Tag Archives: news
Cleveland Women Family Reunions!
As Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight reunite with their family and friends after being missing for years, the moments are, of course, emotional. First — take a look at Amanda Berry’s phone call to her grandmother.
AMANDA: “Hello?”
GRANDMA: “Amanda?”
AMANDA: “Yeah, Grandma?”
“How are you?”
GRANDMA: “I’m glad to have you back. I thought you were gone.”
AMANDA: “Nope. I’m here.” (Via WJHL)
Just a short phone call there, but an incredibly powerful conversation. Amanda’s grandparents said they are excited to reunite with her soon and to meet her six-year-old daughter. Sadly, Amanda’s mother, who worked tirelessly to find her, died in 2006 at age 43 after being hospitalized with pancreatitis.
But this photo, released by the family, shows Berry in a tearful, happy reunion with her sister (Via ABC)
As for the other women, Michelle Knight’s mother say she and her daughter had issues before she disappeared; so much so, she thought Michelle might have left purposefully. But now, she hopes that can all be water under the bridge.
“I’m thrilled. All I want to do is hug her and say I love you… She was my daughter and my best friend.” (Via WKYC)
And finally, Gina DeJesus’ older brother spoke with CNN, saying he never gave up hope that she would return home. He was watching the news with his father Monday night when the news broke.
“We were in disbelief. We were crying, we were shaking. We are just happy. It’s like dream, but I’m joyful. I’m glad she’s home.”
DeJesus’ aunt told the media on Tuesday, “if you don’t believe in miracles, I suggest you think again.”
Charles Ramsey Hero
Charles Ramsey became a national hero this week when he helped rescue three missing women.
Ramsey was eating in his home south of downtown Cleveland when he heard screaming next door and went to investigate. That’s when he saw Amanda Berry, a woman who went missing 10 years ago, and a young child. Berry was shouting for help and trying to get outside.
“I go on the porch and she said ‘Help me get out. I’ve been here a long time.’” Ramsey said.
He and another witness then broke the bottom of the door and freed the inhabitants. Inside the house were two other missing women: Gina Dejesus, who disappeared in 2004, and Michele Knight, who went missing in 2002.
Ramsey used his cellphone to call 911;
When he handed the phone to Berry, she told the 911 dispatcher: “I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for 10 years. And I’m here. I’m free now.”
Ramsey told WEWS-TV that he was stunned by the news that these women had been held captive next door.
“I barbecue with this dude,” Ramsey said. “We eat ribs and what not, listen to salsa music, you see where I’m coming from? Not a clue that that girl was in that house, or anybody else was in there against their will.”
All three women were taken to MetroHealth Medical Center and were in fair condition, WKYC reported. A 6-year-old child was also taken into custody.
Police said three brothers have been arrested, The Associated Press reported. The names of the suspects, or what charges they will face, have not yet been released.
The Giant Spider Robot
Meet the British design team that built a gigantic walking robot with six legs that goes by the name Mantis.
It functions with a 2.2-liter turbo engine, weighs more than 4,000 pounds, measures more than 9 feet high and has a 16-foot diameter when on a standpoint. Mantis can be controlled onboard or via Wi-Fi. (Via Youtube / Winchymatt)
According to the team at Mantisrobot.com, the “walking machine started as an idea back in 2007, we secured private funding in 2009 to start the project and after three years of design, build and testing the robot made a first successful test drive in the summer of 2012.”
It took no less than four years of intensive research for the creators, Micromagic Systems, to build what it called the “biggest, all-terrain operational hexapod robot in the world.” The BBC reports the initial project was meant to last only 12 months.
This invention was the idea of Matt Denton, chief designer and founder of Micromagic Systems, which called Mantis a “very expensive toy.” The cost is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. In terms of inspiration, Denton told CNN:
“My fascination with walking machines started at a young age watching sci-fi films … Seeing the imposing images of an AT-AT (All Terrain Armored Transport) walking across a snowscape really got me fascinated with the concept of using legged locomotion on vehicles.”
This isn’t the first spider robot to be built by the company, but Matt Denton said it is the biggest. Previous machines have appeared in movies and series such as “Harry Potter.”
