Latest News Clips 2013.04.22

1.      It can happen anywhere CNN   April 16, 2013

Grand Rapids, Michigan (CNN) -- If September 11, 2001, was the day everything changed, then April 15, 2013, serves as another reminder of that change, of our frailties and of a new reality in which "it can't happen here" has been replaced by "it can happen anywhere."

When initial reports came out of Boston about two explosions occurring near the finish line of the 116th marathon -- a marathon that began with 26 seconds of silence in honor of the 26 victims of the Newtown massacre -- we held our collective breaths and hoped it was a freak infrastructure accident.

Or compromised electrical wiring.

Or a gas leak.

Anything other than ...

President Barack Obama did not say the word "terrorism" in his brief address, perhaps waiting until more facts are learned. We don't know how many are responsible, we don't know motive, if any, and we don't know whether it's domestic or foreign. But we do know the FBI said the explosions were well-planned. We know the Boston Marathon is seen around the world. And we know three people are dead, including an 8-year-old boy, more than 100 are injured, and countless lives have been scarred.

So if September 11, 2001, was the day our innocence was taken, then April 15, 2013, is the reminder that it is never coming back.

It is felt each time we have to take off our shoes at the airport, have an TSA officer pat us down, throw away a tube of toothpaste because it's over the allotted 3.4 ounces. The FAA temporarily restricted flights over the bombing site while security was increased in cities as far away as Miami and Los Angeles.

I was in central London earlier this month and was having a difficult time finding a garbage can whenever I had something to discard. Finally, I asked some of the residents why it was so hard to find one and was reminded that the Irish Republican Army hid bombs in garbage cans during the 1990s and as a result they are still seen as a security threat.

This is what happens when evil like the kind experienced in Boston takes away our innocence.

frailty脆弱
religion freak 宗教狂熱者

fitness freak 健身狂熱者
massacre 大屠殺
motive動機
innocence (名詞)純真 naive <=> innocent
discard 丟棄
allot => distribute分配
scar, scarred scarred =>心靈創傷

2.      Quake Kills More Than 100 in Sichuan

The Wall Street Journal  April 20, 2013

This aerial photo released by China's Xinhua news agency shows destroyed houses after a powerful earthquake hit Lushan County in Ya'an on Saturday.

BEIJING—A strong earthquake killed at least 113 people and injured hundreds more Saturday, state media said, striking an area roughly 50 miles from the epicenter of the devastating 2008 quake that killed some 80,000.

Saturday's quake struck China's southwestern Sichuan province—in Lushan county near the city of Ya'an—just after 8 a.m. with a magnitude of 7.0, according to the China Earthquakes Network Center. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 6.6, downgraded from an initial reading of 6.9.

"My first response was 'I am going to die,' " said Li Zhizhu, one of a group of university students from the provincial capital of Chengdu who were traveling in the countryside outside Ya'an. He said he was asleep in a lodge when the quake struck and woke to see tiles falling from the ceiling. "It was very scary. There were aftershocks every few minutes. We had no phone reception and people were crying."

Hundreds of people were injured in the quake, according to state media reports. The death toll rose steadily throughout the day, suggesting it would grow.

Criticized for being slow and opaque in their handling of previous disasters, Chinese authorities were quick to announce the mobilization of rescue teams. The People's Liberation Army dispatched 2,000 soldiers and two helicopters to the region from the nearby Chengdu Military Area Command, according to state media. The paramilitary People's Armed Police had dispatched nearly 4,000 officers and soldiers with heavy machinery, including loaders and excavators, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

aerial photo:空照圖
devastating:毀滅性的
struck: strike
lodge:小屋,旅社
suggesting: 暗示
 

3.      H7N9 flu transmission studied

China Daily   2013-04-20

The World Health Organization's China representative said on Friday there are "quite a few" cases in which the many hundreds of people in close contact with H7N9 flu 

patients fell ill as well.

Such contacts include caregivers, family members and neighbors, said Michael O'Leary.

The family cluster involving a father and son both infected with the virus in Shanghai might be a case of one person passing the virus to another — in other words 

person-to-person transmission, he acknowledged.

It is also possible that both of them were exposed to the same source of infection, he added. "We cannot say for certain and investigations are still going on."

