#news Reuters news agency staff vote for first strike in 25 years

NUJ members 'overwhelmingly' back action over below-inflation pay offer of 1.75%

• Josh Halliday
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 3 February 2012 10.45 GMT
• Article history

Breaking news: Reuters journalists have voted to strike over pay

Journalists at Thomson Reuters have voted to strike – the first at the news agency for the first time in more than 25 years – over a below-inflation pay offer.
The National Union of Journalists chapel at the company voted "overwhelmingly" for a 48-hour strike next week, to coincide with the release of Thomson Reuters' full-year financial results.
"We tried very hard to reach a settlement with management but the company's refusal to improve its below-inflation offer of 1.75%, which follows years of effective pay cuts, has compelled Thomson Reuters journalists to vote overwhelmingly for strike action for the first time in more than 25 years," said the Thomson Reuters NUJ chapel officers, Mike Roddy and Helen Long.
"Thomson Reuters must shoulder the responsibility for this dispute. The company ignored repeated warnings that members had reached a tipping point, after years of below-inflation pay rises, combined with rising costs, that are pricing many members out of their jobs."
The NUJ said that the pay offer had hit journalists whose families cannot afford to live in London.
A ballot for industrial action saw 83% of NUJ members at Thomson Reuters voting in favour and the strike is scheduled to begin at midnight on Thursday 9 February, for 48 hours.
The NUJ claimed that Thomson Reuters was also "under fire" over its treatment of cleaning staff at its Canary Wharf offices.
Barry Fitzpatrick, deputy general secretary of the NUJ, said: "This strike is about fairness. The management is proposing a below-inflation pay deal, while holding back money for a merit scheme.
"This is just not on. While our members struggle to make ends meet on their wages, the management should be putting all the money into an across-the-board pay increase."
NUJ members at the news agency last threatened to strike in 2008 and 2009 over job cuts and working conditions following the merger of Reuters and Thomson.
Thomson Reuters declined to comment.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

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Russian scientists seeking Lake Vostok lost in frozen 'Land of the Lost'?

Published February 02, 2012

| FoxNews.com

• 
  NASA photo of Lake Vostok in Antarctica.

A group of Russian scientists plumbing the frozen Antarctic in search of a lake buried in ice for tens of millions of years have failed to respond to increasingly anxious U.S. colleagues -- and as the days creep by, the fate of the team remains unknown.

"No word from the ice for 5 days," Dr. John Priscu professor of Ecology at Montana State University, told FoxNews.com via email.

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Race to Reach Antarctica's Giant Buried Lake Vostok Almost Over

Scientists to drill to lake buried 2 miles beneath Antarctica's ice

Journey to Antarctica: Mission to Drill Lake Buried Under 2 Miles of Ice

The team from Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) have been drilling for weeks in an effort to reach isolated Lake Vostok, a vast, dark body of water hidden 13,000 ft.  below the ice sheet's surface. The lake hasn't been exposed to air in more than 20 million years.

Priscu said there was no way to get in touch with the team -- and the already cold weather is set to plunge, as Antarctica's summer season ends and winter sets in.

"Temps are dropping below -40 Celsius [-40 degrees Fahrenheit] and they have only a week or so left before they have to winterize the station," he said. "I can only imagine what things must be like at Vostok Station this week."

The team's disappearance could not come at a worse time: They are about 40 feet from their goal of reaching the body of water, Priscu explained, a goal that the team was unable to meet as they raced the coming winter exactly one year ago.

When the winter arrives in the next few weeks, the temperature can get twice as freezing. Vostok Station boasts the lowest recorded temperature on Earth: -89.4 degrees Celsius (-129 degrees Fahrenheit).

If the team does reach the lake water, they will bring its water up through the hole and let it freeze there over the winter. The following year they will be able to start research on what they find, Priscu explained.

While there are only a few researchers actually working at the lake, scientists around the globe have been waiting with baited breath to see what the Russian's unearth this weekend.

"We are terribly interested in what they find," Alan Rodger, a scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, told FoxNews.com last year. "This is a lake that we don't think has been exposed for 15 million years. Therefore, if there is life there, we're going to have so many questions. How has it evolved over those years, how has it survived, what does it look like? Won't it be exciting to find something completely new on Planet Earth?"

Hey, where's the lake? Hidden beneath nearly 2 miles of ice in Western Antarctica.

The Lake Vostok project has been years in the making, with initial drilling at the massive lake -- 15,690 square kilometers (6,060 sq mi) -- starting in 1998. Initially, they were able to reach 3,600 meters, but had to stop due to concerns of possible contamination of the never-before-touched lake water.

"Ice isn't like rock, it's capable of movement," Dr. Priscu told FoxNews.com. "So in order to keep the hole from squeezing shut, they put a fluid in the drill called kerosene. Kerosene also grows bacteria, and there's about 65 tons of kerosene in that hole. It would be a disaster if that kerosene contaminated this pristine lake."

But the scientists came up with a clever way to make sure this debacle would not occur. They agreed to drill until a sensor warned them of free water. At that point they will take out the right amount of kerosene and adjust the pressure so that none of the liquids fall into the lake, but rather lake water would rise through the hole.

Priscu was concerned for his colleagues, but also admits the stunning scope of the story.

"It could be fodder for a great made-for-TV movie," he said.

