More ships are expected to operate in the Arctic as new sea routes open up
New guidelines have been passed to prevent pollution from ships in polar waters. The Polar Code, passed at a meeting in London of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), ban ships from releasing oil, sewage, chemicals and waste into the sea.
The measures are set to come into force in 2017. But environmentalists say the regulations do not go far enough. WWF said a strong, legally binding Polar Code was particularly urgent in the Arctic, where new sea routes are expected to open up in coming decades.
IMO member states should "honor the original vision of the Polar Code, which saw environmental protection as a priority," said Rod Downie, WWF-UK's Polar Program Manager.
"That means additional measures to reduce the risk of invasive marine species, more stringent requirements for oil spill response, banning the use and restricting carriage of heavy fuel oil by ships in the Arctic, reducing air emissions and black carbon, and addressing underwater noise," he said.
Ice retreat
The IMO is the United Nations agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships. A spokesperson for the IMO said many of the things not specifically addressed in the Polar Code are addressed, or will be addressed, by other measures.
The Arctic is the fastest warming region of the planet. If the polar ice retreats it could speed up the rise in global temperatures and change the world's weather patterns.
It could also open up a faster route for commercial cargo ships between Europe and Asia, and boost trade in ports in Arctic countries such as Russia, Norway and Canada.
'Paddle in Seattle' Arctic oil drilling protest
Hundreds of people in kayaks and small boats have staged a protest in the north-western US port city of Seattle against oil drilling in the Arctic by the Shell energy giant.
Paddle in Seattle was held by activists who said the firm's drilling would damage the environment.
It comes after the first of Shell's two massive oil rigs arrived at the port. The firm wants to move them in the coming months to explore for oil off Alaska's northern coast.
Earlier this week, Shell won conditional approval from the US Department of Interior for oil exploration in the Arctic. The Anglo-Dutch company still must obtain permits from the federal government and the state of Alaska to begin drilling. It says Arctic resources could be vital for supplying future energy needs.
'The only safe place'
The flotilla of kayaks, canoes, sailboats and paddle boats gathered near the 400ft (122m) tall Polar Pioneer drilling rig. The protest was organized by a coalition of activists who say Shell's drilling will damage the Arctic environment .
The protesters formed a line of boats with a giant sign "Climate justice now"
A number of people supported the protest on land, chanting slogans and singing songs
Activists are now planning to hold a day of peaceful civil disobedience
A solar-powered barge - The People's Platform - joined the protesters, who chanted slogans and also sang songs.
"This weekend is another opportunity for the people to demand that their voices be heard," Alli Harvey, Alaska representative for the Sierra Club's Our Wild America campaign, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
"Science is as clear as day when it comes to drilling in the Arctic - the only safe place for these dirty fuels is in the ground.''
The protesters later gathered in formation and unveiled a big sign which read "Climate justice now".
They mostly stayed outside the official 100-yard (91m) buffer zone around the Polar Pioneer, the Seattle Times newspaper reports.
Police and coastguard monitored the flotilla, saying it was peaceful. The demonstrators are now planning to hold a day of peaceful civil disobedience on Monday in an attempt to shut down Shell operations in the port, the newspaper adds.
The port's Terminal 5 has been at the centre of a stand-off between environmentalists and the city authorities after a decision earlier this year to allow Shell use the terminal as a home base for the company's vessels and oil rigs.
Shell stopped Arctic exploration more than two years ago after problems including an oil rig fire and safety failures. The company has spent about $6bn (£3.85bn) on exploration in the Arctic - a region estimated to have about 20% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.
Massachusetts eschews the death penalty. In it's infinite wisdom, the Justice Department took the decision out of the hands of the state and made it a federal case. Perhaps they wanted to make a glaring example or set a precedent. All home-grown, would be terrorists (Tsarnaev is an American citizen) take heed...don't f*** with us, or else! A poll revealed that less than a third of the citizens of Massachusetts supported the death penalty decision.
