Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295591479?client_source=feed&format=rss
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রবিবার, ৩১ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Police: Babysitter locked toddlers in closet
By Lauren DiSanto, NBCPhiladelphia.com
A teenage babysitter from Newark, Del., is facing a dozen charges of endangering the welfare of a child after police say she locked up 3-year-old twins in the closet of her apartment.
New Castle County police say Veronica Miller, an unlicensed daycare provider, would lock the twins in a closet while she drove to another location to pick up several other children she also watched.
After getting a tip, police went to Miller's apartment on Thursday afternoon.
A maintenance worker let officers inside the apartment, where they found a chair wedged in the hallway between the closet and bathroom door. Police say when they opened the door, they saw the twin toddlers sleeping on the floor with pillows and blankets.
Police say this wasn't the first time this had happened and believe Miller had been doing this since mid-February.
The twins were in good health.
The Division of Family Services is helping police with the investigation.
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DARPA's Spleen-on-a-Chip Solves Sepsis
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/FUQmO1dhfj4/darpas-spleen+on+a+chip-solves-sepsis
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Common gene variants explain 42 percent of antidepressant response
Friday, March 29, 2013
Antidepressants are commonly prescribed for the treatment of depression, but many individuals do not experience symptom relief from treatment. The National Institute of Mental Health's STAR*D study, the largest and longest study ever conducted to evaluate depression treatment, found that only approximately one-third of patients responded within their initial medication trial and approximately one-third of patients did not have an adequate clinical response after being treated with several different medications. Thus, identifying predictors of antidepressant response could help to guide the treatment of this disorder.
A new study published in Biological Psychiatry now shares progress in identifying genomic predictors of antidepressant response.
Many previous studies have searched for genetic markers that may predict antidepressant response, but have done so despite not knowing the contribution of genetic factors. Dr. Katherine Tansey of Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and colleagues resolved to answer that question.
"Our study quantified, for the first time, how much is response to antidepressant medication influenced by an individual's genetic make-up," said Tansey.
To perform this work, the researchers estimated the magnitude of the influence of common genetic variants on antidepressant response using a sample of 2,799 antidepressant-treated subjects with major depressive disorder and genome-wide genotyping data.
They found that genetic variants explain 42% of individual differences, and therefore, significantly influence antidepressant response.
"While we know that there are no genetic markers with strong effect, this means that there are many genetic markers involved. While each specific genetic marker may have a small effect, they may add up to make a meaningful prediction," Tansey added.
"We have a very long way to go to identify genetic markers that can usefully guide the treatment of depression. There are two critical challenges to this process," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. "First, we need to have genomic markers that strongly predict response or non-response to available treatments. Second, markers for non-response to available treatments also need to predict response to an alternative treatment. Both of these conditions need to be present for markers of non-response to guide personalized treatments of depression."
"Although the Tansey et al. study represents progress, it is clear that we face enormous challenges with regards to both objectives," he added. "For example, it does not yet appear that having a less favorable genomic profile is a sufficiently strong negative predictor of response to justify withholding antidepressant treatment. Similarly, there is lack of clarity as to how to optimally treat patients who might have less favorable genomic profile."
Additional research is certainly required, but scientists hope that one day, results such as these can lead to personalized treatment for depression.
###
Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com
Thanks to Elsevier for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127522/Common_gene_variants_explain____percent_of_antidepressant_response
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শনিবার, ৩০ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Jeremy Renner Welcomes Daughter Ava Berlin
He and girlfriend Sonni Pacheco confirm to PEOPLE that they are the proud parents of a baby girl, Ava Berlin Renner. 
Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/-zRlGPbYzGc/
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Nevada legislature ousts lawmaker after arrests
By Laura Zuckerman
(Reuters) - The Nevada State Assembly expelled Democratic Assemblyman Steven Brooks on Thursday after he was arrested twice this year, in the first time the chamber ousted a member in the history of the state legislature.
Brooks' expulsion was approved by a voice vote and the ouster was effective immediately.
Lawmakers who spoke on Thursday before the vote did not say why they were moving to expel Brooks. The action came a day after a Nevada Assembly Select Committee met behind closed doors and voted 6-1 to recommend the lawmaker's ouster.
Such closed-door meetings are allowed under the Nevada constitution when lawmakers are discussing a colleague's character, alleged misconduct, professional competence, or physical or mental health, said Rick Combs, director of Nevada's Legislative Counsel Bureau.
