MOX plutonium fuel used in Fukushima's Unit 3 reactor two million times more deadly than enriched uranium

Natural News, Thursday, March 17, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Largely absent from most mainstream media reports on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is the fact that a highly-dangerous "mixed-oxide" (MOX) fuel in present in six percent of the fuel rods at the plant's Unit 3 reactor. Why is MOX a big deal? According to the Nuclear Information Resource Center (NIRS), this plutonium-uranium fuel mixture is far more dangerous than typical enriched uranium -- a single milligram (mg) of MOX is as deadly as 2,000,000 mg of normal enriched uranium.

On March 14, Unit 3 of the Fukushima reactor exploded, sending a huge smoke plume into the air. This particular reactor, of course, contains the rods fueled with MOX. You can watch a clip of that explosion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch ....

If even a couple milligrams of MOX were released during this explosion -- or if other explosions at the plant inflict any damage on the MOX-filled rods -- then the consequences could be exponentially more devastating than the mere leakage of enriched uranium. And since nobody knows for sure exactly which rods have been damaged, and whether or not the situation can actually be contained, it is only a matter of time before the world finds out for sure.

An exact quote from the report reads:

"In the event of such accidents (involving the accidental release of MOX), if the ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection) recommendations for general public exposure were adhered to, only about one mg of plutonium may be released from a MOX facility to the environment. As a comparison, in [sic] uranium fabrication facility, 2kg (2,000,000 mg) of uranium could be released in the same radiation exposure."

A simple calculation reveals that one mg of MOX is basically two million times more powerful than one mg of uranium. This is clearly not a good thing when the plutonium-containing fuel rods in Fukushima may be damaged from the recent explosions and leaking into the environment.

A recent National Public Radio (NPR) piece explains that the half-life of plutonium-239, a component of MOX, is an astounding 24,000 years. The same piece explains that if even a small amount of this potent substance escapes from the plant in a smoke plume, the particles will travel with the wind and contaminate soil for tens of thousands of years (http://www.npr.org/2011/03 ...).

Amazingly, most mainstream reports that mention MOX discount it as a non-threat. But the truth of the matter is that the threat posed by MOX is very serious. The NIRS report explains that inhalation of MOX radioactive material is significantly more dangerous than inhalation of normal uranium radioactive particles. You can read the entire MOX report for yourself here:

http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/ ...

Sources for this story include:

http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/4 ...

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/16 ...

Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri
weeps as Japanese officials finally admit that radiation leak is serious
enough to kill people.

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Four law ministry employees found using illicit drugs : minister

Antara News, Fri, March 18 2011

Pontianak, West Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said urine tests conducted recently had shown three or four of his ministry`s employees had been using illicit drugs.

Patrialis Akbar.
(ANTARA Photo)

"Three to four officers at the General Directorate of Immigration proved to have been on drugs," the minister said here Friday.

The results of urine tests conducted in Sumatra, Jakarta and Surabaya had shown no prison staff had been abusing drugs.

Ministry employees proven to have committed drug abuse would receive strong sanctions, he said.

"And we will examine them further to determine whether they are only users or dealers," he said, adding that those involved in drug dealing would be fired.

Earlier, Patrialis had instructed all units in his ministry to take urine tests from employees, including prison staff. The measure was taken following the discovery that the warden of the Nusakambangan state penitentiary was involved in a drug trafficking syndicate.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

Military officer arrested for drugs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 03/17/2011

The National Narcotics Agency said on Thursday that it broke up a drug ring led by a convict at the Salemba penitentiary in East Jakarta and arrested 10 people, including a military officer, for suspected involvement.

The drug ring was controlled by a convict identified as E. from his prison cell via a laptop with an internet connection and a cell phone, Benny Joshua Mamoto, director of the agency’s natural narcotics office, said in Jakarta as quoted by kompas.com.

"We are still investigating whether the warden is implicated in the crime,” he said.

He added that the arrested military officer was a member of the health unit of the Strategic Reserve Command, and allegedly acted as a courier.

Benny said the agency raided a drug factory in Dadap, Tangerang, on Wednesday, which allegedly produced between 300 and 500 pills of ecstasy a day.

The agency later confiscated 12,000 ecstasy pills, 5,000 “happy five” pills and four drug-producing machines from two apartment buildings in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, and Tebet, South Jakarta .

