British agency GCHQ's involvement in the NSA's global surveillance have some drawing parallels with the phone-hacking scandal that rocked the British media.
By Sara Miller Llana,?Staff writer / June 17, 2013
Rebekah Brooks (c.), former News International chief executive, leaves Southwark Crown Court in London where she appeared to face charges related to phone hacking earlier this month. Some are drawing parallels between the phone hacking scandal and the revelations of broad surveillance of phone calls and email by British spy agency GCHQ and its US counterpart, the NSA.
Sang Tan/AP
Enlarge
The Guardian newspaper?s allegations that British intelligence agents spied on foreign diplomats at a G20 summit surely comes at an awkward moment in foreign policy circles: just as leaders gathered for the G8 in Northern Ireland.
Skip to next paragraph Sara Miller Llana
Europe Bureau Chief
Sara Miller Llana?moved to Paris in April 2013 to become the Monitor's Europe Bureau?Chief. Previously she was the?paper's?Latin America Bureau Chief, based in Mexico City, from 2006 to 2013.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
But it also comes at a sensitive moment for Britain itself, still reeling from the phone hacking of British media giants that has brought privacy issues to the fore of the public debate.
?The issue of the ease with which organizations can both collect and then publicize information is transforming society?s understanding about what is and what is not confidential,? says?Martin Moore of the London-based Media Standards Trust, a charity advocating more ethical practices in the British press.
The most recent allegations, against the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), are based on documents provided by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward?Snowden. The British newspaper reported Sunday night that the agency?spied on the phone calls and emails of diplomats who were visiting London during a G20 summit in 2009. This included setting up and tapping an Internet?caf??and?hacking the communications of the South African foreign ministry and a Turkish delegation.
The revelation comes after Mr.?Snowden?provided documentation, also to the Guardian and The Washington Post, disclosing the surveillance of common citizens by the US government in its ongoing anti-terrorism fight ? a revelation that had dismayed Europe.
But the GCHQ?scandal raises questions that relate to the 2011 phone-hacking scandal in British media, says Mr. Moore. In the earlier scandal, information that public figures and newsmakers considered private was accessible by corporations, creating a "digital footprint" and the ?potential for misuse,? he says ? much like the GCHQ spying, just with the government, instead of media corporations, doing the hacking of the public's data.
This case will turn attention to the access that governments?have to information considered private. ?We?re going to see many more conversations about what the safeguards ought to be and whether there ought to be greater openness from governments as to what [information] they are collecting and how they are using it,? Moore says.
Just this month, Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, pleaded not guilty in court in London to charges including intercepting voice-mail messages in a scandal that eventually spread to officials and other news organizations.
?The phone-hacking scandal produced massive reaction," says James Curran, director of the media studies center at the University of London, and left a society sensitive to the powers of new technologies.?
?Powerful institutions in society are now enabled through new communications technology to probe private letters without sufficient public-interest justification,? he says. The discontent has spanned the political spectrum, with both the right and left condemning an erosion of privacy. ?My hunch is there will be enormous fuss, like a snowball that gets bigger and bigger.?
James G. Hill: Why I Carry: Having A Firearm Is Like Having Insurance | Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press:
Two years ago, I was followed into a convenience store in northwest Detroit by two young men who were acting a bit too peculiar -- and paying me a bit too much attention.
They didn't do anything specific to raise my suspicion, but I've lived in big cities long enough to know when I ought to keep my eyes peeled. Something just didn't feel right.
Two years ago, I was followed into a convenience store in northwest Detroit by two young men who were acting a bit too peculiar -- and paying me a bit too much attention.
They didn't do anything sp...
Two years ago, I was followed into a convenience store in northwest Detroit by two young men who were acting a bit too peculiar -- and paying me a bit too much attention.
They didn't do anything sp...
Filed by Kate Abbey-Lambertz ?|?