After Brooks was arrested twice in separate incidents in January and February, he was placed on administrative leave from the Assembly for behavioral reasons, said Assemblyman Paul Aizley, a Democratic leader in the legislature.
Brooks could not be reached for comment on the legislature's action, and his attorney did not return calls.
Brooks is the first member of Nevada's legislature ever to be expelled, Combs said.
A Democrat from Brooks' district will be named to replace him by commissioners in Clark County where Brooks was elected, according to provisions in Nevada law and the state constitution that provide for filling vacant legislative seats.
Brooks was arrested in February outside his Las Vegas home on suspicion of domestic battery and obstructing officers. Police said he had attacked a member of his family.
In January, he was arrested on suspicion of leveling a death threat against the incoming Assembly speaker, Marilyn Kirkpatrick, a Democrat from North Las Vegas.
Police say they found Brooks driving around with a handgun and 41 rounds of ammunition when they arrested him on January 19. The case was turned over to the state attorney general, but charges have not been filed.
Kirkpatrick had recently passed Brooks over for the chairmanship of an influential legislative committee in the latest of several political disputes between the two, Brooks' attorney told Reuters at the time.
Brooks faces four charges stemming from the incident in February. The charges filed in Las Vegas court range from resisting an officer with a firearm, a felony, to misdemeanor domestic battery, prosecutors said in a statement.
An arraignment is scheduled for April 11.
Before the vote on Thursday, Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey, a Republican from Reno, told Assembly members that Kirkpatrick had carried the weight of the process that ultimately led to Brooks' ouster.
"No person has felt the difficulty of this difficult decision more than our speaker," he said of Kirkpatrick, who was visibly upset before and after the vote.
Hickey said on the Assembly floor before the vote that the move to expel a friend saddened him and his colleagues.
(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman; Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis, Dan Whitcomb, Leslie Adler and Philip Barbara)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-time-nevada-legislature-ousts-lawmaker-arrests-012443337.html
AP PHOTOS: Images of Good Friday around the world
Pakistani Christians pray during a Mass on Good Friday in a church in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, March 29, 2013. Christians around the world are marking the Easter holy week. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
Pakistani Christians pray during a Mass on Good Friday in a church in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, March 29, 2013. Christians around the world are marking the Easter holy week. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
Faithful touch a statue of Virgin Mary at the end of a Good Friday procession in Managua, Nicaragua, Friday, March 29, 2013. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Penitents carry a Jesus Christ figure as they take part in a procession of "Santo Cristo" during Holy Week in Bercianos de Aliste, northern Spain, Friday, March 29, 2013. Hundreds of processions take place throughout Spain during the Easter Holy Week. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Pilgrims walk with crosses as the Northern Cross pilgrimage makes its final leg of the journey to Holy Island, Berwick Upon Tweed, England, Friday, March 29, 2013. For more than 30 years, groups of pilgrims celebrate Easter by crossing the tidal causeway during the annual Christian cross carrying pilgrimage to Holy Island , the pilgrims walk around 100 miles through Northumberland and the Scottish Borders during Holy Week.(AP Photo/Scott Heppell).
Masked penitents from La Santa Vera Cruz brotherhood, right, walks along the way with his assistant, taking part in an Easter procession known as 'Los Picaos' in the small village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, northern Spain on Friday, March 29, 2013. Penitents, or disciplinants, take part on the procession lashing themselves as an act of faith and penance, a tradition dating from the early 16th century.(AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
Christians in Good Friday processions the world over bear crosses, wounds and prayers over a few blocks or many miles to reenact Jesus' suffering on the path to crucifixion. At the Vatican, Pope Francis lies down in prayer during the Passion of Christ Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica. Hundreds of Christians stream through the cobblestone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City toward the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, traditionally believed by many to be the site of the crucifixion.
Here are some images of Good Friday around the world.
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Incorporating Social Media Into Your Website - Empower Network
Social marketing is a great way to build your online business. Integrating social media into your site can help your customers tell their friends about how awesome they think your site is. Increasing your social media presence is a great way to obtain greater visibility and reach an unlimited number of potential new customers.
The major social media sites all have code you can add to your site to allow your customers to link your page onto their social media site. This is the simplest possible way to get your site into social media. This simple change adds millions of potential customers almost instantly. Of course, you need to make sure your site is ready to go before you add this code to your site, but a well established site will enjoy a substantial boost from adding this to their page.