China discovers virus that killed 36 after betting tick bites

Antara News, Thu, March 17 2011

Beijing (ANTARA News/Xinhua) - Chinese scientists have discovered a previously unknown virus carried by ticks which led to at least 36 deaths in six provinces by last September, according to the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine published Thursday.

The virus SFTSV (severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome bunyavirus) was recently discovered by scientists at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

People with the virus can experience fever and multiple organ failure.

The presence of the virus was confirmed in 171 patients from six provinces in China. It resulted in at least 36 deaths by September 2010.

CDC Director Wang Yu said between late March and mid-July 2009, symptoms of the infectious disease in humans were reported in rural areas of central Hubei and Henan provinces, but the cause of the symptoms were unknown then.

Major clinical symptoms included fever, thrombocytopenia, gastrointestinal symptoms, and leukocytopenia, and there was "an unusually high initial case fatality rate of 30 percent," Wang said.

Li Dexin, director of the CDC`s virus institute, said farmers living in mountainous areas were most prone to tick bites which were prevalent between May and July.

The virus institute had conducted test on more than 600 shares of patients` blood serum, which showed that the SFTSV was the killer.

Editor: Suryanto

Indonesian Survives His Second Tsunami

The Jakarta Globe, March 15, 2011

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Indonesian Zahrul Fuadi has twice survived tsunamis  — once, in his hometown in Aceh in 2004 and then again in Sendai, Japan, last Friday.

The 39-year-old is among Indonesians evacuated from Sendai, one of the worst-hit areas affected by Friday's 4-meter tsunami.

“I feel as if my family and I are being chased by tsunamis from Aceh to Japan,” Zahrul said, as quoted by news portal Kompas.com.

When the tsunami wreaked havoc on Aceh on Dec. 26, 2004, Zahrul and has family were spared their lives.

“After the quake in 2004, we escaped on a motorbike as fast as possible and we made it,” he said, adding that his house in Simpang Mesra village, Banda Aceh, was destroyed in the disaster.

Zahrul, a professor of engineering at Syah Kuala University, and his family moved to Sendai the following year after he received a scholarship to complete a PhD at Tohoko University.

“I have lived here for six years and I had planned to return to Aceh, but as fate would have it, I endured another huge earthquake before coming home,” he said.

When the 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, Zahrul was in the middle of a presentation at the Sendai campus.

“The tremor was so intense, everyone hid under their desks,” he said.

As the tremor continued for longer than two minutes, Zahrul knew the worst was yet to come.

“The tremor was very strong and similar to the earthquake in Aceh. I thought a tsunami was on the way,” he said.

He and his family were spared the second time because the campus is located 15 kilometers from the coast on high land.

Zahrul was staying at the Indonesian evacuation center in Tokyo and was scheduled to fly home to Indonesia on Tuesday.

“Despite what has happened, my family and I have so much to thank God for. We have survived two of the biggest natural disasters recorded in history,” he said.

Report: Alzheimer's caregivers number 15 million

SFexaminer, by: The Associated Press 03/14/11

Far more people than previously believed are providing billions of hours of unpaid care for Alzheimer's patients, highlighting the growing impact of a graying population.

Nearly 15 million caregivers — most of them family members but also friends — provide care for people with dementia, says a report being released Tuesday by the Alzheimer's Association.

An estimated 5.4 million Americans have the mind-destroying disease. That it takes so many more people to care for them reflects the burden of an illness that not only robs its sufferers of the ability to do the simplest activities of daily life — but that patients can survive in that increasingly incapacitated state for years, even a decade or two.

"It's too much of a job for any one person," said Dr. William Thies of the Alzheimer's Association. "Even Superman can't do it."

Those caregivers provide 17 billion hours of unpaid care, valued at more than $202 billion. Previously, experts had used a count about a decade ago to estimate that about 10 million caregivers provided 8.5 billion hours of unpaid care for Alzheimer's patients.

Moreover, the time and stress of caring for an Alzheimer's patient takes a physical toll, translating into nearly $8 billion worth of extra health care costs for caregivers, the report says.

There is no known cure, and today's treatments merely help symptoms for a while. While Alzheimer's can strike the middle-aged, it mostly is a disease of older people and thus is expected to skyrocket as the population ages.

