Category Archives: Progress

On July 7, G20 leaders will gather in Hamburg for their annual meeting. One likely outcome: another clash over climate change between the host government, Germany, and United States president Donald Trump.

As the Chinese did last year, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel has prioritised climate on the G20 agenda, just when the US administration is rolling back many environmental policies.

President Trump has announced that he wants his country to leave the Paris agreement, saying that the international accord is unfair to the US.

The question of what is fair in climate politics is hugely important.

Trumps definition of fairness America First is probably not mutually acceptable to most other nations. But countries will hesitate to scale up their ambitions unless they are convinced that others are doing their fair share.

To address this question, we have put together our third annual stocktake on their progress in a report coordinated by the global consortium Climate Transparency that determines how far the G20 has come in shifting from fossil fuels to a low-carbon economy.

The report, compiled with 13 partners from 11 countries, draws on a wide spectrum of published information in four main areas (emissions, policy performance, finance and decarbonisation) and presents it concisely, enabling comparison between these 20 countries as they shift from dirty brown economies to clean green ones.

Issei Kato/Reuters

The G20 is crucial to international action on climate change. Together, member states account for 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and, in 2014, accounted for about 82% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

All member countries signed on to the 2015 Paris agreement, with its long-term temperature goals of keeping global warming to below 2C, ideally limiting it 1.5C..

The G20 have also proven to be a nimble policy forum, where soft policy making can happen. And there is less concern than in the past that the group would seek to replace the multilateral process.

This means these governments must lead the way in decarbonising their economies and building a low-carbon future.

According to the Climate Transparency report, the G20 countries are using their energy more efficiently, and using cleaner energy sources. Their economies have also grown, proving that economic growth can be decoupled from greenhouse gas emissions.

So we are beginning to see a transition from brown to green. But the report also reveals that the transition is too slow; it does not go deep enough to meet the Paris Agreements goals.

In half of the G20 countries, greenhouse gas emissions per capita are no longer rising. A notable exception is Japan, where emissions per person are ticking upward.

Canada has the highest energy use per capita, followed by Saudi Arabia, Australia and the US.

India, Indonesia and South Africa all have low energy use per capita (Indias per capita rate is one-eighth that of Canada). Poverty in these countries can only be addressed if people have access to more energy.

Today, renewable energy is increasingly the cheapest option. Still, we found that many G20 countries are meeting their increasing energy needs with coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels.

According to the Climate Action Tracker, which monitors progress toward the Paris agreements temperature goals, coal should be phased out globally by 2050 at the latest.

Between 2013 and 2014, the G20 countries public finance institutions - including national and international development banks, majority state-owned banks and export credit agencies - spent an average of almost US$88 billion a year on coal, oil and gas.

Yet many of the G20 countries are now looking at phasing out coal, including Canada, France and the UK, which have all established a plan to do so.

Author provided

Germany, Italy and Mexico, too, are considering reducing their use of coal or have taken significant action to do so. India and China continue to be highly dependent on coal but have recently closed and scaled back plans for a number of coal plants.

Countries at the bottom of the rankings are Japan, Indonesia and Turkey, all of which have substantial coal-plant construction plans, and Australia.

Despite their repeated commitment to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, the G20 countries are still heavily subsidising fossil fuels. In 2014, together, the G20 provided a total of over US$230 billion in subsidies to coal, oil and gas.

Japan and China provided, respectively, about $US19 billion and $US17 billion a year in public finance for fossil fuels between 2013 and 2014.

There is good news, though: renewable energy is on the rise. The G20 countries are already home to 98% of all installed wind power capacity in the world, 97% of solar power and 93% of electric vehicles.

In most G20 countries, renewables are a growing segment of the electricity supply, except in Russia, where absolute renewable energy consumption has decreased by 20% since 2009. China, the Republic of Korea and the UK have all seen strong growth.

Generally, the G20 countries are attractive for renewable energy investment, especially China, France, Germany and the UK although the UK has now abandoned its policy support for renewables.

Solar

National experts asked by Germanwatch, a Climate Transparency partner, generally agree that their respective G20 country is doing quite well on the international stage (with the exception of the US) but lack progress in ambitious targets and policy implementation.

China, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Mexico and South Africa are ranked the highest for climate action. Countries with the lowest climate policy performance are the US, Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Putting together this G20 stocktake has had its challenges. The choice of indicators involves value judgements, which often become only apparent once national experts begin discussing them.