The machine isn’t perfect just yet. In an interview with Discovery Channel, Denton explained the robot’s biggest challenge was not being able to see. It only knows it has hit an object after actually hitting it. (ViaYoutube / Winchymatt)
The robot’s website writes Mantis is now available for private hire, custom commissions, events and sponsorship.
4G Network set for 1 million users
EE, the U.K.’s first and still only 4G network operator, confirmed that after five months of 4G trading it has hit a total of 318,000 4G-specific customers out of a total of 13.7 million postpaid mobile subscribers (Overall EE has a mobile & fixed line broadband subscriber base of 26.4 million).
It’s worth underlining that the 318,000 figure does not consist of only new customers joining EE but includes existing 3G customers who have upgraded to its 4G offering. In its, Q1 results release today. EE said ”strong take-up of 4G services amongst new and existing customers validates our data monetisation strategy”, noting that it is continuing to “successfully migrate Orange and T-Mobile customers with 4G-ready phones to high value EE 4G price plans in areas where 4G coverage is available”.
It added that it is “firmly on track” to meet its target of more than one million 4G customers by the end of 2013. This is a target that is arguably rather unambitious, as IHS Screen Digest analyst Daniel Gleeson noted on Twitter.
EE reported postpaid mobile net adds of 166,000 for its Q1. The quarter is traditionally a weaker one for the carrier to add new customers but EE noted that Q1 2013 outperformed its past two year-on-year Q1 quarters, which saw 150,000 and 160,000 net postpaid adds respectively
Commenting on the results in a statement, EE’s Chief Financial Officer, Neal Milsom, said: “Today’s results are in-line with our expectations, and we are making good progress focusing on high value segments. We’re announcing 318,000 4G customers after just five months of trading, strong postpaid net adds and continued growth in our underlying average revenue per user. We expect to strengthen our industry leadership position in the year ahead as the 4G roll out continues and we introduce double-speed 4GEE.”
Last month EE announced its 4G network was now within reach of 50% of the population.
Doctors approve Sainthood
The medical council has recognized one healing as inexplicable. If the theologians’ give their consent, John Paul would become a Saint only eight years after his death.
The canonisation of Wojtyla, better known as John Paul II, is getting closer quickly and it could be celebrated next October. In fact, in the past few days, the medical council of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has recognized as inexplicable one healing attributed to the blessed John Paul II. A supposed “miracle” that, if it is also approved by theologians and the cardinals (as it is very likely), will bring the Polish Pope, who died in 2005, the halo of sainthood in record time, just eight years after his death.
This is the overcoming of the first fundamental hurdle, given that the alleged miracle must now be approved by theologians and then by the cardinals and bishops of the Congregation, before being subjected to the Pope for the definitive “yes“. The approval of the council is considered the most important step of the two.
From the steps taken, the desire of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to work quickly is evident, as it had already happened for the beatification of Pope John Paul II, celebrated by his successor Benedict XVI the 1st of May, 2011. This fast lane that continues to be open for Wojtyla indicates that even Pope Francis is in favour of the canonisation of the Polish Pope.
It is still premature to talk about dates for the canonization, but the rapidity with which the examination of the miracle process is happening still leaves open the possibility of celebrating it on Sunday October 20th, very close to the liturgical holiday assigned to the Wojtyla, which is on October 22nd.
Order Pizza with your Xbox 360 App
Pizza Hut is launching an app for Xbox Live, letting users order a pizza through their Xbox 360.
Once you’ve linked your Xbox Live account with a Pizza Hut account, and chosen the nearest pizza parlor, orders can be made using the game controller, voice input or Kinect gestures. And for those looking to combine ingredients for that perfect pizza, custom orders are also available.
This, of course, is not the only way to digitally create an order your pizza online. Domino’s iPad app has already something in place. However, given the historical link between gaming on platforms such as the Xbox 360 and pizza, it might be the more natural.
“If you look at our audience, they love pizza. I mean, who doesn’t? It has international appeal, and Pizza Hut is a recognized brand that matches up well with the Xbox brand,” Xbox’s Larry Hryb told Polygon.
The app should be live starting today, April 23. To sweeten (salt, pepper?) the deal, Pizza hut will give Xbox users a 15% off their first purchase, as long as they download the app and make the order before May 6.
