スカイプでオンライン英会話を楽しもう！

Acupuncture

Download

Acupuncture is an alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of needles in the body. Its proponents variously claim that it relieves pain, treats infertility, treats disease, prevents disease, or promotes general health. 

Around ninety works on acupuncture were written in China between the Han Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, and the Emperor Renzong of Song, in 1023, ordered the production of a bronze statuette depicting the meridians and acupuncture points then in use. However, after the end of the Song Dynasty, acupuncture lost status, and started to be seen as a technical profession, in comparison to the more scholarly profession of herbalism. It became rarer in the following centuries, and was associated with less prestigious practices like alchemy, shamanism, midwifery and moxibustion. 

The general theory of acupuncture is based on the premise that bodily functions are regulated by an energy called qi which flows through the body; disruptions of this flow are believed to be responsible for disease. 

Acupuncture describes a family of procedures aiming to correct imbalances in the flow of qi by stimulation of anatomical locations on or under the skin (usually called acupuncture points or acupoints), by a variety of techniques. 

The most common mechanism of stimulation of acupuncture points employs penetration of the skin by thin metal needles, which are manipulated manually or by electrical stimulation. 

Acupuncture needles are typically made of stainless steel wire. They are usually disposable, but reusable needles are sometimes used as well, though they must be sterilized between uses. 

Needles vary in length between 13 to 130 millimetres (0.51 to 5.1 in), with shorter needles used near the face and eyes, and longer needles in more fleshy areas; needle diameters vary from 0.16 mm (0.006 in) to 0.46 mm (0.018 in), with thicker needles used on more robust patients. Thinner needles may be flexible and require tubes for insertion. The tip of the needle should not be made too sharp to prevent breakage, although blunt needles cause more pain. 

Since most pain is felt in the superficial layers of the skin, a quick insertion of the needle is recommended. If skilled enough, a practitioner purportedly can insert the needles without causing any pain. 

Japan to join Pacific trade pact talks

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is to announce the country will join negotiations on a trans-Pacific trade agreement despite strong opposition from farmers, a report said Sunday. 

Noda will make the announcement on Thursday, days before an Asia-Pacific summit in Hawaii where he hopes to join in US-led talks towards forming a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade framework, the Yomiuri daily reported. So far the pact negotiations involve the US, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, and Japan would be the second-largest economy in the future TPP if it joined. 

But Japan's Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives has campaigned vigorously against participation, saying a deal would reduce food security in a country where farmers -- especially of rice -- enjoy generous government protection, at the cost of high prices for consumers. 

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), also known as the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement, is a multilateral free trade agreement that aims to further liberalise the economies of the Asia-Pacific region; specifically, Article 1.1.3 notes: "The Parties seek to support the wider liberalisation process in APEC consistent with its goals of free and open trade and investment." 

The original agreement between the countries of Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore was signed on June 3, 2005, and entered into force on May 28, 2006. Five additional countries ? Australia, Malaysia, Peru, United States, and Vietnam ? are negotiating to join the group. On the last day of the 2010 APEC summit, November 14, leaders of the nine negotiating countries endorsed the proposal advanced by President Obama that set a target for settlement of negotiations by the next APEC summit in November 2011. 

The TPP was previously known as the Pacific Three Closer Economic Partnership , its negotiations launched on the sidelines of the 2002 APEC Leaders' Meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, by Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and Prime Ministers Goh Chok Tong of Singapore and Helen Clark of New Zealand. Brunei first took part as a full negotiating party in the fifth round of talks in April 2005, after which the trade bloc became known as the Pacific-4. 

Although all original and negotiating parties are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the TPP is not an APEC initiative. However, it is considered as a pathfinder for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), an APEC initiative. TPP negotiations have occurred on the sidelines of APEC summits since 2002. 

The objective of the original agreement was to eliminate 90 percent of all tariffs between member countries by January 1, 2006, and reduce all trade tariffs to zero by the year 2015. It is a comprehensive agreement covering all the main pillars of a free trade agreement, including trade in goods, rules of origin, trade remedies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, trade in services, intellectual property, government procurement and competition policy. 

Europe and the Debt Crisis in Greece

For months, people around the world have watched the strikes and violent protests in Athens. But Greeks in rural areas say the country's debt crisis is hitting them even harder. And they say the government is ignoring their problems. 

In the West Macedonian town of Ptolemaida, electricity is the main industry. Mines in the area supply lignite or "brown coal" for power. The electric company in the town is owned by the state. But the government plans to sell off many of its state-owned utilities to help pay Greece's debts. 

In the nearby town of Kozani, Lefteris Ionnadis helps lead an activist group called the Independent Kozani Movement. 

LEFTERIS IOANNIDIS: "Our economy has depended on the coal industry for years. Most people living here were employed in the mines, and other industries were neglected. Private businesses have been struggling for decades, and rural economies have taken a big hit." 

The area is one of the poorest in Europe. It has the highest unemployment rate in Greece, at seventeen percent. And it gets a lot of aid from the European Union. 

People in Kozani say they are worried about the future. 

MAN: "It's getting really bad here. There are no jobs around. Everything is just rotten really." 

WOMAN: "I'm a student. I am absolutely sure I will not be employed once I'm done with my studies. I am also pretty sure I will never get a pension in my life. So at the moment we are just waiting for some gift from God." 

Lazaros Maloutas is the mayor of Kozani. He says government cuts will end up hurting the Greek economy. 

LAZAROS MALOUTAS: "5.5 billion euros are being cut from the real economy, of what is a fairly small country," he says. "If we stick only to such austerity measures, the country will plunge deeper and deeper into recession. We need investment." 

Leaders of the world's biggest economies held two days of talks late this week in Cannes, France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy hosted the Group of 20 meeting to discuss ways to strengthen the world economy. But the Greek political crisis became a top issue. 

Earlier this week, Prime Minister George Papandreou made a surprise call for a nationwide vote on the European Union's latest financial rescue plan. The EU had reached agreement on the plan just days earlier. The plan would reduce Greece's debt by nearly a half if the government approves big spending cuts. 

On Thursday, Mr. Papandreou withdrew his proposal to let voters decide whether to approve the EU plan. Mr. Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had pressured him to drop the idea. 

Mr. Sarkozy says Europe's two biggest economies had a duty to intervene to defend the seventeen nations that use the euro. 

Protesters came from around the world to demonstrate near the G20 meeting on the French Riviera. Eran Hakim flew in from Israel. He blamed the leaders for the growing inequalities in the world. 

ERAN HAKIM: "We see inequality going higher and higher inside countries and between countries. They are managing it, they're responsible. I do not think they will change it, but I am saying that we want it to be changed." 

Nellini Stamp took time from the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York to join the protest in France. 

NELLINI STAMP: "I think it is great because it shows international solidarity, because it is a global economic crisis, so you have to have a global movement, which is happening."