Enabling the international comparisons necessary to measure progress on climate requires information that is accurate, verifiable and comparable. The underlying data comes from very diverse economies with different legal systems, different regulations and reporting methods.

International organisations, such as the International Energy Agency, have often done extensive and very careful work to develop comparable data sets but these may not always be consistent with data from in-country sources. Exploring these differences helps us to improve our understanding of the data and the underlying developments.

The existing reporting and review system of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the source of much of the data that makes these comparisons possible.

The real challenge the UNFCCC process faces in the next few years as it finalises the rule book for the Paris agreement is how to develop an enhanced transparency system that will be robust and detailed enough to provide the relevant information for its five-yearly assessment of global progress on addressing climate.

Even so, the UNFCCC is constrained by the extent to which countries are able to see beyond their narrow interests.

Independent assessments such as Climate Transparencys, which remains mindful of different perspectives but is not limited by national interests, can play a vital role in helping to increase the political pressure for effective climate action.

Niklas Hhne, Professor of Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases, Wageningen University; Andrew Marquard, Senior Researcher on energy and climate change, University of Cape Town, and William Wills, Research Coordinator, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Morning Email

Wake up to the day's most important news.

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Climate and the G20 summit: some progress in greening economies, but more needs to be done - HuffPost

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We return now to North Korea and its recent missile launch.

Today, the United States called for a closed-door United Nations Security Council meeting to address the threat.

So, what exactly are the Trump administrations options, and how might it respond?

For that, we turn to Ambassador Christopher Hill. He was the chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea from 2005 until 2009, and served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea. And by Mark Bowden. Hes a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, and he recently wrote a comprehensive cover story titled Can North Korea Be Stopped?

Gentlemen, welcome to you both.

Ambassador Hill, I would like to start with you first.

Can you just give me your initial reaction to this most recent launch?

CHRISTOPHER HILL, Former Chief U.S. Negotiator with North Korea: I think its a very serious matter. Its pretty clear they have made progress on intercontinental ballistic missiles.

From what I can understand, if you sent it at a different pitch, it could actually exceed the 5,000 miles that qualifies it as an intercontinental ballistic missile. So its a pretty serious matter.

And we also understand they made progress on miniaturization, so its not farfetched to assume that in the next two or three years, they will have a deliverable nuclear weapon aimed at the United States. And the real question is, how is the president going to explain that to the American people? And, perhaps more immediately, what is he going to do about it?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Mark Bowden, just as Ambassador Hill is saying, President Trump has said he will not allow a nuclear-armed missile to be able to be developed in North Korea. But this certainly seems like a very large step in that direction.

MARK BOWDEN, The Atlantic: It does.

And in addition to shrinking a nuclear weapon to go on top of a missile like that, they already have chemical and biological weapons that are capable of mass casualties. So, this is a really serious development. And its easy to say youre going to stop them from doing it, but its not a very easy thing to accomplish.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Ambassador, I wonder if you could give me a sense of, what is your understanding of what Kim Jong-un actually wants with this nuclear program?

CHRISTOPHER HILL: Well, you know, opinions differ on this. There are some who believe this is a poor, beleaguered country surrounded by larger hostile states who want to do it harm, and so why not allow the North Koreans to defend themselves?

But I think its actually a much more aggressive purpose they have in mind. I think what theyre hoping is that to hold American civilians at risk, that is, to have a deliverable nuclear weapon that is deliverable to the U.S. mainland, they can convince the United States not to exercise their responsibilities in the treaty with South Korea.

And I think being North Korean is to believe that, somehow, if they can get the U.S. out of the equation, they could reunite the peninsula on their own terms.

This is seems farfetched, but to be a North Korean is not necessarily to believe in the conventional wisdom. I think there are a lot of North Koreans who feel there is a lot of pro-North Korean sentiment in South Korea, and if only they could get the U.S. out of the equation, they could do it.

So I think its is a very serious moment and, frankly, a very dangerous moment.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Mark Bowden, what do you make of that? Is this really primarily a development of an offensive weapon for the potential keeping the U.S. and others at bay while it retakes South Korea?