? "); window.HPAds.ad_reload('conversation_300x250_req', 'conv_overlay_ads'); } }, login_prompt: function() { if ( window.HPConnect ) { window.HPConnect.Login(); return true; } return false; }, get_user_token: function() { if ( window.huff && window.huff.units && window.huff.units.user && window.Conversations.phpjs && window.Conversations.phpjs.md5 ) { return window.Conversations.phpjs.md5(window.huff.units.user.id); } } }; var Conversations = window.Conversations.require('Conversations:Conversations'); window.Conversations.app = new Conversations(); window.Conversations.app.initialize(config); // If the app did not initialize properly, display a message and exit if ( window.Conversations.app.isInitialized() === false ) { window.Conversations.app.die(); } }); "; var coords = [-5, -78]; if( HPConfig.current_vertical_name == 'homepage' ) { coords = [-5, -70]; } else if( HPConfig.current_vertical_name == 'mapquest' ) { coords = [-5, -68]; } FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });
(Reuters) - U.S. hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp will buy smaller rival Vanguard Health Systems Inc for $4.3 billion including debt to expand into new geographies.
The offer of $21 per share represents a premium of 70 percent to Vanguard's Friday close. Vanguard shares were up 66 percent at $20.51 in thin trading before the bell.
The companies said the deal includes the assumption of $2.5 billion of debt.
Tenet said it expects the deal to add to earnings in the first year and estimates annual savings of $100 million to $200 million.
"This acquisition will take Tenet into new geographic markets, expand the breadth of our service offerings, diversify our earnings sources and increase the benefits we expect to realize under healthcare reform," Tenet CEO Trevor Fetter said in a statement on Monday.
Tenet has hospitals in California, Texas, several states in the U.S. Southeast and in Pennsylvania.
Vanguard owns and operates 28 acute care and specialty hospitals in the U.S. Midwest, South and Massachusetts.
U.S. hospital stocks have rallied this year as investors expect the companies to benefit from President Barack Obama's healthcare reform that will expand insurance coverage to more Americans. The reform has also spurred consolidation in the sector.
Tenet has secured fully committed financing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher was Tenet's legal counsel and Lazard, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Teneo Capital were financial and strategic advisers.
Vanguard was advised by J.P. Morgan. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was legal counsel.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
(Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)
By using our site, you consent to this privacy policy: This website allows third-party advertising companies for the purpose of reporting website traffic, statistics, advertisements, "click-throughs" and/or other activities to use Cookies and /or Web Beacons and other monitoring technologies to serve ads and to compile anonymous statistics about you when you visit this website. Cookies are small text files stored on your local internet browser cache. A Web Beacon is an often-transparent graphic image, usually no larger than 1 pixel x 1 pixel that is placed on a Web site. Both are created for the main purpose of helping your browser process the special features of websites that use Cookies or Web Beacons. The gathered information about your visits to this and other websites are used by these third party companies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. The information do not include any personal data like your name, address, email address, or telephone number. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.
La Jolla Institute discovers new player critical to unleashing T cells against diseasePublic release date: 23-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bonnie Ward contact@liai.org 619-991-0868 La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology
Nature-published study reveals previously unknown role of septin proteins
SAN DIEGO (June 23, 2013) A major study from researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology provides new revelations about the intricate pathways involved in turning on T cells, the body's most important disease-fighting cells, and was published today in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.
The La Jolla Institute team is the first to prove that a certain type of protein, called septins, play a critical role in activating a calcium channel on the surface of the T cell. The channel is the portal through which calcium enters T cells from the blood stream, an action essential for the T cell's survival, activation, and ability to fight disease.
Patrick Hogan and Anjana Rao, Ph.D.s, are senior authors on the paper and Sonia Sharma and Ariel Quintana, Ph.D.s, are co-first authors. Drs. Sharma, Rao and Hogan are former researchers at Harvard Medical School with high-level genetics expertise who joined the La Jolla Institute in 2010. Dr. Quintana conducted advanced microscopy that was a major aspect of the study.
