Authorities Dig up Hells Angels Member's Grave

 

Authorities who feared quick justice among bikers dug up the grave of a Hells Angels member to look for the body of a Northern California man suspected of killing another gang member during a shootout at a weekend funeral, a police spokesman said Tuesday. San Jose police have an arrest warrant for Steven Ruiz, a member of the Hells Angels' Santa Cruz chapter. He's suspected of fatally shooting Steve Tausan after a fight broke out at Saturday's funeral for Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, who had been the president of the gang's San Jose chapter. Ruiz and Tausan disappeared from the Oak Hill Memorial Park cemetery shortly after the Saturday afternoon shooting, which sent thousands of mourners fleeing in panic AP San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore, right, and... View Full Caption Tausan was taken by a private vehicle to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses saw Ruiz bundled into a car and driven away from the cemetery, but police haven't been able to locate him and his Harley Davidson motorcycle was left behind hours after the last mourner left the cemetery, San Jose police spokesman Jose Garcia said. Police obtained a warrant to dig up Pettigrew's grave in search of Ruiz's body and other evidence, Garcia said. A backhoe was used to remove a large cement fixture over the grave and the soil above the coffin was removed, he said. When nothing was found, the grave was refilled and the cement slab affixed over the site. "The grave was not desecrated," Garcia said. Police felt it necessary to search the grave because Hells Angels members, relatives and others poured dirt over the casket rather than the cemetery staff, which is the usual custom, Garcia said. The investigation was hindered even more by the scrubbing of the crime scene of blood. In addition, no bullet casings were found. "The crime scene was washed down with water," Garcia said. Authorities named Ruiz a suspect on Tuesday and said they would continue searching for him. Pettigrew was shot and killed last month during a brawl with a rival biker gang at a Nevada casino.

Read More

Enabling drug addicts

 

Recently, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Vancouver’s Insite program, where addicts can “fix” in a “safe” environment.   As a result of this ruling, other Canadian cities may follow suit, to the delight of some and the significant uneasiness of others. So as not to be close-minded about the idea, a friend of mine suggested maybe Ottawa should be next in line for an Insite, and proposed an ideal location: an underused spacious building in the Ottawa city core on Wellington Street where Insite could be opened on the same floor as offices that are in temporary use. The building is called the Supreme Court of Canada. This way, our cabal of esteemed justices can experience first-hand the profoundly beneficial societal effects of their latest decision. Wishful thinking, no doubt. Most of us realize the next Insite will be in some neighbourhood far removed from the environs of the Supreme Court offices. The true and practical repercussions on a community will no doubt be some average working stiff’s problem. Like it or not, addicts are responsible for inordinate amounts of crime. Any recovered addict will openly tell you, drug addiction dehumanizes to the point where there is no concern for oneself, and thus no empathy or concern for anyone else. The only purpose and urge is to obtain the next fix, the next high, through any means necessary. It doesn’t matter who gets hurt. This very point is made every day in courtrooms across this country, in support of leniency for those claiming to be under the influence of various chemical intoxicants when committing their crimes. Insite, and programs like it, enables addicts to fix more frequently in an environment that protects from arrest, ensures medical treatment will be on hand to deal with overdose, and provide the necessary mechanics to inject (needles, etc.). The program reduces negative consequence to extremely dangerous behaviour and it becomes much more comfortable to be an addict. Does anyone seriously think this will somehow cause addicts to surrender their addictions? Hardly. We intuitively understand addictions will be attenuated. The only thing accomplished is fostering an environment that implies a societal acceptance of drug addiction. Addicts are now more comfortably able to destroy themselves by degrees. If this is where we are headed, why not just remove the middle man and have taxpayers supply the drugs, too? I seriously wonder if this isn’t the ultimate goal. Most recovering addicts I have spoken to only changed because they had finally realized there was no lower to go: it was rehab or death. Given the limited resources in these challenging economic times, why not use our funds to create greater rehab opportunities? Funding true rehabilitation seems to me to be an altogether better idea, benefitting both society and addict. In the meanwhile, we’re left to wonder where the next Insite will arrive, thanks to the ruling of judges that will never get anywhere near being confronted by the street level consequences of their decision.

Read More

Eminem talks addiction, says 'The bigger the crowd, the bigger my habit got'

Eminem hasn’t exactly avoided the topic of his relationship with a variety of illicit chemicals. After all, his last two albums were calledRelapse and Recovery. But the man born Marshall Mathers has rarely been as candid about his struggles with addiction in the press.

In the pages of GQ, where he was named a “God of Rock” next to the likes of Keith Richards and Robert Plant, Em let the world know exactly why he is so prone to addiction. “I’m very much a creature of habit,” he told GQ. “If I’m used to waking up in the morning and having [a Red Bull], I could do it every morning for the next ten years straight until I find something else to move on to. So if I’m used to taking a Vicodin when I wake up in the morning because I’m hungover from ­drinking or taking pills … The bigger the crowd, the bigger my habit got.”

Eminem also explained that his drug problems could be traced over the course of his discography, noting that The Slim Shady LP was written almost entirely sober, the dark experiments on The Marshall Mathers LP were the result of more experimentation with substances, and Encore was hampered both artistically and practically thanks to his addiction to prescription medication (including Valium and Ambien).

After a failed stint in rehab (“Every addict in rehab feels like everyone’s staring at them. With me? Everyone was staring at me”), he had a traumatic overdose experience and finally made the decision to get clean when he realized he was killing himself. “I had a feeling in my arm that was weird, man,” he said. “Like, it really freaked me out. So I went to some people I trust and said, ‘Look, I know I need help. I’m ready now.’ I got a room in the same hospital where I overdosed, and I detoxed.”

His revelations fueled Recovery, which returned him to the top of the sales mountain and ranks among his finest work. The most revealing part of the interview involves his moment of clarity. “Sometimes [sobriety] sucks, and I wish I was wired like a regular person and could go have a f—in’ drink,” he told GQ. “But that’s the biggest thing about addiction: When you realize that you cannot f— around with nothing ever again. I never understood when people would say it’s a disease. Like, ‘Stop it, d—head. It’s not a disease!’ But I finally realized it really is.”

It’s refreshing to hear a star as huge as Eminem talking about his drug woes so frankly. And it’s refreshing to know that the reason why Encore is such a mess is because Ambien, as he puts it, was “[eating] a hole through my brain.” That certain explains this.

What do you think of Eminem’s thoughts on addiction? Where do you rank Recovery in his discography? Sound off in the comments!

