Pope resumes hectic schedule
today with visit to shrine


Pope Francis resumes a hectic schedule in Brazil today with a visit to a shrine in Sao Paulo state to venerate the Roman Catholic country's patroness.
 
Nearly 2,000 police are set to provide security for the pontiff as he prays at the shrine of the Virgin of Aparecida along with about 200,000 faithful.
 
As the pope rested Tuesday, there was widespread finger-pointing in Brazilian media over security lapses that exposed the 76-year-old Francis to mobs of wellwishers who greeted him Monday on his arrival in Rio de Janeiro.
 
Analysts acknowledged serious security lapses, but they said the wishes of the pope to be out among the public made it difficult to ensure full protection.  Throughout the ordeal, the pope himself appeared upbeat and kept his car window open to greet the crowds that swarmed his motorcade.
 
The Rio visit and the return to Francis' home continent was planned to coincide with Thursday's international celebration of World Youth Day. 
 
More than one million young Catholics are expected to participate, and hundreds of thousands of young people are already in the city, awaiting the opportunity to greet the new pope.

In addition to his visit to the Sao Paulo shrine, the pontiff also will meet with young inmates at a Rio prison, visit shantytowns largely cleared of drug gangs earlier this year, and inaugurate a Rio hospital wing for the treatment of drug addicts. 
 
Francis' visit, his first foreign trip since becoming pope in March, comes at a time of social upheaval in Brazil that began last month with protests against a bus fare increase in Sao Paulo.  Those demonstrations quickly grew into massive street protests against government expenditures for hosting the 2014 Word Cup soccer tournament, and spread to include protests against official corruption.


France facings more woe
from its Muslim minority


As temperatures soar in France, tensions are also on the rise over Islam, immigration, violence and the state's response to long-simmering tensions in the country's low-income suburbs. It all started with weekend clashes outside the French capital.

Just as French government ministers begin packing their holiday suitcases, violence erupting in the Paris suburb of Trappes suggests they may not be in for a calm summer. Dozens of people assaulted the Trappes police station this past weekend, throwing fireworks and setting trash cans on fire.

The incidents apparently took place after police arrested a man for assaulting them, after they detained his wife for wearing the face-covering veil in public — a practice that is banned in France.

The chain of events sparks memories of previous unrest, first in 2005, when youth riots swept across the country, mostly in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods. In 2010, a new French law banning the face veil also triggered debate and anger.

What's different today, says French sociologist Michel Wieviorka, is the connection between the two issues. Wieviorka is the author of "Evil," a book exploring terrorism, violence and racism.

"There is something which is really new. It is the fact that suddenly two issues that in the recent past were distinct became one and only issue. That is to say, on the one hand, you have many people living in these kinds of poor suburbs that are facing social inequalities, exclusions, racism, police behavior — the classical issue force that explains social riots in the French suburbs, banlieues," said Wieviorka.

The other issue, said Wieviorka, is the ongoing tension over the French face veil ban. Several hundred women have been caught violating the ban since it became law, although not all have faced penalties. In this latest incident, police say the husband of a woman flouting the ban tried to strangle one of their officers. Local Muslim groups dispute that account.

Monday, a teenager was sentenced to six months in prison in connection with the Trappes clashes. Two other defendants were acquitted. The situation in Trappes remains tense but, for the moment, calm.

France's Interior Minister Manuel Valls has defended the police response.

Interviewed on French radio following the violence, Valls said Trappes residents want order and calm restored and that's what's happening. He saluted what he called exemplary work by the police.

Valls also defended the French face veil ban, saying it was not against Islam, but rather was in the interest of women.

But the response by France's leftist government has sparked strong criticism —  both for being too tough and not tough enough.

Politicians from the main, center-right UMP opposition party accuse the government of being too lax. Interviewed on France-Info radio Tuesday, former UMP minister Valerie Pecresse criticized the justice system for not cracking down more swiftly and firmly.

What's clear, said sociologist Wieviorka, is that successive governments, both from the left and the right, have failed to alleviate longstanding tensions over immigration and violence. "In front of all these problems at that stage, the only possible answer for the government has been sending in the police, sticking  terms of order, in terms of security, respect of the law," Wieviorka stated.