MARK BOWDEN: I do think and I agree with Ambassador Hill that is the primary reason for having this weapon, but it also gives North Korea a lot more leverage in that region and certainly in dealing with South Korea.

Its conceivable, given the overtures that the new South Korean president has made to reopen negotiations with North Korea, that he could Kim Jong-un could use the possession of a weapon like this to pressure that those negotiations take place without the United States.

And I think his goal may well be to get the United States to withdraw from the Korean Peninsula.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Ambassador Hill, help me understand this a little bit more, though, because we are always told that, while this regime may be a despotic regime, that theyre not out of their minds, theyre not irrational actors. And the idea that somehow the U.S. would allow them to invade South Korea just seems unbelievably farfetched.

CHRISTOPHER HILL: Well, I mean, if you look at the kind of weaponry, which tends to be very offensive, tends to be right up there in the front, when you look at, as Mark pointed out, their capacities in chemical weapons and biological weapons, if you look at the fact that they have some 14,000 artillery tubes right up there in the front pointing right at the South Korean civilian populations, it looks to be a kind of offensively minded force.

And I think, for a long time, they have been dedicated to the proposition that they have to kind of decouple the U.S. from the Korean Peninsula and then a lot of things will fall their way.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Mark Bowden, your piece in The Atlantic laid out what you describe as the four main options for the Trump administration to respond. And you imply obviously that these are largely bad options.

Can you sort of explain what suite of options that the administration has?

MARK BOWDEN: Well, the obvious one, people Always bring this up whenever Im interviewed on the subject, is that, well, why dont we just attack North Korea and take out their military and eliminate the threat?

And thats certainly doable, but the consequences of that would be horrific, as the ambassador just pointed out. Even the conventional weapons that North Korea has could level Seoul, a city of 26 million people. And when you add, you know, chemical weapons and biological weapons and potentially nuclear weapons, you have possibly one of the greatest catastrophes in human history.

The other possibility is to sort of turn up the screws, a series of small-scale military attacks that would kind of ramp up the pressure on North Korea, something that could rapidly descend into an all-out conflict.

Another possibility is to target Kim Jong-un himself and try and eliminate him and replace him. And then the last bad option is just to accept the fact that we cant stop North Korea from building these weapons. And, you know, deterrents are you know, in this case, it would just be assured destruction we can hope might prevent them from using them.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Ambassador, last question to you.

The president seemed to imply in his tweet that its really upon China to handle this situation. But we have had now three administrations that have tried to persuade China to act with regards to North Korea.

Why hasnt that happened yet?

CHRISTOPHER HILL: Well, I think the Chinese are split.

I think theres some Chinese who feel that the demise of North Korea would be perceived in their country that is, in China as a victory for America and a defeat for China. And they worry about the perception of that within China, that is, its a domestic issue within China.

So, there are a lot of people who want to go with reforms much faster than Xi Jinping does. And if North Korea were to go away, perhaps those people would be in the ascendancy. So, a lot of party types, security types in China dont like to see something that results in something that looks like a U.S. victory.

That said, I think those three administrations are absolutely correct. We need to work more with China. I think the problem is President Trump has more of an outsourcing notion, that, somehow, OK, over to you, China, you sort this out. We will support you, and, by the way, we will stop calling you a currency manipulator and all the other bad things that you dont like.

Well, China is not going to be able to do this alone. I would keep the door open for negotiation, not that the North Koreans have shown any interest in negotiation. But having done it for a number of years, I think it was the right way to keep our relations with Japan and South Korea together, and having taken a lot of criticism from people who thought, how can you think negotiation is the right answer?

It has to be a factor in it if youre going to keep others together with you on the issue.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Former Ambassador Christopher Hill, Mark Bowden of The Atlantic magazine, thank you both very much.

MARK BOWDEN: Youre welcome.

CHRISTOPHER HILL: Thank you.

More here:

North Korea is making progress developing weapons. What can the US do about it? - PBS NewsHour

Photo: Bob Levey/Getty Images

HOUSTON, TX - APRIL 03: Dallas Keuchel #60 of the Houston Astros pitches in the first inning against the Seattle Mariners on Opening Day at Minute Maid Park on April 3, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

HOUSTON, TX - APRIL 03: Dallas Keuchel #60 of the Houston Astros pitches in the first inning against the Seattle Mariners on Opening Day at Minute Maid Park on April 3, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob

Astros' Dallas Keuchel could progress to mound work this week

ATLANTA --- Astros ace Dallas Keuchel could progress beyond playing catch by week's end.

