Protesters enter Thai government HQ unopposed

Protesters enter Thai government HQ unopposed
Venezuela blacked out by huge power cut
Men and women’s brains are wired differently
His majesty officiates passing out parade for PKBN’s first intake
Activists call for halt in mercury imports after treaty signing

Posted: 02 Dec 2013 10:58 PM PST

Posted on December 3, 2013, Tuesday

BANGKOK: Hundreds of Thai opposition protesters entered the government headquarters unopposed Tuesday, after police said they would offer no resistance to the demonstrators who have vowed to topple the prime minister.

An AFP reporter at the scene described a carnival atmosphere, with no sign of security, as tensions eased sharply in the capital after two days of unrest.

- AFP

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Venezuela blacked out by huge power cut

Posted: 02 Dec 2013 09:35 PM PST

CARACAS: Venezuela was plunged into darkness on Monday after a huge power cut blacked out the capital Caracas and several cities across the nation, authorities said.

The power outage struck at around 8:10 pm (0040 GMT), and was similar to a large-scale blackout which paralysed the country in September.

President Nicolas Maduro hinted he believed "sabotage" may have been responsible for the outage in a short post on Twitter, but did not provide further details.

Power began to return at around 8:40 pm (0110 GMT), authorities said.

Electricity Minister Jesse Chacon told local media that Caracas had returned to 85 percent capacity while power was being restored to the western states of Tachira and Zulia.

Despite being one of the world's largest oil producers, Venezuela is regularly affected by power cuts.

On September 5, a large outage blacked out vast swathes of the nation, an incident which the country's left-wing leader Maduro blamed on political opponents. – AFP

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Men and women’s brains are wired differently

Posted: 02 Dec 2013 08:31 PM PST

Women aren't very good at reading maps, and men are incapable of multi-tasking.

At first glance they might seem like a couple of hoary old stereotypes from the battle of the sexes. But are they?

A new study looking at the neural wiring of the male and female brain has concluded that there may be some truth to commonly held beliefs about what makes men and women tick.

The study, published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, has found striking differences between the way that men's and women's brains are wired to work.

The study, one of the largest ever conducted scrutinizing the "connectomes" that link different parts of the brain, was carried out by the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.

A total of 949 individuals (521 females, 428 males) aged between eight and 22) underwent diffusion tension imaging (DTI), a sophisticated water-based imaging technique that can highlight and map out the fiber pathways of the brain.

The study found a greater degree of neural connectivity from front to back within one hemisphere in males, suggesting brains were wired to facilitate connectivity between perception and co-ordinated action.

Women's brains meanwhile were wired between left and right hemispheres, indicating they facilitated communication between the analytical and intuition, the study found.

"These maps show us a stark difference — and complementarity — in the architecture of the human brain that helps provide a potential neural basis as to why men excel at certain tasks and women at others," said Ragini Verma, a radiology department professor at Perelman who worked on the study.

The study reported that on average men are more likely better at learning and performing a single task, such as navigating.

Women meanwhile were likelier to have a superior memory and social cognition skills — making them better equipped for multi-tasking and creating solutions which could work for a group.

"It's quite striking how complementary the brains of women and men really are," said one of the study's authors, Ruben Gur.

"Detailed connectome maps of the brain will not only help us better understand the differences between how men and women think, but it will also give us more insight into the roots of neurological disorders, which are often sex related."

The study noted only a few gender differences in the connectivity in children under 13, but found more pronounced differences in 14 to 17-year-olds and young adults older than 17.-AFP

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His majesty officiates passing out parade for PKBN’s first intake

Posted: 02 Dec 2013 07:30 PM PST

by Wani Roslan. Posted on December 3, 2013, Tuesday

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam yesterday consented to officiate the passing out parade ceremony for the first intake of the National Service Programme (PKBN) at the PKBN training camp field, Sports Complex in Berakas, Borneo Bulletin reported.

His Majesty was greeted upon arrival by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Laila Diraja Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hazair bin Haji Abdullah.

