DDMA Headline Animator

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Antimicrobial copper kills 97 percent of deadly bacteria, reduces infection rate by 40 percent

Friday, July 15, 2011
by: Jonathan Benson

(NaturalNews) A new study presented at the World Health Organization's (WHO) 1st International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC) in Geneva, Switzerland, has revealed that the use of antimicrobial copper surfaces in hospitals helps reduce the rate of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) by 40 percent. The metal also effectively kills 97 percent of bacteria, as well as many viral and fungal pathogens.

Conducted at three intensive care units (ICUs) in the US, the study found that when conventional surfaces were replaced with copper surfaces, patient HAI rates dropped by 40.4 percent. And direct tests involving deadly pathogens and copper surfaces revealed that the antimicrobial metal quickly and effectively kills the vast majority of pathogens it comes into contact with, including many pathogens that have developed resistance to antibiotics and other drug interventions.

"Copper's rapid destruction of pathogens could prevent mutational resistance developing and also help reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance genes to receptive and potentially more virulent organisms, as well as genes responsible for virulence," said Prof. Bill Keevil, head of the Microbiology Group and director of the Environmental Healthcare Unit at the University of Southampton in the UK.

"Additionally, copper touch surfaces could have a key role in preventing the transmission of healthcare-associated infections. Extensive laboratory tests have demonstrated copper's antimicrobial efficacy against key organisms responsible for these infections, and clinical trials around the world are now reporting on its efficacy in busy, real-world environments."

The findings support previous ones involving antimicrobial silver, which is also known to have powerful antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal capabilities. In 2008, a company actually developed antimicrobial silver hospital pajamas for patients concerned about contracting deadly hospital superbugs like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

"Bacteria present on ICU room surfaces are probably responsible for 35 to 80 percent of patient infections, demonstrating how critical it is to keep hospitals clean," said Dr. Michael Schmidt, professor and vice chairman of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), one of the three hospitals involved in the trial.

"The copper objects used in the clinical trial supplemented cleaning protocols, lowered microbial levels, and resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the number of infections contracted by patients treated in those rooms."

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/033008_copper_antimicrobial.html.

Greece Mulls Plans to Exit Eurozone, Start New Currency

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Christian Reiermann
Spiegel Online

The debt crisis in Greece has taken on a dramatic new twist. Sources with information about the government's actions have informed SPIEGEL ONLINE that Athens is considering withdrawing from the euro zone. The common currency area's finance ministers and representatives of the European Commission are holding a secret crisis meeting in Luxembourg on Friday night.

Greece's economic problems are massive, with protests against the government being held almost daily. Now Prime Minister George Papandreou apparently feels he has no other option: SPIEGEL ONLINE has obtained information from German government sources knowledgeable of the situation in Athens indicating that Papandreou's government is considering abandoning the euro and reintroducing its own currency.

Alarmed by Athens' intentions, the European Commission has called a crisis meeting in Luxembourg on Friday night. The meeting is taking place at Château de Senningen, a site used by the Luxembourg government for official meetings. In addition to Greece's possible exit from the currency union, a speedy restructuring of the country's debt also features on the agenda. One year after the Greek crisis broke out, the development represents a potentially existential turning point for the European monetary union -- regardless which variant is ultimately decided upon for dealing with Greece's massive troubles.

Given the tense situation, the meeting in Luxembourg has been declared highly confidential, with only the euro-zone finance ministers and senior staff members permitted to attend. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Jörg Asmussen, an influential state secretary in the Finance Ministry, are attending on Germany's behalf...

Source: Activist Post.
Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2011/05/greece-mulls-plans-to-exit-eurozone.html.

Jordan police attack anti-govt. march

Fri Jul 15, 2011

At least ten people have been injured after Jordanian police attacked anti-government protesters demanding reforms in the capital, Amman.

The unrest took place as hundreds of demonstrators shouting anti-government slogans tried to march from the al-Husseini mosque to the city hall on Friday.

Most of the injured are reported to be journalists.

"We were beaten by police, although we were wearing special press vests. We thought we would be safe when we stood next to the police and away from the clashes," said an AFP photographer who was injured by Jordanian police.

Some reports, however, suggest that police armed with batons got involved after pro- and anti-government supporters clashed.

Jordanian protesters demand political and economic reforms and an end to corruption. They have also called for the resignation of Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit's and his cabinet and dissolution of the parliament, which they see as a puppet of the regime.

"Rulers, we want to reform the regime. We want the palace to hear the voices of Jordanians," the demonstrators chanted on Friday.

"We need political, economic and social reforms for future generations," and "It's our right to fight corruption," read banners carried by anti-government protesters in Amman.