But O'Leary said that even though the virus could spread among humans, transmission would not be easy.

"Otherwise we would see many such cases. We've not seen easy and sustained person-to-person transmission so far,"he said.

But he also said it is hard to clearly verify whether it is human-to-human transmission in cases involving close family members.

caregiver:護理人員(在家幫忙照顧親屬皆屬)

4.      Boston reminds us of best and worst of humanity By Michael Oren , Israel's ambassador to the United States,Special to CNN CNN   April 19, 2013

 (CNN) -- The purpose of terror is to terrorize. Though questions remain about those responsible for the attack, the horrendous bombing attack on the Boston Marathon sought to instill paralyzing fear, inflict debilitating trauma and force us to forfeit our freedom. We cannot let terror win.

We -- Americans and Israelis -- live in open societies that enable us to celebrate our freedom. Whether in arts festivals, sporting events, craft fairs or merely playing with our kids in the park, we are upholding those liberties in the face of those seeking to deny them.

At the same time, we know that our freedoms must be defended, sometimes by men and women in uniform but most poignantly by people refusing to succumb to fear. We beat terror by refusing to submit.

The people of Boston, who on the day of the bombing were celebrating liberty's birthday, will not submit. Our experience in Israel has taught us that communities and caregivers, police and security forces, elected leaders and volunteers can unite at such times and block the terrorists from achieving their objectives. While taking all possible measures to prevent further loss of life, we adamantly refuse to forfeit our way of life.

Anyone who has suffered the agony of terror knows the pain of the victims and their families as well as the radius of the emotional damage inflicted on countless citizens. We know that at such times, communities can band together and help bind the psychological and physical wounds. When first responders rush through the smoke, risking their own lives to assist the fallen, the healing process begins.

And the people of Boston will heal. Still, the democratic liberties that Americans and Israelis enjoy cannot be taken for granted. American security forces and policy-makers face complex challenges. We must appreciate their successes in thwarting many attacks. We will continue to embrace freedom, but we will remain vigilant and resolute.

This attack in Boston reminds us of both the worst and best in humanity. In an act of terror, those responsible destroyed and forever altered the lives of hundreds of people. But, stories of the heroic first responders, the athletes who ran to the hospital to donate blood and the countless other acts of selflessness remind us of the American spirit and its capacity to overcome terror and emerge stronger.

We comfort the bereaved, tend to(take care of) the hurt and take all precautions. We remember the victims but, standing together, refuse to be victimized.

terrorize恐嚇
horrendous可怕的
instill灌輸洗腦
paralyze  vt.癱瘓
inflict => suffer 
The war inflicted severe damage on the nation's economy
debilitating  衰弱的
trauma 心理創傷(感情)
forfeit 喪失
uphold 維護
poignantly 令人惋惜地
succumb屈服
succumb to temptation 擋不住誘惑
submit屈服
adamantly堅定地
remain adamant 不為所動
band together團結
wound 創傷(身體)
still然而
vigilant警覺
 tend to =>take care of

5.      The Price of Gold Is Crashing. Here's Why

Business Week    April 15, 2013

A chart of the crashing price of gold looks like a wedding ring rolling off a table. Gold futures for June delivery closed at $1,361 an ounce on the Comex in New York today, a drop of more than $200 in two sessions. Gold’s fall of 13 percent since April 11 was the biggest two-session decline since 1980.

Why is gold plunging? The most important factor is that global inflation is falling, reducing gold’s value as a hedge against rising prices. Gold bugs who were betting on an outburst of inflation are scrambling to reverse their bets and exit their gold positions at any price.

For consumers struggling to make ends meet, it may seem hard to believe that inflation is falling. But the evidence is clear fromJPMorgan Chase’s (JPM) global consumer price index, which covers more than 30 countries that collectively represent more than 90 percent of world economic output.

According to the JPMorgan index, global inflation peaked at 4 percent in 2011 and has fallen steadily since. Global prices in February were up only about 2.5 percent from a year earlier, the bank’s index says.

