'Part of 9/11 plane landing gear' found in New York

BBC- New York police say what appears to be part of the landing gear of one of jets flown into the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 has been found.

The 5ft (1.52m) piece of metal, which bears a Boeing label and serial number, was wedged between two New York City buildings, police said.
It was found on Wednesday by surveyors inspecting a lower Manhattan building.

The 5ft piece of metal was found wedged between two buildings

Nearly 3,000 people died in the terror attacks as planes were brought down in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Five suspected al-Qaeda militants are awaiting trial for the attacks at a military tribunal at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
2,976 counts of murder "It's a manifestation of a horrific terrorist act a block and a half away from where we stand," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters outside the secured site. "It brings back terrible memories to anyone who was here, who was involved in that event."
The piece was found in a narrow, rubbish-filled space 18in (0.45m) wide.
Mr Kelly told reporters after inspecting it that a length of rope was looped around the piece of steel and that no marks were visible on the walls overhead, suggesting it could have been lowered from the rooftop.
The New York Police Department has secured the area behind 51 Park Place and 50 Murray Street as a crime scene.

Analysts suggest a full exploration of the site may require some
demolition work on the two buildings

The location is at the site where a mosque and community centre has been proposed, three streets away from "Ground Zero" - the site of the twin towers.
Police have taken photographs and are keeping it off-limits until a health assessment has been made by the medical examiner's office.
Mr Kelly said investigators will scour the space for possible human remains.
He said the landing gear was found about 11:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Wednesday by surveyors hired by the owner of 51 Park Place.
At 08:46 on 11 September 2001, American Airlines flight 11 hit the World Trade Center's north tower. Seventeen minutes later, United flight 175 hit the south tower.
Although rubble from the attack was cleared in 2002, other debris has been found scattered across the local areas in the years since.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of masterminding the attacks while the other four men being held at Guantanamo Bay are implicated for providing support for the co-ordinated hijacking.
They are charged with conspiring with al-Qaeda, terrorism, and one count of murder for each known victim of the 11 September attacks at the time the charges were filed - 2,976 in total.
The five face a possible death penalty sentence, if convicted.

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Posted in: USA,violence

Asia Stocks Near Two-Year High as Investors Weigh Profit Reports

Source bloomberg.

Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index touching the highest intraday level since May 2011, as investors weighed earnings reports and energy shares led gains.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the nation’s largest refiner, increased 1.4 percent after Morgan Stanley said China’s cut in fuel prices will benefit the company. Nidec Corp., the world’s largest maker of hard-disk drive motors, gained more than 6 percent for a second day in Osaka, Japan, after fiscal- year net income beat forecasts. Canon Inc. (7751), the world’s biggest camera maker, slid 6 percent after its income forecast missed analysts’ estimates on slumping demand for compact models.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.3 percent to 139.36 at 11:38 a.m. in Tokyo, with about the same number of companies falling and rising. The gauge is headed for its highest close since May 3, 2011.

“We have to look at earnings and wait to see if the first- quarter earnings are really good or bad,” said Grace Tam, Hong Kong-based global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management Ltd., which oversees about $1.3 trillion globally. “So far, it’s not really been impressive. In Asia, we don’t have an inflation threat. Inflation has been pretty benign and this is a positive factor for Asian equities because Asian economies are net importers of oil.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 7.4 percent this year through yesterday amid optimismJapan will deploy more measures to beat deflation and that policy makers in the U.S. and China remain on standby to support growth. The Asian benchmark traded at 14.1 times estimated earnings yesterday, compared with 14.3 times for the S&P 500 and 12.8 times for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

Nikkei, Kospi

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.1 percent after slipping 0.1 percent, while the broader Topix Index added 0.3 percent, as data showed foreign investors were net sellers of the nation’s equities last week. The Kospi Index (KOSPI) increased 0.4 percent as South Korea’s economy grew the most in two years in the first quarter. Markets in Australia and New Zealand are closed for a public holiday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (HSI) climbed 0.4 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.7 percent. Taiwan’s Taiex Index slid 0.1 percent.