Similar anti-government protest rallies were also held in the southern cities of Tafileh, Man and Karak, as well as Irbid and Jerash in the north.

Jordan has faced anti-government rallies demanding reforms and an end to corruption since January.

Last month, in a bid to appease protesters, King Abdullah II announced some concessions, including the formation of future governments that were based on an elected parliamentary majority rather than one appointed by the monarch.

But he later said it may take two to three years to put an elected government in place.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/189246.html.

Libyan rebel ethnic cleansing and lynching of black people

HRI, July 14, 2011

Further specific evidence has emerged that there is a strong racist element within the rebel forces, including at command level, and it is the stated intention of these forces to ethnically cleanse areas they capture of their dark-skinned inhabitants.

Racism amongst the rebels including at command level

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, journalist Sam Dagher pointed out the obvious fact that the Libyan war is aggravating ethnic tensions in that country. The article talks about the fate of Tawergha, a small town 25 miles to the south of Misrata, inhabited mostly by black Libyans, a legacy of its 19th-century origins as a transit town in the slave trade:

Ibrahim al-Halbous, a rebel commander leading the fight near Tawergha, says all remaining residents should leave once if his fighters capture the town. "They should pack up," Mr. Halbous said. "Tawergha no longer exists, only Misrata."

Other rebel leaders are reported as:

"calling for drastic measures like banning Tawergha natives from ever working, living or sending their children to schools in Misrata."

In addition, according to the article, as a result of the battle for Misrata:

nearly four-fifths of residents of Misrata’s Ghoushi neighborhood were Tawergha natives. Now they are gone or in hiding, fearing revenge attacks by Misratans, amid reports of bounties for their capture.

Amid allegations of black mercenaries and stories of mass rape by the inhabitants of Tawergha, Sam Dagher reports on further evidence of the racism amongst the rebel forces:

Some of the hatred of Tawergha has racist overtones that were mostly latent before the current conflict. On the road between Misrata and Tawergha, rebel slogans like "the brigade for purging slaves, black skin" have supplanted pro-Gadhafi scrawl.

The racial tensions have been fueled by the regime’s alleged use of African mercenaries to violently suppress demonstrators at the start of the Libyan uprising in February, and the sense that the south of the country, which is predominantly black, mainly backs Col. Gadhafi.

This information has already been publicized, not just in the WSJ but also in the Black Star News...

The myth of black mercenaries leads to lynchings

Other evidence of the massacres of black people, which include the lynchings and murder of black soldiers of the Libyan army, guest workers from other African countries and dark-skinned Libyan civilians include a report from the BBC on 25 February which cited a Turkish construction worker as saying:

"We had 70-80 people from Chad working for our company. They were cut dead with pruning shears and axes, attackers saying: 'You are providing troops for Gaddafi.’ The Sudanese were also massacred. We saw it for ourselves."

On 27th February Nick Meo of The Telegraph reported from Al-Bayda that he had been shown mobile phone footage of a 'captured mercenary' (presumably he means black person with a uniform) lynched from a street lamp as well as a 'black African hanging on a meat hook.'

Amnesty International crisis researcher, Donatella Rovera spent the period from 27 February to 29th May in Misrata, Benghazi, Ajabiya and Ras Lanouf. Yesterday she was interviewed by Austria’s 'The Standard' and had this to say on the subject:

"We examined this issue in depth and found no evidence. The rebels spread these rumors everywhere, which had terrible consequences for African guest workers: there was a systematic hunt for migrants, some were lynched and many arrested. Since then, even the rebels have admitted there were no mercenaries, almost all have been released and have returned to their countries of origin, as the investigations into them revealed nothing."

Who spread the myth and why?

So what accounts for the widespread popularity of this myth? It is, to be frank, an example of highly successful propaganda, appealing to the basest of racial stereotypes. The myth was highly important in gaining consent for the operation in Libya, in order to cover up and justify the massacres of black people taking place.

The myth of black mercenaries was spread by certain political leaders and bodies including the National Transitional Council in Benghazi, British Defense Minister Liam Fox and NATO spokesperson Oana Longescu.

The viagra myth

On the viagra myth, beloved of the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, Donatella Rovera had this to say:

"No one really took that seriously did they? On the 21 March, after the first air strikes on Gadaffi’s troops outside Benghazi, a young man who worked in the media center presented us with many boxes of the potency drug. He claimed to have found them in the destroyed tanks. The vehicles had been completely burnt out, but the packaging looked brand new. I can not believe that anyone took him seriously."

