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You want out? We'll take your place!
9/12/2014 7:59:23 PM
- Scottish is voting on a referendum for independence from England on September 18
- David Wheeler: If Scotland secedes, can America take its place?
- He offers four main ways why Americans would benefit from unification with the UK
- Wheeler: Brits have better health, manners, less inequality and superior culture
Editor's note: David R. Wheeler lives in Lexington, Kentucky, where he is a freelance writer and a journalism professor at Asbury University. Follow him on Twitter @David_R_Wheeler The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Here's a question that seems to be lost in the debate over the Scottish independence vote scheduled for September 18:
If Scotland votes to secede, does that open up a spot for another country? And if so -- Scotland, can we take your place?
I realize that Americans fought a bloody war of independence from England in the late 1700s, but our rifts have healed over the past 240 years. In 2013, the Pew Research Center reported that England topped America's list of favorite nations, in a near-tie with our beloved northern neighbor, Canada.
In the past few years, as America has degenerated into political and economic chaos, it has become increasingly clear that we would be far better off if we apologized for our revolt against the Crown and requested to rejoin the United Kingdom.
There are four main ways America would benefit from unification with the UK: Brits have better health, less inequality, excellent manners and -- let's face it -- a superior culture. Let's improve our quality of life by joining them.
Want to live longer? Then let's become Stateland — the 50-state replacement for Scotland.
Brits have greater longevity than Americans, and the British health care system, while far from perfect, is indescribably better than ours. In my visits to the United Kingdom, I've noticed that just about anyone who can afford private health insurance buys it, which allows Brits to supplement their free, government-provided health care. That means there's a baseline of care that every person receives, and if you want something faster or better, you pay for it yourself.
Meanwhile, America's needlessly complicated arrangement of government- and employer-provided health care, in a clumsy compromise with insurance companies, costs way more than other developed countries' while producing worse results.
Next, Britain is a more equitable society. Although America has a higher GDP per capita, most of us -- that is, the 99% -- are not happy because of our ever-widening wealth gap. Brits have less inequality, and their median incomes (unlike ours) have risen in the past decade.
America's middle class used to be the richest in the world; now we're overtaken by Canada. Unless you are the 1% in America, chances are your wages are stagnant. Living a good life -- owning a house and a car and being able to support a family -- seems like a struggle, especially when compared with your parents' generation.
Americans could also learn a few lessons from the Brits when it comes to good manners.
When I took students with me to film news reports of the 2012 Olympics in London, we dealt with unimaginable crowds on the street, in the shopping centers and on the Tube. Did we hear groans of exasperation when we accidentally bumped into Brits in Parliament Square while trying to get a better view of Big Ben? Never. Did we see looks of frustration when our cameras accidentally knocked into innocent people in Piccadilly Circus? Not even once.
This patience and politeness stands in stark contrast to the attitude in big American cities, where cab drivers curse at you just for your mere existence, and TSA agents at American airports compete for the title of Biggest Emotional Abuser.
Finally, America would benefit from a closer association with Britain's culture. The country that produced Shakespeare, the world's best storyteller, has also given us some of the best entertainment and media of modern times. Our imitation of British television (e.g. "The Office") speaks for itself. Has any band ever topped the Beatles?
And nothing against PBS and NPR, but the BBC produces some of the best publicly funded journalism, putting much of the world's radio and television news programs to shame. The world respects the United Kingdom, in part, because the BBC is so trustworthy. That's called soft power.
But wait, you ask. What's in it for the Brits? Three things. Natural resources (oh so much land!), the majestic Grand Canyon and a sport called "American football." They'll love it.
So remember, Americans, if Scotland votes for independence on September 18, let's improve our lives by asking to take their place -- if not officially, then at least in spirit. We hold this truth to be self-evident: Brits have a superior society.
Americans claim we don't want a monarchy, but deep down, we're just as hungry as our British cousins for news about Queen Elizabeth, Princes William and Harry, and those adorable royal babies.
England, will you take us back?
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Critics: Al Qaeda tactics won't work
9/11/2014 7:09:38 PM
- President Barack Obama said he'd model ISIS attacks on Yemen, Somlia strikes
- Top Republicans have countered those efforts haven't been big successes
- The White House defends the strategy and the comparison
(CNN) -- When President Barack Obama said that U.S. strategy to combat the terror group ISIS could follow the models of strikes in Yemen and Somalia, it drew a swift rebuttal from some top Republicans.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona took to the Senate floor Thursday to say the administration's tactics in both of those countries had not succeeded and would be even less effective when used against ISIS.
"That is so disturbing, to think that a strategy against ISIS would be the same as against al Qaeda in Somalia and Yemen," said McCain. "Yes, we have been killing with drones. But we have by no means defeated them," he said.
He was responding to Obama's speech Wednesday night: "This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years."
Another Republican, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, told CNN Thursday that not only had the administration's strategy in Yemen and Somalia come up short, but also that it was not the right template to apply to Syria.
"ISIL poses a risk very different from the risk posed by terrorists in those two countries," Rubio told CNN, using an alternate acronym for the militant group. "ISIL is a terrorist group, but it has insurgent elements to it. They are working with people on the ground. They control territory. They've got funding, and they carry out military-style operations. They pose a much different risk."
CIA: ISIS can 'muster' between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters
But the White House defended the comparison, saying that there have been some successes against both groups, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and Al-Shabaab in Somalia.
"There is still more work to do in those countries. But what has been put in place is a counterterrorism strategy that has succeeded in degrading the threat, and making those organizations less capable of threatening the American people," said spokesman Josh Earnest.
"In both of those situations, the President has selectively and strategically brought American military might to bear in support of those ground troops to mitigate and counter the threat."