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Children as young as 13 tortured, electrocuted by Syrian forces: rights group

Friday, 03 February 2012

Children in Turkey carry pictures of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib, the Syrian boy, who activists say was tortured and killed by security forces. (Reuters)

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By AFP
United Nations

Children as young as 13 are a particular target in the “rampant” use of torture by Syrian government forces battling opposition protests, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Friday.

The United Nations says hundreds of children have been killed in the crackdown over the past 10 months, and the rights group highlighted cases of children shot in their homes or on the streets, or grabbed from schools.

It documented 12 cases of children tortured in detention centers and said many more may have suffered similar treatment.

“In many cases, security forces have targeted children just as they have targeted adults,” said Lois Whitman, children’s rights director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The group’s report said more than 100 people who had been held by security forces “described rampant use of torture in detention centers against even the youngest detainees, even beyond the 12 cases specifically documented.”

“Children, some as young as 13, reported to Human Rights Watch that officers kept them in solitary confinement, severely beat and electrocuted them, burned them with cigarettes, and left them to dangle from metal handcuffs for hours at a time, centimeters above the floor,” the report said.

The parents of one 13-year-old boy from Latakia said he was detained for nine days in December after being accused of burning photos of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, inciting protests and vandalizing security forces’ cars.

Security officers burned the boy with cigarettes on his neck and hands and threw boiling water on him, the parents were quoted as saying.

Another 13-year-old told Human Rights Watch that security forces tortured him for three days at a military security branch after he was detained in May.

He said he fell unconscious after being electrocuted on the stomach.

“When they interrogated me the second time, they beat me and electrocuted me again. The third time they had some pliers, and they pulled out my toenail,” the boy was quoted as saying.

Most Syrian schools are now closed because of the unrest, in which thousands have been killed since last March. Many of the schools have been turned into detention centers with snipers prowling the rooftops.

Parents told Human Rights Watch that it was too dangerous to let their children out onto the streets.

One man from Homs said he stopped letting his 10-year-old son go to school because of snipers targeting Brazil Street, the main road leading to the school in one of the cities that has borne the brunt of the deadly crackdown.

“We called it ‘the street of death’,” he was quoted as saying.

Teenagers told Human Rights Watch how mass arrests were carried out.

One 17-year-old girl said that in May of last year, security forces entered her school in Latakia and arrested all the boys in her class, after questioning them about the anti-regime slogans painted on the school walls.

She did not know if they were ever released.

Human Rights Watch called on the U.N. Security Council to demand that the Syrian government end all human rights violations and cooperate with a U.N. Human Rights Council investigation and Arab League monitors.

The Security Council is negotiating a draft resolution condemning the bloody Syria crackdown. The proposed resolution has been softened by Western and Arab nations in a bid to overcome Russian-led opposition.

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Pinheirinho? Basta de socialistas!

Adolfo Lutz: Big Brother da corrupção (em vez de me rotular de "tucano", ajude a divulgar esse vídeo então)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5vPiosjnsQ

Pinheirinho e a torcida pela morte
http://www.implicante.org/blog/pinheirinho-e-a-torcida-pela-morte/

Veja onde estão os "mortos" do Pinheirinho, que estão vivos. Ou: Canalha esquerdopata institui a "prova negativa", coisa típica das tiranias que eles admiram
http://veja.abril.com.br/blog/reinaldo/geral/veja-onde-estao-os-mortos-do-pin...

"Líder" do Pinheirinho não mora na área, tem casa própria e carro, é dirigente do Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos e filiado ao PSTU
http://veja.abril.com.br/blog/reinaldo/geral/%E2%80%9Clider%E2%80%9D-do-pinhe...

Os "Pinheirinhos Petistas"
http://www.implicante.org/artigos/os-pinheirinhos-petistas/

As mentiras do PT sobre Pinheirinho
http://veja.abril.com.br/blog/augusto-nunes/feira-livre/as-mentiras-do-pt-sob...

VOCÊ NÃO VERÁ NA IMPRENSA POLITICAMENTE CORRETA - Pinheirinho era dominado por milícia ideológica que cobrava taxa de moradores e comerciantes
http://veja.abril.com.br/blog/reinaldo/geral/voce-nao-vera-na-imprensa-politi...

Sob a gestão de Nelson Breve, EBC comete a maior delinqüência jornalística de sua história: noticia a existência de mortos no Pinheirinho que jamais existiram. E o que fizeram o UOL e Terra
http://veja.abril.com.br/blog/reinaldo/geral/sob-a-gestao-de-nelson-breve-ebc...

Aviso da OAB/SJC
http://www.oabsjc.org.br/site/boletim3.asp?codnot=100157

Pinheirinho, outro-ladismo e neojornalismo; os mortos e a massa falida
http://veja.abril.com.br/blog/reinaldo/geral/pinheirinho-outro-ladismo-e-neoj...

Membro da OAB volta atrás sobre mortes em Pinheirinho
http://www.advivo.com.br/blog/luisnassif/membro-da-oab-volta-atras-sobre-mort...

Operação retira 70 famílias de invasão em fazenda da União
http://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/cidades/2012/01/28/interna_c...