 

Read More

FORMER policeman lived the high life in Marbella by running a £300million VAT fraud

 

 – the biggest ever uncovered in the UK. Nigel Cranswick, 47, tried to cheat the taxman by claiming back tax on £2billion worth of bogus sales made by his mobile phone firm I2G. The “phenomenal” turnover was generated in eight months, HMRC said. Advertisement >> Meanwhile Cranswick lived it up in his rented villa in Marbella. “Despite this phenomenal turnover... I2G operated from a small office in Sheffield,” HMRC said. The scam was smashed after a five-year police probe, Newcastle crown court was told. Cranswick, from Sheffield, admitted conspiracy to cheat HMRC, as did accomplices Brian Olive, 56, of Doncaster, and Darren Smyth, 42, from Rotherham. Claire Reid, 45, also from Rotherham, admitted false accounting. The four will be sentenced next month

Read More

BRITS ABROAD

T

Read More

Rich Brits plot escape to France

 

 wealthy Britons are planning to flee what they believe to be an over-taxed and crime-ridden UK, with France the most favoured destination, according to a survey published by British bank Lloyds TSB. The survey, published on Monday, found that 17 percent of those with more than £250,000 ($391,025) in savings and investments wanted to move abroad in the next two years, up from 14 percent six months earlier. The most popular destination for the rich exiles was France (21 percent), followed by Spain (15 percent) and the US (11 percent).  Three-quarters of those questioned (73 percent) thought that crime was a bigger problem in Britain than other developed countries. "Sadly, it seems August's riots, tax increases and a rising cost of living have cast a pall over life in the UK for some wealthy people," said Nicholas Boys-Smith, managing director of Lloyds TSB International Wealth in a statement. "It may reignite fears of a 'wealth drain' from our economy as rich people seek pastures new," he said. 42 percent of those questioned named tax as a reason for leaving, up from 35 percent six months ago. Cost of living was a factor for 52 percent, up from 31 percent. Research in January 2011 suggested that 4.6 percent of the UK population have over £250,000 in savings and investments, which equals around 2.8 million people.

Read More

A poorly designed, over-extended and ill-disciplined monetary union is in danger of falling apart

Illustration by Matt Kenyon

What if it falls apart? For all my adult life, I have been what in England is called a pro-European or Europhile. For most of that time, European history has been going our way. Now it may be on the turn. Soon, it could be heading the Eurosceptics' way. What then?

Over the last half-century, the institutional organisation of Europe has progressed from a common market of six west European states to a broader and deeper union of 500 million individual Europeans and 27 countries, from Portugal to Estonia and Finland to Greece; 17 of them share a single currency, the euro. There are no border controls between 25 European countries in the Schengen area. Enveloping it all is the fragile skin of the European convention on human rights (now under facile attack from some British Conservatives) which allows any individual resident of no less than 47 countries, including Russia, to contest a violation of their inalienable human rights all the way to a European court of human rights in Strasbourg.

Never has Europe been so united as this. Never have more of its people been more free. Never before have most European countries been democracies, joined as equal members in the same economic, political and security community. Our continent still has a grotesque amount of poverty, injustice, intolerance and outright persecution. (Try living as a Roma or Sinti in eastern Europe for a taste of all that.) I prettify nothing. But – to adapt a famous remark about democracy by that great pro-European British conservative, Winston Churchill – I do say that this is the worst possible Europe, apart from all the other Europes that have been tried from time to time.

Now all this is under threat. A poorly designed, over-extended and ill-disciplined monetary union is in danger of falling apart, bringing bitter recriminations and lasting divisions. More fundamentally, the past emotional motivators and political engines of European unification are no longer there. The peoples of Germany, the Netherlands and other core countries of the European Union are loth to take steps of further integration which many of the creators of monetary union thought would be necessary to sustain it.

I blame politicians like Angela Merkel for not showing more leadership in this respect, but such leadership would involve a heroic, uphill struggle to persuade reluctant publics in what are still (contrary to what Eurosceptics claim) largely sovereign national democracies. If these were not sovereign national democracies, the whole financial world – from Washington to Beijing – would not this week have been waiting with bated breath on the vote of one small party in the parliament of Slovakia.

I note in passing that many of the current difficulties of the eurozone were predicted back in the 1990s, and I was a sceptic about monetary union at that time. This is what I wrote in 1998: "The rationalist, functionalist, perfectionist attempt to 'make Europe' or 'complete Europe' through a hard core built around a rapid monetary union could well end up achieving the opposite of the desired effect. One can all too plausibly argue that what we are likely to witness in the next five to 10 years is the writing of another entry for [Arnold] Toynbee's index [to his A Study of History], under 'Europe, unification of, failure of attempts at'." But I am not now going to hide behind that testament to my own earlier scepticism about one element of a larger project.

As a pro-European, I stand by the whole project, warts and all. I recently contributed to an appeal – which you too can sign – arguing that the eurozone can only be saved by further fiscal integration and a strategy for growth. Remarkably, even the Eurosceptic prime minister David Cameron recently told the Financial Times that Germany and France need to fire a "big bazooka" to convince financial markets and hence preserve the eurozone. That is a bit like the Duke of Wellington wishing Napoleon success in consolidating his continental empire – but extraordinary times do produce such delicious moments.

Beyond this, however, I'm not going to add a single word to the 537 newspaper columns you have already read explaining how the eurozone must and can, or must not and can not, be saved. You decide which economic commentator you believe.

Instead, I want to ask what happens if the eurozone does fail, one way or another – and that failure begins a much larger process of gradual disintegration. Suppose that the EU in 2030 has become something like the Holy Roman Empire in, say, 1730: still extant on paper, but more origami than political reality. What then?

For us pro-Europeans, what happens then will be, first of all, a paradoxical kind of liberation. Rather like the supporters of a long-term incumbent government, for decades now we have felt some obligation to defend the existing state of affairs, with all its obvious flaws. Eurosceptics, by contrast, have enjoyed the glorious irresponsibility of opposition – and, heaven knows, the Brussels institutions furnish endless easy targets for the sceptic and the satirist.

Now the boot will be on the other foot. For a few years, like an incoming government, Eurosceptics will be able to blame current problems on the preceding regime (overhasty monetary union led to German-Greek loathing, etc), but that only lasts so long. Sooner or later it will become clear that it is their kind of Europe we are living in, not mine.

Read More

More German travelers have been using foreign airports since a flight tax was imposed early this year.

