The World Watches Japan, China And South Korea Summit

Three powerful Asian countries saw their leaders meet for their first summit in several years held in Seoul. This meeting of the three powerful Asian countries Japan, China and South Korea in itself was a huge accomplishment. A Chinese artist and a South Korean artist worked together to unveil a statue of great significance in the Seoul Park a few days before the arrival of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The work is a bronze statue of 2 young girls, one Chinese and the other Korean with their hands clenched in their laps. The work represents that many Chinese and Korean women who were forced into slavery for Japanese soldiers during WW II.

According to the artists, this work intended to raise their voice for the many Asian women who suffered during the war and the fact has been repeatedly denied by history revisionists. The sentiment is shared by citizens in South Korea who continue to press for apologies on behalf of the army to address the aggressions of the past. Japan claims that the said issue was resolved in the 1965 treaty to normalize relations between the countries. The relationship between Japan and South Korea is still rocky and there have been very poor measures to bridge the differences. This meeting is a first attempt at friendship between the allies.

U.S. looks forward to the summit where Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the South Korean President Park Geun-Hye will meet for the very first time since they came into power. The summit is a hopeful beginning to address common issues over the years to come. The three nations have a lot in common and their economies are interdependent.

Clinton Foundation vs Hillary Clinton – A Showdown

The Clinton Foundation a non-profit charitable organization was founded by former US President Bill Clinton in 1997. The foundation by the year 2016 has raised an estimated $2 billion from US corporations, political donors, various other groups and individuals and even from foreign governments and corporations. Their sources of funds have always been a source of controversy. The Clinton Foundation is more so in the limelight with Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Presidential candidate.

Bill Clinton says that over the past 18 years there have been thousands of donors who gave to the foundation. While there may have been some donors who tried to gain influence with the Clinton family it does not imply that the donors may have received any inappropriate favors. Being political figures it was but natural that friends and allies requested favors but the State Department has done nothing out of bounds as stated by Bill Clinton.

There have been rising concerns over the functioning of the Clinton Foundation if Hillary Clinton were to step up as the next President of the United States this November. The issue has been placated by Bill Clinton in this week’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting where he promised to step away completely from the foundation if Hillary gets elected. Clinton Global Initiative is a part of the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation has provided premium global charity services with affordable medicines, economic opportunities and healthy food worldwide.

The issue being to evaluate the candidacy of each of the candidates in the upcoming US Presidential elections, Hillary Clinton has been pushed through the eye of the needle. Bill Clinton highly commends her strength and integrity. While there have been questions raised on communications between the Clinton Foundation and State Department while Hillary Clinton was in charge. The claims suggest that the foundation staff asked for various meetings and passing of job prospects on behalf of donors, there has been no proof to establish any favors having been performed against standing U.S. Policy.

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Afro-Americans More Prone To Asthma

Asthma a leading chronic disease affects some populations more severely than others. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have observed that Afro-American children are twice likely to be asthmatic than the white Americans and Afro-Americans stand a 10 times greater chance of death due to asthma complications. Scientists from the University of California, San Francisco have taken it upon themselves to address this claim by looking for reasons in the genetic makeup of the most prone population and also at Mexican American and Puerto Rican children’s genes to better understand drug responses in each population.

Marquitta White, a renowned Geneticist, recently published findings that since the majority of genetic studies have been studied in Caucasian or European descent populations, the results and medications vary greatly from those of the Afro-American populations and is the main reason for poor care and responsiveness to available medication and treatments. For example, there is a common asthma medication called Advair that particularly specifies that it is not suitable for African Americans and that it poses an 8 fold risk of death. Albuterol another commonly administered drug for asthma has adverse effects on Puerto Rican and African American children. Both these populations have a high mortality rate.

It is essential to include minority populations too in clinical studies. The case is a reminder of the time when heart diseases were studied only in men due to which women underwent a very difficult time of diagnosis and treatment. Disease etiology and treatment need to be studied in individual populations due to the differences in genetic makeup. Genetics of a population contributes greatly to their well-being, survival traits and health risks. Asthma often is associated with the environment the patients live in and mostly are observed in those with a history of asthma in the family. Way back in 1993, the Congress had passed a legislation that publicly funded medical studies must include more minorities, although this has not yet been put to practice effectively.

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