Despite all the behind-the-scenes unpaid care, health and nursing home expenditures for dementia patients will reach $183 billion this year, much of it paid by Medicare and Medicaid, the report says.

Alzheimer's Association: http://www.alz.org

Lawyers: U.S. faces suit on syphilis tests in Guatemala

CNN News, By Ed Payne and Cristy Lenz, March 9, 2011

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Lawyers say about 700 Guatemalans were infected with syphilis
• The U.S. intentionally infected the Guatemalans to study the effects of the disease
• The United States has apologized for the testing, which was more than 60 years ago

(CNN) -- The U.S. government will be hit with a class action lawsuit on behalf of 700 Guatemalans who were infected with syphilis unless it offers a way to settle claims before Friday, the plaintiffs' attorneys said.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom has described
the syphilis experiments as crimes against humanity.

Law firms representing the victims said the United States intentionally infected the Guatemalans between 1946 and 1948 in an effort to study the effects of the disease.

The complaint compares it to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment in Alabama. During the 40-year study that began in 1932, doctors observed how the disease progressed in about 400 poor African-Americans, who already had syphilis. The men were never told they had the disease and never treated for it. The test subjects received free medical testing, meals and burial insurance.

"We are hoping we can come up with a mutual agreement by Friday about what next steps should be in terms of a concrete remedy for the people that were impacted," Piper Hendricks, a litigation associate for Conrad and Scherer, said Tuesday.

"We were favorably impressed with how the administration denounced the studies and apologized last year; we hope we can come up with a settlement without actually having to go to court and litigate."

The Obama administration acknowledged the experiments in October.

RELATED TOPICS

• Public Health Policy
• Tuskegee
• Guatemala

"Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a joint statement. "We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices."

While the complaint mentions that there were at least 700 test subjects, it only lists seven plaintiffs -- all are either the direct victims of the testing or their legal heirs.

"We do expect more people to come forward, but the news is still making its way through Guatemala," said Hendricks, who acknowledged that many people may have passed away over the years. "Some of our clients are living in rural regions and even if they have received news of what went on it's not easy to get in touch with someone to join the suit."

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, attorneys Andres Alonso and Terrence Collingsworth ask that "a claims process be set up through which aggrieved citizens of Guatemala, who have been adversely affected by this experiment," can receive a settlement outside the court system.

The legal team says it will proceed with the litigation if it doesn't hear from the government by Friday.

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Two more Iranians nabbed for smuggling drugs at airport

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang, Banten | Mon, 03/07/2011

Customs and excise officers at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have arrested two more Iranians for smuggling 2,160 grams crystal methamphetamine (shabu-shabu) worth Rp 3.2 billion (US$363.300) from Tehran.

Airport customs office chief Iyan Rubiantom identified the suspects as AAF, 28, an insurance company employee in Tehran and AAS, 35, who is reportedly unemployed.

“The two suspects flew from Tehran to Jakarta on Emirates flight EK-358 and arrived at terminal II on Sunday evening,” Iyan told reporters in a press confrence on Monday.

Officers in charge of observing arriving passengers at the terminal became suspicious because the suspects, who were on their first trip to Indonesia, looked nervous.

“Scanning device at the check points identified no strange objects hidden in their luggage. 

Officers then conducted body search and found the drug hidden in their underwear,” he said, adding that both suspects testified that they were asked by a man called Hasan to bring the drugs to Jakarta.

Hasan promised them US$5,000 each should they manage to deliver the drugs to someone in Jakarta.

AAF claimed that he was hoping to bring the drugs to Jakarta because he owed US$20,000 to someone in Tehran, while AAS said that he did it because had no job.

The suspects and the drug evidence were handed over to the police for further case development.

Airport police chief Sr. Comr. Tornagogo promised to investigate whether or not the suspects are part of drug syndicate ring that the police have already uncovered in a number of drug smuggling cases across the country.

“We will track down the drug syndicate ring. The suspects know each other, although they did not sit together on the plane,” he said.

Drug smuggling is a violation of Article 113 of the 2009 law on narcotics. Violators face a maximum punishment of a 15 year jail term and a Rp 10 billion fine.

