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PHILADELPHIA — Sitting on his bed at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the first child in the world to receive a double hand transplant talked about his big plans.

Zion Harvey, 8, of Baltimore, wants to climb the monkey bars. Throw a football. Play the guitar. Maybe even become a doctor.

“But I’ll be the kind that doesn’t give shots,” he said with an impish grin on Monday.

On Tuesday afternoon, a team from Children’s and the University of Pennsylvania announced their early-July surgical tour de force, then introduced Zion, his mom Pattie Ray, dad Kevon Gant, and little sister Zoe.

No child has ever received a transplant of a single hand, let alone two. Only about 60 people worldwide — including Penn’s first case, a young woman, in 2011 — have undergone upper extremity transplants since the first one in France in 1998, according to the international registry.

These complex “composite” tissue transplants — which involve reattaching blood vessels, bones, nerves, muscles and skin — remain rare because, unlike major organ replacements, they are not lifesaving. Yet patients must take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent rejection, raising their risks of infection, some cancers, and other side effects.

Zion was uniquely suitable because he was already taking antirejection drugs to protect his kidney transplant.

The back story: At age 2, a life-threatening bloodstream infection required the amputation of his hands and feet, and ruined his kidneys. At age 4, after years on dialysis, he received a kidney from his mother.

About two years ago, she took him to Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, which specialises in caring for kids with prosthetics like those he wears on his lower legs. There she learned about Penn’s hand transplant programme.

“The doctor at Shriner’s thought Zion would be a perfect candidate,” recalled Ray, a nursing student at Baltimore Community College. (She declined to discuss where Zion was treated for the life-threatening infection, but public records show litigation involving Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and others.)

Zion’s precocious self-awareness and resilience also impressed the transplant team.

On a documentary video made by the team, Zion says of his stumps, “I wasn’t always like this. When I was 2, I had to get my hands cut off.”

Of school, the second-grader says: “I think some of my classmates don’t mean to say mean things to me, but it just slips out. Everybody has their own way of thinking about things.”

Anticipating the transplant, he says: “When I get these hands, I will be proud of what hands I get. And if it gets messed up … I don’t care because I have my family.”

His mother says he took the transplant surgery in stride. “This is just another hurdle that he jumps. He’s so amazing.”

Transplant team leader L. Scott Levin, who established Penn’s hand transplant programme and expanded it to Children’s, called Zion “one of the most remarkable youngsters I’ve ever met”.

“His maturity is way beyond his age, as is his insight and sensitivity,” Levin said. “He’s brilliant, not just smart. And his stoicism has been remarkable. I’ve never seen him cry, complain of pain or be withdrawn.”

In April, Zion was put on a waiting list for hands, to be obtained through Gift of Life, the region’s organ and tissue transplant network.

He and his family were warned that the wait might be a year or two. Federal organ-sharing data showed that only a tiny number of children of the appropriate race, age and sex become donors each year.

But on July 6, Zion underwent the 11-hour surgery, an overnight marathon involving two-dozen surgeons, nurses, and anaesthesiologists. The process required four separate surgical teams, two for the donor hands and two for Zion.

Steel plates and screws were used to connect the forearm bones, then the arteries and veins were sewn using thread thinner than a human hair. With blood flow reestablished, each muscle and tendon was reattached, followed by the nerves.

How does Zion feel about the donor?

“Mixed emotions,” he said of the loss that made his gain possible.

Zion faces many months of physical rehabilitation. While in the hospital, he has been fitted with a series of custom-moulded plastic splints that protect his wrist and fingers, while allowing therapists to help him learn to use his new hands.

“By September, the splint will be less bulky and cumbersome, and his wrist should be free,” said Children’s occupational therapist Kelly Ferry.

Sensation is another issue. The nerve regeneration that restores feeling can take up to two years.

Meanwhille, the hand will grow with him, as the growth plates produce new bone and tissue. Already, Ray noticed, the fingernails need clipping.

Zion seems up for the challenges. On Monday, he shook hands, scratched his face, held a book with help from his mother, all while being interviewed.

Does he have a favourite caregiver at Children’s?

“I like everybody,” he said.

NARBOLIA, Italy — Thousands of solar panels glint in the sun, but the prized farmland beneath lies barren. While the Italian island of Sardinia revels in a renewable energy boom, the long arm of organised crime risks sullying its clean power ambitions.

Famed for its lush plains and emerald waters but racked by poverty and unemployment, Sardinia has jumped at the chance to boost the economy by converting its long months of sunshine into green energy.

