The political climate in the United States is stressing out Americans, according to a new study.

Researchers from the American Psychological Association found that 57 percent of Americans say the “current political climate is a very or somewhat significant source of stress,” according to a poll done in January.

Nearly half of Americans, 49 percent, say the outcome of the 2016 presidential election was also a source of stress, but there were differences depending on which party those polled belonged to.

For Democrats, 72 percent said the outcome was stressful, while 26 percent of Republicans said the same. When asked about the future of the country, 59 percent of Republicans said they were stressed, with 76 percent of Democrats reporting the same.

“The stress we’re seeing around political issues is deeply concerning, because it’s hard for Americans to get away from it,” said Katherine Nordal, APA’s executive director for professional practice. “We’re surrounded by conversations, news and social media that constantly remind us of the issues that are stressing us the most.”

The new poll was done after the APA found last year that the election was causing stress for 52 percent of Americans.

The January survey found that the percentage of Americans reporting that acts of terrorism were a source of stress rose from 51 to 59 percent from a few months earlier. The survey also found increases in the percentage of Americans who were stressed by police violence and personal safety.

Education also plays a role in how stressed Americans are, according to the APA. For example, 53 percent of those with more than a high school education reported stress caused by the election outcome. That compares to 38 percent for those with a high school education or less.

Geographic location also appears to have played a role, with 62 percent of those in urban areas reporting stress, compared to 45 percent in the suburbs and 33 percent in rural areas.

The increased stress may be causing health problems, the APA says, citing those who reported a stress-related health symptom rose from 71 percent to 80 percent. Those issues include headaches, anxiety and depression.

“While these common health symptoms might seem minor, they can lead to negative effects on daily life and overall physical health when they continue over a long period,” said Nordal.

The APA recommends those experiencing stress related to the election and the political climate should perhaps take a break from the news and do something else.

“Read enough to stay informed but then plan activities that give you a regular break from the issues and the stress they might cause. And remember to take care of yourself and pay attention to other areas of your life,” Nordal said.
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From: MeNeedIt

WATCH: People in America: Meet Tuhin Das — Poet, Activist and Writer in Exile
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From: MeNeedIt

Organizers in cities across the U.S. are telling immigrants to miss class, miss work and not shop Thursday as a way to show the country how important they are to America’s economy and way of life.

“A Day Without Immigrants” actions are planned in cities including Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and Austin, Texas.

The protest comes in response to President Donald Trump and his 1-month-old administration. The Republican president has pledged to increase deportation of immigrants living in the country illegally, build a wall along the Mexican border, and ban people from certain majority-Muslim countries from coming into the U.S. He also has blamed high unemployment on immigration.

Employers in solidarity

Employers and institutions in some cities were expressing solidarity Wednesday with immigrant workers. Washington restaurateur John Andrade said he would close his businesses Thursday, and David Suro, owner of Tequilas Restaurant in Philadelphia and himself a Mexican immigrant, said he also planned to participate.

The Davis Museum at Wellesley College in Massachusetts said it would remove or shroud all artwork created or given by immigrants to the museum through February 21.

In New Mexico, the state with the largest percentage of Hispanic residents in the nation, school officials worried that hundreds of students may stay home Thursday.

“We respectfully ask all parents to acknowledge that students need to be in class every day to benefit from the education they are guaranteed and to avoid falling behind in school and life,” principals with the Albuquerque Public Schools wrote in a letter to parents.

Students who take part in the protest will receive an unexcused absence, Albuquerque school officials said.

Organizers in Philadelphia said they expect hundreds of workers and families to participate.

What would US look like?

“Our goal is to highlight the need for Philadelphia to expand policies that stop criminalizing communities of color,’’ said Erika Almiron, executive director of Juntos, a nonprofit group that works with the Latino immigrant community. “What would happen if massive raids did happen? What would the city look like?”