Since January, customs officers have foiled eight drug smuggling attempts at the airport and have arrested five Iranians, a Frenchman, a Philipino and a Taiwanese. Officer have seized a total of 10,331 grams shabu-shabu and 1,044 grams catamine worth Rp 16.5 billion.

Japan halts vaccines after deaths of 4 children

The Jakarta Post, Associated Press, Tokyo | Mon, 03/07/2011 

Japan has temporarily stopped using vaccines from U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis SA of France while it investigates the deaths of four children who were inoculated, the health ministry said Monday.

The decision to halt the vaccines against pneumonia, some types of meningitis and other infections was made Saturday. The government is hearing from experts at a meeting Tuesday, the health ministry said.

The four children, from under six months to 2 years old, died between March 2 and March 4. The deaths occurred the same day to three days after the vaccines were administered, the ministry said.

The vaccination began in Japan about a year to two years ago. The vaccines have been administered to 1 million to 1.5 million children, according to the ministry.

Pfizer in Japan said the company was cooperating with the investigation on the Prevenar vaccine. The U.S. has been using Prevenar for about 10 years, the company said.

Sanofi-Aventis in Japan said its ActHIB vaccine was approved in France in 1992, and a year later in the U.S.

Bali Police nabs Danish woman with hashish

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 03/07/2011

A Danish woman identified by her initials, TR, alongside a Bali Police
officer holding an x-ray that reveals capsules of hashish in the woman's
stomach. She could face the death penalty for attempting to smuggle the
drugs into the resort island. (JG Photo/ J.P. Christo)

Tine Rasmussen, 36, a citizen of Denmark, was arrested by Bali Police for the illegal trafficking of 218 grams of hashish which she had ingested in capsules.

Bali Police narcotics division chief Sr. Comr. Mulyadi said Rasmussen was arrested upon her arrival at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Thursday, from Bangkok, Thailand.

“She told police investigators she had left from Bombay, India, heading to Bangkok, Thailand, and then continued to Bali onboard Thai Airways,” Mulyadi said as quoted by kompas.com on Monday.

Rasmussen had been a police target for some time, he said.

“She was about to get into a taxi [when we arrested her]. Later we took her to Bali International Medical Centre (BMIC) to check the contents of her stomach, and as we suspected, she was carrying drugs,” he said.

From the x-ray, police saw dozens of capsules in her stomach. Police then told a team of doctors from BMIC and Trijata Hospital in Denpasar to retrieve capsules from her stomach.

“We use drugs to get the capsules out. We have managed to recover 23 of the capsules,” he said, adding that Rasmussen said she had swallowed 50 of the capsules.

Rasmussen is now being detained in a cell at Trijata Hospital.

Mulyadi said police were still investigating Rasmussen's link to an international drug ring.

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Customs halts drug smuggler from Hong Kong

Antara News, Mon, March 7 2011

Tangerang, Banten (ANTARA News) - Customs personnel at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have managed to halt the smuggling of methyl amphetamine from Hong Kong by tightening the screening of incoming passengers at the arrival terminal.

Head of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport`s Customs law enforcement and investigation division Gatot Sugeng Wibowo said here Sunday that the efforts were made to anticipate trans-national drug trafficking.

"Every passenger who arrived from Hong Kong is thoroughly checked as part of efforts to stop trans-national drug trafficking," he said.

Last week, the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport`s customs officers foiled a passenger from Hong Kong to smuggle 1,044 grams of methyl amphetamine, he said.

The suspect only identified as YC, 42, was a Taiwanese who came to Jakarta by Cathay Pacific, flight CX-777, he said.

The suspect told immigration personnel that the sabu package would be delivered to somebody at a West Jakarta hotel, he said.

The airport`s customs officers found the contraband that the suspect hid in a bag that could easily be detected by X-ray, he said.

Gatot Sugeng Wibowo said if his men failed to foil the smuggling, it would be sold to the Indonesian market at Rp1.1 billion.

The suspect may face 15 years in jail plus a fine of Rp1.5 billion.

Indonesia is Asian countries being seriously threatened by drug smuggling syndicates.

According to the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), there were 3.6 million drug users in Indonesia in 2008.

They came from various social and professional backgrounds, including artists, musicians, students, politicians, and even policemen.

In protecting young Indonesians from the threat of drugs, the police keep monitoring and foiled the drug smugglers` activities.

