MikeLigalig.com

Hantu, a white German Shepherd, has an unlike pup â€" an opossum named Poncho. Poncho’s mom was hit by a car. Rescuers found the little baby opossum clinging to his mom on the side of the road. Veterinarians nursed her back to life, but realized that she likely wouldn’t survive without a mom.


Source: Myrtle Beach Safari

Enter Hantu. The beautiful dog has no puppies of her own, but her maternal instinct kicked in when she met Poncho and the two are now inseparable. (Regina Lizik, good.barkpost.com/)

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all 2013 images from the collection of rappler.com

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circa 2013


Photo by Karen Yambao-Canlas.

the new normal--

the horror, the horror!

one of my cats is half-australian. he is the most loving of all my cats.

AFP
Dousing out a peat fire is difficult as it can burn underground, and requires swamping the entire area with vast amounts of water

In the meantime Indonesian authorities continue to struggle to put out the fires, many of which have flared up on flammable and dry peat-rich areas.

A peat fire is difficult to put out as it can burn underground for months, and requires a lot of water to extinguish. Fires can spread underground and spring up in other places later.

BBC News

Why has it been so difficult to stop?

Indonesia has long struggled to police the vast rural expanse in Sumatra and Kalimantan.


Reuters

But Indonesia and environment rights activists also say it is not entirely to blame, as some of the corporations accused of illegal burning have Malaysian and Singaporean investors.

Singapore in 2014 passed a set of laws that allow it to prosecute individuals and companies that contribute to the haze, but it remains unclear how this law could be enforced.

There have also been name-and-shame campaigns and calls to boycott the products of the companies said to be contributing to the haze.

What is being done to stop it?

Indonesia has been dumping millions of litres of water in affected areas and has sent in the army to help firefighters put out the fires.

Indonesia and Malaysia have also conducted cloud-seeding to induce rain, while Singapore has pledged assistance to help put out fires.


EPA
Helicopters in Indonesia have been water bombing areas with fires

Indonesia has for years promised to step up enforcement. Under President Joko Widodo, it has named 10 corporations as suspects, and said it is investigating more than 100 individuals.

In 2002, all 10 South East Asian countries signed an agreement to combat the issue through greater monitoring and encouragement of sustainable development, but efforts have been limited.

What makes it so dangerous?

Besides irritating the respiratory tract and the eyes, pollutants in the haze can cause serious long-term damage to health.


Reuters
Face masks have become a common sight in the region

The indices used to measure air quality in the region usually measure particulate matter (PM10), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone.

PM2.5 is considered the most dangerous as it can enter deeper into the lungs. It has been associated with causing respiratory illnesses and lung damage.


Reuters
Authorities in Singapore have encouraged residents to use special masks that can filter out PM2.5

Why is it an issue?

The haze gets blown north and westwards across affected Indonesian provinces, as well as towards Malaysia and Singapore, causing a significant deterioration in air quality.


AP
The haze has blanketed many parts of Malaysia including the centre of government Putrajaya...


Reuters
...and the whole of Singapore, affecting key tourist attractions like Gardens by the Bay

It can be a health hazard, and at its peak it has prompted school closures, flight cancellations and virtual shutdowns of towns and cities.

Singapore and Indonesia use the Pollutants Standards Index (PSI) to measure air quality, while Malaysia uses the similar Air Pollutants Index (API). On both indices, a reading that is above 100 is classified as unhealthy and anything above 300 is hazardous.

Indonesia recently declared a state of emergency in Riau province - one of its towns, Pekanbaru, saw a PSI reading of 984.

Malaysia declared a state of emergency in 2013, when a southern district saw readings of more than 750 API.

What's causing the haze?

Every year Indonesia sees agriculture fires in Riau province in East Sumatra, South Sumatra, and parts of Kalimantan on Indonesian Borneo.


