MEP’s from the Czech Republic are expressing their disappointment after proposals to ensure that products are of a uniform standard across Europe were rejected by Brussels.

The European Parliament issued a new directive to strengthen consumer protection rules on Wednesday but Czech politicians say the new directive on the dual quality of products in Europe has not gone far enough after their requested ban on the controversial practice was not approved. The Czech proposals sought to address the issue of products marketed under the same name having different ingredients or compositions in different countries.

In 2017, the Institute of Chemical Technology found differences in the composition of products sold in the Czech market compared to what is sold in countries like Germany. The products included fish fingers with a lower fish content, varying amounts of cheese on pizza and detergent with different levels of active ingredients. Similar tests were carried out around Europe with the same results.

The directive clarified how national authorities are to deal with misleading marketing and said that if marketing in different member states is identical and the products have “significantly unjustified different composition or characteristics,” the practice could be prohibited as it could be considered misleading.

It also said that in two years the situation will be assessed to see if dual quality products need to be added to a blacklist of unfair commercial practices.

“We could make a definitive end today in discussions about the amount of cocoa in chocolate in Germany and in the Czech Republic, unfortunately it did not happen. For me as an MP elected for the Czech Republic, the result is disappointing,” MEP Dita Charanzová (ANO) said, Novinky reports.

“The law adopted contains a number of legal cliques, tailor-made for large manufacturers that have high quality double business,” MEP Olga Sehnalová (CSSD) added.

“Worse still, the law recognizes justified and objective factors that make it possible for manufacturers to continue to adapt food and other goods to local tastes, pricing preferences, and who knows what else, because they have said that these factors will not all be listed in the text. So practically anything is allowed.”

474 MEPs voted in favor of the directive, 163 voted against it and 14 abstained.

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Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj regularly helps Indians living abroad who tweet her with visa issues, but on Wednesday a desperate man asked her whether she could help him or if he should just kill himself.

“Tell me one thing, can you help me or should I kill myself? It has been about 12 months that I have been pleading for help from the embassy,” the man, identified only as Ali, said in a now-deleted tweet to the foreign minister. “It would be a huge help if you can send me to India. I have four children.”

“Don’t think about suicide. We are there for you. Our embassy will help you,” Swaraj replied, while also ordering the Indian Embassy in Riyadh to investigate the man’s circumstances and desperate plea for help.

The man reportedly claimed he had no copy of his passport but instead only had an ‘iqama’ or residency permit for foreign workers.

“There’s some problem in my family back home. It’s been 21 months since I came here and haven’t taken leave. Please help me return to India,” Ali tweeted again.

Many online lavished praise on the foreign minister, who has drawn attention in the past for going above and beyond the call of duty to help citizens in distress.

Many took the opportunity to highlight their own plights.

Ali’s plea for assistance comes at a time when shocking revelations about the reported executions of two Indian men in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia earlier this year have come to light.

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A recently published document reveals the European Commission has no evidence that Kaspersky Lab software spies on users on behalf of the Russian government, despite the EU and US labeling it “malicious.”

“The Commission is not in possession of any evidence regarding potential issues related to the use of Kaspersky Lab products,” reads a letter from an EC representative to a Belgian member of parliament, dated last Friday.

The European Commission was responding to a request by Belgian MEP Gerolf Annemans who asked last month if it knows “of any reason other than certain press articles that justifies the labelling of Kaspersky as ‘dangerous’ or ‘malicious’.” Annemans also wanted to know if other programs and devices, other than those of Kaspersky, were also flagged as “malicious.”

Reacting to the latest EU letter, Kaspersky said, “this is another evidence not to let the geopolitical agenda fool you with fake news.”

The EU’s proclamation of Kaspersky software as “malicious” did not happen in a vacuum. The announcement came at a time of unprecedented Russian hysteria, originating in the US. In 2017, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ‘Russiagate’ investigation was in its infancy, talk of collusion dominated the airwaves… and Kaspersky wasn’t left untouched either.

The Department of Homeland Security banned all federal agencies from using Kaspersky software in September 2017, citing national security concerns but providing no evidence. Company founder and Chief Executive Eugene Kaspersky denounced the move as “baseless paranoia at best,” and the company filed a lawsuit.

Later, Kaspersky found its ads banned from Twitter and its products pulled from store shelves at Best Buy. Eugene Kaspersky called the Twitter ban a case of “blatant censorship.” 

Amid rising tensions, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he has called Pakistan’s nuclear bluff by launching airstrikes while also claiming that New Delhi has the “mother of nuclear bombs.”

“Earlier, terrorists from Pakistan would come here and go back after conducting an attack. Pakistan would threaten us, saying it has the nuclear bomb and will press the button,” Prime Minister Modi said at a campaign rally at Surendranagar in Gujarat on Wednesday.

“In the past, our people would weep, go around the world saying Pakistan did this, did that… It is now Pakistan’s turn to weep.

The bombastic rhetoric comes amid ongoing tensions and tit-for-tat airstrikes in recent weeks, which have been marred by sporadic cross-border firefights and violence in the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack in Pulwama in February which killed 40 Indian paramilitary officers.

Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the bombing and India subsequently accused the Pakistani government of turning a blind eye to the group’s activities.

“Pakistan has been threatening us for a long time with its nuclear capability but the IAF called its bluff with its strikes,” Modi said. His comments came following governmental denials that an Indian military attack in Pakistan was imminent, and may be carried out in mid-April.

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The tragic murder of a school girl, lured onto a roof and set on fire by classmates for reporting sexual abuse by her principal, has provoked outrage across Bangladesh and beyond, with politicians and the UN voicing disgust.

Nusrat Jahan Rafi was pinned to the ground by a group of students and teachers wearing burqas and doused in kerosene before being set alight on the roof of her school in Feni on April 6. The 18-year-old student died from the severe burns, that covered 80 percent of her body, five days later.

As her singed body was rushed to hospital, Rafi knew death coming so the brave girl made a recording on her brother’s phone, “The teacher touched me, I will fight this crime till my last breath.”

Following her death, others are now carrying on the fight on her behalf as the devastating loss of her life has shaken Bangladesh, and the world.

UN coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo slammed the “system’s failure, in terms of a girl who is brave enough to stand up against gender-based violence,”adding, “her brave decision to do so led to more violence leading to her death.”

Calculated Killing

The story of Rafi’s tragic death began on March 27, when the headmaster at the madrassa she attended called her into his office and allegedly touched her inappropriately. She managed to escape before the abuse went further.

Breaking from societal norms in conservative Bangladesh, Rafi went to report the principal at a police station that day. An officer told her it was “not a big deal,” and filmed her on his mobile phone as she cried and tried to hide her face, likely fearing the harassment and even violent attacks that can face those who speak out about sexual abuse. She told police that the principal had harassed her numerous times. The video was then leaked on social media.

The principal was arrested and students organized a protest against Rafi, while her family received death threats.

When she returned to school on April 6 to sit an exam, Rafi was lured to the school roof by a female student who pretended her friend was being beaten up. She was surrounded by five people who demanded she drop charges against the principal. When she refused, they tied her hands and set her on fire in what was planned to look like a suicide.

“One of the killers was holding her head down with his hands, so kerosene wasn’t poured there and that’s why her head wasn’t burned,” Police Bureau of Investigation chief Banaj Kumar Majumder said.

Thousands of people poured onto the streets for the schoolgirl’s funeral. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited the family, telling them: “None of the culprits will be spared from legal action.” Protests have taken place around the country and across social media, as people rail against the fear facing victims of sexual harassment who speak out, and demand government reform.

Student Abdur Rahim allegedly confessed that he and 11 others planned to kill Nusrat and reportedly held a meeting in a school dormitory two days beforehand to decide who would carry out the different roles in the killing, according to reports in Bangladeshi media. He is alleged to have said they were instructed to do so by the principal, Siraj Ud Doula, whom they visited in jail.

“On the day of the attack, a team of seven people—led by Nur Uddin—guarded the gate from the morning, while Nusrat was set afire inside the madrasa building by another five-member team headed by Shahadat Hossain Shamim,” Rahim reportedly said in his confession, the Dhaka Tribune reports. “After the attack took place, they independently left their positions and fled the area.”

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Elon Musk and, of all places, the Museum of English Rural Life have become embroiled in a bizarre but hilarious exchange on Twitter, swapping their avatars while reviving a photo of a sheep which went viral in 2018.

Musk changed his Twitter avatar on Wednesday after responding to an MIT tweet evoking the ‘absolute unit’ tweet by the Museum of English Rural Life tweet last year. The ram picture went viral last April, gaining more than 100,000 likes and earning the museum, part of the University of Reading, a place in the pantheon of online shenanigans.

What ensued was a stunning exchange in which the tech entrepreneur and museum swapped profile photos.

The memeing masses couldn’t resist joining in the action, leading to some god-tier twitter humor.

The maverick tech entrepreneur has shown a penchant for memes before, participating in YouTube star PewDiePie’s meme Review.

READ MORE: Joint enterprise: Elon Musk shares marijuana with Joe Rogan as pair talk AI & flamethrowers

Musk himself became a meme after smoking a joint during an infamous appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast, a move which impacted Tesla’s share price and sparked an SEC investigation.

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The most ancient type of molecule in our universe, which dates all the way back to the immediate aftermath of the big bang, has been found in space for the first time ever, an exciting new study has revealed.

A helium hydride ion (HeH+) was the first molecule that formed almost 14 billion years ago when a helium atom shared electrons with a hydrogen nucleus. It is thought to be the first chemical compound and formation of a molecular bond that took place when the universe was cooling after the Big Bang.

The molecule played an important role in the early development of our universe and set the stage for the creation of everything we know. “The chemistry of the Universe began with HeH+,” the study’s lead author Rolf Guesten told Chemistry World.

Until now, this important molecule has never been detected anywhere in the universe, casting doubts over our understanding of early chemistry. However scientists long believed it existed in the gas clouds which stars are made in and in the gas that stars expel when they die.