More than 60 companies on the MSCI gauge are scheduled to report earnings today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Of the 69 firms which have reported quarterly results since April 1, and for which Bloomberg has estimates, 51 percent have exceeded profit forecasts.

Investors are weighing how the yen’s decline will improve the earnings outlook for Japanese exporters.

The yen has declined against all of its 16 major counterparts since April 4, when the Bank of Japan (8301) said it will double the amount of money circulating in the economy by the end of 2014 by buying government bonds, its boldest round of quantitative easing. The BOJ will convene tomorrow.

“The market has yet to show a definitive direction as investors wait for catalysts,” said Toshihiko Matsuno, a strategist at Tokyo-based SMBC Friend Securities Co., a unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan’s second-biggest lender by market value. “A weaker yen is helping Japanese companies, but you need to look at each stock to figure out if the yen’s drop is coming on top of a company’s solid business or it’s being overshadowed by poor performance.”

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPXL1) were little changed today. The index rose just 0.01 point yesterday in New York, as investors weighed quarterly earnings.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.

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Posted in: Asia,Business

Biden Calls Boston Bombing Suspects 'Cowardly'

Source VOA

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is criticizing the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects as perverted and cowardly.

 

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a memorial service for slain
 MIT campus officer, Sean Collier, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Apr. 24, 2013.

Biden spoke Wednesday in Boston at a memorial service for a university police officer who authorities say was gunned down by suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, three days after the bombings.

 

The vice president questioned why anyone acts to terrorize innocent people.

"Why, whether it’s al-Qaida central ... or two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knock-off jihadists here in Boston.  Why do they do what they do?," he asked. 

 

Several thousand mourners gathered at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology to remember the slain policeman, Sean Collier.  Biden said the United States must keep its values in the face of threats from terrorists.

 

"The only way they can gain ground is to instill fear that causes us to jettison our values, our way of life, for us to change," he said. "The moment we change, the moment we look inward, the moment we get into a crouch in a defensive, that’s the moment when they win."

 

Meanwhile, U.S. investigators have questioned the parents of the two suspects in the Russian republic of Dagestan, as they try to determine what might have influenced the sons in the months before the attack.

 

U.S. authorities, working with Russian security forces, interviewed the parents Tuesday night and called back the mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, for more questioning on Wednesday.

 

The investigators are particularly interested in any contacts the elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, might have had with Islamic extremists during a six-month visit to Dagestan and Chechnya last year.  

 

U.S. lawmakers discussed the same trip Tuesday as they raised concerns about the sharing of intelligence among federal law enforcement agencies. Senator Lindsey Graham said the FBI told him it was not aware at the time of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia.

 

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was 26, died after a shootout with police last Thursday, while his younger brother Dzhokhar was captured a day later. The 19-year-old Dzhokhar has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.  He is in federal custody in a Boston hospital.

 

The brothers allegedly set off two bombs alongside the Boston Marathon course, killing three people and injuring 264. At least 14 of the wounded lost legs in the blasts. 

 

Boston authorities on Wednesday reopened Boylston Street to the public.  It is the city thoroughfare where the explosions occurred.

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Posted in: Society,USA,violence

Taiwan reports first bird flu case outside China

Theo BBC

A 53-year-old businessman in Taiwan has the first case of the H7N9 bird flu virus outside mainland China, health officials there have confirmed.

The man is in a serious condition in hospital days after returning from the Chinese city of Suzhou, officials say.

Taiwan is stepping up prevention measures against bird flu

China has confirmed 108 cases of H7N9 since it was initially reported in March, with at least 22 people dead.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says this strain appears to spread more easily from birds to humans.

The man in Taiwan was brought to hospital three days after he arrived from Suzhou via Shanghai, officials say.

He was not in contact with poultry, nor had he eaten undercooked birds while in Suzhou, Taiwanese Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta told local media.

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou has ordered the health department to step up prevention measures, says the country's Central News Agency.

'Unusually dangerous'

Experts are still trying to understand the H7N9 virus, and it has not yet been determined whether it could be transferred between humans.