NASA EOSDIS
Nasa satellite data shows multiple fires in mid-September 2015 in the eastern part of Sumatra island and the southern part of Kalimantan island of Indonesia

The fires are said to be caused by corporations as well as small-scale farmers who use the illegal slash-and-burn method to clear vegetation for palm oil, pulp and paper plantations.

The fires often spin out of control and spread into protected forested areas.

The problem has accelerated in recent years as more land has been cleared for expanding plantations for the lucrative trade.

The burnt land also becomes drier, which makes it more likely to catch fire the next time there are slash-and-burn clearings.

What causes South East Asia's haze?

16 September 2015


Antara Foto / Reuters
The haze has sparked protests in Indonesia including the town of Palembang in South Sumatra

Forest fires in Indonesia have resulted in a smoky haze that is blanketing the region and affecting neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

Both the haze and the controversy around it have intensified in recent years. But what causes it, and what makes it such a contentious issue?

     The government has also been encouraging foreign manufacturers to set up production bases here. Manila plans to start offering subsidies to carmakers in next year in a bid to develop the auto industry. Automotive companies such as Toyota Motor and Mitsubishi Motors will probably be eligible for the subsidy. The move is also expected to result in an increase in local contractors and subcontractors such as auto parts makers.

Japanese lenders are also expanding into the country. In September, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking opened a branch in Manila to provide loans and trade finance.

     Shosuke Mori, the bank's managing director for the Asia-Pacific area, said the Philippines is very attractive for manufacturers. "The Philippines has high potential, because we expect the country's infrastructure will improve significantly down the road."

     Another bit of good news is that the country is becoming safer. At one time, the Philippines had a reputation for being crime-ridden. However, expatriates in the country have rarely reported being the victim of crimes in the past few years.

asia.nikkei.com/

     The nation's growing population and abundant workforce are particularly attractive to manufacturers. The minimum wage outside the capital is hovering at around 335 pesos ($7.28) a day and the annual pay increase is still low at a few percent, much lower than the 20-30% in other Asian countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam.

     More and more Japanese firms are entering the country to cash in on this high potential.

     Seiko Epson built a factory in the Philippines that assembles and exports printers and projectors using components imported from China and other places. The Japanese printer maker plans to ramp up the operation further. It announced last December that it will invest about 12.3 billion yen to expand the factory by more than 100% and increase the payroll from the current 12,500 to 20,000 workers in a bid to tap into the nation's accessible labor pool.

     This is the second time for the Japanese trading house to develop an industrial park in the country.

     According to a Mitsubishi official, the island country is attractive as a development target for three reasons.

     First, the nation's gross domestic product in the past three years has been growing at a remarkable pace of more than 6%. Secondly, the nation's population has reached the 100 million mark, but it continues to grow at an annual rate of 2%. The third factor is that many Filipinos can speak, read and write in English, one of the nation's official languages.

Growing GDP, high-quality workforce attracting Japanese businesses

MINORU SATAKE, Nikkei staff writer
October 17, 2015 7:00 am JST

MANILA -- Japanese businesses are increasingly looking to the Philippines as an attractive production base as well as a growing market.

     Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp. announced on Oct. 7 that it will launch a new industrial park, Cavite Technopark, a 118-hectare development in Cavite Province.

     The development by Laguna Technopark, a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Philippine real estate developer Ayala Land, is expected to cost some 11 billion yen ($91.6 million).

aaargh! there are less surreal ones. those bloody goose neck are just that, bloody.

Giant Rabbit and Cat Meet, Become Total Twins

By: The Dodo
(Guest post by Ameena Schelling from thedodo.com)

Wallace the rabbit proves that a pet can be friends with just about anyone â€" especially if they match.

Wallace, a Flemish giant, is a particularly hefty rabbit, and he's not even done growing. He also happens to look just like his best friend, a cat named Gus.

