Japan rejects Australian claim
that it really is hunting whales


In its first appearance before the Hague-based International Court of Justice, Japan rebutted Australia's accusations that its annual whale hunts around Antarctica amount to commercial whaling and not research. The bitter legal dispute may have long-term implications.

Setting out his case in English and French, Japan's Deputy Foreign Minister Koji Tsuruoka argued Tokyo's annual hunt for minke and fin whales in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica is purely for research purposes. 

Speaking Tuesday before the United Nations' highest court, he said Japan strictly abides by international law, and its research findings help the scientific community.

"Japan is conducting a comprehensive scientific research program because Japan wishes to resume commercial whaling based on science in a sustainable manner," Tsuruoka said.

Without that research, Japan says, it will not have scientific grounds to prove commercial whaling can eventually be resumed around Antarctica where a moratorium has been in place for nearly three decades.

Australia wants the court to turn the Antarctica whaling moratorium into a permanent ban.  Arguing the case last week, Australian lawyer James Crawford claimed Japan's use of a special research provision is commercial whaling in disguise.

"Under the two programs, Japan has killed more than 10,000 whales purportedly on the pursuit of information that is not required for the effective conservation and management of whale stocks in the Southern Ocean or for any other identified scientific purpose," he said.

Whale meat is considered a delicacy in Japan. But widescale whaling by a number of countries in the past has decimated whale species in many areas, including around Antarctica.

Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner John Frizell backs Australia's arguments.

"The whale populations in the Antarctic have suffered tremendously from commercial whaling," he said. "Most of the populations are heavily depleted.  Whales are long living, up to 100 years.  They need long-term protection in order to recover."

Australia banned its own whaling in 1979, setting the country on the path of protecting whales.  Its case at the International Court of Justice is being supported by New Zealand.

But Japan's Tsuruoka argues Australia is trying to impose its beliefs on others and to change the framework of the International Whaling Commission.

"Australia has a sovereign right to decide its position," he said. "But Australia cannot impose its will on other nations, nor change the IWC to an organization opposed to whaling."

The court is not expected to rule for several months.  Its judgement on the legality of Japan's annual whale hunt is expected to be final and binding.


Obama ends his African trip
promoting continent's future


U.S. President Barack Obama ended his Africa trip Tuesday, voicing confidence in Africa's future with help from a new U.S. model for development assistance.

In Tanzania, Obama and former U.S. president George W. Bush marked the 1998 al-Qaida terrorist bombing. Coordinated truck bomb attacks on the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, and Nairobi, Kenya Aug. 7, 1998, left 224 people dead. 

Just over three years later, al-Qaida attacked the United States directly on home soil on Sept. 11, 2001.

In a brief ceremony at the new embassy building that opened in 2003, Obama and former president Bush laid a wreath at the memorial to those killed in the attacks.

With five family members of victims and those who survived the attack nearby, they walked side by side to the memorial, and bowed their heads for a moment of silence.

Obama's Africa trip has been focused primarily on enhancing trade and investment in the continent, based on a new model of aid, public-private partnerships with African governments and reforms.

But security threats faced by African nations, and the U.S. role in helping to counter extremist groups, were on the agenda in his discussions from Senegal to South Africa and Tanzania.

In South Africa, Obama spoke of what he called the  “senseless terrorism that all too often perverts the meaning of Islam - one of the world’s great religions - and takes the lives of countless innocent Africans.”

He also attempted to counter the notion that the United States is militarizing its involvement in Africa, saying ultimately Africans must shoulder their own security responsibilities.

“I know there's a lot of talk of America’s military presence in Africa.  But if you look at what we’re actually doing, time and again, we're putting muscle behind African efforts,” he said.

In the final event of his Africa trip, Obama visited a formerly idle power plant brought back to life through joint Tanzanian-U.S. efforts, highlighting his new initiative to double access to electricity in Africa.

Obama said this reflects his approach of combining public and private resources to spur economic progress.

He referred to other new initiatives, from agriculture to education and health, and said the United States intends to be a strong partner with Africa in years ahead.

“That is what all our efforts are going to be about, is making sure that Africans have the tools to create a better life for their people and that the United States is a partner in that process.  It's going to be good for Africa, it's going to be good for the United States and it's going to be good for the world,” he said.