Over the past few years, the amount of territory that extremists control in Yemen and Somalia has indeed been rolled back. And several terrorist leaders in both countries have been killed by American strikes, including Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Godane, and AQAP's No. 2, Said Ali al-Shihri, and top propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki.
A frightening, far-reaching new world of terror threats since 9/11
But Thomas Joscelyn at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies maintains the fight against AQAP has been no success story.
"AQAP is still planning attacks against the U.S. homeland," Joscelyn said.
And the group's top leadership is still mainly intact, he said.
"Naser al-Wahishi, who was groomed by Osama bin Laden to run an al Qaeda branch, has in fact been the emir with that organization for years now. He is still in place," he said. "Many of his top lieutenants are still in place, including the chief theologians and the chief military officers."
Boehner hits Obama for ruling out boots on the ground
Also still at large is AQAP's master bomb-maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri. He is believed to be behind the nearly successful printer-cartridge bombs placed on American-bound planes in 2010, and the underwear bomb on a plane to Detroit in 2009.
"There's concern now he may be sharing his bomb-making technology with jihadist groups in Syria," said terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank.
Carrying out air strikes against ISIS could be even more difficult than against AQAP and Al-Shabaab, because while the governments of Somalia and Yemen have complemented American airstrikes by deploying ground forces against extremists, the U.S. has no such partner in Syria's government. And according to Cruickshank, ISIS fighters are more inextricably mixed in with civilian populations in Iraq and Syria.
But he added that military action against extremists can be successful, even if it does not produce total victory.
"The more you can shrink the space they can operate, the more you can take out training camps so they can't provide bomb-making instructions to Western recruits, you're clearly then limiting their ability to plot terrorist attacks against the West."
Still, he warned, "It's going to be a long time before that capability to theoretically plot attacks against the West is going to be wiped out."
Kerry: U.S. not at war with ISIS
How not to handle Ebola
9/12/2014 5:18:52 PM
- Outbreak of Ebola has claimed more than 2,200 lives, according to WHO
- Lack of info and suspicion of government made outbreak worse, says Joe Amon
- Education campaigns are key to limiting outbreak, he says
- Amon: Responses that violate human rights principles can increase risk of spread
Editor's note: Joe Amon is the director of the health and human rights division at Human Rights Watch. The views expressed are the writer's own.
(CNN) -- What turns a few cases of disease into thousands?
Sometimes Ebola, or cholera or other infectious diseases, emerge and are brought under control, but the current Ebola crisis in West Africa continues to grow. What makes the critical difference in quickly controlling an outbreak?
Luck plays a part. Where the first cases emerge, what the weather is like, the coincidence of holidays and migration can all make a difference in how quickly disease spreads. Biology also matters, including the unexpected evolution of pathogens and the level of prior exposure and immunity in populations at risk. Health infrastructure is important too. Countries that invest little in health -- including training health personnel and public health surveillance and diagnostic capacity -- will struggle to mount a rapid and effective response.
Bad luck and lack of investment in health are hard to address once a disease starts to spread. However, a lot depends on how governments respond to the first cases that pop up -- and denying or minimizing the early cases is one of the worst things a government can do. Indeed, restricting health information and imposing controls on the media breed mistrust and impede an effective response. Another potential obstacle, which might seem counterintuitive, is quarantines.
Ebola cases first appeared in West Africa five months ago, and so far, there have been more than 4,784 confirmed or suspected cases, and more than 2,400 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. As cases first emerged, the lack of information about the disease and suspicion of the government led to rumors that the reports of Ebola were created by the government to secure -- and embezzle -- aid.
Although Ebola is not transmitted by water, fears spread in Liberia that the government was poisoning wells to increase the number of cases. In Guinea, on August 29, people rioted when a market was sprayed with disinfectant they believed was infected with the Ebola virus, with more than 50 injured. People attacked health workers and the hospital in Guinea's second largest city, Nzerekore, shouting: "Ebola is a lie!"
Then quarantines were imposed. Following an attack on an Ebola treatment center in West Point, a populous neighborhood in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, the government reportedly ordered a quarantine of the entire peninsula. The incidence of Ebola was reportedly no higher in West Point than anywhere else in the city, but Information Minister Lewis Brown said the neighborhood was quarantined because of its density and the potential for political violence.
The quarantine was abandoned after 10 days, but Brown declared it a success because it changed attitudes -- increasing awareness of the severity of the disease.
Isolating a community as punishment for not trusting the government neither fosters trust nor effectively limits transmission. During the quarantine period, the price of basic goods like food, water, coal, soap and phone cards doubled. The cost of rice tripled, to 90 cents a cup.
Early on, there were violent clashes between security forces and angry residents trying to leave. A 15-year-old boy was fatally shot, and four other residents were wounded. In addition, residents who could afford it bribed security forces to get out, while others fled by swimming away or escaped when security was lax. Access to routine health care inside the quarantine zone was limited and there were reports of pregnant women desperate for help.
Meanwhile, on September 6 in Sierra Leone, government officials announced a three-day quarantine to facilitate detecting cases through house-to-house searches. Yet detecting Ebola cases is not necessarily straightforward, and Sierra Leone doesn't have sufficient capacity to hospitalize everyone it may identify. Doctors Without Borders issued a statement that "lockdowns and quarantines do not help control Ebola as they end up driving people underground and jeopardizing the trust between people and health providers. This leads to the concealment of potential cases and ends up spreading the disease further."
So what can be done?
Education and social mobilization campaigns that explain Ebola and facilitate community participation in the response are key. Social support and home-based care can increase trust and ensure that voluntary isolation measures are respected and people who are sick can be safely cared for at home.