Their owner documents their adventures on Instagram, where a very sweet portrait emerges of two animals who just want to be best friends.

blogs.discovery.com/

PA The exterior of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a "doomsday" vault in the Arctic, where thousands of seeds ranging from wild tomatoes from the Galapagos to pumpkins cultivated by Native American tribes are being stored. mirror.co.uk/

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (or ICARDA), which was forced to relocate from the Syrian city of Aleppo to Beirut in 2012, requested almost 130 boxes out of the 325 it had deposited in the Svalbard vault, according to Reuters. ICARDA's temporary unit in the Lebanese capital was only partially functioning, and it needed these samples as part of "its role as a hub to grow seeds and distribute them to other nations," the news agency explained.

The organization's research in part focuses on cultivating crops that can cope with shifting climate patterns in particularly dry areas of Africa, the Middle East and Australia. This vital work was interrupted by the horrors of the Syrian conflict, which has leveled swaths of Aleppo, once Syria's most populous city and its economic center.

Some of the world's first grains and cereals are thought to have been cultivated in the Levant, including Syria's river valleys, a cradle of civilization now rent asunder by war.

Ishaan Tharoor writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. He previously was a senior editor at TIME, based first in Hong Kong and later in New York.

washingtonpost.com

Arctic ‘doomsday’ vault to open because of Syrian civil war

By Ishaan Tharoor
September 22, 2015

The vault inside a Norway mountain aims to protect millions of food crops from climate change, wars and natural disasters.


Journalists walk under a gust of cold air near the entrance of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Norway built the remote facility as a doomsday vault to protect the world’s seeds from such threats as war and global warming. Hakon Mosvold Larsen/AFP/Getty Images

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the world's greatest repository of seeds. It has about 860,000 samples from most of the countries in the world stored in a facility cloaked in permafrost, 800 miles beyond the rim of the Arctic Circle on a Norwegian archipelago. Even if electricity failed, its location means the specimens kept within the vault could survive at least two centuries.

The more than 4,000 plant species kept here provide a "global backstop" for the world's biodiversity in the face of climate change and other dramatic transformations on the planet. So it is conspicuous that, for the first time, the Norwegian-run facility will open the vault to remove some of its contents.

they also serve who only stand and wait...

seriously, i'm going to fail you in this subject for not knowing that barnacles, even if they only sit and wait, can grow like beautiful flowers, whether you look like an exotic seahorse or not.

pwes, those who take this plane must have this luggage:

looy ra pod. may he rest in peace.

phew, no flight to the philippines as scheduled. maayo pay indonesia, naa pa. as for me, huwat na lang ko ni yoda plane uy.

bigat. "Hell's Vengeance Boils in My Heart", whew! di nako kaya; it's for coloraturas. i'm a mezzo, hihihi.

Cebu IT Park

There are many compelling reasons why London’s tech startups who feel like a lack of local talent is holding them back should look to the Philippines.

There is a lot of potential for the Philippines to play a part in the development of the next generation of unicorns to come out of London, as well supporting tech giants like Google, but do not be surprised if the country is able to develop its own formidable herd of billion-dollar tech companies too.

Nick Hargreaves is the founder and chief executive of Cloud Employee

This story originally appeared on Tech City News.

venturebeat.com/

Manila

However, it’s also about the flexibility of the options on offer that is attractive to those looking to outsource. It’s a common misunderstanding about outsourcing to think that only large companies, requiring 50 or more roles to be filled, should be considering it. This is wrong â€" it’s certainly possible to fill a handful of positions, perhaps even just one, with highly-skilled, English-speaking staff working the same office hours as the UK.

Facilities exist where dedicated remote workers are able to communicate directly with the companies hiring them, even sitting in branded areas so they really look and feel like part of the team, while the supervision and HR-related parts of the job like salary, benefits and so on are handled centrally by UK managers on site.

Cebu City

But for London tech firms who don’t want to relocate, the Philippines is also becoming a hotbed for outsourcing. Manila and Cebu have become massive outsourcing hubs in recent years with the industry in the country growing by 30% every year â€" much faster than India, the country many people would primarily associate with outsourcing.