Marrom ocupa cargo fantasma
http://www.ovale.com.br/nossa-regi-o/marrom-ocupa-cargo-fantasma-1.208885

Líder dos sem-teto tem casa própria e recebe de sindicato
http://www.ovale.com.br/regi-o/lider-dos-sem-teto-tem-casa-propria-e-recebe-d...

'Quando me olho no espelho, dói muito', diz baiana agredida por PM
Cozinheira perdeu globo ocular após receber golpe de um policial da capital.
Após oito dias, polícia abre inquérito e responsável pode ser punido.
http://g1.globo.com/bahia/noticia/2012/01/quando-me-olho-no-espelho-doi-muito...

Jovem fica cego após confronto com a polícia em protesto no PI
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/1036377-jovem-fica-cego-apos-confronto...

MST: organização criminosa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JDcDQjyjyE

03/02/2012

às 6:44

Aqui, eu lhes ofereço fatos, fotos e filme de uma reintegração de posse ocorrida no Acre, em julho, estado governado pelo PT. Este é o método do partido de Dilma e de Gilberto Carvalho

Nunca antes da história destepaiz, nem nos tempos do Apedeuta, viu-se o uso tão descarado e organizado da máquina pública para atacar adversários do governo federal. Dilma Rousseff permite que seus ministros atuem como ordem unida contra a gestão de um partido adversário — refiro-me ao PSDB de São Paulo — e que a estrutura subordinada à Presidência da República seja posta a serviço do proselitismo político. Sem falar da rede suja na Internet, financiada diretamente pelo governo federal e por estatais. Ver um banco oficial patrocinando ataques sistemáticos a um membro do Supremo Tribunal Federal nos remete à ditadura bolivariana, não a um regime democrático. Tratam a máquina do Estado e o bem público como coisa particular.

Faço questão de destacar outra vez: ainda que não ancorada em fatos, mas apenas na gritaria militante, a “indignação” da presidente Dilma Rousseff e de ministros como Gilberto Carvalho, Maria do Rosário e José Eduardo Cardozo com os eventos do Pinheirinho, em São José dos Campos, poderia ser autêntica. Mesmo havendo uma ordem judicial determinando a reintegração de posse, de cumprimento obrigatório, esses amantes da democracia poderiam ter ficado sinceramente tocados e comovidos.  Mas ouso acusar aqui essa indignação de hipócrita; outro afirmar aqui que tanto zelo com os direitos humanos trai o cúmulo do desprezo ao homem porque zelo seletivo, destinado mais a atingir adversários do que a proteger os pequenos.

O mesmo se diga de amplos setores da imprensa, que hoje se deixam pautar e patrulhar por pistoleiros a soldo na Internet e pela blitz organizada pelo PT nas redes sociais. Os mesmos que fazem um escarcéu danado por causa do Pinheirinho — onde, felizmente, não houve feridos com gravidade —, calam-se diante de um estudante e de uma cozinheira, do Piauí e da Bahia, respectivamente, que ficaram cegos de um olho em confronto com a polícia. Por que o silêncio? Porque são estados governados pelos “companheiros” — o primeiro pela coligação PSB-PT, e outro, pelos petistas.

Brasiléia, Acre
Muito bem! Vejam este filme. Volto em seguida.

No dia 14 de julho do ano passado, o Batalhão de Operações Especiais (Bope) da Polícia Militar do Acre, obedecendo a uma determinação judicial — a exemplo do que teve de fazer a PM de São Paulo —, foi chamada a executar a reintegração de posse de um terreno privado na periferia da cidade de Brasília, no interior do Acre, administrada pela prefeita Leila Galvão, do PT. As 350 famílias de sem-terra e sem-teto brasileiros que estavam no terreno invadido já tinham sido expulsas de uma área que ocupavam na Bolívia, do companheiro Evo Morales. O índio de araque — que nos tomou uma refinaria da Petrobras e que recebe dinheiro do BNDES para fazer uma estrada, por onde transitará a folha de coca que será cheirada no Brasil quando virar cocaína — não quer saber de brasileiros por lá. Pois é…

As famílias invadiram a área particular e tiveram de sair. Houve resistência, e o pau comeu. Notem que o vídeo acima não é um daqueles feitos por inimigos da polícia ou do governo do Estado, como os que circulam na Internet sobre o Pinheirinho. Mesmo assim, dá para perceber que o bicho vai pegar. Assiste-se ali ao princípio do confronto e às primeiras bombas.

Muito bem. Informam a imprensa local que não está rendida ao governo do PT — bem pouca — e a deputada federal Antônia Lucia (PSC-AC) que o índio José Adelson Jaminawa levou um tiro de bala de borracha e ficou cego de um olho — parece que as polícias sob o controle dos companheiros têm predileção por essa modalidade de “contenção de distúrbio”. Júlia Graziela Vasquez, 21 anos, desalojada pela polícia, sofreu um aborto logo depois da operação. Diz que um policial lhe desferiu um chute na barriga. Abimael Filho, outro invasor, levou um tiro, também de bala de borracha, no rosto. Ler a parte da imprensa acreana que é amiga do governador Tião Viana (PT) é uma experiência e tanto. Os invasores de terra são tratados como bandidos e como provocadores.

