News You Can Use

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UNESCO vote declared Hebron's Old City as a Palestinian World Heritage Site

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided Friday to cut another $1 million from the membership fees Israel pays the UN and use that money instead to build a museum of Jewish heritage in Kiryat Arba and Hebron, as well as other heritage projects in the city.

The move came in response to a UNESCO vote declaring Hebron's Old City—and with it the Cave of the Patriarchs—as a Palestinian World Heritage Site in danger.

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We Grow Fuel Here: Fighting the Oil Slump by Bartering for Grain - Bloomberg

Rather than sell his soybeans for pesos that are worth less by the day because of rampant inflation, Argentine farmer Gustavo Tione figured he’d get a better deal trading the crop for something he can actually use: more fuel to run his tractors.

Last month, he exchanged 30 metric tons of soy for about 8,000 liters of diesel from the state-run oil company, YPF SA. Tione got the fuel at a discount and avoided storage fees and sales taxes. But YPF also benefited. With low crude prices eroding profit, the company is using such deals to expand into a vibrant local farm industry and gain access to dollar-based export markets for grain.

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Bezos, Slim, and Buffett, Publicly Pleading Poverty, Ask Congress for Help With Their Newspapers - The New York Sun

It’s the sort of brazen move that might ordinarily trigger a front-page news story or an outraged editorial — a bunch of rich individuals asking Congress to write them a law that would give them better negotiating power against other rich individuals.

Yet in this case, the rich individuals wanting special treatment are the newspaper owners themselves. Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos (worth $83.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index), New York Times owner Carlos Slim (worth $61.1 billion), and Buffalo News owner Warren Buffett ($76.9 billion), publicly pleading poverty, are asking Congress for a helping hand in their negotiations with Google, controlled by Sergey Brin ($45.6 billion) and Larry Page ($46.8 billion).

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Facebook village? Social media giant to build 'social housing' | Technology | The Guardian

The tech giant aims to build 1,500 apartments at Menlo Park after being criticised for helping to deepen the Silicon Valley housing crisis

Facebook is to build its own “village” of 1,500 homes for workers struggling to pay soaring rents as the housing crisis in Silicon Valley deepens.

The social networking company has submitted plans to the local council to create a new neighbourhood of homes, shops and a public plaza across the street from its global headquarters.

Mark Zuckerberg’s company said it was being forced to build the “mixed-use village” called Willow Campus in Menlo Park, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, because the regional government’s “failure” to invest in infrastructure has led to sky-high rents and hours-long commutes to work.

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Working Past 70: Americans Can’t Seem to Retire - Bloomberg

More and more Americans are spending their golden years on the job.

Almost 19 percent of people 65 or older were working at least part-time in the second quarter of 2017, according to the U.S. jobs report released on Friday. The age group’s employment/population ratio hasn’t been higher in 55 years, before American retirees won better health care and Social Security benefits starting in the late 1960s.

And the trend looks likely to continue. Millennials, prepare yourselves. Better yet, consider this and this, so you have a choice in the matter when your time comes.

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Growing homeless encampments prompt proposal for armed park rangers

Waikiki resident Jen Tema holds her breath as she jogs past the Diamond Head lookouts because most days the stench from the homeless encampments is overwhelming.

“We’re at the beginning of the toilet,” Tema said on a recent Friday as she passed by a garbage pile that spilled over the oceanside cliffs like a waterfall. “When it’s dead wind, you can barely walk by it. It’s a shame because this is one of the most beautiful places in the world.”

She quit jogging at night because she didn’t feel safe due to the security risks and health hazards that have surfaced since the neighborhood’s homeless residents began monopolizing public spaces. Her son doesn’t surf at the lookouts because homeless campers dump buckets of feces into the water there. Her kids wear shoes instead of slippers to the parks to avoid stepping on discarded drug needles and used condoms.

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This is just robbery plain and simple!