There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, there is no shortage of talent â€" universities in the Philippines are producing 130,000 IT And engineering graduates each year â€" and IT is one of the best paid sectors in the country. But given the differences between the Philippines and London in terms of cost of living, it is still significantly cheaper for a UK startup to outsource some operations to Manila or Cebu.

Culturally, the Philippines is a place that would feel very familiar to Westerners, largely because of 500 years of Spanish and American influence in the region. There is an emphasis on family values as well as loyalty, integrity and hard work, while more than 80% of the population speak English to a very high standard.

The Philippines: An unlikely talent hotspot?

NICK HARGREAVES, TECH CITY NEWS   OCTOBER 18, 2015


Manila

London’s strength as a technology hub is not in doubt, with Tech London Advocates highlighting the retail tech and fintech sectors in their most recent report, but there are still areas where the capital could do with some help.

As the cost of living in London rises, and the government’s unfriendly immigration policies for non-EU citizens persist, the shortage of tech talent becomes ever more acute. Even when companies can find people with suitable skills, the salaries they command often put them out of reach of the average tech startups.

However, there is a way that tech startups can get access to high quality developers without having to pay top dollar. The tech scene in the Philippines is very much on the rise, large tech firms like BlackBerry and Google have already moved in, and there is also a vibrant startup community, with SMEs comprising 99.6% of all registered firms and employing 70% of the country’s work force.

all images are finalists of the 2015 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. 
Judges had to sift through 1,502 entries from 52 different countries to come up with the 45 recently announced finalists.

cnn.com

oops, hindi po ako GRO, hubag, hindi! opera singer lang po akoh.

Pagasa Director Espie Cayanan said Lando, which has sustained winds of 175 kph and gusts of 210 kph, could strengthen as it got closer to the country.
Cayanan said another typhoon farther east and a high-pressure area north of the Philippines would hold Lando in a “semistationary” position over northern Luzon.

“It may be semistationary once it hits,” she said.

Although Lando will not directly hit Metropolitan Manila, Cayanan said the typhoon had a diameter of 600 km, so huge that even southern regions were likely to be affected by strong winds and rain.

Areas hit by the typhoon will suffer “heavy to intense rainfall” with possible tsunami-like storm surges in coastal areas, she said.


more at: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/732142/lando-to-linger-for-3-days#ixzz3oqsSLL1a

‘Lando’ to linger for 3 days

WARNING OUT FOR TSUNAMI-LIKE STORM SURGES IN N. LUZON

By: Jodee A. Agoncillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
October 18th, 2015


WATCHING  TYPHOON ‘LANDO’    Weather forecasters from Pagasa monitor the movement of Typhoon “Lando” (international name: Koppu)  projected on the screen as it approaches northern Luzon. Lando is expected to make landfall in Aurora province early this morning and to linger in the country until Tuesday. RAFFY LERMA

Disaster officials on Saturday advised communities in flood-prone areas of northern Luzon to evacuate, warning that Typhoon “Lando” was likely to linger over the country for almost three days, bringing prolonged heavy rain, causing floods and sparking storm surges.

Lando (international name: Koppu) was expected to make landfall in Aurora province early this morning and would not leave the country until Tuesday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

As of 4 p.m. Friday, Lando was 230 kilometers east of Baler, Aurora, and was moving west at 10 kilometers per hour.

“Why is our education sector miserable?” Bongbong asks. Recent research has shown that from the Magsaysay administration (1954-57) to the two presidential terms of Ferdinand Marcos (1965-81), education received the biggest share of the national budget, maintaining close to 28 percent. During the rest of the Marcos regime (1972-1985), education’s share dropped to an average of 11.6 percent of the budget, even while basic education enrollment was growing at about 2.4 percent a year.

During the period when Marcos could determine budget allocations, he chose to cut down support for education. An educated population, of course, poses a threat to dictators.