In connection with the BNN`s efforts to combat trans-national drug dealers, its agents caught a Nigerian man for drug trafficking on January 28, 2011.

The suspect was only identified as P alias Pr. The BNN agents also detained five Indonesians in a raid on January 28, BNN`s Deputy for Combating Drugs Tomi Sagiman said recently.

The Indonesians were identified as RA,E, DW, AM and J, he said, adding that the suspects were allegedly involved in smuggling mathyl amphetanine. 

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

US Man Threatens to Kill Himself, Daughters

Jakarta Globe, Made Arya Kencana, March 03, 2011

An American man in Bali has threatened to kill himself and his four children if he is forced to the leave the country without them.

American Eli Gattineo, 50, and his four children in their
Bali villa. Eli threatens to commit suicide with his children if
the government deports him or does not allow him to leave
the country with them. (Photo Source: SCTV)

Eli Gattenio, 50, lives with his four daughters, aged three to 11, in a villa in Seminyak following his divorce from an Indonesian woman, Sari Soraya Ruka, in May 2010.

After the divorce, Gattenio faces deportation, but he is unable to take his children to the United States with him.

In protest, the father has locked himself and his four daughters — Indigo, 11, Hope and Joy, both 9, and Nadia, 3 — inside the villa since Wednesday. All the doors and windows have been bolted shut.

Gattenio on Thursday threatened to kill himself and his daughter by lighting a gas canister to cause an explosion.

He said he had been taking care of his daughters on his own.

“My former wife took my passport and my children’s passports. I don’t know where she is now, she could be in Bali or Bekasi. She also took everything I had and put her name on it, I have nothing left but my children,” Gattenio said on Thursday.

He said he had sought help from various institutions to allow him to the leave the country with his children.

“I have filed a report to the police, the US Consulate, the Bali Immigration Office and spoken to local and foreign journalists,” Gattenio said.

“I have sent a letter to the presidents [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and US President Barack Obama] two months ago but there has been no follow up. I am waiting for responses from the presidents or they must allow us [he and his children] to die together,” he said.

Gattenio recently tried to kill himself by jumping from the rooftop of the villa, but security officers managed to persuade him otherwise.

Kuta Police were not available for comment.

Related Article:

US Man Maintains Suicide, Murder Threat

Indonesian Police Say Alleged Gang Rape of Teen 'Unforgivable'

Jakarta Globe, March 03, 2011

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Indonesian police said on Thursday that four officers would be charged over the “unforgivable” gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in Papua province.

The officers, along with three civilians, allegedly took turns raping the girl in a house in Biak city in February, Papua provincial spokesman Wachyono told AFP.

“We have completed our investigations. Some of the suspects confessed to the rape, some didn’t,” he said.

“But we have spoken to witnesses and collected enough evidence to show they were guilty of rape and we’ll be taking the case to court.”

Local media reported that the men locked the teenager in a room and raped her repeatedly over a period of days. She was beaten if she resisted and lost consciousness as a result of the abuse.

“The officers committed a grave wrongdoing, a violation that is unforgivable and uncondonable and deserving of severe punishment. They have sullied the good name of the national police,” Wachyono said.

Police are also investigating the alleged rape of a Papuan women who was forced to give oral sex to officers while she was being held in custody in the Papuan provincial capital of Jayapura.

Three police officers are suspected of raping the married woman on multiple occasions between November and January, while she was being held for alleged gambling.

Local media reported that she had tried to kill herself during the ordeal.

“The victim’s family have lodged a police report so we’re starting criminal charges against the officers,” Wachyono said, adding that the suspects were being “made to stand in the sun” as punishment.

“At the moment, the officers are receiving disciplinary sanction. They are being detained for 21 days, made to stand in the sun and have had their promotions delayed,” he said.

Jayapura city police chief Imam Setiawan resigned on Tuesday over the case, a rare move by a senior officer in a police force that is notorious for corruption and torture of detainees.

Indonesian security forces are frequently accused of rights violations in Papua, which has seen a low-level insurgency by poorly-armed rebels since its incorporation into Indonesia in the 1960s.

Human rights activists and the United Nations say Indonesian police regularly torture and beat suspects in custody, while extortion is rife throughout the country’s prisons.

