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Saudi Arabia bans Brazil beef imports on mad cow doubts

Label: Health

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has suspended imports of Brazilian beef, Brazil‘s agriculture ministry said on Tuesday, and became the largest country to stop purchases after confirmation of a 2010 case of atypical mad cow disease.

The decision, confirmed by a ministry press official in Brasilia, follows Egypt‘s ban of beef on Monday from Parana state, where a cow that died two years ago had developed atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. Egypt will continue to import from other states.

Between January and October, Saudi Arabia imported 31,300 metric tons of beef, putting it among the top 10 largest importers from Brazil, the world’s largest beef exporter.

But top buyers Russia, Hong Kong and Egypt – which took more than half of the 896,000 metric tons of beef that Brazil has exported this year through September – continue to import its beef, suggesting the impact could be limited.

Prior to Saudi Arabia, only Japan, China and South Africa had halted imports of all Brazilian beef since Brazil announced on December 7 that a 13-year-old cow that died in 2010 in Parana tested positive for the protein linked to the development of BSE.

The countries are all minor importers of Brazilian beef.

The cow, which was kept for breeding purposes, never developed BSE and died of other causes. But it tested positive for the causal agent for BSE, a protein called a prion, which can arise spontaneously in elderly cattle.

A similar case of atypical BSE occurred in the United States in April. Like the Brazilian cow, that animal never entered the food chain and there was no major effect on U.S. beef exports.

Brazilian companies like JBS SA,, the world’s biggest meats producer, as well as rival Minerva SA and food processor Marfrig Alimentos SA have played down the impact of the case on their operations.

After it confirmed the case of atypical BSE, the World Animal Health Organization issued a statement maintaining Brazil’s status as a low-risk country for mad cow disease.

“This classification has been followed by important countries, blocks and consumers,” Minerva said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that sales to Saudi Arabia accounted for approximately 2.5 percent of gross sales so far this year.

(Reporting by Patricia Monteiro and Roberto Samora; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Iran media: Son of ex-president released on bail

Label: World

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian media say the son of influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been released on bail.

Several papers, including the pro-reform Etemad daily, say Mahdi Hashemi was released late Sunday and immediately went to his father’s home.

Authorities arrested the younger Hashemi in late September, a day after he returned to Iran from Britain.

He is held on charges of fomenting unrest in the aftermath of Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election that brought President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term in office. Hashemi also faced corruption charges.

His arrest came days after his sister, Faezeh, was taken into custody to serve a six-month sentence on charges of making propaganda against Iran’s ruling system.

Since Rafsanjani backed Ahmadinejad’s reformist challenger in 2009, his family has come under pressure from hardliners.

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Clearwire accepts slightly sweeter bid from Sprint

Label: Technology

(Reuters) – Clearwire Corp agreed to sell roughly half of the company for $ 2.2 billion to majority shareholder Sprint Nextel Corp, which would then have full ownership of spectrum that will help it offer high-speed wireless services.

The $ 2.97-per-share deal is only 7 cents per share higher than a bid many minority shareholders said was too low days before. Clearwire shares tumbled 12.2 percent to $ 2.96 in morning trading on Monday.

Sprint already owns slightly more than half of Clearwire. The company said owners of 13 percent of Clearwire shares – Comcast Corp, Intel Corp and Bright House Networks LLC – had agreed to vote for the deal.

But it was not immediately clear whether Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier, could win the backing of a majority of Clearwire’s minority shareholders, which it needs to take control.

“This is not going to be popular with the minority shareholders,” said Davidson & Co analyst Donna Jaegers.

But Clearwire’s top executive told analysts on a Monday call that the company had little alternative.

“Despite our efforts we have been unable to secure new partnerships,” said Clearwire Chief Executive Officer Erik Prusch. “Our existing governance agreements prevented us from offering third parties the governance rights they desired in a partnership.”

Shareholders with more than 13 percent of Clearwire shares said last week that they were not happy with the $ 2.90-per-share offer, and some have said Sprint should offer as much as $ 5 per share.

Crest Financial, which owns more than 3 percent of Clearwire, recently filed a lawsuit to stop the company from selling itself to Sprint.

After the deal was announced on Monday, Crest said it had amended the lawsuit to make it a class action.

Another shareholder, Mount Kellett, said last week that the $ 2.90-a-share deal “grossly” undervalued Clearwire.

Clearwire, which also counts Sprint as its biggest customer, has been seeking financing for a high-speed wireless network upgrade and to keep itself afloat.

While some analysts and shareholders said Clearwire did not need to rush into a sale to Sprint, others have said that move would be its best hope for survival.

Sprint, whose shares rose 1 percent to $ 5.61 on Monday, needs Clearwire’s substantial spectrum to better arm itself against larger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc.

