Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday 12 August 2015

The European Union Times


Posted: 11 Aug 2015 03:17 PM PDT

The number of first responders to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City who have been diagnosed with cancer has reached 3,700.
Those suffering from cancers certified by the federal government as 9/11-related include members of the New York Fire Department (1,100), police and other Ground Zero responders (2,134), and survivors such as downtown workers and residents (467), the New York Post reported.
The FDNY’s chief medical officer, Dr. David Prezant, said more than 2,100 firefighters and EMS personnel have retired on disability with World Trade Center-related illnesses, mostly lung disease and cancer, since 9/11.
“Due to the physical nature of their jobs, these illnesses have had a tremendous impact on our membership and their families,” he said in a statement obtained by the Post.
That includes 109 FDNY responders who have died from Ground Zero-linked illnesses, 44 of them from cancer.
Research has found thyroid, colon, prostate and blood cancers more prevalent among FDNY members who served at Ground Zero than those who did not, a spokesman said.
FDNY Deputy Chief Thomas Riley, 58, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer. A tumor formed behind his right eye.
“That was a shock to the gut,” he told the Post.
On 9/11, Riley rushed from his Long Island home to his Jackson Heights firehouse and led his fellow firefighters to Ground Zero. There, they dug for survivors until 3 AM and returned every morning that week.
“All day long, you had debris flying in your eyes. You were constantly rinsing your eyes,” said Riley, who spent months searching for remains in the wreckage.
The married father of three will need lifetime check-ups every six months in case the cancer returns or spreads to his other eye, the Post reported.
Riley has lobbied Congress to extend the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, which provides medical treatment for Ground Zero responders. The fund expires in October 2016.
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Posted: 11 Aug 2015 03:04 PM PDT
Daniel Scioli, the presidential candidate for Argentina’s governing coalition, celebrates after the results of the primary elections came in on August 10, 2015.
The presidential candidate for Argentina’s ruling coalition has secured the majority of votes in the country’s primary elections.
Daniel Scioli, the only candidate for the governing Front for Victory coalition, secured a 14-point lead over his conservative rival, Mauricio Macri as reports said late on Monday that as much as 93 percent of the votes cast during the Sunday elections had been counted.
Scioli, currently the governor of Buenos Aires province, and Macri, Buenos Aires mayor and a candidate of the conservative Cambiemos (Let’s Change) coalition, won 38.3 and 24.4 percent of the vote respectively.
Many analysts maintain that the results of the primaries are a good indicator of who may win the presidential elections, the first round of which will be held on October 25 .
Voting in the primaries, introduced in 2009 to reduce the number of candidates running in the polls, is compulsory and open to all individuals eligible to cast their ballot in the presidential elections.
In order for the presidential contenders to be eligible to stand in the first round of the elections on October 25 they have to win at least 1.5 percent of the vote.
Argentina’s presidential elections’ rules stipulate that a second round of elections will be held if no candidate wins 45 percent of the of vote or secure 40 percent of the vote with a 10-point margin over the second-placed person.
Under Argentina’s constitution, presidents can run for two terms in office and therefore, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the country’s incumbent president, who has been in power since December 2007, will not be able to stand again as a candidate.
Reports say that approximately 32 million people were eligible to participate in the elections.
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Posted: 11 Aug 2015 02:51 PM PDT