Os desalojados reclamaram de toda sorte de maus-tratos. Os que são pais acusam o Ministério Público Estadual de tê-los ameaçado com o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente porque teriam exposto suas crianças ao perigo. Antônia Lúcia cobrou explicações do Ministério da Justiça, da Secretaria de Relações Institucionais e até do presidente da Funai. Em sua denúncia, aponta o “descalabro e a injustiça cometida pela Policia Militar do Estado do Acre e os funcionários públicos estaduais que participaram a ação de reintegração de posse no município de Brasiléia”.

- Vocês já tinham ouvido falar da desocupação de Brasiléia?
- Vocês já tinham ouvido falar do índio que ficou cego em razão de uma bala de borracha?
- Vocês já imaginaram o que seria do noticiário se algo assim tivesse se dado no Pinheirinho?

As coisas pararam por aí?
Não! No dia 18 de julho, uma comissão dos desalojados foi falar com a prefeita Leila Galvão (PT). Houve um novo desentendimento, e um dos líderes da invasão, Marcos Filho, foi atingido por uma pistola de choque, o taser, no pescoço (ver fotos). Há recomendação expressa dos fabricantes para que a arma não seja usada nessa parte do corpo. Ele desmaiou e precisou de atendimento médico.

Então…

Não estou demonizando a polícia do Acre, não. Assim como não demonizei a da Bahia ou do Piauí. Cada um desses relatos precisa ser devidamente apurado.Tudo indica que os invasores de Brasiléia não receberam mesmo a polícia com flores — a idéia também não era essa em Pinheirinho, mas a PM teve o bom sendo de infiltrar homens no local para desarmar a tal tropa de choque mambembe que o PSTU tinha organizado.  A julgar pelos resultados, a operação no Acre não foi tão bem-sucedida como a de São Paulo.

Um pouco de vergonha na cara
Não escrevo essas coisas para defender que todos os partidos e todos os governos têm a sua cota de direito à violência. Tampouco censuro em princípio a polícia do Acre — como não censurei as do Piauí e da Bahia. Resistência a ações policiais nunca são coisas muito bonitas de se ver, no Brasil ou no mundo.

Cobro dos petistas, em suma, é um pouco de vergonha na cara. Só um pouco. Não é pedir demais.

As duas fotos acima estão publicada no “Blog do Leudo”. Trata-se de Marcos Filho, um dos líderes da invasão, atingido por pistola elétrica na Prefeitura. O fabricante recomenda explicitamente que não seja usada no pescoço. Gilberto Carvalho ficou indignado porque um assessor seu, Paulo Maldos, teria sido atingido por uma bala de borracha no Pinheirinho. O homem não fez BO nem exame de corpo de delito porque não quis. Os invasores de Brasiléia acusam a polícia de ter querido registrar suas queixas. Verdade ou mentira? Uma coisa é certa: para esses invasores, Carvalho não deu a menor bola. Nem Dilma. Nem Carozo. Nem Maria do Rosário. Gente que perturba governo petista é, naturalmente, reacionária!

Por Reinaldo Azevedo

Tags: Acre, Pinheirinho

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Coldplay - Charlie Brown

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Nikon posts Q3 2011 earnings, sees significant losses due to Thailand floods

By Amar Toor posted Feb 3rd 2012 3:15AM

Nikon posted its Q3 earnings report this morning, and there isn't a whole lot to smile about. The cameramaker had to swallow a one-off loss of ¥10.9 billion last quarter (approximately $143.1 million), due to widespread flooding that devastated its Thailand manufacturing plant, in October. Today's report comes just a day after Sony issued similarly dire figures, which it largely attributed to last year's flooding, as well. For the third quarter ended December 31st, Nikon posted a ¥3.7 billion loss (about $48.6 million), compared with the ¥9.7 billion ($127.3 million) it saw in net profits over the same period in 2010. Operating profits also fell to ¥8.2 billion from ¥18.6 billion in 2010, while total revenue dropped from ¥253.8 billion in Q3 2010 to ¥215.4 billion, last quarter. The company remains optimistic about the future, though, forecasting net gains of ¥55 billion this year, coupled with an expected revenue of ¥925 billion. For the full report, check out the source links below.

Nikon (1), (2) (PDF)

3

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Obama to unveil veterans jobs proposal with hefty price tag

By Alex Mooney, CNN White House Producer

February 3, 2012 -- Updated 0632 GMT (1432 HKT)

The president's jobs proposal for veterans will likely meet stiff resistance in Congress.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Initiative would involve Veterans Administration, Interior Department
• Grant money would be awarded to towns, fire departments that train and hire veterans
• Proposal's $5 billion price tag makes it a tough sell in Congress

