Fishermen are pictured in Masinloc, Zambales in the Philippines April 22, 2015. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
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By Roli Ng and Manuel Mogato
MASINLOC/MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) - A 30-foot trawler named "Marvin" lies beached on a grass bank overlooking the South China Sea, idle since China's coastguard began driving away Philippine fishermen after a fierce standoff four years ago.
Its 10-man crew once made their living off the abundant fish stocks of the disputed Scarborough Shoal some 124 nautical miles away. But since Beijing's patrol boats moved in, the fishermen of the west coast town of Masinloc said they had been forced to do odd jobs ashore, or become motorcycle taxi drivers.
The crews yearn to get back into their boats and hope that the Philippine election on May 9 will bring a new president bold enough to stand up to China's assertiveness in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
It is something they say incumbent Benigno Aquino was hesitant to do, while the frontrunner to succeed him, the hard-talking mayor of Davao city, Rodrigo Duterte, has indicated he may take a tougher line with Beijing.
"We want a tougher president who would make China leave the Philippine Sea," said the Marvin's shirtless captain, Biany Mula, referring to the waters by their Philippine name.
"That area is not their property."
The sentiment is shared by fishermen from Vietnam and Malaysia, as China's fishing fleet and accompanying coastguard armada have expanded within a nine-dash line that denotes Beijing's claims to nine-tenths of the world's most contested waterway.
With a relatively small and under-equipped military, the Philippines wants no confrontation with China, but it has been vocal in asserting its claims to the Spratly islands and its rights to exploit its coastal waters.
It has also angered China by indirectly challenging its claims at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. China has refused to recognise the court's authority or abide by the ruling, which is expected soon.
Some Filipino fishermen are optimistic a new leader can find a solution.
"I'll vote because somebody will resolve the issue in the Scarborough Shoal," said Alexander Manzano, fixing a boat moored on a makeshift dock.
"I believe someone will be able to do it. That's why I'll vote."
TOUGH TALK, MIXED MESSAGES
That someone could be Duterte, who is roaring ahead in opinion polls with talk of employing deadly methods to eradicate crime and corruption.
His position on the South China Sea is vague, however, in what has largely been a single-issue campaign.
When the topic came up in debates, Duterte promised not to put the Philippine navy in harm's way, but said he would personally challenge China by riding a jet-ski to the Spratlys to plant a Philippine flag.
For key ally the United States, a Duterte presidency brings much uncertainty. A Washington-based official closely following the election said Duterte's stance on the South China Sea appeared "contradictory", mixing both bellicose and conciliatory messages about dealing with Beijing.
Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Duterte's comments did not seem well thought out, including pledging to negotiate with China but only after it agrees the Spratlys belong to the Philippines.
"That's not an opening position that will entice China to the negotiating table," Hiebert said.
Like Washington, Beijing has given no indication who it would prefer as Philippine president.
Its foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said ties between the two countries were "extremely difficult", but China hoped the next leadership "takes actual steps to improve relations."
The Philippine military is prohibited from discussing the election, but some senior officers privately say they are warming to the idea of Duterte as their commander-in-chief.
His talk of crushing Islamist insurgents behind a lucrative piracy and kidnap business has appeal, they say, as does his promise to take better care of troops and make national security a priority.
Others hope Duterte will pursue a more independent foreign policy through broader diplomatic alliances and new sources of defence hardware to avoid being over-dependent on Washington.
"We're no longer in the Cold War period. We could build our own capability with the help of many allies, not only the U.S." said one officer.
For Joy Topaz, a fish vendor in a Masinloc shanty town, the most pressing issue is to negotiate a deal to get Filipino fishermen back to the Scarborough Shoal.
"There has been talk here about war, but we are afraid of fighting," she said.
"Let us just fish. Let everyone be allowed to fish."