Agence France-Presse

Bird flu kills hundreds of chickens in Jambi

Antara News, Tue, March 1 2011

Related News

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Jambi (ANTARA News) - Bird flu has killed several hundred chickens in certain areas of Jambi Kota and Jambi Luar Kota neighborhoods, Jambi province, over the past few days.

The deadly virus had also infected tens of chickens in four villages of Kota Jambi subdistrict and had spread to Pijoan village, Jambi Luar Kota subdistrict, locals said on Tuesday.

In response to the local residents` reports, Head of Muarojambi district`s veterinarian office Paruhuman Lubis said he had been aware of those dead chickens but it was not yet clear whether they were infected by the bird flu virus or other diseases.

"We have checked that there are chickens that suddenly die but we don`t know yet whether they are infected by the (bird flu) virus or not," he said.

The samples of those dead chickens would immediately be examined in a laboratory to enable his men to know the real causes of the chickens` deaths," he said.

If the laboratory tests had verified that the bird flu virus was behind the chickens` deaths, the related authorities would conduct disinfectant sprays for the people`s chicken cages, while the dead chickens were burned, he said.

However, the Muarojambi district`s veterinarians could not conduct the disinfectant sprays alone. Instead, they should be assisted by members of the provincial government`s team, he said.

Indonesia has 33 provinces. Only three have been confirmed free from the bird flu threat.

Indonesia has been plagued by bird flu since 2005. However, the H5N1 type influenza is also known to have attacked chickens and birds in other Asian countries, such as Thailand, Cambodia, China, and Vietnam.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), avian influenza or "bird flu" is a contagious disease among animals caused by a virus that normally infects only birds and, less commonly, pigs.

WHO has warned that avian influenza can spread very rapidly in a poultry or fowl population.

Over the past three weeks of January 2011, bird flu has also infected chickens in Mugirejo village, Sungai Pinang subdistrict, in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

A bird flu outbreak had also spread in Kerinci district, Jambi province, recently.

According to a veterinarian in West Java, the bird flu virus attacking Indonesia was classified as "highly pathogenic avian influenza" (HPAI).

Editor: Aditia Maruli

Provinces required to establish women, children`s empowerment centers

Antara News, Wed, February 23 2011

Padang, West Sumatra (ANTARA News) - State Minister for Women`s Empowerment Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar has asked all provinces and districts to establish an Integrated Service for Women and Children Empowerment (P2TP2A).

"All provinces and districts in Indonesia should establish P2TP2A," Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar said in a function to open Women Organization Coordinating Board Regional Meeting here on Wednesday.

Linda explained from 2002 - 2007 the State Minister for Women`s Empowerment and Child Protection had facilitated the establishment of 17 P2TP2A in 17 provinces and 80 districts/municipalities.

"Unfortunately not all centers function as expected, and therefore the Women`s Empowerment Ministry will cooperate with regional governments to organize training and capacity building," Linda said.

According to her, things like that should be a concern of all parties because the evaluation results of P2TP2A implementation indicated that limited human resources and infrastructure had become obstacles so far.

"Therefore we ask for cooperation of local governments to create a network strengthening programs," Lind said.

She explained that P2TP2A was a community-based container service to women`s empowerment and child protection.

Linda said P2TP2A had a role in a bid to fulfill the need for improvement in education, health, economy, and for the management of violent acts against women and children.

Editor: Priyambodo

28 penitentiary officers dismissed for drugs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 02/22/2011

Twenty-eight penitentiary officers were dismissed last year for involvement in drug cases, an official said Tuesday.

“Some of them used drugs, some sold them and some others helped smuggle drugs into the penitentiaries,” said Bambang Sumardyono, head of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights prevention and enforcement sub-directorate within the directorate general of correctional affairs.

Most of the dismissed officers were from North Sumatra and Jakarta, Bambang said in Jakarta, as quoted by Antara. 

He said that their cases had been transferred to the police for legal processing.

In anticipation of such offenses, Bambang said that the directorate had established a task force in 2006 involving the police to conduct operations in penitentiaries.

Devices to bar cellular phones and sound recorders were also used to prevent criminal activity, he added.

Dementia 'not normal part of ageing' say scientists

Dementia is not a normal part of growing old, scientists have insisted as they step up calls for more investment in research.