Reuters reported last week that Japan’s Softbank Corp, which recently struck a deal to buy 70 percent of Sprint, would not consent to a bid of more than $ 2.97 per share.

Softbank said on Monday that it supported the deal.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew in New York and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Rodney Joyce, Sriraj Kalluvila and Lisa Von Ahn)

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Jason Mraz tops Myanmar anti-trafficking concert

Label: Lifestyle

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz mixed entertainment with education to become the first world-class entertainer in decades to perform in Myanmar, with a concert to raise awareness of human trafficking.

Mraz’s 2008 hit “I’m Yours” was the finale for Sunday night’s concert before a crowd of about 50,000 people at the base of the famous hilltop Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the country’s biggest city.

Local artists, including a hip-hop singer, also played at the event organized by the anti-trafficking media group MTV EXIT — for “End Exploitation and Trafficking” —in cooperation with U.S. and Australian government aid agencies and the anti-slavery organization Walk Free.

Myanmar is emerging from decades of isolation under a reformist elected government that took office last year after almost five decades of military rule. It has been one of the region’s poorest countries, and its bad human rights record made it the target of political and economic sanctions by Western nations.

But democratic reforms initiated by President Thein Sein have led to the lifting of most sanctions, and the country is hopeful of a political and economic revival. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy opposition leader, was released from house arrest in late 2010 and won a seat in parliament last April.

Mraz called his top-billed appearance at the concert a “tremendous honor.”

“I think the country is, at this time, downloading lots of new information from all around the world,” he said. “I’ve always wanted my music to be here, (for) hope and celebration, peace, love and happiness. And so I’m delighted that my music can be a part of this big download that Myanmar is experiencing right now.”

Organizers said Mraz was the first international artist to perform at an open-air, mass public concert in Myanmar. Jazz artists Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Charlie Byrd visited the country under U.S. government sponsorship in the 1970s, when it was still called Burma, but played at much smaller venues.

Many in the crowd queued for two hours before being admitted to the concert site. Yangon native Sann Oo, 31, wearing a white T-shirt with a sketch of Mraz, said he was pleased that Mraz had come and that there would be a broadcast of the event.

“His visit can promote the image of Myanmar, because people outside have been seeing the country as an insecure place, and poor,” he said. “Now they can see how we look like from the concert. It also opens the potential for more concerts by foreign artists.”

Mraz has a history of involvement with human rights and other social causes.

But there was some criticism of his visit by campaigners for Myanmar‘s Muslim Rohingya community, which has been the target of ethnic-based violence this year that has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes into makeshift refugee camps. They feel Myanmar’s government has been complicit in the discrimination, and that Mraz’s visit provides it cover with the image of being a defender of human rights.

Mraz said he was aware of the issue, but that if he didn’t come to do the concert because someone else had asked him to protest another problem, then that would not help tackle the exploitation and human trafficking issue.

“I understand that there is a lot of wrongdoing in this world,” he said. “Today I’m here for this.”

Walk Free used the occasion of Sunday’s concert to launch a campaign calling on the world’s major corporations “to work together to end modern slavery by identifying, eradicating and preventing forced labor in their operations and supply chains.” They are seeking to have the companies make a “zero tolerance for slavery pledge” by the end of March next year.

“While many think of slavery as a relic of history, experts estimate that there are currently 20.9 million people living under threat of violence, abuse and harsh penalties,” the Australia-based group said in a statement. “Within this massive number, the majority of people – more than 14.2 million – are in a forced labor situation, used to source raw materials, and create products in sectors such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing and domestic work.”

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Kids Lead Crowd Funded Scientific Mission to Nicaragua: Science Education is the Tide that Lifts All Boats

