SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – This isn't the first time Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni has been revived: The massive reptiles were last seen in 1906 and considered extinct until the 1972 discovery of Lonesome George, then around 60 years old, on Pinta Island. The population had been wiped out by human settlers, who overharvested the tortoises for meat and introduced goats and pigs that destroyed the tortoises' habitat and much of the island's vegetation.

Now, in an area known as Volcano Wolf—on the secluded northern tip of Isabela, another Galápagos island—the researchers have identified 17 hybrid descendants of C.n. abingdoni within a population of 1,667 tortoises.

Genetic testing identified three males, nine females, and five juveniles (under the age of 20) with DNA from C.n. abingdoni. The presence of juveniles suggests that purebred specimens may exist on the island too, the researchers said.

"Even the parents of some of the older individuals may still be alive today, given that tortoises live for so long and that we detected high levels of ancestry in a few of these hybrids," Yale evolutionary biologist Danielle Edwards said.

How did Lonesome George's relatives end up some 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Pinta Island? Edwards said ocean currents, which would have carried the tortoises to other areas, had nothing to do with it. Instead, she thinks humans likely transported the animals.

Crews on 19th-century whaling and naval vessels hunted accessible islands like Pinta for oil and meat, carrying live tortoises back to their ships.

Tortoises can survive up to 12 months without food or water because of their slow metabolisms, making the creatures a useful source of meat to stave off scurvy on long sea voyages. But during naval conflicts, the giant tortoises—which weighed between 200 and 600 pounds (90 and 270 kilograms) each—were often thrown overboard to lighten the ship's load.

That could also explain why one of the Volcano Wolf tortoises contains DNA from the tortoise species Chelonoidis elephantopus, which is native to another island, as a previous study revealed. That species is also extinct in its native habitat, Floreana Island.

Life After Extinction?

Giant tortoises are essential to the Galápagos Island ecosystem, Edwards said. They scatter soil and seeds, and their eating habits help maintain the population balance of woody vegetation and cacti. Now, scientists have another chance to save C.n. abingdoni and C. elephantopus.

With a grant from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration, which also helped fund the current study, the researchers plan to return to Volcano Wolf's rugged countryside to collect hybrid tortoises—and purebreds, if the team can find them—and begin a captive-breeding program. (National Geographic News is part of the Society.)

If all goes well, both C.n. abingdoni and C. elephantopus may someday be restored to their wild homes in the Galápagos. (Learn more about the effort to revive the Floreana Galápagos tortoises.)

"The word 'extinction' signifies the point of no return," senior research scientist Adalgisa Caccone wrote in the team's grant proposal. "Yet new technology can sometimes provide hope in challenging the irrevocable nature of this concept."— www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Nationaldeographic

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Pakistan has rejected claims that it deliberately clears military aircraft from the skies of its border region to allow US drones to operate freely.

"There can be no question of Pakistan's agreement to such attacks," the foreign ministry said in response to a report in the Wall Street Journal which claimed the US believed it regularly received consent.

According to the newspaper, the CIA sends a fax "about once a month" to the ISI, its counterpart in Pakistan, outlining the areas and targets where the unmanned aircraft will operate.

The ISI has not replied to the faxes for more than a year, the newspaper said. Nonetheless, US government lawyers regard this as tacit approval, because Pakistan responds by what is called "de-conflicting" its airspace – preventing aircraft from flying in the areas concerned.

A government spokesman rejected the insinuation made in the report and reiterated Pakistan's position on drone attacks: "Drone attacks are illegal, counterproductive, in contravention of international law and a violation of Pakistani sovereignty."

Diplomats and security analysts believe Pakistan continues to give its consent for the drone strikes.

Confidential diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks revealed that, in 2008, Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, asked the US for "continuous Predator [drone] coverage" in part of South Waziristan.

In the same year, former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told the US ambassador that he did not care about the US programme "as long as they get the right people".

Despite the history of co-operation with the US, drones are very unpopular in Pakistan where politicians, particularly the former cricketer Imran Khan, have gained support by lambasting what many see as the routine violation of Pakistani sovereignty.

Underlining the government's delicate balancing act on the issue, the foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, said on Thursday that Pakistan supported the aims of the programme.

"What the drones are trying to achieve, we may not disagree… If they're going for terrorists – we do not disagree," she said in New York. "But we have to find ways which are lawful, which are legal. The use of unilateral strikes on Pakistani territory is illegal."— www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Guardian

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) —A video emerged of Republican Mitt Romney in which he told 30 of the richest donors to his campaign that 47% of Americans are “'victims who pay no taxes and will vote Obama”. In the videos of the event shared on Mother Jones website he said “my job is not to worry” about attempting to appeal to poor people. He also labelled 47% of US citizens as who "pay no income tax" and behave like "victims".

