We Are Awake

                                                                 use ctrl+ to zoom in The largest ponzi scheme in the world – both by asset volume and the number of victims – has just been broken up after interdiction from China’s authorities revealed fake peer-to-peer lending that fleeced investors in the region of 50 billion Yuan, or $7.6 billion. The arrests of senior executives at Ezubao, the Chinese firm alleged to have bilked nearly 900,000 customers, come as Chinese executives are being   kidnapped   at an increasingly   alarming rate   and regulators in the region are cracking down on fraud. Investors promised returns on peer-to-peer loans, but money went for gifts, cash, sources say Ezubao promised investors what were generally above average investment returns, between 9% and 14....

The European Commission said Tuesday it could agree to a suspension of border-free travel in the Schengen zone of up to two years, and that nearly two thirds of migrants entering the EU in December were not eligible for asylum because they did not come from conflict zones. The refugee crisis has meant some European countries have reintroduced border controls in the passport-free Schengen zone of 26 nations. Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, France have introduced border controls with a six month limit. Non-EU member state Norway has introduced temporary controls. Poland is considering doing the same. On Monday (25 January), EU home affairs ministers meeting in Amsterdam called on the Commission to extend the time limit countries are allowed to suspend Schengen. Article 26 of the Schengen treaty could see it suspended for up to two years, if public order and security concerns are judged serious enough. A decision on some kind of extension will likely be needed by May. ...

Lawmakers approved the legislation on Tuesday to seize valuables and cash from asylum seekers. The valuables may be seized to cover the expenses of the refugees. The law had huge support in the parliament. Eighty-one people voted in favour, 27 against and one abstained. The “jewellery bill” will allow authorities to seize valuables worth more than 10,000 Danish kroner ($2,075). Denmark has a tradition of being liberal, promoting democratic values. It has immediately been criticised for passing such a law. Amnesty International was quick to slam the law. “It’s simply cruel to force people who are running from conflicts to make an impossible choice: either bring children and other loved ones on dangerous, even lethal journeys, or leave them behind and face a prolonged separation while family members continue to suffer the horrors of war,”   said Gauri van Gulik , Amnesty International’s deputy director for europe and central asia. The director added, “Separation can ...

As per an   Al Jazeera report , Tajikistan Police have shaved the beards of over   13,000 men   and closed   160 shops   selling traditional Muslim clothing including   hijabs (headscarves) , as part of the nation's fight against "foreign" influences. The head of south-west Khathlon region's police, Bahroom Sharifzoda, also said they convinced over 1,700 women to abandon headscarves. Authorities say the move is   to check radicalism in the country   and to prevent unwelcome traditions from neighbouring Afghanistan. Last week, the Tajikistan parliament also banned Arab-sounding "foreign" names and marriages between first cousins, which is otherwise allowed in Islam. In 2015, Supreme Court of Tajikistan had banned the only registered Islamic political party - Islamic Renaissance Party   - alleging it promoted violence. Al Jazeera states, "the country of 7.1 million people has struggled with poverty and instability since ...

The scientist who claims to be about to carry out the first human head transplant by next year says that he has successfully done the procedure on a monkey in China. Maverick neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero said he tested the procedure in experiments on monkeys and human cadavers. The monkey head transplant was carried out at Harbin Medical University in China, Canavero told New Scientist. The monkey survived the procedure "without any neurological injury of whatever kind," he said, but that it was killed 20 hours after the procedure for ethical reasons. Canavero says that the success shows that his plan to transplant a human's head onto a donor body is in place. He says that the procedure will be ready before the end of 2017 and could eventually become a way of treating complete paralysis. "I would say we have plenty of data to go on," Canavero told the science magazine. "It's important that people stop thinking this is impossible. This is absol...

Diamonds are worthless in every way.

As the race to adapt to climate change quickens, a South African scientist is leading global research into developing crops that mimic the extraordinary survival skills of “resurrection plants.” Jill Farrant, a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of Cape Town, hopes that unlocking the genetic codes of drought-tolerant plants could help farmers toiling in increasingly hot and dry conditions. With more than 130 known varieties in the world, resurrection plants are a unique group of flora that can survive extreme water shortages for years. During a drought, the plant acts like a seed, becoming so dry it appears dead. But when the skies finally open and the rain pours down, the shriveled plant bursts “back to life”,  turning green and robust in just a few hours. “I want to cater to the subsistence farmer, the person who wants to make enough food to live,” Farrant, 55, said. “Farmers are becoming more and more dispirited, and droughts are killing ...