May 17 2016

How Safe Are The Genetically Modified Crops?

Genetically engineered crops have been around for quite some time and they are considered to be harmful to human beings and it causes many side effects. Recent studies have shown that these crops are not only safe for humans and animal and also they do not cause cancer, obesity, kidney disease etc. National Academies of Science recently released a detailed report listing out the benefits.

Initial ground work on this report started about two years ago and the research was conducted by more than 50 scientists and researches from various fields such as agriculture, engineering and medicine. The observation was result of more than 900 studies and covers data that has been available for more than 20 years. Which means the research was done ever since the first genetically modified crop was introduced.

These crops were beneficial in terms of saving money for the farmers in United States. But the yield from these crops were not much. The pest infestation was also lowered in some areas but in other areas cultivating these crops lead to herbicide resistant weed growth. Also, no evidence has been collected to prove that the GE crops affect the population of butterflies.

The review that was conducted was thorough and systematic. It took into consideration many of the issues that are commonly raised about the genetically modified crops.

The genetic material of these plants was artificially modified so that they have the characteristics that the other crops might not possess. Two of the most important characteristics were the ability to resist pests and withstand the effects of the herbicides that are used.

In order to understand whether the crops are safe for humans or not, the disease reports from various states in United State and Canada were compared against the countries where the consumption of such plants are less. It was observed that there was no correlation between the two. There was also no impact on the long-term pattern of consuming genetically modified foods.

April 21 2016

Panama Papers Opens Pandora’s Box

Recently a large number of confidential documents were leaked and it had led to the revelation about how rich powerful people are and the kind of techniques they use for hiding their wealth.

Approximately eleven million documents were leaked and some of the most secure companies such as Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. These document reveal how Fonseca has helped clients in laundering money and other methods he had used for avoiding tax. This company has been present for more than 40 years and it was never charged for any criminal activities. The leaked documents contain all the transactions for the past 40 years and this is supposed to be the biggest leak in years.

The president of France, Francois Hollande had hailed these revelation as documents that would stop people from committing fraud and increase the revenue from tax. The documents contain more than 12 heads of state information including the ones holding office currently. It is estimated that almost 60 people are linked to the present or former world leaders in the data.

Some of the big names included in these papers are the Prime Minister of Iceland who has been linked with his wife’s wealth. Some of the close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin are not to be left behind. They have been noted to have been involved in money laundering schemes that adds up to billion-dollars. The transactions seemed to have taken place between a Russian bank Rossiya.

Also revealed is a suspected billion-dollar money-laundering ring that was run by a Russian bank. Everyone who is associated with this are close associates of President Putin.

Another wealthy client and a US millionaire Marianna Olszewski was given fake ownership to make transactions and hide money from the authorities. This is also a breach of the regulations that are designed by the anti-money laundering authorities.

Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad are some of the other names that have been included in the leaked papers.

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April 4 2016

Sports Authority Headed For Closure

 

Sports Authority is getting prepared to close the sales at Sports Castle that is located near downtown Denver. It has planned to shut down 140 stores and the company has confirmed this on Wednesday. It is not known as to how many more stores in Colorado might be closed in future.

It is estimated that Sports Authority who is the leading sports good retailer is on the verge of bankruptcy. The company has a debt of about $643 million and they have already laid off more than 100 employees to better their balance sheet numbers.

Sports Authority has already liquidated more than 75% on the website. Employees at the Sports Caslte were seen loading the shipments to be take to the store near Park Meadows mall. The store is said to close once its lease terms comes to an end. Even in Dallas, employees were seen packing the goods into huge boxes and loading them into a truck.

Sports Authority is a private firm that is owned by Leonard Green & Partners. It was reported that the firm was trying to negotiate with the bondholders to reorganize according to the Chapter 11. Three years later, another Leonard Green & Partners group took over Sports Authority for a sum of $1.3 billion.

No one is sure about what the future will hold for Sports Authority. One has to wait and watch what happens.

Read Also: Panama Papers Opens Pandora’s Box

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