Monthly Archives: July 2017

Oil woes are still spilling into bankruptcy courts – Houston Chronicle

Posted: July 14, 2017 at 5:43 am

The number of Texas companies seeking to restructure their debt and reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code hit a record high during the first six months of 2017. So did the number of bankruptcy filings in Houston.

Bankruptcy data show that 649 businesses sought protection in Texas federal courts from creditors and lenders during the first half of 2017 - a 44 percent increase over the same period a year ago and 12 percent more than in 2009 when bankruptcies peaked during the Great Recession, according to new research conducted by Androvett Legal Media.

Federal bankruptcy courts in the Southern District of Texas, which includes Houston, saw a surge of new filings by small and midsized oil and gas service companies, pipeline owners and businesses involved in offshore drilling operations, including Azure Midstream, GenOn Energy, Vanguard Natural Resources and Allpoints Oilfield Services.

As a result, 314 companies filed for bankruptcy during the first six months of this year in the Southern District - a jump of 58 percent from 2016, which was the previous high, according to the Androvett data.

"A lot of these companies in the oil and gas sector took on a lot of debt when commodity prices were $80 to $100, and then they struggled to stay afloat when the price dropped during the past three years," says Jackson Walker bankruptcy partner Matt Cavenaugh in Houston.

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"But now with prices mostly stabilized, these companies don't want to be caught over-leveraged because many of their competitors went through Chapter 11 during the past two years and are now leaner and meaner without all that debt," says Cavenaugh, whose law firm represented Houston-based Linn Energy and Oklahoma-based Midstates Petroleum in their restructurings.

Bankruptcy data show that companies in the health care and energy sectors comprise more than half of all the Chapter 11 restructurings filed in Texas so far this year and nearly two-thirds of all business bankruptcy filed in the Southern District.

"Many of these companies thought they saw light at the end of the tunnel when it came to oil prices, but the revenues just have not been there," says Thompson & Knight bankruptcy partner Randy Williams in Houston. "They are filing for bankruptcy now (because) they have exhausted all their other options."

Court records show that there also has been a significant increase in bankruptcy filings by retailers and restaurant chains, including Luke's Locker, Ben Hogan Golf Equipment Co., Joe's Crab Shack and Texas Land and Cattle.

Legal experts say the statistics can be somewhat deceiving because scores of the businesses that filed for bankruptcy this year in Dallas and Houston are related corporate entities whose cases likely will be consolidated by the courts.

"A handful of cases spawned several other filings," Williams says.

For example, Singapore-based offshore drilling engineering firm Emas Chiyoda Subsea filed for bankruptcy in Houston on Feb. 27. The same day, 14 of its affiliated companies also sought Chapter 11 protection.

Many oil and gas industry businesses knew they needed to file for bankruptcy in 2016 because of their crushing debt load, but they held off until oil prices climbed into the $40 to $50 range because it would give the companies more options in their efforts to restructure, says Jeremy Fielding, a bankruptcy litigator at Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst in Dallas.

"Companies are in a much better position if they are cash-flow positive headed into bankruptcy, because then the whole issue is dealing with the crushing debt and not restructuring the entire operation," Fielding says. "If companies are losing money and have unbearable debt going into a bankruptcy, then the companies are at the total mercy of the banks and lenders.

"I think that is a big part of what we are seeing today," he says.

For a longer version of this article, please visit TexasLawbook.net.

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First Test of India’s New Bankruptcy Law Offers Cautionary Tale – New York Times

Posted: at 5:43 am

That system left India's Debt Recovery Tribunals vastly overstretched, with court buildings strewn with ever-rising pillars of dusty files, gumming up the flow of credit in the economy and discouraging new investment.

The World Bank estimated it took 4.3 years on average in India to resolve insolvency under the old laws, more than twice as long as in China. And average recoveries were just 25.7 cents on the dollar, one of the worst among similar sized economies.

The new regime aims to significantly boost recoveries and put a firm timeline around case resolution in the hope that this will help clean-up bank balance sheets and spur lending.

India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India has already told banks to push 12 of the largest defaulters into insolvency, but experts worry the framework is largely untested and hampered by a shortage of experienced bankruptcy professionals.