"This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses we have seen so far," WHO flu expert Dr Keiji Fukuda said at a news conference in Beijing.

"When we look at influenza viruses this is an unusually dangerous virus."

He added that the WHO team was just beginning its investigation. But he said that based on the evidence, "this virus is more easily transmissible from poultry to humans than H5N1", a strain which spread in 2003.

Dr Fukuda led a team from the WHO on a one-week China visit to study H7N9, along with Chinese officials from Beijing and Shanghai.

The WHO believes that poultry is still the likely source of the H7N9 outbreak in China.

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Posted in: Asia,Health

Thais Flock to Japan as Weak Yen Means Bargains: Southeast Asia

Cherry trees blossom as pedestrians walk in front of
 buildings including the Tokyo Sky Tree, center, in Tokyo,
 Japan. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

The Thai baht’s biggest quarterly gain against the yen since 1998 was enough reason for Kornkarun Cheewatrakoolpong, a 32-year-old economics lecturer in Bangkok, to change her honeymoon destination to Japan from Italy.

“It’s more affordable,” Kornkarun said in an interview from her home in the capital on April 17, after returning from a business trip to Japan. “I don’t feel it’s that expensive like in the past. I still expect that when I go for my honeymoon in November, the yen will remain weak.”

Kornkarun followed 36,000 Thai tourists who headed to Japan in the first two months of the year, 31 percent more than the same period of 2012 and the largest increase among five major Southeast Asian countries, according to data from the Japan National Tourist Organization. The baht, Asia’s best-performing currency in 2013, strengthened 14 percent versus the yen in the three months through March before rising a further 6.3 percent in April, making costs for accommodation, shopping and food cheaper for visitors from Thailand.

Tourists look towards the Tokyo Skytree at the Sensoji temple
in Tokyo, Japan. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

The rise in tourists caused a shortage of yen banknotes in Thailand, central bank Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul told reporters in Bangkok on April 9, before the nation’s markets closed for the four-day New Year holiday, known as Songkran. The Bank of Japan’s monetary easing, coupled with increasing investment, helped drive the baht to the strongest against the yen in five years on April 22. Japan’s currency may weaken to 100 per dollar for the first time since 2009 by year-end, according to 54 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Relatively Cheaper

Japan’s currency has depreciated 19 percent versus the greenback since mid-November, when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, then running for office, began a campaign to talk down the value of the exchange rate to revive the export-led economy. The weaker yen boosts competitiveness of Japanese goods such as cars made by Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), Nissan (7201) Motor Co. and Honda (7267) Motor Co.

The Bank of Japan announced April 4 it would buy 7.5 trillion yen ($76 billion) of debt a month, spurring outflows to higher-yielding assets. The BOJ’s benchmark interest rate is 0.1 percent, compared with the Bank of Thailand’s 2.75 percent.

The yen has weakened against all of the world’s 16 major currencies in 2013 and is leading losses in Asia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The exchange rate has declined almost 18 percent versus the baht this year, which if sustained would be the biggest annual drop since at least 1992.

“The yen’s weakness accelerated, especially against Asian currencies, and that encourages inflows of tourists,” Takahiro Sekido, a strategist in Tokyo at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., who formerly worked at the Bank of Japan, said in an April 22 telephone interview. “Things in other Asian countries are also getting more expensive, so when you shop in Japan and convert prices back to your own currency, people may feel things are much cheaper here.”

Reversal Signal

Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn told reporters in Bangkok on April 19 that the baht’s advance has started to move beyond fundamentals. It reached 28.56 per dollar on April 19 and April 22, the strongest level since a devaluation in July 1997 that sparked the Asian financial crisis. The currency traded at 28.80 late yesterday, while one baht was buying 3.42 yen compared with 2.82 yen at the end of last year.

While ruling out imposing capital restrictions, Prasarn said on April 9 that the central bank stands ready to intervene should the currency move against fundamentals.