If you are using a blog or forum to attract more visitors to your site, you may want to add your social media links on that page rather than on your product pages. Not everyone will want to link to a product page, but many will be excited to share a great article or review. Make sure that the link to your storefront is easily accessible so new visitors can easily move from the blog into the money-making portion of your site. Of course, if you are a professional blogger then the written portion of your site is the money maker, as more visitors turns into more advertising revenue.
Speaking of blogging, Facebook and G+ have great tools for your blog. Not only can people subscribe and re-post your articles using their page, you can use them to run your comment section. This means that whenever a guest comments on your blog, it is automatically posted on their page. This also helps to moderate your blog?s comments. Unfortunately, you will have to block users upon occasion, and by linking this to social media they will have a more difficult time creating a new account. It also makes your comments non-anonymous which helps to deter people from making outlandish statements.
It is also important for your business to have its own page on each of the major social media networks. This helps you connect with your customers in a very real way. Not only can you use this as a way to draw in customers with new deals, you can interact with customers directly, thanking them for their business and addressing their problems promptly. By bringing your business into people?s everyday lives you will increase your repeat business as well as attracting new customers.
Businesses large and small compete on a level playing field when they integrate social media into their business. Large corporations have made customers feel like dollar signs, and by using social media you can create a very personal connection between your business and your customers. When you use social media to promote your business you open the door to millions of new customers every day. Good luck!
About The Author: whatanopportunity
Eshean understands how frustrating it is to try to make network marketing work for you and knows what is needed to succeed in our modern, internet driven environment. Eshean has personally tried the "old-fashioned" ways of networking and realized that these methods are ineffective. I recommend that you join Empower Network, whether you are a novice when it comes to marketing your business via the Internet, or you have not enjoyed the level of success you desire when you have previously attempted online marketing of your business. It will surely be an eye opener for you and your business when you join Empower Network, and it will help you deal with everything involved in becoming established online, as well as with all the technical issues that accompany this process. You can find out for yourself by clicking the "WATCH IT NOW" link. After realizing and perfecting the different ways to use the Internet, Eshean personally learned that these suggestions, views and marketing strategies are not only established, but amazingly potent and definitely WORK. The lessons given are transformational for anyone doing network or online marketing today. Take a look at the link found below if you want to learn how you can carry your existing company to the highest possible level. Visit the following website: WATCH IT NOW
Source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/whatanopportunity/blog/incorporating-social-media-into-your-website/
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Apple's 'Maps Ground Truth Specialists' fix Map app flubs
Apple's Maps mess of six months ago is a distant memory for some, but not for the Cupertino company, which has worked quickly to rectify matters and improve its map app, introduced as part of its iOS 6 mobile operating system. That damage control includes hiring employees with the title of "Maps Ground Truth Specialists" around the globe to make sure Apple's maps are up to snuff.
While Apple isn't the first company to have the Orwellian-sounding position of "Maps Ground Truth Specialists" ? Google has them, too ? it's noteworthy because of Apple's map flubs, something that caused CEO Tim Cook to make a public apology.
In the United States, those flubs included initially showing the Brooklyn Bridge as almost plunging into the water and marking a Florida supermarket site as one for a hospital.
Right now, there are seven openings for "Maps Ground Truth Specialists" around the world, including one in the United States. That role, Apple says in the job description, will include:
- Testing new releases of map code and data around the U.S.
- Collecting ground truth data to allow for analysis of the impact of potential map code or data changes relative to known truth.
- Utilizing local expertise to provide feedback about U.S.-specific mapping details.
- Evaluating competing products in-region relative to our maps.
As you can see, there are jobs all over the globe, including Australia. There last fall, police were warning drivers not to use Apple Maps because it wrongly placed the city of Midura in a national park, leaving some motorists stranded and in a snake-infested area.
? Via The Verge
Check out Technology, GadgetBox, DigitalLife and InGame on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.
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New technologies combat invasive species
Mar. 28, 2013 ? A new research paper by a team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame's Environmental Change Initiative (ECI) demonstrates how two cutting-edge technologies can provide a sensitive and real-time solution to screening real-world water samples for invasive species before they get into our country or before they cause significant damage.