"I completely understand why they want resolution for large defaulters quickly because the balance sheets have to be cleaned up," said Ashish Chhawchharia, a partner at accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton. "You cannot really push too hard, however, because if things go wrong people will start losing faith in the new code."

FLOOD OF CASES

Defaulters identified by the RBI are already being taken to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the forum now empowered to rule on these cases. Only a few dozen cases have been taken on by the NCLT so far, but a deluge could be in the offing.

"We estimate at least 20,000 to 25,000 bankruptcy cases will come to the NCLT, if not more," said Nikhil Shah, a managing director at restructuring experts Alvarez & Marsal. "And at that point it would get crushed under the workload."

The new law mandates a 180-day deadline to resolve cases, but the Innoventive case, in which creditors are seeking to recover about $200 million, has already faced multiple delays.

Innoventive initially sought to block the matter under a six-decade old state law, and launched appeals in the High Court and an appellate tribunal, while creditors were divided on the terms of an interim financing deal, according to two sources close to the case.

The company could appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, forcing lenders to seek an extension and jeopardising the resolution deadline, the sources said.

Chandu Chavan, the main backer of Innoventive, could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

With loan syndicates in India typically comprising a dozen or more state-run and private banks, forging agreement between creditors is not easy.

For Innoventive, it was harder to get the 21 lenders in the room to agree on an interim financing package for the firm to operate during the insolvency process than to find a party willing to actually provide the funds, one of the sources said.

Bankers often lack authority to take decisions on writedowns and have to revert to their boards for approval, causing further delays, the source added.

VALUE EROSION

Under the new system lenders are mandated to initiate liquidation proceedings if a case cannot be resolved within the 180-day deadline, with a 90-day extension granted only in exceptional circumstances.

Such an outcome could result not only in job losses at companies that were still going concerns, but also steep losses for banks that have to sell assets piecemeal.

"We've already been in touch with all possible suitors," said one senior banker, describing the situation lenders often found themselves in when they tried to offload assets from liquidated firms. "It's not like you have a lot people waiting for these assets."

Despite these concerns, M.S. Sahoo, chairman of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, the government body set up to supervise the new code, said he was confident buyers would emerge under the new system.

"Nothing develops in a vacuum." said Sahoo. "Only when something is available will the market develop."

The NCLT would not be hit with a tsunami of cases, he added, as only large defaults will be handed to it.

Those involved in cases are also concerned by the lack of experienced insolvency resolution professionals - a domain in its infancy in India and dominated by mom-and-pop firms.

Dinkar Venkatasubramanian, a partner at EY, says a lack of professional indemnity insurance for insolvency professionals was a major deterrent for big accounting firms to take up the task.

"The risk is significant," he said. "There exists litigation and reputational risk and the indemnity for IPs in the code is very generic."

(Additional reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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UES Retailer Peter Elliot’s Madison Avenue Shop Heads Into Bankruptcy – Commercial Observer

Posted: at 5:43 am

The owner of the Upper East Side Peter Elliot specialty shopswhichThe New York Timeshas called a temple of navy blazers and sherbet-colored sweaters,has filed a bankruptcy petition for his store at 1071 Madison Avenue, home to Peter Elliot Women, court documents indicate.

On July 7, Peter Elliot owner EliotRabin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York for the store on Madison Avenue between East 80th and East 81st Streets, under company name Women by Peter Elliott, Ltd. He put his estimated number of creditors at over 50, with liabilities exceeding $1 million. The largest sum owed is $115,400 to family clothing stores business Belvest USA on East 57th Street. (According toNew York Magazine, Peter Elliot Women has done trunk shoes for Belvest.)

In addition to the 1071 Madison Avenue store, Rabin has shops at 1034A Lexington Avenue, home to Peter Elliot Blue Woman, and 996 Lexington Avenue, home to Peter Elliot Blue and Peter Elliot Blue Boys.

Rabins attorney, Lawrence Morrison of Morrison Tenenbaum, didnt respond to requests for comment. Rabin didnt respond to inquiries seeking comment, although someone who identified themselves as an accountant for Peter Elliotdenied there was a bankruptcy filing.