The judgment on the Marcos record is clear, but we have not fully plumbed the depths of the damage inflicted by the Marcos regime on the country. How do we quantify the cost of leaders killed or suppressed during martial law? Bongbong’s gratuitous celebration of the Marcos legacy challenges us to pursue the research effort.

Edilberto C. de Jesus (edejesu@yahoo.com) is professor emeritus at the Asian Institute of Management.


opinion.inquirer.net/

Bongbong would prefer to leave the past behind and to address today’s problems. He asks: “Why is the distribution of wealth not happening?” He should ask his mother. Speaking to the Inquirer in 1998, Imelda Marcos said: “We practically own everything in the Philippinesâ€"from electricity, telecommunications, airline, banking, beer and tobacco, newspaper publishing, television stations, shipping, oil and mining, hotels and beach resorts, down to coconut milling, small farms, real estate and insurance.” She was then planning to sue the cronies holding the family’s properties.

The Supreme Court estimated the total legal income of the Marcoses earned from 1965 to 1986 at over $304,000. The Presidential Commission on Good Government tasked to recover the Marcos plunder pegged what had been looted from the country at $10 billion, less than half of which has been recovered. Might kleptocracy help explain the inequitable wealth distribution that so concerns Bongbong?

On human rights violations during the Marcos regime, McCoy recorded a figure of 3,257 extrajudicial killingsâ€"compared to 2,115 under Pinochet in Chile and 266 under the military junta in Brazilâ€"and over 2,500 “salvaged” victims. In September 1992, the US District Court in Honolulu found Ferdinand Marcos guilty of systematic torture and held his estate liable for damages to all 9,541 victims, later awarding nearly $2 billion in damagesâ€"the biggest personal injury verdict then in legal history.

Regarding plundered wealth, the 2004 Global Transparency Report listed Marcos second (behind Suharto of Indonesia) in its list of the World’s Most Corrupt Leaders. Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, often cited as a model authoritarian ruler that Marcos could have emulated, distanced himself from Ferdinand: “Only in the Philippines could a leader like Ferdinand Marcos, who pillaged his country for over 20 years, still be considered for a national burial. Insignificant amounts of the loot have been recovered, yet his wife and children were allowed to return and engage in politics.”

It was not Bongbong’s fault to be born to wealth and power, and it is an act of virtue to express gratitude for the benefits received from parents. But his filial piety becomes suspect when he suggests that the blessings he enjoyed also spread to the rest of the population. It becomes delusional when he asserts that Ferdinand was the best leader the country has ever had.

Bongbong is aware of the issues raised in the past against the “conjugal dictatorship” of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. He argues that “history should be left to analysts,” but believes that the Marcos “legacy” would boost his bid in the 2016 vice-presidential race. Bongbong and his family refuse to recognize that the “analysts” have already rendered a verdict on the Marcos legacy.

Take the myth of Maharlika, the guerrilla unit that Ferdinand supposedly organized and led from 1942 to 1944 in operations all over Luzon, whose exploits earned for him 32 medals for heroism. There is adequate documentation for three medals, which we should commend. But the other awards, from Alfred W. McCoy’s archival research, were figments of Ferdinand’s imagination, invented to support a scam. Investigations conducted by the Pentagon concluded that his Maharlika unit roster was a fabrication to support claims for American back-pay benefits. Its proclaimed achievements were “fraudulent,” “preposterous,” and advancing them is a “malicious, criminal act.”

The luck of Bongbong Marcos

By: Edilberto C. de Jesus
Philippine Daily Inquirer
October 17th, 2015

“I am the luckiest person that I know and being a Marcos is part of that and I am very happy that I was born into the Marcos family,” said Bongbong Marcos.

Obvious ba? Did Bongbong really have to rub this in?