 

 

Consider two small airports in the middle or Europe. At Maastricht Aachen Airport, business is booming thanks to an influx of German passengers who are fleeing a national aviation tax introduced on January 1, 2011. Meanwhile, just 80 kilometers across the border, Germany's Weeze Airport has been steadily losing customers.

A few years ago, things were exactly the opposite. The Netherlands had its own, yearlong experiment with an aviation tax, but revoked it in July 2009 after it saw Dutch hubs like Maastricht Aachen Airport lose passengers to rivals in neighboring countries, including Germany.

The levy cost Dutch airports, airlines, and related businesses between 1.2 and 1.3 million euros in lost revenue, according to a study by Amsterdam Aviation Economics, a research institute affiliated with the University of Amsterdam.

Hans van Mierlo, a professor of public finance at the University of Maastricht, said the abundance of transportation options in Europe means travelers can and will seek out alternatives whenever one country unilaterally imposes an air passenger tax.

"The [Dutch] crowd went to Germany; now the German crowd comes to us," he told Deutsche Welle. "I am surprised that the German government didn't learn from the Dutch failure."

Maastricht-Aachen Airport may be small, but traffic is growing rapidlyHefty rates

The German aviation tax runs at a rate of eight euros per one-way flight within Europe, 25 euros for medium-haul services to the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, and 45 euros for long-haul flights. The tariff only applies to flights originating in Germany. The German Finance Ministry reported the duty raised 434 million euros in revenues in the first half of 2011.

However, for travelers, the tax can double the total cost of a bargain ticket. That has driven Irish budget carrier Ryanair to cancel some of its services from Weeze Airport and add flights at Maastricht. Meanwhile, rival airline Germanwings has launched a service linking Maastricht to Berlin 12 times per week.

Those moves helped drive Maastricht Aachen Airport's whopping 70 percent increase in passengers so far this year. That is quite a comeback from the time of the Dutch aviation tax, when it lost 25 percent of its customers.

Maastricht's airport has new routes to Bucharest, Tenerife, and other spotsAmong the new clientele is Ne Pham from Jülich, Germany. She told Deutsche Welle that she used to fly out of Cologne or Dusseldorf to destinations like Italy, the United States and her native Vietnam.

"It's cheaper to fly from [Maastricht] than from Germany," she said. "It's easy to find, has lots of parking spaces, and a very fast check-in. It's small but nice."

Maastricht makeover

To accommodate new passengers, Maastricht Aachen Airport has renovated its main waiting area and sole restaurant. A new bus line runs from Cologne directly to the Dutch airport, where travelers are greeted by a row of flags from seven European countries. Airport staff members are required to speak German and English in addition to Dutch, and a number of them speak French as well.

Marion Schramm and her husband, from Geilenkirchen, Germany, echoed Pham's reasons for choosing Maastricht Aachen Airport. But they were not as impressed by the small airport's recent makeover.

"It's obviously dinky," Marion Schramm told Deutsche Welle, "You see everything right away. But it's a lot cheaper than Germany at the moment."

Customers have mixed reviews for the small Dutch airport's facilities

Weeze's woes

The German Airport Association, which represents German air hubs, has called for an immediate end to the national flight tax. It reported a tepid growth rate of 3.2 percent at airports throughout the country this July, compared with the same month last year.

Weeze Airport, near Dusseldorf, had 22.8 percent fewer customers in the same time period. Ludger van Bebber, the airport's managing director, said many of the hub's clients used to come from the Netherlands.

"The aviation tax destroys the level playing field for us," he told Deutsche Welle. "That is the main issue we have here at Weeze."

Meanwhile, Berlin's two hubs are seeing travelers hop across the border to nearby Polish airports. And people in Munich do not have to drive far to reach a number of alternative airports in Austria and the Czech Republic.

The chairman of the Maastricht airport's board is planning for growth to continueDutch chairman confident

While the German Finance Ministry has denied recent media reports that it might lower the aviation tax rates, the ministry is scheduled to evaluate the levy's effects on small and medium-sized airports in June 2012.

The chairman of Maastricht Aachen Airport, Jan Tindemans, said he is not worried about his business in the short term - even if Berlin ends up decreasing or revoking the tax.

He told Deutsche Welle that winning back market share in the wake of the Dutch tax experiment was very difficult. He does not expect things to be any easier for German hubs.

"No bakery wants its customers to go for one or two times to another bakery, because they always think [the customers] will stay there," he said. "There will be some people who will go back, but I don't think there will be much of an effect."

Tindemans said Maastricht Aachen Airport is seeking to add more airlines and destinations to its roster. He added that his airport could double annual traffic to almost one million passengers over the coming years if economic conditions remain stable.

Read More

Addiction Recovery:

Addiction Recovery: Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn't work. You can easily see why.

We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn't work. You can easily see why.

Read More

Addiction Recovery: age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!

 

age of miracles is still with us.  Our own recovery proves that!

Read More

Addiction Recovery

 

However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble your- self much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. God will see that you do want society.

Read More

Anne Ripley Smith (Dr. Bob's wife) and the Holy Spirit - Alcohol and Addictions Recovery Help/Support Forums

 

A few anti-A.A. Christians--folks who can be called psychoheretics--seem to have launched a well-financed series of comments that try to distance early A.A. from the Bible. One of the erroneous claims is to say that A.A. never mentioned the Holy Spirit - even in its beginning, pioneer days in Akron. Without making a case for or against making mention of the Holy Spirit, it is important to get the facts straight: There are plenty of Christian books that Dr. Bob and early AAs read about the Holy Spirit. And those by Oswald Chambers and E. Stanley Jones, as well as The Runner's Bible, are just a few. Rev. Sam Shoemaker, a co-founder of A.A., as well as many many Oxford Group writings (Sam being an American leader of the Oxford Group) discussed the Holy Spirit. And Sam's last major book had a title about With the Holy Spirit and With Fire. Soon, however, we will get down to cases: The cases being the actual teachings that Dr. Bob's wife, Anne Ripley Smith, conducted each morning at the Smith Home for AAs, their wives, families and kids. And she regularly shared from what I have called "Anne Smith's Journal 1933-1939" www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml. We will not cover the important teachings she shared on the Holy Spirit. Instead, we will soon be publishing a series of articles on some important ideas Anne taught early AAs. And the series will first be posted on our blog www.mauihistorian.blogspot.com. Stay tuned.

