The Secretary of State is a senior official of the federal government of the United States of America, and as head of the U.S. Department of State, is principally concerned with foreign policy and is considered to be the U.S. government's equivalent of a Minister for Foreign Affairs.[4][5] The Secretary of State is nominated by the President of the United States and, following a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, is confirmed by the United States Senate. The Secretary of State, along with the Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense, and Attorney General, are generally regarded as the four most important Cabinet members because of the importance of their respective departments.[6] Secretary of State is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule and thus earns the salary prescribed for that level (currently $205,700).[3] The current Secretary of State is Mike Pompeo. On March 13, 2018, President Donald Trump dismissed Rex Tillerson and … [Read more...] about United States Secretary of State
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We review the Honda HR-V (2015) from price to economy and all its features
Sleek HR-V is taken to task.. but it's not thirsty work. It goes Hon and on.BUY the Honda HR-V because it never runs out of fuel.OK, maybe I am exaggerating slightly, but the first tank of diesel you are gifted when you purchase the 1.6-litre i-DTEC model will go so far, you think the fuel gauge is broken.As with most week-long car loans, the sleek HR-V came with its tank brimmed. And, like most weeks, I had a packed schedule of family visits, runs to the shops and lengthy motorway slogs.But even when I handed the keys back to a man in a Honda shirt, the digital readout insisted there was a quarter of a tank left.I had covered hundreds of miles and picked up a dozen takeaway Costa coffees, but I had not had to reach for the pump once.The brochure says the official fuel economy figure is 70.6mpg on lower spec S models.The SUV segment has changed dramatically since Honda last offered a faux-by-four of this size, back in 2005.There are now plenty of smooth operators muscling in on the … [Read more...] about We review the Honda HR-V (2015) from price to economy and all its features
Spectacular and Edgy
The Italian artist Monica Bonvicini (40) was this year’s winner of the Nationalgalerie Prize for Young Art 2005, which is worth 50.000 Euro and is as prestigious as London’s Turner. She was a clear favourite with the international jury that had to chose from a short list that included John Bock, Angela Bulloch and Anri Sala. Bonvicini‘s award-winning work entitled "Never Again" was on show at an exhibition in the Hamburger Bahnhof alongside the works of the other three shortlisted artists. It’s an installation with metal frames, leather hammocks and chains. The members of the final jury, Dan Cameron (New Museum of Modern Art, New York), Erika Hoffmann-Koenige (Hoffmann Collection, Berlin) and Dr. Angela Schneider (Nationalgalerie, Berlin), praised Bonvicini’s work because it is grounded in the socio-political fundamentals of society. They were won over by the way Bonvicini exposes the actions and vulnerability of our physical being in her sculptures and … [Read more...] about Spectacular and Edgy
Calls in Spain to Legalize Prostitution
There are up to 400,000 women working in the sex trade in Spain. According to the union Comisiones Obreras over ninety percent are immigrants. The supporters of new regulation around the sex industry argue that most prostitutes work in virtual slavery and deserve basic rights and protection. But the issue of how to deal with prostitution divides feminists, social workers and governments all over Europe. Here in Spain, prostitution isn't illegal, but nor is it legal. In Germany, sex workers do have legal rights, while in Sweden rather than prosecuting prostitutes, authorities pursue those who employ prostitutes and the clients who use them. The issue is a hot topic in Spain now, not least because it is tied up with Europe's illegal immigration problem. Changing face of prostitution At a conference in Spain called Workers Rights in the Sex Industry, Carmen Bravo, a spokesperson for the Comisiones Obreras union said the issue of prostitution has radically changed due to global … [Read more...] about Calls in Spain to Legalize Prostitution
The Harmony Between Man And Nature
As a conservation organization, the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) is not only concerned about the loss of biodiversity and the degrading quality of the world's environment. It’s also increasingly worried about the loss of cultures. The fact is that there’s a direct link between traditional peoples - such as pygmies in the Congo Basin or Australian aborigines - and nature conservation. These peoples inhabit nearly 20 percent of the planet, mainly pristine forests or dryland. They have accumulated vast amounts of ecological knowledge over thousands of years. The WWF currently runs projects in all five continents of the world which aim to protect indigenous peoples and their habitats. These are often under threat from mining, logging or slash and burn agriculture. Dr. Claude Martin, Director General of WWF International, says the organization is focused on considering indigenous peoples’ needs. "People participation is something that one has to take very seriously … [Read more...] about The Harmony Between Man And Nature