Dr. Hogan describes the discovery as another important step in understanding the overall functioning of T cells knowledge from which new, more precisely targeted drugs to treat diseases ranging from cancer to viral infections can emerge. "It's like working on an engine, you have to know what all the parts are doing to repair it," he says. "We want to understand the basic machinery inside a T cell. This will enable us to target the specific pressure points to turn up a T cell response against a tumor or virus or to turn it down in the case of autoimmune diseases."
The findings were published in a Nature paper entitled "An siRNA screen for NFAT activation identifies septins as coordinators of store-operated Ca2+ entry."
"We have found that the septin protein is a very strong regulator of the calcium response, which is essential for activating immune cells," says Dr. Sharma, who was recently appointed to a faculty position, and now leads her own independent laboratory at the La Jolla Institute, in addition to serving as scientific director of the newly established RNAi screening center.
Dr. Hogan says the discovery took the research team by surprise. "We knew septins existed in the cellular plasma (surface) membrane, but we didn't know they had anything to do with calcium signaling," he says. Septins are known to build scaffolding to provide structural support during cell division.
This finding builds on Dr. Rao and Dr. Hogan's groundbreaking discovery in 2006 showing that the protein ORAI1 forms the pore of the calcium channel. The channel's entryway had been one of the most sought after mysteries in biomedical science because it is the gateway to T cell functioning and, consequently, to better understanding how the body uses these cells to fight disease.
To the research team's surprise, the septins were forming a ring around the calcium channel. "We aren't sure why, but we theorize that the septins are rearranging the cellular membrane's structure to "corral" the key proteins STIM and ORAI1, and maybe other factors needed for the calcium channel to operate," says Dr. Hogan.
Dr. Sharma adds that, "essentially we believe the septins are choreographing the interaction of these two proteins that are important in instigating the immune response." Without the septins' involvement, T cell activation does not occur.
In the study, the researchers devised a simple visual readout of activity in a main pathway responsible for activation of T cells the same pathway that is targeted by the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporin A that is used clinically and looked for impairment of the activity when individual genes were, in effect, deleted. After sorting through the roughly 20,000 human genes, they turned up 887 gene "hits," says Dr. Hogan.
With further experiments, they should be able to classify those hits into genes that affect the calcium channel itself and genes that act later in the pathway. "We are hopeful that one or more of these genes can be used as a clinical target for new drugs to treat transplant rejection and immune diseases, some of the same indications now treated with cyclosporine A," adds Dr. Hogan. He believes that a medication aimed at an early step of calcium entry through the ORAI channel could be more effective and have fewer side effects than cyclosporin A, which targets a later step in the pathway and can cause complications such as kidney disease.
###
About La Jolla Institute
Founded in 1988, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology is a nonprofit, independent biomedical research institute focused on improving human health through increased understanding of the immune system. Its scientists carry out research seeking new knowledge leading to the prevention of disease through vaccines and the treatment and cure of infectious diseases, cancer, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, Crohn's disease and asthma. La Jolla Institute's research staff includes more than 150 Ph.D.s and M.D.s. To learn more about the Institute's work, visit http://www.lji.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
La Jolla Institute discovers new player critical to unleashing T cells against diseasePublic release date: 23-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bonnie Ward contact@liai.org 619-991-0868 La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology
Nature-published study reveals previously unknown role of septin proteins
SAN DIEGO (June 23, 2013) A major study from researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology provides new revelations about the intricate pathways involved in turning on T cells, the body's most important disease-fighting cells, and was published today in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.
The La Jolla Institute team is the first to prove that a certain type of protein, called septins, play a critical role in activating a calcium channel on the surface of the T cell. The channel is the portal through which calcium enters T cells from the blood stream, an action essential for the T cell's survival, activation, and ability to fight disease.
Patrick Hogan and Anjana Rao, Ph.D.s, are senior authors on the paper and Sonia Sharma and Ariel Quintana, Ph.D.s, are co-first authors. Drs. Sharma, Rao and Hogan are former researchers at Harvard Medical School with high-level genetics expertise who joined the La Jolla Institute in 2010. Dr. Quintana conducted advanced microscopy that was a major aspect of the study.
