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Illegal shipments of African bushmeat have been analyzed and found to contain Herpes and HIV Precursor Simian Foamy Virus a new study revealed.  The study examined confiscated bushmeat at five major US airports.

The meat was analyzed using a new technique called DNA Barcoding which is a quick analysis tool to tell you what species a virus or bacteria falls into. In this particular study the test found zoonotic retrovirus, simian foamy viruses, and several nonhuman primate herpes viruses.

The illegal trade in exotic meat is big business in the Unites states.  Legally, more than 1.5 billion live animals were brought into the US from 200-2006, 90% of them for pets.  This only gives a slight picture of how many may be smuggled in illegally.

The fear is that most of the world’s worst viruses, at some point, jumped form animals to humans.  The most recent case was SARS (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which jumped from Civets (a type of wild cat) to Chinese butchers in 2003.

W. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health told Environment News Service,

“Exotic wildlife pets and bushmeat are Trojan horses that threaten humankind at sites where they are collected in the developing world as well as the U.S. Our study underscores the importance of surveillance at ports, but we must also encourage efforts to reduce demand for products that drive the wildlife trade.”

The study was the first of its kind, but in the future much more research is going to be needed.  The danger posed to the nation is too great to worry about potential costs.

Dr. Kristine Smith, lead author of the study said,

“Although the findings to date are from a small pilot study, they remind us of the potential public health risk posed by illegal importation of wildlife products – a risk we hope to better characterize through expanded surveillance at ports of entry around the country.”

Do you think the US should spend more money to keep exotic viruses out of the country?

The Inquisitr » Science

cannabisartgallery.com

Rock, skate.

​Quick, name the ethnicity that has the biggest drug problem among its teens.

No not them. No, not them either. Oh stop it, you stereotypers.

A study just published in this month’s Archives of General Psychiatry found that African America, Asian and even Latino kids were outranked by … white kids when it comes to drug or alcohol use.

Well, there’s one group that outdid Anglo teens:

Native Americans.

The breakdown of kids 12 to 17 who reported using drugs or alcohol in the last year:

-Native Americans: 48 percent.

-Whites: 39 percent.

-Latinos: 37 percent.

-Mixed-race teens: 36 percent.

-African Americans: 32 percent.

-Asian Americans: 24 percent.

The research pulls its numbers from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health vintages 2005 through 2008 (so who knows what teens are into this year).

Still, there are some alarming figures. Thirty-seven percent of all the teens in the study said they had tried alcohol or drugs in the last year.

One-quarter of the young pot users “met criteria for marijuana abuse or dependence,” according to the study.

The most popular illicit drug was pot, with more than one in ten teens (13 percent) saying they toked up in the last year.

And despite recent research that suggests the 16-state legalization of medical weed hasn’t affected teen weed smoking, “marijuana use has been increasing [among teens] after a few years of decline,” according to the researchers.

Maybe the Starbucks retail environment for pot in places like L.A. does have an effect?

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com/

The Informer

cannabisartgallery.com

Rock, skate.

​Quick, name the ethnicity that has the biggest drug problem among its teens.

No not them. No, not them either. Oh stop it, you stereotypers.

A study just published in this month’s Archives of General Psychiatry found that African America, Asian and even Latino kids were outranked by … white kids when it comes to drug or alcohol use.

Well, there’s one group that outdid Anglo teens:

Native Americans.

The breakdown of kids 12 to 17 who reported using drugs or alcohol in the last year:

-Native Americans: 48 percent.

-Whites: 39 percent.

-Latinos: 37 percent.

-Mixed-race teens: 36 percent.

-African Americans: 32 percent.

-Asian Americans: 24 percent.

The research pulls its numbers from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health vintages 2005 through 2008 (so who knows what teens are into this year).

Still, there are some alarming figures. Thirty-seven percent of all the teens in the study said they had tried alcohol or drugs in the last year.

One-quarter of the young pot users “met criteria for marijuana abuse or dependence,” according to the study.

The most popular illicit drug was pot, with more than one in ten teens (13 percent) saying they toked up in the last year.

And despite recent research that suggests the 16-state legalization of medical weed hasn’t affected teen weed smoking, “marijuana use has been increasing [among teens] after a few years of decline,” according to the researchers.

Maybe the Starbucks retail environment for pot in places like L.A. does have an effect?

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com/

The Informer

MJ’s glove.

​The U.S. government really wants this guy’s Michael Jackson memorabilia.

We told you earlier this month how the feds had filed a civil suit seeking the Malibu-based property of African royal Teodorin Obiang — including the MJ stuff (such as an infamously bejeweled glove), his Gulfstream G-V, a few Rolls Royces, a Bugatti Veyron (that 250-mile-per-hour car), and his Malibu property (possibly worth $ 30 mil alone).

They’re at it gain, this time …

… amending one civil complaint and filing another separately, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in L.A., which states:

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue (Nguema) used his position and influence as a government minister for Equatorial Guinea to acquire criminal proceeds through corruption and money laundering, in violation of both Equatoguinean and U.S. law.

The government wants $ 70.8 million of Obiang’s goods. They claim he looted more than $ 100 million from his home nation of Equatorial Guinea, where dad Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo happens to be president.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in L.A:

According to the complaints, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue (Nguema) used his position and influence as a government minister for Equatorial Guinea to acquire criminal proceeds through corruption and money laundering, in violation of both Equatoguinean and U.S. law. According to the complaints, Nguema is the son of Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo (Obiang), the president of Equatorial Guinea.

