New compound discovered which kills antibiotic-resistant superbugs, including pathogenic, multidrug resistant, gram-negative bacteria like E Coli, and mammalian cell culture and animal model studies indicate that the complex is not toxic even at concentrations several orders higher than needed…
Read the academic press release here...
May 28, 2019
The research could pave the way for new treatment of life-threatening superbugs...
Kansas, Missouri governors activate National Guards, request help for flooding…
May 28, 2019
The Missouri National Guard was activated Monday afternoon to help respond to flooded areas. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson posted on Twitter: "As our state continues to recover from severe storms & damaging flooding, and local resources deplete, I am confident in the Guard's capabilities to make a difference at this critical time."... Meanwhile, nearly half of Kansas' 105 counties are part of a state of disaster declaration. Two counties were added Monday, bringing the total to 49, according to the Kansas Department of Emergency Management.
China stopped buying oil from Iran due to US sanctions…
May 28, 2019
According to Rahim Zare, who is a member of the economic commission of the Iranian parliament, China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey, which were previously granted waivers, purchased from Iran a total of 1.6 million barrels of oil daily in March, but have ceased purchases since...
A group called ‘Students for Free Expression’ want to tackle censorship on college campuses nationwide, starting in D.C…
May 28, 2019
The two-year-old organization, based at American and recognized by the university, is seeking nonprofit status and working on developing chapters at colleges across the country... “Our No. 1 priority right now is recruitment.”... In the two years since its founding, Students for Free Expression has actively promoted free speech ideals... The reason it doesn’t have more college-recognized chapters at this point is varying campus regulations on starting clubs. “At some schools it’s easy to start a new club,” Fox said, “but at other schools it’s nearly impossible.”...
People spent $1.9 billion last year on apps to keep their brains sharp as they age…
May 28, 2019
With an aging population worried about cognitive decline and dementia, such training programs have seen a burst in popularity in recent years. Consumers spent an estimated $1.9 billion on digital brain health and neurotechnology apps in 2018, a fourfold increase from $475 million in 2012, according to global data from SharpBrains, an independent market-research firm... But despite the rising interest in cognitive training, evidence of its benefits is still a mixed bag, experts say.
Apple fanboy who hacked into the tech giant’s server sentenced to 9 months probation and told to use talents ‘for good’…
May 28, 2019
Last year, the teenager pleaded guilty to hacking, stealing 90 gigabytes of secure files, and accessing customer accounts from the tech giant. A judge handed down a 9-month good behaviour bond, or probationary period, to the teen and encouraged him to instead use his talents "for good."...
Republicans approve $11.8 billion Arizona budget…
May 28, 2019
The budget for the year beginning July 1 is up 11%, and includes $386 million in tax and fee cuts meant to offset higher revenue the state expects to see from taxing more online sales... The budget makes a massive deposit in the state's main savings account... It funds the second of a three-phase pay increase promised to teachers who... demand better wages and school funding. It also restores some of the money schools get for textbooks, school buses, technology and other needs... The budget also allows the state to charge Flagstaff for some of the costs the state will bear because the city raised its minimum wage...
Elon Musk: SpaceX’s Bright Starlink Satellites Won’t Ruin the Night Sky…
May 28, 2019
The brilliant "train" in the night sky that is SpaceX's first 60 Starlink satellites has wowed some skywatchers, but it also sparked concern among some astronomers wondering what so many visible satellites could mean for scientific observing... Musk wrote on Twitter today (May 27) that he's already instructed teams to look into making future Starlink internet communications satellites less shiny to lower their "albedo," or reflectivity...
There are already 4900 satellites in orbit, which people notice ~0% of the time. Starlink won’t be seen by anyone unless looking very carefully & will have ~0% impact on advancements in astronomy. We need to move telelscopes to orbit anyway. Atmospheric attenuation is terrible. pic.twitter.com/OuWYfNmw0D
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 27, 2019
Chinese tourism to US drops for 1st time in 15 years. And that has cities, malls and other tourist spots scrambling to reverse the trend…
May 28, 2019
Travel from China to the U.S. fell 5.7% in 2018 to 2.9 million visitors, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office... Friction between the U.S. and China is one reason for the slowdown... Last summer, China issued a travel warning for the U.S., telling its citizens to beware of shootings, robberies and high costs for medical care. The U.S. shot back with its own warning about travel to China.