Some trading patterns show the baht is poised to fall. The dollar’s 14-day relative-strength index stayed below 30 between April 16 and April 22, a level that signals the greenback may be poised to rebound. Stochastics, which measure the price of a security relative to its highs and lows during a particular period, have fallen below 30 since March 12.

Passenger Traffic

Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents in Bangkok, predicts the number of tourists to Japan will increase 15 percent this year, without providing specific or historical numbers.

“Japan has always been a popular destination for Thai people, but the strong baht made it even more attractive,” Sisdivachr said in an April 17 telephone interview from Bangkok. “A lot of Thais are going to Japan for shopping and sightseeing as they feel they will spend less than before.”

The country’s national airline, Thai Airways International (THAI) Pcl, saw the percentage of its seats filled for routes in Asia, including Japan, climb 7.6 percent in the first two months of the year to 76.8 percent, while those to Europe and North Pacific fell 3.2 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, according to its website.

“We have seen rising numbers of Thai shoppers to Japan in the last couple of months,” Danuj Bunnag, executive vice president of Thai Airways, said in a phone interview from his office in Bangkok on April 22. “Bookings in the next few months are also looking good.”

78th Province

For Prapharat Tangkawattana, a 45-year-old chief financial officer, the weakening baht meant a 33 percent saving for a three-night stay at the Hilton Niseko over similar graded hotels on the southern Thai island of Ko Samui.

Prapharat, who started her trip in the ski resort on the northern island of Hokkaido and travels to Japan almost every year, paid 9,000 yen for a night’s board at the Hilton. She also dropped by a shop in Tokyo’s upmarket shopping and tourist district of Ginza during her visit and bought a Rolex Perpetual Datejust watch on a whim because it was the equivalent of 74,000 baht cheaper than in Thailand, a nation of 77 provinces.

She ran into her Thai friends three times in Tokyo which she said was “unbelievable.”

“Tokyo is like the 78th province of Thailand,” Prapharat said in an April 17 telephone interview in Bangkok. “I felt that the cost of eating and accommodation was so cheap during this trip.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Yumi Teso in Bangkok at yteso1@bloomberg.net; Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at suttinee1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Regan at jregan19@bloomberg.net; Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net

Source Bloomberg.com

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Posted in: Asia,Business,Japan,Tourist

Japan PM Abe warns China of force over islands landing

Japan would respond with force if any attempt is made to land on disputed islands, PM Shinzo Abe has warned.

His comments came as eight Chinese government ships sailed near East China Sea islands that both nations claim.

A flotilla of 10 fishing boats carrying Japanese activists was also reported to be in the area, as well as the Japanese coastguard.

Mr Abe was speaking in parliament hours after dozens of lawmakers visited a controversial war-linked shrine.

Chinese and Japanese surveillance ships are monitoring each other closely

A total of 168 lawmakers paid their respects at the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japan's war dead, including war criminals, in a move likely to anger regional neighbours who say the shrine is a reminder of Japan's military past.

'Deal strongly'

The warning from the Japanese prime minister was the most explicit to China since Mr Abe took power in December, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Tokyo.

Asked in parliament what he would do if Chinese ships tried to land on the disputed islands, Mr Abe said they would be expelled by force.

"Since it has become the Abe government, we have made sure that if there is an instance where there is an intrusion into our territory or it seems that there could be landing on the islands then we will deal will it strongly," he said.

The warning came as eight Chinese ships sailed around the islands - called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

The Japanese coast guard said it was the highest number of Chinese boats in the area since Tokyo nationalised part of the island chain in September 2012.

China said its ships had been monitoring Japanese vessels. The State Oceanic Administration issued a statement saying three of its ships had "found" several Japanese ships around the islands and "immediately ordered another five ships in the East China Sea to meet the three ships".

Ten Japanese boats carrying around 80 activists arrived in the area early on Tuesday, Reuters news agency reported, monitored by Japanese Coast Guard vessels. Public broadcaster NHK said the boats were carrying "regional lawmakers and members of the foreign media".

Japan's top government spokesman said the "intrusion into territorial waters" was "extremely regrettable". Japan also summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest, reports said.