IRS shuts down mom and pop dressmaker, sells dresses within hours | Crime | Dallas News

The unmarked vehicles arrived in the morning. More than 20 armed agents poured out.
Hours later, Mii’s Bridal & Tuxedo was out of business after serving customers for decades. Its entire inventory of wedding gowns and dresses as well as sewing machines and other equipment were sold at auction.
The hastily-called sale held inside the store netted the IRS about $17,000 — not enough to cover the roughly $31,400 in tax debt alleged, court records show. The balance is now likely unrecoverable.
Mii’s, a small Garland business owned by an elderly immigrant couple from Thailand, was never accused in court of violating any federal laws.

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Israel backs Hungary, says financier Soros is a threat | Reuters

Israel's foreign ministry has issued a statement denouncing U.S. billionaire George Soros, a move that appeared designed to align Israel more closely with Hungary ahead of a visit to Budapest next week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew who has spent a large part of his fortune funding pro-democracy and human rights groups, has repeatedly been targeted by Hungary's right-wing government, in particular over his support for more open immigration.

In the latest case, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has backed a campaign in which Soros is singled out as an enemy of the state. "Let's not allow Soros to have the last laugh" say billboards next to a picture of the 86-year-old investor, a campaign that Jewish groups and others say foments anti-Semitism.

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US military reveals funding for 'Matrix' projects | Daily Mail Online

System could be used to give soldiers 'supersenses' and boost brainpower
Will also allow radical new treatments for patients with sensory disorders 
Four teams will focus on vision and two on aspects of hearing and speech

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Once again, science proves that God was right all along.

Happiness From Being Generous Has a Neural Basis Within the Brain - Seeker

In a study on the psychology of giving, MRI scans revealed that an area of the brain linked to generosity triggered a response in another part related to happiness.

What inspires humans to display acts of generosity? Economists, psychologists and philosophers have pondered this question for millennia. If one assumes that human behavior is primarily motivated by self-interest, it seems illogical to willingly sacrifice resources for others.

In an attempt to solve this paradox, some experts have theorized that giving satisfies a desire to boost one's standing in a group. Others have suggested it fosters tribal cooperation and cohesion — a key element in mammal survival. Yet another explanation is that we give only because we expect to receive something in return.

The real answer, a study suggested Tuesday, may be much simpler: Giving makes us happy.

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Judge: Pacemaker data can be used in Middletown arson trial

MIDDLETOWN
In what is believed to be the first case of its kind to use data from a beating heart as evidence, a Butler County judge ruled Tuesday that evidence from a pacemaker used to get a Middletown man indicted for arson can be presented at trial.

Ross Compton, 59, was indicted in January on felony charges of aggravated arson and insurance fraud for allegedly starting a fire in September 2016 at his Court Donegal house. The blaze caused nearly $400,000 in damages.

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Belle Plaine Allows Satanic Monument In City Park « WCCO | CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A small Minnesota town is getting a lot of attention for a Satanic monument coming to their veterans park.

The monument going up for The Satanic Temple — which features an upturned helmet atop a black cube — will soon be at the site of the Veterans Memorial Park in Belle Plaine.

It is being built by a group of Satanists out of Massachusetts, and it will be the first Satanic monument on public property in United States history.

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Exclusive - Sen. Rand Paul: Senate GOP Decides to Keep Obamacare

I miss the old days, when Republicans stood for repealing Obamacare. Republicans across the country and every member of my caucus campaigned on repeal – often declaring they would tear out Obamacare “root and branch!”
What happened?

Now too many Republicans are falling all over themselves to stuff hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars into a bill that doesn’t repeal Obamacare and feeds Big Insurance a huge bailout.

Obamacare regulations? Still here. Taxes? Many still in place, totaling hundreds of billions of dollars.

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Household Chemicals Linked To Chronic Disease In Men, Study Finds

ADELAIDE, Australia — Are common products inside our homes potentially the cause of serious health conditions? New research indicates that everyday chemicals are linked to chronic diseases in men.

A team of researchers from the University of Adelaide and the South Australian and Medical Research Institute carried out the research focusing on phthalates, which are common chemicals that most of us come into contact with daily.


A new study finds that chemicals found in common household products are linked to a greater risk of chronic conditions in men.
Phthalates are often found in a variety of consumer goods including children’s toys, food packaging and medications. (This PDF from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences explains how to determine if products contain phthalates.)

