moon’s formation and evolution. (Find out why geologists now think the moon may be more tectonically active than previously realized.)
Mind-controlled hearing aid picks out voices in crowd.
Stat News – The brain is unsurpassed in its ability to pick out juicy tidbits and attention-grabbing voices against a cacophony of background noise. Hearing aids, however, stink at this “cocktail party effect”: Rather than amplifying a particular voice by selective attention, they amplify every sound equally.
On Wednesday, researchers unveiled a possible solution — an experimental hearing aid that reads the mind. It uses artificial intelligence to separate the sounds of different speakers, detects brain activity that makes one of those voices stand out from the others, and amplifies only that voice before delivering the sound to the listener, they explained in Science Advances.
If the technology proves practical — and for that it probably can’t require implanting electrodes on the surface of the brain, as the current version does — it could serve as the basis for a brain-controlled hearing aid that would let people with hearing loss function better in social settings as well as in the noisy world.
The project, led by electrical engineer Nima Mesgarani of Columbia University’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, is one of many trying to make hearing aids more like normal hearing. The $500 Bose Hearphone app for smartphones, for instance, has directional mics so users can hear one person better than another, plus controls to dampen, say, traffic noise. But no current device can amplify selected conversations from multiple sources in a crowd, as the normally hearing brain can.
Gardening, Farming & Homesteading
Robots Take Wheel as Autonomous Farm Machines Hit Field
Bloomberg – Robots are taking over farms faster than anyone saw coming.
The first fully autonomous farm equipment is becoming commercially available, which means machines will be able to completely take over a multitude of tasks. Tractors will drive with no farmer in the cab, and specialized equipment will be able to spray, plant, plow and weed cropland. And it’s all happening well before many analysts had predicted thanks to small startups in Canada and Australia.
While industry leaders Deere & Co. and CNH Industrial NV haven’t said when they’ll release similar offerings, Saskatchewan’s Dot Technology Corp. has already sold some so-called power platforms for fully mechanized spring planting. In Australia, SwarmFarm Robotics is leasing weed-killing robots that can also do tasks like mow and spread. The companies say their machines are smaller and smarter than the gigantic machinery they aim to replace.
Sam Bradford, a farm manager at Arcturus Downs in Australia’s Queensland state, was an early adopter as part of a pilot program for SwarmFarm last year. He used four robots, each about the size of a truck, to kill weeds.
In years past, Bradford had used a 120-foot wide, 16-ton spraying machine that “looks like a massive praying mantis.” It would blanket the field in chemicals, he said.
But the robots were more precise. They distinguished the dull brown color of the farm’s paddock from green foliage, and targeted chemicals directly at the weeds. It’s a task the farm does two to three times a year over 20,000 acres. With the robots, Bradford said he can save 80% of his chemical costs.
“The savings on chemicals is huge, but there’s also savings for the environment from using less chemicals and you’re also getting a better result in the end,” said Bradford, who’s run the farm for about 10 years. Surrounding rivers run out to the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s eastern cost, making the farm particularly sensitive over its use of chemicals, he said.
Health
Don’t drink the water: Study warns that bottled water may contain toxic microplastics
NaturalNews – Think twice about making the next purchase of supposedly pure and safe bottled water. A new study held by a non-profit organization showed that many bottled water products from big brands contained at least a trace of microplastic contamination.
Performed by a research team from Orb Media and held in a laboratory at the State University of New York (SUNY), the experiment surveyed more than 250 individual samples of bottled water from 11 brands. Only a few of the bottles proved to be free of microplastics, while some of the contaminated containers had thousands of tiny bits of plastic.
All tested brands had microplastics in some of the bottles. The biggest offender came from Nestle – one particular bottle of Nestle Pure Life contained more than 10,000 particles per liter of water.
Nestle and another bottled water manufacturer, Germany-based company Gerolsteiner, disputed the results of the Orb Media study. Both companies claimed that they tested their own products and found far smaller amounts of microplastics in the water.
Snakebites declared world’s biggest hidden health crisis
PA Ready News UK – A multimillion-pound programme has been launched to improve treatment for snakebites, which are thought to kill up to 138,000 people each year.
Scientists said research is urgently needed into the problem as they described snake bites as the world’s biggest hidden health crisis.
Snakebites are treatable but doing so can be expensive, and experts say ineffective antivenom medicines, often in less developed countries, mean people living in the world’s poorest places are worst affected.
Wellcome, the London-based independent global charitable foundation, has announced £80 million in funding for a new programme to focus on changing the way treatments are researched and delivered.
Scientists explore a compound in chestnut flower for its anti-obesity properties
NaturalNews – Cinnamyl alcohol, an organic compound found in Japanese chestnut (Castanea crenata) flowers, can potentially be used in treating – and even preventing – obesity, according to a study in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine. In their report, researchers from South Korea looked at whether chestnut flower extract can effectively prevent the accumulation of fat cells using a 3T3-L1 cell model.
Earlier studies on the Japanese chestnut have proven to be promising. In a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers from Chonnam National University in South Korea found that the tree contained quinolinone alkaloids, known for their possible anti-cancer properties. Other studies also revealed that it has potent antioxidant properties, as well as the ability to regulate the production of melanin.
In this study, the South Korea team looked at how extracts derived from Japanese chestnut affected the formation of adipocytes. In particular, adipocyte cells are linked to the development and buildup of fat cells in the body. They also looked at the main compounds in the extract responsible for the biological activity.
The researchers found that after the 3T3-L1 cells were exposed to the chestnut flower extracts, these exhibited a reduction in lipid cell build up, especially those in the 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine/dexamethasone/insulin (MDI) medium. Phytochemical analysis of the extract revealed 10 compounds; among them, the researchers identified cinnamyl alcohol to have dose-dependent inhibition on lipid cells in the MDI medium. In particular, cinnamyl alcohol demonstrated significant inhibition properties without harming relatively healthier cells.
10 Brain-Boosting Foods That Just Might Make You Smarter (You’re Gonna Love No. 6)
Off Grid News – We have all heard the phrase, “you are what you eat,” but did you know you that what you eat can make you smarter?
In addition to helping your body stay healthy and strong, certain foods can help your brain work better and even protect against mental disorders.
“Food is like a pharmaceutical compound that affects the brain,” said Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, a UCLA professor of neurosurgery and physiological science who has researched the effects of food on the brain. “Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter our brain health and mental function. This raises the exciting possibility that changes in diet are a viable strategy for enhancing cognitive abilities, protecting the brain from damage and counteracting the effects of aging.”
Ultimately, the foods we eat can affect everything from our mood to our memory. Nutrient-dense whole foods can do more than just fuel our bodies; they can help us think more clearly.
According to Cynthia Green, Ph.D., an expert on memory and brain health, key nutrients — along with exercise and daily brain stimulation – help keep brain cells healthy and prevent inflammation. Green writes that a person’s memory, attention span and ability to learn all benefit from the right food choices.
Here are 10 brain-boosting foods to make a part of your diet.