Efforts to ensure that survivors are not shunned and stigmatized are also important, and survivors, who are immune from reinfection, can play an important role in the response. In other words: Ensure that the Ebola response respects human rights.
Access to health information and treatment, involving the community in the planning and response to the epidemic, making sure that restrictions on liberty and movement are imposed only when they are strictly necessary -- these are all human rights principles that are codified in international treaties.
Of course, respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights is not a magic bullet to stop a disease in its tracks. But, as we've seen in the current Ebola outbreak, failing to implement a response in line with human rights principles can increase the risk that a small outbreak will become a much larger one.
'House of Cards' in the South Pacific
9/12/2014 9:56:26 PM
- A political scandal has engulfed New Zealand politics ahead of elections this month
- It was sparked when a journalist published the hacked emails of a blogger
- He says the emails show a strategy by the government to smear political opponents
- A senior minister has resigned, yet the government still leads in polls
(CNN) -- New Zealand politics, concedes Bryce Edwards, one of the country's leading commentators on the subject, "can tend to be on the bland side compared with other countries."
And at the start of last month, New Zealand's impending September 20 general election looked set to be just that: a tame affair, with an all but foregone conclusion.
The center-right National government, led by perennially popular Prime Minister John Key, enjoyed a huge lead in the polls and seemed destined to amble its way to a third term in power.
But then a bombshell struck in the form of a book-length piece of investigative journalism, triggering a cascade of scandals that have thrown the political parties' campaigns into disarray and dominated the news cycle for weeks.
"No campaign in living memory compares to the 2014 campaign," said Edwards, a lecturer in politics at the University of Otago.
"New Zealand election campaigns are usually fought over a mixture of policy and personalities," he told CNN, "not over issues of integrity and corruption and wrongdoing."
Bryce Edwards, political science lecturer
'Dirty politics'
Last month, long-time freelance investigative journalist Nicky Hager published "Dirty Politics." The book is based on a cache of emails and social media messages hacked from the private accounts of the controversial right-wing blogger Cameron Slater, whose "Whale Oil" blog is widely read.
Slater, a polarizing and politically well-connected figure whose father is a former National Party president, is notorious for his abrasive style and for breaking a string of scandals, including an extramarital affair by the mayor of Auckland last year. The mayor subsequently acknowledged the affair.
Hager's book alleges close and sustained cooperation between the blogger and senior government figures -- including a senior minister and top prime ministerial aides -- in their concerted efforts to smear political adversaries.
The extent of the alleged collaboration suggested in the hacked emails surprised even the book's author, he told CNN.
"This was prime ministerial staff involved in coordinating and executing attacks on the government's political opponents," said Hager. "It was much more orchestrated and constant -- relentless -- than anyone had been aware."
Minister toppled
Nicky Hager, journalist
In the book's wake, a senior National lawmaker, Judith Collins -- who admits to a close friendship with Slater -- has resigned as justice minister over leaked emails suggesting she was involved in a campaign to undermine the head of the government's Serious Fraud Office.
Collins would not comment to CNN, but has previously told reporters she is innocent of the allegations against her, and is confident she will be exonerated by an independent government inquiry into the issue, one of two official investigations launched to probe matters raised by the leaks.
The other investigation will be conducted by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security -- the watchdog for the Security Intelligence Service (SIS), a national intelligence agency -- into allegations that secret information had been declassified and passed to Slater for political purposes.
The scandal has put the prime minister's relationship with the blogger under close scrutiny. Key has told reporters that he talks to Slater three or four times a year, and occasionally sends the blogger a text message when he doesn't understand a story he has written.
Key would not comment to CNN on his relationship with Slater or the allegations made by Hager, other than to say in a statement through his spokesman that "it was a left-wing conspiracy based on stolen emails and cynically timed to derail the government's election campaign."
He has previously denied to the Otago Daily Times newspaper that he had involvement in any of the allegations in the book, and told reporters that Slater's actions were solely his own.
Meanwhile the hacker behind the leaks, who goes by the name "Rawshark," continued to anonymously dump hacked correspondence online, unearthing fresh dimensions to the scandal, until Slater obtained a High Court order banning him from further releases of his correspondence.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key
"Rawshark," tweeting with the handle "WhaleDump2," signed off with a warning to practitioners of dirty politics, "present and future: Don't make me come out of retirement."
House of cards?
The deepening layers of intrigue have led some commentators to liken the situation to a South Pacific "House of Cards," a comparison the man at the center of the scandal is familiar with.
"All of a sudden I'm supposed to be some sort of Frank Underwood-style person who's the center of a massive conspiracy," Slater told CNN, referring to the scheming politician at the heart of the hit U.S. show.
He claims the only conspiracy revealed by the scandal is the one against the government, which saw his emails illegally hacked in order to present "a picture that is not fair and balanced."
"I think people can see it for what it is... an attempt to pervert our elections and bring down our government using criminal means," he said.
He said he had filed a police complaint about the stolen emails, and a Privacy Commission complaint against Hager.
Hager's book, he argued, was "not a journalistic effort" as it had presented a biased picture -- omitting Slater's dealings with figures on the political left, and not allowing Slater or others the right of reply before publication.
Blogger Cameron Slater
Hager told CNN he did not offer Slater and others named in the book a right of reply, as to do so would have presumably led to injunctions that would have prevented the publication of information in the public interest. He felt the emails presented concrete evidence that could not simply be explained away, he said.
Dotcom's 'bombshell'
Slater also alleges that the wealthy German tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, who has emerged as a political player of consequence at this election, was involved in the hacking of his accounts.
READ MORE: Who is Kim Dotcom?
Dotcom, who was granted New Zealand residency in 2010 and is fighting extradition to the U.S. on criminal charges, strenuously denies the allegation.
