Today's News: March 19, 2018

World News

MH17 crash: Ukraine pilot blamed by Russia ‘kills himself’
BBC – A Ukrainian military pilot blamed by Russia over the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 has killed himself, Ukrainian media report, quoting police.
Capt Vladyslav Voloshyn had called the Russian allegation a lie. Dutch investigators concluded that a Russian Buk missile had destroyed the Boeing 777 jet, killing 298 people.
Reports say Voloshyn shot himself at home in Mykolaiv, near the Black Sea.
A statement from Mykolaiv police on Facebook (in Ukrainian) described Voloshyn’s death as “suicide”, but it is being investigated under the “premeditated murder” section of Ukraine’s penal code.
A military service pistol was found at the scene and is now being examined by experts.

Putin’s giant Russian election victory sparks backlash, claims of ‘charade’
Fox News – Backlash grew around the world Sunday after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed a huge victory in his country’s presidential election.
Putin was re-elected with more than 75 percent of the vote, exit polling data showed, which keeps him as Russia’s leader for another six years — marking him as the country’s longest-serving ruler other than Joseph Stalin.
The election sparked swift criticism from those who questioned the integrity of the election. Edward Snowden, the former CIA contractor who gained infamy for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents from the National Security Agency in 2013, posted security camera footage of what looked like ballot stuffing. Snowden claimed it was part of “an effort to steal the influence of 140+ million people.”

The UK and EU agree terms for Brexit transition period
BBC – The UK and EU have agreed on a “large part” of the agreement that will lead to the “orderly withdrawal” of the UK.
Brexit negotiators Michel Barnier and David Davis said the deal on what the UK calls the implementation period was a “decisive step”.
But issues still to be resolved include the Northern Ireland border.
The transitional period is set to last from 29 March, 2019 to December 2020, and is intended to smooth the path to a future permanent relationship.

China to ban citizens with bad ‘social credit’ rating from taking flights or using trains for up to a year
Independent – China said it will begin applying its so-called social credit system to flights and trains and stop people who have committed misdeeds from taking such transport for up to a year.
People who would be put on the restricted lists included those found to have committed acts like spreading false information about terrorism and causing trouble on flights, as well as those who used expired tickets or smoked on trains, according to two statements issued on the National Development and Reform Commission’s website on Friday.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

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Explosion in Austin, 4th bombing this month
ABC – Hours after Austin’s police chief urged the suspect in recent bombings to turn themselves in, local and federal emergency units were responding to another possible bombing in which two more people were injured, authorities and sources said.
The Austin-Travis Country EMS tweeted Sunday night that there was a “critical incident” at Dawn Song Drive in Austin and medics were on their way for injuries to two males in their 20s with serious injuries.

Trump to release opioid plan Monday that includes death penalty
The Hill – President Trump on Monday will release a plan to combat the opioid epidemic that includes the controversial idea of using the death penalty for some drug traffickers.
Trump will announce the Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse during his first visit as president to New Hampshire, a state the opioid epidemic has hit hard and where 2016 presidential candidates, including Trump, discussed the issue of addiction at length.
The plan includes a mix of efforts that advocates have been supportive of in the past, such as expanding access to the gold standard of treatment for an opioid addiction and ensuring first responders are equipped with an opioid overdose reversal drug.
It also includes law enforcement measures, and addiction advocates have been urging the administration and lawmakers to steer away from a war-on-drugs approach they say hasn’t worked in the past.

Record Numbers of College Students Are Seeking Treatment for Depression and Anxiety — But Schools Can’t Keep Up
Time – a rapidly growing number of college students seeking mental health treatment on campuses facing an unprecedented demand for counseling services. Between 2009 and 2015, the number of students visiting counseling centers increased by about 30% on average, while enrollment grew by less than 6%, the Center for Collegiate Mental Health found in a 2015 report. Students seeking help are increasingly likely to have attempted suicide or engaged in self-harm, the center found. In spring 2017, nearly 40% of college students said they had felt so depressed in the prior year that it was difficult for them to function, and 61% of students said they had “felt overwhelming anxiety” in the same time period, according to an American College Health Association survey of more than 63,000 students at 92 schools.

House GOP will subpoena FBI for missing Hillary documents
Fox Business – If the FBI does not turn over more than one million missing documents related to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, House Judiciary Committee chair Bob Goodlatte plans to subpoena the federal spy agency.
“We need to have those documents,” Rep. Goodlatte (R-Va.) told Maria Bartiromo Sunday on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The department and the bureau have been slow, very slow, in getting them to us.”

Trump Admin Blasts California over Appointment of Illegal Alien to State Office
Breitbart -The Trump administration is criticizing the State of California over a decision to appoint an illegal alien, Lizbeth Mateo, to a statewide office for the first time.
Mateo was appointed last week to the Student Opportunity and Access Program Project Grant Advisory Committee by the State Senate Rules Committee.
A Trump administration official told Breitbart News on Monday: “California continues to break new ground in an effort to thumb their nose at the rule of law.
“Their message to the world is clear: California’s ‘leadership’ is willing to protect anyone — including criminals — in an effort to score political points. Intentionally undermining public safety in this manner is not an equation that bodes well for Californians.”