In a shocking speech intended to gain more support from wealthy Republicans and to put his faltering campaign on the right track, ended what many political commentators believe, in a disaster. In parts of his speech he told his richest supporter "There are 47 per cent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what, all right? "There are 47 per cent who are with him, who are dependant upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. They will vote for this President no matter what. These are people who pay no income tax... My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Obama's camp declared that "It's shocking that a candidate for President of the United States would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as 'victims,' entitled to handouts, and are unwilling to take 'personal responsibility' for their lives," they said. "It's hard to serve as President for all Americans when you've disdainfully written off half the nation."

According to an article published in Independent on 3 September 2012, “Romney's financial affairs have been an electoral talking point for months. The Republican candidate, believed to be worth upwards of $250m, continues to ignore calls to follow the protocol to release up to a decade's worth of his federal tax returns. Instead, his campaign has published information relating to just the past two years. It shows Mitt Romney has a Swiss bank account, hides some of his fortune away in such tax havens as the Cayman Islands, and last year paid 15 per cent tax, almost half the rate of a middle-class American.” Democrats meanwhile used the issue to portray Republican US presidential candidate as a predatory capitalist whose wealth puts him out of touch with ordinary voters. They speculated that in recent years the multimillionaire may have paid almost no income tax.—www.shafaqna.com/English

By Abbas Hamrang

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — NBC News reports exclusively the previously leaked 1 million Apple UDIDs by Antisec did not come from an FBI laptop, but rather stolen from a Florida publishing company called Blue Toad, as discovered by researcher David Schuetz, who tipped the company:

Paul DeHart, CEO of the Blue Toad publishing company, told NBC News that technicians at his firm downloaded the data released by Anonymous and compared it to the company’s own database. The analysis found a 98 percent correlation between the two datasets.

“That’s 100 percent confidence level, it’s our data,” DeHart said. “As soon as we found out we were involved and victimized, we approached the appropriate law enforcement officials, and we began to take steps to come forward, clear the record and take responsibility for this.”

After Antisec released the UDID data, the FBI uncharacteristically responded and denied the claims the data came from their laptop, and said Antisec was lying. Looks like the FBI was correct. Apple even released a statement and said they did not provide any data to the FBI.

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Mullter told NBC News the following:

“As an app developer, BlueToad would have access to a user’s device information such as UDID, device name and type…Developers do not have access to users’ account information, passwords or credit card information, unless a user specifically elects to provide that information to the developer.”

Very interesting developments in this story. Just goes to show to never believe anything you read on the internet. The biggest loser out of this case is Gawker’s Adrian Chen. He was asked to dress up and post pictures of himself in a pink tutu at the request of Antisec, in order for the hacker group to release more interviews about the subject. Ouch.

Update: Here’s the official statement from Blue Toad’s website:

A little more than a week ago, BlueToad was the victim of a criminal cyber attack, which resulted in the theft of Apple UDIDs from our systems. Shortly thereafter, an unknown group posted these UDIDs on the Internet.—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Iphoneincanada

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — It is not easy to escape from one’s skin, to see the world differently from the way it is presented to us day after day. But it is useful to try. Let’s take a few examples.

The war drums are beating ever more loudly over Iran. Imagine the situation to be reversed.

Iran is carrying out a murderous and destructive low-level war against "Israel" with great-power participation. Its leaders announce that negotiations are going nowhere. "Israel" refuses to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and allow inspections, as Iran has done. Israel continues to defy the overwhelming international call for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the region. Throughout, Iran enjoys the support of its superpower patron.

Iranian leaders are therefore announcing their intention to bomb "Israel", and prominent Iranian military analysts report that the attack may happen before the U.S. elections.

Iran can use its powerful air force and new submarines sent by Germany, armed with nuclear missiles and stationed off the coast of "Israel". Whatever the timetable, Iran is counting on its superpower backer to join if not lead the assault. U.S. defense secretary Leon Panetta says that while we do not favor such an attack, as a sovereign country Iran will act in its best interests.

All unimaginable, of course, though it is actually happening, with the cast of characters reversed. True, analogies are never exact, and this one is unfair – to Iran.

Like its patron, "Israel" resorts to violence at will. It persists in illegal settlement in occupied territory, some annexed, all in brazen defiance of international law and the U.N. Security Council. It has repeatedly carried out brutal attacks against Lebanon and the imprisoned people of Gaza, killing tens of thousands without credible pretext.