"I have nothing to do with Hager's book. I have not hacked Slater. I haven't hired anybody to hack Slater. I don't know who hacked Slater," he told CNN.
Dotcom, who has prior convictions including computer fraud and data espionage, is wanted in the U.S. on criminal copyright charges, accused of costing the entertainment industry hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue through his now defunct cloud storage site, Megaupload.
His drawn-out legal battle against extradition -- which will be heard in New Zealand courts in February -- has put him at odds with the New Zealand government. This year he entered the political fray in earnest, forming and bankrolling the Internet Party which has campaigned for Internet freedom, copyright reform and reduced government surveillance.
The new party has allied with the Maori nationalist Mana Party, which currently has only one seat in parliament, in a partnership the commentator Edwards previously described to CNN as "like Mark Zuckerberg getting into alliance with Fidel Castro."
Tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom
READ MORE: Internet-Mana -- the world's least likely political bedfellows?
While very much a fringe political force, the alliance has already proven to be a rowdy and disruptive new presence on the political left, with current polling suggesting the group could pick up three seats in in the new parliament.
Under New Zealand's electoral system, the two major parties -- the center-right National and center-left Labour -- are typically required to make coalitions with smaller parties to form a government, meaning that minor parties can carry influence beyond their size if they hold the balance of power.
Dotcom -- who has repeatedly stressed his personal animosity towards the PM on the campaign trail -- said that Hager's book had "turned this New Zealand election upside down. "There's a real chance that National will not form the next government because Prime Minister John Key and his office have been exposed in a Watergate-style scandal," he said.
"Whoever the hacker is, by exposing these unethical and unlawful methods of the National government, he has done the people of New Zealand a favor. They will decide if John Key will get another term on September 20. I don't think so."
Dotcom is promising to drop his own bombshell at an event to be held at Auckland's Town Hall five days before the vote, featuring NSA leaks journalist Glenn Greenwald and a video-link with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, which he is billing as a "moment of truth."
But Edwards warns the Internet Party could suffer some blowback for their confrontational, anti-government approach in a campaign that has been marked by more personal abuse than voters are accustomed to. Dotcom, for example, was criticized when news media ran footage showing him addressing a youthful crowd chanting "F*** John Key" at an Internet Party event.
"People perceive that Dotcom and his party have taken a much more anti-establishment and aggressive approach towards the government that has changed the tone of the campaign," said Edwards.
So who is 'Rawshark'?
Journalist Hager has also rubbished Slater's theory, saying Dotcom had nothing to do with the hack.
He told CNN he had obtained Slater's hacked emails when he was investigating the government's links with "attack bloggers" and heard rumors from contacts in the tech community that Slater's computer had been hacked during a denial-of-service attack.
He said he located the hacker and persuaded him to hand over what he had. The hacker's motivation for the attack on Slater, said Hager, was anger over a controversial posting the blogger had made following the death of a young man in a police car chase, in which he described the deceased as a "feral" who "did [the] world a favor" by dying.
The publication of the emails, said Hager, was in the public interest, as it had confirmed the existence of a new, cynical and underhand brand of politics that had come to be practiced in New Zealand in the age of social media. That model allowed politicians to avoid the taint that came with practicing negative politics by farming their dirt out to closely-affiliated "attack bloggers."
Tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom
"You can get stories out without having to go into parliament and front them yourself, without having to go through the news media -- you can have smears and scandals and scoops and leaks run through your partisan arms-length organs and jumping from there into the media."
He said he believed Key must have been aware of the alleged media strategy with Slater.
Conspiracy theorist?
Others have a different take.
Key has rejected Hager's claims outright, dismissing him to reporters as a "screaming leftwing conspiracy theorist." He told CNN through a spokesman that the release of the emails was politically motivated, yet polls showed it had failed to derail the government's election campaign; the latest One News-Colmar Brunton poll puts National at 50% and its major rival Labour at 26%.
"People want politicians to focus on the issues that matter to them, such as the economy, health, education and law and order," said Key.
David Farrar, another popular right-leaning blogger with strong links to National, dismisses "the whole theory that Hager has wrapped around the book, which is that Cameron Slater is some tool of National."
"Was it systematic? No," said Farrar, who also owns a polling company that has done work for the National Party. "As Cameron's grown in power and influence, through his own effort, certainly people in National have tried to get favorable stories on his blog, just as dozens if not hundreds of other people have. I know for a fact people on the left have given him information too."
Farrar, whose private correspondence with Slater, a friend, was included in Hager's book, told CNN he did not believe there was sufficient public interest in the matter to warrant publishing hacked personal communications.
Blogger David Farrar
Despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of the scandal, National had scarcely been affected in the polls. Where the left saw a conspiracy, he said, others merely saw politics as usual.
"I'm not sure the public are surprised by this," he said. "When you're involved in politics, you have a go at your opponents, and that may involve giving stuff to blogs."
'All bets off'
But Edwards said he believed that the election had now become a genuine contest.
"The problem for National is they only need to lose a few percent in the polls and they become extremely vulnerable," he said, due to the possibility Labour and other opposition parties could cobble together the numbers against them. "Suddenly all bets are off."
It remained to be seen whether public revulsion over the scandal would trigger a clean-up of political conduct, or usher in a new age of gloves-off politics.
"It's certainly my feeling that the book coming out is like a nuclear button being pushed," he said.
For his part, though, Hager said he takes an optimistic view of the effect his book will have.
"I believe there will be quite a re-evaluation," he said. "That doesn't mean that unscrupulous politicians and PR people will suddenly become saints. But there will be a much higher cost -- and it will be much more difficult to get away with."