The telegraph, by Martin Beckford, Health Correspondent, 10 Feb 2011

Experts claim they are close to developing effective treatments for the degenerative conditions that will soon affect a million people in Britain.

They want to dismiss the idea that diseases such as Alzheimer’s, which lead to memory loss and a gradual decline in capabilities, are an inevitable part of the ageing process that await us all.

But they say that dementia remains the “poor relation” to cancer and heart disease in terms of research funding, and so more people will suffer unnecessarily unless Government, private companies and the public increase investment.

Professor Julie Williams, a researcher at Cardiff University who has discovered genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease, said: “We’re on the verge of a profound understanding of dementia and one that could lead us to the treatments we need, but we need help to get there.

“Investing in dementia research now will pay dividends, heading off the forecast explosion in numbers living with the condition and the crippling economic costs that come alongside.”

RELATED ARTICLES

• Britain faces dementia catastrophe 09 Feb 2011

Professor Kevin Morgan, of the University of Nottingham, who is Scientific Adviser for Alzheimer's Research UK, added: “Dementia is not a normal part of ageing – it is caused by brain diseases that we can beat, but we need more investment in the research that will give us answers.”

As The Daily Telegraph disclosed, Alzheimer's Research UK has launched a new drive to increase funding to improve diagnosis and treatment of dementia.

There are fears that without the same “aggressive” research as was used to target HIV in the 1980s, Britain faces a “dementia catastrophe” that will cost the economy billions and ruin thousands of lives.

Julian Huppert, the MP for Cambridge who hosted the charity’s re-launch in Westminster, said: “The impact of dementia is devastating, affecting not just the individual and the people around them, but costing the UK economy over £23 billion a year.”

Related Article:

Scientists admit dementia not a normal part of aging, refuse to acknowledge known causes

2 men nabbed with 6.2 kg of crystal meth from Malaysia

The Jakarta Post, Mon, 02/21/2011

Two men have been arrested for their alleged attempt to smuggle 6.2 kilograms of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) from Malaysia to Jakarta, police say.

Afnal, 33, and Ismail, 31, were arrested at the Bakauheni port in Lampung early on Saturday morning, National Police spokesman Snr.Com. Boy Rafli Amar said Monday in Aceh as reported by kompas.com.

The drugs, contained in coffee packages in bags belonging to Ismail and Afnalas, were uncovered by police officers who checked the luggage of passengers on a Lorena bus at the port.

Worth an estimated Rp 5.5 billion (US$590,000), the drugs are thought to have been smuggled from Malaysia through Belawan port in North Sumatra, and would have been taken to Jakarta, Boy said.

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US pharmaceutical companies get creative when it comes to disorders and drugs to treat almost anything, from canine depression to female sexual dysfunction. The American drug trade is a multi-billion-dollar business, and is only getting bigger. Meanwhile the industry has been accused of illegally pushing medicine onto the market, often endangering the lives of patients. In the US, the most common medication prescribed for dogs is to treat aggression and anxiety disorders. Pharmacists admit that Prozac works

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Police in South Jakarta say they are coordinating with the United States Embassy to formally question the American boyfriend of a teenage girl whose body was found dumped in a gutter on Sunday.

An autopsy revealed the girl, Agnes Kharisma, 19, had been raped and strangled three days prior to the discovery of her body. She had also reportedly been robbed of Rp 1 million.

Jagakarsa Police chief of detectives First Insp. Rusdi Dalby told news portal Detik.com on Friday that Agnes was last seen by her family on Tuesday as she left to meet her boyfriend, a 50-year-old American identified as Clark. He reportedly lives in Cilegon, Banten.

Rusdi said Clark, however, told police informally that he had not seen her.

It has previously been reported that Clark’s driver had picked Agnes up from her home in Lenteng Agung, as he had done on a number of prior occasions.

Dalby said the police had not officially questioned Clark or his driver because they were still coordinating with the US Embassy.

“We must interrogate the boyfriend, then the driver. We can’t be reckless because the case involves a foreigner. We are still coordinating,” he said.

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Agnes Kharisma, 19, was found dead in a gutter in Lenteng Agung,

South Jakarta, on Sunday. She was friends with several expatriates, police say. (Facebook Photo)