Manager A.J. Hinch said Tuesday the Astros are hopeful Keuchel can test himself off a mound while the team's in Toronto on Thursday through Sunday. Keuchel's clearing of that hurdle would provide more clarity on a timetable for a minor league rehab outing and then his return to the Astros' rotation.

"We want to start to push him forward and test him," Hinch said.

Keuchel, selected Sunday for his second All-Star team, hasn't pitched since June 2 because of a recurrence of a pinched nerve in his neck. The Astros have been extra conservative in his rehab given it's his second DL stint for this issue.

(Story continues below ... )

"He still feels strong. His arm feels good. His legs are strong," Hinch said. "But a month is too long to go in between major league outings (without a rehab outing)."

A return during the Astros' first series of the second half against the Twins appears out of the question at this point. But if Keuchel makes a rehab start that first weekend of the second half, it could potentially set him up to come off the disabled list during the Astros' road series in Baltimore from July 21-23.

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Astros' Dallas Keuchel could progress to mound work this week ... - Chron.com

Leave a place better than you found it. This classic value that is part of the American psyche.

The adage comes to mind in light of the outstanding performance of the Duval County Public Schools.

The district maintained its overall B grade. So will those naysayers remember this fact?

In addition, A-rated schools surged from 31 last year to 46 this year.

And the proportion of schools that received an A, B or C grade increased from 75 percent last year to 89 percent.

Interim Superintendent Pat Willis credited hard work. Of course. Thats a requirement.

It also starts with great leadership, especially at the principal level.

Departed Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has to be credited with much of this. He replaced a large number of principals, which caused some angst, but it was based on a sense of urgency.

A school cant afford a down year, especially one with a large number of struggling students.

Vitti, now the superintendent in Detroit, took a school system that was already on the rise and led it to new heights.

Most of the districts 36 struggling schools improved to at least C grades.

Turnarounds dont happen overnight. A schools culture can change quickly with a dynamic new principal but when students are several years behind, the catch-up process is difficult.

Bringing up students in reading is especially difficult when there is little reading material at home.

The difficulty is illustrated by the Wayman Academy charter school. After 17 years, it earned its first A. You can visit schools like this and see the dedicated teachers, the hardworking students and yet the school grades sometimes take years to reflect the hard work.

Research from the University of Chicago has shown that for schools to succeed it takes five elements: school leadership first, then parent-community ties, professional faculty and staff, a student-centered learning climate and an instructional guidance system.

Each of these elements must be working in sync with the others.

One of Vittis legacies is to compare Duval with the other large metro school districts in the state, not with smaller, more fortunate suburban districts like St. Johns. Now Duval trails only Palm Beach among the seven urban school districts on school grades.

Lets thank all of the community partners of the school system, too.

INFLUENCE IN TALLAHASSEE

Duval Countys consolidated government has given it a great advantage statewide in being able to rally the community in mutual goals.

But in the Legislature, Duval has been overshadowed by South Florida legislators. Since John Thrasher left the Senate for the presidency of Florida State, the local delegation has been in a power vacuum.

With that in mind, Rep. Paul Renner is in line to become speaker of the Florida House in 2022. Thats a few years away, to be sure, but his influence certainly will be felt before he officially takes over.

Times-Union reporter Tia Mitchell, noted Renner would be the first speaker from Northeast Florida in about 20 years.

Renner, who represents the Palm Coast area, works in Jacksonville as an attorney.

The area Renner represents includes the St. Johns River, which has not received the same level of support as the Everglades in South Florida.

Its about time that this areas needs were more equitably represented in Tallahassee.

NO SEISMIC TESTING

Floridians are clear. We wont want oil and gas exploration anywhere near our precious beaches.

And so it makes no sense to allow seismic airgun surveys to be conducted off the coast.

U.S. Rep. John Rutherford pulled together an impressive roster of fellow House members to send a letter of protest regarding offshore oil and gas exploration.

The letter, also signed by Rep. Al Lawson, went to the Interior Department, which recently decided to move forward with offshore exploration.

Atlantic Coast economies dependent on a healthy ocean generate $95 billion gross domestic product and nearly 1.4 million jobs annually.

