Demokratisk tredjevärlds-hjälp föder korruption

Billions of pounds of aid spent in postwar reconstruction across the globe creates political instability and violence, according to a controversial new study.

The research, carried out in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans for Tiri, a new non-governmental organisation dedicated to encouraging transparency and democracy in developing countries, will fuel the debate over whether established ways of delivering aid are failing.

The controversy follows the disastrous outcomes of a series of major reconstruction programmes: in Iraq and Afghanistan, where ineffective rebuilding plans have been beset by problems with corruption; in Sri Lanka following the tsunami, where the distribution of aid has contributed to the restarting of the civil war; and in the reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, where over $1bn in aid has already been wasted.

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[Sann förändring börjar inifrån -- vem är det vi försöker att lura?]

Holland skakas av mångkulturella problem

The Netherlands is failing in efforts to solve multicultural problems among the nation’s youth, raising the risk of Paris-style riots in poor Dutch city districts, an assessment has indicated.

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The teams claim that municipalities do not have a clear picture of the complex problems that a multicultural society creates.

City councils speak about racist ‘Lonsdale’ youths or Antilleans, failing to realise that there are large differences within these groups.

Due to the simplicity in reasoning, one-sided measures were taken that were often poorly carried out. As a result, the measures failed to have any effect, the teams said.

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[Är det toleransen som felar igen, eller kan det möjligen vara så att mångkultur är en misslyckad idé? Ja, det kan det.]

Plastkemikalier förändrar avkomman hos möss

Female mice exposed to a common chemical found in plastics while in the womb develop abnormal eggs, according to a new study. Based on this finding, researchers speculate that the chemical, bisphenol A, might increase the risk of spontaneous abortion and genetic disorders in humans, such as Down’s syndrome.

Bisphenol A, or BPA, is commonly found in hard plastics and the lining of tin cans. The chemical has come under scrutiny before because it can mimic the hormone oestrogen.

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Hunt is concerned that BPA might disrupt egg development in humans as well. The types of chromosomal defects seen in her mice are known to increase the risk of spontaneous abortion and genetic disorders such as Down’s syndrome.

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[Det här låter ju inte bra. Men eftersom produkterna som dessa kemikalier finns i, säkerligen säljer bra, så finns det heller ingen större anledning till att ta bort dem från marknaden, eller hur?!]

I-landsskuld leder till altruistisk adoptionsvåg

Under hösten har Madonna och maken Guy Ritchies adoption av David Banda från Malawi resulterat i spaltmeter i världens tidningar.

Superstjärnan har fått utstå hård kritik efter att hon anklagats för att ha kringgått landets mycket hårda adoptionsregler för att få med sig David hem till Storbritannien.

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- Det finns mer än en miljon föräldralösa barn i Malawi. Jag tycker att lagarna borde ändras så att fler kan adoptera därifrån för de här barnen behöver räddas, sade stjärnan.

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[Detta är ännu en trend som sveper över miljonärsstråken, där skulden över att leva i I-landet utmynnar i ett behov av att verka altruistisk i massmedial press. Att dessa "stjärnor" inte vet hur man ska lösa U-landsproblemen, utan istället väljer att slita barn från sin ursprungliga kultur, verkar inte bekomma dem.]

Kapitalism i Kina genererar vågor av syfilis

Syphilis has returned to China with a vengeance as the country undergoes rapid development and an overall change in lifestyle, researchers from the US and China say.

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The report said contributing factors include sexual experimentation at a young age and before marriage, as well as the increasing cost of individual healthcare.

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China was facing one of the worst syphilis epidemics in human history when the Communist party took power and worked to eliminate the disease, helping to nearly eliminate it for 20 years from 1964.

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The study linked the re-emergence to economic reforms and globalisation in China.

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[Huvudsaken är att vi blir rikare, om än med en släng av syfilis på kuppen, eller hur?!]

Tumlare svälter till döds i Europa pga. havsuppvärmning

Porpoises are starving to death in European waters because of fish shortages linked to ocean warming, according to a new study that warns of mounting fatalities if sea temperatures continue to rise.

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Dwindling sand eel stocks in the North Sea have already been blamed for poor breeding success among seabirds. This latest research suggests that marine mammals are also affected.

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Previous studies have suggested that sand eels in the North Sea are harmed by rising sea temperatures, because the cold-water plankton they eat are becoming scarcer.