Almiron said that while community groups have not seen an uptick in immigration raids in the city, residents are concerned about the possibility.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is among leaders in several cities nationwide who have vowed to maintain their “sanctuary city’’ status and decline to help federal law enforcement with deportation efforts.

Many people who make the choice to skip work Thursday will not be paid in their absence, but social media posts encouraging participation stressed that the cause is worth the sacrifice.
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From: MeNeedIt

Fossils including sharks, sea reptiles and squid-like creatures dug up in Idaho reveal a marine ecosystem thriving relatively soon after Earth’s worst mass extinction, contradicting the long-held notion life was slow to recover from the calamity.

Scientists on Wednesday described the surprising fossil discovery showing creatures flourishing in the aftermath of the worldwide die-off at the end of the Permian Period about 252 million years ago that erased roughly 90 percent of species.

Even the asteroid-induced mass extinction 66 million years ago that doomed the dinosaurs did not push life to the brink of annihilation like the Permian one.

The fossils of about 30 different species unearthed in Bear Lake County near the Idaho city of Paris showed a quick and dynamic rebound in a marine ecosystem, illustrating the remarkable resiliency of life.

“Our discovery was totally unexpected,” said paleontologist Arnaud Brayard of the University of Burgundy-Franche-Comte in France, with a highly diversified and complex assemblage of animals.

The ecosystem from this pivotal time included predators such as sharks up to about 7 feet long (2 meters), marine reptiles and bony fish, squid-like creatures including some with long conical shells and others with coiled shells, a scavenging crustacean with large eyes and strangely thin claws, starfish relatives, sponges and other animals.

The Permian die-off occurred 251.9 million years ago. The Idaho ecosystem flourished 1.3 million years later, “quite rapid on a geological scale,” according to Brayard. The mass extinction’s cause is a matter of debate.

But many scientists attribute it to colossal volcanic eruptions in northern Siberia that unleashed large amounts of greenhouse and toxic gases, triggering severe global warming and big fluctuations in oceanic chemistry including acidification and oxygen deficiency.

The Idaho ecosystem, in the earliest stages of the Triassic Period that later produced the first dinosaurs, included some unexpected creatures. There was a type of sponge previously believed to have gone extinct 200 million years earlier, and a squid-like group previously thought not to have originated until 50 million years later.

The researchers found bones from what could be the earliest-known ichthyosaur, a dolphin-like marine reptile group that prospered for 160 million years, or a direct ancestor.

“The Early Triassic is a complex and highly disturbed epoch, but certainly not a devastated one as commonly assumed, and this epoch has not yet yielded up all its secrets,” Brayard said.

The research was published in the journal Science Advances.
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From: MeNeedIt

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have several brain regions that are slightly smaller than usual, more evidence that the disorder should be considered a neurological condition, a new study says.

The study, the largest review of ADHD patients’ brain scans ever conducted, might also provide clues for developing new treatments.

“If you know what region of the brain is involved in ADHD, you could possibly target that part with medication,” said Martine Hoogman of Radboud University in the Netherlands, the study’s lead author.

ADHD causes inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, although a given person may not show all those traits.

Hoogman and colleagues analyzed MRI scans for more than 3,200 people in nine countries aged 4 to 63, of whom 1,713 had ADHD. They found that the brains of children with the condition were slightly smaller in five regions, including those that control emotions, voluntary movement and understanding.

The scientists reviewed one scan per person and found no effect from ADHD medications.

Hoogman said the findings support previous theories that the brains of people with ADHD may develop more slowly but that those differences are mostly wiped out by the time children grow up. “By the time they become adults, the differences in their brains are not significant anymore,” she said.

The study was paid for by the National Institutes of Health and was published online Wednesday in the journal Lancet Psychiatry.

What do differences mean?

Other experts described the findings as interesting but said there wasn’t enough information to link the brain differences to behavioral problems seen in people with ADHD.

“The study confirms that there are structural differences in the brains of people with ADHD, but it doesn’t tell us what they mean,” said Graham Murray, a lecturer in psychiatry at Cambridge University, who was not part of the research.