In December 2013, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment officially listed diisononyl phthalate, a commonly used phthalate, as a chemical “known to the state of California to cause cancer.” Later, in April 2016, a “No Significant Risk Level” was established at 146ug per day for the same phthalate.

The researchers performed observations on 1,500 men from South Australia. The team found phthalates levels were detected in the urine of more than 99% of those 35 years or older. The lead author of the study, Zumin Shi, specified that high phthalate levels correlated with a likeliness of suffering from some the most prominent chronic diseases in the United States.

“We found that the prevalence of cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure increased among those men with higher phthalate levels,” says Shi, an associate professor at the Adelaide Medical School and the Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men’s Health, in a university press release.

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Federal court to rule if a monkey owns the copyright for its selfie photos | AL.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- A curious monkey with a toothy grin and a knack for pressing a camera button was back in the spotlight Wednesday as a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether an animal can hold a copyright to selfie photos.

A 45-minute hearing before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco attracted crowds of law students and curious citizens who often burst into laughter. The federal judges also chuckled at times at the novelty of the case, which involves a monkey in another country that is unaware of the fuss.

Andrew Dhuey, attorney for British nature photographer David Slater, said "monkey see, monkey sue" is not good law under any federal act.

Naruto is a free-living crested macaque who snapped perfectly framed selfies in 2011 that would make even the Kardashians proud.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued Slater and the San Francisco-based self-publishing company Blurb, which published a book called "Wildlife Personalities" that includes the monkey selfies, for copyright infringement. It sought a court order in 2015 allowing it to administer all proceeds from the photos taken in a wildlife reserve in Sulawesi, Indonesia to benefit the monkey.

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In SF, family earning $138K may soon qualify for 'middle income' affordable housing - SFGate

A family of at least two people who collectively earn $138,000 or less per year will likely soon qualify for one tier of San Francisco's affordable housing that would allow them to buy a home unit, following Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting. 

Under the city's previous policy, last updated in 2002, only those who earned 55 percent of the typical San Francisco median household income or less were able to utilize the option to buy affordable housing, per ABC. With the new proposal, families of at least two who are together earning up to 150 percent of San Francisco's median income can take advantage of that amendment.

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Tomorrow Soldier: How The Military Is Altering the Limits of Human Performance - Defense One

Imagine a group of volunteers, their chests rigged with biophysical sensors, preparing for a mission in a military office building outfitted with cameras and microphones to capture everything they do. “We want to set up a living laboratory where we can actually pervasively sense people, continuously, for a long period of time. The goal is to do our best to quantify the person, the environment, and how the person is behaving in the environment,” Justin Brooks, a scientist at the Army Research Lab, or ARL, told me last year.

ARL was launching the Human Variability Project, essentially a military version of the reality-TV show Big Brother without the drama. The Project seeks to turn a wide variety of human biophysical signals into machine-readable data by outfitting humans and their environment with interactive sensors.

The Army is not alone. The Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and their special operations forces are also funding research to collect biophysical data from soldiers, sailors, Marines, and pilots. The goal is to improve troops’ performance by understanding what’s happening inside their bodies, down to how their experiences affect them on a genetic level. It’s not exactly genetically engineering soldiers into superhero Captain Americas; the U.S. military insists they have no intention of using biometric data science for anything like the genetic engineering of superior traits. But it’s close. The military is after the next best thing.

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Poverty in Italy at worst for over a decade in blow for ruling party - Nasdaq.com

ROME, July 13 (Reuters) - The number of people living in
poverty in Italy climbed to its highest level for more than a
decade in 2016 despite a modest economic recovery, data showed
on Thursday, in a report that could hurt the ruling Democratic
Party (PD).

Those living in "absolute poverty" rose to 4.74 million last
year, or 7.9 percent of the population, up from 7.6 percent in
2015 and the highest since current records began in 2005,
national statistics bureau ISTAT reported.

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News from The Associated Press

A close confidant of Pope Francis, writing Thursday in a Vatican-approved magazine, condemned the way some American evangelicals and their Roman Catholic supporters mix religion and politics, saying their worldview promotes division and hatred.

The Rev. Antonio Spadaro, editor of the influential Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, said a shared desire for political influence between "evangelical fundamentalists" and some Catholics has inspired an "ecumenism of conflict" that demonizes opponents and promotes a "theocratic type of state."