Dr. Hogan describes the discovery as another important step in understanding the overall functioning of T cells knowledge from which new, more precisely targeted drugs to treat diseases ranging from cancer to viral infections can emerge. "It's like working on an engine, you have to know what all the parts are doing to repair it," he says. "We want to understand the basic machinery inside a T cell. This will enable us to target the specific pressure points to turn up a T cell response against a tumor or virus or to turn it down in the case of autoimmune diseases."
The findings were published in a Nature paper entitled "An siRNA screen for NFAT activation identifies septins as coordinators of store-operated Ca2+ entry."
"We have found that the septin protein is a very strong regulator of the calcium response, which is essential for activating immune cells," says Dr. Sharma, who was recently appointed to a faculty position, and now leads her own independent laboratory at the La Jolla Institute, in addition to serving as scientific director of the newly established RNAi screening center.
Dr. Hogan says the discovery took the research team by surprise. "We knew septins existed in the cellular plasma (surface) membrane, but we didn't know they had anything to do with calcium signaling," he says. Septins are known to build scaffolding to provide structural support during cell division.
This finding builds on Dr. Rao and Dr. Hogan's groundbreaking discovery in 2006 showing that the protein ORAI1 forms the pore of the calcium channel. The channel's entryway had been one of the most sought after mysteries in biomedical science because it is the gateway to T cell functioning and, consequently, to better understanding how the body uses these cells to fight disease.
To the research team's surprise, the septins were forming a ring around the calcium channel. "We aren't sure why, but we theorize that the septins are rearranging the cellular membrane's structure to "corral" the key proteins STIM and ORAI1, and maybe other factors needed for the calcium channel to operate," says Dr. Hogan.
Dr. Sharma adds that, "essentially we believe the septins are choreographing the interaction of these two proteins that are important in instigating the immune response." Without the septins' involvement, T cell activation does not occur.
In the study, the researchers devised a simple visual readout of activity in a main pathway responsible for activation of T cells the same pathway that is targeted by the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporin A that is used clinically and looked for impairment of the activity when individual genes were, in effect, deleted. After sorting through the roughly 20,000 human genes, they turned up 887 gene "hits," says Dr. Hogan.
With further experiments, they should be able to classify those hits into genes that affect the calcium channel itself and genes that act later in the pathway. "We are hopeful that one or more of these genes can be used as a clinical target for new drugs to treat transplant rejection and immune diseases, some of the same indications now treated with cyclosporine A," adds Dr. Hogan. He believes that a medication aimed at an early step of calcium entry through the ORAI channel could be more effective and have fewer side effects than cyclosporin A, which targets a later step in the pathway and can cause complications such as kidney disease.
###
About La Jolla Institute
Founded in 1988, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology is a nonprofit, independent biomedical research institute focused on improving human health through increased understanding of the immune system. Its scientists carry out research seeking new knowledge leading to the prevention of disease through vaccines and the treatment and cure of infectious diseases, cancer, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, Crohn's disease and asthma. La Jolla Institute's research staff includes more than 150 Ph.D.s and M.D.s. To learn more about the Institute's work, visit http://www.lji.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
This photo taken on Thursday, June 20, 2013 shows the new office of the Afghan Taliban in Doha, Qatar after the opening of the office several days ago. The United States on Thursday welcomed Qatar's decision to take down a sign that cast the Taliban's new office in Doha as a rival Afghan embassy saying the militant group can't represent itself "as an emirate, government or sovereign." (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)
This photo taken on Thursday, June 20, 2013 shows the new office of the Afghan Taliban in Doha, Qatar after the opening of the office several days ago. The United States on Thursday welcomed Qatar's decision to take down a sign that cast the Taliban's new office in Doha as a rival Afghan embassy saying the militant group can't represent itself "as an emirate, government or sovereign." (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)