Successful Launch of Private Rocket
A company contracted by NASA to take supplies to the international space station launched a test rocket Sunday. WCAV reports Antares was the biggest rocket ever launched from Virginia.
“Antares moved smoothly through its two stages and achieved orbit, drawing applause from those watching in the control room. Officials say the mission is a success.”
The unmanned rocket blasted off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, but WTVR reports liftoff came after two delays.
“The rocket was scheduled to launch last Wednesday… a glitch pushed the launch back to Saturday… and high winds moved it to just after 5 pm Sunday.”
Antares is made by a Washington, D.C. spaceflight company called Orbital Sciences. It has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA for at least eight resupply flights to the space station using its cargo ship Cygnus.
“The company is aiming to launch a rocket carrying its cargo ship this summer to dock with the station. If successful, they want to make the first of eight contracted deliveries in the fall.” -WWBT
NASA TV reports Antares had some special cargo on board on this test flight.
“Antares also delivered to orbit a trio of phoneset nanosatellites, designed and built at Ames research center to showcase the ability to launch to space low cost, easy to build satellites.”
Orbital Sciences had a lot riding on the successful liftoff, which NBC reports marked a critical test flight of a new commercial launch system.
The company’s executive vice president said “the company has invested about $300 million developing the Cygnus spacecraft alone, slightly more in the rocket itself.”
The launch was visible all along the East Coast, from Maine to South Carolina.
‘Bed Of Needles’ Minimizes Pain
Researchers have come up with a better way of keeping skin grafts in place through a bed of microscopic needles so pain, and damage, would be minimal compared to staples. (Via Counsel and Heal)
The nature inspired “bed of needles” is actually a parasitic worm to be exact which preys on fish. It uses its pointing microscopic head to latch onto the fish’s intestine.
But what makes the worm unique is that once it gets the needles inside its prey they expand to get an extra-tight hold. (Via Bio Lib)
And the bed of needles does the same thing. Once it is inserted into the skin, the needles swell when they meet moisture. (Via Science CodeX)
It’s a method that is hardly comparable to any other treatment available today. When the bed of needles is compared to medical super glue or a standard micro needle patch, its grip is extraordinarily tighter. (Via Youtube)
The lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Karp told the BBC its snug hold isn’t the only benefit.
“The unique design allows the needles to stick to soft tissues with minimal damage… Moreover, when it comes time to remove the adhesive, compared to staples, there is less trauma inflicted to the tissues, blood and nerves, as well as a reduced risk of infection.”
Researchers not only hope the invention will one day be an alternative to staples and other devices used for skin grafts but it might also be used to administer therapeutic drugs like proteins. (Via EurekAlert!)
Millions Generated for Boston Victims
Donations are pouring into the Boston area as victims deal with mounting medical debt. The Internet has been a useful tool in raising money for those affected.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino created “The One Fund” on the day of the attack and raised more than $7 million in the first 24 hours. (Via CBC)
Elected officials are not the only ones in the fundraising effort, though. GoFundMe is a popular fundraising site which has also helped a number of victims pay their high medical bills.
A mother and daughter named Celeste and Sydney have received an outpouring of donations. That fundraiser has garnered nearly $500,000, including $25,000 from late night talk show host Chelsea Handler.
GoFundMe also helped out one victim who lost both of his legs in the blast. Jeff Bauman gained notoriety when graphic images showing his injuries surfaced. More than $300,000 has been raised. As a result of the constant flow of donations, the donation goal has been raised to $1 million. (Via New York Daily News)
And the man who had his boat destroyed when police captured a suspect has been getting donations as well.
According to ABC, David Henneberry’s boat is now full of bullet holes and is expected to be used as evidence in the case for quite some time. Donations for him to get a new boat have ranged from $25 from an Orlando woman to $1,000 from a personal injury attorney.
But with money at stake, law enforcement officials are warning against scammers trying to take advantage of well-wishers.
KTTS reports police are telling people to, “be careful of online donation sites or charities that have similar names to legitimate ones.”
The Omaha World-Herald notes one of the best ways to steer clear of scams is to not donate to a charity on an unfamiliar website.