Label: Health

Enzo, Haley and Emma are ordinary kids working on an extraordinary mission. They are joining up with a team of Special Forces medics and elite, global surgeons to deliver medical aid to the Rama Indians of Nicaragua in the spring of 2013.In partnership with HumaniTV, the journey will be beamed to tens of thousands of kids around the globe by satellite as the three middle school students trek through the jungles of Central America performing research on sustainable agriculture and seeing first hand how science and innovation improves peoples’ lives.”We want to send a message to kids that science isn’t just about getting a better job and making more money,” says team captain and the creator of Exploration nation, twelve year old Enzo. “If it wasn’t for science, we’d still be sitting in a cave somewhere chomping on a mammoth bone in the dark.”The high profile expedition was created by Enzoology Education, a social enterprise that produces Exploration Nation and HumaniTV, an online network featuring humanitarian aid programming to send the message that “science education is the tide that lifts all boats”.Enzo, Haley and Emma are part of the cast of Exploration Nation, an education program that features real kids doing real science research around the globe. These adventures are captured on video and coupled with lesson plans designed to inspire and motivate elementary and middle school students to take up careers in science.America’s Future as a Global Innovator Lies at the Feet of our Youngest Citizens According to a 2009 study by Raytheon, about 60% of students lose their interest in science before the age of 13. The study is just one that shows how students start elementary school genuinely excited about science. By the time they hit seventh grade, the majority feel that science is “boring” and irrelevant to their lives.Dave Wilson, director of academic programs at National Instruments, stated “In order for students to remain engaged in math and science, they need to actually experience the theory that educators put before them. Bringing the theory to life through hands-on experiences really helps students understand and learn better and makes the concepts more relevant to them.” National Instruments is well known for its technical innovation and dedication to science and math education.”Many science principles have been the same for hundreds of years.” says Robert Bourdelais of Ward’s Natural Science. “We are using 19th century methods to teach 21st century kids. Students today need to touch and feel science and learn by doing. A lecture environment doesn’t inspire today’s young students. The way we teach them needs to evolve and align with ever changing technology which is becoming the center of our modern world.”It should be no surprise that presenting science in a dry, isolated context to today’s super stimulated kids results in students becoming more and more disconnected from how innovation is at the core of human existence. The irony of this belief is lost on the most wired generation in history.It is a terrible irony that young people don’t believe science to be relevant to their lives when they are totally immersed in some of the most advanced technological innovation in the history of mankind. Even worse is the idea that any one of these kids has the potential to cure cancer, solve the energy problem or invent the next insanely great thing. Let’s just hope those kids are not in the 60% who fall through the cracks.How Does Helping the Indigenous People of Nicaragua Help America’s Students?According to world renowned paleontologist Dr. Jack Horner, “I think it’s time to do away with traditional classrooms where information is simply disseminated to students who are then expected to regurgitate that same information. We must now create environments where students have to think or create and solve problems or write using their imaginations in order to pass classes…” Horner says. “We need to show kids that active participation in science is exciting and important while motivating them to have their own adventures instead of hearing it second-hand.”Team XN: Expedition Central America is designed to inspire students to get actively involved in hands-on scientific study and show them how innovations in agriculture, renewable fuels, ethnobotany and medicine improve the living conditions of all people – especially the impoverished.The Rama Indians of the Mosquito Coast in Nicaragua are on the receiving end for the Expedition. “We chose the Rama to illustrate what life would be like minus innovation.” says Dr. Alfredo Lopez Salazar, owner of the Rio Indio Lodge in Nicaragua and a long time supporter of the indigenous populations in Central America. Dr. Lopez continues, “The Rama have a sophisticated tradition of thriving in the rain forest and an intimate knowledge of the plants and animals that surround them. But they currently struggle to fulfill their basic needs, such as medical care.”Team XN: Expedition Central AmericaThe team of kids and doctors will bring access to a wide range of medical procedures, basic drugs like antibiotics and analgesics as well as water purification and curriculum materials for the only school in the village.The fourteen day trek through the jungle will include several stops to create a series of lesson programs for Exploration Nation on subjects ranging from sustainable tropical agriculture and renewable energy to ethnobotany and austere medicine. These lessons will include instructional materials and video for elementary and middle school students.The Expedition is also broadcasting live to classrooms across the United States each day of the journey, free for any educators who want to follow the adventure as a learning experience for their students. The team is raising money for the expedition using a crowd funding strategy a growing trend in the scientific community.Thirteen year old Exploration Nation host, Emma, states, “I’m not sure what to expect. I guess the kids there won’t be much different from the kids here. They just don’t have as much stuff and when they get sick, they can’t go to the doctor. So we are bringing the doctors to them.”Learn more about the Expedition here: http://explorationnation.com/expedition-central-americaAll images by Pete Monfre.

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NRA member Sen. Manchin says Newtown shooting should open gun debate

Label: Business

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, an "A" rated member of the NRA, on Monday questioned the availability of assault weapons and suggested Friday's shooting in Newtown, Conn. has opened up the issue for debate.

Manchin said past debates about assault weapons have been shut down over a fear of destroying Second Amendment rights. But the senator said last Friday's shooting changed all that. "The massacre of so many innocent children has changed—has changed America. We've never seen this happen," Manchin said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Manchin issued criticism of assault weapons, saying, "I don't know anyone in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault rifle. I don't know anybody that needs 30 rounds in a clip to go hunting. I mean, these are things that need to be talked about."

Manchin, who received an endorsement from the NRA's Political Victory Fund for his 2012 re-election race, is one of the most prominent gun rights advocates in the Senate to speak about assault weapons in the wake of the shooting.

The senator famously and literally shot a hole in the president's "cap and trade" climate bill in a 2010 special election campaign ad aired during his first election to Congress.