The territorial row has been rumbling for years but was reignited last year when Japan bought three of the islands from their private Japanese owner.

China claims the island chain, which is controlled by Japan. Taiwan also claims the islands, which offer rich fishing grounds and lie in a strategically important area.

The dispute has led to serious diplomatic tension between China and Japan, most recently in January when Japan said a Chinese frigate locked weapons-controlling radar on one of its navy ships near the islands - something China disputes.

'Backlash'

The visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday by lawmakers marking the spring festival is also likely to hit ties between Beijing and Tokyo.

Continue reading the main story

Yasukuni Shrine

• Built in 1869 under the Emperor Meiji
• Venerates the souls of Japan's war dead
• Those enshrined include convicted war criminals
• Japan's neighbours say it represents the country's past militarism

• Japan's Yasukuni Shrine

Visits to Yasukuni Shrine by lawmakers anger Japan's neighbours

Two cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, visited the shrine on Sunday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not visit but made a ritual offering.

South Korea subsequently cancelled a proposed visit by its foreign minister, while China lodged "solemn representations" in response to the ministers' visit.

"Only when Japan faces up to its aggressive past can it embrace the future and develop friendly relations with its Asian neighbours," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday.

But Japanese lawmaker Hidehisa Otsujji said it was "natural" for "lawmakers to worship at a shrine for people who died for the nation".

"Every nation does this. I don't understand why we get a backlash," he said.

Analysis

Rupert Wingfield-HayesBBC News, Tokyo

The video pictures coming in from the islands today are quite dramatic.

There are more ships than I have ever seen before during one of these encounters - at least eight Chinese ships and an equal number of Japanese coastguard cutters.

Sailing alongside, dwarfed by the larger ships, are 10 fishing boats flying the Japanese flag and carrying right-wing Japanese nationalists from a group called Gambare Nippon.

It is the sort of situation that could quite easily get out of hand if, for example, the Japanese nationalists try to land on the islands, or if the Chinese ships try to board one of the Japanese fishing vessels.

China is now taking the position that its ships are there protecting "Chinese" territory, and consequently have the right to board any "foreign" vessels.

That may be why Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to be more emphatic in his warning to China, making it explicit that if any of the Chinese vessels attempt to land on Japanese soil, they will be repelled with force.

He is laying down a clear line over which he hopes the Chinese know they would be unwise to cross.

Source BBC

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Posted in: Asia,China,Japan,Politics

Same-sex marriage: French parliament approves new law

France has become the 14th country to approve a law allowing gay marriage.

Supporters of gay marriage gathered outside
 parliament as lawmakers were voting

The bill, which also legalises adoption by same-sex couples, was passed by 321 votes to 225 in the French parliament.

The decision follows a divisive public debate with some of the biggest protests seen in France in recent years.

Hundreds of opponents of the measure rallied outside the National Assembly building in central Paris as the result was announced.

The leader of the most high-profile group opposing same-sex marriage vowed to continue the fight.

Frigide Barjot, a comedian who uses her stage name, told her supporters: "We are going to show them that this is not over. I solemnly ask the president to hold a referendum on the subject."

Inside the National Assembly chamber, two opponents tried to unfurl a banner before being ejected.

Thousands of police armed with water cannon were deployed near parliament to deal with any repeat of the violence seen on the fringes of previous demonstrations.

Although rallies opposing the change have been overwhelmingly peaceful, there have been some clashes, blamed on far-right elements.

Flagship reform

Several hundred opponents of the new law were
 out in force, led by Frigide Barjot (centre)

Opinion polls suggest a small majority of French people favour gay marriage, but surveys indicate fewer support adoption by same-sex couples.

Socialist President Francois Hollande made the law his flagship social reform.

He is expected to add his signature to the bill once it has cleared any challenge in the constitutional council.

Opponents of the measure, including the opposition UMP party, will try to convince the council that marriage is a constitutional issue.

However, analysts say that the council is unlikely to block the new law.

'Breeze of joy'

The first weddings could take place in June, according to Justice Minister Christiane Taubira.

