U.S. scientists have determined that the Gulf of Mexico’s annual “dead zone” — an area with low oxygen that can kill fish and marine life — is the fourth smallest since they started mapping the area in 1985.

Scientists supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a report Tuesday that the area is only about 40 percent the average size predicted earlier this year based on nitrogen and other nutrients flowing down the Mississippi river.

“Although the area is small this year, we should not think that the low-oxygen problem in the Gulf of Mexico is solved. We are not close to the goal size for this hypoxic area,” said lead scientist Nancy Rabalais of Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. 

This year’s dead zone off Louisiana is about 7,040 square kilometers, rather than the 15,000 square kilometers predicted by the NOAA. 

Every year the oxygen depletion begins as snowmelt and spring rains bring fresh water to the gulf. Fresh water is lighter than salt water causing two layers to develop. Nitrogen and other nutrients in the fresh water feed a growth spurt of algae and microorganisms at the top. The microorganisms die and fall to the bottom, where their decay consumes oxygen from the bottom up, creating the dead zone. 

“The data collected from this annual, long-term research program is critical to our understanding of a wide range of Gulf issues including hypoxia and beyond,” said Steven Thur, director of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. “Not only is measuring the size of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone vital to informing the best strategy to reduce its size, but also to reduce its impacts.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

U.S. scientists have determined that the Gulf of Mexico’s annual “dead zone” — an area with low oxygen that can kill fish and marine life — is the fourth smallest since they started mapping the area in 1985.

Scientists supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a report Tuesday that the area is only about 40 percent the average size predicted earlier this year based on nitrogen and other nutrients flowing down the Mississippi river.

“Although the area is small this year, we should not think that the low-oxygen problem in the Gulf of Mexico is solved. We are not close to the goal size for this hypoxic area,” said lead scientist Nancy Rabalais of Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. 

This year’s dead zone off Louisiana is about 7,040 square kilometers, rather than the 15,000 square kilometers predicted by the NOAA. 

Every year the oxygen depletion begins as snowmelt and spring rains bring fresh water to the gulf. Fresh water is lighter than salt water causing two layers to develop. Nitrogen and other nutrients in the fresh water feed a growth spurt of algae and microorganisms at the top. The microorganisms die and fall to the bottom, where their decay consumes oxygen from the bottom up, creating the dead zone. 

“The data collected from this annual, long-term research program is critical to our understanding of a wide range of Gulf issues including hypoxia and beyond,” said Steven Thur, director of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. “Not only is measuring the size of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone vital to informing the best strategy to reduce its size, but also to reduce its impacts.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

Anna Wintour, the influential editor of Vogue magazine, is remaining in her job “indefinitely,” publisher Conde Nast said Tuesday, refuting rumors that she was on her way out after 30 years.

“Anna Wintour is an incredibly talented and creative leader whose influence is beyond measure. She is integral to the future of our company’s transformation and has agreed to work with me indefinitely in her role as @voguemagazine editor in chief and artistic director of Conde Nast,” Conde Nast Chief Executive Bob Sauerberg said in a statement on the company’s Twitter feed.

Wintour, 68, known for her large sunglasses, pageboy haircut, and aloof public profile, has been editor in chief of the fashion magazine since 1988.

Rumors that she was about to step down or be pushed aside have been swirling in the fashion industry for weeks. Women’s Wear Daily wrote earlier this month that speculation about her exit “has reached a crescendo louder than a tea kettle on full boil.”

London-born Wintour has a towering influence in the fashion world, which was only boosted by 2006 movie The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep as a formidable magazine editor thought to be based on her.

Wintour was promoted to artistic director of Conde Nast, Vogue’s publisher, in 2013.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Anna Wintour, the influential editor of Vogue magazine, is remaining in her job “indefinitely,” publisher Conde Nast said Tuesday, refuting rumors that she was on her way out after 30 years.