Samsung’s Mind-Control Technology
Have you ever imagined controlling things with your mind? Samsung are investing in research to help that become a reality!
The company has reportedly teamed up with researchers at the University of Texas to create a system that will allow a user to control a tablet such as the Galaxy Note 10.1 through thought patterns.
The techies are trying to bring this about by using a female looking swimming cap wired with EEG sensors that are used to measure the brain’s electrical activity.
Users were monitored to reveal patterns that occur after they were shown repetitive visual patterns. Researchers have discovered that users are able to open an application and use it effectively by concentrating on an icon that was blinking. (via MIT Technology Review)
And Gizmodo reports Samsung’s flashy system has managed an accuracy of about 80 to 95 percent although the head wear isn’t exactly sexy.
Popular Science also notes the telekinetic technology isn’t really all that fast either. It apparently takes, on average, five seconds for the sensors to make a selection, so sticking with the hands-on methods might be a more appealing option.
In any case, Jedi-mind control isn’t as new of a concept as you might think.
NeuroSky already makes wearable bio sensors and signal processing systems for consumer electronics, health and wellness applications and education.
Or if you just want a pair of mind-reading cat ears…
As for Samsung’s latest project, there’s no indication it’ll be put into mass-production anytime soon, so if you want to control something with your mind you’ll probably have to stick with cat ears for now.
Improve Memory whilst sleeping
Is it possible to boost your brainpower while getting a good night’s sleep? Well according to
a study it is by listening to music!
According to a new study if you have music that’s in sync with brain oscillations, or the repetitive rhythm that represents activity, can help improve your memory. (Via ScienceDirect)
According to the Daily Mail, researchers have known for a while that slow brain oscillations are important to retain memory. Now, sound can be used to improve those oscillations.
“Researchers say slow rhythms are best and that stimulation that is out of sync doesn’t help. They also say in-sync rhythms can make slow-wave sleeps last longer.” (Via WXYZ)
These conclusions were drawn by researchers in Germany by tested 11 people. They interchanged between sound exposure while sleep and a placebo. Before they went to sleep, the participants memorized word associations. (Via Nature World News)
The researchers discovered after listening to music while sleeping the participants did a better job of remembering the associations than those who didn’t sleep with music. (Via Counsel and Heal)
Medical Daily points out that using music as a research tool is nothing new when it comes to studying the brain.
A recent study showed brain patterns can predict what music people are most likely to buy.
And a 2010 study showed music can be used as therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. (Via PBS)
So, what could come of this new study? In a press release the researchers said the findings could do more in the future than just improve sleep.
“…it might be even used to enhance other brain rhythms with obvious functional significance—like rhythms that occur during wakefulness and are involved in the regulation of attention.”(Via EurakAlert!)
Uterus Transplant now Pregnant
The woman who was the first to have a successful uterus transplant has now hit another first — she is the first woman with a uterus transplant to become pregnant.
Twenty-two-year-old Derya Sert from Turkey was born without a uterus, an affliction that affects 5,000 women worldwide. Sert had a successful transplant from a deceased donor in 2011. She is now two weeks pregnant.
In an email to Yahoo! Sert’s doctor in Turkey confirmed the news who wrote,
“We are glad to inform that she is indeed pregnant. But she is now just at the beginning of the pregnancy period. We hope everything goes well until the end of the pregnancy.” (Via Yahoo!)
According to The Raw Story, Sert became pregnant through in vitro fertilization.
The New York Times points out, whilst Sert wasn’t the only woman to receive a womb transplant, she is so far the only success story.
“…The first being in Saudi Arabia in 2000 from a living donor, which failed after 99 days due to heavy clotting. Doctors had to remove the organ.”
Orlando Medical News points out that with the beginning of uterus transplants came some ethical concerns.
“People having transplants usually have to take a lot of transplant medications to keep them from rejecting the organ…It’s very likely that those medications may not be compatible with a safe pregnancy… if the objective is to have a safe pregnancy, then it would be unlikely to reach that objective.”