And it is not alone: cities and towns across Italy are embracing hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, wind farms, solar panels, steam generators and biomass plants, due largely to generous state subsidies.

In Sardinia’s northwest, the crop from purple and golden fields of thistles and sunflowers is used to generate biomass energy, while on the rolling hills in the island’s centre, towering white turbines spin gently in the breeze at Italy’s second largest wind farm.

With youth joblessness in the region at over 50 per cent, many hoped the state’s green incentives would not only breathe life into struggling family communities, but attract companies from other parts of Italy and foreign multinationals which would create jobs.

The problem, according to countryside campaign groups, is that while the subsidies come out of taxpayer pockets, so far the region has seen little of the profits made by the energy firms — many of which are accused of making fraudulent claims for funds.

‘Money leaves the country’

Sardinian prosecutor Mauro Mura warned last year of mafia infiltration in the sector, flagging up instances of renewable energy plants which had profited hugely from subsidies open exclusively to farmers, while “not producing any agricultural goods at all”.

“The incentives were meant for real farmers, it was a helping hand from the state. They were supposed to be able to install a few panels on their land for their own consumption, and sell any leftover energy on,” said 63-year-old campaigner Pietro Porcedda.

On the outskirts of Narbolia near the island’s western coast, one such plant sprawls across the town’s most fertile fields: over 107,000 solar panels sit atop the roofs of some 1,600 greenhouses, in which the owners had promised to grow aloe plants.

But with the sunlight shut out by the panels, nothing grows there but weeds. The Chinese company which runs the plant, meanwhile, is pocketing profits from 20 years of subsidies and the sale of its energy to Italian giant Enel, Porcedda said.

“Instead the money leaves the country; it’s not reinvested here. And the 60 jobs we were promised? Four people are employed here,” he added, blaming not the multinational but the Italian authorities for turning a blind eye to the situation.

The potential for investment — and corruption — is great. The European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol flagged up concerns in 2013 that “the Italian mafia is investing more and more in renewable energy.”

And the sector has grown since then. In solar in particular, Italy has become a world leader, generating more of its energy from the sun than any other state, with over 7.5 per cent of national consumption coming from photovoltaic production.

Every single township in the country now boasts at least one source of renewable energy, according to Italy’s main environmental group Legambiente, with 323 considered autonomous in terms of electricity thanks to wind farms.

‘Threats won’t stop us’

In spite of the success, the Italian government was forced to reduce subsidies last year in the hope of slashing electricity prices, after households found themselves paying 94 euros ($100) a year on top of their bills to support green energies.

Incentives for photovoltaic plants, for example, were slashed by between 6 and 25 per cent, depending largely on plant capacity.

But while the roll back may curb the interest of future investors, it will do little to challenge the problems already in the system.

“The first subsidies were very big; it made the multinationals hungry and they came here to invest,” said Rosetta Fanari, 47, whose farm makes creamy ricotta cheese based on an age-old Sardinian recipe in vats powered by an ultra-modern solar steam generator.

One of the local businesses proud to have benefitted from the incentives as they were intended, she said more should be done “to make sure the wealth remains here, to create benefits for the environment, the Sardinian people”.

Some locals have taken in upon themselves to block controversial projects. Biologist Manuela Pintus was elected mayor of nearby Arborea this year on a platform to prevent the drilling of an exploratory well for natural gas next to a reserve for protected pelicans.

“Our supporters received threats from those who wanted the well, who said ‘We’ll destroy everything you have if you vote for Manuela,’” she said.

“It didn’t stop us. We have local mothers and grandparents behind us, and will continue the fight to protect our land for future generations.”

NEW YORK — If you’re headed to the beach or any other weekend getaway, don’t forget these “essential” gadgets.

Of course, no technology is truly essential. You’re at the beach! Disconnect! Go swimming! Build sandcastles!

Still can’t leave the gadgets behind? Well, consider these:

E-book reader or tablet

You’ll want reading material. Sure you can bring real books and real magazines, but that’s a lot to carry.

I prefer e-readers over tablets for e-books because e-readers work better in direct sunlight and don’t come with such distractions as Facebook updates. Amazon has the best readers out there. Last fall’s Kindle Voyage is a premium model with a stunning, high-resolution display that makes letters resemble what’s on a printed page. The main drawback: its $199 price tag (add $20 if you want a regular screensaver rather than ads).