My friend Mr Humble has such sound logic, I see the whole situation more clearly. I give you the benefit of his words.
Mr Humble says:
Giving him the death sentence is a dumb decision. First, it will take years if not decades to execute him. During that time the state will pay for countless appeals and lawyer fees. It will probably cost upwards of 10,000,000 to try to execute. (Yes that is Ten Million).
Second, during this time the victims will be constantly updated on the appeals, the rulings etc etc. They will never have the chance to move on. Had he been given life without parole he would get one appeal and that would be it. He would then spend the rest of his life in a small cell with no outside contact and kept in the cell 23 of 24 hours a day. That would be what he would have to look forward to for the next 50 years. Does anyone really think the death penalty is worse than that? It is the victims who will suffer by this decision not the defendant. (And no, I am not against the death penalty altogether.)
When a murderer confesses, he should not be tried. If he stands up in front of the judge and admits his guilt, he should be taken out behind the courthouse and be executed.
1. Firing squad.
2. Hanging
3. Or by the same method he killed his victims.
Let the family of the victim(s) make that decision.
Liberals always say that the death penalty is not a deterrent. Let me ask them this:
Has anyone who was executed ever try to kill anyone again? If that's not a deterrent, what the hell is?
Justice delayed is justice denied.
The American public wants the decision of the death penalty but they don't want the actual executions". Many other important people quoted as saying that he will never be executed. Very discouraging for the victims and the relatives. They will never heal or have closure. The Media, the entertainment industry, and Academia have a stranglehold on opinion in this country.
I'd be surprised if this guy is ever executed. He'll be able to appeal, re-appeal, cite technicalities etc., etc., until he dies of old age.
Mr Humble's Opinion is supported by Tom Keane of
PoliticoMagazine :
No victim of the Boston Marathon bombings was more poignant, perhaps, than eight-year-old Martin Richard. It was a photo of a smiling Martin, who was from Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, holding up a handmade sign saying, “No more hurting people,” that seemed to underscore the callousness of the acts and the innocence of the victims. Yet even as the trial focused on the trauma suffered by the Richard family–not only was Martin killed, but his sister Jane lost her left leg and his mother and father were also severely injured–the family itself issued a statement urging the prosecution to abandon its quest for the death penalty.
That a family so tragically and permanently affected by these terrible acts could still take such a principled stand sums up how a lot of people in Massachusetts feel about the death penalty imposed Friday on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of the two brothers responsible for the 2013 bombings. Some might think the opposition to the sentence carries a whiff of hypocrisy with it. This deep-blue state has been long known for its opposition to capital punishment, but apparently those noble principles have been trumped by cold reality. Even liberals, it seems, will seek harsh vengeance when it’s their children getting killed and their streets red with blood.
In fact, though, Massachusetts and its principles have acquitted themselves quite well. The death penalty trial was imposed by the federal government against the wishes of the state. By a wide majority, the Bay State’s citizens opposed the ultimate punishment for Tsarnaev. So too did some of the victims. And perhaps most troubling of all, the jury’s verdict will bring little measure of closure. Rather than Tsarnaev disappearing anonymously behind bars for the rest of his days, his case will be appealed and fought. Death by execution, if it ever comes, may be decades away.
The last executions in Massachusetts were in 1947. Since then, the state had become increasingly uncomfortable with the death penalty. A Boston Globe poll conducted during the Tsarnaev trial, for example, found only 30 percent of the state’s residents supported the death penalty. That contrasts markedly to national polls which show that – despite growing reservations about its use – it still has solid support.
But it’s clear that, soon after the bombings, the fate of Dzhokhar was quickly politicized. Some members of Congress, including Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham, wanted to treat him as an enemy combatant. It was a dubious idea which would have meant trying him – a U.S. citizen – in military courts without basic constitutional protections. In response, the Department of Justice pushed to federalize the case, taking it out of the hands of the state. A key reason for that: Massachusetts law doesn’t permit the death penalty. Federal law does.