Over a week of travel, Obama highlighted democratic progress and the importance of civil society and human rights in Senegal.

He held up South Africa's democratic transition and progress against HIV/AIDS as a model for Africa, met family members of critically ill former president Nelson Mandela, and underscored the role of Africa's youth in building the future.

As he left Tanzania he said he was inspired, and convinced that "with the right approach Africa and its people can unleash a new era of prosperity.”


Trial of Army Major Hasan
ordered to begin Tuesday


At a hearing in a Fort Hood, Texas, courtroom, the judge in the case of U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan cleared the way for the trial to begin on Tuesday with jury selection. Hasan is charged with murdering 13 people and attempting to kill 32 others in a shooting spree at the Texas army base in November 2009. Any further delays are unlikely.

The presiding judge, Col. Tara Osborn, swept away several issues at the hearing and also put in a plea of not guilty for Hasan since he did not formally enter a plea. Since this is a capital murder case in which the death penalty could be imposed, military law does not allow for a guilty plea.

Former military attorney Lisa Windsor, who now works for the Tully Rinckey law firm in Washington, DC, says the accused soldier probably cannot prevent the trial from starting next Tuesday.

"I think that there is a very good chance that this will now happen. I think that he has exhausted all his mechanisms for delay," said Ms. Windsor.

Hasan asked for a three-day delay so that he could hire former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark as his civilian lawyer in the trial.  However, Judge Osborn rejected that request, calling it untimely. Hasan already has appointed attorneys to assist him, but at a previous hearing he requested and was granted permission to defend himself.

Other issues Judge Osborn addressed involve the jury selection process and the evidence to be presented. Ms.  Windsor says there is a great deal of evidence in this case, but the judge will not let the prosecution use everything it has.

"There could be some pretty grisly evidence here, photos and video tapes. But it looks like the accused had no objection to that as long as it was not cumulative, enough to give the jury an idea of what went on in the incident, but not so much that you are going to have jury members running out of the room," she said.

Even so, she says the trial will likely take at least a few weeks, perhaps even five or six weeks.

Some political commentators have complained about the many delays in the process. Nearly a year was spent trying to resolve the issue of Major Hasan's beard, which violates standard military dress code, but which he claims is a sign of his Muslim faith. Judge Osborn has ruled he can keep the beard and dress in fatigues rather than a dress uniform because he is paralyzed below the waist as a result of being wounded by police at the scene of the crime.

Some critics say the evidence against him is so overwhelming that the lengthy process was unnecessary. But Geoffrey Corn, a former military lawyer who now teaches at the South Texas School of Law, says the U.S. military justice system is fair and efficient.

"I don't think what has occurred in this case is radically different from the way we deal with any military defendant. Getting this case to trial has been complex, but it is starting to move now and I think as it goes through, people will see that this actually works pretty darn well," said Corn.

The prospective jurors are traveling to Fort Hood from other bases around the country so as to avoid using anyone on the jury who might be biased because of links to the victims or family members of victims. All the jurors on what the military system calls the panel must be of higher rank than the accused, but voting is done anonymously and it only takes one not guilty vote to acquit.


Prosecution finishes case
in Manning WikiLeaks trial


Court-martial prosecutors wrapped up their case Tuesday against the soldier charged with providing a trove of secret material to WikiLeaks in the biggest leak of classified files in U.S. history.
 
PFC Bradley Manning, 25, faces 21 charges, including espionage, computer fraud and, most seriously, aiding the enemy. Manning could face life in prison without parole if convicted.
 
Judge Col. Denise Lind allowed the final prosecution witness, Daniel Lewis, a counterintelligence adviser at the Defense Intelligence Agency, to testify in a closed session. An unclassified summary of his testimony, largely about the value of the material Manning provided to WikiLeaks, will be read into the record.
 
Lewis was the government's 28th in-person witness since the trial started June 3. More than 50 written statements from witnesses have also been submitted by prosecutors.
 
Judge Lind set a court recess from Wednesday to Monday, when “we will proceed with the defense case,” she said.
 