This week, Amazon is bringing that great display to its mid-tier model, the Kindle Paperwhite. It doesn’t have the extra buttons that make page-turning easier like the Voyage has. Nor does it have an auto-brightness feature that adjusts for ambient light. But the Paperwhite does have a new font that’s meant to be easier on the eyes; other Kindles won’t get it until later this summer. (That said, I thought the old fonts were just fine for reading.)

At $119 (or $139 without ads), the Paperwhite is $80 cheaper, while offering much of what the Voyage has.

For digital magazines, you’re better off with a tablet because e-reader screens typically lack colour. I like Apple’s iPad Mini for its size and shape. The full-size iPad Air is too large to carry around and Android tablets typically have dimensions more suited for widescreen movies than for replicating printed pages. You can read e-books on the tablet, too, but e-readers offer a better, glare-free experience.

Battery chargers

You’ll probably have to crank up the brightness on your tablet and phone to overcome all that glare in direct sunlight. That will drain the battery quickly. Bring a portable power pack, which is essentially a battery for recharging the battery on your gadget.

New portable packs from myCharge have both Apple and Android cords built-in, so you can leave your tangled mess of cords at home. Those powerful enough for tablets start at $100. It’s useful for groups with an array of devices. You can charge one Android device and one iPhone or iPad at once, but not two Android devices or an iPhone and iPad together. It’s one of each. Many people stick with one system or the other, so for most individuals, that second cord will go unused.

The dual-cord chargers will be overkill for many individuals. Mophie makes not just battery packs, but also phone cases with extra power for leading phones. The drawback is you need a new one when you switch models, though I’ve found batteries tend to wear out over time anyway.

There are lots of others to choose from. Some battery packs have Apple or Android cords built-in, while others have a USB port, which means more flexibility, but also cords you need to bring. A higher price tag usually means more charging capacity.

Dealing with traffic

The Waze mapping app won’t eliminate traffic, but it might shave off time by finding a quicker route. In some cases, that means getting off a congested highway an exit or two early and using local roads. Users report traffic conditions through the app to let Waze find the fastest routes.

Mapping apps from Apple and Google, which owns Waze, do factor in traffic conditions, but it feels special to be getting that from fellow motorists. In the rare times that I drive, I’ve found Waze to be spot-on. It doesn’t work well when there are few other Waze users to report traffic, but traffic-heavy destinations such as the beach should draw plenty of users and traffic data.

Getting wet?

Waterproof gadgets might be overkill, unless you’re a lifeguard at the beach every day. Same goes for waterproof cases and pouches, which also make gadgets more difficult to use. The only time I’ve found a waterproof case useful is when I’ve gone snorkelling with a point-and-shoot camera.

Ziploc and other re-sealable plastic bags can help protect gadgets from inadvertent splashes. A small amount of liquid usually won’t kill a gadget. Jumping into the ocean or pool with the phone in your pocket is another matter. Use common sense.

Or leave your gadgets home. You’re at the beach!

First launched in 2007 and revised for the current model year, the Ford Expedition proves that there’s plenty of life left in its long-running platform. With a sophisticated, brutally powerful and efficient twin-turbocharged V6 Ecoboost engine, the Expedition also learns enough new tricks to very aggressively bring the fight to all comers.

Big, brawny, cavernously spacious, comfortable, aesthetically undiluted, dynamically adept and thoroughly equipped in range-topping Platinum guise, the Expedition’s Ecoboost engine proves quicker and more frugal than the V8 it replaces. Competing in a broad full-size SUV category, the Expedition is most convincing alongside its direct rivals, the all new 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon sisters. 

Aesthetic proportions

Little altered, the 2015 Expedition has an imposing presence, but with handsomely aesthetic anatomic proportions. With short front overhang, bulging bonnet centre and lower bonnet sides, bodywork above the wheel arches is reduced compared to bulky competitors. And with a taller, more upright and visually “heavier” rear, the expedition brims with dynamic tension.

Meanwhile, with low waistline and big glasshouse the Expedition is less overtly threatening, and for such a hulking brute, provides airy cabin ambiance and good visibility. Uncomplicated but with design “correctness” the Expedition’s low waistline minimises perceptions of height, require less fussy surfacing and enables one to better place it on road.

Not short on bling, the Expedition Platinum features huge polished three-slat grille, functional lower hooks, big bore exhaust tip and massive six twin-spoke alloys with 284/45R22 tyres. With 203mm ground clearance, 22.2° approach, 16.3° break over and 21.7° departure angles, the Expedition also features wide doors angles and automatically lowered running board to facilitate cabin access.