This isnt the first bankruptcy filing for Rabin this year. On April 27, he filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition, but that was dismissed on June 6, court records indicate.

Adam D. Stein-Sapir of Pioneer Funding Group, which specializes in analyzing and investing in bankruptcy cases, and who is not involved in the case, speculated that three factors contributed to the filing: one, distraction and expenses caused by lawsuits, two, the difficult retail environment and three, operating stores in high-rent areas.

RFR Holdings, led by Aby Rosen, sued Rabin in 2015 for $1.3 million over space he leased for Peter Elliot Blue at the landlords 150 East 72nd Street at Lexington Avenue. RFR declined to comment via a spokeswoman, but the representative noted Rabin is not a tenant in the building.

Rosen bought the 4,000-square-foot ground-floor space and 900-square-foot basement space in February 2014 for $19.9 million and gave Rabin a 15-year lease.Former landlord Harry Macklowe sued Rabin that May forover $100,000for allegedly not paying four months of rent in the space, according toThe New York Postat the time.Rabin then filed a summons with notice charging that Macklowes workmen caused his store in excess of$600,000in damages, court documents indicate, but he never filed an actual suit. Macklowe couldnt be reached for comment, according to a spokeswoman.

The court ruled in Macklowes favor last August in terms of liability, and said Rabins counterclaim must be dismissed. A trial with respect to the damages is pending.

Retail bankruptcy filings have been cropping up at a fast clip as of late. More than 300 retailers have filed for bankruptcy so far this year, according to data from BankruptcyData.com cited by CNN Money last month, representing a31 percent uptick year-over-year. The bulk of this years filings have been for mom-and-pop-type retail operators.

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Why Texas business bankruptcy filings have hit record levels – Dallas Business Journal

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Dallas Business Journal
Why Texas business bankruptcy filings have hit record levels
Dallas Business Journal
The number of Texas companies seeking to restructure their debt and reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code hit a record high during the first six months of 2017. So did the number of business bankruptcies filed in Dallas and Fort Worth.

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Why Texas business bankruptcy filings have hit record levels - Dallas Business Journal

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Overfishing continues to be an issue – CosmicNovo.com (Science and Technology)

Posted: at 5:42 am

When the first settlers started colonizing the American West, bison were plentiful, within a hundred years their numbers had plummeted, with multiple populations hunted into extinction. Around the same time, whaling led to the collapse of several species, including the blue whale and sperm whale, whose respective populations are still reeling from the actions of the whaling era. In 1992, the Newfoundland Cod Fishery collapsed after years of continued overfishing. Overhunting and overfishing have been a trademark of human consumption for centuries, and is still happening today.

Overfishing is a simple enough concept, but one that is often times tossed to the wayside in favour of profits or to put off the death rattle of a fishing communitys livelihood. For every fish population, there is a carrying capacity, or a specific level at which fishing no longer becomes sustainable. That level represents that ability of a population to recover from population loss, such as fishing, death or disease. Essentially, a placemark that shows at which point a population can successfully replenish itself. If the population continues to lose more individuals that it can replenish, then is collapses.

In most countries, there are fisheries policies in place to ensure that their fish stocks are maintained in order to continue to fish at a sustainable level. However, cash strapped countries, like those in the Pacific or Africa have been known to sell their fishing rights to European or Asian companies, who would then overfish their stocks and move on. But overfishing doesnt just deplete fish in a given area, it can have strong repercussions on the local socio-economic dynamic.

When the Newfoundland Cod Fishery collapsed, it put a multitude of fishermen out of business and exerted a lot of pressure on the local economy. Those fishermen had to find a new source of income, and in certain countries, the available options can be less than desirable. The collapse of Somalian fisheries stocks is a prime example of this. After selling their fishing rights and losing their stocks to European fisheries, Somalian fishermen were left with no source of income and turned to high seas pirating.

That being said, the environmental impact can also not be ignored. Continued overfishing of populations can have an impact on the rest of the foodweb an ecological butterfly effect that can weaken an entire ecosystem. Should we continue to overfish, it isnt just the fish that will be impacted.