Also present were Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abd Rahman bin Haji Ibrahim, Minister of Finance II at the Prime Minister's Office; Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar, Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister's Office; Datin Paduka Hajah Adina binti Othman, Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports; Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Hamid bin Haji Mohd Jaafar and Haji Mohd Rozan bin Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Yunos, Permanent Secretaries at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

His Majesty was accorded the royal salute followed by the singing of the national anthem. The monarch then consented to inspect the guard of honour comprising 125 trainees (92 male and 33 female) of the first PKBN intake.

Following the inspection, the parade proceeded with a slow and fast march past before returning to position.

The passing out parade ceremony then continued with His Majesty's titah followed by awards presentation by the monarch to Best Overall Trainee for Male, 10088 Mohd Said Nazrul bin Haji Mohd Salleh and Overall Best Trainee for Female, 10101 Mahanie binti Idris. The awards for Best Parade Trainee for Male went to 10131 Muhammad Mu'iz bin Haji Mohin and Best Parade Trainee for Female went to 10141 Nur Hamizah binti Hasmadi. Awards for Best Male Trainee in Physical Training went to 10057 Md Jazli bin Ahmad and Best Female Trainee in Physical Training went to 10099 Nur Liyana binti Mohammad Zini.

Following the awards presentation, His Majesty received three chants of 'Daulat' from the parade and continued with a recitation of a Doa Selamat.

His Majesty once again received the royal salute and the parade ended with the singing of the national anthem.

From the PKBN field, His Majesty proceeded to PKBN training camp at the Sports Village to view an exhibition on three PKBN pilot projects – archery, module on personality development, entrepreneurship module and module of motivation.

His Majesty then proceeded to a "santap" with the award recipients and later consented to sign the royal parchment in commemoration of the visit and received a 'pesambah' from the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports.

Before leaving, His Majesty consented to mingle with the trainees and their families which then concluded with a group photo.

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Activists call for halt in mercury imports after treaty signing

Posted: 02 Dec 2013 07:23 PM PST

A coalition of activist groups has praised Indonesia for signing an international treaty on mercury emissions, but emphasized that the country has much to do to reduce the use of the highly toxic metal across the archipelago, Jakarta Globe reported news.

"We have to stop importing mercury and Indonesia must set a mercury-reduction target immediately in the national implementation plan," said Yuyun Ismawati, a representative of BaliFokus.

On Oct 10, government representatives from 139 countries agreed to adopt the new mercury treaty, named the Minamata Convention on Mercury, in Kumamoto, Japan. As of today, 94 countries, including Indonesia, have signed the treaty.

The true extent of mercury poisoning was first found in Minamata. A local chemical factory dumped the metal into the city's bay for more than 30 years, contaminating local seafood. After years of eating fish and shellfish, residents began to exhibit the signs of what is now called Minamata disease.

While the use of mercury in modern gold mining is a thing of the past, opportunist prospectors in Indonesia and other countries frequently rely on the metal to increase yield. A UNEP study showed that small-scale gold mining was identified as the single biggest source of mercury emissions around the world, while clandestine gold mining in Indonesia by small groups accounted for 57.5 percent of the country's emissions, equivalent to 195 tons per year.

Mercury is imported into Indonesia through legal channels for use in light industrial and medical applications, but a black market exists for the self-employed gold trade. Yuyun said illegal mercury imports in 2012 were valued at around $31 million, traded illegally in as many as 850 locations across the country.

"It is so shameful that Indonesia is the top importer of the illegal mercury of the world," said Nur Hidayati, head of advocacy and campaigns at environmental watchdog Walhi.

Gatot Sugiharto, coordinator of Community Green Gold Mining (CCGM), said that communities involved in gold mining would be broadly supportive of a program to implement non-mercury techniques. He emphasized, however, that the threat of criminal charges for miners would drive many away from engaging in the initiative.

Rossana Dewi from the Gita Pertiwi Foundation emphasized the human health consequences of mercury entering the food chain.

"When the food chain is contaminated, our food will be unhealthy and unsafe, risking the quality of life for our future generations," Rossana said.

Henri Subagiyo, the director of Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), said that the government must ensure that it put in place a system that made polluters responsible for reparations backed by adequate law enforcement.

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