JPMorgan has two scenarios for what happens next. Its main one is based on a “bottom-up” collection of analysts’ forecasted price trends sector by sector around the world. That shows inflation rising very slightly from its current level for the rest of 2013. In contrast, JPMorgan’s “top-down” analysis, which is prepared by the banks’ economists and takes into account prices of commodity futures contracts, among other factors, shows inflation moving down closer to 2 percent in the second half of 2013.
 Gold futures黃金期貨
 inflation, deflation通膨,通縮
 as a hedge against 以避免
 make ends meet 靠微薄收入為生

 

atest News Clips 2013.04.15

                     Bengo’s Latest News Clips                2013.04.15

1.      Nature’s Drone, Pretty and Deadly

The New York Times     April 1, 2013

 African lions roar and strut and act the apex carnivore, but they’re lucky to catch 25 percent of the prey they pursue. Great white sharks have 300 slashing teeth and that ominous soundtrack, and still nearly half their hunts fail.

Dragonflies, by contrast, look dainty, glittery and fun, like a bubble bath or costume jewelry, and they’re often grouped with butterflies and ladybugs on the very short list of Insects People Like. Yet they are also voracious aerial predators, and new research suggests they may well be the most brutally effective hunters in the animal kingdom.

When setting off to feed on other flying insects, dragonflies manage to snatch their targets in midair more than 95 percent of the time, often wolfishly consuming the fresh meat on the spur without bothering to alight. “They’ll tear up the prey and mash it into a glob, munch, munch, munch,” said Michael L. May, an emeritus professor of entomology at Rutgers. “It almost looks like a wad of snuff in the mouth before they swallow it.”

Next step: grab more food. Dragonflies may be bantam, but their appetite is bottomless. Stacey Combes, who studies the biomechanics of dragonfly flight at Harvard, once watched a laboratory dragonfly eat 30 flies in a row. “It would have happily kept eating,” she said, “if there had been more food available.”

In a string of recent papers, scientists have pinpointed key features of the dragonfly’s brain, eyes and wings that allow it to hunt so unerringly. One research team has determined that the nervous system of a dragonfly displays an almost human capacity for selective attention, able to focus on a single prey as it flies amid a cloud of similarly fluttering insects, just as a guest at a party can attend to a friend’s words while ignoring the background chatter.

2.      Sodium, Hiding in Plain Sight

The New York Times    APRIL 1, 2013

Centuries ago, salt was more valuable than gold, but today the condiment has fallen out of favor. Now we know that its main component, sodium, can raise blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.

A new report, prepared by experts from three leading universities, projects that a small, steady reduction of sodium in the American diet could save up to half a million lives over the next decade. And a more rapid reduction could save even more lives — as many as 850,000.

The Finns have already proved this projection. As described last month in The New England Journal of Medicine, since the early 1970s, when Finland launched a national campaign to reduce salt intake, daily consumption has dropped by 3,000 milligrams a day in men and women, with a corresponding decline in death rates from stroke and coronary heart disease of 75 to 80 percent.

In the last decade or so, many food producers have introduced low-sodium or reduced-sodium versions of popular products, including soups, vegetables, fish, sauces, cereals, nuts, dips and even chips. But Americans still consume far too much sodium — a third more, on average, than the amount recommended for an otherwise healthy person and more than twice the amount recommended for people with high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease or kidney disease.

Sodium is an essential dietary element, but a mere 200 milligrams a day is all one needs for good health. The average American, however, takes in 3,300 milligrams daily, primarily from salt added to foods prepared commercially and in restaurants.

The federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend a maximum of 2,300 milligrams of sodium daily — the amount in one teaspoon of salt — for an otherwise healthy person. The guidelines, and the American Heart Association, recommend an even lower limit, 1,500 milligrams daily, for about 60 percent of American adults: those already afflicted with ailments adversely affected by sodium, African-Americans (who are more susceptible to high blood pressure), and everyone age 51 and older.

Too much sodium in the diet causes the body to retain water, placing an added burden on the heart and blood vessels. The new report, published in the journal Hypertension, projects that 280,000 to 500,000 lives would be saved by a 40 percent reduction in sodium intake, to about 2,200 milligrams a day, over 10 years. An instantaneous reduction, to 1,500 milligrams, could avert between 700,000 and 1.2 million deaths in 10 years, the experts calculated.

3.      Hillary Clinton, a mistake for 2016 CNN    April 01, 2013

Hillary Clinton sits with then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the Pentagon on February 14.