This photo was taken on Thursday, June 20, 2013 shows the Taliban flag visible through a gap in a wall of the new office of the Afghan Taliban in Doha, Qatar after the opening of the office several days ago. The United States on Thursday welcomed Qatar's decision to take down a sign that cast the Taliban's new office in Doha as a rival Afghan embassy saying the militant group can't represent itself "as an emirate, government or sovereign." (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, greets Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani for their dinner meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Kerry began an overseas trip plunging into two thorny foreign policy problems facing the Obama administration: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, walks through the airport with Ambassador Ibrahim Fakhroo, Qatari Chief of Protocol, left, after being greeted on arrival in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Kerry began an overseas trip plunging into two thorny foreign policy problems facing the Obama administration: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
This photo was taken on Thursday, June 20, 2013 shows the Taliban flag visible through a gap in a wall of the new office of the Afghan Taliban in Doha, Qatar after the opening of the office several days ago. The United States on Thursday welcomed Qatar's decision to take down a sign that cast the Taliban's new office in Doha as a rival Afghan embassy saying the militant group can't represent itself "as an emirate, government or sovereign." (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)
DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? The Taliban signaled a willingness to meet demands to keep their flag lowered as the U.S. warned Saturday that their newly opened political office in Qatar might have to be closed as talks aimed at ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan remained in limbo.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the ball was in the Islamic militant movement's court, urging the Taliban to step back from the brink and begin what he called the "difficult" road ahead. He said the main U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan was in Doha and "waiting to find out whether the Taliban will respond."
The Taliban's office opened Tuesday to much fanfare and a simultaneous announcement that U.S. officials would begin formal talks with Taliban representatives, which eventually would be joined by the Afghan government raised hopes that the long-stalled peace process aimed at ending Washington's longest war could finally begin. But it ran into trouble from the outset when Afghan President Hamid Karzai temporarily withdrew from talks to protest the Taliban's use of its old flag and a sign bearing the name of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which the movement used during its five-year rule that ended in 2001 with the U.S.-led invasion.
After intervention from the Qatar government, the flag was lowered and the sign changed to the "Political Bureau of the Taliban Afghan in Doha." Both the U.S. and the Qataris said the Taliban had agreed on the pre-approved name but violated the pact at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
A Taliban spokesman in Doha, Shaheen Suhail, suggested the Taliban were willing to move forward despite "much anger" among some members over the removal of the name and the lowering of the Taliban flag ? a white flag emblazoned with a Quranic verse in black.
"In the past 12 years, the opening of the political office is the first ray in the direction of peace in Afghanistan," Suhail said. "Those who want real peace in the county should support this move. These are the first days. There should not be high expectations to see everything resolved in one day, nor should there be disappointments."
He told The Associated Press in a telephone call that the U.S. had not contacted the Taliban yet to discuss a meeting.
James Dobbins, U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, arrived in Doha on Saturday.
Kerry, in the Qatari capital for separate talks on Syria's civil war, said the Americans and the Afghan government's High Peace Council were ready, and he encouraged the Taliban to remain in the process.
"Nothing comes easily in this endeavor, we understand that. The road ahead will be difficult, no question about it, if there is a road ahead," he said at a press conference, adding "it's really up to the Taliban to make that choice."
"It remains to be seen in this very first test whether or not the Taliban are prepared to do their part," he said.
Suhail for the first time suggested the Taliban were willing to discuss a cease-fire, as well as the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to train Afghan security forces after the end of the NATO combat mission in 2014. He even agreed to the rights of women being on the table, a nod to fears among women, mostly in Afghanistan's cities, that the Taliban would reinstate restrictive rules such as the mandatory wearing of the all- encompassing burqa. While most women in Afghanistan still wear the burqa, it was law during the Taliban rule. They also did not allow girls to attend school, which they have also backed away from.
"Yes there should be a cease-fire but first you have to talk about how to reach a cease-fire. How can it be done in one day?" he asked. "It can be part of the agenda and discussed, also foreign troops in Afghanistan can be part of the agenda, the general concern of the Afghan people, of the Afghan women can all be part of the agenda. It is only when this process goes forward can we make progress."