Thirty years ago "Israel" destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor, an act that has recently been praised, avoiding the strong evidence, even from U.S. intelligence, that the bombing did not end Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapons program but rather initiated it. Bombing of Iran might have the same effect.

Iran too has carried out aggression – but during the past several hundred years, only under the U.S.-backed regime of the shah, when it conquered Arab islands in the Persian Gulf.

Iran engaged in nuclear development programs under the shah, with the strong support of official Washington. The Iranian government is brutal and repressive, as are Washington’s allies in the region. The most important ally, Saudi Arabia, is the most extreme Islamic fundamentalist regime, and spends enormous funds spreading its radical Wahhabist doctrines elsewhere. The gulf dictatorships, also favored U.S. allies, have harshly repressed any popular effort to join the Arab Spring.

The Nonaligned Movement – the governments of most of the world’s population – is now meeting in Teheran. The group has vigorously endorsed Iran’s right to enrich uranium, and some members – India, for example – adhere to the harsh U.S. sanctions program only partially and reluctantly.

The NAM delegates doubtless recognize the threat that dominates discussion in the West, lucidly articulated by Gen. Lee Butler, former head of the U.S. Strategic Command: “It is dangerous in the extreme that in the cauldron of animosities that we call the Middle East,” one nation should arm itself with nuclear weapons, which “inspires other nations to do so.”

Butler is not referring to Iran, but to Israel, which is regarded in the Arab countries and in Europe as posing the greatest threat to peace In the Arab world, the United States is ranked second as a threat, while Iran, though disliked, is far less feared. Indeed in many polls majorities hold that the region would be more secure if Iran had nuclear weapons to balance the threats they perceive.

If Iran is indeed moving toward nuclear-weapons capability – this is still unknown to U.S. intelligence – that may be because it is “inspired to do so” by the U.S.-"Israeli" threats, regularly issued in explicit violation of the U.N. Charter.

Why then is Iran the greatest threat to world peace, as seen in official Western discourse? The primary reason is acknowledged by U.S. military and intelligence and their Israeli counterparts: Iran might deter the resort to force by the United States and "Israel".

Furthermore Iran must be punished for its “successful defiance,” which was Washington’s charge against Cuba half a century ago, and still the driving force for the U.S. assault against Cuba that continues despite international condemnation.

Other events featured on the front pages might also benefit from a different perspective. Suppose that Julian Assange had leaked Russian documents revealing important information that Moscow wanted to conceal from the public, and that circumstances were otherwise identical.

Sweden would not hesitate to pursue its sole announced concern, accepting the offer to interrogate Assange in London. It would declare that if Assange returned to Sweden (as he has agreed to do), he would not be extradited to Russia, where chances of a fair trial would be slight.

Sweden would be honored for this principled stand. Assange would be praised for performing a public service – which, of course, would not obviate the need to take the accusations against him as seriously as in all such cases.

The most prominent news story of the day here is the U.S. election. An appropriate perspective was provided by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who held that “We may have democracy in this country, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.”

Guided by that insight, coverage of the election should focus on the impact of wealth on policy, extensively analyzed in the recent study “Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America” by Martin Gilens. He found that the vast majority are “powerless to shape government policy” when their preferences diverge from the affluent, who pretty much get what they want when it matters to them.

Small wonder, then, that in a recent ranking of the 31 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of social justice, the United States placed 27th, despite its extraordinary advantages.

Or that rational treatment of issues tends to evaporate in the electoral campaign, in ways sometimes verging on comedy.

To take one case, Paul Krugman reports that the much-admired Big Thinker of the Republican Party, Paul Ryan, declares that he derives his ideas about the financial system from a character in a fantasy novel – “Atlas Shrugged” – who calls for the use of gold coins instead of paper currency.

It only remains to draw from a really distinguished writer, Jonathan Swift. In “Gulliver’s Travels,” his sages of Lagado carry all their goods with them in packs on their backs, and thus could use them for barter without the encumbrance of gold. Then the economy and democracy could truly flourish – and best of all, inequality would sharply decline, a gift to the spirit of Justice Brandeis.—www.shafaqna.com/English

By:  Noam Chomsky

Source: Common Dreams

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Churches in Washington state are being reminded that collecting money for a political cause is not OK -- including a high-stakes ballot battle over gay marriage.

The state's Public Disclosure Commission recently learned that Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima sent a letter to pastors in 41 parishes asking them to take up a special collection for Preserve Marriage Washington, the group that is trying to overturn the state’s same-sex marriage law.