Washington (CNN) -- Democrats seem poised to choose their next presidential nominee the way Republicans often choose theirs: according to the principle of "next in line."

Hillary Clinton came second in the nomination fight of 2008. If she were a Republican, that would make her a near-certainty to be nominated in 2016. Five of the past six Republican nominees had finished second in the previous round of primaries. (The sixth was George W. Bush, son of the most recent Republican president.)

Democrats, by contrast, prefer newcomers. Six of their eight nominees since 1972 had never sought national office before.

Obviously, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Democrats chose the next guy in line in 2000 -- Vice President Al Gore -- and they may well do so again. But speaking from across the aisle, it's just this one observer's opinion that Democrats would be poorly served by following the Republican example when President Obama's term ends.

Hillary Clinton is 14 years older than Barack Obama. A party has never nominated a leader that much older than his immediate predecessor. (The previous record-holder was James Buchanan, 13 years older than Franklin Pierce when the Democrats chose him in 1856. Runner-up: Dwight Eisenhower, 12 years older than his predecessor, Thomas Dewey.)

Parties have good reasons to avoid reaching back to politicians of prior generations. When they do, they bring forward not only the ideas of the past, but also the personalities and the quarrels of the past.

One particular quarrel that a Hillary Clinton nomination would bring forward is the quarrel over the ethical standards of the Clinton White House -- and, maybe even more, of the Clintons' post-White House careers. Relying on Hillary Clinton's annual financial disclosure reports, CNN reported last year that former President Bill Clinton had earned $89 million in speaking fees since leaving the White House in 2001. Many of these earnings came from foreign sources. In 2011 alone, the former president earned $6.1 million from 16 speeches in 11 foreign countries.

4.       Kim Jong Un is not crazy By Stephan Haggard , Special to CNN     April 2, 2013

 (CNN) -- March brought us a series of what pundits like to call "provocations" by North Korea. On closer inspection, Pyongyang has opted for rhetoric over actual military actions.

While Kim Jong Un's pursuit of nuclear and missile capability remains worrisome, escalating signals of resolve could suggest nervousness as much as strength.

So, is the regime in trouble?

The first round of saber-rattling came as the U.N. Security Council deliberated on a new sanctions resolution after North Korea's satellite launch in December and its third nuclear test in February. The Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a party organ dealing with North-South relations began putting out public statements in an effort to chip away at the institutions of the armistice, such as military hot lines and the stationing of a North Korean military mission in Panmunjom.

North Korea ultimately "withdrew" from the armistice, but it had done so before and it is not clear what its recent statements actually mean. The armistice is not a peace treaty, but merely a cease fire. The armistice is stable not because of verbal commitments but because of the deterrent capability of both sides.

Is anything really different as a result of this "re-withdrawal"? It doesn't seem like it.

Equally unfortunate was North Korea's decision to renege on a number of North-South agreements, such as a North-South agreement on the denuclearization of the peninsula. But Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons had made this and a number of other agreements moot in any case.

Latest News Clips 2013.04.01

                        Bengo’s Latest News Clips                      2013.04.01

1.      Building on 'BRICS': The next emerging economies CNN    March 27, 2013

BRICS leaders (From L) India Prime minister Manmohan Singh, President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, pose for a family photo in Durban.

(CNN) -- As leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa convene in Durban, the term "BRICS" used to describe these rapidly growing economies is so last year; today everyone is talking about the "CIVETS."

Made up of Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa -- these nations, some with sizable populations and others with a wealth of natural resources, could be the economic boomers of the next decade, according to John Bowler, director of Country Risk Service at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Although unlikely to rival the economic might of India and China or the resources of Russia and Brazil, this motley crew of emerging markets make the CIVETS the next band of countries to profit from a shift in global power.

Bowler highlights oil-rich Indonesia as a growth story for the next decade in particular. With low levels of public debt and a population of more than 200 million people, the Southeast Asian nation posted growth of 6% in 2012, at a time when economic giants such as China and India slowed.

"Indonesia is a low-cost location so it's attracting investment that would have previously gone into China but because of wage demands that investment is going into Indonesia," he said.

Bowler also noted that Egypt has high growth potential despite trying to secure a critical $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

The country is mired in political turmoil following the outbreak of the Arab Spring two years ago, with Egyptian opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei labelling the North African nation a "failed state" as the country remains divided over controversial President Mohamed Morsy.