NATO enabling human rights abuses

So is NATO actually "protecting civilians" – or is it rather supporting rebels, some of whom who intend to harm dark-skinned Libyans and ethnically cleanse areas over which they take control?

The information contained in this post, is widely known and has been reported in the Independent and other newspapers, so NATO can not claim ignorance of the facts.

As this is being written, the "brigade for purging slaves and black skin," is advancing on Tawurgha, supported by NATO strikes from the air and on the ground by Special Forces. A rebel commander has declared the intention is to wipe the town off the map and we have already seen the lynchings of black people and the driving out of black people from Ghoushi.

By continuing to escalate the conflict in Libya, allowing the arming and supporting the rebel side, providing bombing support to enable them to advance and refusing to implement a cease-fire as demanded by the United Nations and African Union, NATO is enabling serious abuses of human rights and NATO officials will certainly be held to account.

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=79569&s2=15.

'Super' blueberries from South America

NEW YORK, July 14 (UPI) -- Wild blueberries native to the tropical regions of Central and South America have two to four times more antioxidants than U.S. blueberries, researchers say.

Professor Edward Kennelly, a biologist at Lehman College in New York and Paola Pedraza, a botanist at The New York Botanical Garden, examined five species of blueberries.

The two species that had the highest amounts of antioxidants are Cavendishia grandifolia and Anthopterus wardii, the researchers say.

"We consider these two species of neotropical blueberries to be extreme superfruits with great potential to benefit human health," Kennelly says in a statement.

Antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables have been associated with lower incidence of some chronic diseases and may help protect against heart disease, inflammatory ailments such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and even cancer, the researchers say.

More than 600 neotropical species are related to the "highbush" blueberries common to the U.S. market and several, including the two most promising species of Kennelly and Pedraza, are native to the high-elevation forests of the Andes Mountains -- one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world.

Although these super blueberries are wild species that are not currently commercially available, the scientists say they have the potential to become a popular food item or health supplement if their high antioxidant content becomes better known.

"I think it's just a matter of time until people start working on making them more available," Pedraza says.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/07/14/Super-blueberries-from-South-America/UPI-50481310702274/.

Dhaka and Delhi launch census in enclaves

DHAKA, Bangladesh, July 15 (UPI) -- Bangladesh and India are conducting a joint population census in pockets of isolated territories within each other's national boundaries to end a long-standing border issue.

The census will cover all the 162 enclaves on both sides of the border as a first step toward an agreement over practical ownership of the lands and a land-swap, a report by Bangladesh's national news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha said.

Bangladesh and India share a border more than 2,500 miles long drawn up by the British when they left the Indian subcontinent in 1947. It divided the land mass between the two new countries, India and Pakistan.

At the time, Pakistan comprised West Pakistan, along India's western border, and East Pakistan along its eastern frontier. The two Pakistans were one country, with its capital in Karachi, West Pakistan.

Tensions and cultural differences resulted in East Pakistan gaining independence as Bangladesh in 1971.

However, the border issue with India was never settled. It left 111 Indian-administered areas -- enclaves -- within Bangladeshi territory as well as 51 Bangladeshi exclaves on the Indian side of the frontier.

The largest enclave is about 4,700 acres and the smallest around the size of two football fields. The total enclave population is estimated to be 150,000-300,000.

This week's census is being conducted by the Joint Boundary Working Group, which is working on a mechanism to exchange territories, based on a 1974 agreement.

The census will be part of information considered by the two countries when they kick-start discussions during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka in September.

"Joint teams of both the countries have completed the preparatory works for the headcount at the enclaves and we expect to refer the matter to a political level for a decision," Bangladeshi Home Ministry Secretary Kamaluddin Ahmed told the BSS.

"We are hoping to reach an understanding that will be pragmatic and take account of the ground realities, keeping in mind the spirit of the Land Boundary Agreement of 1974," Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told a news conference last week.

She said an agreement would "end the uncertainties and hardships of the people living in these areas."

But settling the issue may be harder than imagined. Among the enclaves are about two dozen counter-enclaves -- enclaves within enclaves.

There also is what the Economist Newspaper has called "the world's only counter-counter enclave -- a patch of Bangladesh that is surrounded by Indian territory, itself surrounded by Bangladeshi territory."

A settlement would go a long way to helping the overall security situation along the porous border where smuggling is rampant, from guns destined to rebel groups to cough syrup sold on the black market for its alcoholic content.

For a decade India has been constructing a 2,500-mile concrete and barbed-wire fence along the border to thwart the smugglers. By September, around 1,550 miles of the $1.2 billion project had been built.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/07/15/Dhaka-and-Delhi-launch-census-in-enclaves/UPI-33071310725800/.