Magic mushrooms 'help smokers quit'
9/12/2014 10:27:52 AM
- Smokers given a chemical found in 'magic mushrooms' quit smoking successfully
- People who gained even five extra pounds saw their blood pressure go up
- Scientists have found a way to turn on a gene that slows aging
(CNN) -- Here's a roundup of five medical studies published this week that might give you new insights into your health. Remember, correlation is not causation -- so if a study finds a connection between two things, it doesn't mean that one causes the other.
Even a few extra pounds can hurt your blood pressure
The extra five pounds you gained on vacation this summer can do more harm than you think.
Even a small amount of weight gain can cause your blood pressure to go up, according to new research that was presented at the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research Scientific sessions.
High blood pressure can lead to a stroke and/or heart attack, among other problems.
The small eight-week study constantly monitored the blood pressure of 16 people who were considered to be at a normal weight.
Scientists fed the group an extra 400 to 1,200 calories a day in the form of a chocolate bar or a shake. They gained about 5% in weight over the study period and saw their blood pressure rise.
Their systolic blood pressure increased from 114 to 118 mm Hg. While 118 is still considered healthy, the fact that it went up even with a slight weight gain is a concern. The people who gained the weight around their middle saw the biggest increase in blood pressure.
'Magic mushrooms' help smokers kick the habit
New research published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology suggests anti-smoking drugs on the market today could use a little magic.
The term "magic mushrooms" is usually used to describe mushrooms from the genus Psilocybe that are known to cause differences in mood, perception and behavior. Cigarette smokers who were given a pill with the hallucinogenic chemical found these mushrooms had nearly twice as much success quitting smoking than those taking approved anti-smoking drugs.
The study followed 15 volunteers who were given two to three doses of the hallucinogenic. Of those 15, 12 quit smoking and still hadn't smoked after six months.
It's a small study, and there was no control group, so the scientists at Johns Hopkins will do some follow-up work that will include brain scans to try and see what is happening in these quitters' brains.
To read more: Johns Hopkins
The secret to a happy marriage
Turns out the phrase "happy wife, happy life" may be true. What makes the most difference for married couples' general happiness is if the female partner in the relationship is happy, a new study in the Journal of Marriage and Family suggests.
Researchers looked at the lives of 394 couples. At least one member of the couple had to be older than 60.
If the female partner described the marriage as high quality, then the male partner's life satisfaction went up, even if he reported being unhappy about the marriage itself.
The authors believe the imbalance may be related to how women typically provide "more emotional and practical support to husbands than vice versa," co-author Deborah Carr said. "So even unhappily married men may receive benefits from the marriage that enhance his overall well-being."
To read more: University of Michigan
A new way to stop aging
The cure to ending aging may be lurking in your cells.
That's what researchers at UCLA suspect after finding the key to activating a gene called AMPK.
When turned on in the lab, this gene boosts the mechanism in cells that helps keep them clean and gets rid of cellular garbage such as plaque. Protein plaque buildup is believed to play a role in diseases that often come along with aging such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
You won't be seeing this technology at your doctor's office any time soon, unfortunately. The scientists were only able to do this with fruit flies, not humans.
The good news is that activating the gene increased a fruit fly's life by almost 30%. Even better news: the fly stayed healthy long into old age.
Researchers also saw that when they activated the cell in one part of the fruit fly, such as the central nervous system or in the intestine, it slowed aging throughout the body, rather than just being confined to the one area.
To read more: UCLA
Can your blood type affect your memory?
A study published online Thursday in Neurology, found that people with type AB blood were 82% more likely to develop memory problems. Type AB is found in only about 4% of the population.
The study followed 30,000 healthy people over three years. Investigators looked at blood type and measured a blood protein known as factor VIII. This compound helps blood to clot.
They found the higher the amount of factor VIII in the blood, the more likely the patient would develop memory problems. Researchers also noted those with AB blood had a higher average level of factor VIII than people with other blood types, so the two may go hand in hand.
The study authors say more research is needed to better understand the connection.
Experts say this study shows it's important for people to know what their blood type is and how it can affect their health. Previous studies have found that certain blood types are also related to other vascular conditions like stroke.
To read more: AAN
CNN's Val Willingham contributed to this report
Dotcom: NZ a 'slave to U.S. interests'
9/12/2014 10:02:58 PM
- Kim Dotcom is fighting extradition to the U.S. on criminal copyright charges
- He's accused of costing copyright owners millions of dollars in lost revenue
- He launched the Internet Party in New Zealand earlier this year
- He has teamed with Mana Party to contest September 20 general election
Editor's note: Born Kim Schmitz, the German Internet entrepreneur and convicted fraudster has made millions through his ventures, including defunct site Megaupload. Now called Kim Dotcom, he's wanted by the U.S. on copyright charges, accused of costing the entertainment industry millions of dollars. Now in New Zealand, his Internet Party has joined with the Mana Party to contest the election on September 20. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
Auckland (CNN) -- The approaching election represents a crossroads for New Zealand.
As its citizens visit their polling stations on September 20, they should consider the fact that the nation has quietly morphed -- under the leadership of Prime Minister John Key -- into the political equivalent of an American slave, responding more readily to the interests that motivate the United States than to the concerns of Kiwis.
READ MORE: Who is Kim Dotcom?
If the trend continues, New Zealand will not only lose its national identity to its stronger allies, it will cease to enjoy the fundamental individual rights and freedoms that seem to be evaporating elsewhere in this increasingly integrated world.
These issues are personal to me. I came to New Zealand as an immigrant, but I fell quickly in love with the country and its people. More importantly, I saw New Zealand as a place in which my children could grow up safe in the knowledge that Kiwi society protects the interests of its own citizens above all others.
