NEW YORK—(ENEWSPF)—December 20, 2013. The New York City Council voted yesterday to ban the use of e-cigarettes in bars, offices and even outdoors in public parks. The Council approved the ban 43 to 8, and the new law will go into effect in four months. I know first-hand about smoking,[Read More…]
Year: 2013
A Simple Eye Test for Multiple Sclerosis
Photo via Wikimedia Commons. AUSTRALIA–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. As you step outdoors into the bright sunshine, your pupils automatically contract. Scientists from the Australian Centre of Excellence in Vision Science (ACEVS) based at The Australian National University (ANU) are making use of how this ‘pupil reflex’ is connected to the brain[Read More…]
Chickless Birds Guard Nests of Relatives
Cooperatively-breeding speckled warbler (left) feeding a black-eared cuckoo fledgling (right). Credit: David Cook. AUSTRALIA–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. New research has found some birds choose not to reproduce so they can guard the nests of their close relatives. “One of the mysteries of evolutionary biology is why, in about nine per cent[Read More…]
FDA Proposes New Food Defense Rule
Proposed rule marks the 6th issued under FDA Food Safety Modernization Act this year Silver Spring, Maryland—(ENEWSPF)—December 20, 2013. As required by the bipartisan FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today proposed a rule that would require the largest food businesses in the United States and[Read More…]
Center for Constitutional Rights Urges Ugandan President Museveni to Reject Anti-Homosexuality Bill
New York –(ENEWSPF)—December 20, 2013. Today, in response to reports that Ugandan lawmakers passed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement: We stand with our clients Sexual Minorities Uganda and other partners in Uganda who are urging President Museveni to reject the bill passed in[Read More…]
US Civil Society Leaders Call on State Department to Denounce Attack on US Human Rights Defender by Honduran Military Officer
New York—(ENEWSPF)—December 20, 2013. Today, 33 representatives of U.S. human rights, labor and faith organizations sent a letter to Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, asking that the U.S. government “firmly and publicly condemn” a verbal attack directed at human rights defender Annie Bird by Honduran[Read More…]
U.S. Bank Funds Dirty Mine in Australia
Aussie Mine Magnate Gina Rinehart Gets $695 Million Subsidy to Buy from U.S. Corporations for Roy’s Hill Mine Port Hedland iron ore facility with mangrove and wetlands, Pilbara region of Western Australia. Photo by Teri Shore, SeaTurtles.org, 2009 AUSTRALIA–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. Yesterday the U.S. Export-Import Bank approved US $694 million[Read More…]
Senator Merkley Introduces Legislation To Clarify Retroactivity Rules For Healthcare
WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. Today, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley introduced legislation to ensure that Oregonians who try to sign up for health insurance through Cover Oregon can get coverage for the full month of January and any subsidy they are eligible for even if their information is not processed until later[Read More…]
The Netherlands: Victory for Transgender Rights
Surgery Requirement to Change Official Gender Repealed Amsterdam–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. The law on transgender rights that the Dutch Senate approved on December 18, 2013, is an important step toward equality, Human Rights Watch said today. The new law will allow transgender people to change the gender marker in their official[Read More…]
On 5th Anniversary of Coal Ash Spill, TVA Quietly Abandons A Promise
Plans to convert to safer coal ash disposal at all TVA power plants now seemingly in limbo Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. Five years after the nation’s largest coal ash spill, the Tennessee Valley Authority—owner of the Kingston Power Plant in Tennessee, where the spill occurred—now seems to be ignoring its[Read More…]