Pew Survey of 89,000 Undergraduates-A Rising Share of Undergraduates Are From Poor Families…
May 28, 2019
The overall number of undergraduates at U.S. colleges and universities has increased dramatically over the past 20 years, with growth fueled almost exclusively by an influx of students from low-income families and students of color. But these changes are not occurring uniformly across the postsecondary landscape. The rise of poor and minority undergraduates has been most pronounced in public two-year colleges and the least selective four-year colleges and universities, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data.
Photo Unearthed of John McCain with “Source D-Source E” of Steele Dossier — Sergei Millian…
May 28, 2019
McCain with "Source D/Source E" of Steele dossier ... pic.twitter.com/dQ528SVzeA
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) May 28, 2019
Back in January, Sergei Millian was named as the source of the dirty dossier claims. John McCain is as dirty as they come.
Americans Snap Up Imports From Vietnam at China’s Expense and could potentially overtake the U.K. as a bigger supplier to the U.S. if it keeps up that pace…
May 28, 2019
If Vietnam’s pace of growth can be sustained for a full year -- which would be a major feat -- it could leapfrog Italy, France, the U.K., and India in the ranks of top exporters to the U.S...
China riled up by meeting between Bolton and Taiwan security official…
May 28, 2019
During meetings with U.S. officials, representatives of Taiwanese diplomatic allies were also present to hear Lee confirm the island nation’s support for a free Indo-Pacific, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Media reports speculated that the representatives hailed from Palau and the Marshall Islands, two island nations in the Pacific, where China has been trying to expand its influence at Taiwan’s expense.
At a daily news briefing held on Monday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang said, "China is extremely dissatisfied and resolutely opposed to this."...
China can try, but they won't get passed the first-island chains.
Turkish defence chief denies US deadline on S-400…
May 28, 2019
Tensions between the US and Turkey have reached a fever pitch in recent months with Turkey set to begin receiving the advanced S-400 Russian surface-to-air missile system which Washington said will jeopardise Turkey's role in the US F-35 fighter jet programme and could trigger congressional sanctions. Akar said four F-35 fighter jets have already been delivered to Turkey and their activities are ongoing at the base in the US. “Training of our four pilots is underway and hundreds of sergeants got maintenance training and returned (to Turkey),” he said, adding that 37 personnel were recently trained. The US has already suspended deliveries of parts and services related to Turkey's receipt of the multi-million-dollar fighter jets...
2,000-year-old marble head discovered under Rome could be of god Dionysus…
May 28, 2019
“The archaeologists were excavating a late medieval wall when they saw, hidden in the earth, a white marble head,” said a statement from the Archaeological Park of the Colosseum, which encompasses the Roman Forum. “It was built into the wall, and had been recycled as a building material, as often happened in the medieval era... The face is refined and gracious, young and feminine. All of which makes us think this could be a depiction of Dionysos.”
Trump signals Iran, amid possible Japanese mediation…
May 28, 2019
“We’re not looking for regime change in Iran. I just want to make that clear,” US President Donald Trump affirmed in Tokyo... “We’re looking for no nuclear weapons,” Trump continued, as he emphasized his bottom line in dealing with Iran. “I’m not looking to hurt Iran at all. I’m looking to have Iran say, ‘No nuclear weapons.’”...
US national security adviser John Bolton will this week travel to the United Arab Emirates for talks…
May 28, 2019
Bolton’s planned meeting comes as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the US have increasingly sought to isolate Iran, and it coincides with key meetings planned in Saudi Arabia... Regional summits are planned on Thursday and Friday in Mecca, Saudi Arabia... the US president has appeared to dial back his hawkishness toward Tehran since then, saying on Monday his government does not seek “regime change.”
A total of 11 people have died, and one is presumed dead from scaling Mount Everest this week as the mountain continues to overcrowd…
May 28, 2019
The total death toll from this week alone is higher than that for all of 2018. The victims were from India, Ireland, Austria, and the US. The deaths come amid reports of severe overcrowding at the mountain's "death zone," an area 26,000 feet above sea level where oxygen is so limited that the body's cells start to die...
US lab scientist charged with lying about China contact…
May 28, 2019
Turab Lookman... was asked on an employment questionnaire and by federal officials if he had been recruited by China's Thousand Talents Program or applied to work there, authorities said. He's accused in an indictment filed last week of falsely stating three times between November 2017 and September 2018 that he had not.
Texas secretary of state resigns after botched voter purge…
May 28, 2019
Whitley's office early this year launched a botched review of the state's voter rolls, saying officials had discovered as many as 95,000 non-citizens registered to vote and sending lists of names to county elections officials for review and purge. Within days, the secretary of state’s office backtracked on the announcement after discovering that its original list was not properly vetted and included thousands of citizens.