Muscular delivery

Replacing a naturally aspirated 310BHP 5.4-litre V8, the sole twin-turbocharged direct injection 3.5-litre V6 Ecoboost engine option is more muscular and comparatively frugal. Reportedly developing 385BHP at 5250rpm and 464lb/ft at 2750rpm in Middle East guise rather than 465BHP and 420lb/ft US versions, the hefty 2625kg Expedition moves swiftly, with 0-100km/h dispatched in around 6.5 seconds.

Quick-spooling and low-revving with mighty mid-range urge, the Expedition suffers little turbo-lag and launches vigorously. With abundant maximum torque available early, the Expedition is muscularly versatile on-the-move. Welling up urgently and quietly towards peak power, it pushes indefatigably against wind resistance despite tall upright dimensions and 2.6-tonne weight, and can achieve an electronically limited 190km/h top speed.

Complementing its refined delivery, a smooth-shifting 6-speed automatic gearbox sends power to all four wheels or rear wheels for added economy. With superb four-wheel drive traction, the Expedition effectively puts power down, and is best driven in its “4A” mode where front wheels receive power when grip loss is detected or additional traction is required. 

Comfortable and balanced

Riding on all independent front double wishbone and rear multi-link suspension the Expedition rides with comfort and refinement, while adaptive Continuously Controlled Damping (CCD) takes the edge off its low profile tyres. Supple and smooth in “comfort” mode, the Expedition is, however, more tightly controlled and nimble with CCD in “sport” mode.

Stable and refined on highway, the Expedition’s electric steering feels more direct than before. With CCD working hard and well to contain weight transfer in “sport” mode, the Expedition leans less through corners than is expected, but also benefits from a balanced chassis and weight distribution in terms of at the limit handling.

Slightly bouncy over bumps, the Expedition, however, feels more buttoned down than many rivals, while all-disc ABS brakes are very effective. With hill-start and Hill Descent Control, the Expedition can also be locked in four-wheel drive in either high or low gear ratios for off-road driving and towing. Towing ability is a staggering 4,082kg.

Cavernous cabin

Huge inside, the Expedition features large comfortable seats, good visibility, excellent headroom and twin mid-row captain’s seats in Platinum guise. Middle and rear row space is better than chief rivals, with the last three-passenger row comfortably accommodating large tall passengers. Cargo volume exceeds rivals, with between 528 and 3065 litres, nearly flat folding seats and wide tailgate.

The Expedition is luxurious, leather-upholstered, pleasantly laid out and using decent quality plastics and trim. Dash and controls are user-friendly and inviting, with big buttons and dials, but more soft textures, larger rev counter and a gear-lever actuated manual mode sequential gearshifts rather than a small up/down buttons would also be welcome.

Thoroughly equipped, the Expedition features an 8-inch voice-activated infotainment touchscreen with USB and SD ports, Bluetooth connectivity and configurable 4.2-inch instrument cluster display with wheel direction and pitch and bank angle displays for off-road. Luxury kit includes dual zone climate control, while safety equipment includes 3-row curtain airbags, childseat latches, and blind spot and cross-traffic alerts and more.

Dreams of Maryam Tair: Blue Boots and Orange Blossoms

Mhani Alaoui

US: Interlink, 2015

Pp. 341

Linking fairy-tale magic with harsh realism, Moroccan writer Mhani Alaoui tells a captivating story that draws on the mythological past, yet has much relevance for contemporary social and political problems in the Arab world. Though big parts of the story occur outside of time and place, as we know it, or in dreams, it centres on Casablanca and an aristocratic family that is in decline. Traditions are eroding. Without a new value system to take their place, fear, superstition, mediocrity and consumerism prevail, but there is a new generation that aspires to change.

“Dreams of Maryam Tair” operates on several levels — real, imaginary and metaphorical, and the characters appear and reappear in varied forms. At the start, Sheherazade appears as an old pipe-smoking woman in the Atlas Mountains, telling a story to a little girl outside of time, but soon that little girl is born in real time. During protests against rising bread prices in Casablanca in 1981, a young couple is incarcerated and tortured. The woman, Leila, is raped by prison guards, identified as demons, while the man, significantly named Adam, is robbed of his intellect and character. Their gruesome fate was prophesied by the old woman for their love “should never have been… Their story should never have been told”, because their relationship of equality and unselfish love threatens the status quo. (p. 23)

If, on the other hand, they were to have a child, she would be capable of challenging injustice and inequality. Thus, when Leila is impregnated by the demon prison guards, their very violence and cruelty “plant the seed of a new world”. (p. 22)

This seed is Maryam who is born a very fragile and slightly crippled child, suggesting that hope for a better world does not hinge on physical strength and violence, but on empathy and love. 