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is unveiling a new jobs initiative geared toward veterans Friday that the administration says will put thousands of former men and women in uniform back to work.
The new so-called Veterans Jobs Corps initiative, first mentioned in the president's State of the Union address last week, involves partnerships with the Veterans Administration and the Interior Department, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies.
The president is scheduled to announce the new proposals during a speech at an Arlington, Virginia, firehouse.
But with a price tag of at least $5 billion, it's likely the new initiative will be met with stiff opposition in Congress.
Specifically, the administration will award $166 million in grant money to communities that show a preference of hiring post-9/11 veterans for new law enforcement positions. Meanwhile, $320 million in grant money will be awarded to various fire departments who pledge to hire and train new veterans.
The money for those grants has already been appropriated by Congress. But the president will seek an additional $4 billion in his upcoming budget to expand both programs. Congress rejected a similar proposal last fall that was part of the president's broader jobs initiative.
The president also will announce that his upcoming budget will include a $1 billion proposal to create as many as 20,000 new jobs for veterans relating to conservation efforts of America's federal and state public lands.
That initiative, to be overseen by the Department of Interior, would put veterans to work in visitor and tourism-related jobs as well as positions that will assist in general upkeep and maintenance roles throughout the country's public parks and nature preserves.
"These are common-sense initiatives to serve our 9/11 veterans who are coming home," Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar told reporters on a conference call with reporters. "We hope Congress does its job (in approving the funding)."
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki also announced the president will propose expanding training programs for entrepreneurially focused veterans seeking to start their own businesses. This program would include online training seminars conducted by the Small Business Administration lasting as long as eight weeks and could service as many as 10,000 veterans annually, according to administration estimates.
"Our country owes them a debt of gratitude and we must ensure that veterans who come home from Afghanistan and Iraq get the opportunities they deserve," Shinseki said.
The unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans is 11.1%, more than 2 percentage points higher than the country's overall unemployment rate. Among the president's few jobs proposals to clear Congress last year were new tax credits for businesses that hire recent veterans.

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Anonymous hackers access Greek ministry website

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• World »
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ATHENS | Fri Feb 3, 2012 3:28am EST

(Reuters) - Hackers associated with the activist group Anonymous posted a protest against Greece's EU and IMF-inspired austerity policies on the website of the country's justice ministry Friday, a ministry spokeswoman said.
The site was taken offline until it was secure, she said.
Hackers involved with the loosely organized group Anonymous have been linked to attacks around the world aimed at punishing governments for policies they dislike or at showing that corporations' data security efforts are inadequate.
The hackers said they were protesting against the near-bankrupt country's bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund which has been associated with unpopular austerity policies.
"You have joined the IMF against your people's acquiescence... democracy was given birth in your country but you have killed it," said a two-minute video in English which said it was from Anonymous and was posted on the ministry website.
Near-bankrupt Greece is currently locked in last-ditch talks with its creditors to stave off a chaotic default that might spill over to other euro zone countries.
(Reporting by Harry Papachristou; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Karolyne Laila Soares, piora e volta para UTI da Santa Casa

Segundo os médicos que assitem a jovem, o motivo foi uma hipertensão pulmonar; estado de saúde é estatel Redação
A jovem Karolyne Laila Soares, de 19 anos, que passou três dias esperando por socorro em córrego depois de acidente grave na rodovia Eliéser Montenegro Magalhães, precisou voltar para a UTI (Unidade de Terapia Intensiva) da Santa de Casa de Fernandópolis nesta quinta-feira (2).
Na manhã de quarta-feira (1), ela tinha ido para o quarto. Segundo a equipe médica, o motivo foi uma hipertensão pulmonar. O estado de saúde dela continua estável.

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SOCORRO : Dilma: Brasil está aberto a haitianos; combate é contra coiotes

quarta-feira, 1 de fevereiro de 2012 20:25 BRST

 

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1 Fev (Reuters) - Após a entrada ilegal de milhares de haitianos no Brasil, a presidente Dilma Rousseff disse nesta quarta-feira, em Porto Príncipe, que o país está aberto a receber cidadãos da nação caribenha, e que o combate à migração irregular deve focar os grupos que agenciam o transporte entre os dois países, conhecidos como coiotes.
O Haiti, país mais pobre das Américas, ainda se recupera dos efeitos do devastador terremoto de janeiro de 2010, que destruiu a capital Porto Príncipe e paralisou a economia local, elevando o desemprego e a pobreza, fator principal para a saída de haitianos.
"Reiterei que continuaremos cooperando para criar para os haitianos condições de vida melhores no próprio Haiti. Deixei claro, no entanto, que como é da natureza dos brasileiros, estamos abertos a receber cidadãos haitianos que optem por buscar oportunidades no Brasil", disse Dilma em um comunicado após reunião com o presidente haitiano, Michel Martelly.
Entre o final de 2011 e início deste ano, cerca de 4 mil haitianos entraram ilegalmente no norte do Brasil. O governo brasileiro concedeu visto a todos eles.
Para coibir a imigração ilegal, a embaixada brasileira passou a emitir 100 vistos condicionados por mês a haitianos interessados em residir no Brasil.
"Iremos combater as redes criminosas de intermediários, os chamados coiotes, que se aproveitam da vulnerabilidade de trabalhadores e suas famílias, submetendo no trajeto do Haiti ao Brasil a situações degradantes e desumanas, além de explorá-los cobrando taxas escorchantes", disse a presidente.
Dilma disse ainda que a reconstrução do Haiti, após o terremoto que matou cerca de 250 mil pessoas, não pode ser interrompida, e destacou a importância de investimento privado brasileiro no país caribenho.
"Conversamos ainda sobre a importância da participação do Brasil na reconstrução e do desenvolvimento do Haiti. Isso se expressa também... no esforço para presença, para garantir a presença no Haiti de investimentos privados brasileiros", disse.
"Na atual crise econômica mundial, países mais vulneráveis necessitam atenção redobrada sob pena de serem ainda mais injustamente castigados... Não podemos, portanto, permitir que seja interrompida a trajetória de recuperação do Haiti".
O Brasil lidera a força de paz da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU) no país desde 2004, com mais de 2.100 homens. Dilma disse que a participação brasileira será reduzida a 1.900, mas não citou prazos.
O efetivo total da missão, de cerca de 11,6 mil integrantes, começará a ser reduzido neste ano para níveis pré-terremoto, mas um prazo para a retirada total não foi anunciado pela ONU.
A visita ao Haiti encerra uma viagem de três dias de Dilma ao Caribe, que incluiu uma parada em Cuba.
(Por Hugo Bachega, em Brasília