The defense has listed 46 potential witnesses and the trial is scheduled to run to Aug. 23.
 
Lawyers for Manning have described him as naive but well-intentioned in wanting to show the American public the reality of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
 
Army prosecutors contend U.S. security was damaged when the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy Web site published classified information supplied by Manning. They say Manning obtained more than 700,000 classified files, combat videos and diplomatic cables while he was a junior intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2009 and 2010.
 
Among the accusations of harm to the United States, the former head of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba has testified that the leaking of details of prisoners held there threatened serious damage to national security.
 
Military prosecutors have sought to portray Manning as a loner who boasted of his expertise with computers and ability to crack passwords. They contend that arrogance drove Manning to leak the information.
 
Manning's attorney, David Coombs, has said the soldier from Crescent, Oklahoma, believed the leaked material would not harm U.S. interests since it lacked operational value.
 
Coombs contends Manning, who is gay, was struggling with his sexual identity when he arrived in Iraq and was conflicted by his exposure to war and a trove of military data.
 
Dressed in a dark uniform, the slightly-built Manning has sat silently throughout the trial so far, dwarfed by his taller defense attorneys and listening with a chin on his fist or slumped in his chair.
 
As the case has ground on, the onlookers that filled the small courtroom in the early days dwindled to about a half dozen by Tuesday. About a dozen reporters were following the trial through closed-circuit television, far fewer than the crowds when the case opened.
 
The testimony at Fort Meade outside Washington, home of the ultra-secret National Security Agency, has portrayed a laid-back atmosphere at the outpost east of Baghdad where Manning worked.
 
He and other analysts often listened to music, played video games or watched movies while they were on duty, supposed to be tracking insurgents and al-Qaida, witnesses have said.
 
WikiLeaks returned to headlines last month when it helped organize the departure of fugitive former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden from Hong Kong to Moscow.
 
Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for the past year to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning about allegations of rape and sexual assault.
 
Assange, an Australian, says the charges are reprisal for WikiLeaks' publication of information embarrassing to the U.S. and other governments.


Supercomputer doesn't have
the monopoly on power


A new supercomputer developed by China's National University of Defense Technology has been ranked the fastest in the world by the Top500's semi-annual list of the world's most powerful computers. The supercomputer Titan at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory fell to number two. But what are supercomputers? And how important is the race to make them faster and more powerful?

The basic personal computer has one microchip at its core. The central processing unit, or CPU, executes a set of commands contained in a predesigned program.

The first supercomputers had a few more CPUs, but computer science professor Andrew Grimshaw, at the University of Virginia says that changed as microprocessors became cheaper and faster.

"Today, supercomputers are all what we call parallel machines. Instead of one CPU - central processing unit - they have thousands and thousands," he said. "And in the case of the Chinese machine, depending on how you count, millions of the central processing units."

Parallel machines consist of many individual computers called nodes, situated in one block. They use a lot of power, generate a lot of heat, and require huge cooling systems. Also, supercomputers use programs different from the ones used by ordinary computers.

With enough resources, Grimshaw says, anyone can build a supercomputer to address problems that require millions of mathematical calculations. 

But that's not always necessary. A virtual supercomputer can be created by networking individual computers within a university campus or company. These machines then process data during down time, when no one else is using them.

"Those are very easy to run on virtual supercomputers because each problem is independent of all the others and I can scatter these jobs out all around the place," Grimshaw said. "We run these all the time at UVA."

Grimshaw says that until a decade ago, engineers were focused on making computers faster. Since then, he says, they have worked to create more powerful parallel machines.

"It’s transforming science and engineering, and it’s going to continue to transform it in ways I think most people don’t fully grasp - how well we can model and simulate the world now," he said.

Grimshaw says computing ability makes the future of research look, "so bright I gotta wear shades."

---

Millions of Americans take classes to learn the poses and breathing of the ancient Indian practice of yoga.  In recent years, yoga organizations have been reaching out to people who may not normally have the opportunity to take yoga classes, such as the homeless, trauma survivors, and people with drug and alcohol addictions. Green Door is a small mental health center in Washington where yoga is helping change people’s lives for the better.