Pictures have surfaced of what is believed to be the largest ever Chinese military vehicle for transporting and launching missiles.
Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL) vehicles are used to quickly transport and fire surface-to-air, cruise and ballistic missiles.
Chinese drivers have recently spotted a new version of the vehicle, which appears similar to the military’s standard TEL, except that the latest model is “much, much larger,” according to Popular Science.
“There’s an extended section above the first and second axles, which would likely hold additional personnel and equipment for missile launch and flight corrections. Also, it has a satellite communications dome, suggesting that it requires higher bandwidth for datalinks necessary to operate a more sophisticated missile,” Popular Science reported.
Most notable about the new TEL are its two giant mystery missiles. While the standard vehicle carried three missile canisters, the new TEL carries only two missile canisters, suggesting a much wider missile.
Also, even though the new TEL vehicle is longer, its missile canisters still extend to its rear bumper, showing that the new missile is wider and two to three meters longer, Popular Science reported.
The new TEL is speculated to transport the YJ-18 anti-ship missile, a Chinese adaptation of Russian Klub rocket/cruise missile technology. The Klub missile uses a discardable turbofan engine to cruise at subsonic speeds for most of its flight, and then uses a rocket engine to reach supersonic speeds of Mach 3 in its final 50 kilometers of flight.
However, greater diameter of the new missile could point to other possibilities, such as the long-range surface-to-air and anti-ballistic HQ-26 missile, an ultra-long-range cruise missile, or another large supersonic cruise missile, Popular Science reported.
The new missile launch vehicle – its increased sophistication, along with a likely larger missile it will carry – shows China is dedicated to its goal of developing and deploying new weapons as it extends its reach in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Posted: 11 Aug 2015 02:44 PM PDT

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland believes that a full-scale armed conflict in Transnistria was unlikely. Yet, even one episode of violence may take the situation out of control.
Jagland wrote in an article for The New York Times that “many in Moldova worry that Transnistria could become the next Crimea.” “Transnistria’s leaders complain that Moldova is conspiring with Ukraine to keep them under economic blockade and have now ordered Transnistrian army reservists between 18 and 27 to mobilize.” Jagland wrote.
According to TASS, the term of the recruiting campaign in Transnistria was extended till the end of 2015. “The recruiting campaign shall be carried out throughout the calendar year 2015,” the decree of the President of the unrecognized republic Yevgeny Shevchuk said.
Another decree from the head of state announced the recruitment of reserve officers during the entire 2015 as well.
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Posted: 11 Aug 2015 02:31 PM PDT

Lax legislation allows foreigners who have never paid taxes in Britain to access medical care in their own countries at the expense of the National Health Service (NHS), an investigation has found.
The Daily Mail investigation, which was published on Monday, revealed that foreign nationals who claim to be living in Britain are obtaining free European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC) and charging the NHS in their own countries.
The EHIC cards are intended for British people to use in urgent medical emergencies anywhere in the EU, allowing related treatments costs to be charged back to the NHS.
Applicants need to be a resident in the UK to apply for one of these cards.
However, the investigation found that the NHS has been issuing over five million EHICs per year without keeping record of the number distributed to foreigners.
Undercover reporter for the Daily Mail Ani Horvath, who spent less than a day in Britain, managed to obtain an NHS number and EICH card.
One of her fellow reporters posed as a landlord and offered her a fake tenancy agreement to use as proof of address when registering at a GP in London to obtain the NHS number.
The Hungarian reporter, who has never paid tax in Britain, took the card to hospitals in her own country.
She could have used it to get skin treatments and maternity care paid for by British taxpayers.
A maternity clinic staff member told her that a “lot of people” had registered for appointments paid for by the NHS.
The reporter could have also registered for a liver transplant costing £47,000 or maternity care amounting to £9,500 with the card.
Foreigners from Romania, Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia have reportedly gloated online about how they had charged Britain for health treatments in their countries, claiming “no one even blinked.”
One woman posted a message on an online forum, saying: “All necessary arrangements to do with the pregnancy and childbirth will be made free”.
“I was very surprised that there were not so many run-ins with the authorities.”
Another person said: “No one even blinked. Everything was solved with the EHIC card.”
Over £721 million has been spent on refunding other European countries for treating people with EHIC cards over the past five years.
The Department of Health (DOH) said they don’t know how much money has been claimed by foreigners to get treatment in their home countries.
The government has admitted there are loopholes in the system that need to be addressed. Health Minister Alistair Burt has spoken out on the issue, calling it completely unacceptable.
“It is completely unacceptable that people living outside the UK think they can abuse our NHS,” he said in a statement.
“That’s why this government has already introduced tough measures to clamp down on migrants using healthcare without making a contribution, to save half a billion pounds within a few years.”
Consultant surgeon Meirion Thomas argues the availability of EHIC cards must be restricted.
He told the BBC EHIC cards “shouldn’t be given out for five years” and they should be “more difficult to get hold of.”
Speaking separately on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, he said the foreigners aren’t entitled to an EHIC card because “they don’t make any contribution to the health systems in their country.”
“It’s already got around, it’s there, it’s in the real world. Migrants come into this country and ask for EHIC cards,” he said.
“But they all have UK EHIC cards. The reason is they can go back to their own country or travel anywhere in Europe and they have got, basically, health insurance.”
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Posted: 10 Aug 2015 02:07 PM PDT

