News

1. -01-14-14 India Wipes Out Polio (World.Time.com)
   "People used to say that ridding India of polio simply couldn’t be done. The virus has used the subcontinent as an incubator for centuries, and some experts argued that the slow process of vaccinating every child could never outpace the rapid transmission of the disease. Happily, they were wrong. Teaming up with groups like Rotary International, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization (WHO), the Indian government launched yearly national vaccination drives carried out by millions of volunteers and, eventually, backed up by sophisticated disease-surveillance and population-monitoring systems. In 2002, there were 1,600 polio cases in India. By 2009, there were 741. Today, there are none." 01-14
   
   
2. -01-31-14 Carbon-Negative Biochar and the Tipping Point (e360.Yale.edu)
   "As the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere climbs to 400 parts per million and beyond, and the impacts of climate change become more unmistakable and destructive — rapid melting of Arctic Ocean ice, a rising incidence of extreme weather events — the case for extracting carbon from the atmosphere becomes increasingly compelling. Reducing the world’s emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases — the focus of virtually all public discussion and government policy on climate at the moment — remains vital, but as a practical matter that effort only affects how quickly the 400 ppm figure will increase. Turning biomass into biochar and burying it underground effectively withdraws CO2 from the atmosphere; if done at sufficient scale and in combination with aggressive reductions in annual greenhouse gas emissions, biochar thus could help reduce atmospheric concentrations of CO2."
   
   "Johannes Lehmann, a professor of agricultural science at Cornell University and one of the world’s top experts on biochar, has calculated that if biochar were added to 10 percent of global cropland, the effect would be to sequester 29 billion tons of CO2 equivalent — roughly equal to humanity’s annual greenhouse gas emissions." 01-14
   
   
3. -03-11-14 Putin's Man in Crimea (Time.com)
   "Little is known about Sergei Aksyonov, the pro-Russia Crimean leader who is driving the region toward secession. What is obvious, however, is that he poses a big problem for the Ukrainian government." 03-14
   
   
4. -04-10-14 Putin Warns Europe to Expect Gas Shortages (Time.com)
   "Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a letter to European leaders asking them to help Ukraine pay its gas debts, which he claims amounts to over $35 billion, or they'll face the prospect of gas shortages." 04-14
   
   
5. -04-20-14 Ukrainisn Prime Minister: Putin Wants to Restore USSR (Time.com)
   "Russian President Vladimir Putin 'has a dream to restore the Soviet Union and every day he goes further and further' interim Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told NBC’s David Gregory on Meet the Press Sunday. 'God knows where is the final destination.' "
   
   
6. -04-26-14 Two Catholic Popes Are Cannonized as Saints (Time.com)
   "More than one million Catholics were expected to flock to Rome Saturday for the historic double canonization of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII on Sunday." 04-14
   
   
7. -10-08-14 Why the U.S. Cannot Save Kobani (Time.com)
   "Limits of air power and lack of allies on the ground doom Kobani."
   
   "The Pentagon made clear that "there is little the U.S. military can do to save the more than 200,000 people fighting for their lives in the Syrian town of Kobani, just south of the Turkish border." 10-14
   
   
8. -11-29-14 Egyptian Judges Drop All Charges Against Former President Mubarak (New York Times)
   "An Egyptian court dropped all remaining criminal charges against former President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday in a sweeping repudiation of the Arab Spring uprising that forced him from power." 11-14
   
   

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