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The study team said its findings suggest that other whales, dolphins, and porpoises could be similarly at risk.

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Emily Lewis-Brown, marine climate change officer for conservation group WWF-UK, said the effects of dwindling sand eel stocks first became apparent in other North Sea wildlife in 2003, when thousands of chicks starved to death in Scottish seabird colonies.

She noted that the plankton that sand eels eat are being replaced by warm-water species that are not only less nutritious but also bloom at a different time of year. This in turn affects animals that time their reproduction to coincide with peak numbers of sand eels.

”Everything links together in a really neat chain, but parts of this chain are now moving in time and space, so they are peaking earlier or later, or they’re moving north,” Lewis-Brown said.

”Different parts of the food chain are now mismatched.”

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[Om alla andra djurarter dör ut så står människan kvar som herre på teppan, snart är vi ÄNTLIGEN kung över naturen!]

Distraheringar från jobb upprör moderna forskare

Procrastination in society is getting worse and scientists are finally getting around to figuring out how and why. Too many tempting diversions are to blame, but more on that later.

After 10 years of research on a project that was only supposed to take five years, a Canadian industrial psychologist found in a giant study that not only is procrastination on the rise, it makes people poorer, fatter and unhappier.

Something has to be done about it, sooner rather than later, University of Calgary professor Piers Steel concludes. His 30-page study is in this month’s peer-reviewed Psychological Bulletin, published by the American Psychological Association.

In 1978, only about 5 percent of the American public thought of themselves as chronic procrastinators. Now it’s 26 percent, Steel said.

And why not? There are so many fun ways to kill time – TVs in every room, online video, Web-surfing, cell phones, video games, iPods and Blackberries.

At work, e-mail, the Internet and games are just a click away, making procrastination effortless, Steel said.

”That stupid game Minesweeper – that probably has cost billions of dollars for the whole society,” he said.

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[Är det inte ironiskt att de saker som det moderna samhället skapat för att hålla det konsumistiska systemet igång, plötsligt slår tillbaka på det själv och skapar överhedonistiska latmaskar utan självkontroll och disciplin?]

Irländare kombinerar euro och kokain

Scientists in the Republic of Ireland have found traces of cocaine on all the banknotes they tested.

The team used the latest forensic techniques that would detect even the tiniest fragments to study a batch of 45 used banknotes.

The scientists at Dublin’s City University said they were ”surprised by their findings”.

Some of the notes had such high levels of cocaine on them that it is thought they were used to snort the drug.

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[Irländarna vet hur man festar loss!]

Unga judar i Amerika avviker från etnisk samhörighet

The connection of young American Jews to the Jewish people is progressively declining because they are made to feel that identifying with their ethnic group is “not kosher,” a leading expert on American Jewish history said this week.

“On their university campuses, identifying with Jews as a people, which is distinct from their identifying with Judaism, is not considered kosher,” said Prof. Jack Wertheimer, who also serves as provost of the Jewish Theological Center in New York. “Only people of color are allowed to identify with their fellow ethnics. White Americans are not allowed to participate in that kind of behavior.”

Speaking at a conference at Hebrew University this week, Wertheimer said Jews “are gravitating toward universalism because of their discomfort with parochialism.” And Jewish organizations have become increasingly complicit in the process, he pointed out, citing the change of the United Jewish Communities (UJC) slogan, which has gradually evolved from “We Are One” to “Live Generously”—their new motto that does not specify the target for philanthropists’ generosity.

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[Detta är varför nynazisternas tjafs över ZOG är bortslösad tid: även judarnas etnicitet och kultur är hotad av den globaliserade industriella konsumismen (även känd som "frihet" och "mångkultur").]

EU vill höja graden av mänskliga rättigheter

The EU must take a global lead in promoting human rights now that the Guantánamo Bay prison camp and the torture of terrorism suspects has left Washington’s voice ”hollow” on the issue, a leading US human rights group said today.

While the Bush administration can still promote democracy, ”it cannot credibly advocate rights that it flouts”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a scathing introduction to its annual report.

”Quite apart from the fallout of its ill-fated Iraq invasion, its credibility as a proponent of human rights has been tarnished by the abuses it practices in the name of fighting terrorism,” HRW’s executive director, Kenneth Roth, wrote.

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[Vem lyssnar fortfarande på detta; vi VET att det egentligen endast handlar om ännu en affärsförtjänst, som ska utöka den globala ekonomiska tillväxten i Västvärlden.]