Chemical warfare was trialed on British military personnel and potentially lethal biological agents were unleashed on an unsuspecting public as part of Ministry of Defense (MOD) experiments carried out over fifty years, a shocking new book reveals.
In his latest work, entitled ‘Secret Science: A Century of Poison Warfare and Human Experiments,’ University of Kent historian Ulf Schmidt presents a series of case studies about covert state projects conducted between 1939 and 1989.
In one 1953 experiment, 20 year-old Royal Air Force (RAF) engineer Ronald Maddison was killed by exposure to what is now known as Sarin gas.
Like many service men of his era, he was promised small amounts of extra pay or days off to take part in the experiment. For 15 shillings and a three-day leave pass, Maddison volunteered.
Another volunteer, 19-year old Alfred Thornhill, witnessed his death at the military’s science complex at Porton Down, Wiltshire.
Speaking at a 2004 inquest into Maddison’s death, Thornhill told those present that the 20 year-old RAF engineer collapsed after drops of the toxic chemical were applied his clothing.
“I had never seen anyone die before and what that lad went through was absolutely horrific. It was like he was being electrocuted, his whole body was convulsing,” he said.
“The skin was vibrating and there was all this terrible stuff coming out of his mouth…it looked like frogspawn. I saw his leg rise up from the bed and I saw his skin begin turning blue. It started from the ankle and started spreading up his leg.”
Thornhill said it was like watching something from “outer space,” as Maddison’s state continued to deteriorate.
Sarin is now classified as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) by the United Nations (UN).
The inquest into Maddison’s death ruled he had been “unlawfully killed,” and awarded his family £100,000 pounds compensation.
In separate case study, Schmidt found that in 1963 a government scientist had released allegedly “plague like” bacteria onto the London underground. Commuters were never told that the experiment had taken place.
The bacteria was Bacillus Globigii which, although not known to be harmful at the time, is now known to cause food poisoning, eye infections and occasionally death.
Scientists were trying to discover if aerosols traveled via the transport network or the Underground’s air conditioning system.
In another experiment conducted on a ship in the Outer Hebrides in 1952, a civilian trawler came into the area.
Rather than stopping the vessel and quarantining the crew, scientists decided to let it go onward to see what would happen. It eventually docked for a time in Blackpool, though no contagion was reported.
The book suggests that up to 21,000 service personnel were experimented on over decades of secret testing, with some suffering chemical burns, vomiting and breakdowns.
One victim, Corporal Harry Hogg, then 20 years old, spoke of his experiences in a gas chamber used to test chemical weapons: “It seemed like an eternity. They opened the door and we all piled out on hands and knees, groaning and moaning and crying… one man was just like an animal.”
“He was trying to eat grass. He was out of his mind. What we went through was horrendous,” Hogg added.
In 2008, the government apologized for using servicemen as guinea pigs and awarded compensation to 670 of the victims.
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Posted: 10 Aug 2015 01:59 PM PDT