“Having less brain in several regions sounds bad, but it’s not as simple as that,” he said, pointing out that decreased brain matter can sometimes be beneficial — like in teenagers, when the outer cortex of their developing brains becomes thinner as their intellectual capacity grows.

“The brain is very good at adapting,” Murray said. “Just because you have less brain volume doesn’t condemn the child to not being able to function well.”

Jonathan Posner, an associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, also said the research should help families with children diagnosed with ADHD.

“To have a solid understanding that ADHD really does originate from brain systems and that it causes alterations in the way the brain is structured and functions is important information for reducing stigma,” said Posner, who co-authored an accompanying commentary. “It will hopefully create more empathy for children who have ADHD.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Training young farmers to turn agriculture into a business is key to eradicating poverty and curbing economic migration, the new president of the U.N. agricultural development agency said Wednesday.

Three-quarters of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas, predominantly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and many rely on farming to survive, according to the United Nations.

Countries need to provide them with better equipment and infrastructure to carry out world leaders’ ambitious plan to end poverty and hunger by 2030, according to Gilbert Houngbo, head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

“To unleash the business spirit in smallholder women and men [farmers] is critical,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Greater government investment needs to go hand in hand with educational schemes and private-sector partnerships aimed at broadening young people’s skills and prospects, he said.

He suggested, for example, that training schemes could help tomato growers become producers of tomato sauce.

Drawing on his experience

Although Houngbo has previously held senior roles at big international bodies, he said it was growing up in a small village in a rural area of Togo, one of the world’s poorest countries, that best prepared him for his new job.

“I know how it feels, not being able to increase the yield, as at the end of the season, when you have your crop, you cannot bring it to the market because you there is no rural road,” he said.

Houngbo said that helping young people from villages like his own fulfill their potential at home would make them less inclined to migrate to rich countries.

“I believe that a carefully thought out youth employment program in the rural activities is part of the solution when it comes to economic migration,” he said.

Houngbo, who was prime minister of Togo from 2008 to 2012, was appointed president of IFAD on Tuesday evening.

He beat seven other candidates to take the helm of the Rome-based agency, which provides investments supporting rural people in developing countries.
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From: MeNeedIt

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday criticized Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s stewardship of the U.S. economy and urged her to halt work on financial regulation until President Donald Trump names new policymakers to the central bank.

In a tense hearing before the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee, Republicans made clear they will keep pressing the Fed to trim its large holdings of bonds and set interest rates based on established mathematical rules.

“We must be vigilant to ensure that our central bankers do not one day become our central planners,” said Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican and the committee’s chairman. “There is zero evidence that zero interest rates and a bloated Fed balance sheet lead to a healthy economy.”

Critics say the Fed’s push to cut and then keep rates near zero and buy huge amounts of bonds and mortgage-backed securities in response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis led to the slowest U.S. economic recovery since World War II ended.

Yellen offering warning

Hensarling is planning regulatory reforms that include congressional audits of interest rate policy when the Fed disregards policy rules, a measure Yellen said she opposes as an intrusion on the central bank’s independence.

“It would result in poor economic performance,” Yellen said during the hearing.

Trump, a Republican who criticized the Fed during last year’s presidential campaign, will be able to name three new members to its seven-member Board of Governors. It currently has two empty seats, with a third due to become vacant when Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo steps down around early April.

Hensarling and other Republicans said the Fed’s banking regulations were too intrusive and its holdings of U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities — currently around $4.2 trillion — could be fueling asset bubbles.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be expecting so much from unconventional policies,” said Kentucky Republican Andy Barr.

No new rules

North Carolina Republican Patrick McHenry urged Yellen to avoid making new rules based on talks with international banking regulators until Trump names an official to serve as the Fed’s top financial supervisor.

Yellen said Trump’s future pick for the role, which is one of the vacant seats on the Fed’s board, would likely be able to review new regulations before they come into effect.