A team of scientists from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) observatory, a project between Nasa and the German Aerospace Center, detected the elusive molecule in a ring of gas around a dying star, about 3,000 light years away, in the constellation of Cygnus.

Scientists had previously been hamstrung in their efforts to find HeH+ because of limits in spectrometer technology. The team overcame this by using the high-resolution German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) spectrometer to detect the infrared signals emitted by helium hydride ions.

“This brings a long search to a happy ending and eliminates doubts about our understanding of the underlying chemistry of the early universe,” Guesten said in a statement.  

The findings were published in the journal Nature this week.

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Japan’s fleet of highly sophisticated F-35A jets has been plagued by problems in the last two years, resulting in at least seven emergency landings – including two by the unit that crashed in the Pacific Ocean earlier this month.

Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) had a fleet of thirteen F-35As, before one of the fifth-generation stealth fighters disappeared off radars and crashed off northern Japan on April 9. But the ill-fated jet had issues with its cooling and navigation systems even prior to the crash, Japan’s Ministry of Defense revealed this week.

Five of the jets in the fleet were forced to make seven emergency landings between June 2017 and January 2019. Four of the planes that experienced problems had been assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd under a partnership with Lockheed Martin. The other jet was made in the US.

“Unplanned returns to base were made after the planes reported issues with systems relating to fuel, hydraulics and other parts,” Japanese daily Mainichi quoted the Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya as saying. “Excluding one case of an error by the aircraft’s monitoring systems, the remaining six saw the fighters inspected and parts replaced before they were confirmed safe.”

Japan has grounded the rest of its F-35A jets following the crash earlier this month and has embarked on a hectic search to recover the wreckage, believed to be lying on the ocean floor, to preserve its “highly classified” technical secrets. In the meantime, Japanese authorities pledged to “thoroughly” investigate the causes of the crash, hoping for cooperation from the American side.

Dead pigs’ brains have been partially revived in a study that upends established wisdom about what happens when we die, raising serious ethical questions even though researchers claim the brains never regained consciousness.

Disembodied pig brains subjected to an experimental preservative procedure showed some restored cellular and molecular function and even some synaptic activity, researchers discovered, observing these “signs of life” ten hours after the animals had been killed. The brains of ordinary pigs, taken from a slaughterhouse, were cleansed and cooled, then pumped full of a chemical cocktail designed to slow their deterioration, and the results – published Wednesday in the journal Nature – are striking.

“This is not a living brain, but it is a cellularly active brain,” Yale University neuroscientist Nenad Sestan told NPR, adding that the researchers were able to preserve tissue and cell structure and reduce cell death in addition to restoring vital neurochemical functions like glucose and oxygen uptake.

Researchers burned through hundreds of dead pig heads over a six-year period working to develop a technique – which they’ve christened BrainEX – to keep the brains supplied with oxygen, nutrients and other chemicals intended to halt their deterioration, because they were determined to study the organs in their original form. Previous experiments had already shown viable cells could be removed from brains hours after their owners were pronounced dead, but “once you do that, you are losing the 3D organization of the brain,” Sestan pointed out.

Despite researchers’ claim that the reanimated pig brains showed none of the electrochemical signals associated with consciousness, they deliberately made an effort to avoid “waking up” the brains. “It was something the researchers were actively worried about,” bioethicist Stephen Latham said, explaining the researchers had a plan of action in place to shut down the experiment immediately with “anesthesia and cooling” should the pig brains get too excited.

Specifically, a drug that dampens or blocks neuronal activity was included in the preservative solution because researchers thought the cells would be better preserved if their activity was minimized. But individual cells, cleansed of the solution and tested for electrochemical responses, appeared to be quite active, and even in their pharmacologically-dulled state, the preserved brains showed “spontaneous synaptic activity.” Researcher Stefano Daniele admits “we cannot speak with any scientific certainty” as to whether consciousness could be restored to the brains without the blocker, since “we did not run those experiments.”

Even without answering the consciousness question, the Yale experiment turns current science about “brain death” on its head, placing the practice of extracting organs for transplant from brain-dead patients in question – as well as current protocols regarding the handling of (possibly revivable) dead tissue from humans and animals alike.

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A strong earthquake hit eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County, disrupting air traffic and subway services. Witnesses report swaying and shaking building and that the tremor was felt in the capital, Taipei.

The earthquake struck northeast of Hualian City, a coastal community 162 kilometers from Taipei, according to USGS. Witnesses reported shaking buildings, but there is no official information on damage or casualties.

“Big sway & shaking in our Taipei office at 25th floor,” one person wrote on Twitter.

“People just ran. All the chandeliers and lights in the hotel moving,” another said.

A person livestreaming from the Hualien train station on Twitter said, “everything just started shaking really bad,” but added that he has not seen any ambulances.

Taipei airport and subway were shut down following the quake, according to local media.

Two tourists, a man and a woman, were hit by falling rocks in Taroko Gorge National Park in eastern Taiwan when the quake struck, local media reports.

In February 2018, a 6.5 earthquake hit Hualien, claiming the lives of 17 people. The quake, which was the most severe in the region in 67 years, was followed by more than 60 aftershocks within eight hours.

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