Apr
11
2013
An analysis of imported brands found surprising levels of the metal.
Reporting at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, a group of researchers lead by Tsanangurayi Tongesayi, an associate professor of chemistry at Monmouth University in New Jersey announced the results of their analysis of rice from Asia, Europe and South America. The imports, which currently make up about 7% of rice consumed in America, contained higher than acceptable levels of lead.
The levels ranged …
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Apr
11
2013
(Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Jack Lew reiterated the government’s opposition to a tax on financial transactions, which would make banks pay for help in the financial crisis and is gaining steam in Europe.
“I think the design element you’re describing is very problematic,” Lew said in response to a question from Democratic Representative Richard Neal on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Eleven euro zone countries plan to introduce the tax next January, but little support …
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Apr
11
2013
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — An increase in the number of Haitian immigrants entering Brazil has led the government of the Amazon state of Acre to decree a state of “social emergency.”
Governor Tiao Viana decreed a state of emergency on Tuesday to get the federal government to help curb the influx of immigrants and provide aid to those already inside Brazil, the government’s website said.
“It is the formal recognition of the seriousness of the situation,” Viana …
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Apr
11
2013
The billionaire founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has launched a new initiative to push for immigration reform, describing America’s current system as “unfit for today’s world.”
The group, called FWD.us, (pronounced Forward US), is backed by other Silicon Valley leaders including Google chairman Eric Schmidt, Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer and Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of Linkedin.
“We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants. And it’s a policy unfit for today’s world,” Zuckerberg …
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Apr
11
2013
New estimates of the amount of oil spilled by Exxon Mobil in Mayflower, Arkansas have grown far beyond the initial figures of 84,000 gallons. Susan White at Inside Climate News tries to get a sense of the actual size of the spill:
Engelmann said Friday that “3,500 to 5,000 is not our number” and suggested that InsideClimate News ask PHMSA where those figures came from. A PHMSA spokeswoman confirmed that the higher …
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Apr
11
2013
The Metropolitan Police has asked groups planning to demonstrate during or in advance of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral to make themselves known to officers so that their “right to protest can be upheld”.
The call, which echoes similar ones made in the run-up to the Olympics, is an attempt to avoid any outbreak of violence or public order issues which might threaten to mar the funeral procession. However, the suggestion will anger those who say the right …
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Apr
11
2013
MADRID—Spanish politicians no longer have to worry about street protests hitting too close to home.
The government announced a ban on gatherings within three blocks of any politician’s home Wednesday, days after more than 100 people waved banners and blew whistles outside the deputy prime minister’s front gate.
The restriction was a sign of the government’s concern that demonstrations generated by years of recession in Spain are becoming more aggressive and less manageable.
Over the past month, a …
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Apr
11
2013
AFP – Shell on Thursday said it had launched a review of its oil and gas assets in Nigeria’s massively polluted Ogoniland region, resuming work in the area two decades after unrest forced the company to pull out.
The Anglo-Dutch oil major said the move was not part of an attempt to restart oil production in Ogoniland, describing it instead as a bid to comply with a 2011 UN report that called for one of the …
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Apr
11
2013
Oklahoma grandmother Nancy Zorn, 79, locked herself to a piece of heavy machinery Tuesday morning in protest of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline construction, halting work on a construction site of the tar sands harbinger for several hours.
Starting early in the morning, Zorn locked herself to the large ‘excavator’, latching a bike lock around her neck to the machine.
“Right now our neighbors in Arkansas are feeling the toxic affect of tar sands on their community. Will …
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Apr
11
2013
The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a confirmation hearing on Wednesday for an open spot on U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. The nominee is Srikanth Srinivasan, whose current job is Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. The hearing is a big one for both Obama and Srinivasan, because as Jeffery Toobin pointed out in a breakdown of Srinivasan’s record, this is basically his audition to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the …
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