“Nothing going on in these international discussions binds us to carry out things in our rule making process,” she said.

Yellen’s four-year term as chair ends in January 2018.
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From: MeNeedIt

Southern Africa is beginning to come to grips with an invasive species that is wreaking havoc with its corn crops. It’s a South American insect called a fall armyworm and in Zambia alone, it may be on the way to destroying about 40 percent of that nation’s maize harvest. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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From: MeNeedIt

They’re pets that need a few accommodations, like a minivan with the seats pulled out, a bed that can approach the size of a twin mattress and a household that doesn’t mind when an animal that weighs in triple digits wants to “share” the sofa.

But owners of some of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show’s giant breeds say there’s no small joy in thinking big.

“It’s a very interesting relationship you can have with a large dog,” Lynn Kiaer of Argyle, New York, said as two of her 10 Scottish deerhounds, Seaforth and Rhionnach, relaxed after competing this week. To her, “their whole manner of living” feels closer to human scale than does life with smaller dogs.

After all, her lean, gentle dogs can come roughly eye-to-eye with a person sitting down: Seaforth, a 6-year-old male, stands about 32 inches tall at the shoulder alone.

Size matters

While canines of all shapes and sizes have won the nation’s most prestigious dog show, large breeds just might win an outsized share of attention outside the ring as visitors mingle with dogs and breeders.

“Those are bigger than the wolves I’ve seen!” one boy exclaimed as he laid eyes on Irish wolfhounds Stuart and Kaviar, members of the tallest breed recognized by the American Kennel Club, the governing body for Westminster and many other canine competitions.

“It’s a good thing,” owner Karen Goodell said, explaining that the dogs’ commanding size — 4-year-old Stuart is about 37 inches at the shoulder and weighs 180 pounds — was an asset when they historically hunted wolves and guarded castles in their native Ireland.

At Goodell’s Colorado Springs farm, a half-dozen wolfhounds enjoy the run of fields and the comfort of lazing around a house with taller-than-usual kitchen countertops and everything from biscuits to bowls in “jumbo” size.

While some giant dogs can be easygoing house pets, owners stress that early, assiduous training is essential for puppies that will grow — quickly — to an imposing size.

“You’re not going to be able, in six months, to pick up this dog if it misbehaves,” notes Newfoundland owner Kathy Wortham of Newport Beach, California. Her dog Xander competed Tuesday.

Shorter lifespan

Big-breed owners also confront the painful reality of losing their dogs relatively soon. While the average lifespan of American dogs of all sizes has roughly doubled in the last 40 years because of factors including better medications and diets, “it’s a fact that larger dogs die earlier and smaller dogs live longer,” said Dr. Joseph Kinnarney, until recently the president of the American Veterinary Medicine Association. He also co-owned the 1995 Westminster best in show winner, a Scottish terrier named Peggy Sue.

The reasons for the lifespan discrepancy aren’t clear, but Kinnarney says he’s hopeful continuing genetic research will shed light over time. For now, though, a long-lived Chihuahua might make it to 18, for instance, while 10 would be an impressive lifespan for an Irish wolfhound.

“That’s the hardest part” of having a wolfhound, Goodell says. “To me, they’re worth it because they’re so wonderful. … They’re smart, they’re loyal and they’re great to live with.”

Any dog owner has his or her share of “it’s worth its,” but the big-breed crowd has perhaps a particularly memorable list.

Big dogs … big beds

For Great Dane owner and breeder Teresa LaBrie, who showed her dog Duesy at Westminster on Tuesday, it’s worth custom-ordering supersized dog beds and using a 13-quart bucket as a water bowl for the 10 Danes who share her Norwich, New York, home with, yes, two Chihuahuas.

“There are times when we sit on the floor because we don’t want to disturb the dogs,” she chuckled.

With four St. Bernards at his home in Lawrenceberg, Kentucky, Dr. BJ Jackson has grown accustomed to sweeping up daily and teaching hundred-pound puppies that they’re too big to jump into laps.