An Ebola vaccine has proven to provide complete protection against the baneful disease in a field trial in the hard-hit Guinea, a researcher has claimed.
The trial showed that the vaccine “offers 100 percent protection against Ebola after roughly one week,” said researcher Sven Trelle from the Swiss University of Bern.
The world is “on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said, hailing the results from the first efficacy test of the VSV-ZEBOV vaccine.
The test, backed by drug firm Merck, the WHO and the governments of Canada, Norway and Guinea, saw 4,123 high-risk people vaccinated immediately after someone close to them fell ill with the deadly fever. None of the vaccinated groups caught the virus, according to study results published in The Lancet medical journal.
Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever, whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces, or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
About 28,000 people have been infected in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in the worst Ebola outbreak in history, according to the WHO, and more than 11,000 have died.
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Posted: 10 Aug 2015 01:51 PM PDT

President Obama’s claim he could win a third term was debunked by a poll showing only 26% would vote for him again.
The Monmouth University poll released Monday also revealed that 68% would vote for someone else if the Constitution allowed Obama to run a third term.
The poll proves Obama wrong not long after he told members of the African Union he could win again.
“Under our Constitution, I cannot run again,” the president said. “I think if I ran, I could win.”
The Monmouth University Polling Institute called that “wishful thinking” in a press release accompanying the poll results, which also showed that only 23% of independents would give Obama four more years,despite the president carrying the independent vote in the 2008 presidential election.
“It’s no surprise that Obama would find little enthusiasm for another four years in the White House among Republicans (5%) or even independents (23%) at this stage, however, his support among Democrats is not particularly strong either – just 53% would back the incumbent for a third term while 43% of his fellow partisans would vote for somebody else,” Monmouth University Polling Institute stated.
The institute also asked Democrats their opinion on Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and only 41% said they supported it.
“The numbers only get worse among independents and Republicans,” The Federalist reported. “Overall, just 27 percent of those polled believe Congress should approve the controversial nuclear deal with Iran.”
“A majority of Republicans (55%) and a plurality of independents (33%) believe Congress should reject the deal.”
The poll was conducted with 1,203 adults in the U.S. and has a margin of error of + 2.8%.
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Posted: 10 Aug 2015 12:45 PM PDT