Tsarnaev’s trial then kicked off with a controversy. In order to sit on the jury, jurors had to be “death qualified” – meaning they were comfortable in imposing execution. Given that only a minority of residents fit that qualification, the pool of potential jurors shrank. And, of course, the resulting jury was almost by definition more biased in favor of capital punishment than would have been a representative cross section of the state.
Tsarnaev showed no emotion in court as the jury returned its sentence
A US jury has sentenced Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death by lethal injection. Tsarnaev stood next to his lawyer. He tilted his head to the side and shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he heard the clerk read the notes from the jurors. After the death sentence was announced, he bowed his head.
Three people were killed and 260 were injured when Tsarnaev, now 21, and his brother placed bombs at the finishing line of the Boston Marathon in 2013.Tsarnaev is likely to be moved to a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, to await execution, but there could be years of appeals. Victims sobbed as the sentence was read, but Tsarnaev showed no emotion."Now he will go away and we will be able to move on. Justice. In his own words, 'an eye for an eye'," said bombing victim Sydney Corcoran, who nearly bled to death and whose mother lost both legs.After 14 hours of deliberations, the jury concluded that Tsarnaev showed no remorse and therefore should be put to death.
"The jury has spoken. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will pay for his crimes with his life,'' said US Attorney Carmen Ortiz.
Three were killed and over 260 injured when two bombs detonated
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaevwere captured in photos on the day of the bombing
Massachusetts as a state ended the death penalty in 1984, but Tsarnaev was tried on federal charges, meaning he was eligible for execution. After the sentence was announced, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said: "The ultimate penalty is a fitting punishment for this horrific crime and we hope that the completion of this prosecution will bring some measure of closure to the victims and their families.''
But not all of the victims supported the death penalty for Tsarnaev. The parents of Martin Richard, an eight-year-old boy killed in the blast, wrote an article in the Boston Globe newspaper last month asking the government to not seek a death sentence as it would delay their emotional closure.
The Associated Press news agency reached Tsarnaev's father, Anzor Tsarnaev, by phone in the Russian region of Dagestan on Friday. He moaned after hearing the sentence and hung up.
During the trial, Tsarnaev's defence team admitted that he had played a role in the attacks but said that his older brother, Tamerlan - shot dead by police in the subsequent manhunt - was the driving force.
Lawyers also highlighted his difficult early life. The Tsarnaevs - ethnic Chechens - had lived in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan and the volatile Dagestan region of Russia, near Chechnya. The family moved to the US in 2002.
But prosecutors argued that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was an equal partner in the attack, showing the jury a message he wrote on the boat where he was arrested.
"Stop killing our innocent people and we will stop," it read.
Throughout the trial, the jurors heard grisly testimony from bombing survivors. They described seeing their legs blown off or watching someone next to them die.
At the start of the penalty phase, the prosecutors showed jurors a photo of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev raising his middle finger to a jail cell security camera months after his arrest.
"This is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - unconcerned, unrepentant and unchanged," prosecutor Nadine Pellegrin said.