My opposition to the John Key government goes beyond its abuse of surveillance powers or its leaking of confidential information to politically aligned publishers.
READ MORE: Key apologizes to Dotcom over spying
It goes beyond Key's illegal conspiracy with the Obama Administration to placate the Motion Picture Association of America and other financiers of the Democratic Party in the United States.
Whatever government is formed as a result of these elections will be charged with the responsibility of negotiating New Zealand's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an ambitious 21st century trade agreement proposed and driven principally by United States' interests.
Make no mistake; the TPP is only the latest attempt by the intellectual property industry in America to criminalize legitimate business activities such as file sharing, to destroy privacy and free speech, and to extend the American legal empire to the Pacific.
READ MORE: United States vs. Kim Dotcom
It is my belief that the Key government, if given the opportunity to participate in the TPP negotiations, will once again place the interests of New Zealand behind those of the United States.
These critical issues are some of the motivating factors behind the formation of the Internet Mana Party. The unique relationship between the Maori-based perspective and issues of global technology abuse is more than mere happenstance.
It is indigenous people throughout the world that suffer the most from the spreading mantle of intellectual property laws and elitist economic policies. The lack of basic access to knowledge for everyone, and the transformation of the Internet into a toll booth governed by pay-as-you-play American rules, are what motivated me to identify and then consolidate the relationship with this important group.
New Zealand is engaged in a struggle, just as I am, for Internet freedom and everything beneficial that flows from it. The task of securing that liberty falls to this generation, as the point of no return is not far off.
Those politicians around the present government in New Zealand -- whose "Dirty Politics" were exposed in Nicky Hager's recent book -- are the last people who should be entrusted with the future of this great country.
This election represents a chance to turn back the clock to a time when New Zealand was the sovereign manager of its own domain. I hope the electorate will take advantage of the opportunity — it may be its last.
READ MORE: 'House of Cards' in the South Pacific: New Zealand's dirty election
Could ISIS plan spark backlash?
9/13/2014 1:43:03 AM
- Simon Tisdall: Obama's plan to expand military campaign against ISIS risks open-ended war
- Campaign could inflame Syria's civil war, and provoke ISIS threat to U.S. mainland - Tisdall
- Ground wars, if they are won at all, are won on ground, not in air - he adds
- Tisdall: Could Obama achieve the impossible and actually create sympathy for ISIS?
Editor's note: Simon Tisdall is assistant editor and foreign affairs columnist at The Guardian. He was previously foreign editor of the Guardian and The Observer and served as White House correspondent and U.S. editor in Washington D.C. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his.
London (CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to expand the military campaign against ISIS terrorists into Syria, and to boost American backing for rebels fighting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, represents a grave escalation that risks dragging the U.S. and its allies into an open-ended regional war.
In his televized speech to the nation on Wednesday evening, Obama argued his proposed strategy of extended air strikes and use of local ground forces (but not American combat troops) against the extremists also known as ISIL and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria was fundamentally different from past White House policies that led the U.S. to fight two Middle East ground wars in as many decades.
But Obama, as he has shown repeatedly since 2008, is a reluctant warrior with no particular expertise in armed conflict. No doubt John F. Kennedy felt that he, too, understood the risks when he started sending American advisors to Saigon in the early 1960s. Like JFK, he may be starting a fight he cannot finish, which will run on and on for untold years.
Obama, who came to office wearing the mantle of a man of peace and agent of change, has ultimately proved little different in this respect from predecessors such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. His tone on television was nationalistic and bombastic. American primacy, he said, was "the one constant in an uncertain world." He continued: "Our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden. But as Americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead."
In Obama's case this sounds slightly disingenuous. Facing a rising, ignorant right-wing clamor about his alleged weakness and indecision in world affairs, the Obama of the "Yes We Can" era has slowly and unwillingly been transformed into Barack the Bomber.
In 2008 Obama promised an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a new deal with the Muslim world, a reset in relations with Russia, and real-time nuclear disarmament. Six years later, his plans mostly lie in ruins, shot down like an unsuspecting aircraft over eastern Ukraine, and he is in danger of going backwards.
"I've spent four-and-a-half years working to end wars, not to start them," Obama said last year, explaining his decision not to punish al-Assad for his chemical weapons attacks.
Now, in apparent response to his Republican critics, to public outrage over the beheadings of two American journalists, and with one eye on November's mid-term Congressional elections, Obama is stoking a generational conflict. It has the potential to further inflame Syria's civil war, draw in neighboring countries such as Turkey and Iran and allies such as Britain and France, and provoke the very ISIS threat to the U.S. mainland and Europe that Obama admits does not currently exist.
Obama's strategy, as set out Wednesday, is full of holes. Attacking ISIS strongholds inside Syria will be portrayed by the Assad regime as vindication of its long-standing claim that the real fight there is against jihadists and terrorists, not a legitimate civilian opposition. Obama is gambling on the notoriously fractious Free Syria Army becoming a much more effective force than it has to date, and on Congress's willingness to underwrite it with up to $500 million in additional funds.
Al-Assad, on the other hand, may choose to oppose U.S. intervention -- and he has the aircraft and the air defense systems to do so. What will Obama do if and when an American airman is shot down and captured by the Syrian army? France has already expressed reservations about getting involved in combat in Syria, as distinct from Iraq. There are also familiar questions about the legality of any such action, which will likely be raised by Russia, al-Assad's ally, or others at the United Nations.
Ground wars, if they are won at all, are invariably won on the ground, not in the air. Recent proof of that contention may be found in Afghanistan (2001 onwards) Iraq (2003) and Libya (2011). But Obama's forces will comprise, initially at least, an untested, rag-tag combination of Iraqi army troops (who were sent fleeing by ISIS during its spring offensive around Mosul), Kurdish peshmerga, Syrian rebels, Shia militias and, possibly, moderate Sunni tribal groups.