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Russia holds firm against military intervention in Syria

U.N. diplomats say they have made progress on a Security Council resolution, but challenges remain. About 70 more deaths are reported in Syria.

A Syrian woman injured in government shelling in the Rastan area of Homs province stands at the entrance of her residence. (Associated Press / February 1, 2012)

• Also
• Arab, Western nations push for U.N. action on Syria crisis
• Report: Some monitors thought Syria trip was for 'pleasure'
• Violence in Syria continues as U.N. debates its future
• Why are U.S., Russia squabbling over Syria at the United Nations?

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By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

February 2, 2012

Reporting from Beirut—

As diplomats attempted to craft a compromise, Russia remained firm Wednesday in its pledge to veto any U.N. Security Council resolution that could open the door for international military intervention in Syria.

Meanwhile, fighting raged anew in the troubled Middle East nation, with nearly 70 additional deaths reported by opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose bloody crackdown on street protests has led to calls from the Arab League and Western powers for him to step aside.

After a closed-door meeting, U.N. diplomats said progress had been made to overcome Russia's objections. "But there are a lot of difficult issues and we are not there yet," said British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, according to the Associated Press.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said, "I think we have a much better understanding of what we need to do to reach consensus."

But Moscow continues to oppose any U.N. move that calls for Assad to step down or would slap new economic penalties or an arms embargo on Damascus.

Behind Russia's resolute stance is its longtime relationship with Assad and his family, who have run Syria for four decades, as well as a web of business and security interests, and deep discomfort in Moscow with the concept of foreign-mandated change in leadership. Russian diplomats say they were deceived last year when a U.N. resolution designed to protect Libyan civilians morphed into a Western-led bombing campaign that doomed the long-ruling government of Moammar Kadafi.

Moreover, opposition to the resolution will not cause significant damage to relations between Russia, the West and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, predicted Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. Other concerns, such as the situation in Iran and Afghanistan, keep Washington and its allies engaged with Russia, he said, and Moscow's relations with gulf countries are already bad.

"Russia has nothing to lose," Lukyanov said.

U.N. action could help determine the future of Syria as it nears the one-year anniversary of a protest movement that was met by the government crackdown and has since evolved into armed rebellion that has left the country on the precipice of civil war.

A draft U.N. resolution circulating in New York would authorize unspecified "further measures" should Syria not comply with its terms, including a "political transition" in which Assad would cede power.

The Arab League and its Western allies, including Washington, are pushing the proposal. But Syria, backed by Russia and other nations, calls the scheme an affront to its sovereignty.

Moscow, which last year joined with China to veto a U.N. resolution that would have condemned the Syrian crackdown on dissent, is concerned that the revolt in Syria, along with other "Arab Spring" movements, are part of a Western conspiracy to dominate the Middle East, Russian analysts say.

Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's envoy to the European Union, said the current U.N. draft was "missing the most important thing: a clear clause ruling out the possibility that ... [it] could be used to justify military intervention in Syrian affairs."

"For this reason," he said, "I see no chance this draft could be adopted."

Violence continued to ravage Syria on Wednesday, with an opposition coalition, the Local Coordination Committees, reporting at least 68 more deaths, more than half in clashes outside Damascus. The military has been clearing armed rebels from towns near the capital after insurgents brazenly advanced to within a few miles of the capital, embarrassing the government.

The official government news agency reported that four military officers, including a brigadier general, were killed Wednesday and six were wounded in a confrontation with an "armed terrorist group" outside Damascus.

The United Nations has reported more than 5,000 deaths since protests against Assad's rule broke out in March.

Casualty figures cannot be independently verified because journalists' access is limited in Syria.

Also on Wednesday, Iran reported that 11 Iranian pilgrims had been abducted in Syria, the latest in a series of kidnappings of Iranian citizens. Iran is a close ally of Syria, but Tehran has advised its citizens to hold off on bus tours to the nation.

Kidnappings, mostly of Syrians, have become a regular feature of the conflict, reflecting a generalized breakdown in law and order, human rights activists say. Abductees are often used as bargaining chips to gain the release of kidnap victims held by the other side, observers say.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Special correspondents Alexandra Sandels in Beirut and Khristina Narizhnaya in Moscow contributed to this report.

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'Supergiant' crustacean found in deepest ocean

By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC News

The "supergiants" were found in the Kermadec Trench off New Zealand

Continue reading the main story

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A huge crustacean has been found lurking 7km down in the waters off the coast of New Zealand.

The creature - called a supergiant - is a type of amphipod, which are normally around 2-3cm long.
But these beasts, discovered in the Kermadec Trench, were more than 10 times bigger: the largest found measured in at 34cm.
Alan Jamieson, from the University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab, said: "It's a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach."
"I stopped and thought: 'What on Earth was that?' This amphipod was far bigger than I ever thought possible."