A formal complaint, however, was not filed. Lori Anderson, communication and training officer for the state commission, said the reminder was merely precautionary.

“There’s been no formal action. There’s no story here. Preserve Marriage Washington and our partners have done everything within full compliance of the law,” said PMW Deputy Campaign Director Chris Plante.

Anderson explained that any organization — religious or not — cannot serve as an intermediary for a contribution, though it can freely promote a campaign.

“Churches can distribute the envelopes and encourage parishioners to use them, but they can’t be the middleman,” she said, adding that individual contributors have to send the donations in themselves, or someone from the campaign has to be on hand to collect the money.

Plante said the Catholic dioceses of Yakima and Spokane will distribute pre-addressed remittance envelopes in September, which will then be collected by PMW volunteers. A date for the collection has not yet been determined.

Churches in Washington state are being reminded that collecting money for a political cause is not OK -- including a high-stakes ballot battle over gay marriage.

The state's Public Disclosure Commission recently learned that Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima sent a letter to pastors in 41 parishes asking them to take up a special collection for Preserve Marriage Washington, the group that is trying to overturn the state’s same-sex marriage law.

A formal complaint, however, was not filed. Lori Anderson, communication and training officer for the state commission, said the reminder was merely precautionary.

“There’s been no formal action. There’s no story here. Preserve Marriage Washington and our partners have done everything within full compliance of the law,” said PMW Deputy Campaign Director Chris Plante.

Anderson explained that any organization — religious or not — cannot serve as an intermediary for a contribution, though it can freely promote a campaign.

“Churches can distribute the envelopes and encourage parishioners to use them, but they can’t be the middleman,” she said, adding that individual contributors have to send the donations in themselves, or someone from the campaign has to be on hand to collect the money.

Plante said the Catholic dioceses of Yakima and Spokane will distribute pre-addressed remittance envelopes in September, which will then be collected by PMW volunteers. A date for the collection has not yet been determined.—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Huffingtonpost

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Russia has no intention to end its military presence in Syria despite the ongoing violence in the Arab nation, the Head of Russian army says.

Chief of Staff General Nikolai Makarov on Tuesday rejected the reports that Moscow was in the process of evacuating its naval base in Syria and pulling out its high ranking military personnel.

"Why are you so worried about Syria?" Makarov said. "All the plans that we have in place are working and no one is running away from there.”

"I would think it is premature to start making any conclusions and saying that we ran away," Makarov added.

His remarks came after some unconfirmed report began circulating in Russian media claiming that Moscow has decided to reduce the number of its military personnel in a naval center in the Syrian city of Tartus.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011.

The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed insurgents are foreign nationals.—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Press TV

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Understanding the differences could lead to a better way to protect people from skin cancer, researchers say.

While the genetics of skin color is largely unknown, past research using zebrafish identified the gene in Europeans that differs from West Africans and contributes to a lighter skin color.

Mutations in the genes SLC24A5 and SLC45A2 are largely responsible for European pigmentation, showing only single amino acid differences between Europeans and West Africans. Each version of a gene is called an allele.

While East Asians—Chinese, Japanese, and Korean—are also are light-skinned, these European alleles are not present, suggesting that while both groups’ lighter skin color evolved to allow for better creation of vitamin D in northern climates, they did so in a different way that affects skin cancer rates.

Europeans have 10 to 20 times higher rates of melanoma than Africans. However, despite also having lighter skin, East Asians have the same melanoma rates as Africans. The reason for this difference can only be explained when the gene mutations for both groups are found.

“By finding the differences, we have the potential to find ways to make people with the European ancestry genes less susceptible to skin cancer,” says Keith Cheng, professor of pathology at Penn State.

This is a challenge, because to find the unidentified mutations, researchers must study a population that includes a blend of original African ancestry and East Asian ancestry, with little European contribution.

The Senoi, one of three indigenous tribes from Peninsular Malaysia, meet this condition. The Senoi are believed to include ancestry of a dark-skinned tribe called the Negrito, and a regional Mongoloid population of Indo-China, such as the Proto-Malay.

Since the skin color of the Senoi is darker than that of Northeast Asians, researchers will be able to focus on finding the primary genetic mutation of light skin color in Asians without seeing further skin lightening mutations.

Khai C. Ang, a postdoctoral fellow in Cheng’s lab, visited the Senoi, developed a positive relationship with them, and was able to collect 371 blood samples. Characterization of the Senoi’s skin color was recently reported in PLoS One.

“As the world is becoming globalized, populations are becoming increasingly mixed,” Ang says. “Time is running out and it will become increasingly difficult to establish how East Asian skin colors evolved.”