The Taliban earlier said they have agreed to free U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl ? a 27-year-old Hailey, Idaho, native who was captured four years ago June 30 in Afghanistan ? in exchange for five Taliban prisoners being held in the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In Kabul, a member of the government's negotiation team said it was still prepared to begin talks in Qatar and called the removal of the sign and flag was a positive sign.
High Peace Council member Shahzada Shahid said it was too early to say when members of the council would travel to Qatar for talks. "Peace is very important and vital for us so we will take all measures for it," he said.
Meanwhile on the battlefield, 18 Taliban militants were killed Saturday when they attacked a local security post in northern Afghanistan, sparking fighting that also left two Afghan policemen dead, Afghan officials said.
A militant attack also killed a coalition service member in the south on Saturday, NATO said. The statement did not provide a nationality or further details.
____
Gannon reported from Islamabad, Pakistan. Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez and David Rising contributed from Kabul.
___
Kathy Gannon is AP Special Regional Correspondent for Afghanistan and Pakistan and can be reached at www.twitter.com/kathygannon
PRAGUE (Reuters) - The junior party in the ruling Czech coalition, TOP09, backed a plan on Friday to nominate parliament speaker Miroslava Nemcova as the new prime minister following the resignation of Petr Necas in a spying and bribery scandal.
President Milos Zeman, a leftist who has criticized the outgoing cabinet, started meetings with party heads on Friday to find a new government.
The president has the sole right to appoint a prime minister. Zeman has not said if he will accept Nemcova or pick a prime minister of his choice.
He plans to announce his decision on Tuesday after a weekend of meetings. On Friday, he met with the ruling Civic Democrats and later TOP09.
TOP09's leader Karel Schwarzenberg said afterwards that Zeman may still prefer a technocratic government to lead the country before the next general election due in May next year.
"Of course he indicated that he would prefer (a technocratic government) but he did not particularly insist on it," Schwarzenberg said in comments broadcast on Czech Television.
"He went through all the merits and drawbacks of individual solutions."
Earlier in the day, TOP09 backed Nemcova of the Civic Democrats but at the same time demanded its coalition partner quickly find a replacement for her as head of the lower house, indicating there was horse-trading to be done in the days ahead.
"The Civic Democrats have to realize that the situation is serious and that they have to take the coalition partners into account," Schwarzenberg told reporters before meeting Zeman.
Martin Kuba, the acting Civic Democrat chief after Necas resigned, said he was ready to discuss the issue with TOP09.
The Civic Democrats took a severe hit in popularity after the scandal broke out, an opinion poll showed on Friday.
Police have charged eight people including Necas's closest aide Jana Nagyova. Some are accused of bribery and some with illegal spying on people including the prime minister's wife.
Nagyova is charged with ordering illegal spying. Prosecutors also accuse her of offering bribes, in the form of posts at state companies, to three parliamentary deputies last year in exchange for abandoning a rebellion against the prime minister.
A lawyer for Nagyova said she rejected the charges and had acted in good faith.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet and Robert Muller; Writing by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Andrew Roche)
East Asia and the Northwestern Pacific are home to some of the world?s biggest and most productive fisheries, with average yearly yields in the 20-24 million ton range (Ahlenius 2004). The region is home to many coral reefs and these fisheries provide food for a large percentage of the world?s population. The coral reefs are also some of the most important ecological sites in the world, home to thousands of marine species. These biologically diverse marine habitats these reefs continue to add ecological and economical value to the waters off of Eastern Asia through tourism, recreation, and extractable resources.
Offshore energy exploration allows nations to access additional fuel reserves and expand domestic industry, but there are many costs to consider. While large tracts of natural gas and oil occur in the seabed off the coast of East Asia in the Pacific Ocean they vary in degrees of difficulty and the resources needed to locate and extract these fuels. The process can be very lucrative and offshore drilling rigs are a common sight for many residents of coastal areas across the globe, but the hunt for these resources can be highly detrimental to the local ecosystems and other natural economic assets such as fisheries and tourist attractions.
