Monsoon seen covering India before mid-July

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's monsoon rains are a week ahead of schedule, powering across two-thirds of the country by June 14 and heavier than normal, but the weather office is sticking to its forecast for average rains during the entire four-month period.

Heavier than normal rains can trigger flooding but at this stage in the June to September season, they spur planting of crops. India's biggest concern is drought during a monsoon, with rains crucial for the 55 percent of farmland without irrigation.

The monsoon should cover the whole of India before the usual mid-July timing and their distribution over major crop-growing regions should be fairly even, B.P. Yadav, a director at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said on Friday.

Rainfall is expected to be at 101 percent of the long-term average in July and 96 percent in August, two key months for the planting and maturing of crops.

The strong start to the June to September monsoon boosts prospects of robust farm output. That could help the economy and hold down inflation, a critical concern for the coalition government as it readies for a round of state polls this year and a national election by May 2014.

India is one of the world's biggest producers and consumers of rice, sugar and other food agricultural commodities. A strong monsoon will underpin government confidence harvests will be ample to cover the extra grains needed for its plans for a $24 billion welfare scheme to give cheap food to more of its poor.

GRAPHIC: India monsoon 2012 http://link.reuters.com/dyt57t

GRAPHIC: Farm output vs rains http://link.reuters.com/jer47t

The weather office first forecast an average monsoon in April, before the season started, and the continuing absence of the El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which can cause droughts, played a part in its confirmation of that forecast on Friday.

The rains have also been ample over seven southern and western states, including major sugar producer Maharashtra, which were hit by drought last year and need plentiful and timely rain to assist a recovery.

(Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; editing by Jo Winterbottom and Keiron Henderson)

Trace amounts of the drug can make minnows go bad

Prozac is supposed to improve mood and alleviate negative thoughts. But in fish, it may be doing the exact opposite.

New research has found that fish that swim in waterways tainted by antidepressants can become anxious, aggressive, and even, in some cases, homicidal.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee gave malefathead minnows small, varying doses of fluoxetine, the "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor" more commonly known as Prozac. When given low doses of the drug, male minnows had less interest in mating, and became easier prey, leading to reduced birth rates. When researchers upped the dosage — but kept it within the range found in some water systems — the fish became more erratic, sometimes killing their female mates.

The reason, the scientists theorized, wasn't because of hormonal changes or mood swings, but rather that the drugs altered the genes that controlled the minnows' behavior. Through early exposure — the minnows were exposed while very young — the drugs messed with the development of their brains, leaving a lasting impact.

"At high doses we expect brain changes," Rebecca Klaper, a Wisconsin professor of freshwater sciences,told Environmental Health News. "But we saw the gene expression changes and then behavioral changes at doses that we consider environmentally relevant."

As Environmental Health News' Brian Bienkowski pointed out, though the chemical concentrations were so low as to not be considered dangerous to humans, they were still problematic for fish. Studies have shown that pharmaceuticals can actually accumulate over time in fish bodies, thus making their effects more pronounced.

"Fish do not metabolize drugs like we do," Klaper said.

Medications aren't fully absorbed by the human body, so they commonly enter sewage water after being excreted in urine. Water treatment plants aren't able to filter out all traces of those lingering chemicals, meaning they can seep into waterways.

A decade ago, Britain found Prozac in the nation's water supply, though it said the concentrations were so low that the water remained safe to drink

More recently, a study linked Prozac-tainted water to autism in humans.

The Environmental Protection Agency has identified traces of pharmaceuticals in the nation's water systems as an "emerging concern." However, the EPA has said that there is not yet cause for alarm because "research is needed to determine the extent of ecological harm and any role it may have in potential human health effects."

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The world has one shortcut joining the Atlantic and Pacific. Does it need another?

Nicaraguan lawmakers have given their backing to a Hong Kong company's proposal to build a canal across their Central American nation, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Supporters in theNational Assembly, which is controlled by President Daniel Ortega's Sandinista Front, hope the jobs and economic growth spurred by the project — along with the government's share of the profits — will lift the nation out of poverty, much the way the Panama Canal has proved a valuable source of revenue forPanama. But not everyone thinks the project is so sensible. Here, a brief guide:

What is the company proposing to do?
The Chinese consortium behind the plan wants to build a canal stretching as long as 178 miles, depending on which of four possible paths the group selects. The consortium also hopes to build twodeep-water ports and two free-trade zones. The $40 billion project would include an oil pipeline, a rail line, and an airport. The builders would pay Nicaragua's government $10 million a year. After 10 years, Nicaragua would own 10 percent of the canal, a stake that would grow over a century until the canal belonged completely to the government.

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Who is behind the plan?
The company, HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co., is run by Wang Jing, a Chinese telecom tycoon. He has no background in the type of engineering megaproject he wants to pull off in Nicaragua — a country he has visited just once, in September. The developers reportedly hope to get outside investors to help pay for the project, which has a price tag four times greater than Nicaragua's GDP.