The MJ memorabilia is worth nearly $ 2 million alone, prosecutors say:

The complaints allege that Nguema used intermediaries and corporate entities to acquire numerous assets in the United States, including more than $ 1.8 million worth of Michael Jackson memorabilia, a $ 38.5 million Gulfstream G-V jet, a $ 30 million house in Malibu, Calif., and a 2011 Ferrari automobile valued at more than $ 530,000.

The federal government is operating (as usual) in the red. It could us this pre-owned good stuff.

Could you imagine President Obama rolling in a Ferrari and wearing that glove? Us neither. That’s why, if successfully seized for good, it will be auctioned off to some douche in a Christian Audigier t-shirt. That’s called redistribution of wealth, American-style.

[@dennisjromero/
The Informer

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Obiang has been kicking back at his Malibu spread for half a decade with no peep from neighbors.

​Teodorin Obiang has lived a charmed 40-some years:

Born into Equatorial Guinea’s royal family, Obiang’s “job” as the small, oil-rich country’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry allows him to indulge in $ 10 million party weekends and dozens of high-end cars and homes around the world — while his people barely survive on about $ 1 per day, and little drinking water. As we reported back in February, Obiang was recently looking to buy a yacht for $ 300 million; or, three times his country’s health and education budget.

But the human-rights-infringing fairytale might finally be coming to an end.

After years of international investigations into possible money laundering by the Obiang family — headed by Tedorin’s father, Teodoro — the U.S. Justice Department has filed a “lis pendens” on the dictator-in-training’s $ 35 million Malibu monstrosity.

In other words: Though no criminal case has yet been opened against Obiang, the feds have indicated pending litigation by bringing a civil suit against his property. (This tactic is often used in drug-dealing cases — the drug house is targeted before the dealer, because prosecutors only have to show a civil burden of proof while developing a more solid case against their defendant.)

Quite amusingly, though, the mansion is not the only one of Obiang’s toys listed in the DOJ filing. Take a gander at his stateside loot, which we can safely assume he acquired with dirty money:

• One white crystal-covered “Bad Tour” glove and other Michael Jackson memorabilia
• One gulfstream G-V jet airplane displaying tail number VPCES
• Real property located on Sweetwater Mesa Road in Malibu, California
• One 2007 Bentley Azire
• One 2008 Bugatti Veyron
• One 2008 Lamburgini Murcielago
• One 2008 Rolls Royce Drophead Coupe
• One 2009 Rolls Royce Drophead Coupe
• One 2009 Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe
• One 2011 Ferrari 599 GTO

Julien’s Auctions

Necessities.

​What is it with foreign dictators and their creepy pop-star obsessions? We know one “Bad Tour” glove was auctioned off to a Hong Kong hotelier for $ 300,000 last December — so either this is a different one, or it changed hands at some point. In any case, we’re pretty sure the King of Pop wouldn’t appreciate a prince who lets his nation’s children starve while indulging in celeb memorabilia.

Also, the Royces? Really? How many rides does one jackass need?

Which brings us to Obiang’s many removed accomplices right here in SoCal: Auctioneers, car dealers, real-estate agents and, last but not least, banks. (Occupy L.A., get madder.)

“What could and should have been done was due diligence from the banks that allowed the money to be transferred in,” says Ken Hurwitz, Equatorial Guinea legal affairs expert for the Open Society Justice Initiative. “He was using his lawyers, and in one case a broker, to bring money in. … Local entities could have done something.”

Obiang’s lawyer was George I. Nagler of Beverly Hills. And real-estate agent Jeff Hyland, whose offices are also located in the 90210, sold Obiang the Malibu property in 2006 for a very sketchy $ 35 million in cash — the most expensive home purchase in California that year. (Hyland himself got a $ 1.4 million cut.)

So if Obiang is eventually convicted of money laundering, we’ve got some local anti-heroes who couldn’t possibly have been oblivious to the dirt behind the deal. About time a federal department without greedy local ties stepped in and cleaned up the bloodbath on Sweetwater Mesa.

[@simone_electra/
The Informer

A recent review has unveiled that African Lions are far more most likely to attack men and women during a moonless night time or quickly proceeding a complete moon. The study, which examined 500 lion attacks on Tanzanian villagers more than the previous two decades has located that a huge majority of circumstances occurred from dusk by means of 10pm on nights with a waning moonlight.

Generally lions will not hunt on bright nights which explains their want to feed right after a full moon.

A lion professional informed the Telegraph:

”People begin out at moderate risk during days -four, when the moon is only a sliver and sets shortly following sunset.”

The specialist provides:

“Then, wham, risk spikes as individuals hungry lions can now operate in darkness for the relaxation of the lunar cycle.”

The review also discovered that Lions like to assault a lot more in the course of the rainy seasons because cloud cover from rain clouds have a tendency to block out moonlight, permitting for much better hunting situations for the African Lions.

The Inquisitr » Science

While the national unemployment rate currently hovers around 9.1% the number of African Americans without jobs has soared much higher.

According to a recent CBS News report unemployment among African Americans has reached a national average of 16.2% while black males are experiencing an even higher divide at 17.5% of the population currently without jobs.

While the national average offers a scary divide, NYC has experienced the worst of a weakened economy with 34% of black men from the ages of 19 to 24 currently unemployed and 42% of teens currently not working.

According to some job counselors a major issue in African American communities is the lack of marketable skills offered by high schools and a low number of college bound students within the community.

Racial Divide: U.S. Unemployment Rate Soars Among African Americans is a post from: The Inquisitr