In normal pregnancies there is about an 80% chance the pregnancy will turn into a baby at the time of the first missed period. When a heartbeat is detected the chances go up to about 90% and after the first trimester there is about a 95% chance the pregnancy will become a baby. (Via Parenting)
If all goes well in Derya Sert’s pregnancy, her baby will be delivered by C-section and the uterus will be taken out to prevent any further complications. (Via The Times)
In the words of an Opposing Views writer, “If the child is carried full-term and born healthy, it will provide women around the world who were born without a uterus, or…lost their uterus during an accident or sickness, a good sign and hope that they may be able to have children.”
Smartphone App Avoid’s Incest
When you go to a club or bar asking someone if they’re your cousin is probably not the best chat up lines or breaking the ice with someone. However, in Iceland such an important piece of information can make the difference between incest or not. For this reason a new app was made to prevent such dangerous liaisons.
Its called the Islendinga App and it allows users to bump smartphones, and if you both share a grandparent it will set off an alarm and send you a text message as part of the “Incest Spoiler” feature. (Via WOLO)
Three University of Iceland students developed the app as part of a contest to make “new creative uses” of the Book of Icelanders (The book is the country’s extensive genealogical database which traces the lineage of its current citizens back roughly 1,200 years).
A writer for Popular Science notes most of the country’s 320,000 people share a common descent from ninth century Viking settlers, and because of that “the danger probably lies more in kissing your second cousins.”
And apparently that occurs a little too often. Medical Daily quotes one of the app’s developers, saying:
“Everyone has heard the story of going to a family event and running into a girl you hooked up with some time ago. It’s not a good feeling when you realize that girl is a second cousin. People may think it’s funny, but [the app] is a necessity.”
Yes, he really called an app with an “Incest Spoiler” feature a necessity. But wouldn’t meeting someone with the same last name of one of your relatives be an immediate red flag? A writer for Wired explains the name game isn’t reliable in Iceland.
“Part of the problem … is that Icelandic naming conventions don’t reflect someone’s descendants. … Each new generation has a completely different name to the name of the generation that preceded it.”
So that means your cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews could all have different last names.
Businessweek points out the app has other convenient features, like a calendar to remind users of their relatives’ birthdays.
The Android app has been downloaded almost 5,000 times and has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5. Though if you want to get your hands on it, you’d better brush up on your Icelandic as that’s the only language it’s available in. The developers say they hope to release a version for iPhone users soon.
Madeleine’s Mother forgives Abductor
Kate McCann has revealed she “could probably forgive Madeline’s abductor” as her missing daughter’s 10th birthday approaches.
The practicing Catholic spoke of the cycles of grief, hope and mercy she has endured in the six years since Madeleine was snatched.
Speaking to the Telegraph, the 45-year-old said: “I think I could probably forgive Madeleine’s abductor whatever the circumstances… I can’t change anything and I don’t want to be eaten up by hatred and bitterness.”
Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, as her parents dined with friends nearby.
Kate, who is also mother to eight-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, admits she and husband Gerry continue to struggle daily with their loss.
She said: “Living in limbo with this void and uncertainty is truly dreadful It’s hard to rest, to find peace. It’s unsettling and uncomfortable all the time. Even on a ‘good’ day, that feeling is lurking.”
Despite the limbo of not knowing what has happened to their daughter, whose 10th birthday is on May 12, the McCanns are adamant she may still be found.
On their website Find Madeleine, they write: “There is absolute nothing to suggest that Madeleine has been harmed. Madeleine is still missing and someone needs to be looking for her.“
“She is very young and vulnerable and needs our help. We love her dearly and miss her beyond words.”
There have been numerous reported sightings of Madeleine throughout the years, but none have produced any firm leads.
Kate, who is running Sunday’s London Marathon to raise funds for the charity Missing People, adds: “There are moments when you despair, but they are infrequent now. As someone said: It’s not that your burden gets any lighter. It’s just that your legs get stronger. That really sums it up.”
$3M hotline fights Human Trafficking
Google offered a $3 million donation to help setup a global anti-human trafficking hotline up and running.
“The global human trafficking network will work to share data and to develop a better response for victims. It joins together organizations in the US, southeast Asia and also Europe.” (Via CNN)
Google is hoping the money donated will help gather statistics from local, national and international helplines to create a data-driven network. This network envisages an improvement in efficiency in the fight against human trafficking. Google launched a commercial on Tuesday discussing its efforts.