For example, Socialist President Francois Hollande made campaign promises to end racially based identity checks and to introduce legislation giving immigrants the right to vote in local elections. So far, Wieviorka says, neither promise has been fulfilled.

"So there is a strong feeling that if you live in these neighborhoods, if you are an immigrant, you are Muslim, or you are different, you are not taken seriously into account," said Wieviorka.

New reports Tuesday suggest French police are now being probed over racist remarks made on an unofficial police Facebook page at the time of the Trappes violence. France's summer is just beginning. It remains to be seen just how it will end.


World gets a first look
at the unnamed royal baby


William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, presented their baby boy, as yet unnamed, to the world’s media Tuesday.
 
Just a day after his arrival in the world, Britain’s third in line to throne entered the global spotlight in the arms of his mother Kate.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge stood on the hospital steps, the proud parents of a boy.  Unfazed by the attention of the world’s media, William and Kate brought him over to waiting reporters.

“He’s got a good pair of lungs on him, that’s for sure. He’s a big boy, quite heavy. But we’re still working on a name so we’ll have that as soon as we can... it’s the first time we’ve seen him really so we’re having a proper chance to catch up," said the prince.
 
“It’s very emotional, it’s such a special time, any parent will I think know what this feeling feels like, added the new mother.
 
Moments later a royal car appeared. William, already getting used to the practicalities of fatherhood, fitted the car seat before driving his new family home.

The celebrations had already begun across Britain.
 
The bells of Westminster Abbey, where William and Kate were married in 2011, rang out for three hours across the capital.
 
Earlier, crowds had gathered at Buckingham Palace as the Guardsmen played "Congratulations."
 
Thirty one years ago, William was born at the same London hospital. The echoes of history are a comfort for William after the pain of losing his mother, says royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams. “William is a very proud father to have his son born at the same hospital he was. Regarding the future, he’s absolutely determined that Kate will face certain pressures in a balanced way, that’s the way it’s been handled so far and it’s been done excellently," he said.
 
Kensington Palace, William’s childhood home, will be the new base for the royal baby. $1.5 million has been spent renovating one of the apartments. It has twenty-one rooms, including a drawing room, staff quarters and a nursery fit for a future king.
 
Despite agreements from the British media to respect the family’s privacy, the baby’s upbringing will be far from normal, says royal author Phil Dampier.
 
“Even if you managed to avoid the paparazzi and went for a walk in the park, there’s always likely to be a member of the public you’re going to bump into who wants to take a picture. So it’s going to be extremely difficult to get any privacy. Fortunately you’ve got the royal residences. And then of course Kate’s got her family home with her parents in Berkshire," he said.
 
And the Middleton family home is where William and Kate are likely to take their son in the coming days, away from the media glare and with the extra care of his grandparents.
 
An overjoyed mother and father getting to know their baby; as a nation celebrates the arrival of its future king. ​


Greenpeace issues complaint
against Chinese coal company


International environmental group Greenpeace is accusing China’s largest state-run coal company of massively exploiting water resources in the country's arid Inner Mongolia region.  In a newly released investigative report, the group says wells have dried up, lakes have shrunk and desert dunes are expanding near the company's plant.

According to Greenpeace, since state-owned Shenhua Group began extracting water for its plant to process coal into liquid fuels, groundwater levels have dropped by nearly 100 meters.

One lake where the plant extracts its water has also shrunk by two-thirds since operations began in 2006.  The group says the plant is not only drying up water resources, but illegally dumping toxic industrial wastewater as well.

Local farmers and herders are finding it difficult to maintain their livelihoods, sparking social unrest.  But the company is in the midst of plans to massively expand the project.

Li Yan, the head of the environmental group’s climate and energy campaign in China, said Shenhua needs to put an end to the destruction.

“We also want to warn the current ambitious development plans in the local and central governments for more coal chemical projects to take this as an example and to please give water resource limits priority," Li said.

China relies heavily on coal to power its massive economy, the world’s second largest, but its leaders are also facing growing demands to address environmental concerns.

Earlier this month, China cancelled a $6 billion uranium-processing plant following protests against the facility.  Other petrochemical projects have recently been halted as well.

