Peter Suk Sin Chan: Happy Weekend to you all

Peter Suk Sin Chan: Happy Weekend to you all

Happy Weekend to you all

Peter Suk Sin Chan: U.S. suspends tariffs on Mexico after immigration ...

Peter Suk Sin Chan: U.S. suspends tariffs on Mexico after immigration ...: U.S. President Donald Trump says he has suspended plans to impose tariffs on Mexico, tweeting that the country "has agreed to take str...

U.S. suspends tariffs on Mexico after immigration deal reached, says Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump says he has suspended plans to impose tariffs on Mexico, tweeting that the country "has agreed to take strong measures" to stem the flow of Central American migrants into the United States.

"I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico," Trump tweeted Friday night, saying the "Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended."

He said Mexico has agreed to work to "stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border" and said those steps would "greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States."

According to a "U.S.-Mexico Joint Declaration" released by the State Department late Friday, the U.S. said it will work to greatly expand a program that returns asylum-seekers who cross the southern border to Mexico while their claims are adjudicated.

Mexico has also agreed to take "unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration," including the deployment of the Mexican National Guard throughout the country, especially on its southern border with Guatemala. And the U.S. said Mexico is also taking "decisive action to dismantle human smuggling and trafficking organizations as well as their illicit financial and transportation networks."

Trump's decision marked a change in tone from earlier Friday, when his spokesperson Sarah Sanders told reporters in Ireland before Trump took off: "Our position has not changed. The tariffs are going forward as of Monday." Trump has often said unpredictability helps him negotiate.

The five per cent tax on all Mexican goods, which would increase every month up to 25 per cent under Trump's plan, would have had enormous economic implications for both countries. Americans bought $378 billion US worth of Mexican imports last year, led by cars and auto parts. Many members of Trump's Republican Party and business allies have urged him to reconsider — or at least postpone actually implementing the tariffs as talks continue — citing the potential harm to American consumers and manufactures.

U.S. and Mexican officials met for more than 10 hours Friday during a third day of talks at the U.S. State Department trying to hash out a deal that would satisfy Trump's demand that Mexico dramatically increase its efforts to crack down on migrants.

The talks were said to be focused, in part, on attempting to reach a compromise on changes that would make it harder for migrants who pass through Mexico from other countries to claim asylum in the U.S., those monitoring the situation said. Mexico has opposed such a change but appeared open to considering a potential compromise that could include exceptions or waivers for different types of cases.

The joint declaration, however makes no mention of the issue.

Trump in recent months has embraced tariffs as a political tool he can use to force countries to comply with his demands — in this case on his signature issue of immigration. And he appeared poised earlier Friday to invoke an emergency declaration that would allow him to put the tariffs into effect if that is his final decision, according to people monitoring the talks."If negotiations continue to go well," Trump "can turn that off at some point over the weekend," Marc Short, Vice-President Mike Pence's chief of staff, told reporters.

Talks had gotten off to a shaky start Wednesday, as the U.S. once again pressed Mexico to step up enforcement on its southern border with Guatemala and to enter into a "safe third country agreement" overhauling its asylum system. But as talks progressed Thursday, U.S. officials began to grow more optimistic, with Short reporting Mexican "receptivity" to potential asylum changes.

Still, he said there was "a long way to go in that particular piece."

Mexico sending troops

In Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would not say whether he would accept his country agreeing to be a "safe third country."

"That is being looked at," he said Friday morning during his daily news conference, where he held out hope a deal could be reached before Monday's deadline.

In addition, Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Thursday his country had agreed to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops to its border with Guatemala to help control the flow of migrants as part of its concessions.

Peter Suk Sin Chan: Hawaii warns tourists of parasitic worm that can b...

Peter Suk Sin Chan: Hawaii warns tourists of parasitic worm that can b...: Hawaii’s health department has released fresh warnings about  a parasitic worm  that can infest human brains after officials confirmed that...

Hawaii warns tourists of parasitic worm that can burrow into human brains

Hawaii’s health department has released fresh warnings about a parasitic worm that can infest human brains after officials confirmed that three more visitors to the state picked up the infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed three new cases in unrelated adults visiting Hawaii Island from the US mainland, the health department announced. The latest known victims—who became infected at different times—bring the state’s 2018 case total to 10 and the 2019 total to five.

While there were 17 confirmed cases in 2017, the state counted only two cases total in the prior decade. The new case counts indicate a sustained boom in the parasite’s population and spread.

The parasitic worm in these cases is the rat lungworm, aka Angiostrongylus cantonensis. As its common name suggests, the wandering worm primarily takes up residence in rats’ lungs, where female worms lay their eggs. Young worms leave the nest early to find their own windy homes, though. Larvae get coughed up into rats’ throats then swallowed. The hosting rat eventually poops out the young parasites, which then get gobbled up by feces-feasting snails and slugs (intermediate hosts). When other rodents come along and eat those infected mollusks, the prepubescent parasites migrate to the rats’ brains to mature before settling into the lungs and reproducing. The cycle then starts again.

Humans are an accidental host, typically infected when they inadvertently eat an infected slug or snail that has slid into their salad fixings or other produce. Officials have blamed the recent boom in human cases, in part, on an explosion of an invasive “semi-slug,” which is particularly good at picking up the parasite.

All in your head

In humans, young worms make their way to the brain as they would in a rat. But the rambling invaders rarely survive long enough to make it to their final destination in the lungs. Instead, they usually die somewhere in the central nervous system. In some cases, the infection is symptomless and resolves on its own. In others, the worm meanders around the brain, and its presence, movement, and death in the central nervous system all contribute to symptoms. Those can vary wildly but sometimes include headaches, neck stiffness, tingling or pain, low-grade fever, nausea, and vomiting. In severe cases, the infection can lead to nerve damage, paralysis, coma, and even death.

Diagnosing the infection can be tricky since there are no specific blood tests that identify the parasite. In Hawaii, officials confirm cases by trying to pick up and amplify fragments of worm DNA from sick patients’ cerebrospinal fluid or other tissue (a polymerase chain reaction test). Still, there are no specific treatments and it’s unclear how helpful anti-parasitic drugs are at clearing the infection. Patients are generally left to manage symptoms and wait for the worms to die on their own. For these reasons, health officials say prevention is paramount.

“It’s important that we ensure our visitors know the precautions to take to prevent rat lungworm disease, which can have severe long-term effects,” Hawaii’s Health Director Bruce Anderson said in a statement. “Getting information to visitors about the disease is just as critical as raising awareness amongst our residents.”

The department recommends that visitors and residents carefully inspect and wash all produce and store it in sealed containers. It also recommends that farmers and gardeners try to control snail and slug populations.

This won’t prevent every case, however. Officials noted that a person in one of the latest confirmed cases became infected in December of 2018 after purposely swallowing a slug on a dare. The other two cases, both from 2019, were suspected to be linked to eating homemade salads and “grazing” fruits and vegetables straight from the land.

Peter Suk Sin Chan: Facebook shareholder revolt gets bloody: Powerless...

Peter Suk Sin Chan: Facebook shareholder revolt gets bloody: Powerless...: The Facebook shareholder revolt just got bloody. Facebook revealed  in a filing on Monday  how investors voted on a raft of proposals at ...