Types of offshore energy extraction include drilling for oil and hydraulic fracking, both of which have large impacts on the environment in which they are done. For example, seismic mapping, the initial assessment and surveying for potential oil deposits, consists of blasting high decibel waves along the seafloor to map deposits and their sizes (CAOE 2010). The noise caused by the waves can injure and impair many different species of fish and marine wildlife. These disruptions, especially in a highly productive environment, could potentially damage populations to the point of impacting fisherman?s daily catches, bringing down local economies and making it more difficult for fishermen to provide for their families.
In addition, drilling also releases many toxic chemicals into the area, similar to the acidic heavy metal runoff created when mining on land. When used in close proximity to valuable ecological assets this concentration of chemicals can harm the reproductive cycles of fish and further exacerbate issues such as ocean acidification, a major factor in the decline in coral reefs (Boesch & Rabalais 2003).
Perhaps the greatest and most publicized impacts of offshore energy exploration are oil spills. Highly detrimental to the environment, a large-scale oil spill like the Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico can cause adverse effects decades into the future. While extensive risk assessment and planning are required before drilling commences, accidents resulting in spills still occur, often due to poor regulation, oversight, or maintenance (Boesch & Rabalais 2003).
Map illustrating the complexities of maritime claims in East Asia. With these overlapping and contested claims, rights to deep sea drilling sites may become debated and inter-country conflict may arise. Photo by TheEnergyReport.com
Another challenge that comes with oil spills is the clean up. In a region such as East Asia where many countries have access to the coast, a large-scale oil spill could create issues in determining the responsibility of clean up, and getting countries to act in conjunction to address a multinational problem. This would be further hindered by the large degree of territorial disputes among East Asian nations in terms of rightful ownership of areas with oil and natural gas reserves. Many lay claim to the ownership and rights to harvest these resources, but would each country defend their responsibility for a spill, or would a blame-game erupt and further destabilize the region?
When contemplating the benefits of offshore energy acquisition one must assess the amount of oil discovered and accurately predict how much of that reserve will be economically feasible to extract. Oil fields are not completely drained by a rig. Much of the field is typically too deep or under rock that takes too much cost/effort to recover, and the reported values for sites are often inflated (CAOE 2010). If a five billion barrel deposit is discovered but only two billion barrels are feasible to withdraw, a cost-benefit analysis must be done to see if the economic gain of drilling would outweigh the cost of setting up the site, combined with costs of damages done to the ecosystem. A large debate over the benefits of deep sea drilling versus detrimental effects to the environment has been sparked in many countries. Worldwide opposition to drilling has manifested in several forms including political figures and activism groups.
A major risk of offshore energy acquisition is the potential to disrupt or reduce the productivity of natural fisheries. As a multi-billion dollar a year industry, the Northwest Pacific?s fisheries are constantly at risk from complications induced by offshore energy exploration (Ahlenius 2004). The extraction of fuel resources largely benefits a few multinational corporations, while the negative environmental consequences of extraction are generally felt locally. Conversely, the livelihood of many fishermen depends upon the continued health of local ecosystems and the fish populations that depend on them. A reduction in fish stocks due to an oil spill could not only result in financial hardship for fishermen, but also expose the region to food shortages and increased prices at the market, having widespread socioeconomic impacts.
This image shows amount of fish caught as well as the diversity of catches in different fishing regions across the globe. It is notable to see the largest and most diverse catches occurring in the Northwestern Pacific along the coast of East Asia. Photo by World Fisheries Hotspots
While there are many anthropogenic factors impacting the ocean and coastal environments, offshore energy exploration has the potential to be one of the most detrimental. The search and extraction of resources not only has an effect on the aquatic ecosystems, it also includes the infrastructure and habitat destruction that occurs on land where the drilling company deposits and refines collected crude oil.
Waste-heat and other sources of pollution emitted by these onshore facilities can harm local wetlands, a factor that has been found to be decreasing mangrove populations in Eastern Asia (Haeruman 1988). Mangroves are vital to a coastal ecosystem for a variety of reasons ? not only are they a buffer for storms making land fall but they also filter and purify water, provide habitats for many species of young fish, and can act as a sustainable source of wood.