The release of the report is the first time that Greenpeace has taken on a single state-owned enterprise with such scrutiny and focus.

Greenpeace is not publishing the findings to make the company look bad, said Li,  but to make sure that unchecked expansion of the coal industry does not come at the cost of water and ecological security.

“This is definitely not risk free and we have tried our best to make sure that our evidence and findings are very solid. And we have also tried to bring evidence and show what is happening to different ministries and policy makers,” said Li.

Greenpeace has delivered copies of the report to China’s environmental ministry, water resources ministry and a government body that oversees state-owned enterprises, said Li. The group has not yet received a response.

Another copy was sent to the company Tuesday, just before the group held a news conference in Beijing to announce its findings. Shenhua has yet to comment on the report.  Its liquid to coal plant in Inner Mongolia is one of three such pilot projects in China.

The Greenpeace investigation was based on 11 field trips to the project between March and July of this year.  Although the company says the plant is a low water-consumption project that has zero discharge, Greenpeace said, its findings prove those claims are false.

The group said it found high-levels of toxic chemicals in discharge wastewater and other cancer causing compounds in sediment samples.

The process of converting coal to liquid fuels widens the possible uses of China’s plentiful energy source beyond just producing electricity.   

As China’s reliance on coal power generation slows, coal companies are looking for other alternatives. Local governments in the northwest are eager to allow such industries to operate because they contribute badly needed tax revenues, said Li.

“Right now there are only less than a handful of coal liquefaction projects because it is really controversial for its water intensity, for its energy intensity.  This is why these projects are very important, not only for Shenhua, but also for the whole industry.  They are really looking at these projects to be the flagship for the modern coal chemical industry,” said Li.

But Li added that if pilot projects like Shenhua's are having problems it’s a very worrying sign for their expansion.  Currently, more than 100 coal chemical projects are waiting for Chinese government approval to move forward.



City life shown to be safer
than living in the country


Contrary to what many believe, living in the city is far less risky than in the country, according to a study released Tuesday that takes into account all major forms of death from injuries.

Although homicides in cities far outpace those in rural areas, overall the risk of dying from some form of accident or injury is 20 percent greater in the most rural counties of the United States than in the nation's biggest cities.

The findings may give pause to people tempted to flee cities for the bucolic ideal of rural life, says Sage Myers, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, whose study was published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

“As you moved further and further away from cities you got less and less safe. Even going into the suburbs dropped your safety a little bit,” she said.

“It's a little counterintuitive,” she said.

Dr. Myers said when people think of their personal safety, they tend to think about intentionally inflicted injuries, such as being attacked or shot, but the researchers found that the risk of dying from an accidental injury is 40 percent higher in the nation's most rural counties than in its most urban.

“It turns out unintentional injuries dwarf intentional injuries,” Myers said, and those types of injuries occur much more often in rural areas.

Part of the differences in the study may reflect reduced access to trauma centers, which are staffed with doctors who are trained to handle life-threatening injuries. And since most trauma centers are clustered near large cities, rural dwellers may be more at risk of dying from life-threatening injuries.

Dr. Myers and colleagues studied government data on all injury-related deaths from all 3,141 counties across the United States from 1999 to 2006. They excluded deaths caused by the Sept. 11, 2001,  attacks, which the researchers deemed too anomalous to be counted.

Of the nearly 1.3 million deaths during the study period, the overall rate of deaths caused by accidents was 37.5 per 100,000, compared with 17 per 100,000 for homicide and suicides.

The most common causes of injury-related deaths were motor vehicle crashes, which occurred at more than twice the rate in rural areas as they did in cities. Overall, car crashes caused 27.61 deaths per 100,000 people in most rural areas and 10.58 per 100,000 in most urban areas.

That may be because people in rural areas are more prone to drive on highways at high speeds, and some studies have shown people in rural areas are less likely to comply with seatbelt and child restraint laws than are individuals in urban areas.

When the team looked at firearm-related deaths, they found no significant difference in the overall risk of death between urban counties and rural counties, but there were significant differences in the trends by age.

In rural areas, for example, children aged up to 14 and adults over 45 had the highest risk of dying from a firearm injury, but among adults aged 20 to 44, the risk of a firearm-related death was much higher in urban areas, and the risk was about the same for youths aged 15 to 19, regardless of where they lived.

