Monthly Archives: September 2016

S. Koreans shaken by their largest recorded earthquake

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Workers from a cultural property repair agency replacing roof tiles at a traditional building in the city of Gyeongju, South Korea, on Sept 19 – a week after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck the historic city on Sept 12. Although it was the most powerful earthquake to have hit the Korean Peninsula since records began in 1978, it did not cause any major damage.PHOTO: EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

More tremors felt in recent years; geologists warn of greater seismic movements to come

September 22, 2016

Chang May Choon     South Korea Correspondent In Seoul

Ms Lee Go Woon was having dinner with her family in the south-eastern port city of Busan when she felt the floor move, for about 30 seconds.

“I was quite surprised and didn’t know what to do because it was the first earthquake of my life,” said the assistant exhibition manager. “We never learnt how to deal with earthquakes because we always thought South Korea was safe from them.”

Ms Lee, 27, had two nights ago experienced an aftershock of South Korea’s biggest earthquake.

The 5.8-magnitude earthquake rocked most of the country on Sept 12, but did not cause any major damage. It was most strongly felt near the epicentre Gyeongju, a historical city in the south-eastern province of North Gyeongsang. Busan is 76km south-west of Gyeongju.

Fear is growing as aftershocks continue, and people are at a loss as to what to do. Some 400 aftershocks have been recorded, one of the latest being a magnitude 3.5 tremor that struck regions near Gyeongju around noon yesterday.

The Gyeongju earthquake is the most powerful to have hit the Korean Peninsula since records began in 1978. The last major seismic activity was a 5.3-magnitude earthquake that struck North Korea’s North Pyongan province in 1980.

SKOREA-QUAKE

South Korean Cultural Heritage Administration officials inspect Cheomseongdae, an astronomical observatory of the 7th century, in Gyeongju on Sepber 13, 2016 after a powerful quake hit the southern part of South Korea. South Korea was clearing up on September 13 after being struck by its most powerful earthquake since records began. The 5.4 magnitude quake on late september 12 sent people scurrying from buildings, unused to the kind of seismic events that regularly shake neighbouring Japan. / AFP PHOTO / YONHAP / YONHAP####################YONHAP

South Korea has been relatively safe from major earthquakes, but geologists have expressed concern over the rising number of tremors felt in recent years and warned of bigger seismic movements to come.

The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources said last week that its studies show that a magnitude 6.5 quake could strike the Korean Peninsula in future. Some geologists predict that a quake with an even more powerful magnitude of 7.0 could strike the country.

Experts warned that powerful earthquakes could result in mass casualties as many buildings are not built to withstand them. The country is no stranger to gentle tremors of magnitude 2.0, but rarely experiences quakes of 5.0 or above.

To ease public anxiety, the government has held talks to discuss emergency quake-relief measures for the future. Yesterday, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo Ahn said they need to fix a budget to provide administrative support and allow the meteorological administration to send mobile alerts to the public effectively.

The Land Ministry announced on Tuesday more stringent control over earthquake-proof building designs starting next year, including additional safety evaluations for buildings 50 stories and taller.

Some experts noted that the Gyeongju earthquake was caused by activity in the Yangsan fault line in North Gyeongsang, while others said that recent earthquakes that shook Japan have shifted fault lines under the Korean Peninsula.

There are also rumours that the quake was triggered by North Korea’s latest nuclear test on Sept 9. But Dr Wang Yu, a research fellow at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, told The Straits Times it is “unlikely” that both events are related because the distance between them is vast.

Dr Wang said that aftershocks will “continue in the coming months to years”, but based on historical records, the chances of another damaging quake hitting Gyeongju is “relatively low”.

Some residents are not taking any chances. JoongAng Ilbo newspaper cited a Gyeongju resident who is making plans to move out of the city.

Another slept in her greenhouse because it was on flat land. The paper also quoted a father, in nearby Ulsan, who has been practising running down the stairs from his 19th-storey home with his six-month-old baby, as “it’s better than just sitting there stricken with fear”.

There are calls for the authorities to pay more attention to the safety of the country’s nuclear reactors, which are built to withstand earthquakes up to magnitude 7.0.

“We’re worried how long the aftershocks will last, and whether they are just teasers to a more severe earthquake,” Ms Lee said. “Koreans have been complacent about earthquakes so far, but now we need systemic control and manuals.”