"We believe that the first weddings will be beautiful and that they'll bring a breeze of joy, and that those who are opposed to them today will surely be confounded when they are overcome with the happiness of the newlyweds and the families," she told the National Assembly.

Some argue this is the most important social reform in France since the death penalty was banned in 1981, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris.

France is now the 14th country to legalise gay marriage after New Zealand last week.

The BBC's Christian Fraser says that
 the bill has provoked strong emotions

It is also the ninth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriage after legalisation in the traditionally liberal Netherlands and Scandinavia, but also in strongly Catholic Portugal and Spain. Legislation is also moving through the UK Parliament.

But the measure has aroused stronger than expected opposition in France - a country where the Catholic Church was thought to have lost much of its influence over the public.

In January, a protest in Paris against the bill attracted some 340,000 people according to police - one of the biggest public demonstrations in France in decades. Organisers put the figure at 800,000.

Since then both sides have held regular street protests.

The opponents, backed by the Catholic Church and conservative opposition, say France already has civil partnerships for homosexual couples, and extending rights to marriage undermines an essential building block of society.

Source BBC

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Posted in: Experimental Society,France,Society

Three Die in South Sudan Hospital Hit by Strike

Health care workers in Bor agree to return to work after
 three people die at the hospital they work in.

BOR, SOUTH SUDAN — Hospital staff at Bor State Hospital ended a days'-old strike over unpaid bonuses Monday after three patients died at the weekend.

More than 250 hospital employees, including nurses, went on strike Friday, leaving only eight doctors and a few junior staff members to care for more than 60 patients.

John Logine, one of the patients, said they received almost no treatment since the strike started.

“Doctors did not come until a while ago when a white man came and helped us. We slept yesterday without medication," Logine said.

Hospital Ddirector Bior Kuer Bior said that although the deaths were not a direct result of the strike, the work stoppage had slowed patient care.

“We can confirm that we had three deaths in the hospital after the strike. When you are ill, you could die at any time. I don’t want to give an impression that they died because of the strike," he said.

Bior urged government health officials to pay the bonuses owed to the strikers or come up with another way to address the grievances of the staff.

More than 250 workers at the main hospital in Bor, capital of Jonglei state, walked off the job on Friday after a petition they submitted to the state ministry of health, demanding their bonuses of around 500 South Sudanese pounds (130 U.S. dollars) a month be restored, was ignored.

The striking workers say they are owed five months of bonuses and their salaries alone, which are between 300 and 700 South Sudanese pounds a month, are not enough to live on.

The per capita income in South Sudan is around U.S. $1,300 a year, thanks in large part to revenues from oil.

Hospital officials say the bonuses were suspended after austerity measures were introduced in the state following Juba's shutdown of oil production last year.

The strikers' agreement to end their walkout was only temporary, they said: they have threatened to go back on strike on Monday if their bonses are not paid.
The State Minister of Health Jehan Mechak Deng refused to comment today, but told VOA last week that she was working with state authorities to resolve the strike as quickly as possible. (DID SHE SAY HOW SHE WAS WORKING TO RESOLVE IT?

Source VOA

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Posted in: Afica,Health,Society

Scientists Reconstruct 2,000 Years of Temperature Change

Climate scientist studies ice core from Antarctica. (T. Bauska)

WASHINGTON — A team of 78 researchers from around the world published a study on Monday detailing what they call the most comprehensive reconstruction of temperature changes on every continent for the last two millennia.

The research, outlined in the online edition of the journal Nature Geoscience, said there had been an overall cooling trend across nearly all the world’s continents during the last 1,000 to 2,000 years. But that trend came to a halt in much of the world near the end of the 19^th century, the study concluded, adding that the period between 1971 and 2000 was the warmest in 1,400 years.

The researchers, coordinated by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project based in Switzerland, were able to make their conclusions by combining data from records that were taken from sources such as tree rings, pollen, corals, lake and marine sediments, ice cores, stalagmites and assorted historical documents taken from 511 locations throughout Earth’s seven continents.