Poll: Public Troubled by ‘Deep State’
Monmouth University Polling Institute – Bi-partisan concern that government is tracking U.S. citizens. A majority of the American public believe that the U.S. government engages in widespread monitoring of its own citizens and worry that the U.S. government could be invading their own privacy. The Monmouth University Poll also finds a large bipartisan majority who feel that national policy is being manipulated or directed by a “Deep State” of unelected government officials. Americans of color on the center and left and NRA members on the right are among those most worried about the reach of government prying into average citizens’ lives.
Fully 8-in-10 believe that the U.S. government currently monitors or spies on the activities of American citizens, including a majority (53%) who say this activity is widespread and another 29% who say such monitoring happens but is not widespread. Just 14% say this monitoring does not happen at all. There are no substantial partisan differences in these results.
“This is a worrisome finding. The strength of our government relies on public faith in protecting our freedoms, which is not particularly robust. And it’s not a Democratic or Republican issue. These concerns span the political spectrum,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Economy & Business

Venezuela town issues own currency amid cash shortages
BBC – Amid an acute national shortage of banknotes, the town of Elorza in western Venezuela has started issuing its own paper currency.
Local officials said that the currency would make it easier for residents and visitors to trade during the town’s festivities, which start on Monday.
They said rampant hyperinflation and a scarcity of bolivares, the national currency, had affected trade in Elorza.
The new currency can be bought at the mayor’s office via bank transfer.

Energy & Environment

6 months after Mexico quake some still camp outside homes
AP – Under a patchwork shelter of overlapping tarps and repurposed vinyl advertisements, several dozen residents of 18 Independence Street pack cheek by jowl into donated tents in the street near their building, which was damaged in the Sept. 19 earthquake.
Six months after the temblor, improvised camps like this one erected by displaced residents are among the most visible signs that not everyone has moved on from the earthquake that killed 228 people in Mexico City and 141 more elsewhere.

Science & Technology

Google’s Search Results For Questions About Parkland Shooting Different From Other Search Engines
Activist Post – Google may be the world’s most popular search engine, but it has also been the subject of a number of accusations in recent years that it is purposefully censoring searches and influencing results. In the case of search results related to the Parkland shooting, that alleged influence is becoming even more apparent.
This week, the staff at The Free Thought Project began testing various keywords related to the Parkland shooting on different search engines, and we noticed that if our search terms were controversial, the first page of Google results was filled with entirely different information than the other search engines. The information showed on Google was often not relevant to our search, and the results always seemed to support the official narrative.
The most striking of these results came when we searched for the words “girl says 3 shooters parkland,” expecting the news footage of an eyewitness from the school saying that there were multiple shooters.
This video did not come up on Google, nor did any articles about the statement that the student made to the news, despite the fact that our search was extremely specific.

Health

Vitamin D improves mental health in women with type-2 diabetes
Natural Health News – n a recent study, weekly very high doses of vitamin D2 helped improve depression and anxiety among women with type-2 diabetes.
According to the UK’s NICE (National institute of Clinical Excellence) people who are diagnosed with a chronic physical health problem such as diabetes are 3 times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than people without it.
Past research suggests that vitamin D supplementation has been shown to help improve both type-2 diabetes and some forms of depression, independent of one another. However, until now, there has been no data looking at women, who are statistically more likely to experience depression, and whether vitamin D could help.
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Turmeric latte Recipe
Natural Health News – Turmeric can claim many health benefits and is a great spice to add colour and flavour to your food.
‘golden milk’ as the turmeric latte is sometimes called, contains curcumin, turmeric’s active constituent, which has been shown to be a powerful antioxidant, comparable to vitamins C and E.
Curcumin is linked with several benefits including lowering inflammation, soothing digestive problems and acting as a general health tonic. Recent research also suggests it may have some benefit in lowering cholesterol.
Coconut milk is a traditional base for golden milk and ensures you get enough fat to aid the absorption of beneficial curcumin into your system.
Ingredients

285 ml (10 oz or 1 ½ cups) coconut milk*
1 tbl coconut or date sugar
1 tsp ground turmeric (or if using fresh root, 4 tsp grated)
¼ tsp ground ginger (or if using fresh root, 1 tsp freshly grated)
Pinch of pink Himalayan salt
Pinch ground nutmeg

* In place of the coconut milk you can substitute the same amount of almond or cashew milk or full fat cow’s milk, if you prefer.
Method
1 Combine the coconut milk (or other milk choice), sugar, turmeric, ginger, salt, and water in a small saucepan and whisk thoroughly. If you are grating fresh turmeric, wearing gloves is a good idea as it will stain your hands.
2 Bring the mixture to a boil then remove from the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes.
3 Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a mug and serve with a pinch of nutmeg. Makes 2 small or one large mug.