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The Future of Economics is Moving On Without Us – Harvard Crimson

Posted: at 5:42 am

Recently, I finally finished reading a book I started last September. Entitled Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal and written by my brilliant seminar professor, Eugene Soltes, it explores everything from the law-evasions of Enron to the downfall of Bernie Madoff. However, the segment I found most interesting detailed the psychology behind big-money fraudsters, particularly their outdated intuition. Soltes explains that the modern business world presents complexities foreign to the environments in which our ancestors lived, highlighting a time gap between the current world and evolutionary behaviors. In short, the future is moving quickly, and human instinctive reactions are having a hard time keeping up.

What strikes me most about this phenomenon is how it is overlooked when discussing economic policy. In liberal economic theory specifically, there is a tendency to favor what is fair and equal over what is most efficient, with hopes to foster equality in an inherently unequal socio-economic class system. Here, the morals leading one to distinguish what is right from wrong plays a monumental role, dangerously imposing a binary. What is right might not be what is best, and what worked back then might not be what works now.

For example, it might be economically favorable to dissolve the minimum wagecorporations profit more by reducing spending and increasing profitsbut whether it would be moral or just for the working class is another question. The choices one believes to be good or bad are built upon instinct, which might just be getting in the way.

The issue is not that emotion is involved at all, but rather that it is approached in an inadequate manner. Despite the United States boasting the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous economy, our history of sudden recession and market collapse coupled with the myriad corrupt behaviors showcased in Eugenes book suggest our nation has room to do better. Most business decisions are founded upon objective, hard data, but when humans are left to decide upon more subjective economic matters, opinion and morality hold the joystick.

Another example of moralitys perhaps-too-powerful interference can be found in a recent Freakonomics podcast. The piece introduces a sort of death insurance, which allows terminally ill patients to decline further medical treatment and puts the money they would have spent on hospital bills right back in their pockets. This idea is optimal in the sense that the deceaseds family can now afford tuition, housing, travel, and previously unattainable luxuries. However, its cold-blooded, utilitarian morale renders it extremely unfavorable. The podcast concludes that though the majority of economists agreed it would create economic prosperity, its associated ethics and emotion pushed so strongly against it that it could not be put into action.

The very essence of democracy (save for the mismatch between who won the popular vote and who sits in the Oval Office) suggests that if the people dont want something, its not going to happen. But what if our inherent logic, in these cases and others, is not advanced enough for what the business world is producing right now? In which scenarios do our intuitions remain accurate, and in which are they outdated and inadequate factors in decision making? The solution is not to disregard emotion entirely, but instead to reevaluate its role in the modern economy. Technological advancements are exponentially accelerating the speed of knowledge and innovation, and our thinking, foundation, and intuition need to be evolving just as quickly.

More focus must be placed on objectivity, and less on the ways in which instinct might drive us away from it. Of course, unanimous economic decisions are rare or simply absent in issues such as tax policy or bank regulation. However, once we begin to dissect the base upon which our intuition is built and attempt to consider alternate approaches, we might uncover that the best course of action cannot be classified as either right or wrong. Perhaps there exists a third option entirely. Lets not allow human error to stop us from finding it.

It is clear that the world in which we live bears little resemblance to that of our predecessors centuries or even decades ago. The current era is abundant with movement, perpetually changing, and becoming more advanced and inventive than ever. We cannot hinder our prosperity by neglecting the lack of synchronicity between our evolutionary impulses and the present globalized world. When evaluating economic policy, we must recognize instinctive thought while simultaneously acknowledging it might be flawed. The future of economics is moving on without us and we cannot keep watching as it runs away.

Madeleine L. Lapuerta 20 lives in Leverett House. Her column appears on alternate Tuesdays.

THE COBDEN CLUB MEDAL.

The Cobden Club, of England, offer a silver medal, under the auspices of the Harvard Finance Club, to any present

The Economics Society.

(We invite all men in the University to submit communications on subjects of timely interest, but assume no responsibility for

LECTURES ON THE SINGLE TAX

The second of a series of lectures on social problems being held at the University will be given by Mr.