Is it a new idea?
Building a canal across Nicaragua is a dream that has eluded Nicaragua's business elite — and Americans from the Vanderbilts to Teddy Roosevelt — for more than 150 years. The country almost got a transoceanic canal once before. "In 1902," explains Jose de Cordoba at The Wall Street Journal, "Nicaragua missed out when the proponent for the rival Panama project sent U.S. senators a stamp showing Nicaragua's Momotombo volcano spouting smoke. Spooked senators cast their vote for Panama."

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What do Nicaraguans say?
Many Nicaraguans are happy leaving the canal business to Panama, largely because the project could be an environmental disaster. Although no route has been made public, the consensus is that the canal will make use of Lake Nicaragua, to cut down dramatically on the amount of digging. Environmentalists fear that will mean draining the lake, a major source of fresh water, to fill the canal's locks.

Does the region need another canal?
Probably not. Experts say a Nicaraguan canal would not be able to compete with the Panama Canal, which is being expanded in a $5 billion project that will allow it to accommodate larger ships than ever before. Not only that, but the Panama Canal — just 50 miles long — is much shorter. Also, highways and freight rail lines crisscrossing the U.S. can handle a big hunk of the market the company behind the Nicaragua canal is going after.

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So why build it?
Supporters say it's a way to capitalize on one of the country's great untapped resources — its location on a narrow land bridge joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. "That's why this idea has always been around," Sandinista congressman Jacinto Suarez says. "Global trade demands that this canal is built because it's necessary. The data shows that maritime transport is constantly growing and that makes this feasible. Opposing it is unpatriotic."

When will it be open for business?
That's anybody's guess. Skeptics say it will never be built. Nicaragua's National Assembly has merely voted to grant the Hong Kong company a 50-year concession, with an option to renew for another 50 years. Experts say investors won't come forward to pay for the doomed project. "I can't see how this canal could be financially or economically justified," Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a transportation expert at Hofstra University, tells the Journal. "It could be the biggest white elephant in human history."

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Sources: Associated Press, TIME, Wall Street Journal

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NSA Leaker Snowden is 'Handsome' Hero in China

NSA leaker Edward Snowden has reached hero status for many Chinese internet users. His Chinese fans on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, have posted Snowden's old modelling photos and "Snowden Handsome" is the first result to come back when his last name is entered as a search term.

A Weibo survey found that 78 percent of respondents regarded Snowden as a freedom fighter who is protecting civil liberties. As for how the Chinese government should handle the case, 81 percent supported giving Snowden asylum with the aim of either protecting him or extracting more information from him - or both. Only 3 percent supported surrendering him to the United States.

Snowden, a former consultant for the National Security Agency, is hiding out in Hong Kong since releasing details about the NSA's vast program to collect data on Americans' phone calls and emails.

He has also released information that supposedly show U.S. efforts to hack Chinese correspondence. That revelation came after the U.S. had complained about Chinese hacking of U.S. computers. The complaint was followed by a casual California summit between President Obama the China's President Xi Jinping.

Outrage over the perceived U.S. double standard has also been aired online. A popular comment on Weibo said, "If Edward Snowden was Chinese and worked for the Chinese National Security Agency, Obama probably would already have had him to dinner at the White House and nominated him for the next Nobel Peace Prize."

The Chinese government has not reined in the online or on air commentary. On Thursday, CCTV evening news ran a segment on Snowden and his claims of the U.S. invading and hacking China and Hong Kong through the internet.

Major Chinese news websites ran special "front page" sections on Snowden. Xinhua's special page on Snowden touted how he "exposed the truth" about America being the "Hacker Empire"

So far the Beijing has kept a low-profile on Snowden, and the Hong Kong government did not make any statements today.

Dozens of Syrian Officers Have Reportedly Defected to Turkey

Dozens of Syrian Officers Have Reportedly Defected to Turkey

Less than a day after being accused of war crimes by the U.S. government, Syria's military got some more bad news as it seems dozens of high-ranking officers have taken their families and fled the country. Turkish media reports that 73 officers, including seven generals, have crossed the border with their families and have requested refuge. In all 202, people made the escape on Friday.

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In truth, the mass defection is probably unrelated to the news that the Americans are planning to get more involved in their war. (You don't pull off something like this overnight.) However, the timing could not be much worse for the regime. After a week when it seemed like the whole war was turning in their favor, with major strategic victories on the ground, ugly charges leveled at their opponents, and a peace movement in chaos, suddenly it's the Assad army that is reeling and facing the prospect of international intervention.

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As the world nervously waits to see what exactly the United States is willing to do, the news of the defections will certainly give the opposition new hope. The trick now is to turn that hope into victories.