Weaving between mythology and reality, the author traces Maryam’s journey on which she must meet difficult challenges and acquire the gifts of perception, thought and heart, if she is to banish evil and usher in an era of peace. In the world of myth and legends, she travels to strange, dangerous places by flying on her bicycle, and overcomes her enemies without violence. In the real world, we find her on trial at the time of the 2011 Arab uprisings, where she is accused of such things as “being a witch… saying no… helping the insane… reading minds… and being strange”. (p. 165)

Maryam, born of opposites, stands as a powerful symbol of the quest for freedom and justice. As she says, “Love is my revolt: Refuse the unjust, the unacceptable — that is love. Love is the yes secretly curled inside the perpetual no of revolt.” (p. 316)

This novel is a delight to read as much for its lyrical, incisive prose as for its hopeful message that serves to remind of the original goals of the Arab uprising which are hard to discern today. Alaoui skilfully matches her prose to her subject, waxing lyrical in the imaginative passages and abruptly changing to a sharper style in the realistic parts of the novel. She has broad knowledge of ancient texts and mythology, whether Arab, Berber or Greek, and uses it to show how history can be told and retold, interpreted and reinterpreted according to who is in power. 

Knowing that there are many stories, some of which have been repressed but could be reclaimed, means that there are many possibilities for influencing the course of human history if only one is brave enough to seize the chance. As Maryam’s example shows, such “courage can spring from the most unexpected of sources in the most unexpected of ways… a discovery that cannot be occulted. It brings to light surprising truths about the human spirit and the passing hold of consumerism and tyranny on individuals once they have discovered that they are individuals”. (p. 207)

Alaoui’s story suggests new ways of addressing gender inequality and social injustice. One doesn’t have to ride a bicycle around the world, but one must respect individual differences and rely on the power of love not coercion.

WASHINGTON — The latest Alzheimer’s research has a clear theme: Change your lifestyle to protect your brain.

It will take several years for scientists to prove whether some experimental drugs could at least delay Alzheimer’s disease, and an ageing population is at risk now.

Whatever happens on the drug front, there are generally healthy everyday steps people can take — from better sleep to handling stress to hitting the books — that research suggests just might lower the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Making these lifestyle changes “looks more promising than the drug studies so far”, said Dr Richard Lipton of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, whose lab researches what makes up healthy ageing. The findings on stress prompted Lipton to take up yoga.

Here are five tips to guard your brain against memory loss, based on research at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference:

Get better shut-eye

Studies of more than 6,000 people linked poor sleep quality — and especially sleep apnoea — to early memory problems called mild cognitive impairment, which in turn can raise the risk of later Alzheimer’s. Other research showed poor sleep can spur a brain clogging protein named amyloid that’s a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Talk to your doctor if you’re having sleep problems, advises Dr Kristine Yaffe of the University of California, San Francisco: “Sleep disorders are so common, and we think many are quite treatable.”

Exercise your grey matter

Seniors often are advised to work crossword puzzles, take music lessons or learn a new language to keep the brain engaged. The protective effects of learning may start decades earlier in life.

In Sweden, researchers at the Karolinska Institute unearthed school report cards and work histories of more than 7,000 older adults. Good grades as young as age 10 predicted lower risk of dementia later in life. So did getting a job that required expertise with numbers or, for women, complex interactions with people — occupations such as researchers or teachers.

Why? Learning and complex thinking strengthen connections between nerve cells, building up “cognitive reserve” so that as Alzheimer’s brews, the brain can withstand more damage before symptoms become apparent.

Get moving

What’s good for the heart is good for the brain, too, and physical activity counters a list of damageing problems — high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol — that can increase the risk of memory impairment later in life.

Get started early: One study tracked the habits of 3,200 young adults for 25 years, and found those who were the least active had the worst cognition when they were middle-aged. Sedentary behaviours like TV watching played a role. Yaffe — who just had her desk raised so she can spend more time standing — worries about kids’ screen time.

Don’t forget mental health

Late-life depression is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Harvard researchers found loneliness is, too, accelerating cognitive decline in a study that tracked more than 8,000 seniors for over a decade.