"Eventually Egypt will modernize and follow the kind of path that Turkey has in reconciling its issues in society," Bowler added.

Other members of the CIVETS -- Colombia, Turkey and Vietnam -- all saw growth of more than 3% for 2012, according to IMF data, well above the U.S., U.K., Germany and the debt-ridden "PIGS" of Europe; Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain.

2.      What has been agreed in Cyprus? CNN    March 27, 2013

 (CNN) -- Cyprus has agreed to a €10 billion ($13B) European Union bailout after a frantic weekend of negotiations with European lenders, preventing the collapse of the island nation's financial sector in a deal that will likely mean huge losses for holders of large deposits at Cyprus' two biggest banks.

What are the terms of the deal?

Cyprus struck a deal with EU officials on a €10 billion aid package to shore up the country's banking sector. The plan will protect all deposits of less than €100,000, but is likely to impose a levy or "haircut" for account holders with more than €100,000 at the two biggest banks -- the Bank of Cyprus and Popular Bank of Cyprus -- according to CNN Money.

Popular Bank will be broken up immediately, and its viable assets will be integrated into the Bank of Cyprus. While the exact percentage of the "haircut" has not yet been determined, the levy on Popular Bank depositors alone will raise about €4.2 billion ($5.5B) towards the bailout deal, while shareholders and bondholders are likely to be wiped out.

As part of the program, Cyprus will also have to raise taxes on capital gains and companies, introduce structural reforms and privatize some state assets. It has also agreed to an independent audit of anti-money laundering efforts in the banking system.

EU officials had originally proposed a package that would have imposed a levy on all bank accounts in order to raise €5.8 billion ($7.5B) toward the deal. Account holders with more than €100,000 ($130,000) would have paid a 9.9% levy and those with smaller deposits 6.75%.

But the Cypriot parliament rejected the bailout offer due to public outrage over the levy, prompting fears of a run on the country's banks, which have been closed since March 16, and officials went back to the drawing board.

3.      Elite in China Face Austerity Under Xi’s Rule

The New York  March 27, 2013

BEIJING — Life for the almighty Chinese government official has come to this: car pools, domestically made wristwatches and self-serve lunch buffets.

In the four months since he was anointed China’s paramount leader and tastemaker-in-chief, President Xi Jinping has imposed a form of austerity on the nation’s famously free-spending civil servants, military brass and provincial party bosses. Warning that graft and gluttony threaten to bring down the ruling Communists, Mr. Xi has ordered an end to boozy, taxpayer-financed banquets and the bribery that often takes the form of a gift-wrapped Louis Vuitton bag.

While the power of the nation’s elite remains unchallenged, the symbols of that power are slipping from view. Gone, for now, are the freshly cut flowers and red-carpet ceremonies that used to greet visiting dignitaries. This month, military officers who arrived here for the annual National People’s Congress were instructed to share hotel rooms and bring their own toiletries.

“Car-pooling feels so good because it provides a way to bond and chat with each other while saving money and increasing efficiency,” one senior military official told the People’s Liberation Army newspaper.

Not everyone has been so embracing of the change. Last Tuesday, the country’s top disciplinary body dismissed six functionaries, including a neighborhood party chief who spent $63,000 to entertain 80 colleagues at a seaside resort, and a county official who marked the opening of new administrative offices by throwing a feast for 290 people.

The crackdown appears to be real, as far as it goes, which may not be very far. After a year of scandal that led to the toppling of a member of the Politburo, Bo Xilai, and numerous reports of widespread official corruption, Mr. Xi’s highly public campaign seems aimed at curtailing the most conspicuous displays of wealth by people in power. He has done little to tackle the concentrations of money and power in China’s state-directed economy that have allowed numerous members of the Chinese elite and their extended families to amass extravagant fortunes.

4.      The Sequester Hits the Reservation

The New York Times   2013.03.21

The Congressional Republicans who brought us the mindless budget cuts known as the sequester have shown remarkable indifference to life-sustaining government services, American jobs and other programs. So what do they make of the country’s commitments to American Indians, its longstanding obligations to tribal governments under the Constitution and treaties dating back centuries?