Fishing, tourism and recreation are huge businesses in Florida.

More than 120 local governments have passed formal resolutions opposing oil and gas exploration or drilling in the Atlantic or eastern Gulf.

So why would the federal government ignore the clear will of the people?

Is there some sort of national emergency? Far from it.

America hasnt been in a better position on energy in generations.

Thanks to the natural gas boom and fracking for oil, there is plenty of petroleum available. At the same time, renewable energy continues to grow quickly.

The other outrage is that any information gained from the seismic surveys would not be available to the public, only the oil and gas industry.

All in all, a terrible decision by the Trump administration. But it could be reversed in the time it takes to send a Tweet.

CONGRATS TO GIRARDEAU

Former State Sen. Arnett Girardeau just received a major award. He was enshrined in the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame.

Girardeau was the first African-American in modern times to be elected to the Florida Senate.

A graduate of Stanton and Howard University, he served in the Army during the Korean War.

He was awarded the American Spirit Honor Medal for his work with the armed forces and civil communities.

He was active with the local NAACP during the tumultuous 1960s when barriers of segregation were being broken.

Jacksonville is a better city because of the hard work of Girardeau during dangerous times.

Read the rest here:

Wednesday's Editorial: Good progress for Duval schools - Florida Times-Union

Patrisse Khan-Cullors, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Network, leads a gathering at The Underground Museum in Los Angeles in memory of Charleena Lyles and other police shooting victims. Michael Radcliffe/NPR hide caption

Patrisse Khan-Cullors, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Network, leads a gathering at The Underground Museum in Los Angeles in memory of Charleena Lyles and other police shooting victims.

It's been almost four years since Patrisse Khan-Cullors helped birth the hashtag #blacklivesmatter. Those three words gained national attention for demonstrations against police brutality and grew into a movement.

But progress has been slow, admits Khan-Cullors, a Los Angeles-based activist who co-founded the Black Lives Matter Network.

"The local is where the work is. If we're looking at just the national, it's pretty devastating. But if you zoom into cities, to towns, to rural areas, people are fighting back and people are winning," she says, pointing to one example in Jackson, Miss., where voters recently elected a progressive new mayor in the Deep South.

Other Black Lives Matter activists around the country, who are part of a decentralized movement, are also focusing on local activism.

"We go to locations where people generally ... don't have to think about or don't want to think about white supremacy and patriarchy and how that's affecting black people," says Mike Bento, an organizer with New York's NYC Shut It Down, a group which considers itself part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Mike Bento (center), an organizer with NYC Shut It Down, leads a march in honor of a black transgender person who was recently killed in New York City. Hansi Lo Wang/NPR hide caption

Mike Bento (center), an organizer with NYC Shut It Down, leads a march in honor of a black transgender person who was recently killed in New York City.

The group started holding weekly demonstrations around New York City two years ago to honor mainly people who have died at the hands of police. On a recent Monday evening, about two dozen protesters gathered outside a restaurant in downtown Manhattan, where diners sipped wine at bistro tables on the sidewalk.

While a protester held up a sign saying "MX BOSTICK, REST IN POWER," Bento started a call-and-response describing the recent death of a black transgender person who was found unconscious on a sidewalk after being struck in the head in May. A suspect is now charged with manslaughter.

"We're here tonight because while you are dining, black trans people are dying," Bento shouted at the restaurant patrons.

Still, it's not all about protesting in the streets. Sometimes, Bento and other Black Lives Matter activists go underground and into New York's subways. They pay for people who would otherwise try to get on a train without paying, which could earn them a misdemeanor.

"This is all connected," Bento says. "This is all part of how we get a system of mass incarceration. And so we start with basic things that we can do to keep our brothers and sisters out of that system."

Other basic forms of activism include standing outside the courthouse to support people charged with low-level offenses and helping to serve dinner to homeless people.

In Washington, D.C., April Goggans, an organizer with Black Lives Matter DC, is holding meetings with other local activist groups to figure out how they can make communities facing high crime rates more self-sufficient.

Goggans says she's been following the recent police shooting of Charleena Lyles, a pregnant, black mother in Seattle, as well as the not-guilty verdicts for police officers involved in the deaths of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Sylville Smith in Wisconsin. They've all reinforced her conclusion, she says, that any type of reform will not improve police departments.