TO DISCUSS CURRENT EVENTS

In order to arouse undergraduate interest in momentous outside problems, a thing lamentably lacking among college men, the Speakers' Club

UNIVERSITY REPRESENTATIVES WILL ATTEND CONFERENCE

Ten or 12 men will be selected in a few days by the Christian Association of Phillips Brooks House to

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For $5500, Could This 1995 Ford F350 Crewcab Dually Really Make America Great Again? – Jalopnik

Posted: at 5:42 am

Todays Nice Price or Crack Pipe F350 has a Trump 2016 license plate on its front bumper. It is about the most stereotypically old school all-American thing you could buy, but will its price eventually also trump all?

Do you remember back when you were a kid, your mom would always ask if you had washed your hands before dinner? Yes, you in fact had glanced at the bathroom tap on your way to the table so you assured her that your hands were whistle clean. She invariably would call you on the veracity of that assurance, and upon inspection of your foul mitts would send you back for an some actual germ warfare using running water and perhaps even soap.

I bring this up simply to point out that not everyones concept of clean is the same. Thats an important consideration in light of yesterdays 1981 VW Rabbit Pickup. It was claimed by its seller to be the cleanest in the Northeast, and while we dont really have a baseline against which to compare that assertion, that Caddy was sufficiently jacked up in a number or waysmissing interior trim, wonky front fender, etc.to make it seem totally specious.

In the end, its cleanliness level couldnt support its $6,999 asking price, and it fell in an overwhelming 88-percent Crack Pipe loss.

And now I think we should wash our hands of the whole matter.

Have you ever needed to tow something large, say a commercial aircraft or perhaps one of the Mount Rushmore heads after having won it in a game of poker? What exactly would you use to do so? Well, should such a need arise anytime soon, dont worry, I got you fam. Check out this 1995 Ford F350 Crew/Dually which is not only built to tow, but has pics in its ad showing it doing just exactly that.

What makes this such a good tractor for your trailer? Well, primarrily its the Navistar 7.3-litre PowerStroke that lives under the hood that make this a big tow. That 210-bhp/425 lb-ft of torque turbo diesel V8 has a rep for getting the job done. This one is backed up with a five-speed and includes a spate of updated parts that should keep the truck running for well beyond its current 260,000 miles. More on that a little later, however.

Aesthetically, theres some evidence of all those miles. The clear coat is going bye-bye in places, and the ad notes some old Bondo in the body going bad. On the plus side, it has running boards you can actually run on, as well as extendable Chevy trailer mirrors that are so big you could do a Coachellas-worth of coke off of them. Youll need those to see past the dually rear fenders.

The interior is as lived-in as your favorite pair of old blue jeans, and this being a Centurion conversion means it comes with an overhead CB radio and some other niceties. I particularly like the neckers knob on the wheel.

As far as the towing goes, theres a set of rails for a fifth wheel bogie in the bed, as well as a hidden gooseneck and a standard ball out back. The toolbox shown in a couple of the pics is not included unfortunately, but you do get a clean Florida title.

So far youre in love, right? Well, youll need to know this trucks foibles before you can fully commit. The seller notes that the engine is running a little rough, and is smoking intermittently. Hell, at least its not vaping.

The real issue seems to be the transmission, which apparently is suffering a failure on the third gear synchro. That or a clutch, the sellers not sure, and according to the ad hes just so done working on the truck. Oh, and that seller seems to really like Trump, so if you dont be prepared to deal with that when negotiating.

Okay, so weve got a pretty unique deal herea Centurion F350 thats kitted to kill it when it comes to the towing competition. Yes it needs some workor acceptance of its inherent foibles just like your mom did of youbut overall it seems drivable and ready for modest action. The price is $5,500 which seems mechanics special range, but which well now need to square with the trucks description. What do you think, is this F350 worth that kind of scratch? Or, does that price just not tow the line?

You decide!

Spokane, WA Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your Kinja handle.

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How infectious diseases have shaped our culture, habits and language – The Conversation AU

Posted: at 5:42 am

The bubonic plague slowed urbanisation, industrial development and economic growth in Europe for many years.

This is the last article in our four-part package looking at infectious diseases and how theyve influenced our culture and evolution. Read the other articles here.

Despite being so small they cant be seen with the naked eye, pathogens that cause human disease have greatly affected the way humans live for centuries. Many infectious diseases have been significant enough to affect how and where we live, our economies, our cultures and daily habits. And many of these effects continue long after the diseases have been eliminated.