The victims
*Restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, 29, had gone to watch a friend complete the race
*Chinese graduate student Lu Lingzi was studying statistics at Boston University
*Eight-year-old Martin Richard was standing with his family, cheering the runners
Dear Maxy, I just learned that my boyfriend has a gambling addiction . I have been trying to figure out what was going on . He would get paid and then disappear for days at a time and then always be broke . He is good at making up excuses . In fact , they have been so good in making up excuses that I often have given him extra money to help out . Well , I just saw some of his bills and he hadn't paid a lot of them for months . Plus , I saw receipts from a casino on several occasions . When I asked him about it , he admitted he likes to gamble . When I pressed him , he said that he is in debt because of it . What should I do ? I thought we were going to be a serious couple and get married , but now I don't know . I can't marry an active gambler . What can I do ? Dating a Gambler Dear Dating a Gambler, In moderation, gambling is socially acceptable behavior. However, when the impulse to gamble can’t be controlled, to the point of hurting oneself or others, it becomes a compulsion or a gambling addiction. And just like an alcoholic, they have to feed the addiction, regardless of the consequences. The compulsion continues to get stronger, and without help, he will not be able to stop. It's encouraging that your boyfriend told you the truth, at least in part, about his problem . Now it's your turn to put your foot down . Tell him you care about him, but make it clear that you are unwilling to make a commitment to him if he doesn't clean up his act . Suggest he go to Gambler's Anonymous for counseling . It is a twelve-step program for people who have a gambling addiction. (http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/) You can access meeting information for your state by calling the National Hotline at: 1-888-424-3577. He will be among people with same obsession as himself and may get a reality shock as he realizes he is like them. He has to recognize that he has a problem and want to get help. If not, he will not follow through with the program or any kind of counseling. You may have to take a step back from the relationship until he realizes the gravity of his problem and takes action . It often takes an extreme situation for an addict to make a change . It is not healthy for you to be in this relationship, as it stands. Further assistance can be found at: http://www.psychguides.com/guides/how-to-help-someone-with-a-gambling-problem/ Maxy
Dear Maxy , I am an 83-year-old widow in good health . My daughter lives about two hours away . She is 50 and well educated and has been in a long term relationship with an older retired man . She does a lot of caregiving for him and his family members . Three years ago my daughter lost her job during an economic downturn and has made no attempt to find other employment . I have been giving her money every month and paid for a course in massage therapy , but she has not attempted to find a job in that field . She received insurance money to repair her home when it was flooded over the winter , but she hasn't done the repairs . Instead , she camps out at her boyfriend's apartment . When I ask , she will come and help me with certain things . She is my only child and there are no other close relatives . I am not wealthy , but am comfortable . My daughter will inherit trust money and my house when I die , and this bothers me . I don't want what my husband and I worked and planned for to eventually go to her boyfriend and his family . I am thinking of changing my trust , leaving her a fixed amount and giving the rest to charity . Are there other alternatives ? A. Dear A. , There are always alternatives . You could leave your daughter the house and trust, but only under certain conditions, in order to exclude the boyfriend and his family. An estate attorney can easily frame all the legalities for you in a revised or new will. Although, that won't necessarily change how your daughter chooses to live her life . It sounds like she is discouraged, has come to an impasse in her life and can't move beyond it. Perhaps you can get her to open up about it to you. See if you can encourage her to get moving again and definitely inform her you cannot go on subsidizing her lifestyle indefinitely. In fact, that may be one of the reasons she has come to a standstill....you are making things too easy for her. There is certainly nothing wrong with giving some (or all) of your money to a charity that does some good in the world . The attorney will help you figure out the various possibilities and put them in writing . Maxy