(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
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What Your Dermatologist Will NEVER Tell You About Eczema (That You Need To Hear Immediately)AdminMay 7, 2016 What Your Dermatologist Will NEVER Tell You About Eczema (That You Need To Hear Immediately)2016-05-07T19:30:02+00:00 Health and Beauty
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The condition where the skin is very dry, itchy and flaky is called eczema or atopic dermatitis. In the most cases if someone experienced eczema on really young age they will experience again later in their adulthood. People with eczema might also have rhinitis and asthma because it is linked with allergy.
What Your Dermatologist Will NEVER Tell You About Eczema That You Need To Hear Immediately
Eczema is not a big threat for the human health and by that we mean that it cannot result with death. But those who never experienced this condition will never know how is to live with that endless suffering. By that endless suffering it is included sleepless nights with scratching all the time, waking up with bloody sheets, painful and sore showers, itching for no reason and many more things that can really ruin your everyday life.
There is one thing that can help you in case of this skin condition and it is linked with self-control – you will need to control yourself and to stop scratching. You should tell this to your friends and family if they are suffering from eczema.
What your dermatologist won’t tell you
It is a fact that dermatologists have an excellent knowledge of the skin because they are trained in that organ. We always check the symptoms and not the real cause of something. Usually with eczema cases there is something deeper than the skin’s surface that is causing it and that is what makes eczema a tough condition to crack. You can reduce inflammation associated with eczema and there are known triggers which can aggravate an immune response. So the real question is why we were not being told about them?
1. Different people with eczema are afflicted with different triggers and this is true. What we will discuss later is that there are a series of patterns which do ring true.
2. People that are suffering from this skin condition beg for one thing – relief. You can put an end to eczema your time and patience is required. You will not need only relief from the symptoms, but you will need to get to the bottom of the triggers.
3. The methods of testing for triggers like food allergies are usually undiagnosed for those with eczema because these methods are not covered and there are many triggers so it is really expensive for the patients to pay for every potential trigger. IgE blood testing for foods or IgG delayed- type hypersensitivity blood testing for foods are not covered by OHIP.
What are the triggers for eczema?
The part of the immune system that is responsible for telling the body what is foreign and what is not in the skin, lungs and gastrointestinal tract from the moment we emerge from our mother’s womb is the innate immune system and the breakdown in eczema is in that part. And because when we are babies there are numerous ways to get infection and if one part of this system is affected by something seen as ‘’foreign’’, then we know that other parts of the system are struggling.
The breakdown occurs in the gastrointestinal tract and it usually occurs even before birth. Mothers do prevent and reduce the incidence of eczema in their children when they are given good bacteria or probiotics and some specific strains of probiotics that balance a very reactive innate immune system. That is what makes the bacterial balance in the gastrointestinal tract very important for this condition.
Certain foods can be causing the problem as well.
Foods linked with eczema are:
-tomatoes
-citrus and citrus juices
-potatoes
-refined and synthetic sugars
-dairy proteins
-nuts
– wheat and wheat gluten
-certain fruits (apples from specific trees, cherries and peaches from the prunus family)
But different digestive systems react different to the foods, so this is why there will be more work to determine what is the real cause.
What can also increase inflammation is stress and stress hormones. Omega-3 oil is of a great help when there is inflammation and it will help with the production of good skin barrier.
Why should I care about getting to the root cause if my immunosuppressives are doing the job?
Tacrolimus, Protopic and Elidel are immunosuppressives that can help you a lot, but we should mention the side-effects from them. The side-effects have links to carcinogenesis. This article is not trying for you to stop using them or to scare the people because there have positive effects too. We just want for everyone to understand that with finding the root-cause you will prevent further risk from their use.
If you find the triggers of eczema, what can you expect for your life to look like with eczema?
Improved health will come along but you still need a lot of patience, because you might need to continue with the immunosuppressives, but you can sure reduce the amount that you depend on them. And you should handle the stress differently than others and you might have to avoid certain foods. Of a great importance are good quality moisturizers in order to deal with dryness and to keep the skin barrier intact.
You should not give up, that is why we said you will need a lot of patience. Everything ends with good, and if it is not good then it is still not the end. So do not give up!
Source : www.familylifegoals.com