Australia’s Yolngu People: Celebrating 40,000 Years
The annual Garma Festival is one of Australia’s most significant Indigenous celebrations, attracting around twenty clan groups from across Arnhem land and the Northern Territory. The festival takes place at Gulkula, a site which overlooks the Gulf of Carpentaria, and which has profound meaning for the Yolngu people, its traditional owners. They believe that it was here that their ancestor Ganbulabula first created the Yidaki, or didgeridoo. Northeast Arnhem land is regarded as a heartland of Aboriginal culture and land rights. Its culture is one of the oldest on earth, stretching back 40,000 years. The Garma Festival, now in its fourth year, aims to give both whites and Indigenous people an opportunity to share in this ancient culture and knowledge about the land. ...Where traditional meets modern Europeans first established a permanent presence in Arnhem Land in about 1935. The area’s since become a popular destination for tourists as well as commercial fishers … [Read more...] about Australia’s Yolngu People: Celebrating 40,000 Years
Mexico: Preserving Nature and Culture
The Huichol live in small communities scattered through the canyons and valleys of the western Sierra Madre in the states of Jalisco, Nayarit and Durango. They live off the land, cultivating corn, beans and chili peppers on the steep mountain slopes. Descended from the Aztecs, the Huichol believe that the Cerro Quemado (Burnt Hill) at Wirikuta is where their ancestors witnessed the birth of the sun. The first deer hunt also took place here. Out of the deer’s footprint the Peyote, or sacred cactus, grew. Each year a special group of Huichol makes a pilgrimage to Wirikuta, 500kms to the east in San Luis Potosí state, to eat the Peyote and make offerings to the gods. Protecting the Huichol’s cultural heritage For years, people have been stealing the Huichol’s offerings from the Cerro Quemado. The pilgrimage has also become more difficult, with heavily guarded private properties along the route. In 1994, a road was proposed which was to traverse the … [Read more...] about Mexico: Preserving Nature and Culture
Canada’s Inuit: Sharing Traditional Knowledge for Survival
The Inuit understand conservation. For centuries, they’ve used traditional knowledge about the arctic environment to ensure there’s enough food to hunt and fish, to sustain them through its harsh climate. Inusiq Nasaliq, a local elder from the village of Pangnirtung, 40 kilometres from the Artic Circle, says ‘country food’ has always been the basis of the Inuit food supply. "It’s very important, because it keeps them alive," he says. Ame Papatsie’s own father made sure his son learned the lesson, that you kill only what you can eat. As a child, Ame once caught a bird for fun. His father made him eat it. "I cried eating it," Ame says. "My parents didn’t want anything of it. Once I ate that, I understood I have to kill what I want to eat." Teaching for survival Today, Inuit traditional knowledge is being taught in schools and universities. But elders still play an important role in teaching about living on the land. Ame Papatsie … [Read more...] about Canada’s Inuit: Sharing Traditional Knowledge for Survival
Christianity Against Violence
Almost mirroring what was said by the Dalai Lama, Sister Nirmala said that only non-violence could combat international terrorism. As the head of a religious order founded by Mother Teresa, she urged President Bush to exercise restraint and not unleash more violence to avenge last week's attacks. "We pray to God that President Bush knows what he is doing...Violence only causes destruction," she said. Sister Nirmala became head of the Missionaries of Charity after Mother Teresa passed away in 1997. However, she did add that "terrorism should be contained". Her comments came after President Bush said on Monday he wanted Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, who the US's prime suspect, "dead or alive". He also warned that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban would be held accountable for giving him safe haven. The Taliban and bin Laden have denied involvement in the attacks. The Taliban movement has said it will launch a jihad or holy war against the United States if it attacks Afghanistan. Pope … [Read more...] about Christianity Against Violence
Rediscovering Fabulous Fashion Behind the Wall
"We thought everyone in the GDR walked around in drab, dismal clothes, but suddenly we found this incredible stuff which showed there was a thriving fashion industry," said Caz Hildebrand, the British art director who put the collection together. But was there really? The photos were taken by Günter Rubitzsch, a Leipzig-based photographer who worked regularly for women's weeklies such as Pramo (abbreviated from "Praktische Mode" or "Practical Fashion") and Für Dich ("For You"), magazines which featured sewing or knitting patterns for women who liked to make their own clothes. And most of them had to. "Everyone looked the same, so if you wanted something special you had to make it yourself," explained Antje Lond Benn, who studied at the Technical College for Clothing Design in East Berlin in the 1980s. "Fabrics and patterns were really cheap, and everyone would improvise with them. And if you were lucky, you could fit into the kids' clothes, which were heavily subsidized." … [Read more...] about Rediscovering Fabulous Fashion Behind the Wall
GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 8
In Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest, there's a man with a different persona -- even a different name -- in the city and in the country. He's called Ernest in the city, and Jack in the country. He and his friend make up a fictitious invalid buddy with the lovely name of "Bunbury" who lives in the country -- so that they can take trips to "visit" him there, but really so they can behave differently and have a jolly old time. They even have a name for their game! It's called bunburying. Well this phenomenon of having two personas, one for the country and one for the city, isn't limited to humans. There are birds who bunbury. One of them is the blackbird, as in the picture above. (If you're wondering why it's brown: baby blackbirds are born brown, and they only become black later.) When they are in the city, they eat different things, make houses in different places, and breed at different times of the year. (Maybe even, in bird language, they cheep out different names to … [Read more...] about GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 8
GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 7
Would you want to find that beetle in your bed one night? Well, probably not -- nor would an ant, but if the ant did, it might just go ahead and eat the beetle. That is, unless the beetle were protecting itself -- that's what it's doing in the picture. Look carefully at the small balls of liquid around the beetle's body. For an ant, that's poison. Actually, if that leaf beetle really were in your bed, you probably wouldn't notice it. It's about as small as the ball on your ball-point pen. (You can click on the picture to make it larger -- much larger than real life.) But -- like so many wonderful products of biology -- small doesn't mean simple. In fact, the little body of that leaf beetle takes sugars that it eats from that poplar plant it's sitting on, and converts them chemically, into poisons. It's a very complicated process. So complicated, in fact, that it baffled scientists for a while. But now they've figured out how it works. And it turns out, they also learned a fascinating … [Read more...] about GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 7
GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 3
The style of eyeglasses above, called "chicken eyes", stole glances at fashion shows this year. But while the spectacles may look good, you probably wouldn't really want to have the eyes -- or the brain -- of a chicken. The picture on the left is a hill, and the picture on the right is a crater. Right? (Click on the magnifying glass to make the pictures bigger.) You've probably figured out already that they're both the same picture, one just reversed. If you want to test it, go ahead and stand on your head, or turn your computer monitor upside down. Light in the real world usually comes from above: from the sun, or from the lamp on your ceiling. So we assume that's true for the image, too. The shadows and light help us interpret the picture as a crater or a hill. If you try hard, you might be able to override the ‘natural’ interpretation by imagining the light coming from underneath and suddenly the hill will appear a crater and the crater a hill. But animals are … [Read more...] about GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 3
GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 2
You may not know it, but there's light that you can't see. Besides the beautiful hues of the rainbow, from deep red to bright yellow to green and violet, there's more light... and it doesn't have any colour. Light is made up of an electromagnetic field, you see. That field moves in waves. If the peaks of those waves are too close together or too far apart, the human eye can't make sense of them. Light whose peaks are too close together is called ultraviolet, and too far apart is called infrared. But even though you can't see them, ultraviolet and infrared light are very useful. Scientists in the past have used ultraviolet light (the short one) to make better microscopes: to see things that are too small to see with regular light. Not so long ago they also used it to make very small things like computer circuits and the DVD's you use to watch movies. But now, scientists at the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany have found a way to use infrared light (the long … [Read more...] about GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 2
GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 6
Strokes happen when brain cells lose oxygen. Oxygen, as you probably know, is something we breathe in and out all day -- and then gets carried by blood all around our body. But sometimes, something stops normal blood flow to the brain -- for example, abnormally grown tissue in blood vessels (patients with the disease called arteriosclerosis have this problem). Then, the brain doesn't get oxygen -- and that's the critical moment for stroke. The victim can die, have a coma, or be paralysed, have speech problems, emotional changes, and many other difficult problems. But there's more than one vessel bringing blood into the brain. Often, not all of them fail. If, somehow, we could make the other vessels bigger, we could bring more blood in to compensate when one vessel doesn't work. The good news is, medical scientists already have a way to make blood vessels bigger: it's called arteriogenesis and it just may save somebody's life. (Or many people's!) That's what happened to the rat brains … [Read more...] about GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 6
GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 5
Those two pictures are of the same piece of the sky. (You can click on the mangnifying glass to see it bigger.) The bottom one seems crisper and clearer, and indeed it's a beautiful and special picture. But the top one is something quite revolutionary: it's from the new gamma ray telescope called HESS in the Namibian desert, the telescope that can "see" the highest frequency radiation in the world. … [Read more...] about GERMAN SCIENCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT – 5
German Science Weekly Highlight-20
(Living Planet, broadcast date June 23, 2005) John Hay: There are tens of thousands of gas pipelines crisscrossing Russia. Now, gas pipelines can be an environmentally dangerous thing; natural gas is made of methane, which is the second most powerful greenhouse gas. And Russia is not exactly the safest place to build a pipeline. Between the cold winters, the huge unmonitored spaces, and an energy industry that’s unstable at best, scientists became very worried that gas pipelines in Russia could be leaking, spewing unknown amounts of methane into the atmosphere and fueling the warming of the globe. So, as Erik Campano explains, the scientists got in their helicopters, and headed up into the cold Russian wetlands to take a personal look. Erik Campano: A few hundred meters above northern Russia: the only manmade thing you can see is the gas pipeline, winding its lonely way through bogs, swamps, pine forests and tundra. International teams come up here, contracted by gas companies; … [Read more...] about German Science Weekly Highlight-20
European Parliament to Launch CIA Prisons Investigation
The move comes after a probe by the Council of Europe, a separate 46-member rights body, concluded that allegations of secret CIA prisons were credible and that the US seemed to have illegally abducted and detained individuals. The European Parliament will decide in mid-January on the make-up of the investigating commission and the length of its mandate, said an official at the European Union's legislature, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's important in this European Parliament that we get to the root of the matter," said Hannes Swoboda, vice president of the Socialist group in the assembly. "We must investigate without prejudice but without being blind to the possibilities. We want to know the truth, nothing more than the truth. If we do this then we are genuinely battling against terrorism but also against torture," he added. British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday dismissed as "completely absurd" calls to probe all US government plane movements through Britain in … [Read more...] about European Parliament to Launch CIA Prisons Investigation
“We Americans Now Feel Uncomfortable Abroad”
"When I look back at Sept. 11, 2001, it always makes me gasp," said Kelly, an American who has resided in Germany for 17 years. It's pretty much like Ground Zero. It's still like a big hole in my stomach." Her memories of that day are vivid. She was driving to an appointment in Bonn, singing along to "Beautiful Day" by her favorite band U2 on the radio. It really was a beautiful day -- the golden September sun slanting through the window, warming her cheeks. Her cell phone jolted her out of the musical daydream. "A friend called to tell me that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center, and then another one," said Kelly, a New York state native. She pulled over as she was just too shaken to drive. "I knew with the second plane that it couldn't be a coincidence," she said. Utterly alone Washington, D.C. native My-Linh Kunst was living in Brussels at the time, but was in Frankfurt on Sept. 11. "My husband was working at a trade fair, and I was in the hotel … [Read more...] about “We Americans Now Feel Uncomfortable Abroad”
South Africa: A Muppet for AIDS Awareness
Many young South Africans are still reluctant to talk openly about HIV and AIDS. However, teenage attitudes and behavior have changed for the better in the past years. A study by the South African Medical Research Council found that seven out of every 10 sexually active teenagers have had more than one partner. In the Western Cape, a province with the lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence, only four percent of teenagers were using condoms in 1994. Today, that figure has increased to 29 percent. A large part of the credit for this change goes to the media, says Rose Malumba, director of the HIV, AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases division in the South African Department of Health. "I think the media plays a very critical role in terms of information, communication and education," says Malumba. She says the ways in which role models and positive sexual behavior is portrayed on TV and radio are central to guiding South Africa towards "a positive path": "A path that will allow people to … [Read more...] about South Africa: A Muppet for AIDS Awareness