Read More

What the Bible Says About Alcohol and Alcoholism

 

Alcoholics can't control their drinking. If you are an alcoholic, you have a compulsive desire to drink. When you drink, your negative personality traits, such as anger, may be intensified and your problems may seem magnified. In order to cover up your alcoholism, you may tend to overdo in other areas of your life. Chances are, you need a drink at certain times of the day in order to get going, to face your problems, or to relax. And you may even drink on the job. Of course this means that your work and efficiency is slacking off. And your home life is probably suffering as well. You are enslaved by the sin of alcoholism. Yet there is hope. God is able to deliver you completely by cleansing, sanctifying, and justifying you (I Corinthians 6:9-11). Though alcohol abuse is a failing of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), the Holy Spirit can, and will, produce the self-control you needto overcome it (Galatians 5:22-23). What Scripture Says "He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy." (Proverbs 28:13). "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16). "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:8,9). "Your wickedness will punish you. Your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me" (Jeremiah 2:19). "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17). "Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water'" (John 4:10). "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). (Here is the key to beating alcoholism -- through the power to overcome.) "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22, 23). (God will produce will power for the powerless.) "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). "Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler: whoever is led astray by them is not wise" (Proverbs 20:1). Is There Hope? If you have a drinking problem, you have probably felt condemned by yourself and others. Rather than condemning, however, God emphasizes how to overcome by receiving salvation, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit. With these you will have the ability to become free and stay free of alcohol. The saying "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic" is based on the fact that a recovered alcoholic can never go back to drinking in any amount without being controlled by it again. Therefore, you need to ask God to deliver you from the desire to drink at all. Practical Help You probably have tried to stop drinking before and it has not worked for you. You may have tried religion or you may even be a Christian. What you need is practical spiritual help. Seek out a Spirit-baptized counselor. Ask him to pray for deliverance for you -- especially from compulsiveness, psychological and physical dependence, and even from the desire to drink. You may have been told, "You must stop drinking and never drink again." But the pressure of having to face life without drinking may be overwhelming. Focus on the present. Decide that you will not have a drink right now. "Live one day at a time. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34). You need to modify and change your lifestyle. The Bible speaks of being transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans12:2). You can renew your mind through your reading and thinking habits. The Bible and devotional testimonial books will be most helpful. Dwell on God and His Word rather than on your problem. Learn and follow the principle of praise (honor and respect) to God each time you are tempted to drink. "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise -- the fruit of lips that confess his name" (Hebrews 13:15). It is important to change your perspective from yourself to God, and from the drink to God. Praise God the Problem-solver rather than the problem. Remember that you can be just as chained to sin by trying not to do it as you are by doing it. As long as your attention is on the sin, you are honoring it. But if your attention is on God, you are honoring Him. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). Contact a Spirit-filled church, or prayer group, and Alcoholics Anonymous. The 700 Club or a local church pastor can help you do this. You may have a spouse, relative, or friend who is not an alcoholic and wants to help you. He or she may need salvation, the baptism of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit for their own sake. They can then better intercede for your deliverance from alcohol. Your close relatives may need to know how to help spiritually in your effort to recover. They should know that openly condemning an alcoholic is not effective. It may just feed your sense of "joyous agony" because you are "getting what you deserve." Jesus came to save, not to condemn (John 3:17). That's not to say that they should tolerate your alcoholic behavior. Instead, they should offer to help you. Your spouse, friends, or relatives can find out how to help you by contacting a Spirit-filled fellowship, AA, or ALANON, an organization for friends and relatives of alcoholics. As You Pray If you are not yet a born-again Christian, ask God to forgive you, save you and fill you with the Holy Spirit. An unforgiven, unclean drunkard cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:10; I John 1:8,9; Romans 10:13; Luke 13:5; Acts 1:8).

Read More

Holy Spirit as the "Breathe of God!"

 

Old Testament the Hebrew word (ruwach, pronounced roo'-akh) was used when talking about the Spirit. This word literally means WIND, even the wind associated with a BREATHE! In the New Testament the Greek word (pneuma, pronounced pnyoo'-mah) was used which means the BREATHE or a BREEZE! We can literally think of the Holy Spirit as the "Breathe of God!" Most Christians today understand Jesus the Son, and God the Father as two very distinct Persons within the Godhead; however, there has been much confusion over the identity of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps some of this dates back to the King James translation of the Bible where the word "Spirit" or "Ghost" was used instead of "Breathe" or "Wind" of God. In any case, many people throughout the ages have thought of the Holy Spirit more as a thing than a Person. Nothing could be further from the truth, and in fact as we begin to know the Person of the Holy Spirit we will want to have a closer relationship with Him just as we would the Father or Son. Although the word Trinity is not mentioned in the Bible, we know God is three in one. There are three very distinct Person’s that make up the Godhead. They are all equal in every way. They (The Father, Son and Holy Spirit) are all: Omnipotent – All powerful. Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. Omnipresent – At all places at once. Psalms 139:7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence? Omniscient – All knowing. 1 Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. Eternal - Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Equal - Acts 5:3-4 But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not your own? and after it was sold, was it not in your own power? why have you conceived this thing in your heart? you have not lied unto men, but unto God. The Holy Spirit was part of all things, from the very beginning of scripture to the very end of scripture Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God (elohiym (pronounced el-o-heem') created the heaven and the earth. Elohiym is the plural form of God. Therefore, as scripture was inspired and man began to write the Word, it was evident to the writers that God was made of more than 1 Person but at the same time there was one Godhead.

Read More

Mobile phone users suffering from 'text neck'

 

The affliction, caused by flexing the neck for extended periods of time, can be a forerunner of permanent arthritic damage if it goes without treatment. Cases of the repetitive strain injury are on the rise as smart phones and tablet computers such as the iPad become increasingly popular, experts said. In severe cases the muscles can eventually adapt to fit the flexed position, making it painful to straighten the neck out properly. One chiropractor said her company had treated thousands of patients for the condition, which can also result in headaches and shoulder, arm and wrist pain. Rachael Lancaster, of Freedom Back Clinics in Leeds, said: "Text neck is caused by the neck being flexed for a prolonged period of time

Read More

Why only you can choose the perfect perfume

 

Scientists have discovered why we all have so much trouble buying the ideal fragrance for a love-one. According to new research, we are all drawn to perfumes that complement our own natural smells, making it near impossible to second-guess the right scent for a partner. Findings to be presented at a conference in London next week show that when people chose their own fragrance they become much more attractive to the opposite sex. Dr Jan Havlicek, a smells expert based at Charles University in Prague, says that perfume is rarely chosen to mask our natural body odour and instead we all chose the fragrance which work best with our own smell. He told the Sunday Telegraph: 'Perfumes have been used by people for thousands of years and the prevailing view has been that this was to mask our natural body odour to make us smell more attractive. 'In fact, what we have found is there is a strong individual interaction between perfume and body odour. People choose fragrances to complement their own odour. It is probably why buying perfume as a gift is so difficult and why they end up lying in the bathroom not being used.'