“Anna Wintour is an incredibly talented and creative leader whose influence is beyond measure. She is integral to the future of our company’s transformation and has agreed to work with me indefinitely in her role as @voguemagazine editor in chief and artistic director of Conde Nast,” Conde Nast Chief Executive Bob Sauerberg said in a statement on the company’s Twitter feed.

Wintour, 68, known for her large sunglasses, pageboy haircut, and aloof public profile, has been editor in chief of the fashion magazine since 1988.

Rumors that she was about to step down or be pushed aside have been swirling in the fashion industry for weeks. Women’s Wear Daily wrote earlier this month that speculation about her exit “has reached a crescendo louder than a tea kettle on full boil.”

London-born Wintour has a towering influence in the fashion world, which was only boosted by 2006 movie The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep as a formidable magazine editor thought to be based on her.

Wintour was promoted to artistic director of Conde Nast, Vogue’s publisher, in 2013.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Anna Wintour, the influential editor of Vogue magazine, is remaining in her job “indefinitely,” publisher Conde Nast said Tuesday, refuting rumors that she was on her way out after 30 years.

“Anna Wintour is an incredibly talented and creative leader whose influence is beyond measure. She is integral to the future of our company’s transformation and has agreed to work with me indefinitely in her role as @voguemagazine editor in chief and artistic director of Conde Nast,” Conde Nast Chief Executive Bob Sauerberg said in a statement on the company’s Twitter feed.

Wintour, 68, known for her large sunglasses, pageboy haircut, and aloof public profile, has been editor in chief of the fashion magazine since 1988.

Rumors that she was about to step down or be pushed aside have been swirling in the fashion industry for weeks. Women’s Wear Daily wrote earlier this month that speculation about her exit “has reached a crescendo louder than a tea kettle on full boil.”

London-born Wintour has a towering influence in the fashion world, which was only boosted by 2006 movie The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep as a formidable magazine editor thought to be based on her.

Wintour was promoted to artistic director of Conde Nast, Vogue’s publisher, in 2013.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Anna Wintour, the influential editor of Vogue magazine, is remaining in her job “indefinitely,” publisher Conde Nast said Tuesday, refuting rumors that she was on her way out after 30 years.

“Anna Wintour is an incredibly talented and creative leader whose influence is beyond measure. She is integral to the future of our company’s transformation and has agreed to work with me indefinitely in her role as @voguemagazine editor in chief and artistic director of Conde Nast,” Conde Nast Chief Executive Bob Sauerberg said in a statement on the company’s Twitter feed.

Wintour, 68, known for her large sunglasses, pageboy haircut, and aloof public profile, has been editor in chief of the fashion magazine since 1988.

Rumors that she was about to step down or be pushed aside have been swirling in the fashion industry for weeks. Women’s Wear Daily wrote earlier this month that speculation about her exit “has reached a crescendo louder than a tea kettle on full boil.”

London-born Wintour has a towering influence in the fashion world, which was only boosted by 2006 movie The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep as a formidable magazine editor thought to be based on her.

Wintour was promoted to artistic director of Conde Nast, Vogue’s publisher, in 2013.
…

From: MeNeedIt

When Abid Ali risked his life in a rubber dinghy in 2015 as he fled Pakistan for Europe, he didn’t think that three years later he would be making bags, backpacks and sneakers out of similar boats in a small workshop in Berlin.

Ali, a tailor, is working with non-profit organization Mimycri to upcycle the rubber from abandoned refugee boats found on beaches in Greece after often perilous sea crossings via Turkey.

Since Germany received more than a million migrants fleeing war and prosecution in the Middle East, Africa and central Asia in 2015, migration has become a major issue in Germany that is testing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition.

By making fashion accessories out of the rubber dinghies used by refugees, Mimycri wants to create jobs for migrants and give them a chance to show Germans their talents.

In Mimycri’s Berlin workshop, Ali carefully measures out a large piece of rubber on a workbench before cutting it precisely to size and skilfully using a sewing machine to craft a bag.

Working with the disused rubber boats is not strange, he says.

