THE GUARDIAN– Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter.

The decline of the country’s estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers.

The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US government’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

The collapse in the global honeybee population is a major threat to crops. It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee pollination, which means that bees contribute some £26bn to the global economy.

Potential causes range from parasites, such as the bloodsucking varroa mite, to viral and bacterial infections, pesticides and poor nutrition stemming from intensive farming methods. The disappearance of so many colonies has also been dubbed “Mary Celeste syndrome” due to the absence of dead bees in many of the empty hives.

US scientists have found 121 different pesticides in samples of bees, wax and pollen, lending credence to the notion that pesticides are a key problem. “We believe that some subtle interactions between nutrition, pesticide exposure and other stressors are converging to kill colonies,” said Jeffery Pettis, of the ARS’s bee research laboratory.

A global review of honeybee deaths by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) reported last week that there was no one single cause, but pointed the finger at the “irresponsible use” of pesticides that may damage bee health and make them more susceptible to diseases. Bernard Vallat, the OIE’s director-general, warned: “Bees contribute to global food security, and their extinction would represent a terrible biological disaster.”

Continue reading about the Bee Population Dying Off.

Written by Alison Benjamin

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Photo by Abby Martin

Double Charoite and Sterling Pendant

Rutilated Quartz and Sterling Pendant

Herkimer Diamond and Sterling Pendant

MEDIA ROOTS- Tyler Florence is a sterling silver and copper artist with some of the most beautifully unique, awe-inspiring jewelry out there. He draws from the dichotomy of the rugged power of the stones and the smooth fluidity of the metal to form graceful and flawless works of art that impeccably fit the elements together.

“Tyler Florence Jewelry is the production of myself, Tyler Florence, and the inspiration I get from so many of my friends, family, and those I meet who leave a lasting impression of the unordinary.  The metals I work with most frequently are sterling silver and copper along with an ever changing array of gemstones, seashells, fossils, sea glass, and other natural materials.  All pieces are hand made without the use of heat or chemicals and all are one of a kind creations attuned  with the healing energy of Reiki.”

To see more of Tyler’s awe-inspiring work, go to http://tfjewelry.wordpress.com/

TIMES NEWSLINE– Thomas Hagan, 69, the sole confessor of Malcolm X killing has finally been granted parole. He was released Tuesday at 11 a.m. from minimum-security Lincoln Correctional Facility.

Since 1984, he has appealed to the parole board 14 times and each time his appeal has been turned down. His plea for freedom was based on the request to go back to his family and become a substance abuse counselor.

In his appeal to the Parole Board on the 3rd of March he said, “I have deep regrets about my participation in that,” “I don’t think it should ever have happened.” Hagan,69, will finally be released on Wednesday.

He was found guilty of killing Malcolm X and was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment after his trial in 1966. However, he has been in a full-time work release program that gave him the opportunity to live with his family five days a week and report to the prison for two days.

His release was conditional of the fact that he would secure a job and support his children and also abide by curfew. He also had to undergo random drug tests during his stay outside the prison. Hagan was pronounced guilty of killing Malcolm X who was known as the leader of the Nation of Islam for whom whites were “blued eyed devils”. In his latter part of life Malcolm had a change of opinion about the whites and also feared an attack on his life from the nation of Islam because of his views.

Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational center is now housed at the same ballroom where he was killed. The Chairman of the Board Zead Ramadan said, “I personally find it strange that for a couple decades any person convicted in the assassination of such an iconic figure would be allowed such leniency,”

Malcolm X was on the dais of Audubon Ballroom with his wife Betty when he was fired at by the assailants. He was 39 at the time of his death. “Minister Malcolm was slaughtered like a dog in front of his family,” A. Peter Bailey, one of Malcolm X’s closest aides, told The New York Times on the 40th anniversary of the killing. His was killed soon after he accused Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad of infedility and left them.

Continue reading about Malcolm X’s Killer Being Released.

© COPYRIGHT TIMES NEWS ONLINE, 2010

Photo by flickr user ProfAlliRich