The study did not look at the number of people who were injured but survived their car crashes or gunshot wounds, which might reflect whether people in urban areas simply have better access to healthcare than people in rural areas who have life-threatening injuries.

Dr. Myers said more study is needed to tease out the differences in risks between urban and rural areas, but she said such studies should be taken into account as health policy experts consider the placement of new trauma centers.


Report says drones in Pakistan
killed many more civilians


A British media outlet says a classified Pakistani government report shows U.S. drone strikes on militant targets in Pakistan have killed many more civilians than Washington has acknowledged.
 
A U.S. official rejected the document's claim, saying it lacks credibility.
 
The non-profit Bureau of Investigative Journalism said Tuesday it obtained the Pakistani report from anonymous sources and published the full version on its Web site.
 
The document lists U.S. drone strikes between 2006 and 2009 and shows at least 147 civilian deaths from the attacks, representing about one-fifth of total fatalities. It says most of the rest were militants.
 
A similar study issued this month by the New America Foundation said U.S. drones killed 191 civilians in the four-year period, from a total of 1,004 fatalities. The Washington-based public policy institute said the casualty figures were based on credible reports mostly from Western news agencies.
 
In a statement, U.S. official said "the notion that the United States has undertaken operations in Pakistan that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent Pakistanis is ludicrous."
 
The official said the Pakistani document listing drone casualties is not credible because it relies in part on erroneous media reporting.
 
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has carried out hundreds of drone strikes on militants in Pakistani tribal regions since 2004, to stop them from attacking U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
 
U.S. officials have said the drone strikes killed only about 50 non-combatants.
 
Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas have long been inaccessible to independent media, making it difficult to verify the identities of drone casualties.
 
Pir Zubair Shah, a former New York Times journalist who reported from Pakistan, said it also is hard for Islamabad to confirm the casualties of drone attacks on militant-controlled districts.
 
"The government itself has as many problems of accessibility as anybody else would have, like a journalist or a human rights worker, or anyone who wants to investigate anything in the tribal areas," he said.
 
Shah, who is from the South Waziristan tribal region and now lives in New York, said independent access to government-controlled tribal territory is heavily restricted as well. He said Pakistani authorities block roads to prevent reporters from discovering civilian casualties caused by Pakistani military operations.
 
Shah said the Taliban imposes similar road restrictions to stop journalists from learning about militant training camps and its sheltering of al-Qaida terrorists from U.S. drones.
 
"After a typical strike, the Taliban cordons off the area. They take the dead bodies and make sure that if there is an important person, that he is buried as soon as possible, especially outsiders, foreigners like al-Qaida, Uzbeks and others," he said.
 
Shah said the immersion of Taliban fighters into the daily life of tribal communities also has blurred the line between militants and civilians.
 
He said fighters often recruit teenagers and share living compounds with family members not directly engaged in combat.
 
The Pakistani government had no immediate response to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism's report.


Researchers say that dolphin
call each other by name


Dolphins call each other by names, according to a new study.

The study of 200 bottlenose dolphins indicated that they are the only animals other than humans to use individual names, according to the research from the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

In study, co-authors Vincent Janik and Stephanie L. King reported that dolphins have signature whistles they use as greetings when meeting up. The researchers say individual dolphins have individual whistles or names.

The two researchers recorded the whistles of 12 dolphins and played the whistles back to each dolphin to record their reactions.

According to the study, in eight of 12 cases, the dolphin replied when they heard their own whistle. In two cases, the dolphin responded to the whistle of a dolphin from its own pod -- the group of other dolphins it travels with.

The study said none of the dolphins responded to the sound of a dolphin it did not know.

"Here, we show that wild bottlenose dolphins respond to hearing a copy of their own signature whistle by calling back," the researchers say in their study abstract. "Animals did not respond to whistles that were not their own signature. This study provides compelling evidence that a dolphin's learned identity signal is used as a label when addressing conspecifics. Bottlenose dolphins therefore appear to be unique as nonhuman mammals to use learned signals as individually specific labels for different social companions in their own natural communication system."

The study, "Bottlenose Dolphins Can Use Learned Vocal Labels to Address Each Other," was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.




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