"I don't even know that I would put my effort into charging and imprisoning individual police officers because it's just not gonna happen very much and that kind of justice, it's not a deterrent for other police officers," says Goggans, who says she is focused on getting rid of the current system of policing in the long term.

Khan-Cullors says she is also taking a long view when thinking about how the Black Lives Matter movement will tackle issues black people have been living with for decades.

"We are not new to police brutality. We are not new to police violence. We are not new to people dying inside jail cells and prisons," she says. "What is new is the visibility. What is new is that they become headlines."

Khan-Cullors helped birth the hashtag #blacklivesmatter. Starting campaigns to change laws and policy, she says, is the obvious work. But staying together as a movement is harder. Michael Radcliffe/NPR hide caption

Khan-Cullors helped birth the hashtag #blacklivesmatter. Starting campaigns to change laws and policy, she says, is the obvious work. But staying together as a movement is harder.

She says she's always been concerned about how the movement can sustain itself when social media is inundated with photos and videos of black people killed at the hands of police and victories for the movement seem hard to come by.

With the U.S. Supreme Court reinstating part of President Donald Trump's travel ban and Congress considering substantial cuts to Medicaid, she's worried that the current political environment is becoming even more overwhelming for activists.

"If you can't fight the state, and you can't fight for the things that you need, then you take it out on each other," says Khan-Cullors, who cautions that infighting could destroy the movement.

That's why gatherings like a recent candle-light vigil at The Underground Museum in Los Angeles for Lyles and other police shooting victims are important to Khan-Cullors, who wants to keep activists energized and encourage them to work together.

Starting campaigns to change laws and policy, she says, is the obvious work. But staying together as a movement, that's the hard stuff.

Shaheen Ainpour contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.; Michael Radcliffe contributed from Los Angeles.

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Amid 'Devastating' Progress Nationally, Black Lives Matter Engages ... - NPR

(Reuters Health) - White and black children in the United States did not benefit equally from a recent reduction in infant mortality, according to new research.

From 2005 to 2015, if black infants had experienced the same mortality rate as white infants, thousands fewer babies would have died, the researchers estimate.

"The benefits to the black population have stalled and we have to pay attention to that," said Corinne Riddell, of McGill University in Montreal.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this year that infant mortality declined 15 percent over the past decade. To see if non-Hispanic black infants benefited as much from the falling infant mortality rates as non-Hispanic white infants, Riddell and colleagues analyzed U.S. data collected from 2005 through 2015.

Infant mortality rates are calculated as the number of deaths within the first year of life relative to the number of live births.

From 2005 to 2015, the mortality rate among white infants declined from 5.7 deaths per 1,000 births to 4.8 per 1,000 births, Riddell's team reports in JAMA Pediatrics.

Among black infants, the death rate declined from 14.3 per 1,000 births in 2005 to 11.6 per 1,000 in 2012, where it plateaued before going back up to 11.7 per 1,000 births in 2015.

For every thousand births, there were 8.6 more infant deaths among blacks than among whites in 2005. The difference fell to 6.6 extra deaths in black infants in 2012 but rose again to 6.9 extra deaths in 2015.

When the researchers looked at causes of death, they found that deaths due to preterm birth and low birthweight among black infants followed a similar pattern as the mortality rate - a decrease and plateau.

That might be where public health efforts should be directed, "to target the disparity," Riddell told Reuters Health.

Riddell's team hopes to examine infant mortality rates by region to see if some states are doing better than others in addressing the disparity. States with larger racial gaps in infant mortality rates could possibly learn from policies in states with smaller disparities, she said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2tjz7LS JAMA Pediatrics, online July 3, 2017.

SYDNEY Australian women have brought a class-action case against Johnson & Johnson over complications arising from vaginal mesh implants - a lawsuit that follows many others in the United States, Canada and Europe.

PARIS Togo reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu at a poultry farm in the southern part of the country, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday, citing a report from the Togolese farm ministry.

Originally posted here:

Progress reducing infant mortality uneven between whites and blacks - Reuters

By Judith Martin, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina Martin By Judith Martin, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina Martin July 4 at 12:00 AM

Dear Miss Manners: What is the proper etiquette to join a conversation already in progress?

For example, at a social gathering, a couple of people are already having a conversation. Is it okay to approach the group and say hello, or do I approach the group and wait for them to acknowledge me?