"Aquatic invasive species cause ecological and economic damage worldwide, including the loss of native biodiversity and damage to the world's great fisheries," Scott Egan, a research assistant professor with Notre Dame's Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics Initiative and a member of the research team, said. "This research combines two new, but proven technologies, environmental DNA (eDNA) and Light Transmission Spectroscopy (LTS), to address the growing problem of aquatic invasive species by increasing our ability to detect dangerous species in samples before they arrive or when they are still rare in their environment and have not yet caused significant damage."
Egan points out that eDNA is a species surveillance tool that recognizes a unique advantage of aquatic sampling: water often contains microscopic bits of tissue in suspension, including the scales of fish, the exoskeletons of insects, and the sloughed cells of and tissues of aquatic species. These tissue fragments can be filtered from water samples and then a standard DNA extraction is performed on the filtered matter. The new sampling method for invasive species was pioneered by members of the ND Environmental Change Initiative, including David Lodge and Chris Jerde, Central Michigan University's Andrew Mahon, and The Nature Conservancy's Lindsay Chadderton.
Egan explains that LTS, which was developed by Notre Dame physicists Steven Ruggiero and Carol Tanner, can measure the size of small particles on a nanometer scale (1 nanometer equals 1 billionth of a meter). LTS was used in the research for DNA-based species detection where the LTS device detects small shifts in the size of nanoparticles with short single-stranded DNA fragments on their surface that will only bind to the DNA of a specific species.
"Thus, these nanoparticles grow in size in the presence of a target species, such as a dangerous invasive species, but don't in the presence of other species" Egan said. "In addition to the sensitivity of LTS, it is also advantageous because the device fits in a small suitcase and can operate off a car battery in the field, such as a point of entry at the border of the U.S."
The Notre Dame researchers demonstrated the work with manipulative experiments in the lab for five high-risk invasive species and also in the field, using lakes already infested with an invasive mussel, Dreissena polymorpha or the zebra mussel.
"Our work implies that eDNA sampling and LTS could enable rapid species detection in the field in the context of research, voluntary or regulatory surveillance and management actions to lower the risk of the introduction or spread of harmful species," Egan said. "In the Great Lakes alone, 180 nonindigenous species have been established since European settlement, with about 70 percent arriving through the ballast tanks of transoceanic ships. Ballast water monitoring is one of many potential applications for LTS with ramifications for environmental protection, public health and economic health."
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Notre Dame. The original article was written by William G. Gilroy.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Scott P. Egan, Matthew A. Barnes, Ching-Ting Hwang, Andrew R. Mahon, Jeffery L. Feder, Steven T. Ruggiero, Carol E. Tanner, David M. Lodge. Rapid invasive species detection by combining environmental DNA with Light Transmission Spectroscopy. Conservation Letters, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/conl.12017
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/OSYpN0dQ_yk/130329090622.htm
শুক্রবার, ২৯ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Sexual Well-Being - Is It Serious? 8 Health Symptoms Women ...
Is It Serious? 8 Health Symptoms Women Should Not Ignore 0 5
David Castillo Dominici/PhotoSpin Often it?s hard to distinguish between what?s normal and what needs a doctor's attention. Here are the most common health symptoms women should not ignore.
Symptom #1: Pelvic Pain
Chronic pelvic pain can indicate benign uterine fibroids, endometriosis or pelvic inflammatory disease.
?Fortunately, most pelvic discomfort isn?t related to ovarian cancer, but women should know the disease?s unremitting constellation of symptoms,? Holly Puritz, MD, FACOG, an obstetrician and gynecologist told WebMD.
The constellation of symptoms can include abdominal pain or discomfort, bloating and cramps nausea, diarrhea, abdominal swelling, constipation, or sudden unexplained weight change.
?If you have two weeks of bloating, pelvic pressure, and frequent urination -- and every day, you have it -- that?s a potential sign you should be checked for possible symptoms of ovarian cancer,? said Puritz in WebMD.
Symptom #2: Irregular Vaginal Bleeding
Irregular vaginal bleeding could come from multiple causes that aren?t serious including perimenopause, uterine fibroids or polyps, reported WebMD.
For bleeding after sex, Redbook.com wrote that an unlikely culprit could be chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection. The least common scenario would be cervical cancer.
One common cause for spotting between periods is not taking oral contraceptives at the same time every day. Less likely culprits are uterine fibroids. And the least common scenario is endometrial cancer, which frequently causes irregular vaginal bleeding in premenopausal women, wrote Redbook.com.
