“It’s exactly what we thought the tax would do,” said professor Barry Popkin. Advocates here have argued that one way to help reduce obesity is to tax sodas, making them more expensive to purchase. The key is to put the tax on the producer, so the price of the drinks is raised, rather than treating it like a sales tax, which is added on to the price. Although it was too soon for the study of Mexico’s tax to draw conclusions about fighting obesity, it did show the effects of the tax on sales.   read more

De Sousa expressed surprise that it took Portuguese authorities as long as it did to detain her. “The interesting part of it is the timing,” De Sousa said. “Why now? When I came into Portugal I did not get detained. I have been here for several months and the Italians never asked Portugal to surrender me to Italy. When was it put into their system at the airport? Someone in Italy seemed to know I was traveling.”   read more

Hospitals also came under fire during the Iraq War under the George W. Bush administration. U.S. planes bombed a Baghdad maternity hospital in 2003, killing several people and injuring 27. Nor were hospitals safe under Bill Clinton’s watch. NATO forces bombed a hospital in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1999, killing four. Technical problems were blamed for the attack. Also that year in Nis, Serbia, NATO dropped cluster bombs on an outdoor market and neighboring hospital, killing three in the hospital.   read more

These failures often occur because local armies are being asked to put their lives on the line for regimes that lack legitimacy and fail to inspire people to fight for their country. “The question is can we put a government in place that’s worthy of their sacrifice?” said Richard Armitage. “And if we can’t do that, they won’t die for their country, and all the training in the world won’t get you anywhere.” Also, U.S. forces are trained to fight wars, not train others to do so.   read more

Somalia has finalized its ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The U.S. is now the world’s only country that has not done ratified this human rights treaty, which promotes and respects the human rights of children. Barack Obama backs the treaty but has not sent it to the U.S. Senate because conservatives oppose it.   read more

The percentage of those working or looking for work is at 62.4%, the lowest since October 1977. The index peaked in 1997 at 67.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Participation is even lower among those in their prime earning years, from 25 to 34. That number is now at 80.6%, down from 84% in early 2008.   read more

Families of 9/11 victims trying to sue Saudi Arabia for its involvement in the 2001 terror attacks have lost their case again in federal court. For the second time, a federal judge rejected the plaintiffs’ longstanding claim that the Saudi government and a Saudi charity, the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia & Herzegovina, should be able to face civil charges that they supported the terrorists who carried out the attacks.   read more

Argentina wants Stiuso handed over, and Fernandez’s government has warned the Obama administration that its lack of cooperation in the matter could jeopardize the two countries’ relationship. “We ask ourselves sometimes: ‘Is the United States ready to allow the bilateral relations between it and Argentina to worsen for a man they all say has no importance, no strategic value for the United States?’” said Anibal Fernández, Argentina’s cabinet chief of staff.   read more

In front-side collisions, European cars are 33% safer than similar American models. In addition, “vehicles meeting EU standards offer reduced risk of serious injury in frontal/side crashes and have driver‐side mirrors that reduce risk in lane‐change crashes better.” It wasn’t all bad news on the U.S. side, as the report concluded that “vehicles meeting US standards provide a lower risk of injury in rollovers and have headlamps that make pedestrians more conspicuous.”   read more

That a member of one of the world’s most repressive regimes should chair such a body “provoked indignation around the world,” Glenn Greenwald wrote at The Intercept. Saudi Arabia had executed more than 100 people in the first six months of 2015, most by beheading. When asked about Saudi Arabia chairing the UN Human Rights Council, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said, “We would welcome it. We’re close allies.”   read more

Agent Lonnie Swartz was charged with second-degree murder by a federal grand jury in the death of 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez, who was shot 10 times while standing on Mexican territory. The teen’s family has said he was only walking home and doing nothing wrong when he was killed. The Border Patrol contends Elena Rodríguez was throwing rocks at Swartz, justifying his use of lethal force.   read more

The program turned out to cost about $100 million per fighter, with only four or five still fighting ISIS, Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, head of the United States Central Command, told a senate hearing on Wednesday. Launched in May, the program’s initial goal was to train 5,400 fighters in the first year. The effort fell far short of that promise, producing between 100 and 120 anti-ISIS warriors.   read more

Tropical reefs are also under assault, having lost more than half their reef-building coral over the last 30 years—and the possibility of the remaining ones disappearing by 2050 because of ocean warming produced by climate change. WWF adds that a collapse of marine ecosystems could cause “an impending social and economic crisis” for the billions of people, primarily from developing countries, who rely on the oceans for food.   read more

The State Department says that even though personnel are warned to stay off the streets in certain border areas, they can “walk across the border and be in a Walmart or a Dairy Queen,” Gregory Starr, State’s assistant secretary at the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, said Wednesday at a hearing.   read more

The home of a Palestinian family was firebombed, killing an 18-month-old child, Ali Dawabsheh, who was burned to death. His mother died Sunday of her burns. Their home was sprayed with graffiti reading “revenge” in Hebrew and featured a Star of David. Although not so far charged with the fire that killed the Dawabshehs, four youths--three with U.S. connections--believed to be connected to settler terrorism have been incarcerated by Israeli officials.   read more

The government-owned China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. (CRRC) has begun building a $60 million factory in Springfield that will produce more than 280 Red and Orange Line cars for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The new plant will begin assembling cars next year and see the first ones rolling off its assembly line by 2018. The Springfield factory is expected to employ 150 local workers, and serve as the company’s North American headquarters.   read more