Read More

Tanning beds may be even riskier than thought

 

New research published online Oct. 6 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology suggests that the main type of ultraviolet rays used in tanning beds -- UVA1 -- may penetrate to a deep layer of skin that is most vulnerable to the cancer-causing changes caused by UV rays. The new study comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers banning the use of tanning beds among children under 18. The American Academy of Pediatrics is on record that it supports such a ban. In the study, 12 volunteers were exposed to UVA1 and UVB rays on their buttocks. (One difference in the waves is length: UVB waves are shorter.) The UVA1 was more damaging to the skin's basal layer then the UVB light. The UVA1 induced a type of lesion called thymine dimers on the deeper basal layers of the skin. UVB radiation caused more of these lesions, but they did not go as deep, and thus may be less likely to cause the changes linked to skin cancers. "The doses we used were comparable for erythema -- sunburn -- for UVA and UVB. That would be roughly equivalent to the doses needed for tanning in each spectrum," said study co-author Antony R. Young, a professor at the St. John's Institute of Dermatology at King's College School of Medicine in London. "Indoor tanning is like smoking for your skin," said Dr. Doris Day, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "It's the single worst thing you can do in terms of skin cancer and premature aging." Many indoor tanning salons advertise that tanning beds can help boost the body's production of vitamin D, known as the sunshine vitamin because skin makes it when exposed to the sun's rays. "This is nonsense and an excuse," Day said. "We know people burn in tanning beds and that UVA and UVB are toxic." Teens are particularly vulnerable, she said. "They are immortal in their mind, and skin cancer and aging seem a long ways away." Melanoma, a potentially fatal form of skin cancer, "is not an old person's disease," she said. The new study provides "a little bit more muscle in helping to warn people about the dangers of tanning, but an FDA ban is what we need," she added. "I do think there should be legislation on sunbed use under 18 years of age," said Young, who added that such use is already prohibited in England. John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group representing the industry, said that if there was science to back up many of these claims, the FDA would have acted by now. The agency has been mulling these claims since March 2010, he noted. What's more, the new study is about ultraviolet radiation, not tanning beds, he said. "Tanning beds have the same ratio of UV waves as the sun. UVA-1 is the primary wave length emitted by the sun, too," he said. "The sun and indoor tanning pose the same risks and benefits if you don't burn. There is no science that shows non-burning exposure to sun or a sun lamp causes cancer."

Read More

Legionnaires' disease caught by holidaymakers

 

Nine Britons have been struck down by ­Legionnaires’ disease after visiting Corfu. The Health Protection Agency is investigating after the tourists to the Greek island, aged from 39 to 79, fell ill since August. However, the HPA said the possibility of a UK-source had not been ruled out.Flu-like symptoms of the disease can lead to severe pneumonia or even death. It is treated with antibiotics. Legionnaires’ can be spread through water droplets from taps or air conditioning but not from person-to-person. Professor Nick Phin, of the HPA, said: “People travelling to Corfu should be aware of this potential risk, however we are not suggesting they change their holiday plans.”

Read More

death's-head hawk moth is a harbinger of pestilence and death.

Death’s-head hawk moth: spotted in England. Photograph: Butterfly Conservation/PA

As the favoured signature of the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs, the death's-head hawk moth is a harbinger of pestilence and death. But the benign sunshine and warm southerly winds of an Indian summer have brought the rare moth flying to our shores.

The death's-head, a forbiddingly charismatic insect with a distinctive skull pattern on its thorax, has been sighted along the south coast at Arne, Dorset, and in Plymouth, Devon, in what is proving to be a vintage autumn for exotic migratory moths.

Most exciting for Britain's army of amateur moth recorders is the largest influx of the rare flame brocade moth for 130 years, with lepidopteristssuspecting that the purplish-brown moth has established a breeding colony at an undisclosed location in Sussex.

Michael Blencowe, Butterfly Conservation's officer for Sussex, and a friend, Graeme Lyons, first discovered the flame brocade when one turned up in a back garden last weekend.

"I'd never seen one of these moths before so I grabbed my net and went off to find out if there were any others about at a suitable site nearby," said Blencowe. "I saw 10 that night and there have been recordings of 20 or more there every night since."

This has been the best season for migratory moths for more than five years, according to Butterfly Conservation. Other species lured by the Indian summer include the distinctive crimson speckled, the dainty vestalmoth and Spoladea recurvalis, an extremely rare tropical species.

Before 2006 there had been just 19 records of Spoladea recurvalis in Britain, with 19 recorded that year. More than 20 have been recorded so far this autumn in Sussex, Dorset, Cornwall, Cumbria and the Isle of Man, ushered into the country by southerly winds.

Usually only single figures of flame brocades, which is more commonly found in France and Spain, turn up in the UK each autumn. Mark Parsons, head of moth conservation for Butterfly Conservation, said: "This moth appears to have been making an attempt to recolonise these shores, possibly as a result of more favourable overall weather conditions through climate change."

The death's-head hawk moth is the largest moth to fly in Britain and has the ability to fly into beehives in search of honey without being stung. If handled, it can emit a loud squeak, which terrified medieval Europeans. In Poland, where the moth was called the wandering death-bird, its cries were likened to those of a grief-stricken child.

It has been a shorthand for horror ever since: given an honourable mention in Bram Stoker's Dracula, more recently its pupae were left in the mouths of victims by the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs.

Read More

Saudi women given right to vote

 

Saudi Arabia will allow women to stand for election and vote, the king announced on Sunday, in a significant policy shift in the conservative Islamic kingdowm. In a five-minute speech, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud said women will also take part in the next session of the unelected, advisory Shura Council, which vets legislation but has no binding powers. "Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama (clerics) and others... to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from the next term," he said in a speech delivered to the advisory body. "Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote." Women's rights are regarded as a litmus test for the government's appetite for social and political reform. Saudi Arabia adheres to a strict version of Islamic law that enforces the segregation of the sexes. "This is great news," said Wajeha al-Huwaider, a Saudi writer and women's rights activist. "Women's voices will finally be heard. "Now it is time to remove other barriers like not allowing women to drive cars and not being able to function, to live a normal life without male guardians."