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

It just goes to show that the more you look, the more you find”

Dr Ashley Rowden Niwa

The strange animals were found using a large metal trap, which had been equipped with a camera, housed in sapphire glass to keep it safe from the high pressures of the deep sea.

Seven specimens were caught in the trap and nine were captured on film by the team from the University of Aberdeen, in Scotland, and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), in New Zealand.
The largest specimen brought back up to the ship measured 28cm in length, while the biggest spotted on camera was 34cm-long.
'Conspicuous animal' Amphipods have been found living in large numbers at the very bottom of ocean trenches, deep, narrow valleys in the sea floor that can plunge down to nearly 11km.
The creatures are small, but extremely active, and seem to thrive in this place where the pressure is one thousand times greater than at sea level.

Amphipods found elsewhere in the deep are usually just 2-3cm in length

The name "supergiant" was first coined after large specimens were caught in the 1980s off the coast of Hawaii.
They have been since being seen in the Antarctic, where they grew up to 10cm, but these are now dwarfed by this latest find.
Dr Ashley Rowden, from Niwa, said: "It just goes to show that the more you look, the more you find.
"For such a large and conspicuous animal to go unnoticed for so long is just testament to how little we know about life in New Zealand's most deep and unique habitat."
Over the last few years, scientists have been surprised by the life that is found in ocean trenches.
These deep-sea spots were once thought to be barren; too dark, cold and with too much pressure for anything to survive.
But researchers have found a wealth of life in the deepest of the deep.
As well as swarms of amphipods, they have uncovered shrimp-like creatures called isopods and snailfish that live 7,700m down.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2012 February 2
La Silla Star Trails North and South
Image Credit & Copyright: Alexandre Santerne (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille / Observatoire de Haute Provence) Explanation: Fix your camera to a tripod and you can record graceful trails traced by the stars as planet Earth rotates on its axis. If the tripod is set up at ESO's La Silla Observatory, high in the Atacama desert of Chile, your star trails would look something like this. Spanning about 4 hours on the night of January 24, the image is actually a composite of 250 consecutive 1-minute exposures, looking toward the north. The North Celestial Pole, at the center of the star trail arcs, is just below the horizon in this southern hemisphere perspective. In the foreground, the polished 15-meter diameter dish antenna of the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter Telescope (now decommissioned) shows star trails toward the south by reflection. Sweeping around the South Celestial Pole, the distorted arcs of those stars appear underneath the southern horizon in the focusing dish's inverted view. Right of the dish is the dome of the observatory's 3.6 meter telescope, home to the planet hunting HARPS spectrograph.

Tomorrow's picture: Eagle Nebula

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Amazing Whiteboard Remakes of Famous Paintings

by Judy Berman. Posted on 11:30 am Wednesday Feb 1, 2012

Office cubicles aren’t known for inspiring creativity. In fact, they have a reputation for doing just the opposite. But working in a confined space doesn’t always have to be stifling. Meet Bill Taylor, a data manager in Durham, North Carolina who recreates iconic works of art on a whiteboard in his cube. He spends only two to five minutes per day on his drawings, taking roughly six weeks to finish each piece — and then he leave it up for a day or two, photographs the finished product, wipes the board clean, and gets to work on his next masterpiece. “[T]here’s something about doing it this way that forces me to be patient, something I could always use more practice with,” Taylor told the Telegraph. Click through to see some of our favorite whiteboard paintings, and then visit Taylor’s website to peruse the entire collection.

Roy Lichtenstein, In the Car. Image credit: Bill Taylor [Spotted via Designboom]

Pablo Picasso, Guernica. Image credit: Bill Taylor

Banksy, Stop and Search. Image credit: Bill Taylor

MC Escher, Relativity. Image credit: Bill Taylor

Hokusai, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. Image credit: Bill Taylor

Edward Hopper, Nighthawks. Image credit: Bill Taylor

Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night

Jack Vettriano, The Singing Butler. Image credit: Bill Taylor

Claude Monet, La Promenade. Image credit: Bill Taylor

Paul Cezanne, The Cardplayers. Image credit: Bill Taylor

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First World Problems: NFL Worried About Glee’s Influence On Roman Numerals

02.02.12 Written by Brandon

These people: the reason you'll stop watching football.

Unless I can’t figure out how to get Ghorbash the Iron Hand to follow me through a ruin in Skyrim without bugging out and getting lost in the walls, this is the least important problem you’ll read about today: the NFL and Nike are concerned that if they use the Roman numeral “L” to represent the number 50 in 2016′s Super Bowl 50, people will think the Super Bowl and Nike mean “loser”. Remember when Super Bowl 30 happened and people started masturbating to it?
MyFoxDC.com expounds on the origin problem, going to great lengths to say, “hey, remember when Ace Ventura said loo-hoo-hoo zer-her? That’s what we’re worried about”.

In the 2003 book “Field Guide to Gestures,” the “loser gesture” was referenced as forming the letter L on your forehead with your index finger and thumb. The book offered a five-step primer that ended, “Say ‘loser’ with derision, generally elongating the first syllable.”
The sign has perpetuated in movies and TV shows since at least the 1990s. Most recently, the symbol was featured in promotional materials for “Glee” and has become something like a secret handshake for “Gleeks” since the show’s 2009 premiere.

