Today's News: October 26, 2020

World News

Iranian Army Chief of Staff Dismisses Washington’s Bid for Negotiations as ‘Non-Starter’

Sputnik – Chief of Staff of the Iranian armed forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri on Monday called the idea of holding talks with the US “a non-starter,” saying that Washington’s proposal for the negotiations with Tehran was a tactic to force Iran to surrender to the US.

Tehran has repeatedly rejected the idea of launching direct talks with the US, as, according to Iran, Washington should first resume complying with its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iranian nuclear deal, and lift its sanctions on the Middle Eastern country.

“They [the US] want to bring Iran to the negotiating table, but the result of such negotiations has been already determined, and that is Iran’s surrender to the US,” Baqeri said at a video conference on civil defense, as cited by the Tasnim news agency.

The senior military official added that by proposing to launch talks, Washington aimed at making Iran “cave in to the strategies and [policies] imposed by the US.”

French doctor warns his country has ‘lost control’ of virus

AP – A French doctor warned Monday that his country has “lost control of the epidemic,” a day after health authorities reported more than 52,000 new coronavirus cases as nations across Europe enact more sweeping restrictions to try to slow surging infection rates.

Spain Declares Emergency — Until May!

Reuters – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a new state of emergency on Sunday in an effort to curb soaring coronavirus infections, imposing local nighttime curfews and banning travel between regions in some cases.

The measures go into force from Sunday night and will require all regions except the Canary Islands to impose a nighttime curfew and limit the number of people allowed to meet to six.

“We are living in an extreme situation … it is the most serious health crisis in the last century,” he told a news conference following a cabinet meeting.

Catalonia was one of the first regions on Sunday to use the new legislation to impose a curfew, which will take effect at 10 p.m. Establishments open to the public will have to close at 9 p.m.

Police were patrolling the city before the curfew took effect and locals welcomed the new rule.

“I believe that in a certain way a measure had to be taken because everything was getting a little out of control,” said vocational training teacher Paula. “I think more measures will come, but it’s a good start.”

Other regions that announced curfews from Sunday night included Cantabria and La Rioja.

Spain imposed one of the toughest lockdowns early on in the pandemic and then relaxed curbs over the summer.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

US Senate Votes on Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court Nomination

Sputnik – Last month, US President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett for the post of the Supreme Court justice following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Watch a live broadcast from the US Senate where a final vote on Barrett’s nomination as a new justice is taking place.

The procedure is taking place following three days of the Senate debating the nomination.

If appointed, Amy Coney Barrett will become the sixth Republican appointee in the panel which comprises nine judges.

Her nomination has strongly divided Democrats and Republicans, with the former expressing their concerns about the whole process being “illegitimate” and opposing to a Supreme Court nomination so close to the date of the presidential election.

Military, police in Washington state prepare for civil unrest

NY TImes – As tension builds toward Election Day, law enforcement officials in Washington and elsewhere are preparing for the prospect that this year’s long, hot summer of unrest won’t end on Nov. 3, regardless of who wins the presidency.

If anything, officials worry that pressure will only build in the coming weeks, faced with the possibility of a contested election, spiking gun sales and ongoing civil unrest over institutional racism and police violence, all driven by a tsunami of social media misinformation and conspiracies from the right and left, not to mention from foreign adversaries.

“I can say that we have no specific, credible threats at this time,” said Joshua Murphy, the assistant special agent in charge of the Seattle office of the FBI, where he oversees counterintelligence. Before that, he ran the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Even so, federal, state and local officials have participated in “tabletop” exercises outlining possible scenarios for post-election violence and mayhem. At least 300 National Guard soldiers, recently deployed overseas, are being trained to handle civil unrest. They will be placed on alert with hundreds of other Guard members who have already been trained for handling such disturbances. Police leaders in Seattle, which has hosted some of the country’s largest racial justice protests, have canceled time off for officers.

Jewish Family Traumatized by Pepper-spray Attack on ‘Jews for Trump’ Caravan

Breitbart – A Jewish family was left traumatized after their car was attacked with pepper-spray by counter-protesters as a “Jews for Trump” caravan rolled through New York City on Sunday.

The caravan of some 1,000 vehicles proceeded from various points in the city and suburbs to Marine Park in Brooklyn, where they held a rally that was addressed by former Democrat state assemblyman Dov Hikind, among others.

At one point, Fox News reported, a car with a family inside was pepper-sprayed:

A member of the family that was pepper-sprayed told Fox News that the unprovoked attack happened while the family was driving down Fifth Avenue with the car windows down and Trump flags displayed.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous fearing his family could be targeted, said a car pulled up next to them and unleashed pepper spray into their vehicle.