  1. Fish

Salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna, trout, and sardines are packed with omega-3 fatty acids, which experts believe are essential for healthy brain function.

2. Dark Green Leafy Vegetables

Dark green vegetables, such as kale, collard greens and spinach, are excellent sources of vitamin E and folate. Folate may protect the brain by lowering levels of an amino acid known as homocysteine in the blood. Nitrates in spinach help increase blood flow to the brain and thereby improve mental performance.

3. Nuts And Seeds

As sources of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, vitamin B6, and vitamin E, nuts (especially walnuts) and seeds are good for the brain and the nervous system.

4. Berries

Dark berries, such as blueberries, cherries, and blackberries, are both good to eat and good for your brain. They contain anthocyanins and other flavonoids that improve memory function and cognitive function.

5. Avocados

Avocados are a good source of monounsaturated fats, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, potassium, vitamin K, and vitamin E.

6. Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate – the kind that contains at least 70 percent cocoa – can be a powerful brain booster. It contains important antioxidants as well as natural stimulants such as caffeine, which help improve concentration.

7. Bone Broth

When you sip a homemade stock made from animal bones, you can help nourish your brain.
Bone broth contains collagen, which helps keep cells, bones, ligaments and the brain healthy. Additionally, the glycine in bone broth helps improve sleep and memory.

8. Whole Grains

The complex carbohydrates, fiber and omega-3 fatty acids found in whole grains help protect the heart and brain from cholesterol, blood clots, and sugar spikes.

9. Beets

Beets as brain food? You had better believe it. Beets are high in vitamin B9 and in nitrites, which help increase blood flow in the areas of the brain related to cognitive functioning.

10. Beans And Legumes

An excellent source of complex carbohydrates and fiber, beans and legumes also offer a steady supply of glucose for the brain without the risk of potentially harmful sugar spikes.

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