When someone approaches my group conversation, I always acknowledge the person right away and share the topic we are discussing. Most of the time, I approach a group and say hello, but is this considered interrupting? A few times, I have walked up to a conversation and stood there and was never acknowledged. Very awkward. Help I dont want to be rude, but I love to talk, too!

Inserting oneself into a conversation in progress, like cutting in for a dance, does have its own etiquette. The newcomer must wait for a lull in the conversation, acting in the interim as if what is being said is both interesting and, even without the preamble, intelligible.

The established group is required to assume the opposite, namely that the newcomer does not know what is being said and is therefore entitled to a brief, explanatory aside. At the next natural break, introductions can be made all around. While a group holding a conversation in a social gathering should welcome newcomers, Miss Manners warns that such will not always be the case. It is therefore best to actually listen to what is being said, in case it is time to beat a hasty retreat.

Dear Miss Manners: Is dancing to or parodying the national anthem disrespectful?

Yes. But isnt that why you thought of it?

Miss Manners cannot often count on the public to enforce proper behavior, except when it concerns slights to themselves. And perhaps that is just as well. But this would certainly bring it on, and it is not likely to be gentle.

She would advise you to go no further with this idea, which is as unwise as it is unfunny.

Dear Miss Manners: My mother invited her family on a cruise, where we dined nightly in the main cabin. My 54-year-old sisters manners were a nightmare. My mother was visibly embarrassed in front of her new husband.

I suggested to my sister to follow the level of formality and cues from our mother. She said I was being judgmental. How do you help someone understand that manners matter?

Without justifying your sisters behavior, Miss Manners notes that 54 years is a long time to wait before attempting to correct a problem. At least your sister cannot accuse you of rushing to judgment.

Your mother will need to talk to her, admitting that she bears some responsibility for not speaking sooner. She must resist the temptation to justify her tardiness by blaming it on the newcomer (your new stepfather was appalled), as he was minding his own business.

New Miss Manners columns are posted Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on washingtonpost.com/advice. You can send questions to Miss Manners at her website, missmanners.com.

2017, by Judith Martin

Link:

Miss Manners: Gracefully joining an in-progress conversation - Washington Post

ExxonMobil reported in June that scientists had developed a way to double the size of natural algae that could be used as biofuel to take the place of diesel, according to a news release.

Commercially viable biofuel as an alternative to fossil fuels, however, is still years away, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company vice president Vijay Swarup admitted.

Advancements as potentially important as this require significant time and effort, Swarup said in the the news release. Each phase of our algae research requires testing and analysis to confirm that were proceeding down a path toward scale and commercial viability.

Former ExxonMobil CEO and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson estimated in 2013 that algae was at least 25 years away from competing in the market as a viable source of fuel.

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a federal mandate that requires a certain amount of cellulosic ethanol, the class of biofuels to which algae belongs, to be used commercially.

In 2010, Congress set the first RFS mandate at 100 million gallons. The Environmental Protection Agency quickly dropped the number to 6.5 million gallons after not enough biofuel appeared in the market, according to a 2016 Heritage Foundation study.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the EPAs RFS mandate in 2013, saying the EPA let its aspirations for a self-fulfilling prophecy divert it from a neutral methodology, or that the agency did not adequately consider the commercial prospects of the good it was mandating.

The EPA has proposed new cellulosic ethanol mandates in 2014, 2015 and 2016, but none were made into law, according to The Heritage Foundation.

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Despite Progress, Algae Diesel Stills Years To Go In Development - The Daily Caller

SEATTLE, WA - JUNE 28: From left, catcher Mike Zunino

Mariners Mid-Season Awards by Nick Lee

20 Most Interesting Seahawks: #17 Jermaine Kearse by Colby Patnode

Seattle is now 41-42, and 1 1/2 games out of the Wild Card race. The spots are currently occupied by the Yankees and Rays, just so you know who to root against.

Lets review this week in Mariners baseball.

The Mariners averaged 4.2 runs per game this week, a big step back from the averages of the last few weeks when they were around six. This week started badly with two grueling losses to the worst team in baseball, the Phillies. Seattle managed six runs in those two games. They were also shut out in Saturdays loss to the Angels when they managed a meager three hits.

Jean Segura seems to have come back into form. He hit .409 with a 1.071 OPS during these five games. He homered in Tuesdays 8-2 loss to Philadelphia.