“Immediately the kids started crying and screaming and I jumped out of the car after I was peppered [sic] sprayed as well,” the man said.

Kanye West: Planned Parenthood Founded ‘to Kill the Black Race and to Create Population Control’

Breitbart – Gospel rapper and billionaire fashion designer Kanye West highlighted the racial eugenicist ideology of Margaret Sanger, the founder of the organization that became abortion giant Planned Parenthood, in a recent interview with Joe Rogan.

West, a presidential candidate, said, “Plan B and Planned Parenthood were planned by eugenicists that set out and said out loud, ‘I’m doing this to kill the black race and to create population control.’”

Joe Biden: Hunter Biden Email Story ‘a Smear Campaign’

Breitbart – Sunday, in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden responded to reports his son Hunter used his position as vice president to leverage a “lucrative” deal with Ukrainian energy company Burisma. The New York Post has published leaks reportedly from the younger Biden’s laptop showing his business dealings overseas and more.

Biden pointed out that the intelligence community has “warned” that Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, whose lawyer was given the laptop allegedly containing the “confidential information,” was being “fed disinformation from the Russians.” He then shrugged off the story about his son as “a smear campaign.”

Economy & Business

DELTA has put 460 people on no-fly list for bareface

CNN – In a new memo, Delta Air Lines says it has banned more than 400 people from flying for not following the airline’s mask policy.

“As of this week, we’ve added 460 people to our no-fly list for refusing to comply with our mask requirement,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a message to employees.

In August, the airline said it had banned roughly 270 passengers since the outset of the pandemic. Delta (DAL) began requiring that passengers wear masks on flights on May 4. All major airlines now mandate that passengers wear masks in the absence of any new regulations from the federal government.

Airlines in June agreed to ban passengers from future flights for refusing to wear masks. But the airlines are not sharing information with one another about the passengers they have banned. So, for example, a passenger banned on Delta can still book a flight on American (AAL) and vice versa.

Science & Technology

Americans Working From Home Face Internet Usage Limits

WSJ – As more people rely on their home broadband for work and school during the coronavirus pandemic, providers are reinstating data caps

NASA telescope uncovers definitive evidence of water on the moon

CNET – Eleven years ago, a trio of spacecraft changed our view of the moon forever. Data collected by the robotic travelers indicated Earth’s only natural satellite was not a dry, dusty desert as we’d long believed. The spacecraft picked up the telltale chemical signature of water. Our moon wasn’t soaking — but it was damp.

Scientists couldn’t pull apart the chemical signature to definitively say how much was “molecular” water, the stuff we know as H2O, and how much was hydroxyl, a molecule that’s one hydrogen atom short of becoming water (OH). The discoveries in 2009 led scientists to suspect much of the moon’s “water” was hydroxyl, because it’s more thermally stable than molecular water.

On Monday, two studies, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, rewrite the moon water story once again.

In the first study, scientists examined the moon’s face in infrared, zeroing in on the source of the chemical signature in exquisite clarity. They determined it’s predominantly H2O that exists on the lunar surface, rather than hydroxyl.

“The detection is very unique for molecular water,” says Shuai Li, a planetary scientist at the University of Hawaii and co-author on one of the new studies. The water signature was detected on the moon’s illuminated surface, where the molecule would be exposed to UV radiation and where temperatures fluctuate dramatically between dawn, noon and dusk. It’s somewhat surprising, but it’s conclusive. “Based on our knowledge, it cannot be anything else,” says Li.

Health

Potatoes: Type matters

NaturalNews – White, red, and sweet…. they make up the potato family. These starchy vegetables are staple of our diet, but each differ in taste, size, and nutrients. The potato is economical, can be prepared and used for so many different varieties of food, and can either practically be a meal itself when loaded up or it compliment a meal on the side. Mashed, sautéed, hashed, as a French fry, in a soup, in a burrito, you name it. We buy them but the big bags and have learned many recipes to mix and match with them.

Here’s the line-up and it is important to note that all potatoes are fat free:

White potato: 155 calories, 3 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and 36 grams of carbohydrates
Red potato: 150 calories, 4 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and 34 grams of carbohydrates
Sweet potato: 105 calories, 2 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, and 24 carbohydrates

All 3 are great source of vitamin C. We can get up to 1/3 of the daily total intake that we need from potatoes. However, sweet potatoes are the clear winner when it comes to vitamin A. Sweet potatoes can give us up to 4 times the amount of vitamin A that we need. A white potato has zero grams of vitamin A. We need “A” for our immunity, growth and development, and our vision. Sweet potatoes are also the winner when it comes to containing antioxidants. Sweet potatoes also are the fiber winner. Even though they may only contain 1 gram more, when most Americans don’t get adequate amounts of fiber in their diets, a little goes a long way. Sweet potatoes also have the lowest amount of carbohydrates. This affects their position on the glycemic index (GI). The higher the GI score, the more likely the food is to raise blood sugar levels. This is not conducive to diabetics. White potatoes rank in at 78 while sweet are at 63. However, white and red make up for lack of “A” by containing more iron, potassium, and magnesium than sweet potatoes.