When he was born in 1957, his father, Ferdinand Marcos, was already completing a third term in Congress. Two years later, Ferdinand won a seat in the Senate, from where he launched two successful presidential campaigns. Faced with term limits, he then imposed a martial law regime that enabled him to retain supreme power for another 14 years. There were few disadvantages for the only son of the Philippines’ most powerful politician.

these activists are overdoing it; what's a windmill for if don quixote can't get near?  will this mean the end of 'the impossible dream' singing in karaoke bars with GROs? 

kumusta pod ka, sir fd? okay pa ta dinhi. as long as tubagbohol exists, it remains a virtual place that we can always come home to, bahalag bisag asa na ta nagkasaag-saag.

In Europe, many opponents of immigration say Muslims should be kept out because they bring their wars and feuds with them. But even several million immigrants distributed across the European Union would account for less than 1 percent of the general population, and very few locals would take part in such imported conflicts. Jihadists posing as migrants might, of course, conduct terrorist attacks, but that risk exists without refugees. Besides, the political and humanitarian practices in Western societies, as well as a more even distribution of wealth, have a calming effect. Research has shown that first-generation immigrants in the U.S. commit fewer crimes than locals.

It would be nice if the Gulf states opened their doors wider to Syria's refugees. Yet Europeans and Americans shouldn't try to shift attention to the petro-states' perceived indifference, so that they can do less themselves. The West is much better equipped for the task of handling this human fallout from the catastrophe underway in the Middle East, and Europe needs the people who are coming in.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

bloomberg.net

To these countries, letting in more foreigners doesn't just mean sharing the (shrinking) oil wealth, but increasing the potential for political, ethnic and sectarian tension.

The fine distinctions of politics and faith, which are often invisible to Westerners, matter in the Middle East. They produce wars that are as devastating as they are difficult for outsiders to comprehend.

It's not important that Syrians don't feel welcome in Saudi Arabia and the other petro-states, and therefore don't want to go there. If Europe devises a workable quota system for refugees, many will end up in countries where they had never contemplated living, like Bulgaria or Lithuania. It does, however, make sense that they don't end up in countries where their presence could turn an unsteady equilibrium into chaos.

In Egypt, which initially welcomed Syrians, the regime of president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi suspects the refugees of having links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Sisi has vowed to eradicate, so entry has become more difficult and there have been deportations.

In the Gulf states, potential problems are complicated by the already large expatriate populations: In some of them, locals are outnumbered by workers from neighboring Arab states, India and Southeast Asia.

Sectarian difficulties have already surfaced in Muslim countries that have been open to displaced Syrians, upsetting often fragile ethnic and religious balances. In Turkey, Syrians initially settled in the province of Hatay, which has a sizable Arab Alawite minority. The local Alawites weren't welcoming and the Turkish government made an effort to resettle the refugees. Elsewhere, it became clear that local Christian minorities were scared of the newcomers, too. Kurdish refugees, though Sunni like most Turks, were best directed to areas with bigger Kurdish populations. In general, the longer the refugees stayed, the more the locals resented them and perceived them as a threat.

In Lebanon, where the Sunni-Shia balance is especially fine, the authorities are afraid of further tipping it in favor of Sunnis, given the tendency of the Shia Hezbollah militias to react violently to any provocation. There are now visa restrictions in place for new arrivals and renewing residency has been made more difficult for those already in Lebanon.

One could still argue, however, that even Othman's figure isn't enough relative to the Saudi population of almost 31 million, especially given its role in funding and arming one side in the conflict. Lebanon has accepted 1.3 million refugees -- more than a quarter of its population.

There are reasons, however, why Saudi Arabia doesn't let in more people and why the United Arab Emirates prefer to pay to equip and maintain refugee camps in other countries, close to Syrian borders.


Generous to a point

An overwhelming majority of the displaced Syrians are Sunni Muslims. Of the paltry 1,519 Syrians the U.S. has taken in since 2011, 1,415 were Sunnis. The Saudi population is also predominantly Sunni. There's a catch, however: Many Sunni areas of Syria have served as a base for the Islamic State, which the Saudi and U.A.E. air forces are helping to bomb. Islamic State is hostile to the Saudi regime, and it's important to them whether the refugees are fleeing Islamic State or the bombings.

