Chilean miners trapped after mine collapse; miscalculated drilling delays rescue

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A gold mine collapse in Copiapó, Atacama Region, Chile has trapped 33 miners since last Thursday. Another collapse occurred on Saturday, that provoked temporary suspension of the rescue works.

Rescue efforts were first focused on a ventilation shaft, but attempts to reach the miners failed. Rescuers have been drilling into the mine since Sunday. “The situation is very complex, the mine continues to have collapses because there is a geological fault-line,” said Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile, who “pledged to do everything possible to get to the trapped miners,” but acknowledged he was pessimistic.

There is no certainty that the miners, who are trapped about 400 meters (1300 feet) below the ground, are still alive.

Monday, July 6, 2009

The Obama administration has given the National Security Agency powers to screen private Internet traffic going to and from government sites, and will use AT&T telecommunications as a likely test site. The Obama administration remains firm in this decision, which was put forth during the Bush administration.

The agency defends military networks with a classified system named Tutelag, which decides how to handle malware intrusions (for example, whether to block them or to investigate more closely). “We absolutely intend to use the technical resources, the substantial ones, that NSA has,” said Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS’s intrusion detection program, Einstein version 3, is in development as version 2 is being deployed. The program defends all U.S. government agencies and departments.

DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said, “We are moving forward in a way that protects privacy and civil liberties.”

AT&T, the chosen test site under Bush, sought assurance from the Obama administration to determine what elements of Einstein 3 to preserve. AT&T officials declined to comment.

In 2006 the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed the class action lawsuit Hepting v. AT&T—currently awaiting decision—against AT&T, which under the Bush administration permitted the NSA to look at domestic communications without a warrant. NSA’s intelligence gathering is limited only to foreign communications.

“We came away saying they have a lot of work in front of them to get this done right,” Ari Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) said. “We’re looking forward to their next steps.”

Schwartz authored a letter on Einstein to the Office of Management and Budget in December 2008 on behalf of the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board.

NSA director Keith B. Alexander said in April 2009 that the NSA will help, but does not want to take charge. Several people—including Rod Beckstrom, who resigned over the issue as head of the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC); Bruce Schneier of BT Counterpane; Leslie Harris, president and CEO of CDT—and not Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence—have urged the Obama administration to keep the Department of Homeland Security in charge despite its low scores, because, they claim, the NSA is a spy agency.

Saturday, December 11, 2004

VIENNA –Doctors from the Rudolfinerhaus clinic in Vienna say “there is no doubt” Ukrainian opposition leader Victor Yushchenko was poisoned with Dioxin.

Yushchenko’s body had about 1,000 times more than the normal concentration of the toxin. It is unknown if there were any other poisons in his system.

Although it has not yet been proven that the poisoning was deliberate, doctors suspect it was. “We suspect a cause triggered by a third party,” said Michael Zimpfer, head doctor at the Rudolfinerhaus clinic. He suggested the poison may have been administered orally, through food or drink.

Today’s announcements are a follow-up of an earlier press conference, where Dr. Korpan that there were three hypotheses under consideration, one of them involving dioxin. He did not reveal what the other two hypotheses were. Dr. Michael Zimpfer, director of the Rudolfinerhaus clinic emphasized that time there was no proof yet to specify the substance causing the illness.

Yushchenko left Kiev on Friday (2004-10-12) for further examination in Vienna. When Yushchenko fell ill on October 6th, Ukrainian doctors had initially diagnosed food poisoning, leading to speculation that he had been poisoned deliberately. The illness has disfigured Yushchenko’s body and face which doctors say could take up to two years to heal.

He fell seriously ill on the September 6th, during his presidential campaign. Yushchenko was taken to the Rudolfinerhaus clinic of Vienna, where he stayed for four days under Dr. Korpan’s care. He was diagnosed with “acute pancreatitis, accompanied by interstitial edematous changes.” These symptoms were said to be due to “a serious viral infection and chemical substances which are not normally found in food products” as his campaign officials put it. In laymans terms, he developed an infection in the pancreas and got a bad skin condition that disfigured his face with cysts and lesions. The skin condition has similarities with the chloracne associated with dioxin posioning according to a British toxicologist John Henry.