Collectively, potatoes are low in calories, have no fat or cholesterol, have fiber and vitamin C. No nutrition label will break down the carbohydrate make-up for you of potatoes. Potatoes are slow to digest in our system. We like them because they are filling due to their complex carbohydrate composition. The difference is that sweet potatoes won’t spike your blood sugar like a white or red potato will. Sweet potatoes digest slower in our system and their nutrients enter our blood stream at much slower rate so we feel more satiated.

We tend to overdo it when it comes to potato consumption. It’s difficult to stop at ½ cup of mashed potatoes or to have a baked potato merely the size of your computer mouse. Especially when it comes to French fries, just having a few is a mind game. The winner is the sweet potato when compared to its family members. Just be sure not to load up on butter, cheese, sour cream and the works no matter which type you choose. Taste your food for what it is versus what the condiments can cover up. When it comes to potatoes, it appears the “sweeter” the better.

Compound in honey bee venom found to destroy cancer cells within 60 minutes

Dr. Leonard Coldwell – Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are known for producing honey, one of the most useful edible natural products in the world. Honey bees also play a crucial role in maintaining the health of natural ecosystems, as they serve as pollinators that help plants reproduce. In fact, honey bees pollinate more than 100 different crops that humans and other animals use for food. This is equivalent to over 90 percent of the leading crops cultivated worldwide.

But honey bees, it turns out, can serve other functions besides producing honey, sustaining ecosystems and ensuring the growth of healthy crops. In a new study published in npj Precision Oncology, Australian and American researchers reported that honey bees are also a great source of anti-cancer agents.

Honey bee venom is a colorless acidic liquid honey bees excrete through their stingers when they are threatened. It contains numerous compounds with different biological activities. The researchers found that honey bee venom and its major component, melittin, can effectively kill cancer cells, even those that belong to one of the most aggressive types of cancer.

Honey bee venom: a venom that could save lives

Apitherapy is the ancient medicinal practice of using bee products, namely, honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom, for disease prevention and treatment purposes. Its roots can be traced back to the time of the Ancient Egyptians. Apitherapy is also a feature of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Ancient records describe honey as a remedy for various ailments, including cough, stomach pains, dry throat, dry skin and constipation.

Today, apitherapy is a popular complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). In particular, bee venom therapy is recognized for its potential in alleviating the symptoms of painful inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Other modern uses for apitherapy include treating multiple sclerosis and infections, and as a natural remedy for burns, wounds and tendonitis. (Related: Dermal injection of purified honey bee venom found to reduce knee osteoarthritis pain.)

According to earlier studies, bee venom is rich in both anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory compounds, as well as peptides with pain-relieving properties. Bee venom also contains an abundance of active enzymes, sugars, minerals and amino acids, some of which have been linked to immunoprotective effects.

Melittin, a small protein made up of 26 amino acids, comprises about 50 percent of the dry weight of bee venom and is considered one of its major components. Previous studies have linked the antimicrobial and anti-cancer effects of bee venom to melittin, although the mechanisms behind these activities are poorly understood.

For their study, the American-Australian team investigated the anti-cancer properties of honey bee venom and melittin by testing both on normal breast cells, as well as different breast cancer cells. They found that honey bee venom and melittin significantly and rapidly reduced the viability of even the most aggressive subtypes, namely, triple-negative breast cancer and HER2-enriched breast cancer cells.

The researchers also reported that melittin exerted its anti-cancer effects using two mechanisms. First, it suppressed the activation of signaling pathways involved in cancer cell growth and proliferation. Secondly, it induced cell death by poking holes in the plasma membranes of cancer cells. The researchers observed this effect within an hour of exposure to melittin.

Despite the toxic effects of honey bee venom and melittin on breast cancer cells, neither caused any damage to healthy cells. The researchers said that both are promising anti-cancer agents that can be used in combination with chemotherapy. Melittin showed that it could enhance the effect of docetaxel, a chemotherapeutic drug used to suppress the growth of breast tumors, in mice.

“Honeybee venom is available globally and offers cost-effective and easily accessible treatment options in remote or less-developed regions. Further research will be required to assess whether the venom of some genotypes of bees has more potent or specific anticancer activities, which could then be exploited.”

“Overall, our results could be leveraged to aid the development of new therapeutic modalities for many cancer types associated with frequent drug resistance and poor prognosis,” the researchers concluded in their report.