Spadaro also took aim at conservative religious support for President Donald Trump, accusing activists of promoting a "xenophobic and Islamophobic vision that wants walls and purifying deportations." Trump has sought to bar travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and vowed to build a wall on the Mexican border.

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Fishermen express fury as Fukushima plant set to release radioactive material into ocean

Local residents and environmental groups have condemned a plan to release radioactive tritium from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, say tritium poses little risk to human health and is quickly diluted by the ocean.

In an interview with local media, Takashi Kawamura, chairman of TEPCO, said: "The decision has already been made." He added, however, that the utility is waiting for approval from the Japanese government before going ahead with the plan and is seeking the understanding of local residents.

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Men on Scooter in London Throw Acid in Faces of 5 People - The New York Times

LONDON — Two teenage boys raced through London on a scooter and threw or sprayed acid in the faces of five other scooter riders apparently chosen at random late Thursday, according to the police.

Two boys, ages 15 and 16, were arrested in connection with the attacks, committed during a 72-minute spree across the neighborhoods of Clapton, Hackney, Islington and Stoke Newington in northeast London, the Metropolitan Police said.

One of the victims suffered what were described by the police as life-changing injuries to the face.

The attacks began when two assailants on a scooter pulled up to a man on another scooter at an intersection, threw a corrosive substance in his face and then stole his vehicle, the police said.

Four additional attacks, all involving two teenage boys on a scooter, or moped, took place in rapid succession in neighborhoods nearby, with the assailants spraying acid in the faces of other scooter riders in an apparent attempt to steal their vehicles, the police said. They succeeded in stealing only two scooters during the spree, the police said.

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H-2B Shortage Forces Local Hiring | The Daily Caller

Businesses in Bar Harbor, Maine are turning to locals to make up for a shortage of foreign guest workers that normally fill summer jobs in the bustling seaside resort town.

Because the H-2B visa program has already reached its annual quota, Bar Harbor’s hotels, restaurants and shops can’t bring in any more foreign workers for the rest of the busy summer tourist season. Like hundreds of similar coastal resort towns, Bar Harbor has for many years depended on the H-2B visas for temporary workers. The program allows non-agricultural companies to bring in foreign labor if they are unable to find suitable employees domestically.

Now they are coming up with creative ways to attract local labor, reports the Bangor Daily News.

The Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce will hold a job fair Saturday in an effort to recruit significant numbers of workers from the region. Just about every kind of business in the town is looking for help, says chamber executive director Martha Searchfield.

“All types of businesses — retail, restaurants, the tour boats, all the trips, everything. All types of workers are needed,” she told the Daily News.

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No, It's Not Fake News, It's Robot-Written News

Both humans and robots make mistakes, but bots are quicker, cheaper, and don’t require 401K retirement plans or medical insurance.

As part of an international trend toward machine-written news reporting, Google is giving the United Kingdom’s Press Association an $800,000 award to create robot journalists.

The use of artificial intelligence is expected to help the overseas Press Association to churn out 30,000 additional articles every month. The award was announced on July 6.

Lucy A. Dalglish, dean and professor at the University of Maryland journalism school, said that robots are spreading to newsrooms around the globe, especially to write stories about sporting events, which are data-driven stories.

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House Republicans weigh massive partisan spending bill - POLITICO

House GOP leaders will decide next week whether to brave an ugly floor fight over a massive GOP spending bill — a proposal applauded by some rank-and-file Republicans but that risks embarrassment if it fails.

In a closed-door GOP conference meeting Friday morning, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said all 12 appropriations bills will be finished in committee by the end of next week. Starting Monday, leadership will begin a tentative whip count on whether lawmakers would vote for a package before the August recess that combines all of those bills into one $1 trillion government funding bill.

The idea, first proposed by Rep. Tom Graves, a senior appropriator, is to give House Republicans a chance to pass a red-meat spending bill that will lay out GOP priorities. Though the bill would never pass the Senate in the face of Democratic opposition, the process would allow House Republicans to offer potentially hundreds of amendments, an exercise that excites members who are frustrated that they’ve had no input on how to fund the government.