Read More

Roll over Einstein: Law of physics challenged

 

One of the very pillars of physics and Einstein's theory of relativity - that nothing can go faster than the speed of light - was rocked Thursday by new findings from one of the world's foremost laboratories. European researchers said they clocked an oddball type of subatomic particle called a neutrino going faster than the 186,282 miles per second that has long been considered the cosmic speed limit.  The claim was met with skepticism, with one outside physicist calling it the equivalent of saying you have a flying carpet. In fact, the researchers themselves are not ready to proclaim a discovery and are asking other physicists to independently try to verify their findings. "The feeling that most people have is this can't be right, this can't be real," said James Gillies, a spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, which provided the particle accelerator that sent neutrinos on their breakneck 454-mile trip underground from Geneva to Italy. Going faster than light is something that is just not supposed to happen according to Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity - the one made famous by the equation E equals mc2. But no one is rushing out to rewrite the science books just yet. It is "a revolutionary discovery if confirmed," said Indiana University theoretical physicist Alan Kostelecky, who has worked on this concept for a quarter of a century.   Stephen Parke, who is head theoretician at the Fermilab near Chicago and was not part of the research, said: "It's a shock. It's going to cause us problems, no doubt about that - if it's true." Even if these results are confirmed, they won't change at all the way we live or the way the world works. After all, these particles have presumably been speed demons for billions of years. But the finding will fundamentally alter our understanding of how the universe operates, physicists said. Einstein's special relativity theory, which says that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, underlies "pretty much everything in modern physics," said John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at CERN who was not involved in the experiment. "It has worked perfectly up until now." France's National Institute for Nuclear and Particle Physics Research collaborated with Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory on the experiment at CERN. CERN reported that a neutrino beam fired from a particle accelerator near Geneva to a lab 454 miles (730 kilometers) away in Italy traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. Scientists calculated the margin of error at just 10 nanoseconds. (A nanosecond is one-billionth of a second.) Given the enormous implications of the find, the researchers spent months checking and rechecking their results to make sure there were no flaws in the experiment. A team at Fermilab had similar faster-than-light results in 2007, but a large margin of error undercut its scientific significance. If anything is going to throw a cosmic twist into Einstein's theories, it's not surprising that it's the strange particles known as neutrinos. These are odd slivers of an atom that have confounded physicists for about 80 years. The neutrino has almost no mass, comes in three different "flavors," may have its own antiparticle and has been seen shifting from one flavor to another while shooting out from our sun, said physicist Phillip Schewe, communications director at the Joint Quantum Institute in Maryland. Columbia University physicist Brian Greene, author of the book "Fabric of the Cosmos," said neutrinos theoretically can travel at different speeds depending on how much energy they have. And some mysterious particles whose existence is still only theorized could be similarly speedy, he said. Fermilab team spokeswoman Jenny Thomas, a physics professor at the University College of London, said there must be a "more mundane explanation" for the European findings. She said Fermilab's experience showed how hard it is to measure accurately the distance, time and angles required for such a claim. Nevertheless, Fermilab, which shoots neutrinos from Chicago to Minnesota, has already begun working to try to verify or knock down the new findings. And that's exactly what the team in Geneva wants. Gillies told The Associated Press that the readings have so astounded researchers that "they are inviting the broader physics community to look at what they've done and really scrutinize it in great detail, and ideally for someone elsewhere in the world to repeat the measurements." Only two labs elsewhere in the world can try to replicate the work: Fermilab and a Japanese installation that has been slowed by the tsunami and earthquake. And Fermilab's measuring systems aren't nearly as precise as the Europeans' and won't be upgraded for a while, said Fermilab scientist Rob Plunkett. Drew Baden, chairman of the physics department at the University of Maryland, said it is far more likely that the CERN findings are the result of measurement errors or some kind of fluke. Tracking neutrinos is very difficult, he said. "This is ridiculous what they're putting out," Baden said. "Until this is verified by another group, it's flying carpets. It's cool, but ..." So if the neutrinos are pulling this fast one on Einstein, how can it happen? Parke said there could be a cosmic shortcut through another dimension - physics theory is full of unseen dimensions - that allows the neutrinos to beat the speed of light. Indiana's Kostelecky theorizes that there are situations when the background is different in the universe, not perfectly symmetrical as Einstein says. Those changes in background may alter both the speed of light and the speed of neutrinos. But that doesn't mean Einstein's theory is ready for the trash heap, he said. "I don't think you're going to ever kill Einstein's theory. You can't. It works," Kostelecky said. There are just times when an additional explanation is needed, he said. If the European findings are correct, "this would change the idea of how the universe is put together," Columbia's Greene said. But he added: "I would bet just about everything I hold dear that this won't hold up to scrutiny."

Read More

A top surfer has been killed after a quick and brutal shark attack on the French-owned island of Reunion.

 

 

 

Mathieu Schiller, 32, was dragged off his surfboard on Boucan Canot beach in the Indian Ocean by a man-eating tiger shark and quickly killed in an attack that lasted less than 30 seconds.

Schiller, who was a European team body boarding champion in 1995, was one of a large group surfing in the area when the attack happened.

Fellow surfers searched for the Frenchman's body but police later said it had been carried away by the waves.

"There were around 20 people in shallow water and about five surfers out deeper when it happened," a witness told a local news agency.

"We saw the shark’s nose emerge and then the man just vanished. It was very sudden, then the animal just swam off.

"Some of those nearby tried to reach him but his body was dragged away by the current."

Schiller is the second person to be killed by a shark on the island this year while three further people have been injured - including one man who had his leg bitten off.

Briton Ian Redmond, 32, was also killed by a shark while on his honeymoon in the Seychelles last month.

Read More

former X Factor judge and Girls Aloud singer said she would consider becoming a fashion designer and launch her own range.

Is Cheryl Cole the new Victoria Beckham? (Picture: PA)

The former X Factor judge and Girls Aloud singer said she would consider becoming a fashion designer  and launch her own range. 

Asked by The Guardian if she'd like her own fashion collection, she replied: 'Do you know what? I wouldn't rule it out, actually. I have loved designing these shoes. I haven't enjoyed a project so much in a long time. So, yes, it might be the start of something.' 

Chezza stepped out earlier this week during London Fashion Week to launch her shoe collection with website Stylistpick.com at The Home House. 

The star will also be choosing her favourite items from the online accessory store's collections and telling fans why she likes them in a new blog. 

Stylistpick’s chief creative officer Juliet Warkentin said: ‘We are thrilled to be working with Cheryl. Cheryl is the style icon and is amazingly warm, a quality that has made her the nation's favourite. 

