Legionnaires’ disease in New York: what is it and how does it spread? (Source theguardian.com)

Legionnaires disease has killed seven people in New York City and made dozens of others sick, with health officials warning that it is likely doctors will diagnose more cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the Bronx in the coming days. But what is Legionnaires’ disease, and how concerned should New Yorkers, or visitors to the city, be about the disease? Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia, an infection that causes air sacs in the lungs to become inflamed and fill with liquid, making it difficult for the lungs to transport oxygen to the blood and around the body. This inflammation causes the disease’s symptoms, such as shortness of breath, cough, high fever and others such as muscle and headaches. In some people, primarily those who are already immunocompromised, the disease can cause death. Legionnaires’ disease is caused by a bacteria called legionella that grows in warm water, usually between 77 and 108F. Most commonly it is found in hot tubs, hot water tanks, decorative fountains and large plumbing systems. People become sick when they inhale water vapor containing the bacteria, usually two to 14 days after exposure. Legionnaires’ disease is treated with a course of antibiotics lasting around three weeks. People who have a severe form of the illness could be forced to stay in the hospital for an extended period of time. Anywhere from 5% to 30% of people infected with the disease could die as a result, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Northern California wildfire grows, closes two highways (Source Reuters) A raging wildfire along northern California’s inland coastal range has now burned about 47,000 acres (18,615 hectares) and forced the closure of two highways, officials said on Sunday, while a blaze near the Oregon border also expanded a day after it killed a firefighter. The Rocky Fire in Lake County north of San Francisco has grown in size by about 20,000 acres (8,094 hectares) since Saturday, according to Cal Fire, a state website for fire information. “This is a very fast-moving wildfire,” Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said on Sunday. “With a five-hour period last night 20,000 acres burned and that is unprecedented growth in that short amount of time.” The fire has closed parts of Highway 20 and Highway 16, destroyed 24 homes and 26 more outbuildings, and threatens an additional 6,301 structures, according to Cal Fire. Nearly 2,000 firefighters are battling the fire, which broke out on Wednesday and is only 5 percent contained, the same percentage as on Saturday, according to the website. About 12,000 people have been evacuated or are under evacuation advisories.

Recent Dead Sea Earthquake Ushering In End of Days Prophecy (Source breakingisraelnews.com)
Thursday morning, at 5:39 local time, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Dead Sea region of Israel, an area that is the deepest depression on the face of the planet. Though there were no reports of injury or damage in Israel or neighboring Jordan, it is certainly worth considering the meaning of the event, especially in light of other recent earthquakes that have hit Israel and the catastrophic earthquake that hit a struck Nepal a few months ago. Biblical scholars explain that the name of God, “Elohim”, refers to the aspect revealed through nature and linked to judgment. For early man, and even today, every natural phenomenon can be an awe inspiring experience, an occasionally fearsome reminder of our mortality. An earthquake is, quite literally, a moving experience. Scientists have noted that the Dead Sea Rift has affected human civilization through time as well as the flora and fauna of the region, causing migrations and creating water sources. However, it should be noted that the location of Thursday’s earthquake is the precise region of Jericho, known for its city walls that came tumbling down, and also the area of Sodom and Gomorra. A biblical perspective certainly seems in order when considering occurrences of geological proportions. The recent quake was a result of tensions in the Dead Sea Fault which is part of the Syrian-African Rift, extending from Syria to Mozambique. Experts have predicted that a major earthquake could occur in the near future and local authorities have begun projects to bolster building against such an event.  Tectonic tension is building and most geologists consider a major event to be inevitable.