Why Don't Gulf States Accept More Refugees?

SEPT 4, 2015 10:26 AM EDT
By Leonid Bershidsky

Calls are getting louder for the oil-rich Gulf states to take in more Syrian refugees. In the Arab world itself, the opinion that they are not doing enough is widespread. Those countries, however, may not really be suitable destinations for the asylum seekers -- precisely because of their often deceptive cultural closeness to most of the Syrians fleeing the conflict.

The widely held opinion that Saudi Arabia, the biggest of the Gulf nations, hasn't taken in a single refugee may well be incorrect. Nabil Othman, acting regional representative to the Gulf region at the United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, told Bloomberg there were 500,000 Syrians in that country. Saudi Arabia, like all of the Gulf states, is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention, so these displaced people are not officially designated as refugees.

John Burgess, Former US diplomat with experience primarily in the Middle East

28k Views • John has 1,430+ answers and 26 endorsements in International Relations.

Primarily because those Gulf States don't want to take in refugees. They'd rather spend money to help the refugees... elsewhere. They may take in a few thousand for the sake of PR, but they just don't want them.

These countries are already under some stresses of their own. Saudi Arabia, for example, has severe unemployment. The Saudi gov't put the number around 7% (for men). Other say the number is closer to 35%.

These countries are also among the hardest in the world in which a foreigner can obtain citizenship. Even those foreigners whose fathers or grandfathers have been working in the country cannot obtain citizenship. They're not just going to open their doors for tens of thousands of unknowns.

Then there's the problem of the baggage those refugees are carrying, starting with the expectations of a status quo like they left in Syria, pre-civil war. Syrian culture is not Saudi culture. Syrian religious minorities would find no welcome anyway as only Muslims can be Saudis.

And then there's the fact that the Saudi government intensely dislikes the Syrian government. It considers it to be not only corrupt, but in the fist of both the Iranians and Russians. Neither of those are favorites of the Saudis. They and the UAE, for example, are busy bombing ISIS in Syria because they believe the Syrian government has failed its own people. The sooner al-Assad is gone, the happier the Gulf States will be. And then there won't be as much of a refugee crises.


for more answers: https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-Muslim-refugees-go-to-well-off-Middle-Eastern-countries-instead-of-going-to-Europe-Shouldnt-wealthy-Arab-countries-provide-more-help-How-many-refugees-are-wealthy-Arab-countries-taking

Why don't Muslim refugees go to well-off Middle Eastern countries instead of going to Europe? Shouldn't wealthy Arab countries provide more help? How many refugees are wealthy Arab countries taking?

Why are Syrians fleeing to European countries like Sweden and Germany rather than seeking refuge with Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or the UAE?

Given the emphasis in Islam on brotherhood and solidarity among those of their religion, why haven't Arab-, or Muslim-majority countries opened their doors to the Syrian refugees?

Minimize your risk.

Getting enough calcium from food sources is key, Watts says: "For those who fall short, a modest calcium supplement would be desirable." The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends the following: Women 50 and younger should get 1,000 mg of calcium from all sources daily, and women 51 and older need 1,200 mg. The NOF suggests men 70 and younger take 1,000 mg of calcium daily, while those 71 and up should take 1,200 mg. In addition to calcium, most adults under 50 need 400 to 800 international units of vitamin D daily, and most adults 50 and older need 800 to 1,000 IU daily, according to the foundation.

Samantha Costa is a Health + Wellness reporter at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at scosta@usnews.com.

yahoo.com

Other medications

Other drugs shown to cause bone loss include: antacids that contain aluminum for heartburn; chemotherapy drugs; cyclosporine and tacrolimus used for the prevention of organ transplant rejection; heparin for blood clot prevention; loop diuretics such as furosemide and torsemide to treat heart failure; edema and some kidney problems; medroxyprogesterone acetate for contraception; methotrexate for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis; and thiazolidinediones -- or TZDs -- such as pioglitazone or rosiglitazone used to treat diabetes.