Stress is bad for the brain as well, Lipton said. It’s not just experiencing stress — we all do — but how we cope with it. Brooding over stressful events, for example, prolongs the harmful effects on brain cells. One study found seniors with the poorest coping skills were much more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment over nearly four years than seniors who could shrug off the stress.

Eat healthy

Diets high in fruit and vegetables and lower in fat and sugar are good for the arteries that keep blood flowing to the brain. Type 2 diabetes, the kind linked to excess weight, raises the risk of dementia later in life.

Weight aside, Lipton’s lab recently found a healthy diet lowered seniors’ risk of impaired “executive function” as they got older — how the brain pays attention, organises and multitasks.

WASHINGTON — Social media giants including Twitter, Yahoo, Facebook and Google are pushing back against Senate legislation that would require them to alert federal authorities of any terrorist activity, according to industry and government officials.

In private meetings on Capitol Hill, industry officials have told lawmakers and congressional staff that they already ban grisly content like beheadings and alert law enforcement if they suspect someone might get hurt, as soon as they are aware of a threat.

But tech officials also said they worry that the proposed legislation is too broad and would potentially put companies on the hook legally if they miss a tweet, video or blog that hint of an attack. They said the result would probably be a deluge of tips to law enforcement, making it tougher for the government to find more valuable information.

Those interviewed by The Associated Press spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing debate over the legislation.

The tech industry in 2013 faced a public relations nightmare after former government analyst Edward Snowden leaked details of a massive government surveillance programme that relied on their cooperation. Company officials said the law gave them no choice but to supply consumer data and comply with gag orders that prevented companies from talking about it. Still, many consumers and Internet activists were furious that US businesses had enabled the government to spy on their customers, in some cases even charging the government administrative fees to do it.

Since then, the tech industry has led an aggressive public push to limit surveillance requests and increase transparency, adopting more sophisticated encryption techniques despite opposition from the Justice Department. Their primary argument has been that consumers won’t use technology they don’t trust, and that unnecessary surveillance would hurt the industry.

At the same time, popular social media sites have become instrumental in helping terrorist groups expand their influence, despite widespread industry policies against posting or promoting terrorist-related content.

The Daesh group and similar groups have relied heavily on Twitter and Facebook to recruit followers, while militants post beheading videos on sites like Google’s YouTube, giving an image the chance to go viral before being shut down. In 2013, Al Shabab live tweeted its Westgate shopping mall massacre, opening up new feeds even after Twitter shut others down.

“This is not your grandfather’s Al Qaeda,” FBI Director James Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee this month. “This is a group of people using social media to reach thousands of thousands of followers, find the ones who might be interested in committing acts of violence, and then moving them to an [end-to-end] encrypted messaging app.”

The same week as Comey’s testimony, the Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed a proposal by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein that would require companies that spot terrorist activity on their networks to alert law enforcement.

Feinstein’s provision, part of the intelligence authorisation bill that still has to be approved by the Senate, is almost identical to the law requiring companies to report child pornography. One exception is that Feinstein’s provision doesn’t say whether or how a company would be penalised if it fails to report terrorist activity, whereas a tech company can be fined for “knowingly and wilfully” failing to report an image of child pornography.

“The FBI and the intelligence community have made it abundantly clear that the terrorist threat is severe and increasing, and that those directing, inspiring and carrying out attacks make heavy use of social media sites,” Feinstein told the AP in an e-mailed statement. “This provision will help get potentially actionable information to the agencies responsible for preventing attacks, without requiring companies to take any steps to monitor their sites they aren’t already taking.”

Determining what constitutes child pornography is more objective and is easier to describe for computer system searches. For example, a photograph can be digitally analysed and assigned a unique identifier that be used to find similar images across networks. Not only does determining terrorist activity require context — the image of a Daesh flag could appear in a news article or video clip — it is a more subjective process because of different views of what constitutes terrorism.

The House didn’t include a similar provision in its version of the intelligence bill. A spokesman for Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes declined to comment on the issue.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, said there’s “no question” the Daesh group uses social media to disseminate propaganda and recruit fighters. Schiff said Congress should work with the tech industry “to determine the most effective response”.

Coffee drinkers in a long-term study were about half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as those who didn’t drink coffee, and researchers think an inflammation-lowering effect of the beverage might be the key.

“Extensive research has revealed that coffee drinking exhibits both beneficial and aggravating health effects,” said Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos of the department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Harokopio University in Athens, Greece. 