Basic income paid to the poor can transform lives (Source theguardian.com) Contrary to what sceptics predicted the basic incomes model created more economic activity and work. The idea of providing low-income people with money to reduce poverty and insecurity was, until recently, regarded with scepticism in development circles. But that is changing rapidly. Recently, we have conducted three unconditional basic income schemes in India, funded by Unicef. A basic income is a modest cash payment (in this case, a third of subsistence), paid individually, unconditionally, universally and monthly, guaranteed as a right. Altogether, more than 6,000 men, women and children received it, with the children’s money paid to the mother. In one pilot, everybody in eight villages were provided with a basic income for 18 months, and their experience evaluated by comparing what took place in 12 otherwise similar villages, in a modified randomised control trial. What the pilots show is that a basic income can be used as development aid and as regional policy in the European Union to deter migration from poor to richer countries. The main conclusion is that a basic income can be transformative. It had four effects, most accentuated by the presence of the collective body. First, it had strong welfare, or “capability”, effects. There were improvements in child nutrition, child and adult health, schooling attendance and performance, sanitation, economic activity and earned incomes, and the socio-economic status of women, the elderly and the disabled. Second, it had strong equity effects. It resulted in bigger improvements for scheduled caste and tribal households, and for all vulnerable groups, notably those with disabilities and frailties. This was partly because the basic income was paid to each individual, strengthening their bargaining position in the household and community. Third, it had growth effects. Contrary to what sceptics predicted (including Sonia Gandhi), the basic incomes resulted in more economic activity and work. Conventional labour statistics would have picked that up inadequately. There was a big increase in secondary economic activities, as well as a shift from casual wage labour to own-account farming and small-scale business. Growth in village economies is often ignored. It should not be. Fourth, it had emancipatory effects. These are unappreciated by orthodox development thinkers. The poor’s liberty has no value. But the basic income resulted in some families buying themselves out of debt bondage, others paying down exorbitant debts incurring horrendous interest rates. For many, it provided liquidity with which to respond to shocks and hazards. In effect, the basic income responded to the fact that in such villages money is a scarce commodity, and as such that has driven up its price, locking most in a perpetual cycle of debt and deprivation.

Tiny robotic insect can jump on water like a strider (Source engadget.com) Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has a history of creating tiny, insect-inspired robots, and its latest one can stand and jump on water just like a strider. The Wyss group has teamed up with scientists from Korea’s Seoul National University and Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences to design a machine that can mimic a water strider’s “most complex maneuver.” In order to accomplish that, they captured actual insects jumping on camera and studied their movements closely to determine their secret. Based on the team’s observations, striders can do all those thing perfectly thanks to the slightly curved tips of their legs. After figuring out what morphology and movements to copy, the group managed to build a robotic insect that uses a lightweight catapult mechanism. It can exert force equivalent to 16 times its body weight without breaking the water’s surface and perform real strider-like jumps. To note, a separate teamdeveloped a robot based on the same insect years ago, but it was much larger than its real-life counterpart. This team’s creation is comparable in size to actual striders

Ukraine court permits self-rule for pro-Russia rebels (Source AFP) Ukraine’s highest court on Friday allowed parliament to vote on Western-backed constitutional amendments aimed at stemming daily bloodshed by giving pro-Russian insurgents partial autonomy in the separatist east.The idea of granting at least three years of self-rule to rebellious parts of Ukraine’s industrial war zone has struck a note of disquiet among many lawmakers and much of the Kiev media. But it was inscribed in a truce deal that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russia’s Vladimir Putin signed off on in February in the Belarussian capital Minsk. Parliament voted by an overwhelming majority on July 16 to ask Ukraine’s constitutional court to rule whether such changes to the basic law were legal. The former Soviet country’s justice Vasyl Brintsev concluded without reservations that it was. The idea of militia-run regions holding their own elections and setting up separate police forces “does not break or limit the rights and freedoms of (Ukrainian) people and citizens,” Brintsev said in the decision.

Russian Sanctions: Putin Signs Decree Ordering All Western Imported Food ‘Destroyed’ (Source ibtimes.com) Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday ordering the “destruction” of all food brought into the country against import bans on Western products. The import bans were part of sanctions instituted in 2014 in response to Western sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, and they have greatly disrupted the daily lives of ordinary Russians who used to be huge importers of European goods. The order will come into effect on Aug. 6. “Agricultural goods, raw materials and food originating from a country that has made the decision to introduce economic sanctions against Russian entities and/or individuals, or has joined such a decision, and which are prohibited from being imported into the Russian Federation … are subject to destruction,” the decree read, according to the Moscow Times. The sanctions on Russia and those imposed by the country on Western countries have not affected Russia alone. Many European countries who were large exporters to Russia have also taken a hit. French dairy farmers have been protesting unfair prices and a shrinking market since the start of July, and a large part of that problem was due to the disappearance of the Russian market for French cheese. Putin’s decree was a continuation of policies in the past few months to solidify sanctions with Western nations and demonstrate that Russia has no intention of reversing them. Putin signed a decree renewing the sanctions for at least another year.