Donald Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination following a controversial debate in which the billionaire businessman refused to pledge loyalty to the eventual GOP nominee.
During the first major GOP debate for the 2016 presidential elections which was held on Thursday, Trump had a fiery exchange with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
Kelly asked Trump to respond to disparaging remarks he had made in the past about women, calling them “fat pigs,” “dogs,” and “slobs.” Trump tried to wave off the question and dismissed Kelly.
Trump stirred more controversy Friday when he said on CNN that Kelly “had blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever” during the debate.
Republican leaders were quick to criticize Trump for his “demeaning” statements, with some even suggesting that his repeated attacks on Kelly, a popular conservative figure, might have ruined his candidacy.
Trump appeared on multiple political television talk shows Sunday, insisting he “cherishes” women and refusing to apologize for his remarks on Kelly.
However, an NBC News online poll shows that Trump is still at the top of the list of the crowded GOP field, with 23 percent support among likely Republican voters.
Trump’s closest competitor, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, has 13 percent of the primary votes, according to the survey.
The real estate magnate has been sustaining his lead among influential Republicans such as former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker much to the surprise of political analysts and the dismay of established Republican leaders.
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Posted: 10 Aug 2015 12:13 PM PDT
Muslim migrants pray at a makeshift mosque in “The New Jungle” camp in Calais, France, August 7, 2015.
Police in Calais, from where thousands of illegal immigrants from Africa and the Middle East risk their lives trying to cross the English Channel to make it to the UK, have suggested bringing in the British army to curb the crisis.
The head of the Alliance union for police deployed to the French port and Eurotunnel site, Bruno Noel, has warned that the situation could soon get out of control if additional help is not provided. He complained that his unit is “doing Britain’s dirty work.”
“We have only 15 permanent French border police at the Eurotunnel site,” the Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying.
“Can you imagine how derisory this is given the situation?
“So I say, why not bring in the British Army, and let them work together with the French?” Mr Noel added.
According to different estimates, between 2,000 and 10,000 migrants in Calais are trying to cross the English Channel. Many have attempted to reach Britain by boarding trains through the tunnel or on lorries bound for UK destinations. Twelve people have died this year attempting to reach the UK. The numbers of migrants in the Calais camp, known as The Jungle, have soared over the past few months from 1,000 in April to nearly 5,000 by August.
The first call to use British troops was made by Kevin Hurley (former Head of Counter Terrorism for City of London Police, an ex-Paratrooper and an expert on international security), who is currently Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey. He said the problems stemming from the crowds of migrants trying to enter the UK from Calais through the Channel Tunnel could be dealt with efficiently by Gurkha regiments, based close by in Hythe, a small British coastal market town on the south coast of Kent.
The 700-strong 2nd Battalion of the Royal Gurkha Rifles has been based in the Shorncliffe and Risborough barracks just outside Hythe since 2000, according to Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey.
“I am increasingly frustrated by the huge numbers of illegal migrants who jump out of the backs of lorries at the first truck stop – Cobham Services in Surrey – and disappear into our countryside. There were 100 in the last month alone,” Mr Hurley said late last month.
“But, while the UK and French governments decide their next prevention strategy we, the British police, have to deal with the immediate problem.
The Gurkhas are a highly respected and competent force, and are just around the corner. They could help to ensure that our border is not breached,” he added.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has meanwhile criticized French authorities for their handling of the escalating crisis. He also suggested dispatching the British Army.
“It is only a matter of time before a British driver gets killed. That’s how serious it is,” Farage said while on a visit to the French port last month, according to the Telegraph.
But UK Prime Minister David Cameron reassured British holiday makers in France that British authorities would make sure they had a “safe and secure holiday.” He promised that migrants illegally entering the country would not be offered a “safe haven.”
“This is very testing, I accept that, because you have got a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain because Britain has got jobs, it’s got a growing economy, it’s an incredible place to live,” he told ITV.
A human rights group, the Refugee Council, has condemned Cameron’s comments, calling his language “extremely inflammatory.”
“It’s extremely disappointing to hear the Prime Minister using such irresponsible, de-humanizing language to describe the desperate men, women and children fleeing for their lives across the Mediterranean Sea,” head of advocacy for the Refugee Council, Lisa Doyle, told the Independent.
Labour leadership candidate, Andy Burnham, tweeted in response to the comments: “Cameron calling Calais migrants a ‘swarm’ is nothing short of disgraceful. Confirms there’s no dog-whistle these Bullingdon Boys won’t blow.”
Last week, reports emerged that savvy migrants at the French end of the Channel Tunnel have discovered how to get through a locked gate into the Eurotunnel complex. It’s believed they managed to crack a keypad code by working out which buttons were the most worn and used.
“This fence has been there for a long time and as you know when you tap in a code you don’t touch all the keys to hide your tracks, so it’s quite possible that the keys corresponding to the code are dirtier than the others. I can’t see how else it might have happened,” Bruno Noel told the Daily Telegraph.
At the weekend, protesters started a march near the migrant camp and continued to fences along the beaches of Calais.
About 200 people took part in a pro-migrant demonstration in Calais on Saturday. The protesters demanded that France and Great Britain comply with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enables people to travel around the world and change their places of residence. They dedicated their march primarily to migrants, who had perished in their attempts to cross the channel.
“People who survived in wars and prisons in other continents die in Calais”, “Human rights are violated on the French-British border” and “No to borders and deportation” read the activists’ banners.
“Why do they have to risk their lives before they risk asylum when they are in Europe? It doesn’t make any sense,” Maia, one of the protesters and a volunteer at NGO l’Auberge des migrants told the Ruptly news agency.
“Why are British borders here in France? I mean, would you let your neighbor say ‘I’m afraid of people going into my house, so I’m gonna put borders in your garden?’” she added.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 08:32