“An inverse relation between coffee intake and diabetes has been reported in many prospective studies whereas some have yielded insignificant results,” Panagiotakos, a co-author of the new study, told Reuters Health by email.

Since he and his colleagues merely observed the study participants, and didn’t assign them randomly to drink or abstain from coffee, they still can’t be sure that drinking coffee helps prevent diabetes, but their findings might help form the basis of a cause-and-effect hypothesis, Panagiotakos said. 

In 2001 and 2002, the researchers selected a random sample of more than 1,300 men and women age 18 years and older in Athens. The participants filled out dietary questionnaires including questions about coffee drinking frequency. 

Drinking less than 1.5 cups of coffee per day was termed “casual” coffee drinking, and more than 1.5 cups per day was “habitual” drinking. There were 816 casual drinkers, 385 habitual drinkers and 239 non-coffee drinkers.

The participants also had blood tests to evaluate levels of protein markers of inflammation. The tests also measured antioxidant levels, which indicate the body’s ability to neutralise cell-damaging “free radicals”.

Ten years later, 191 people had developed diabetes, including 13 per cent of the men and 12 per cent of the women in the original group. And participants who reported higher coffee consumption had lower likelihoods of developing diabetes.

Habitual coffee drinkers were 54 per cent less likely to develop diabetes compared to non-coffee drinkers, even after accounting for smoking, high blood pressure, family history of diabetes and intake of other caffeinated beverages, the researchers reported in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 

Levels of serum amyloid, one of the inflammatory markers in the blood, seemed to explain some of the relationship between coffee and diabetes, the authors write. Higher coffee consumption went along with lower amyloid levels. 

“Previous studies pointed in the same direction... now we have an additional hint,” said Dr Marc Y. Donath, chief of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at University Hospital Basel in Switzerland, who was not part of the new study.

The new findings are supported by a prospective study in 2013 involving 836 people who didn’t have diabetes at the start of the study, Panagiotakos said. Over the next seven years, high levels of amyloid and another inflammatory marker called C-reactive protein “were found to precede the onset of diabetes, independently of other risk factors”, he said.

It’s possible that other influences were also at work, he acknowledged.

“Oxidative stress has been shown to accelerate the dysfunction of pancreatic b-cells and antioxidants intake has been shown to decrease diabetes risk, so the antioxidant components of coffee may be beneficial, but still more research is needed toward this direction,” Panagiotakos said.

Some studies have found that the association between coffee and diabetes risk is stronger for women and non-smokers, according to Dongfeng Zhang of the department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics at Qingdao University Medical College in China, who also was not part of the new study. 

We are not yet sure that coffee helps prevent diabetes, but “what is sure and remains more effective is exercise and body weight control”, Donath told Reuters Health by e-mail.

SANTA CRUZ, Ecuador — The Galapagos Islands, celebrated for their breathtaking biodiversity, could face a major threat from “El Nino”, the weather system known to wreak havoc every few years.

The archipelago sustains a vast variety of plant and animal life, and has been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

But the fragile Galapagos ecosystem may prove no match for the strong winds, heavy rains and warmer than usual ocean currents that accompany El Nino.

The dangers posed by those climatic changes are particularly acute for marine iguanas — reptiles found only on the Galapagos — which live on land but get their food from the ocean.

“Marine iguanas feed only on algae,” Eduardo Espinoza, 46, the director of marine research at Galapagos National Park, explained to AFP.

“During times of El Nino, these algae may be scarce and many begin to die,” Espinoza said.

“El Nino” refers to the abnormal warming of surface waters in the tropical sections of the Pacific Ocean every three to five years.

Climatologists began observing the most recent El Nino several months ago, and fear that because of global warming, the phenomenon will hit the Galapagos with increasing frequency and greater destructive potential in coming years.

Charles Darwin made the Galapagos famous a century-and-a-half ago with research here that led him to devise his theory of evolution.

Since then, some of the wildlife he studied on the Galapagos already has been wiped out because of man’s encroachment, and other species have been put at risk by climate change.

Sharks, birds, iguanas 

The Galapagos, one of the world’s great protected nature reserves and one of its most sensitive, hosts more endemic species than anywhere else on Earth — from the giant land tortoises that give it its name, to sharks, birds and the marine iguanas.

Espinoza is closely monitoring the impact of the current El Nino on endangered species in the archipelago — especially on marine iguanas, which are particularly sensitive to environmental change in the nature reserve out in the Pacific, some 1,000 kilometres from the Ecuadoran coast.