Symptom #3: Abnormal Vaginal Discharge
Abnormal vaginal discharge may signify an easily treatable infection, said HealthCentral.com. This includes a yeast infection, bacterial vaginosis or trichomoniasis. MDAnderson.org warned that vaginal discharge colored with blood is sometimes a sign of cervical or endometrial cancer.
Symptom #4: Persistent Itch
Redbook.com wrote that the most common cause is a yeast infection.
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Nokia plays down $383 million India tax order
MUMBAI/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Mobile phone maker Nokia Oyj has played down a multi-billion rupee tax demand from India, saying it did not have to pay any part of the demand for now and would continue to fight the claim.
Indian tax officials demanded Nokia pay 20.8 billion rupees ($383 million) in unpaid taxes, stepping up claims against foreign companies, although the Delhi High Court issued a stay on the demand.
The tax order, if enforced, would add to pressure on Nokia's finances which are already being strained by falling sales. The company axed its annual dividend payment for the first time in its history to shore up its cash position.
"Nokia reiterates its position is that it is in full compliance with local laws as well as the bilaterally negotiated tax treaty between the governments of India and Finland and will defend itself vigorously," the company said in a statement.
Nokia has seen a rapid dwindling of its cash reserves and ended 2012 with net cash of 4.4 billion euros ($5.6 billion), down 22 percent from a year earlier.
It was not clear how long the stay on the tax demand would remain in force.
The order from the Indian tax officials covered five fiscal years starting from 2006/07, according to a March 22 notice on an Indian court's website.
The demand comes as Asia's third-largest economy is aggressively pursuing tax claims against foreign companies as it seeks to rein in its budget deficit to avoid a credit rating downgrade.
Last month, a government official said tax authorities had accused Cadbury Plc, now part of U.S. snacks firm Mondelez International Inc, of misleading them about production from a new factory to avoid about $46 million in taxes.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Vodafone Group Plc and LG Electronics Inc are also among companies involved in tax disputes in India and have challenged the orders.
Nokia said it filed a writ before the Delhi High Court petitioning against the order. The court has asked the tax department to file a "counter-affidavit" within one week.
A lawyer for Nokia India assured the court that the company would not move any funds outside India, except in the normal course of business, until the date of the next court hearing, the court document showed.
Countries like India are crucial for Nokia's attempt to hold on to global market share after giving up its spot as market leader to Samsung. It has been expanding its Asha line of low-end smartphones and India is widely seen as a key market for such cheaper models.
The company last month objected to tax officials entering its factory in Chennai in southern India, which is one of its biggest facilities. Nokia said it has invested over $330 million in Chennai since setting up the factory in 2006.
(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando in Copenhagen and Sumeet Chatterjee in Mumbai; Additional reporting by Terhi Kinnunen in Helsinki; Editing by David Holmes)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nokia-fined-indian-tax-officials-court-issues-stay-091855306--finance.html
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NYC appeals ruling striking down soda size limit
NEW YORK (AP) ? New York City is asking appeals judges to reinstate a ban on supersized sodas and other sugary drinks, which was struck down by a Manhattan judge the day before it was to go into effect.
The city had vowed an appeal and said Thursday that lawyers had filed it late Monday.
In his decision on March 11, State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling said the 16-ounce limit on sodas and other sweet drinks arbitrarily applies to only some sugary beverages and some places that sell them.
"The loopholes in this rule effectively defeat the stated purpose of this rule," Tingling wrote in his ruling, which was seen as a victory for the beverage industry, restaurants and other business groups that called the ban unfair.
In addition, the judge said the Mayor Michael Bloomberg-appointed Board of Health intruded on the City Council's authority when it imposed the rule.
In its appeal, the city disputed those points.
"The rule is designed to make consumption of large amounts of sugary drinks a conscious and informed choice by the consumer," it said. "Thus, although a consumer is free to consume more than 16 ounces by ordering a second drink, getting a refill, or going to another store, he or she will be making an informed choice."
The city also said the Board of Health had legislative authority, and "is empowered to issue substantive rules and standards in public health."
Said American Beverage Association spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger, referring to the initial decision overturning the ban, "We feel the justice's decision was strong and we're confident in the ruling."
Also on Thursday, the city announced that other organizations had filed legal briefs in support of the city's appeal. Those organizations include the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and the National Association of Local Boards of Health, as well as 30 others.