“We think of trafficking as being similar to modern-day slavery. Trafficking is incredibly diverse. It’s extremely fluid. Traffickers are often moving quicker than the response is moving.”
SlashGear reports two other organizations have also joined the effort. One will donate data integration and an analytics platform and another will help scale call tracking to an international level.
Google has given more than $14 million to stop human trafficking since 2011. Analysts are calling this donation Google’s next step to end human trafficking all together with the wealth of information that will be available through this new international campaign.
Space Station’s unbreakable signal
A touch of magic comes from the regions of space. A study in the New Journal of Physics proposes testing out one of quantum physics’ strangest predictions using the International Space Station.
The experiment is meant to test quantum entanglement. This is a phenomenon Einstein once called “spooky action at a distance.” When two particles are entangled, what happens to one affects the other whatever the distance between them. (Via Scientific American)
Scientists can entangle particles easily these days, so to test the theory they can create an entangled pair of, say, photons, fire one off into the distance and keep one at the lab, then measure both and see if they react the same way.
But a writer for MIT Technology Review says there’s a limit to these studies:
“The furthest scientists have sent entangled photons is just 144 kilometres. and because of atmospheric losses and the curvature of the Earth’s surface, the only way to go further is to fire photons straight upwards, into space.”
So what’s upwards in space and filled with science equipment? Only the most expensive vehicle ever built the International Space Station with a $150 billion price tag.
It even already has the right equipment; a motorized 400 mm lens mounted in the station’s cupola and a seven-windowed observation deck that gives astronauts those awesome views of the earth. (Via ESA, NASA)
Assuming the researchers get permission for their proposal, all they would need to do is send a new type of sensor to the ISS.
Then, when the station passes overhead, send as many entangled photons as they can to carry out two main experiments. (Via ESA)
The first experiment is just to see whether the theory of entanglement holds at a distance of 250 miles. But the researchers also want to see whether a new kind of secure communication network is feasible i.e. quantum satellite Internet.
According to a writer for Vice’s Motherboard magazine, quantum entanglement could hold the key to truly secure communication. This is because no one else could listen in without distorting the message and letting both parties know there was an intruder.
If the experiments are successful, the ISS could become a kind of relay station for the world’s first unbreakable encryption keys and perhaps a form of communication that happens faster than light.
Drones Deliver Morning Paper
Will paper boys need to find a new way to earn their pocket money in France? Well if the province of Auvergne are to believed they will pilot a drone newspaper delivery service in May. The official postal service, La Poste Group, has already been beta-testing the automated delivery service with 20 hornet-looking unmanned aerial vehicles.
Word is that FedEx may want to get in the game by using drones for peaceful non controversial services. It has come to my attention that it has been a vocal proponent of a drone-powered delivery service, and the FAA has been steadily approving regulations to permit commercial drones by fall of 2015. If this happens, say goodbye ladies to seasonal sexy UPS men in short shorts.
At least one state, Virginia, is on the path to place a two-year moratorium on law-enforcement drones, but that surely wouldn’t derail FedEx’s plan for an army of automated delivery drones.
While the morning paper is nice, I can’t wait for the taco-delivery service, Tacocopter (or a ChickCopter run by KFC). Even though this flavor fairy was a hoax (which fooled The Colbert Report), I hope it’ll be a reality soon as it will save me a trip everyday when I want to have lunch.
NOTE: Sorry everyone! This is an April Fools joke, which suckered a lot of outlets, because it was not put out on April Fools day, but 3 day ago. Someone in a marketing department for La Poste Group has too much time on his hands!
ABC News, What Have You Done?
You got the wrong black man.
Rumors of Surveillance, Muslims Back Out
BY EMILY SPAIN
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg got snubbed at his interracial faith breakfast Friday morning.
The missing guests?
Some of the city’s key Muslim leaders — who hoped to send a message by not dining-in.
The Muslims chose not to attend because of reports that hit the headlines in Augustclaiming the NYPD is eavesdropping on businesses, mosques and taxi drivers. The group’s frustrated because it claims the mayor hasn’t done anything.