Source: S. Koreans shaken by their largest recorded earthquake, East Asia News & Top Stories – The Straits Times

Obesity gene FTO no barrier to weight loss, study shows

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Photo: John Slater/Getty Images

By Susan Rinkunas

September 21, 2016

This awful week just got worse: New research suggests that the so-called obesity gene is not to blame for your inability to lose weight.

There are almost 100 genes linked to obesity, but one in particular, FTO, has the strongest connection to weight in white and black people. (It’s involved in regulating how the body either turns calories into fat or burns them for heat.) For a paper in BMJ, researchers at Newcastle University looked at genetic data from more than 9,000 people enrolled in eight studies to see how the FTO gene affected weight loss.

The participants were randomly assigned to different weight-loss methods (including diet, exercise, and weight-loss drug) and in studies that ranged in length from eight weeks to three years. The researchers were surprised to find that having the mutation didn’t matter: There was no significant difference in changes in weight, BMI, or waist circumference.

Lead author John Mathers told Time, “We think this is good news — carrying the high risk [form of the gene] makes you more likely to be a bit heavier but it shouldn’t prevent you from losing weight. That should encourage people.” Oh yes, a lifetime of careful eating is super encouraging.

Source: Obesity Gene Can’t Be Blamed for Difficulty Losing Weight

Smoking Permanently Damages Human DNA, Study Says

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By Mary Pascaline Dharshini

September 21, 2016

A study found that smoking can damage the DNA, permanently altering nearly 7,000 genes that can contribute to the development of smoking-related illnesses. Most damage, which can be seen in clear patterns, heals over time but some remains.

The study published online Tuesday in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics found that smoking leaves its “footprint” on the genome through DNA methylation, the process by which cells control gene expression.

Researchers believe that this process could reveal the individual’s smoking history and help identify potential targets for therapy.

They added that this study is the largest one examining the effects of smoking on DNA methylation.

“These results are important because methylation, as one of the mechanisms of the regulation of gene expression, affects what genes are turned on, which has implications for the development of smoking-related diseases,” Stephanie J. London, last author and deputy chief of the Epidemiology Branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said in a statement.

“Equally important is our finding that even after someone stops smoking, we still see the effects of smoking on their DNA,” she added.

Researchers used blood samples collected from 16,000 people to analyze the DNA methylation sites across the human genome. The participants belonged to 16 groups from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Consortium and one group from the Framingham Heart Study.

Researchers compared the methylation sites in current and former smokers to those who had never smoked and found that nearly one-third of known human genes, or 7,000 genes, were altered due to smoking.

Most of the sites in people who quit smoking returned to levels seen in non-smokers within five years of quitting. But some DNA methylation sites remained damaged even after 30 years since quitting.

Researchers added that the affected sites may mark genes that are potentially important to former smokers who are still at an increased risk of developing certain diseases.

“Our study has found compelling evidence that smoking has a long-lasting impact on our molecular machinery, an impact that can last more than 30 years,” Roby Joehanes, first author and an instructor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in the statement.

“The encouraging news is that once you stop smoking, the majority of DNA methylation signals return to never smoker levels after five years, which means your body is trying to heal itself of the harmful impacts of tobacco smoking.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 40 million adults in the country smoked cigarettes.

Cigarette smoking accounts for one in every five deaths or over 480,000 deaths every year in the United States.

Source: Smoking Permanently Damages Human DNA, Study Says

Federal campaign in 2015 caused headaches for Elections Canada: report

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Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand says Elections Canada had hoped last year’s fixed election date would bring some predictability to their planning for the 2015 vote. But after then-prime minister Stephen Harper asked Gov. Gen. David Johnston to dissolve Parliament, Elections Canada had to deploy its field operations immediately, causing challenges.(CHRIS WATTIE / REUTERS)

By  JOANNA SMITH   The Canadian Press

September 21, 2016

OTTAWA—Elections Canada experienced some headaches dealing with the longest federal campaign in modern Canadian history, says a new report from the chief electoral officer.

Chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand said Elections Canada had hoped last year’s fixed election date would bring some predictability to their planning for the 2015 vote.

That went out the window, however, when then-prime minister Stephen Harper asked Gov. Gen. David Johnston to dissolve Parliament on Aug. 2, kicking the campaign into gear more than a month earlier than expected.

“The absence of a fixed start date, or a specified time range within which to conduct the election, resulted in significant deployment challenges and delays,” said the report released Wednesday.

Elections Canada plans to make recommendations on how to better define the duration of an election period in its upcoming report to Parliament, expected within the next two weeks.

The report said Elections Canada had been anticipating that the campaign period for the Oct. 19 election would be officially launched in mid-September.