Simon Tisdall
The fact that Obama has sent 1,100 American servicemen and women back to Iraq to facilitate the airstrikes and help train local forces, and will now send an additional 475, is not reassuring. They will likely be too few to make a definitive difference. So, as Vietnam showed, the call for more and larger reinforcements may not be long in coming.
Obama is relying heavily on the new multi-ethnic government in Baghdad to unite the fractured country behind the effort against ISIS. He sent John Kerry there this week to stiffen its resolve. Leaders such as David Cameron, Britain's prime minister, have made their involvement in air strikes contingent on a coherent and effective approach from Baghdad.
But Iraq's new prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, a Shia like his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, is not a miracle worker. The country is deeply divided along party, religious and geographic lines. The Kurdish regional government in Irbil, the current good guys in the eyes of the West, has used the ISIS crisis to cement its claim to de facto independence (while seizing additional territory around Kirkuk). Although a new national government has been agreed, the Kurds' secessionist agenda is fundamentally at odds with Baghdad's objectives.
The Sunnis remain rightly suspicious of what power-sharing promises may mean in practice. There is no convincing sign as yet that they will launch a mooted Sunni Awakening II, taking on ISIS in the way they took on al Qaeda in 2007 under the tutelage of General David Petraeus. The Sunni fear is that once the dust settles they will be sidelined by the Shia majority once again.
Another key part of Obama's strategy -- regional coalition-building -- is unimpressive to date. President George Bush Sr. showed how strong alliances can be built, in the run up to the first Gulf war in 1991, when he brought in Arab armies alongside U.S. and European troops. In contrast, the anti-ISIS "core coalition" announced by Obama last week at the NATO summit in Wales contained not a single Arab country and only one neighbor, Turkey.
Iran, which has tacitly supported U.S. strikes against ISIS in Iraq, may take a different view of attacks in the territory of its ally, al-Assad -- and set to work to counter them. If it does, this in turn could adversely affect delicate nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the West that reach a climax in November.
More recruits to Obama's forces army are promised when the U.N. General Assembly meets later this month. Without overt and practical backing from Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states, and for example, Jordan and Turkey, Obama's bombing campaign to deny ISIS safe haven may begin to look, to Muslims everywhere, like another deeply objectionable intervention by the western powers in the Middle East.
Could Obama achieve the impossible and actually create sympathy for ISIS? Given his shaky strategy and his performance to date, nothing can be ruled out.
Analysis: Obama speech a do-over on 'no strategy' comment
Round-up: Did Obama sell his ISIS strategy?
Despite NATO Ukraine is still alone
9/13/2014 1:45:05 AM
- A NATO summit in Wales last week took place amid crises in Iraq and Ukraine
- Ukraine's neighbors ensured its conflict was on the agenda, Marcin Zaborowski says
- Past rhetoric of partnership with Russia was replaced by talk of facing an adversary, he says
- But in the end, Zaborowski says, the summit gave Ukraine little to combat a belligerent Russia
Editor's note: Marcin Zaborowski is director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs and a member of the group of experts appointed by the NATO Secretary General to consider the alliance's strategy in the run-up to the Newport summit. Follow him on Twitter @MaZaborowski. The views expressed in this commentary are solely the author's.
(CNN) -- The recent NATO summit in Newport, Wales was initially meant to prepare the alliance for the post-Afghanistan era and pooling of resources at the time of defense cuts, known in NATO lingua as "smart defense."
However, as often happens, the summit agenda was hijacked by more current and dramatic developments: the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Russia's push into Ukraine. Both these developments have reminded NATO that its core business -- the defense of its member states -- needs to be returned to the center of the alliance's agenda.
Russia's annexation of Crimea and continued push into the south-east of Ukraine -- a NATO partner country -- has inevitably provoked fear amongst Ukraine's neighbors, all of whom have relatively fresh memories of Russian domination.
These countries -- Poland and the Baltic states in particular -- made sure that the Ukrainian crisis would be at the center of the Newport agenda.
This happened in two ways. The Central East European allies asked for measures that would reassure them by confirming NATO's engagement in the face of Russian aggression. In addition, the show of solidarity with Ukraine became a major focus of the summit, which was attended by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
The outcome of the Newport summit has met these allies' expectations, at best, halfway.
Marcin Zaborowski
The biggest change came in the rhetoric and positioning of the alliance's key members. Until very recently, NATO has prioritized its partnership with Russia, taking great care not to offend it.
When in 1997 the Alliance started the process of taking in new members from Central and Eastern Europe, it mollified Moscow by setting up a separate Russia Council and signing a partnership agreement that excluded the presence of a major Western force in new member states.
Russia's actions in Ukraine have made the pretense of partnership ridiculous and as much was acknowledged by NATO states in Newport. On his way to the summit, U.S. President Barack Obama paid a visit to Estonia where he delivered a Reaganesque speech pledging full solidarity with the Baltic states.
Meantime German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned Russian aggression in Ukraine and reasserted the viability of NATO's collective defense measures.
Overall, the rhetoric of partnership with Russia -- which has dominated past meetings -- disappeared in Newport where it was replaced by the rhetoric of facing-up to an adversarial Russia.
However, whilst NATO leaders were strong in words, the decisions they took in response to the Russian threat were at best modest.
At the height of crisis during the Cold War the U.S. presence in Western Europe reached more than 277,000 troops.
By comparison the U.S. said earlier this month that it had 57,000 active service members in Europe. Of these only a very small number are based in Poland and the Baltic States.