Very little, it seems. The sequester will impose cuts of 5 percent across the Indian Health Service, the modestly financed agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides basic health care to two million American Indians and native Alaskans. It is underfinanced for its mission and cannot tolerate more deprivation.

Here lies a little-noticed example of moral abdication. The biggest federal health and safety-net programs — Social Security, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Supplemental Security Income, and veterans’ compensation and health benefits — are all exempt from sequestration. But the Indian Health Service is not.

The agency was supposed to be spared the worst of the automatic cuts; at least that is what its officials believed. Under a 1985 law that served as the model for the current sequester, annual cuts to appropriations for the Indian Health Service could not exceed 2 percent.

Even a cut of that amount is very bad news for the main health care provider for some of the poorest and sickest Americans, living in some of the most remote and medically underserved parts of the country. Like care for veterans, Indian health was supposed to be one area in which duty and compassion trumped cheapness.

The agency’s officials were braced for that level of cuts, but they were mistaken. The Office of Management and Budget interpreted the sequestration law to mean that the 2 percent cap did not apply to most of the Indian Health Service financing.

Latest News Clips 2013.03.14

                       Bengo’s Latest News Clips                      2013.03.14

1.      A Polarizing Figure Who Led a Movement

The New York Times   March 5, 2013

CARACAS, Venezuela — Hugo Chávez, who died on Tuesday at 58, rose from poverty in a dirt-floor adobe house to unrivaled influence in Venezuela as its president, consolidating power and wielding the country’s oil reserves as a tool for his Socialist-inspired change.

With a televangelist’s gift for oratory, Mr. Chávez led a nationalist movement that lashed out at the United States government, moneyed Venezuelans and his own disaffected followers, whom he often branded as traitors.

He was a dreamer with a common touch and enormous ambition. He maintained an almost visceral connection with the poor, tapping into their resentments, while strutting like the strongman in a caudillo novel. His followers called him Comandante.

But he was not a stock figure. He grew up a have-not in an oil-rich country that prized ostentatious consumption. He was a man of mixed ancestry — African, indigenous and Spanish — who despised a power structure dominated by Europeanized elites. As a soldier he hated hunting down guerrillas, but had no qualms about using weapons to seize power, as he and a group of military co-conspirators tried but failed to do in 1992. Even so, he rose to power in democratic elections, in 1998.

In office, he upended the political order at home and used oil revenues to finance client states in Latin America, notably Bolivia and Nicaragua. Inspired by Simón Bolívar, the mercurial Venezuelan aristocrat who led South America’s 19th-century wars of independence, Mr. Chávez sought to unite the region and erode Washington’s influence.

“The hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very survival of the human species,” he said in a 2006 speech at the United Nations. In the same speech he called President George W. Bush “the devil.”

For years, he succeeded in curbing American influence. He breathed life into Cuba, the hemisphere’s only Communist nation, with economic assistance; its revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, was not only an ally but also an inspiration. He forged a Bolivarian alliance with some of Latin America’s energy-exporting nations, like Ecuador and Bolivia, and applauded when they expelled American ambassadors, as he had done. He asserted greater state control over Venezuela’s economy by nationalizing dozens of foreign-owned assets, including oil projects controlled by Exxon Mobil and other large American corporations.

2.      Eat Your Heart Out

The New York Times    MARCH 7, 2013

    

Over the last several decades, it has become accepted wisdom that consuming saturated fat, the type found in meat and butter, is bad for you. Starting in the 1960s, studies showed convincingly that saturated fat raises cholesterol levels and that these elevated levels, especially of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL (the so-called bad cholesterol), increase heart disease. Studies also showed that consuming polyunsaturated fats — safflower, corn and soybean oils — reduced people’s levels of overall cholesterol and LDL and should be encouraged.

But new studies may be upending those assumptions. Researchers with the National Institutes of Health and other organizations recently resurrected the results of a long-overlooked Australian study conducted from 1966 to 1973, in which one group of men with heart disease increased omega-6-rich polyunsaturated fat intake to 15 percent of calories, while reducing saturated fat intake to less than 10 percent. Another group of men with heart disease continued their normal diets.