“Yes, sometimes I think ‘yes I came with these boats,’ but no it isn’t too strange for me,” he added.

Vera Guenther, Mimycri co-founder, and her project partner Nora Azzaoui came up with their idea in summer 2015 when they were volunteering to help refugees arriving at the Greek island of Chios.

“We want to process the plastic waste that lies on beaches in Greece into something new,” Guenther said. “We want to create new job opportunities for the people who came newly here and have great talents.”

Environmental groups say the plastic garbage of life vests and rubber boats left by migrants after reaching Greece in 2015 is a forgotten dimension of the refugee crisis with no comprehensive waste-management system on land.
…

From: MeNeedIt

When Abid Ali risked his life in a rubber dinghy in 2015 as he fled Pakistan for Europe, he didn’t think that three years later he would be making bags, backpacks and sneakers out of similar boats in a small workshop in Berlin.

Ali, a tailor, is working with non-profit organization Mimycri to upcycle the rubber from abandoned refugee boats found on beaches in Greece after often perilous sea crossings via Turkey.

Since Germany received more than a million migrants fleeing war and prosecution in the Middle East, Africa and central Asia in 2015, migration has become a major issue in Germany that is testing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition.

By making fashion accessories out of the rubber dinghies used by refugees, Mimycri wants to create jobs for migrants and give them a chance to show Germans their talents.

In Mimycri’s Berlin workshop, Ali carefully measures out a large piece of rubber on a workbench before cutting it precisely to size and skilfully using a sewing machine to craft a bag.

Working with the disused rubber boats is not strange, he says.

“Yes, sometimes I think ‘yes I came with these boats,’ but no it isn’t too strange for me,” he added.

Vera Guenther, Mimycri co-founder, and her project partner Nora Azzaoui came up with their idea in summer 2015 when they were volunteering to help refugees arriving at the Greek island of Chios.

“We want to process the plastic waste that lies on beaches in Greece into something new,” Guenther said. “We want to create new job opportunities for the people who came newly here and have great talents.”

Environmental groups say the plastic garbage of life vests and rubber boats left by migrants after reaching Greece in 2015 is a forgotten dimension of the refugee crisis with no comprehensive waste-management system on land.
…

From: MeNeedIt

An Israeli court jailed an Israeli Arab poet for five months on Tuesday after convicting her of incitement to terrorism for a poem and remarks she posted on social media during a wave of Palestinian street attacks.

Dareen Tatour, 36, posted on Facebook and YouTube a video of herself reading out her poem “Resist, My People, Resist”, as a soundtrack to footage of masked Palestinian youths throwing stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers.

Tatour published her poem in October 2015 during a spate of deadly Palestinian stabbing, shooting and ramming attacks on Israelis. She was arrested a few days later, and prosecutors said her post was a call for violence. She denied this.

Her case became a cause celebre for freedom of speech advocates in Israel and abroad. It drew attention to the advanced technology used by Israeli security agencies to trawl through social media to identify and arrest users suspected of incitement to violence, or of planning attacks.

Tatour said her poem was misunderstood by the Israeli authorities as it was not a call for violence, rather for non-violent struggle.

U.S.-backed negotiations on a Palestinian state in territory Israel captured in a 1967 war have been stalled since 2014.

Tatour was also charged with supporting a terrorist group. Prosecutors said she had expressed support for the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad’s call for an uprising.

“I wasn’t expecting justice to be done. The case was political from the start, because I am Palestinian and support freedom of speech,” she told reporters at the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court in northern Israel.

Arab minority

Tatour belongs to Israel’s Arab minority, which comprises mainly descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land after the 1948 Arab-Jewish war that surrounded the creation of the state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands fled or were driven from their homes.

The court added a six-month suspended sentence to Tatour’s jail time, according to the official minutes distributed by the Justice Ministry. Her lawyer, Gaby Lasky, said Tatour would appeal both the verdict and the sentence.

Israel says the string of Palestinian attacks that began in 2015 was fueled by online incitement and it has launched a legal crackdown to curb it.