Decisions taken in Newport have not changing these facts in a meaningful way. Whilst NATO announced a creation of a spearhead force, consisting of a Rapid Reaction Force, frequent exercises and logistical centers, this initiative will not change the strategic balance in Central and Eastern Europe.
The units contributing to the rapid-reaction force will remain within the states that designate them, meaning their availability will be subject to political approval.
The exercises that would bring together U.S. and European troops are meant to be frequent or even "persistent" but their scope will remain small.
The logistical centers that are meant to be based in Poland and the Baltic states are perhaps the most concrete of the approved measures. If developed they would commence integrating Central and Eastern Europe into the NATO infrastructure.
Overall, the reassurance measures for Central and Eastern Europe are not game-changers, but they are going in the right direction and could suggest a beginning of rebalancing of the current vastly unequal situation in the region.
However, as far as Ukraine itself is concerned the summit offered Kiev close to nothing. The announcement that NATO would spend 15 million euros ($19M) on military aid to Ukraine did not impress the Ukrainians nor the Russians.
NATO's decision to allow individual members of the alliance to sell arms to Ukraine has not changed anything, not least because since then a number of states have rushed to deny they intended to sell anything to Ukraine whilst the unstable situation there continues.
In other words, after the summit Ukraine continues to be on its own vis-a-vis belligerent Russia.
NATO's failure to send a clear signal to Russia by supporting Ukraine represents in itself a grave threat to the alliance's Central East European members -- who may be next on the list of potential Russian targets.
Monsoon's trail of destruction
9/13/2014 4:26:22 AM
- This year the monsoon rains came late but when they did it was with unrelenting force
- Hundreds of people have been killed, thousands more displaced in India and Pakistan
- CNN crew traveled in Pakistani military helicopter to witness extent of flooding
- Muddy waters inundated roads, villages and homes as far as the eye could see
Punjab province, Pakistan (CNN) -- Monsoon has many translations in the various languages spoken across South Asia.
But words alone cannot describe its power and splendor -- it's a necessary force of nature, thundering life back into fields parched by endless days of summer, where the rains create lush landscapes of vivid greens and intense marigold.
It is awaited with bated breath; people anticipate the storm, welcome it and embrace its fury.
This year the monsoon rains came late but when they did it was with an unrelenting force that brought massive flooding to parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and across the plains of Punjab province, wreaking devastation and disaster along the way. So far, more than 400 people have been killed across India and Pakistan, with tens of thousands more displaced.
READ: Relief efforts in Pakistan, India hampered
According to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority, "exceptionally heavy to very heavy rains from September 4 to 7 resulted in exceptionally high flood discharges at various control points on the River Chenab."
The rains have now eased, leaving behind the deep waters from this year's deluge.
On our journey to the city of Jhang in southern Punjab, the road passes along the River Chenab, which literally translates as Moon River. The river has swollen and swallowed entire towns -- and livelihoods. At one point, we see the dome of a mosque peeking up through the waters as displaced families stand helplessly with their livestock on higher ground nearby wondering where to camp for the night.
Relief camps
On the outskirts of Jhang, a relief camp has been set up by the government. Men mill around by the roadside while the women sit inside the canvas tents, their children running around outside in the foggy heat -- the humidity seems so thick one could slice it with a knife.
Pakistan last suffered from massive floods in 2010 when close to one fifth of the country was submerged underwater. This year's flooding is not as devastating but the outlook is still quite grim.
Thirty-five-year-old Mansabdar is angry. Forced to find shelter in the camp, the rage and desperation is palpable in his voice: "I have nine children, we have been out here for six days. I took nothing with me, we've only been given water and some rice by the authorities. My village is underwater. When will I be able to go back home?"
Just a few kilometers away from the camp, under an awning, sit representatives from Imran Khan's Movement for Justice party, an indication of how this calamity is slowly becoming politicized.
Mansabdar, Pakistani flood victim
The city of Jhang lies closest to Trimmu Barrage, through which the Chenab flows. This barrier, which is in place to stem flooding and aid irrigation, has a capacity of 600,000 cusecs, or cubic feet per second, which is the measure for the flow rate of water.
But according to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), on the evening of September 12, close to 800,000 cusecs of water will pass through the barrage, causing flooding in the surrounding districts of Multan, Muzafargarh, Khanewal, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh.
Helicopter perspective
CNN was given access to a military rescue helicopter that flew over the flooded areas close to Jhang and near the head of Trimmu Barrage. The muddy waters that had inundated roads, villages and homes went on as far as the eye could see.
Our helicopter eventually descended close to the head of the barrage to deliver engines for rescue boats. Lines of tents had been set up on a narrow strip of land along the barrage for the many displaced people in the area.
Farzana stood nearby holding her baby; she had left her home only a day ago. "We didn't pick up anything," she said. "We scooped up our children in our arms and fled."
A group of young boys holding metal water containers dipped their feet into the water. "School's out" they said, "but we miss home."
According to Asif Mughal, an activist for the education campaign Alif Ailaan, 948 schools have closed down in the district of Jhang alone. The government ordered them to be closed on September 5. It will take close to 20 days for them to reopen, though "nothing is certain yet," said Mughal.
The scale of the crisis is such that NDMA has now requested assistance from the United National Development Project (UNDP).
Fatima Inayet, a UNDP spokesperson, told CNN "the UN is discussing with the NDMA the possibility to support the government in carrying out an immediate and detailed assessment."
Until then, many ordinary Pakistanis are on their own.
As dusk settled on the road to the city of Multan, which lies to south-west of Jhang, two young men using rubber tires to stay afloat took advantage of the fact that the fish farms nearby had broken open to catch some carp.
"It's the easiest access to food," Shaukhat told CNN. "We don't know when this is going to end, we must make do with what we get."
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