The researchers will now map genes in the DNA using the collected samples to identify which might be responsible for the skin color of East Asians. In the Cheng lab, the candidate genes and mutations can then be tested in zebrafish for verification.

“Skin color has been tied to human welfare in modern history,” Cheng says. “It is important for us as a species to realize that our skin color is determined by only a small number of minute changes in our DNA—changes that have nothing to do with the value of human beings.”

Researchers from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the University of Oxford contributed to the study that was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Jake Gittlen Cancer Research Foundation of Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, and Universiti Kebangsaan Maylasia.—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Futurity

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — The Gaza Strip will not be "liveable" by 2020 unless urgent action is taken to improve water supply, power, health, and schooling, according to the United Nations' most comprehensive report on the Palestinian territory.

"Action needs to be taken now if Gaza is to be a liveable place in 2020 and it is already difficult now," UN humanitarian co-ordinator Maxwell Gaylard told journalists when the report was released on Monday.

"The population of the Gaza Strip will increase from 1.6 million people today to 2.1 million people in 2020, resulting in a density of more than 5,800 people per square kilometre," a UN statement quoted the report as saying.

Infrastructure across a number of sectors - electricity, water and sanitation, and municipal and social services - is "not keeping pace with the needs of the growing population," it said.

The UN says only a quarter of Gaza waste water is treated. The rest, including raw sewage, goes into the Mediterranean Sea.

Even now the coastal strip, under an Israeli blockade of varying intensity since 2006, is suffering from its worst-ever fuel shortage and resultant power cuts, as well as from unemployment levels of around 45 per cent.

The UN said the demand for drinking water was projected to increase by 60 per cent over the next eight years, "while damage to the aquifer, the major water source, would become irreversible without remedial action now".

It added that more than 440 additional schools, 800 hospital beds and more than 1,000 doctors would be needed by 2020.

'Under blockade'

Israel first imposed a blockade on Gaza in June 2006 after fighters there kidnapped one of its soldiers, who was only freed last October in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

It was tightened a year later after the Hamas movement seized power, ousting forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

The blockade has been eased somewhat but severe restrictions on movement remain in place.

The people in the narrow coastal strip live mainly on UN aid, foreign funding and a tunnel economy which brings in food, construction materials, electronics and cars from Egypt.

Gaylard called on international donors to increase their aid to a population which is 80 per cent aid dependent.

"Despite their best efforts the Palestinians in Gaza still need help," he said. "They are under blockade. They are under occupation and they need our help both politically and practically on the ground.

He said Gaza needs peace and security to improve the lives of its people. "It will certainly have to mean the end of blockade, the end of isolation and the end of conflict."

But there is as yet no sign of an end to the conflict between Hamas and Israel.—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Aljazeera

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Striking workers at Lonmin plc's Marikana Mine will not lose their jobs if they fail to turn up for work this week after 34 were killed by police fire last Thursday.

Lonmin had threatened to sack any who did not turn up to work  Photo: REUTERS

By Peta Thornycroft, Johannesburg6:47PM BST 21 Aug 2012

The majority of the 3,000 striking miners at one of the world's richest platinum mine are rock drillers and without them no production can take place, say Lonmin executives in South Africa.

Lonmin threatened to sack any who did not turn up to work Tuesday but backtracked after consultations with trade unions and civil rights groups.

"I don't think it's going to contribute to a more stable environment if Lonmin goes out and puts deadlines and ultimatums and say we will fire everyone if no one comes to work," executive Mark Munroe told South African radio.

A public relations official for Lonmin, who asked not to be named, said on Tuesday: "Until the six days of official mourning are over, until the relatives of all the dead and injured have been found, it seems unlikely that any striking worker will be sacked for not going to work."

Ahead of the massacre 10 people were murdered in violence and unrest around the mine, including two policemen.

Expelled ANC youth leader Julius Malema says he has opened up a case of murder against the South African police at the Marikana police station.

Mr Malema said President Jacob Zuma's proposed judicial commission of inquiry into the massacre is tainted even before it gets going.

"I want an independent investigation into this. People have died and we need answers," Mr Malema said outside the station on Tuesday.

He went into the police station accompanied by seven men believed to be striking miners from Marikana Mine which has been paralysed for ten days.

Police officers outside the station said Mr Malema's efforts are "probably" doomed. "We can't investigate ourselves. I don't know what the use of this is going to be," one officer said.

"There is already a criminal process under way and Mr Malema's charges will go to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate," said police spokesman, Captain Dennis Adriao.—www.shafaqna.com/english