Bahraini woman poet tells of torture while in custody

14 Jul 2011
Richard Spencer

Ayat al-Qurmezi, 20, became one of the symbols of the protests that hit the center of the Bahraini capital, Manama in February and March. After she was arrested, reports circulated that she had been whipped and even at one point raped and killed, leading to an improvement in her conditions and her release on Wednesday evening.

Greeted by a crowd of hundreds of people at her home, she told her family she had not been sexually assault but threatened as well as being electrocuted with clips attached to her face.

She also denied that she had committed treason by attacking the king, saying she wanted reform not revolution. "The demand isn't to overthrow the regime, but we want a real constitutional monarchy," she said to reporters.

Miss al-Qurmezi, a member of the Shia majority who was at teacher training college when the protests began in February, was filmed reciting poems to a huge crowd at Pearl Roundabout, the epicenter of the demonstrations.

One featured a conversation between Satan and King Hamad in which they outlined the complaints of the opposition, mostly Shia calling for the Sunni royal family and elite to share power.

Another, addressed to the prime minister, said: "You must go. Take His Majesty with you, and leave your deeds behind."

After her family received threats, she gave herself up to the authorities in March and put in a narrow cell at a police station. Meanwhile, Bahrain security forces backed by troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates dispersed the protesters. Altogether, about 30 people were killed, while four more protesters died in custody.

"She was beaten with a hose and electrocuted," Miss al-Qurmezi's brother, Yusuf, told The Daily Telegraph on Thursday. "They put the clips on her lips and on other parts of her face.

"They did not rape her but they told her they would. They put her in a narrow cell. Through the wall she could hear the screams of men who were being beaten. They would come and tell her, 'you are next'."

State media and pro-government activists, mostly Sunnis, attacked her and claimed she had incited racial hatred, by insulting naturalized Bahrainis and Indian residents, and called for violence against the king. She was jailed for a year last month by a military court.

One commentator wrote: "Al-Qurmezi was not interrogated because of the poem. Rather, it was because she read the poem in public and insulted the Monarchy, enraging the formerly silent majority who demanded her arrest."

Miss al-Qurmezi said she remained under house arrest and although released early the charges on which she had been jailed had not been dropped. "I hope Bahrain can move away from the crisis to a transition into a better future, without discrimination or sectarianism," she said.

Hundreds of people were detained following the crackdown, including more than 40 doctors and nurses from the main Al-Salmaniya Hospital. Eight leading activists have also been handed life imprisonment.

However, the government has been attempting to restore its reputation in recent weeks, returning trials to the civilian courts, announcing a "national dialogue" with the opposition, and commissioning a high level panel of international human rights experts to conduct an inquiry into the events of February and March.

Source: The Daily Telegraph.
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/bahrain/8638396/Bahraini-woman-poet-tells-of-torture-while-in-custody.html.

Tunisia Opens First UN Human Rights Office

By Jack Phillips
July 14, 2011

Tunisia, the first country to launch the Arab Spring protests that have swept throughout the Middle East, will be opening its first United Nations-backed human rights office, according to officials on Thursday.

The U.N. in a news release lauded the move to open a human rights bureau, saying that it is a sign that things are improving in the country, which had been ruled by autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali until he was ousted the popular revolt in January.

Tunisia will become the first North African nation bordering the Mediterranean Sea to open a U.N. human rights office. Libya, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt—all countries that have experienced varying degrees of unrest recently—do not have an office.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who planted a single symbolic olive tree near the office, said she hopes there will be “a new era of human rights and democracy in Tunisia.”

“The impact of these actions, on Tunisia itself, on the wider region, and indeed all across the world is hard to measure and is far from completed," Pillay said. “But it has unquestionably been enormous and truly inspirational.”

Pillay added that human rights training courses will be available for police officers and judges. The country also recently ratified several U.N.-backed treaties that allow the country to regain its legitimacy. In June, it ratified the Rome Statue for the International Criminal Court, which allows for greater efficiency in prosecuting the perpetrators of war crimes and genocide.

However, on Wednesday, soldiers had to break up clashes among youths wielding knives and swords in the country’s southern town Gafsa, reported Reuters. Authorities also imposed a curfew.

Sporadic demonstrations have continued to persist throughout Tunisia, which signifies that some of its citizens are displeased with its caretaker government.

Interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Sebsi on Wednesday said that he is confident that the uprisings in other Arab countries would succeed. "I am sure that the Arab peoples will once more take their destiny into their own hands," he said, according to the news agency.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/tunisia-opens-first-un-human-rights-office-59124.html.