“Absolutely, it’s worth it,” said Jackson, whose dog Rambo competed at Westminster. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Barack and Michelle Obama, the former U.S. president and first lady, on Tuesday tweeted Valentine’s Day greetings to each other. A C-Span reporter tweeted a picture of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence at an upscale grocery store buying a Valentine’s Day bouquet for his wife, Karen.

Later, Pence tweeted at the reporter: “Don’t ruin the surprise. Ready to share our 34th Valentine’s Day with my valentine, Karen.”

In Pakistan on Monday, the Islamabad High Court placed a ban on the celebration of Valentine’s Day because a citizen petitioned for it, saying the February 14 holiday promotes “immorality, nudity and indecency.” Public displays of affection are forbidden in Pakistan because they are seen as un-Islamic.

Indonesia and Saudi Arabia also banned celebration of the holiday that honors love of all kinds, but especially romantic love.

Even in places where people are free to celebrate, the holiday has its critics — most notably, single people who say the day just serves to highlight their unpartnered status.

Violent origins

But the torture of lonely hearts is a newer development in the holiday’s violent past. According to legend, the day’s namesake St. Valentine, a Roman priest, was beaten, stoned and beheaded for conducting Christian marriage ceremonies sometime in the third century. However, Catholic histories contain numerous martyrs named Valentine, leaving open the question of which Valentine is responsible for the modern-day celebration.

Pope Gelasius in 496 established February 14 as St. Valentine’s feast day. Because of the legend about Christian marriages, over time the day has taken on romantic connotations.

It is even mentioned in the writings of 14th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who is one of the earliest writers known to have referenced the day. He spoke of it in several poems as the day when birds traditionally choose their mates.

But the timing of the day coincides with a less innocent celebration: that of Lupercalia, the Roman feast of fertility. Lupercalia was celebrated with naked men or near-naked men running through the city streets, striking women’s hands with leather thongs to allegedly improve fertility.

By the 19th century, Valentine’s Day had become the day to declare one’s love with elaborate, handmade cards and handwritten sentiments. By the beginning of the 20th century, mass-produced Valentine cards had become big business.

Big business

The U.S.-based Hallmark Cards company, which dominates the greeting card industry, produced its first Valentine card in 1913.

The National Retail Federation says American consumers spent $4.3 billion on jewelry, $2 billion on flowers and $1 billion on cards for Valentine’s Day this year. Valentine’s Day is also a big commercial holiday in Japan, where women give men chocolates and men reciprocate with gifts of even higher value a month later, on March 14. South Koreans have a similar practice.

In Ireland, those seeking love might go to Dublin’s Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church, which houses some relics believed to have come from St. Valentine.

Popular variations

In Finland, the day is known as “Friends’ Day,” and is centered more on platonic friendships than romantic ones.

And, of course, there is a counterculture for singles feeling left out on the big day. Girlfriends wish each other a “happy Galentines’ Day” (“gal” being a euphemism for “girl”), blogs publish anti-Valentine’s song playlists and lists of comforting movies to watch, and bars host anti-Valentine’s parties.

And, in maybe the biggest Valentine’s backlash of all, students at Nanjing University in China concocted “Singles’ Day” in the 1990s. Celebrated November 11, the day has grown into Asia’s largest single shopping day of the year, with sales of $17.8 billion.
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From: MeNeedIt

From buses and trucks to a $500 million golf resort, China is deepening its business footprint in Cuba, helping the fellow Communist-run state survive a crisis in oil-benefactor Venezuela and insulate against a possible rollback of U.S. detente.

Cuban imports from China reached a record $1.9 billion in 2015, nearly 60 percent above the annual average of the previous decade, and were at $1.8 billion in 2016 as the flow of oil and cash slowed from Venezuela because of economic and political turmoil in the South American country.