'We believe that the launch will have a huge fashion impact; establishing fashion's greatest influencer as a major force in fashion design and further democratising fashion.’

Read More

Brit Designers Shine At London Fashion Week

"The truth is that all the ideas come out of here," he said.

"Before they used to be picked up by every other designer from around the world, diluted and communicated to other parts of the world and other people were making the money.

 

Models display creations by British born designer Osman

 

"Maybe now it is becoming a lot more important.

"I think Burberry, in a way, bringing their shows back to England has been very important because they have managed to bring the attention back here - that England isn't only a hub of ideas but it is also a business and there is an industry working and people are making it happen."

 

Rosario Dawson and Pippa Middleton on the front row at Temperley catwalk

 

The runways have seen a global standard of models showcasing collections, with designers including Burberry Prorsum, Christopher Kane, Erdem, Jonathan Saunders, Mario Schwab and Mary Katrantzou.

US-based media analytics company Global Language Monitor recently ranked London as the Global Fashion Capital, overtaking New York.

It said the Alexander McQueen wedding dress that Kate Middleton wore at her royal wedding moved London from third to top position.

 

Read More

Cheryl Cole 'Falls For Hunky Soldier' In Afghanistan | Cheryl Cole

 

It seems Cheryl Cole has finally put her failed marriage to footballer Ashley Cole behind her, after apparently falling for a "gorgeous" solider in Afghanistan. The Girls Aloud beauty, who visited Camp Bastion in Helmand Province to boost troops morale, claims to have swapped numbers with the hunky young corporal after taking a shine to him during her trip last week. Chezza confessed to The Mirror: "Not only are the soldiers incredibly brave, a few were also incredibly cute. I actually came back with a phone number from one lad." "He started chatting to me after I'd been shot at during a training exercise. Obviously it wasn't real ammunition, but it was still terrifying." She continued: "Anyway, I think I am going to call him this week and we'll see what happens. I'm sure he's not expecting me to ring but that's why it'll be funny - and that's why I'm going to do it." Cheryl went on to admit that she is realistic about any chances of romance with the lucky solider, stating: "Long-distance relationships are a nightmare – a big time difference is a killer because it’s just so hard to stay in touch.” As well as proving a hit with the men, the former X Factor judge also seems to have charmed ladies, claiming: "There really were so many handsome guys – even some of the girl soldiers were totally gorgeous. Loads of the girls are now following me on Twitter and tweeting me. It’s great.” The 28-year old added: “I’d love to stay in touch with some of the incredible people I was lucky enough to meet.”

Read More

Celebrity Cruises Taps Top Chef to Join Culinary Team

 

Known for its culinary leadership and commitment to offering guests a modern, luxurious experience during their precious vacation time, Celebrity Cruises has expanded its already robust culinary talent by naming 2010 James Beard Foundation "Rising Star Chef" nominee and 2007 "Rising Star Chef of American Cuisine" John Suley as its director of Culinary Operations. Tapped by Celebrity's charismatic Vice President of Culinary Operations Jacques Van Staden – himself a James Beard-nominated Master Chef – Suley is widely regarded as one of the country's top "up and coming" chefs. Prior to joining Celebrity, he worked in the star-studded, international dining scene as executive chef at the South Florida incarnation of three-time James Beard honoree Alfred Portale's famed "Gotham Bar & Grill" (New York), "Gotham Steak" at the chic Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. Suley's wealth of experience also includes work at the Ritz Carlton-South Beach, the Waldorf Astoria and St. Regis hotels, and with many of the world's most accomplished chefs, including Daniel Boulud, and Celebrity's Van Staden himself, at some of the finest restaurants in the dining mecca of Las Vegas. Suley is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. At Celebrity, Suley joins Van Staden in leading the line's continuing quest to achieve the highest levels of consistency, quality and innovation in the culinary experience. "John Suley is known for his edgy and innovative cooking style, and is a genuinely unique chef," said Van Staden, "Having known him for 12 years, and observing the amazing contributions he made during the recent debut of our newest Solstice Class ship, Celebrity Silhouette, I am confident he will be an inspirational and creative leader within Celebrity's innovative culinary team, and will make tremendous contributions as we continue to prove to vacationers around the world that we can treat them to a dining experience that is easily comparable to the best on land." About Celebrity Cruises: Celebrity Cruises' iconic "X" is the mark of modern luxury, with its cool, contemporary design and warm spaces; dining experiences where the design of the venues is as important as the cuisine; and the amazing service that only Celebrity can provide, all created to provide an unmatchable experience for vacationers' precious time. Celebrity sails to Alaska, Australia/New Zealand, Bermuda, California, Canada/New England, the Caribbean, Europe, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast, Panama Canal, South America, and year-round in the Galapagos Islands. Celebrity also offers immersive cruisetour experiences in Alaska, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Europe and South America.

Read More

Climate change will hit genetic diversity

Climate change represents a threat not only to the existence of individual species, but also to the genetic diversity hidden within them, researchers say. The finding promises to complicate assessments of how climate change will affect biodiversity, as well as conservationists' task in preserving it.

DNA studies have revealed that traditional species, as defined by taxonomists, contain a vast amount of 'cryptic' diversity — such as different lineages, or even species within species. Carsten Nowak, a conservation biologist at the Senckenberg Research Institutes and Natural History Museum in Gelnhausen, Germany, and his colleagues have made a first attempt to understand how global warming might affect this form of diversity. Their findings are published in Nature Climate Change1.

The team looked at aquatic insects living in the mountain streams of central Europe — seven species of caddisfly, a mayfly and a stonefly. The insects were chosen because they are likely to be especially vulnerable to rising temperatures — they need cold water, and have limited ability to travel large distances.

To measure genetic diversity, Nowak's team sequenced genes in the animals' mitochondria — energy-generating cellular organelles that have their own small genome. This allowed the authors to divide each species into a number of evolutionary significant units (ESUs) — the technical term for a population within a species that is genetically distinct from the rest of its kind.

On the basis of where in Europe each ESU is found, the researchers then analysed whether the associated insect would be able to tolerate higher temperatures or move to somewhere cooler, using two models developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Lost potential

Under the IPCC's business-as-usual climate scenario, 79% of ESUs included in the study are projected to become extinct by 2080; for a reduced-emissions scenario this fell to 59%. ESUs suffered a much greater rate of extinctions than species.

This lost evolutionary potential could hinder species' ability to adapt to change. "This genetic diversity is the most fundamental form of biodiversity — essentially, it's the substrate for evolution," says Nowak.