• Viktor Yushchenko (left) as he appeared in July 2004 and (right) as he appeared in November after the poisoning(Gleb Garanich/Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Earlier, doctor Nikolai Korpan of Rudolfinerhaus clinic confirmed today that the illness of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was caused by an attempt to kill him.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

In findings published Sunday in Environmental International, a team from Britain’s University of Exeter reports that surfers and bodyboarders are roughly three times as likely to house antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli and other bacteria that could easily become resistant, than other people who recreate in the coastal waters of the United Kingdom.

The epidemiological study was nicknamed the “Beach Bum Survey”. The project was performed on 143 regular surfers, body surfers and bodyboarders from around the United Kingdom. Each surfgoing participant was asked to recruit a non-surfing friend of the same sex and approximate age and who lived in the same part of the country to serve as a control, which resulted in a control group of 130.

All participants mailed in rectal swabs, and the researchers cultured the E. coli from those samples with a common antibiotic called cefotaxime. The antibiotic failed to kill the bacteria in about 9% (13 out of 143) of surfer and bodyboarder samples and 3% of the samples from the control group (4 out of 130). A deeper look into the genomes of the specific strains of bacteria found in the study volunteers showed that bacteria from surfers were four times as likely to possess genes that can be transferred from one bacterial strain to another, which can help antibiotic-susceptible bacteria become resistant. The study also involved examination of water samples from the coasts of England and Wales to estimate the risk of surfers and other beachgoers ingesting E. coli.

E. coli is a regular resident in the guts of humans and other animals. Most strains are harmless but others can cause serious disease. Like other bacteria, E. coli can undergo horizontal gene transfer, swapping genes from one bacterium to another. This can give the altered strain the ability to cause disease, survive in the presence of antibiotics or both.

Although the researchers expressed concern surfers might spread dangerous bacteria, Dr. Will Gaze, the University of Exeter Medical School professional who supervised the project, urged people not to avoid the beach: “We are not seeking to discourage people from spending time in the sea, an activity which has a lot of benefits in terms of exercise, well-being and connecting with nature”, he said. “It is important that people understand the risks involved so that they can make informed decisions about their bathing and sporting habits. We now hope that our results will help policy-makers, beach managers, and water companies to make evidence-based decisions to improve water quality even further for the benefit of public health.”

David Smith, science and policy officer of Surfers Against Sewage, which helped organise the volunteers, agreed the study was not meant to discourage surfing: “Water quality in the UK has improved vastly in the past 30 years and is some of the cleanest in Europe. Recognising coastal waters as a pathway for antibiotic resistance can allow policy makers to make changes to protect water users and the wider public from the threat of antibiotic resistance.”

One of the principal findings of this work was that existing methods may have been underestimating the prevalence of these bacteria in seawater. Previous studies have shown that even designated swimming beaches can be affected by runoff from farms or even sewage, and surfers swallow roughly ten times as much seawater as swimmers. Professor Colin Gardner of the charity Antibiotic Research UK says, these forms of runoff can have even higher concentrations of antibiotics than patients undergoing antibiotic treatment. “Research into new medicines to replace our archaic antibiotics has stagnated and unless new treatments are found, this could be potentially devastating for human health”, he warns.

The World Health Organization has reported that because so many kinds of bacteria are gaining resistance to common medicines, conditions such as pneumonia and gonnorhea may become more difficult to treat and have higher rates of sickness and death. Doctors often prescribe preventative antibiotics to patients undergoing surgery or radiation therapy, and this may also be impacted. Professor Sally Davies, England’s chief medical officer, has described a “post-antibiotic apocalypse” scenario

The European Regional Development Fund and Natural Environment Research Council provided funding for the study.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Israel’s administration press-service has said that webcams are being installed at the holy site of the Al Aqsa Mosque–Temple Mount complex in Jerusalem, to enable people to watch excavations at the site over the Internet.