The men were followed for an average of 39 months, and those on the polyunsaturated-rich diet lowered their cholesterol levels by an average of 13 percent. But they also were more likely to die, and in particular to die of a heart attack, than those who stuck with their usual diet, which consisted of about 15 percent saturated fat.

This study — the results of which weren’t fully analyzed when it was conducted in the early days of enthusiasm for polyunsaturated oils — adds to a small but unsettling body of data suggesting that consuming polyunsaturated oils, even though they reliably lower cholesterol, may nevertheless increase your risk of heart disease.

In broader terms, the new analysis muddies the already murky issue of just how diet affects heart-disease risk and health in general. Polyunsaturated oils, while decreasing cholesterol, may simultaneously promote inflammation throughout the body, says Philip C. Calder, a professor of nutritional immunology at the University of Southampton, in England, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new analysis. This inflammation may initiate heart disease and “outweigh any possible good effect” of the oils.

3.      Taiwan Presidential Office confirms Lesley Ma's marriage

Want China Times      2013-03-12

      

Taiwan's Presidential Office has confirmed that Lesley Ma, the eldest daughter of president Ma Ying-jeou, married her longtime boyfriend and Harvard classmate Allen Pei-Jan Tsai last year, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times.

Despite speculation that a banquet held at the Grand Hotel in Taipei on March 9 was to celebrate the wedding of the president's eldest daughter, the Presidential Office confirmed on Monday night that Lesley and Allen actually registered their marriage in New York last year and have since moved to Hong Kong.

Allen Pei-Jan Tsai was born in Aug. 5, 1980 in Taiwan but moved to the United States at a young age. He previously worked for the RREEF real estate affiliate of Deutsche Bank AG in Hong Kong between 2006 and 2008.

During a trip to Europe, Tsai was discovered by a model agent of an Italian friend and signed a two-year contract with US model agency NEXT in 2008. He has modeled for major brands such as Levi's, GAP, Esprit and Calvin Klein.

Tsai was touted as a rising star with his long hair, oriental features and muscular figure during the Milan Fashion show in June 2009. His friends were surprised to learn that he had become a model and said he might have been wanting to try something different while he is still young, according to Taiwanese media outlet NOWnews.

The Presidential Office refused to disclose whether Tsai holds a Taiwan or US passport or which Taiwanese city or county he was born in. The office also urged the media to allow the couple to have some privacy.

Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei insisted that the banquet held last week was a reunion party for Lesley Ma's Harvard classmates. She and her sister Kelly Ma reportedly held the party because the classmates were interested in Taiwan. The President also stood firm with the story when officials congratulated him during party activities on Sunday morning.

4.      Ideology and reality: what Germany's anti-nuclear stance tells us

The Asahi Shimbun   February 24, 2013

Germany and Japan have much in common. Both lost wars but went on to achieve stunning economic growth. Both have a reputation of being skilled in the art of “making things.” Both have low birthrates and rapidly aging populations.

On a visceral level, I felt quite at home during the time I spent in Germany. The trains were relatively punctual, if not quite to the same degree as in Japan. There was little garbage on the streets and, overall, there was the sense that everything was being managed in an orderly fashion.

On the other hand, I could go on and on listing the differences between Japan and Germany. Take, for example, Germany’s relations with its neighbors and its financial circumstances--both considerably better than Japan’s. Another conspicuous example is the difference between the two countries’ reactions to Japan's nuclear disaster.

Of all the developed nations, Germany was the most responsive to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Day after day, the German media gave the accident prominent coverage. The German Embassy shifted its operational base to Osaka, and Japan-based German company executives returned home, one after another.

Observing the comparatively calm reaction to the accident of many U.S. and British residents, a Japanese Cabinet official was compelled to utter, “It goes to show that we can rely on Britain and the U.S. in times of crisis.”

The accident in Fukushima also transformed Germany's domestic policies. In the wake of the disaster, the administration of Chancellor Angela Merkel exerted its "pragmatism" and resolved to shut down all of the country's nuclear plants by 2022.

WHY GERMANS ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

Germany’s phase-out decision sent shock waves around the world. Even so, its anti-nuclear inclination was predetermined. Germany has always taken the risks posed by nuclear accidents and waste very seriously, and has been actively engaged as well in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Merkel's change of direction was also a judgment call based on the tenor of domestic public opinion.