Indictments for online incitement have tripled in Israel since 2014. Prosecutions by the Israeli military have also increased in the occupied West Bank – most of those charged are young Palestinians.

The campaign against alleged incitement has raised questions about the balance between security and free speech.

On July 18 the Israeli parliament was set to pass legislation that would have empowered the justice system to order Internet providers, such as Facebook and Google, to take down social media posts in Israel deemed as incitement.

But hours before the scheduled vote Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelved the bill. An adviser to Netanyahu, Jonatan Urich, said the law was open to a too-wide interpretation that could allow cyber-censorship and harm freedom of speech.

 
…

From: MeNeedIt

An Israeli court jailed an Israeli Arab poet for five months on Tuesday after convicting her of incitement to terrorism for a poem and remarks she posted on social media during a wave of Palestinian street attacks.

Dareen Tatour, 36, posted on Facebook and YouTube a video of herself reading out her poem “Resist, My People, Resist”, as a soundtrack to footage of masked Palestinian youths throwing stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers.

Tatour published her poem in October 2015 during a spate of deadly Palestinian stabbing, shooting and ramming attacks on Israelis. She was arrested a few days later, and prosecutors said her post was a call for violence. She denied this.

Her case became a cause celebre for freedom of speech advocates in Israel and abroad. It drew attention to the advanced technology used by Israeli security agencies to trawl through social media to identify and arrest users suspected of incitement to violence, or of planning attacks.

Tatour said her poem was misunderstood by the Israeli authorities as it was not a call for violence, rather for non-violent struggle.

U.S.-backed negotiations on a Palestinian state in territory Israel captured in a 1967 war have been stalled since 2014.

Tatour was also charged with supporting a terrorist group. Prosecutors said she had expressed support for the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad’s call for an uprising.

“I wasn’t expecting justice to be done. The case was political from the start, because I am Palestinian and support freedom of speech,” she told reporters at the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court in northern Israel.

Arab minority

Tatour belongs to Israel’s Arab minority, which comprises mainly descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land after the 1948 Arab-Jewish war that surrounded the creation of the state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands fled or were driven from their homes.

The court added a six-month suspended sentence to Tatour’s jail time, according to the official minutes distributed by the Justice Ministry. Her lawyer, Gaby Lasky, said Tatour would appeal both the verdict and the sentence.

Israel says the string of Palestinian attacks that began in 2015 was fueled by online incitement and it has launched a legal crackdown to curb it.

Indictments for online incitement have tripled in Israel since 2014. Prosecutions by the Israeli military have also increased in the occupied West Bank – most of those charged are young Palestinians.

The campaign against alleged incitement has raised questions about the balance between security and free speech.

On July 18 the Israeli parliament was set to pass legislation that would have empowered the justice system to order Internet providers, such as Facebook and Google, to take down social media posts in Israel deemed as incitement.

But hours before the scheduled vote Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelved the bill. An adviser to Netanyahu, Jonatan Urich, said the law was open to a too-wide interpretation that could allow cyber-censorship and harm freedom of speech.

 
…

From: MeNeedIt

An Israeli court jailed an Israeli Arab poet for five months on Tuesday after convicting her of incitement to terrorism for a poem and remarks she posted on social media during a wave of Palestinian street attacks.

Dareen Tatour, 36, posted on Facebook and YouTube a video of herself reading out her poem “Resist, My People, Resist”, as a soundtrack to footage of masked Palestinian youths throwing stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers.

Tatour published her poem in October 2015 during a spate of deadly Palestinian stabbing, shooting and ramming attacks on Israelis. She was arrested a few days later, and prosecutors said her post was a call for violence. She denied this.

Her case became a cause celebre for freedom of speech advocates in Israel and abroad. It drew attention to the advanced technology used by Israeli security agencies to trawl through social media to identify and arrest users suspected of incitement to violence, or of planning attacks.

Tatour said her poem was misunderstood by the Israeli authorities as it was not a call for violence, rather for non-violent struggle.