Users will be able to watch live the archaeological process and the following construction works from February 15.

Excavations at the site were halted on Sunday after protests by Muslims, who feared that the digging and the construction of a new pedestrian bridge in the area can have a negative impact on the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Qubbat as-Sakhra.

Last week Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas declared the construction and blockade as “hostile measures” against Muslims. Israeli authorities say that these worries are groundless. They also accuse “irresponsible elements” of manipulating Muslim sentiment in order to gain political mileage.

The Internet broadcast is to be set at the official website of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the department responsible for archaeological research within the country. Currently the site includes a three-minute video that explains in English the essence of the project in interpretation of the main archaeologist of Israel – Dr. Gideon Avni, the director of the Excavations and Surveys Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

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Friday, March 2, 2007

The following article contains photographs of women’s exposed breasts. Viewer discretion is advised.

Today the “boobs on bikes” parade was held in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The boobs on bikes parade happens in various centres around New Zealand and is designed to kick off, and promote the Erotica Expo.

This parade caught less national media attention before the parade than the Auckland one last year as, unlike Auckland, there was no protest done by the city councillors.

The Christchurch City Council released a press statement stating that they had “not approved or received an application to hold the proposed “Boobs on Bikes” parade on Friday, 2 March, from Erotica event organisers.”

The press release stated that the council must be consulted for any procession that will interfere with traffic, or may require crowd management. Erotica Festival organiser Steve Crowe has brushed this off, saying that it is a promotion, not a parade, and all rules of the road will be observed.

City council and organizers of the event say they have received numerous complaints about the parade, however it isn’t in the city’s jurisdiction to act, as female toplessness is not illegal.

Council transport and streets manager Michael Aitken told NZPA that the “standard of dress of participants is not a matter that the council can control.”

Police inspector Gary Knowles commented that it was a “moral not a criminal issue. We have taken legal advice and unless there is a breach of the peace, we cannot intervene.”

Wikinews reporter Gabriel Pollard was at the parade to catch the action.

• The parade approaches.

• At the head of the parade, organiser Steve Crow (next to the woman) is riding along on a trike.

• The rest of the parade comes along. On the left is a porn actor showing off his torso, with a female motorcycle driver.

• Spectators, women as well as men, are using photo cameras, camera phones and camcorders to capture the parade.

Friday, May 12, 2006

American newspaper USA Today reported on Thursday that the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) collected millions of call logs from telecommunications companies in 2001. The report comes almost four months after a previous NSA controversy involving the monitoring of international calls placed within the United States.

Members of Congress called for answers from the government about the report detailing the agency’s collection of records from telecommunications companies of American phone calls.

The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said that he was very shocked about the NSA revelation. “It is our government, it’s not one party’s government. It’s America’s government. Those entrusted with great power have a duty to answer to Americans what they are doing,” said Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

AT&T, Verizon Communications, and BellSouth, three major telecommunications companies in the United States, began releasing logs of millions of phone calls to the NSA shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to the USA Today report.

Earlier this year, the New York Times released a report stating that the NSA had been monitoring certain phone calls placed between the United States and other countries. Nominated CIA director Michael Hayden commented on the NSA program on January 23, 2006, stating: “The purpose of all this is not to collect reams of intelligence, but to detect and prevent attacks.” Hayden was the head of the NSA during the programs’ durations.

President George W. Bush assured Americans that their privacy is being “fiercely protected.” “We’re not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans,” commented Bush after leaving for a commencement address at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Biloxi.

According to the report, the information released by the telecommunications companies does not detail the content of the calls. The identities of those that placed and received the calls were recorded.

The Supreme Court of the United States has previously ruled that logs of numbers dialed are not considered ‘private’ because they are being communicated to the telephone company.