The researchers said they expect their expansive new dataset will be used in future studies, including comparisons with the output of climate models used to help project future climate change.

Noting that climate records from Africa remain sparse, lead study author Darrell Kaufman, a professor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, said, “There were too few records to accurately determine long-term temperature changes for that continent.”

The scientists noted that variations in temperatures across the continents were much more alike within their own hemispheres than between theNorthern and Southern Hemisphere.

"Distinctive periods, such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Agestand out, but do not show a globally uniform pattern on multi-decadal time scales," says co-author Professor Heinz Wanner of the University of Bern.

The cooling trend was felt throughout the world by approximately 1500 AD when temperatures fell below the long-term mean nearly everywhere.  However, the researchers noted, this drop in mean temperature took place centuries earlier in the Arctic, Europe and Asia than it did in North America and the Southern Hemisphere.

“These new findings will certainly stimulate vibrant discussions within the research community,” says Professor Wanner.
 
The researchers said the most common feature they found throughout the regions of the world was a long-term cooling trend.  The study suggests that a combination of factors such as an increased global volcanic activity,decreased solar activity, changes in land cover, and slow changes to Earth’s orbit all contributed to the cooling trend.

The warming that began in the late 19^th to early 20th century was twice as much, on average, in the northern regions of the world as it was in the Southern Hemisphere.
Antarctica has been the only continent so far to buck the warming trend.  

The researchers analyzed the average temperatures over 30-year periods and found that the period from 1971 to 2000 was most likely warmer overall than any other 30-year period over the last 1,400 years.

But looking back further, the researchers found that there were some areas that experienced even warmer 30-year intervals than the 1971 to 2000 period.  Europe during the Roman Empire, for example, was most likely warmer between 21 and 80 AD.
 Weaker solar activity and an increase in tropical volcanic eruptions, on the other hand, may have produced some intensely cooler 30-year periods between 830 and 1910 AD.  The researchers noted that both weakened solar activity and increased volcanic activity often took place at the same time which they say led to a drop in the average temperature during five distinct 30 to 90-year intervals between 1251 and 1820.

“Previous attempts to reconstruct temperature changes focused on hemispheric or global-scale averages, which are important, but overlook the pronounced regional-scale differences that occur along with global changes,” said Professor Kaufman.  "A key aspect of the consortium effort was to engage regional experts who are intimately familiar with the evidence for past climate changes within their regions," he added.

"Several mathematical procedures were applied to reconstruct the continental temperature time series and they were compared to assess the extent to which the main conclusions of the study stood up to the different analytical approaches."

This study along with other work performed by the “PAGES” project is funded primarily by Swiss and U.S. national science foundations.

Source VOA

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Posted in: Health,Science,USA

Study: Mushrooms Can Help Dieters

VOA news

Edible mushrooms called pullets (L) and saffron milk caps are on sale at a market in Warsaw.

The humble mushroom can pack a powerful nutritional punch, according to two new studies released Monday. The edible fungus can help dieters reduce their intake of red meat and still feel full, and can provide as much vitamin D as a nutritional supplement.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health gave one group of obese adults about one-quarter of a liter of white button mushrooms per day in place of meat. A second group was placed on a standard weight reduction diet.

At the end of a year-long trial, the mushroom group lost more pounds and maintained their weight loss better than the control group. The findings show the benefit of substituting low-energy-density foods, like mushrooms, for high-energy-density foods, like lean ground beef, for reducing energy and fat intake.

In a separate study, at Boston University School of Medicine, researchers randomly gave a small group of healthy adults supplements of either vitamin D2, vitamin D3 or mushroom powder containing vitamin D2 for 12 weeks during the winter. The vitamin, which is crucial for bone health, muscle strength and immune system function, is produced naturally in our skin when exposed to the sun.

At the end of the trial, there was no difference in levels of vitamin D among the three groups. The investigators say their results show that mushrooms are a good natural food source for this important nutrient.

Both studies received funding from The Mushroom Council, a group of U.S. mushroom producers and importers.

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