The NYPD insists it has done nothing wrong, but some Muslim leaders disagree and didn’t come to the breakfast to stand up for their civil rights. Here’s Nihad Awad from the Council on American-Islamic Relations:
“To be engaged in wholesale ethnic and religious profiling that’s wrong… The mayor when he knew about this he should have condemned it, he should have investigated it. The leaders in the community there communicated with his office and brought him a letter respectfully declining the invitation because it is an opportunity to send a message that this is wrong.”
15 leaders in the Muslim community signed this letter, which says:
“We believe with heartfelt conviction that during times when a community’s rights are being flagrantly violated its leaders cannot in good conscience appear at a public gathering with the government official who is ultimately responsible and smile for the cameras as if all is well, when we know full well that it is not.”
But a writer for the New York Daily News suggests the Muslims’ breakfast boycott was a big mistake, calling the group’s claim a “big misrepresentation.”
“…the NYPD’s counterterrorism unit has done no more than use census data to develop a portrait of Muslim New York and then follow leads, some sent the city’s way from abroad via the CIA, when they demanded investigation. Many a plot has been disrupted by this type of perfectly proper nonintrusive vigiliance [sic]… The next letter from the boycotters ought to be one of polite apology. We won’t hold our breath.”
Mayor Bloomberg continues to defend local authorities work in the city and told CBS New York:
“The city’s police department has worked very hard to bring crime down and prevent terrorism… We’ve done it in a ways that is consistent with making sure that we obey the law and don’t target anybody.”
But a former FBI director told CNN, even if city officials think they did nothing wrong, they still have to address the issue.
“Obviously, it’s a public relations almost nightmare for the city, they have to undo that… Depending how they handle it, depending on what happens in the subsequent investigations now will determine really what kind of relationship they have in the community, but they absolutely need the cooperation of the community.”
The Associated Press reports Mayor Bloomberg did not directly address the boycott at the breakfast, but did say “We have to keep our guard up, but if we don’t work together we won’t have our own freedoms.”
Fukushima Outlines Shutdown Plan
BY JACQUELINNE MEJIA
ANCHOR SALEM SOLOMON
You’re watching multisource global video news analysis from Newsy
Tokyo Electric Power Company released a timeline describing when it expects the nuclear crisis in northeast Japan to be resolved. HLN summarizes the strategy.
“It could be nine months before those damaged reactors in Japan are completely shutdown. The owners of the Fukushima nuclear plant say that it’s gonna take three months just to bring radiation levels down and get the cooling systems back to normal. Then it could be another three to six months before the reactors get cold enough to shutdown.”
So what exactly is a “cold shutdown”? The Financial Times explains, in order for a reactor’s radioactive uranium fuel to not heat up, water inside a reactor must be below 100 degrees centigrade at normal atmospheric pressure.
The FT also reports on the plan’s execution.
“To overcome the problem, engineers plan to flood the reactors’ containment chambers with enough water to immerse the internal pressure vessels that hold the fuel. [...] Once a “cold shutdown” has been achieved, the long decommissioning process can begin. The plant’s fuel will have to be left to cool for years, and the whole process is expected to take at least a decade.”
Many Japanese people living in the evacuation zone and beyond have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the plan, due to the previous lack of transparency from both TEPCO and the Japanese government, the Telegraph reports.
“In Fukushima, locals complained that the government’s decision to suddenly and inexplicably raise the alert level at the plant two notches to seven, the same level of seriousness as the Chernobyl disaster, has created a maelstrom of rumours.”
The nine-month timetable isn’t sitting well with the estimated 100,000 people evacuated from areas with high levels of radioactivity. An editor for Japan Today talks to CTV on the multiple effects for those forced from their homes.
” [...] No one was happy at all, because these people want to go back to their homes, but it looks like they won’t be able to for at least 9 months. So…what do they do? And then the farmers need compensation for their crops and the dairy farmers need compensation, they’re throwing out their milk. So this is a really contentious issue that’s gonna go on for many, many months.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met over the weekend with Emperor Akihito to discuss the long-term rebuilding process — euronews reports on how the U.S. wants to help.
“She announced the creation of a public-private partnership to help Japan rebuild from the world’s most expensive natural disaster.”
There was one bright spot for victims of the nuclear crisis. The Japanese government told TEPCO to pay $12,000 to each family and $9,000 for single-person households