Infectious diseases have changed the structure and numbers of people living in communities.

The European bubonic plague, or Black Death (1348-1350), identified by painful swollen lymph nodes and dark blotches on the skin, killed 80% of those infected. At least 20 million people died, which was about two-thirds of the European population at the time. It slowed urbanisation, industrial development and economic growth as people left cities and reverted to rural and agricultural life. Those who survived, however, were highly sought after for work.

The accidental introduction of measles to Fiji (1875) by people travelling between Fiji and the West caused massive numbers of deaths in communities previously not exposed to the disease. In a few months 20-25% of Fijians and nearly all of the 69 chiefs died. The leadership vacuum and loss of working-age population became an opportunity for the colonial government to import labourers from other nations to work in the agricultural industries.

In the Caribbean island Hispaniola its estimated that within 50 years of the arrival of Columbus, his crew and their pathogens (like measles, influenza and smallpox), the indigenous Taino people were virtually extinct. This pattern of large death tolls among Indigenous populations in the Americas is repeated in many locations, causing loss of traditional ways of life and cultural identity, and changing the course of their history.

Unfortunately, introduction of an infectious disease into a susceptible population was not always accidental. Germ warfare was a strategy used in many colonisation and war efforts. This includes North American Indigenous populations (there are reports of blankets from smallpox-infected corpses being deliberately distributed in the late 1700s); bodies of dead animals or humans being thrown into water supplies during warfare in Italy in the 12th century; and saliva from rabid dogs or the blood of leprosy patients being used by the Spanish against French enemies in Italy in the 15th century.

Infectious diseases, as well as the search for cures, have had many influences on economies over the centuries. In 1623, the death of ten cardinals and hundreds of their attendants led Pope Urban VII to declare that a cure for malaria must be found.

This was a common risk in Rome, where mala aria (bad air from marshes thought to be its origin) had existed since late antiquity. Jesuit priests travelled from Europe to South America to learn about local treatments. In 1631, they identified quinine, made from the bark of the local cinchona tree in Peru, as a cure.

After that discovery there was a race to control quinine in order to keep armies fighting European wars, including the Napoleonic, and attempting to capture territories. At this time quinine became a commodity more precious than gold.

In the late 1880s Tunisia experienced severe infectious disease epidemics of cholera and typhoid, and famines, which so badly depleted its economy that it was unable to pay off its debts. This made it vulnerable to French occupation and then colonisation.

In recent times, it has been estimated that the HIV epidemic in South Africa may have reduced its gross domestic product (GDP) by 17% (from 1997 to 2010) and that SARS cost East Asia around $US15 billion, (0.5% of GDP).

The origins of many food taboos appear to be linked to infectious diseases. These include prohibitions on drinking raw animal blood, on sharing cooking and eating utensils and plates between meat and other foods, and on eating pork in Judaism and Islam (most likely concerned about dangerous pig tapeworms).

Newer examples of these food exclusions that are still the norm today include:

consumption of raw milk being illegal in many countries, to prevent spread of bovine (cow) tuberculosis

not eating soft cheeses when pregnant to avoid contracting listeria, which can cause miscarriages and stillbirths

trying to stop people licking the cake bowl because of the risk of egg-borne salmonella bacteria.

Many words and expressions commonly used in English have origins linked to an infectious disease. One such common phrase, used for a person who may not have symptoms of an infectious disease but can transmit it, is to call them a Typhoid Mary. In 1906 Mary Mallon, a cook, was the first healthy person identified in the USA as a carrier of the typhoid bacilli that causes typhoid fever, a serious disease for the Western world in the 19th century (but which globally exists and has often existed in poor communities).

One public health engineer traced an outbreak in Oyster Bay and a path of outbreaks wherever Mary worked. In New York, she was put into isolation where she stayed until she died nearly three decades later.

Other such additions to our everyday conversations include:

God bless you after someone sneezes is said as it signalled that someone was unwell, perhaps seriously. Its credited to St Gregory the Great, although words wishing the sneezer safety from disease have been found in ancient Greek and Roman.

the phrase off colour appears to have derived from the late 1800s where a diamond and then other items that were not their natural or acceptable colour were off colour, or defective. It soon extended to describe being unwell.

feeling lousy means feeling poorly. A person infested with lice often scratches, may be anaemic from the lice feeding on their blood, and doesnt feel well.