Ericpaul Clark has been taking yoga classes for several months.  He’s been in jail and a psychiatric facility after abusing drugs.  Today, he says he’s clean and looking forward to a better life.  Yoga helps keep him calm, he said.

“I have rather a bad temper, and I’m afraid that if I really get angry I might do something dumb that will cause me to go back to jail.  When I do the stretches and poses it relaxes my muscles and just makes me feel more comfortable," said Clark.

The free, weekly yoga classes are offered as a part of Green Door’s program to help people who are mentally ill cope with their problems and become more independent.  Most are poor and many are homeless or in temporary housing.  Social worker Miranda White says a lot of them don’t exercise, but yoga is a good way to get them moving, even if it’s from a chair.

“Their patience for doing any type of exercise is minimal at first, but once they’ve gotten involved in yoga, I’ve seen this love for it," said White.

This is Clarence Marble’s first yoga class and he’s finding it challenging.

“I had to pull both my legs up with both my hands," said Marble.

He hopes yoga will help him lose weight and alleviate his depression.

“If it relieves me of some stress, I’ll really enjoy that, and if I can go do some yoga to get out of my depression that would be even better," he said.

Studies have shown the positive effect of yoga on a range of mental illnesses.  They indicate the practice helps reduce stress, ease chronic depression and lessen the symptoms of schizophrenia, a brain disorder characterized by hallucinations and delusions. 

Earnestine Jackson, who takes medication to control schizophrenia, says yoga benefits her in several ways.

“It helps you get your self-esteem together, and most of all, it helps me with peace of mind," said Ms. Jackson.

Miranda White says that’s something these people really need.

“It’s a moment for their bodies to just relax because if you’re homeless, or if you’re struggling with symptoms of hearing voices or depression, it’s hard to find a calm place within yourself and your environment, and with a lot of them you can see it in their faces," she said.

Instructor Megan Davis, a specialist in yoga therapy, says learning the proper way to breathe while doing yoga helps her students feel more in control.
 
“Especially the breathing techniques, really invite people not to be reactive, so it comes up when you’re having a craving for drugs, for a drink," said Davis.

That’s beneficial for Charles Bradley, who had a mental breakdown due to drug abuse, and has been clean for a year. 

“You don’t always have to go running back to substances to make you feel good.  You can make yourself feel good just by doing something as simple as breathing," said Bradley.

Bradley started taking yoga because he was curious but now considers it a vital part of turning his life around.


Special telephone program
shows blood pressure results


Controlling blood pressure is a global issue as people live longer and lifestyles change. In developed countries, despite access to doctors and medication, many people don't have their blood pressure under control. In the U.S., almost half of those with high blood pressure are not able to control it.  A new study shows promising results in helping people live healthier lives.

High blood pressure increases the risk for heart attack and stroke. That's why health experts the world over are concerned about the increasing number of people with high blood pressure, even in developing countries.

Smoking, drinking alcohol, being sedentary are risk factors for hypertension, commonly called high blood pressure.  But there are also other risks. High blood pressure is a genetic trait that tends to run in families.

It runs in Pat Buchholz's family.

“I never smoked, I never drank, and I exercised," she said. "So that helps some but it did not prevent blood pressure problems from finding me.”

Ms. Buchholz took part in a study of 450 people with uncontrolled high blood pressure.  One group received usual care, meaning they had their blood pressure checked whenever they saw their doctors.

The other group monitored their blood pressure at home almost daily for a year.  Their results were sent electronically to a pharmacist.

“The pharmacist then was able to review the readings and make adjustments over the telephone, if needed, to the patient’s treatment regimen,” said Karen Margolis of HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research in Minneapolis who led the study. 
 
More than twice as many patients in the self-monitoring group had their blood pressure under control a year later compared to the other group.  And, Margolis says, the improvement continued even after the study ended.

“Seventy percent of the patients in the tele-monitoring group kept their blood pressure control at 18 months, six months after the program ended,” she said.

Ms. Buchholz says working with her pharmacist made a huge difference in improving her health.

"I learned more, I was able to listen better and retain what she told me… and I trusted her,” she said. 

The researchers say the intervention helped patients become more likely to take their medication, get more involved in their own health care and communicate better with their health care team.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.