The plan was to begin deploying field operations Sept. 1, which included finalizing temporary office leases, arranging for computer and telephone services, ordering election materials and hiring local office staff.

When the campaign got underway a full month earlier than expected, Elections Canada had to review its planning and deploy its field operations immediately.

That meant many returning officers had to renegotiate new leases for the 78-day writ period, with 107 of them having to find new office locations entirely.

The report said about 95 per cent of the returning offices were open within eight days of the election call, with the last one opened Aug. 18 and the last satellite office opened the next day.

For the 2011 election, all offices were up and running within three days of the start of the writ period, the report noted.

“There is no doubt that, for the first few days of the election campaign, some electors and political entities did not get the level of service they had been accustomed to in previous elections,” said the report.

It also said moving more of their services online might have eased the impact.

The report also outlines issues with voting on First Nations reserves, where 14 polling places in nine ridings ran low on ballots on election day.

A total of 13 voters, all from the same polling place, were unable to cast a ballot when election officers were uncomfortable with photocopied ballots and refused to give them to voters, contrary to instructions issued by Mayrand.

“Elections Canada sincerely regrets that these electors could not exercise their franchise,” said the report.

The report said a contributing factor was the low rate of voter registration, which caused officers to underestimate the turnout on election day.

“Returning officers will take this into account to improve their planning for the next general election.”

Mayrand said his upcoming report to Parliament will include suggested changes to the Canada Elections Act that would give the independent agency the flexibility it needs to modernize the voting process, including by increasing the use of technology.

“Electors increasingly want to vote when and where it suits them — no longer just on election day at a designated polling station,” Mayrand wrote.

It is unlikely, however, that Mayrand will recommend a wholesale move to online voting.

He expressed concerns about its risks when he appeared before the House of Commons committee studying electoral reform in July, saying that Elections Canada was not currently planning to introduce it for 2019 and asked the committee to consider limiting its scope, at least at first, to Canadian living abroad or with mobility issues.

Source: Federal campaign in 2015 caused headaches for Elections Canada: report | Toronto Star

TSX jumps 1.3 pct as Fed holds steady, gold miners surge

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tsx-stock-exchange-building

reuters.com

September 21, 2016 

* TSX ends up 188.84 points, or 1.30 percent, at 14,710.82

* All of the TSX’s 10 main groups move higher

By Alastair Sharp

TORONTO, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index notched its highest close in almost two weeks on Wednesday as gold miners surged after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, which also boosted shares of dividend-paying utility companies.

Adding to the upward momentum, energy companies gained as oil prices rose sharply after a third surprise weekly drop in U.S. crude stockpiles.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 188.84 points, or 1.30 percent, at 14,710.82, its highest finish since Sept. 8. All of the index’s 10 main groups gained.

The Fed strongly signaled it could still tighten monetary policy by the end of this year, while three dissenters said they favored raising rates this week.

“The market will see this as a continuation of the standard operating procedure thus far, namely that rates are lower for longer, that this is a very cautious Fed,” said John Stephenson, president at Stephenson & Company Capital Management.

“I think the reality is this is a Fed that is more market-dependant than it is data-dependant,” he added.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, jumped 4.6 percent, as the Fed news helped extend gold’s gains after the Bank of Japan earlier adopted a target for long-term interest rates. Barrick Gold Corp surged 7.9 percent higher to C$24.51 and Goldcorp Inc advanced 6.2 percent to C$22.06.

The energy group rose 1.8 percent, with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd up 1.7 percent at C$39.33 and Suncor Energy Inc adding 1 percent to C$34.40.

Industrials rose 1.2 percent, including gains for railroad stocks, while financials advanced 0.6 percent.

Utilities gained 1 percent as the Fed hold pushed investors back towards stocks that offer yield.

“There are no bargains out there. The yield plays in general have been picked over, so it’s very hard to find something that’s attractive for a yield perspective that’s also attractive from a valuation perspective,” Stephenson said.

BlackBerry Ltd shares rose 2.2 percent to C$10.20. The company has agreed to offer anti-hacking software from a startup that last year discovered a major Android bug, it said, as the once-dominant smartphone company seeks to leverage ties to corporate and government clients to boost its software revenue.

The value of Canadian wholesale trade rose in July for the fourth consecutive month, posting a 0.3 percent gain on strength in the motor vehicle and parts subsector, Statistics Canada said.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Chris Reese and Meredith Mazzilli)

Source: CANADA STOCKS-TSX jumps 1.3 pct as Fed holds steady, gold miners surge | Kitco News