It’s not the first time that wildlife in the Galapagos was ravaged by El Nino.

In 1997 and 1998, El Nino struck with devastating effect in the Galapagos. It wiped out corals, colonies of penguins, sea lions, nests of the flightless marine birds called cormorants — as well as marine iguanas.

Of the iguanas that survived, many experienced severe weight loss, Judith Denkinger, a biologist at the Institute of Ocean Sciences at the University of San Francisco in Quito, told AFP.

It took several years, but the iguana population eventually recovered. Their numbers by 2001 were back up to around 700,000.

The results of a census taken in 2014 will provide updated population figures any day now, scientists here say.

Galapagos on Paris talks agenda

The plight of the Galapagos is expected to be a key agenda item during high-level climate talks in Paris later this year attended by foreign and environment ministers from 45 countries.

Visitors are not allowed to touch the reptiles, but Espinoza freely handles them, lifting them by their tails and sizing them with a yellow tape measure before weighing them to assess the negative effects of the current El Nino.

He says the impact may be prolonged because some expect the weather phenomenon this time to last for several months, possibly through 2016.

The prehistoric looking marine iguana can live until the age of about 60, scientists said — so long as its environment is not degraded by man-made pollution, climate change and El Nino.

Yet another concern is protecting the sensitive local ecosystem from the eager fingers of tourists seeking souvenirs.

Visitors try to take away sea shells, volcanic rock, even the sand — just this month, an Ecuadoran woman was caught at the airport trying to take 10 kilos of sand with her.

At the airport, the luggage of departing passengers is scanned as if agents were looking for contraband drugs.

“Tourists act surprised, and tell us this is allowed everywhere else,” said Danny Rueda, ecosystem director at the park. “Here, it is not.”

Given that few domains if any aren’t affected by information technology in general and by smartphone applications in particular, getting a taxi with the help of your phone is one of the latest trends in Amman; and it’s working rather well. Already implemented in other countries like the USA for more than four years now, the concept has reached Jordan.

At least two services are available and operating in the country, Easy Taxi and Uber. Both are equally famous and function on a global scale. Uber received unexpected, perhaps uncalled for, publicity last month when the traditional taxis in France went on strike, rejecting Uber’s competition as being unfair practice, leading to sometimes violent actions, serious disturbance at airports, and ending with the French government’s order to stop Uber’s operation; at least pending more investigation and another decision.

Once you download the app on your smartphone and install it, you can use it to request a taxi. Your location is instantly known and the closest available car is dispatched to you. The car’s licence plate, the driver’s name and photo are displayed on your screen. The estimated wait time also is displayed, as well as the constantly updated, real-time position of the cab on the map shown on your phone’s screen while it is “en route” to you. In terms of convenience it is hard to beat.

There are differences between Easy Taxi and Uber. The main one is that you pay the first in cash whereas the second directly charges your credit card, the number of which you have to disclose and enter when you start with the app and the subscription. Not having to carry cash for riding with Uber is seen as an advantage by most and as a risk (the usual credit card risk fear) by a few.

The two services share one common trait: they are understandably a little more expensive than traditional taxis (by about JD0.750 to JD1.500 per trip), with Easy Taxi being slightly less expensive than Uber. Moreover, Easy Taxi uses the already available network of Jordanian yellow taxis, whereas Uber is operated by drivers using rental cars, often more comfortable than the old yellow taxis.

The lack of convenient public transportation in Amman certainly is boosting the operation of Easy Taxi and Uber. Having the driver’s and the car’s details on your smartphone when you order the cab provides unprecedented safety to young children, women, and all those who hesitate to hail a taxi on the street the old way. Easy Taxi actually has been selected by Google and Apple as being one of the “Top Apps of 2014”.

I tried both services in Amman on several trips, and was equally satisfied with them. I never had to wait more than three or four minutes for the car to arrive. Chatting with the drivers I learnt, interestingly, that more than 60 per cent of their clients were non-Jordanians, especially in this summer period. They also expressed a common concern about what may happen when the service gets really to the wide public and exceeds the traditional taxi service.

Some drivers told me that smartphone apps like Easy Taxi and Uber would soon “kill” the traditional way of requesting a taxi, whereas others feared that at some point the government may step in and impose restrictions or additional taxes of some kind, to protect the old, traditional service.

In the meantime the apps are getting more and more popular with every day that passes, with the word of mouth doing wonders to increase usage. Hold on tight to your smartphone.