Antidepressants

Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors -- or SSRIs -- are a class of antidepressants used to treat major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. They include fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, paroxetine, escitalopram, dapoxetine, mesembrine, seproxetine and zimelidine. Research doesn't show what dose or length of treatment is necessary to increase risk. "If somebody is on those medications, if nothing else, it's an alert for people to think about bone health," Singer says. "And ask their health care provider, 'Might I be at risk? Should I be evaluated, and what can I do to minimize that risk?'"

Anti-seizure medicines

Epilepsy -- a common, chronic neurological disease -- can have life-threatening outcomes if left untreated, but medicines used to treat it, such as phenytoin and phenobarbital, can cause bone loss, Singer says. The risk for such a side effect varies per person. Patients taking anti-seizure medications should never hesitate to ask their doctor about the best ways they can improve their bone health while being treated for epilepsy or other conditions, Watts says.

Hormone therapies

Drugs used to treat thyroid disorders should be carefully monitored, says Dr. Joseph Lane, orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery, professor of orthopedic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and a spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. People with hypothyroidism whose medications are managed properly usually don't encounter problems. However, people on higher doses for thyroid cancer may have an increased risk for bone loss. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists -- medications that mimic the body's ability to boost hormone levels -- are frequently used to treat endometriosis, prostate cancer or female infertility and may pose an increased risk for bone loss.

Glucocorticoids or corticosteroids

Oral and intravenous forms of glucocorticoids or corticosteroids, including cortisone, dexamethasone, methylprednisolone and prednisone, are used to treat asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, lupus, allergies, cancer and autoimmune conditions. Singer says the risk for osteoporosis depends on duration and strength of the medicine. For example, taking steroid medicines at 5 mg or more for three months or longer can increase the risk for bone loss and osteoporosis, she says. If you're concerned, talk to your doctor about a bone density test, says Dr. Nelson Watts, a spokesman with the Endocrine Society and director of Mercy Health Physicians' osteoporosis and bone health services in Cincinnati.

[These Medicines May Cause Bone Loss

US News By Samantha Costa
16 October 2015

Know your risk.

Some medications can lead to bone loss or weakening if they're used in high doses over a long time frame. This bone loss -- or osteoporosis -- increases the risk for fractures, which can be painful and disabling, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. "Patients should ask their health care providers about their risk for osteoporosis and fractures," says Dr. Andrea Singer, clinical director for the National Osteoporosis Foundation and a bone specialist at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Here's a look at some medications that could lead to bone loss:

the revenge of the carabaos!

may the human heal soon.

John Berg had to sell the idea of this cover to the diva herself, at her peak then, who "nobody would touch with a ten-foot pole"

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Born to Run. Berg: Bruce Springsteen and Eric Meola, the photographer, came up unannounced one day with pictures from a photo session they had done on their own.  Springsteen wanted to use a picture that looked like what John Updike used on the back of his books.  I hated that kind of stuff.  We already had one of those [The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle] and we managed to mess with the type so that it was acceptable to me.  I said, "leave me all the contact sheets."  One of my unfailing good traits is I will actually look at your pictures.  All of them.  I mean relentlessly.  I will find stuff the photographer never knew was there.  Among the photos there were three or four shots, all more or less the same.  But in this one they were just breaking up, or whatever the emotion was. It was perfect. It oozes charm.  So I told to Springsteen and Meola that I wanted to use it as fold-out cover. I said, "Now I gotta try and sell this thing upstairs to management because the cost is twice as much to print a gatefold."  The product manager came down and said, "We love it!"  But I cooked all that up.  What I was doing was I selling Springsteen the idea to avoid having another John Updike cover.

from http://www.cooper.edu/art/news/john-bergs-greatest-hits