China’s growing presence gives its companies a head start over U.S. competitors in Cuba’s opening market. It could leave the island less exposed to the chance U.S. President Donald Trump will clamp down on travel to Cuba and tighten trade restrictions loosened by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

China may double down in Cuba

A deterioration in U.S.-China relations under Trump could also lead Beijing to dig in deeper in Cuba, some analysts say.

“If and when the Trump administration increases pressure on China … China may decide to double down on its expanding footprint in the United States’ neighborhood,” said Ted Piccone, a Latin America analyst at the Brookings Institution think tank.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, sells goods to Cuba on soft credit terms. It is Cuba’s largest creditor and debt is regularly restructured, though amounts and terms are considered state secrets.

While Cuba does not publish investment data, the state press has been abuzz with news of Chinese projects lately, covering infrastructure, telecoms, tourism and electronics.

Yutong buses, Sinotruk trucks, YTO  tractors, Geely cars, Haier domestic appliances and other products are prominent in Cuba, where the main U.S. products on display are cars dating back to the 1950s, thanks to the ongoing economic embargo.

Wi-Fi hot spots a big draw

Cubans flock every day to hundreds of Huawei-supplied Wi-Fi hot spots, and the firm is now helping to wire the first homes.

“Business is really booming, more than we could have ever imagined,” said the manager of a shipping company that  brings in Chinese machinery and transport equipment and who asked not to be identified.

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing described China and Cuba as “good comrades, brothers and partners,” and said the relations “were not influenced by any third party,” when asked whether U.S. policy was encouraging China to deepen its presence.

“We are happy to see that recently countries around the world are all expanding cooperation with Cuba. I think this shows that all countries have consistent expectations about Cuba’s vast potential for development,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.

The U.S. State Department and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Increased investment

Over the past two decades, China has become a major player in Latin America and the Caribbean, second only to the United States in investment flows and diplomatic clout.

But the Asian giant was reluctant to invest in Cuba because of the poor business climate and fear of losing opportunities in the United States, according to Asian diplomats in Havana.

That began to change after Obama moved to normalize relations two years ago and Cuba sweetened investment rules, sparking new interest among U.S. businesses and competitors around the world.

China was well-placed because the local government preferred doing business with long-term friends offering ample credit to work with state-run firms.

In return, Cuba has shared contacts and knowledge about the region, and taught hundreds of Chinese translators Spanish.

A report on the government’s official Cubadebate media website last month said the two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in renewable energy and industry, with 18 Chinese firms taking part in a three-day meeting in Havana.

Computer assembly plant opens

Plans for several projects were signed, including a joint venture with Haier to establish a renewable energy research and development facility, the report said.

A few weeks earlier, Cuba opened its first computer assembly plant with Haier with an annual capacity of 120,000 laptops and tablets, state media reported.

Other projects include pharmaceuticals, vehicle production, a container terminal in eastern Santiago de Cuba, backed by a $120 million Chinese development loan, and Beijing Enterprises Holdings Ltd. venture for a $460 million golf resort just east of Havana.

Shanghai Electric is providing funds and equipment for a series of bioelectricity plants attached to sugar mills.
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From: MeNeedIt

Venezuelan authorities raided the Caracas offices of Odebrecht on Tuesday, as prosecutors deepened a probe into the Brazilian construction firm that has admitted paying some $98 million in bribes to obtain government contracts in Venezuela.

“The investigation is aimed at clarifying the situation and determining if the projects for which this company was contracted were completed,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Odebrecht and affiliated petrochemical company Braskem in December pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to violating American foreign bribery laws by paying off officials to help secure lucrative construction contracts in 12 countries.

According to the plea bargain agreement, Odebrecht and representatives paid some $98 million in bribes to government officials and intermediaries in Venezuela between 2006 and 2015 – the highest amount outside Brazil.

President Nicolas Maduro has said that those responsible should be punished, but his critics say his government has been slow to respond to the scandal.

The country’s top prosecutor said in January that authorities were seeking the arrest of a person involved in the case, without disclosing the person’s identity.
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From: MeNeedIt