Dear Maxy , I have seen my sister gradually change from a simple packrat into a full-fledged hoarder . When I mentioned my concerns to her , she gets defensive and tells me it's OK , that is just how they live now . I am especially worried about her children growing up in clutter and filth . To further complicate issues , my sister recently acquired a puppy and allows him to do his business all over the house . I feel sorry for her . She suffers from depression and is on medication , but it's not enough . What Can I do to help her when she seems to be in denial ? Worried Sis Dear Worried , Your sister's medication can not handle all her issues sufficiently. Hoarding is a compulsive mental disorder and has to be treated by a doctor or health provider who is a specialized therapist in this field. Forced "clean outs" of the individual's home are extremely distressing and not effective in the long run, as the person does not learn how to combat the disorder and will give in to the compulsion again, resulting in another accumulation of stuff. Hoarding can be a symptom of another disorder, such as : OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) depression, or grief. Accumulating things can give hoarders a sense of security and safety. Hoarding deflects their focus from the thought processes that cause their distress and anxiety. They are hard to help because they do not recognize they have a problem and will not seek help on their own. As you are a close relative, it would be okay for you to speak to your sister's family doctor and get some referrals from him. Some communities have agencies that help with hoarding problems. Check with your local or county government for resources or 'Hoarding Task Force' in your area. You may also need to contact local authorities, such as fire, public health and child protective services, especially when health or safety is in question. The effects of hoarding on the children can be drastic, emotionally and physically and can socially isolate them along with their mother. They should be removed from that environment until their mother shows some improvement. For further information for yourself and other family members, check: http://www.psychiatry.org/hoarding-disorder or http://hoarding.iocdf.org/community_services.aspx - to locate resources in your area go to - http://iocdf.org/find-help/ For self help pointers that you can assist her with, go to - http://www.helpforhoarders.co.uk/self-help/ Maxy
Dear Maxy , I have been overwhelmed for several months now . I just can't seem to get my life together . I lost my job a few months ago , and I have been looking for a job with no luck so far . I am single and have no one to help me . I honestly don't know how much longer I can take this . I feel like I just shut down at every turn . Friends were helping me out here and there , but I feel horrible about asking for their help . Plus , they are barely making ends meet themselves . I got on food stamps recently , but I hate that too . I feel like a mess . I went to the doctor about it and was prescribed some depression medicine . I am afraid to take it , though , because I'm afraid I won't get another job if an employer finds out that I take meds . What can I do ? Stuck Dear Stuck , Thank you for sharing your situation . You have done the right thing by speaking of your pain out loud . It is also great that you went to the doctor to be evaluated . You should take your meds. They will help you stabilize your emotions. Getting healthy is the first and most important requirement for you to turn your life around . Find a way to continue seeing a mental health professional who can help guide you . You can - and will fix this. If you cannot afford to pay for counseling, did you know that dialing 211 in almost every part of the United States will connect you to human and social services for your area? The FCC's "Dial 211" info page outlines the types of services they offer, like housing and emergency shelter locations, mental health and work related counseling services. - https://www.fcc.gov/guides/dial-211-essential-community-services If you go to church, check there for free counseling options in your community. Many churches even have funds to pay for therapy if one of their members needs it . If you want a shoulder to cry on and someone who will listen with compassion, try this website - http://www.7cupsoftea.com/. Another site with sympathetic and helpful volunteers - http://blahtherapy.com/. To get help with affordable housing - http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/comm_planning/homeless On the practical side, eat more peanut butter, remember rice is cheap and nourishing and don't forget KD's. That diet got me through school. Buy your clothes at thrift stores. Get outside and run; it's free and you'll get healthier. Keep in touch with people by volunteering. Job hunting can be discouraging but keep it up. An unemployed person is out of a job for an average of six months. You will find one. You need a plan. Sit down and figure out what you want to do. Put aside the fact that you need money for a moment, because that fact colors every thought in your head. If you could get up tomorrow and do the thing that makes you happy....what would it be? Now take the first step in that direction. Let me know how you are doing. Good luck, Maxy
This footage is an excerpt from "Chasing Ice," an award-winning documentary on climate change. On May 28, 2008, Adam LeWinter and director Jeff Orlowski filmed a historic breakup at the Ilulissat Glacier in western Greenland. The calving event lasted 75 minutes, and the glacier retreated a full mile across a calving face three miles wide. The height of the ice is about 3,000 feet — 300 to 400 feet above water, with the rest below water. This is what global warming is all about.
We learned last year that many of the effects of climate change are irreversible. Sea levels have been rising at a greater rate year after year, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates they could rise by another meter or more by the end of this century.
As National Geographic showed us in 2013, sea levels would rise by 216 feet if all the land ice on the planet were to melt. This would dramatically reshape the continents and drown many of the world's major cities.
WHAT THE EARTH WOULD LOOK LIKE IF ALL THE ICE MELTED ( animated map)
More ships are expected to operate in the Arctic as new sea routes open up 