The study "shows how global climate change may lead to the loss of significant amounts of hidden diversity, even if some of the traditionally defined species will persist," says Michael Balke, an entomologist at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich, Germany.

What is not clear is how to extend this approach to other species with different powers of migration or dispersal. "If researchers can figure out how to factor in dispersal capacity — an attribute often not well-defined for individual species — the potential impact on genetic diversity becomes a lot more applicable," says Jim Provan, a molecular geneticist at Queen's University in Belfast, UK.

Study co-author Steffen Pauls of the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, Germany, agrees that such factors are also important. "We hope that this approach will be developed further to incorporate different migratory abilities, types of dispersal and thermal adaptability," he says.

Diversity danger zone

"For Europe, it turns out that the most genetically diverse regions are also the most endangered," says Nowak. The study predicts that loss of genetic diversity in the study insects will be greatest in the Mediterranean region, where all but two populations are projected to become extinct. This is also the region with the greatest genetic diversity.

This combination of genetic diversity and vulnerability has been found for other Mediterranean species, such as the seaweed, Chondrus crispus, which has already shifted northward during the past 40 years2. Many European species retreated to the Mediterranean during past ice ages, meaning that their southerly populations are especially ancient and diverse. The loss of these populations might compromise species' ability to adapt to future warming.


Combining genetics and ecology should aid conservation efforts. "This study highlights the huge potential of DNA-sequencing initiatives to reveal high levels of cryptic diversity, of utmost importance to informed conservation decision making," says Balke.

Genetic diversity is gaining increased attention in conservation circles. "Through our work to determine climate-adaptation strategies, we realize that genetics is one way to get an overall better view of how species are affected by climate change," says Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations treaty that commits signatories to develop national strategies to sustainably use and conserve biodiversity.

Last year's adoption of a treaty to manage and share the economic benefits of the world's genetic resources with developing nations, the Nagoya Protocol, has also boosted interest in cataloging genetic diversity. "Countries are starting to invest more to document genetic aspects of species in their national jurisdictions, to better understand how to get reimbursed for their use," says Djoghlaf.

 

Read More

Fragmentation of forests led to elephants straying

The search for a larger patch of forests to make a home range may have led the two sub-adult males into the heart of Mysore, a city known more for its placid, caparisoned Dasara elephants.

Wednesday's rampage by the tusker — the other was a makhana which hid itself — left a security guard in a narrow bylane dead. Collateral damage included two dead cows, four injured passersby and a series of trashed vehicles.

While some elephant experts say that the fragmentation of forest land and non-availability of good and large patches of forests could be the reason for straying, it is also believed that sub-adult male elephants move out of the family herd to establish their own home range.

FORAGING FOR FOOD

“Social organisation of elephants is such that sub-adults wander on their own. In this case, they may have come in search of crops and may have deviated from their path,” Raman Sukumar of Centre for Ecological Sciences at Indian Institute of Science told The Hindu. It is their natural behaviour to migrate, but unfortunately they went into the city, he added.

In the past, Prof. Sukumar pointed out, males have been found to have traversed long distances for home range. “Just a few months ago, one was found near Chitradurga and it had traversed from near Bannerghatta. Similarly, years ago, another male, which had traversed around 300 km from near Hosur/ Bannerghatta forests, was captured on the East Coast,” he said.

FRAGMENTATION

Declining quality forest cover, fragmentation of forests and encroachment of elephant corridors could all be reasons for wild elephants straying into human habitations. “Such incidents will only increase in future unless urgent and drastic measures are put in place to preserve the rapidly declining forest cover,” said wildlife biologist and elephant expert Ajay Desai.

MAN-ANIMAL CONFLICT

“Due to fragmentation of forests, elephants are living in patches that may not be of good quality or too small or medium size to make them their home range,” he added.

“Sometimes, they wander in search of a better place, and come in conflict with human beings,” he said.

SEVERAL INSTANCES

He pointed out that there are instances of elephants straying into villages near national parks and people being trampled. He said that “because it came to Mysore, it has become big news, though we have been raising these issues for years.” Meanwhile, addressing the issue of the elephants straying from the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, B.C. Chettiappa, Assistant Director of Veterinary Sciences, said a distance of 35 km is no big deal for elephants. When they mean business, they can easily cover this distance in less than three hours, he said.

 

Read More

shaggy sheep who gained notoriety after avoiding being shorn for years is being mourned by New Zealanders after dying.

Shrek hid in caves on his farm in the South Island for six years and when finally found was clad in 27 kilos of wool, five times the norm.

The Merino sheep's stubborness captured the public's imagination and he was shorn on live TV. Shrek died of ill health aged 17.

Read More

Tropical forests better managed

The world's tropical forests are better managed now than five years ago, concludes a survey by the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO).

The area under some form of sustainable management plan increased by about 50% over the period; but about 90% of tropical forest lacks protection.

The most significant improvements have been seen in Africa, the report says.

The ITTO is a pro-sustainable use trade body whose 60 member countries account for 90% of the global timber trade.

Its current report - Status of Tropical Forest Management 2011 - analysed data from 33 important forest countries, including the really big players such as Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia.

"The top line is that the area under sustainable forest management has gone up from 36 to 53 million hectares in five years," said Duncan Poore, one of the report's authors and a former head of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

"That's a substantial improvement, but there's still a long way to go," he told BBC News.

"Forests scheduled by ITTO members as permanent forest cover 760m hectares - so what's under sustainable management is less than 10%, which is disappointing."

Deforestation 'to continue'
Countries that have made major increases in protection include Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Peru and Venezuela.

However, satellite observations recently revealed an alarming escalation in deforestation in Brazil, indicating that loss of forest in some areas of a country can continue even as protection increases in other areas.

"My personal view is that it's more important to make sure that countries decide what forest they want to keep and for what purpose, and look after that satisfactorily, than to weep crocodile tears over deforestation," said Dr Poore.

"The reality is that in most countries, deforestation is going to continue. But if they look after areas that are really important ecologically, that may not be a problem."

The ITTO report makes clear that pressures leading to forest clearance are continuing to rise, with the expansion of the world's population, growing use of raw materials such as wood, and increasing demand for land on which to settle and grow food.

The big hope of many in the conservation community is that rich countries may soon start funding poorer ones to protect forests in the interests of absorbing carbon dioxide and curbing climate change.

But despite years of discussion, establishment of an international mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) remains elusive, largely because of wider disagreements within the UN climate convention.

Bringing a REDD scheme into existence would, said Dr Poore, be "very important" for the long-term health of tropical forests.

 

Read More