China, Russia to hold joint naval, air drills (Source Yahoo) China and Russia will hold joint military drills in the waters and airspace of the Sea of Japan, Beijing said Thursday, the latest defence cooperation between the countries. The exercises will take place August 20 to 28 in the Peter the Great Gulf and other areas off the Russian coast, defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters. A key purpose of the drills was to “further enhance their capabilities of jointly coping with maritime security threats”, Yang said, adding they will include training in air defence, anti-submarine and surface warfare, and landings. China will send seven naval ships including a destroyer and a frigate, along with fighter jets and other aircraft, Yang said. Russia’s contingent will include surface vessels, submarines and fixed wing aircraft, he said, adding that both sides will dispatch ship-borne helicopters and marines. The drills come as Beijing and Moscow intensify cooperation in military, political and economic spheres.

Why So Many People Think Pope Francis Is the Antichrist (Source charismanews.com) If you type “is Pope Francis antichrist” into Google, you’ll get about 425,000 results in .37 seconds. By way of comparison, if you ask Google the same question about Pope Benedict you only get 137,000 and it takes a little longer—.47 seconds. So why do so many people think—or at least ponder—that the Latin American pontiff is the Antichrist (or at least the end-time False Prophet mentioned in Revelation 19:20)? It could be for some of the same reasons his popularity is declining. His approval rating in the United States has dropped from 76 percent a year ago to 56 percent today, according to Gallup. So what gives? Reuters’ Scott Malone points out: “The decline comes as Francis has changed the focus of his public remarks from that of his immediate predecessors, concentrating less on the Church’s opposition to abortion and gay marriage and spending more of his time discussing social inequity and poverty.” Francis has been vocal about the evils of capitalism while backing off conservative views about homosexuals, asking, “Who am I to judge?” He’s even called for a New World Order more than once. Some predict he will usher in this New World Order on Sept. 25, just 10 days after the end of the Shemitah year, which has a swirl of speculation about economic collapse around it. Meanwhile, Francis has warmed up to Islam like no other pope before him. In a historic first, Francis opened the door to Muslim prayers and Quran readings at the Vatican last year. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres joined the pontiff in the Vatican gardens for a prayer meeting. At that time, Francis said: “It is my hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of a new journey where we seek the things that unite, so as to overcome the things that divide.

THIRD PLANNED PARENTHOOD VIDEO RELEASED: WHISTLEBLOWER REVEALS “IT’S BASICALLY A HUGE TRAFFICKING OF FETAL TISSUES” (Source blacklistednews.com)

A third undercover expose video of Planned Parenthood has been released by the Center For Medical Progress, and as expected, it shows footage of fetal body parts after abortions. The video features whistleblower Holly O’Donnell, who claims that a biomedical company she was working for was in the business of paying Planned Parenthood clinics for fetal organs, according to the condition of the tissue after being extracted from an abortion. O’Donnell, a former technician for California-based Stem Express, says “The more valuable the tissue the more money you get, so if you can somehow procure a brain or a heart you’re going to get more money than just umbilical cord.” “So I guess that’s incentive to try and get the hard stuff because they get more money.” she adds O’Donnell explains that she was looking for employment as a phlebotomist, simply drawing blood from patients, yet when she applied for a position with Stem Express, the company failed to explain what the role would entail. “I thought I was going to be just drawing blood, not procuring tissue from aborted fetuses“ she says. O’Donnell soon discovered, after landing the job, that the company hires procurement techs to “draw blood and dissect dead fetuses, and sell the parts to researchers. They partner with Planned Parenthood and they get part of the money.”