The 14th-century French brought us two terms used in infectious diseases: contagion meaning touching/contact; and disease from des (lack of) ease (comfort). And the 16th-century term epidemic is from the French epi among, demos people.

So pathogens evolve with us and have shaped our lives and will remain one of the forces that we adapt to as we progress through human history.

Read the first three instalments in the series:

Four of the most lethal infectious diseases of our time and how were overcoming them

How infectious diseases have driven human evolution

How we change the organisms that infect us

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How infectious diseases have shaped our culture, habits and language - The Conversation AU

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Iran to US: Don’t Even Think About Overthrowing Our Government Again – Newsweek

Posted: at 5:41 am

A top Iranian military commander is the latest official to speak out against U.S. chatter of pursuing a policy of regime changeagainstthe government in Tehran, something Washington has successfully done once before.

Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff for the Iranian military, attacked remarks made recently by high-ranking U.S. officials such as Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggesting they may seek to topple the Iranian government, which they accuseof sponsoring terrorism and political oppression.The military leader'swords echoed long-held suspicions by Iran that the U.S. is plotting to forcefully oust the nation's political and religious leaders in favor of ones more sympathetic to the West, as it did by sponsoring a coup in 1953. More than half a century later, Jazayeri said Iran was unphased by such comments from the administration of President Donald Trump, but vowed to respond with action.

Related:U.S. has no proof ISIS leader Baghdadi is alive, Russia thinks it killed him and Iran is sure he's dead

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"The ridiculous dreams of the Americans about the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran is nothing more than disturbeddelusionsand we are not worried that they have preoccupied themselves in such a way," Jazayeri said, according to Press TV, an English-language affiliate of the semi-official Islamic Republic Broadcasting Agency.

"We will respondto the nonsensical talksof the American authorities in the theaters of action," he added.

A man holds burning flags during the annual pro-Palestinian rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, in Tehran, Iran, June 23, 2017. Since deposing a U.S.-backed ruler in 1979, Iran's leadership has been deeply suspicious that Washington will once again try to overthrow its government in order to install leaders more friendly to Western interests. Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi/TIMA via REUTERS

Prior to 1953, Iran's government was headed by a democratically elected prime minister named Mohammad Mosaddegh whose popularity ultimately allowed him to supersede the authority of the country's monarch,Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, known as the Shah. Mosaddegh nationalized Iran's oil industry in 1951, infuriating the U.K., which heavily invested in Iranian oil. The U.K. ultimately appealed to the CIA to sponsor a coup d'etat againstMosaddegh, which U.S. intelligence did in 1953, arresting Mosaddegh and replacing him with Iranian General Fazlollah Zahedi. The Shah regained his former authority and implemented an authoritarianrule backed by the West for over 25 years until he himself was deposed in the Islamic Revolution of 1979 that saw Shiite Muslim cleric Ayatollah Khomeinitake power and pursue anti-West policies that persist to this day.

The U.S. only publicly admitted its role in the 1953 coup in 2013, and last month the CIA released a trove of previously top-secret documents publicly revealing new details of the affair, known as Operation AJAX. Relations between the U.S. and Iran somewhatwarmed during the administration of President Barack Obama, who signed a deal that lifted U.S. sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. Trump, however, has taken a more hardline stance toward the majority-Shiite Muslim power and some of his most senior officials have suggested that a second regime change may be in order.

"Until the Iranian people can get rid of this theocracy, these guys who think they can tell the people even which candidates they get a choice of. Its going to be very, very difficult," Mattis said Monday in an interview he granted to a high school journalism student, according to the Middle East Institute. Mattis went on to target the Iranian government, linking it to groups abroad considered by the U.S. to be terrorist organizations, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Ansar Allah, commonly referred to as the Houthi movement.

Comments by Mattis, who has long advocated for tougher U.S. action against Iran, followed Tillerson's response to the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month in which the statesman explained U.S. policy toward Iran as being "to push back on [its regional] hegemony, contain their ability to develop, obviously, nuclear weapons and to work towards support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government."

