Environment

Gas Drilling Blamed for Indonesian 'Mud Volcano'

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A panel of international petroleum geologists decided exploratory drilling at a nearby gas well triggered the eruption of a mud volcano in Indonesia. The vote could provide major financial compensation to many of the almost 40,000 Indonesians displaced by the eruption, reports The Guardian. The volcano, called Lusi, erupted nearly two years ago and has been spewing massive amounts of boiling mud ever since. The cause of the eruption was debated at an international conference in Cape Town, South Africa, attended by 74 distinguished petroleum scientists. Geologists representing the oil and gas company Lapindo Brantas claimed an earthquake two days before the eruption is to blame, but only three of the petroleum scientists voted for this explanation.

World

Vatican Says Screenings Will Prevent Gays in Priesthood

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The Vatican has issued new guidelines recommending psychological screening for men interested in joining the Catholic priesthood. Catholic seminaries have been urged to screen the candidates for certain psychological traits — including “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” — that could later compromise their roles, the Irish Times reports. The Congregation for Catholic Education, the supervising body for Catholic seminaries worldwide, published the guidelines. Sex-abuse cases have scandalized the Catholic Church in recent years, costing them hundreds of million dollars in settlements. Psychological testing will not be obligatory, but could be helpful when church officials are suspicious about candidate that may possess “homosexual tendencies, unclear sexual identity, difficulty with the celibate life, excessive rigidity of character and lack of freedom in relations.”

Democracy & Civics

Dalai Lama Admits Tibet Policy 'Failure'

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The Dalai Lama has acknowledged that his drive for genuine autonomy in Tibet has failed. Agence France-Presse reports that even though representatives for the Tibetan government are in China for the eighth round of Chinese-Tibetan dialogue, the Dalai Lama said his “faith and trust in the Chinese government is thinning” and the situation in Tibet is worsening. The Dalai Lama has advocated a “Middle Way” approach of compromise and dialogue with the communist Chinese since their occupation of Tibet began in 1949. “I have to accept failure,” he said. He described the situation in Tibet as one of martial law and said Tibetan culture and the people “are being handed down a death sentence.”

Environment

Sea-Level Rise May Be Greater Than Expected

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Two German experts predict sea levels will rise three feet this century, higher than the seven inches to two feet previously estimated in other studies. Deutsche-Presse Agentur and Expatica.com report that scientists with the Potsdam Institute for Research on Global Warming Effects came to their results using new data that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change did not have access to. Among the new findings: Arctic ice loss has doubled or tripled since 2005. One of the scientists, Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the institute and an adviser to German chancellor Angela Merkel, said that it is “just barely possible” that global governments, if they drastically reduce carbon emissions, will be able to limit climate change. He also told Bloomburg News last month that there was a 50 percent chance of capping global warming to just 3.6 degrees by 2100, which, according to his findings, would avoid the brunt of the ecological damage.

Environment

Solar Battery to Fuel Italian Farm

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The owners of the Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio farm in Italy claim it will be the first in the world to be entirely carbon neutral. A BBC article highlights a solar powered battery-charging station as one of the main ways the farm can completely offset greenhouse gas emissions. The solar unit is said to use a new type of battery that can store enough power to run the farm for three days, in contrast to other solar arrays that must use electricity as soon as it’s generated. Cellstrom, the Austrian company that built the liquid-based battery, says it plans to extend the battery’s storage capacity to ten days. In addition, the farm will employ second-generation biofuels, sunlight-reflecting paint, and wood chips to heat their boilers.

Public Health

Alzheimer's Effects Linked to Career, Culture

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A pair of new articles identify education, career, ethnicity and other socio-economic factors as having an influence on the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s patients who have higher education levels and mentally challenging careers have fewer symptoms than other patients with the same or less damage to their brains, according to a new study by Italian researchers. The scientists offered two possible explanations for their results: either the brain gets stronger over time through education and career challenges, or, there are existing genetic factors that made it more likely for some people to end up in “mentally tough” careers, reports BBC News. Other research shows that significant numbers of Hispanic Americans are developing Alzheimer’s earlier than African American and non-Hispanic White patients. Hispanics are not more genetically predisposed to the disease than other ethnicities.

Democracy & Civics

U.S. Border Checkpoints Move Inland

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An activist group says that the United States has expanded border checkpoints deeper into the nation than the Constitution permits — but government officials say they’re acting within the limits of the law as defined by the federal court system. The American Civil Liberties Union is highlighting what it refers to as “Constitution-free zones” in America that extend 100 miles inside U.S. borders and encompass nearly two-thirds of the nation’s citizens, reports Wired News. The checkpoints are protected under the Fourth Amendment, which give border authorities search-and-seizure rights — yet according to ACLU spokeswoman Caroline Fredrickson, extending those powers into U.S. territory is “a classic example of law enforcement powers expanding far beyond their proper boundaries — in this case, literally.” Federal authorities, however, say the ACLU they are following Supreme Court guidelines. Since 9/11, the government has allowed the Department of Homeland Security to set up more than 30 new internal checkpoints where they can ask people for their papers without telling them why.

World

Afghanistan's Wanderers Say Promises Unfulfilled

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The Kuchi nomads of Afghanistan split their time between the eastern lowlands and the central highlands, and are finding life increasingly difficult under the current regime. The BBC reports that the six million Kuchis are some of the most destitute of Afghanistan’s 25 million people. Kuchi nomads say that despite their support for President Karzai during the 2005 elections, the administration has failed to follow through on promises to help with basic necessities like electricity and health care. “We all voted for Karzai but he never honored his promises,” one Kuchi elder said. Afghanistan’s many wars have taken their toll on a people dependent on livestock and lacking adequate shelter from the fighting.

Public Health

Children Left Behind

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News media have paid a lot of attention to the growing obesity epidemic among children all over the developed world, but recent studies point to a number of other somber health trends. Perhaps most serious was a report that the United States has stalled in its efforts to reduce infant mortality. The report, released last week by the National Center for Health Statistics, analyzed about 95 percent of birth records in the nation and found the United States has about seven infant deaths per 1,000 live births — roughly the same number it had in 2000. The report found Japan, Sweden, Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Australia and more than a dozen other countries all had infant mortality rates of fewer than five deaths per 1,000 births, according to Bloomberg News. Although the report found a small drop in the number of infant deaths in 2005 and 2006, the United States now ranks 29th in the list of nations with the lowest infant mortality rates — tied with Poland and Slovakia.

World

Britain Considers New Limits on Primate Pets

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A member of the British Parliament is calling for the ban of breeding, selling and keeping primates as pets in response to a loophole in current animal welfare legislation. According to the BBC, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals supports the ban and estimates that 3,000 primates are kept as pets in the United Kingdom. The RSPCA noted that primates have special needs a domestic household cannot provide. Primates are susceptible to bone disease and vitamin D3 deficiency when kept in cramped cages and out of the sun. “The demand for so-called exotic pets is growing and the problem is getting worse rather than diminishing,” Mark Pritchard, a Conservative MP, told BBC News.