Day's Headlines: UK's Wall; The Global Economy Pope; Stomping on Old, Hittite Ground; The $1.7B Pile of Cash; UN Demands NK Pretty Please Stop; Zika Tears; US Zika Funding Aborted; PP's Cushy Government Contract; Amateur Biological Weapons; What Cocaine?; and The Genesis Project

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

UK's Wall; The Global Economy Pope; Stomping on Old, Hittite Ground; The $1.7B Pile of Cash; UN Demands NK Pretty Please Stop; Zika Tears; US Zika Funding Aborted; PP's Cushy Government Contract; Amateur Biological Weapons; What Cocaine?; and The Genesis Project

Refugees

Calais migrants: Work to start on UK-funded wall bbc

Ms Rudd told the Home Affairs Committee the wall was "not a new initiative", but what mattered was making sure the French had the right amount of security to prevent "illegals" trying to get to the UK.

Also see Austria Threatens Hungary With Court Action Over Migrants abcnews.go

Global Economy

Time Inc. to Host Global Forum Featuring Pope Francis time

The 2016 Fortune/Time Global Forum—the first of its kind— will take place Dec. 2 and 3 and aims to bring together Fortune 500 CEOs, members of the TIME 100 most influential people and other academic, religious and business leaders to discuss international economic issues, including creating jobs, eliminating poverty, solving the refugee crisis and broadening prosperity.

Syria

Ancient Karkemish sees modern war on Turkey-Syria border seattletimes

Despite Syria’s civil war, archaeologists on the Turkish side of border-straddling Karkemish unearthed sculptures, mosaics and other artifacts in relative safety although sporadic gunfire and shelling was occasionally audible from the Syrian side. Now they plan to open the remains of the strategic city from the Hittite era to the public next year, despite the proximity of conflict in neighboring Syria.

Iran

Obama administration acknowledges $1.7B transfer to Iran was all cash cbsnews

A Treasury spokeswoman says the cash payments were necessary because of the “effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions,” which isolated Iran from the international finance system.

Also see Obama administration downplays 'spin' on Iran payments politico

North Korea

Flagrant disregard': UN condemns North Korean missile launches theguardian

Despite the bluntly worded statement, describing North Korea’s “flagrant disregard” of its demands, there are no immediate plans to begin discussions on new sanctions. The focus will instead be on fuller implementation of the last round of sanctions imposed in March. The US and its regional allies, South Korea and Japan – those most immediately threatened by Pyongyang’s military capabilities – are particularly keen to see China enforcing sanctions more robustly.

Pestilence

US study finds Zika virus in tears of mice foxnews

For the study, the team infected adult mice under the skin, resembling the way people get infected by mosquito bites, and found live virus in the eyes a week later. When tested 28 days later, the tears of infected mice contained genetic material from the virus, but not infectious virus.

Abortion

Senate Democrats Block Zika Bill Over Planned Parenthood Provisions nytimes

The Republican-driven package was supposed to resolve the differences between a bipartisan Senate plan and a less Democrat-friendly House version. The bill would exclude Planned Parenthood from the list of providers that get new funding for contraception to combat spread of the virus, which can be sexually transmitted.

Democrats regard any restriction on Planned Parenthood as setting a dangerous example, and they have shown they are willing to risk looking as if they are blocking funding for a public health crisis to prevent that precedent.

Obama Administration Proposes Rule That Could Ban States From Defunding Planned Parenthood christiannews.net

The notice of proposed rulemaking, “Compliance with Title X Requirements by Project Recipients in Selecting Subrecipients,” outlines that it plans to amend the Code of Federal Regulations to read, “No recipient making subawards for the provision of services as part of its Title X project may prohibit an entity from participating for reasons unrelated to its ability to provide services effectively.”

“Reducing access to Title X services has many adverse effects. Title X services have a dramatic effect on the number of unintended pregnancies and births in the United States,” HHS continued. “For example, services provided by Title X-funded sites helped prevent an estimated 1 million unintended pregnancies in 2010 which would have resulted in an estimated 501,000 unplanned births.”

Genetics

Security services concerned amateur 'biohackers' could create biological weapons, academic says independent.co.uk

...while most of these [Amateur scientist] groups are harmless, Professor John Parrington told the British Science Festival in Swansea there were fears among other scientists and the security services that the technology could be used to create a new form of deadly virus.

Researchers think they can cure cocaine addiction by erasing memories businessinsider

New memories made when high on cocaine are therefore intense and filled with enjoyment, leading the user to seek out these feelings again and again. The researchers therefore scoured clinical trials for an approved substance that interfered with the brain chemistry in that area.

Space

The genesis project: New life on exoplanets archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot

From a technical standpoint, the Genesis mission could already be achieved within a few decades with the aid of interstellar unmanned micro spacecraft which could be both accelerated and slowed down passively. On arrival, an automated gene laboratory on board the probe would synthesize a selection of single-cell organisms with the aim of establishing an ecosphere of unicellular organisms on the target planet. This could subsequently develop autonomously and possibly also into complex life forms. "In this way, we could jump the approximately four billion years which had been necessary on Earth to reach the Precambrian stage of development out of which the animal world developed about 500 million years ago," explains Gros. In order not to endanger any life which might already be present, Genesis probes would only head for uninhabited exoplanets.

Sigh

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