U.S.-backed negotiations on a Palestinian state in territory Israel captured in a 1967 war have been stalled since 2014.

Tatour was also charged with supporting a terrorist group. Prosecutors said she had expressed support for the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad’s call for an uprising.

“I wasn’t expecting justice to be done. The case was political from the start, because I am Palestinian and support freedom of speech,” she told reporters at the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court in northern Israel.

Arab minority

Tatour belongs to Israel’s Arab minority, which comprises mainly descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land after the 1948 Arab-Jewish war that surrounded the creation of the state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands fled or were driven from their homes.

The court added a six-month suspended sentence to Tatour’s jail time, according to the official minutes distributed by the Justice Ministry. Her lawyer, Gaby Lasky, said Tatour would appeal both the verdict and the sentence.

Israel says the string of Palestinian attacks that began in 2015 was fueled by online incitement and it has launched a legal crackdown to curb it.

Indictments for online incitement have tripled in Israel since 2014. Prosecutions by the Israeli military have also increased in the occupied West Bank – most of those charged are young Palestinians.

The campaign against alleged incitement has raised questions about the balance between security and free speech.

On July 18 the Israeli parliament was set to pass legislation that would have empowered the justice system to order Internet providers, such as Facebook and Google, to take down social media posts in Israel deemed as incitement.

But hours before the scheduled vote Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelved the bill. An adviser to Netanyahu, Jonatan Urich, said the law was open to a too-wide interpretation that could allow cyber-censorship and harm freedom of speech.

 
…

From: MeNeedIt

An Israeli court jailed an Israeli Arab poet for five months on Tuesday after convicting her of incitement to terrorism for a poem and remarks she posted on social media during a wave of Palestinian street attacks.

Dareen Tatour, 36, posted on Facebook and YouTube a video of herself reading out her poem “Resist, My People, Resist”, as a soundtrack to footage of masked Palestinian youths throwing stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers.

Tatour published her poem in October 2015 during a spate of deadly Palestinian stabbing, shooting and ramming attacks on Israelis. She was arrested a few days later, and prosecutors said her post was a call for violence. She denied this.

Her case became a cause celebre for freedom of speech advocates in Israel and abroad. It drew attention to the advanced technology used by Israeli security agencies to trawl through social media to identify and arrest users suspected of incitement to violence, or of planning attacks.

Tatour said her poem was misunderstood by the Israeli authorities as it was not a call for violence, rather for non-violent struggle.

U.S.-backed negotiations on a Palestinian state in territory Israel captured in a 1967 war have been stalled since 2014.

Tatour was also charged with supporting a terrorist group. Prosecutors said she had expressed support for the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad’s call for an uprising.

“I wasn’t expecting justice to be done. The case was political from the start, because I am Palestinian and support freedom of speech,” she told reporters at the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court in northern Israel.

Arab minority

Tatour belongs to Israel’s Arab minority, which comprises mainly descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land after the 1948 Arab-Jewish war that surrounded the creation of the state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands fled or were driven from their homes.

The court added a six-month suspended sentence to Tatour’s jail time, according to the official minutes distributed by the Justice Ministry. Her lawyer, Gaby Lasky, said Tatour would appeal both the verdict and the sentence.

Israel says the string of Palestinian attacks that began in 2015 was fueled by online incitement and it has launched a legal crackdown to curb it.

Indictments for online incitement have tripled in Israel since 2014. Prosecutions by the Israeli military have also increased in the occupied West Bank – most of those charged are young Palestinians.

The campaign against alleged incitement has raised questions about the balance between security and free speech.

On July 18 the Israeli parliament was set to pass legislation that would have empowered the justice system to order Internet providers, such as Facebook and Google, to take down social media posts in Israel deemed as incitement.

But hours before the scheduled vote Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelved the bill. An adviser to Netanyahu, Jonatan Urich, said the law was open to a too-wide interpretation that could allow cyber-censorship and harm freedom of speech.

 
…

From: MeNeedIt