Persian soldiers chase rioters during civil unrest in Tehran, August 1953. CIA-sponsored Operation Ajax saw the overthrow of democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, who angered the U.S. and U.K. by nationalizing the country's oil industry. Nearly 300 were killed in the unrest that ultimately saw West-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi regain absolute authority. AFP/Getty Images

Jazayeri is not the first Iranian official to respond to the Trump administration's comments. Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General HosseinDehghan told reporters Wednesday that, before the U.S. goes after Iran's internal political affairs, it should address its own scandals and potential shortcomings.

"Whenever the Americans have intended to make any type action against us or hire proxies to this end, our nation has proved that it makes them regret their deeds," Dehghan said, according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.

"The U.S. secretary of defense and the ruling system had better think of resolving their internal issues and study the root causes that will most possibly cause the current U.S. administration to collapse in a not so far future and will make the country's political system face a lot of serious challenges," he added.

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Iran to US: Don't Even Think About Overthrowing Our Government Again - Newsweek

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Human rights groups say Liu’s death shows China’s ‘arrogance’ – Economic Times

Posted: at 5:41 am

NEW YORK/BEIJING: The death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and democracy icon Liu Xiaobo demonstrates the Chinese government's "arrogance, cruelty and callousness", a global rights group said today while others vowed to continue the struggle for human rights in the Communist nation.

Liu, 61, died of liver cancer today at a hospital in Shenyang in northeastern China. He was granted medical parole in June after receiving his diagnosis in prison, but Beijing would not let him seek treatment abroad despite Liu's wishes and international pressure.

Responding to Liu's death, Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International commented that he was a man of fierce intellect, principle, wit and above all humanity.

"Today we grieve the loss of a giant of human rights," Shetty said.

Despite enduring years of "persecution, suppression and imprisonment," Liu continued to fight for his convictions, he said.

"Although he has passed, everything he stood for still endures. The greatest tribute we can now pay him is to continue the struggle for human rights in China and recognize the powerful legacy he leaves behind," Shetty said.

Thanks to Liu, millions of people in China and across the world have been "inspired" to stand up for freedom and justice in the face of "oppression", he said.

The death of Liu lays bare the Chinese government's ruthlessness toward peaceful proponents of human rights and democracy, Human Rights Watch said.

The last time a Nobel Peace laureate died in state custody was in 1938, when pacifist Carl von Ossietzky died of tuberculosis under guard in a hospital in Nazi Germany, it noted.

"Even as Liu Xiaobo's illness worsened, the Chinese government continued to isolate him and his family, and denied him freely choosing his medical treatment," said Sophie Richardson, China director of HRW.

"The Chinese government's arrogance, cruelty, and callousness are shocking - but Liu's struggle for a rights- respecting, democratic China will live on," she said in a statement.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang rejected all appeals to the Chinese government to allow the dissident to go overseas for medical treatment.

He said that the Chinese governemnt is guided by its own laws and other countries should not interfere in the China's internal affairs in the name of human rights.

Even after it was announced that Liu suffered from liver cancer, close friends and relatives were barred from visiting Liu during his treatment.

He and his family were kept in isolation, watched around the clock by state security agents, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.

Liu's wife, Liu Xia, who herself was under house detention as well as friends and members of the international community appealed repeatedly and unsuccessfully to the Chinese government to allow the dissident to go overseas for medical treatment.

Liu had been transferred from prison last month, where he was serving an 11-year term for "subversion".

Many of his friends and supporters said at the time of his release that they feared the dissident was close to death -- made a martyr by the Communist authorities.

"Whether it was gross negligence or political murder, they have committed an unprecedented crime as no other government of the world has ever seen a Nobel Peace Prize laureate die in its custody," said Hu Jia, a leading Chinese human rights activist, when Liu first left jail.

A university professor turned rights campaigner, Liu was branded a criminal by the authorities. He had played a major role in the Tiananmen protests of June 1989 which ended in bloodshed when they were quashed by the People's Liberation Army soldiers.

In October 2010, while serving his sentence at Jinzhou Prison, near Shenyang, Liu was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."

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Human rights groups say Liu's death shows China's 'arrogance' - Economic Times

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