ANAHEIM, CA JULY 02: Robinson Cano

Robinson Cano seems to be returning to Cano-form has he hit four home runs this week, tied for the most in that time. He also hit .350 with a 1.331 OPS. During the 10-0 win in Anaheim on Friday, Cano blasted two home runs. Ben Gamel was four-for-five with two runs and two RBI. He is currently the American League leader in hitting with a .336 average.

Kyle Seager has awoken from his slumber, hitting .300 in these five games with two home runs.

The Mariners struggled to take advantage of some key situations in their three losses. Danny Valencia struck out 8 times this week while hitting just .222. He did hit a monstrous home run in Wednesdays loss, however. Nelson Cruz has been nagged by injury and hit just .214 with one extra base hit.

Mitch Haniger has disappeared, amounting just two hits in 19 at-bats with six strikeouts.

ANAHEIM, CA JULY 02: James Paxton

Seattle posted a 3.20 ERA during the five games. James Paxton made two starts, allowing a total of four runs in 13 1/3 innings and 12 strikeouts. His batting average against was .143 in those two outings as he seems to be returning to his pre-DL form.

Felix Hernandez made his second start since coming off of the disabled list. He went six innings in Wednesdays loss to the Phillies. He allowed three runs and struck out five and was in line for the win before an Edwin Diaz meltdown in the ninth.

Sam Gaviglio continues to hold down the fort, going 6 1/3 innings in the shutout loss to the Angels on Saturday. He allowed three runs and made his fourth quality start.

Ariel Miranda once again proved reliable as he threw seven innings of shutout, two-hit ball in Fridays win. He leads all Mariners starters with seven quality starts.

The bullpen was less than stellar this week. Diaz blew a 4-3 lead in Wednesdays loss to Philly. He allowed six total runs and two homers in three appearance.Nick Vincent allowed two earned runs in two outings along with four hits, as hitters batted .571 against him. The bright spots in the pen were a steady James Pazos and the young Max Povse. Povse pitched two scoreless innings in his lone outing this week.

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA JULY 01: Shortstop Jean Segura

The Mariners committed two errors this week. They both just happened to come in the 8-2 breakdown against Philadelphia. Those errors by Mitch Haniger and Diaz cost the Ms four runs. They are now at +4 Defensive Runs Saved, sitting at 14th in baseball. The Ms also stole just two bases in three tries as Jarrod Dyson and Segura swiped bags. Seattle comes in at 9th in all of baseball with 50 steals.

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The rest is here:

Mariners Progress Report: Treading Water - Emerald City Swagger

BRISTOL Construction along Highway 45 in Bristol will require people to take an alternate route to Bristol Progress Days July 7-9, but has otherwise not affected the event, organizer Carol Nichols said.

Everything is going on as planned, Nichols said.

From Highway 50, Nichols said motorists should go south on 184th Avenue (Highway D), west on 83rd Street and south on 198th Avenue to the park.

While the parade, 80 units long, is staged west of Highway 45, the route will still be able to follow its traditional route east on 82nd St., south on 199th Avenue, east on Highway AH, and south on 198th Avenue.

We always have a huge turnout for the parade on Sunday, Kopczynski said. People really love it.

The event simultaneously kicks off Friday with the annual Banquet at Parkway Chateau and the carnival and softball tournament at Hansen Park, 8600 200th Ave.

Tickets for the banquet which must be reserved by July 1 by calling Nichols at 262-857-2447. Cost is $20 for adults and $11 for children ages 7-11. Children under age 7 are free. Miss Bristol, the Outstanding Citizens and the Outstanding Junior Citizens are named at the banquet.

The number of live bands performing at the event has been increased to include five groups over three days.

They are going to put on a great show, music organizer Kris Sampson, said. People will be singing along.

Resistance, a rock band out of Racine, will perform Friday. Audiowise, a rock cover band, will open at 8 p.m. Saturday for In The Stix, a modern country group that will take the stage at 9:30 p.m. Blue Hotel will perform at 2 p.m. Sunday, followed by Trip, a Kenosha-based band, at 6 p.m.

The tentative schedule is:

Friday, July 7

Saturday, July 8

Sunday, July 9

More here:

Bristol Progress Days set for July 7-9 - Kenosha News