With the potential to put billions of dollars of fishery income at risk as well as the health of aquatic environments across the Northwestern Pacific and Eastern Asia, deep sea drilling may not continue to pass a cost-benefit analyses. Paired with ever-dwindling reserves and organized opposition that is gaining strength, deep water drilling will become increasingly more costly and difficult.
In a future where citizens are more aware and environmentally conscious; and renewable energies have begun to become more widespread, perhaps deep sea drilling can be eliminated in the near future. With greater bilateral support for biodiversity conservation and a push for energy innovation, our waters can be made safer through the eradication of using hydrocarbons as fuel and making the switch to sustainable, non-polluting energy sources.
Works Cited:
Ahlenius, H. (n.d.). World fisheries hotspots, 2004 | GRID-Arendal ? Maps & Graphics library. GRID-Arendal ? Home. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from http://www.grida.no/graphicslib/detail/world-fisheries-hotspots-2004_1537
Boesch, D., & Rabalais, N. (2003, October 4). Long-term Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil and Gas Development ? Google Books. Google Books. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0S7vDujiSDIC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=environmental+effects+of+offshore+drilling&ots=06Oh7BVZFg&sig=yN4LRSnc2xKHTT06FkPR3h5U10E#v=onepage&q&f=true
Haeruman, H. (1988). Conservation in Indonesia. Ambio. Vol. 17, No. 3, East Asian Seas, pp. 218-222. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/4313457?seq=1
No Offshore Oil Drilling: Committee Against Oil Exploration (CAOE). (2010, April 3). Culture Change. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=637&Itemid=1
Foundation. (n.d.). Not the Answer. surfrider.org. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from capefear.surfrider.org//Offshore_Drilling_fact_sheet.pdf
About the Author: Ryan Gobar is a junior in the Environmental Studies Program in the USC Dana and Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He hails from San Rafael in Marin County, California and is also a scientific and recreational diver.
Editor?s note: Scientific Research Diving at USC Dornsife is offered as part of an experiential summer program offered to undergraduate students of the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences through the Environmental Studies Program.?This course takes place on location at the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island and throughout Micronesia. Students investigate important environmental issues such as ecologically sustainable development, fisheries management, protected-area planning and assessment, and human health issues. During the course of the program, the student team will dive and collect data to support conservation and management strategies to protect the fragile coral reefs of Guam and Palau in Micronesia.
Instructors for the course include Jim Haw, Director of the Environmental Studies Program in USC Dornsife, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies David Ginsburg, Lecturer Kristen Weiss, SCUBA instructor and volunteer in the USC Scientific Diving Program Tom Carr and USC Dive Safety Officer Gerry Smith of the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies.
Previously in this series:
The 2013 Guam and Palau Expedition Begins A New Faculty Member on the Team An Analysis of Sargassum Horneri Ecosystem Impact Marine Protected Areas and Catalina Island: Conserve, Maintain and Enrich Northern Elephant Seals: Increasing Population, Decreasing Biodiversity The Relationship Between the Economy and Tourism on Catalina Island Guam and Palau 2013: New Recruits and New Experiences Bringing War to the ?Island of Peace? ? The Fight for the Preservation of Jeju-do Dreading the Dredging: Military Buildup on Guam and Implications for Marine Biodiversity in Apra Harbor Is the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Doing Enough? The Status of Fisheries in China: How deep will we have to dive to find the truth? The Philippines and Spratly Islands: A Losing Battle The Effects of Climate Change on Coral Reef Health The Senkaku/Diaoyu Island Dispute in the East China Sea The UNESCO World Heritage Site Selection Process Before and After the Storm: The Impacts of Typhoon Bopha on Palauan Reefs An interconnected environment and economy- Shark tourism in Palau A Persistent Case of Diabetes Mellitus in Guam Homo Denisova and Homo Floresiensis in Asia and the South Pacific Investigating the Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in Mexico Using Actam Chuleb as a Primary Example Okinawa and the U.S. military, post 1945
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 23-Jun-2013
Share ] 