L can mean a lot of things. Have you ever picked up a large shirt, looked at the tag and though “ugh, I can’t wear this, look at this tag, people will think I’m a loser“? Have you ever picked up a copy of ELLE magazine and flipped though it for LAN Party tips? Hopefully by the time 2016 rolls around, Glee will be long-canceled and the people in charge of the biggest sporting event on the planet will say, “okay, it’s a letter, let’s move on with our lives”. Or maybe they’ll call it SUPER BOWLL and go for a Lloyd Moseby vibe.
Until then, we have to out the people who get a hard-on from this as the world’s true losers:

“L standing for loser with a Nike swoosh right above it — I love that,” said Blake Lundberg, general manager of Adidas’ sports licensed division.

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No girls to play with at school: India’s infanticide crisis

By Agence France-Presse
Friday, February 3, 2012 2:28 EST

 

Topics: india

 

DEVDA, India — As the only girl in her noisy classroom of 22 boys, Padma Kanwar Bhatti is one defiant symbol of the toll exacted by India’s deadly preference for male children.
Padma, 15, lives with her parents and two elder brothers in Devda, a village of 2,500 residents in the Rajasthan state district of Jaisalmer, which has one of the worst female sex ratios in the country.
“There is no other girl in my class and there are very few girls in our village,” she says hesitantly.

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"Anonymous’ Launches Operation Armenian Genocide

Posted by Nanore Barsoumian on February 2, 2012 in News 

The “hacktivist” (activist hackers) group “Anonymous” recently released a new video announcing Operation Armenian Genocide, which threatens attacks against Turkish and U.S. government websites if they fail to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Anonymous launches 'Operation Armenian Genocide'

“…And to the Turkish government: In 1915, The Turkish killed millions of Armenians. Now you have to pay for your actions. Nearly two million people were killed by the Turkish including children and women and yet you still deny the existence of the genocide… This is a warning to you. We will start targeting Turkish government websites until the genocide is confirmed,” read the altered voice on the YouTube clip uploaded on Jan. 25.
The message also threatened to engage in cyber-attacks against official U.S. websites if the genocide is not recognized by “next year.” It is unclear whether the deadline is April 2012 or April 2013.
“Every four years in the United States, every official who wants to be a president tells the Armenian people that they will confirm the existence of the Armenian Genocide. However, the U.S. has not yet confirmed it. If this occurs next year, we will start targeting U.S. official websites. Operation Armenian Genocide, engaged,” continued the voice.
The clip ended with the group’s slogan, “We are anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”
It appears the video was prepared before Jan. 23, when the French Senate passed a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide. “Your protest against France won’t help. The French Senators will pass the bill and they are supported by hundreds of historians,” declared the voice in the clip, adding, “You will not join the European Union and never will.”
The video announced both the launch of Operation Armenian Genocide and Operation Anti-ACTA (the acronym for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which deals with intellectual property rights and includes measures against the production and distribution of counterfeit products, generic medicine, and online piracy). Opponents argue the agreement infringes on individual rights, including free speech and the right to privacy, and would lead to an increase in border searches and screenings of person electronic devices such as laptops and iPhones. An earlier draft of the agreement said internet providers would give authorities information on individuals suspected of copyright infringement without a warrant, and that governments could shut down websites engaged in piracy.
According to a thread on a Russian-language blog post, Operation Armenian Genocide (#OpArmGenocide, as it is also called on sites such as Twitter) was “shelved” to focus on Operation ACTA and Operation Megaupload, and it is unclear when it will re-launch.
On Jan. 27, however, the official website of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs was briefly offline. The Armenian Weekly could not independently verify that it was due to Anonymous action, although some sources claimed it was.
The creator of the video may be of Armenian origin, since s/he states, “Germany is still paying Jewish people for their actions and now it’s time for Turkey to give back our land and pay us for our loss.”
Anonymous has no leader, but is made up of internet users who work collectively towards a certain goal while maintaining anonymity. Anyone can become a member of Anonymous and propose actions; it is up to each member to support or oppose any suggested operation.
In 2011, Anonymous went after Turkish government websites in retaliation for measures preventing Turkish citizens from accessing websites such as YouTube. Turkish authorities had initially set up the ban because of the presence of videos offensive to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s memory.
In a previous operation, Anonymous attacked websites belonging to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Universal Music Group, among others, in protest of the shutdown of the movie-sharing website Megaupload in January, and the arrest of four of its staff.
During the Arab Spring uprisings, Anonymous targeted Tunisian, Egyptian, and Libyan government websites in solidarity with the protesters. The group has a string of operations under its belt, including Operation Intifada, in response to Israel’s alleged involvement in cyber-attacks against Iran; Operation Syria, in support of the 2011 Syrian uprising; Operation India, against corruption in the country; Operation Blackout, in retaliation of the Stop Online Piracy Act in the U.S.; and Operation Avenge Assange (part of Operation Payback), in response to companies terminating their services to WikiLeaks.
Anonymous hackers have also released e-mails, passwords, and private information of individual targets, including police officers who were believed to have used force against protesters in the Occupy movement.

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