Bloomberg has made public health a cornerstone of his administration, from requiring calorie counts to be posted on menus and barring trans fats in restaurant foods.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-appeals-ruling-striking-down-soda-size-limit-195645851.html
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BRICS "Big Five" find it hard to run as a herd
By Pascal Fletcher
DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters) - At a summit in South Africa on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin likened the BRICS nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - to Africa's "Big Five" game beasts of trophy hunting lore - the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros.
The Russian president's comparison captures the dilemma of these muscular emerging global powers, which together present a formidable potential economic and political counterweight to the developed West, but individually could hardly be more different.
The question is whether the BRICS five can run as a herd or hunt as a pack on the global stage, transforming their diverse but collective strength into real institutions and coordinating structures to project their voice in the world.
At a two-day summit in Durban, South Africa, the leaders of countries that make up more than 40 percent of the world's population and a fifth of global GDP seemed to have little concrete to show from their mostly closed-door deliberations.
After mooting plans for a BRICS development bank at a summit in New Delhi a year ago, the leaders in Durban were only able to announce the start of formal talks on the constitution of the bank, a lumbering pace even for a group as diverse as the BRICS.
"We have decided to enter formal negotiations to establish a BRICS-led new development Bank based on our own considerable infrastructure needs, which amount to around $4.5 trillion over the next five years," the host, South African President Jacob Zuma, told the summit.
He added the bank aimed to cooperate in the future with other emerging markets and developing countries, but revealed little about the structure of a world institution pitched as a potential complement, if not rival, to the IMF and World Bank.
A separate statement from the five heads of state blandly hailed the development bank plan as "feasible and viable".
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov had said on Tuesday that BRICS ministers in Durban seeking to thrash out the technicalities of the bank had not been able to agree yet on details of its funding or its location.
"It cannot be done overnight. We just used one year since the New Delhi summit to complete a feasibility study and now we are at a very different stage where, as always, the devil is in the details," Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov told Reuters on Wednesday.
Zuma also announced the group's "resolve" to set up a $100 billion foreign exchange reserves pool, again indicating little real progress on creating another financial coordination tool.
BORN IN A RESEARCH PAPER
That the BRICS have come even this far could be seen as surprise. The group began as an idea in a 2001 research note by a Goldman Sachs banker, who coined the term BRIC to refer to fast-growing big countries Brazil, Russia, India and China, on a path to overtaking the world's rich nations in economic power.
Those four are the only developing countries that number in the world's top 10 by GDP, and each is a giant in its region, but they have little else directly in common. Yet they share a sense that institutions set up by the West are ignoring their interests, and in 2009 they held a summit in Russia, announcing their goal of joining forces to counterbalance the West.
They have held annual summits since, in 2010 adding South Africa, the largest economy on its continent, although it barely cracks the global top 30 and is a twentieth of China's size.
"We have firmly established BRICS as a credible and constructive grouping in our quest to forge a new paradigm of global relations and cooperation," Zuma said on Wednesday.
At the Durban summit, the South African hosts announced the signing of two multilateral agreements, one on "green economy co-financing", the other on infrastructure co-financing for Africa, but no figures or details were immediately given.
BARK, BUT NO BITE?
Seasoned BRICS observers said they were not surprised by the lack of concrete institution-creating results from the summit.
"I think there was too much hype around it," said Martyn Davies, chief executive of the Johannesburg-based Frontier Advisory consultancy that focuses on emerging markets.
"They are still battling to create the economic institutions to back their geopolitical rhetoric ... the rhetoric is not supported by the substance," he told Reuters.
Just as lions, elephants and rhinos are not natural allies, Davies saw the BRICS countries as "very disparate, with no political commonality".
After only a few hours of plenary talks at a Durban conference centre, the BRICS heads of state retreated to a nature reserve lodge on Durban's outskirts for a closed-door dialogue with a score of African presidents about "unlocking Africa's potential" by supporting infrastructure construction.
Led by China, the BRICS are now Africa's largest trading partners and its biggest new group of investors. BRICS-Africa trade is seen eclipsing $500 billion by 2015, with China accounting for 60 percent, according to Standard Bank.
African governments and leaders broadly welcome the multi-billion-dollar Chinese-led BRICS trade and investment influx.
"You have to put money into development. The West has not put money in. This is what China does," Congo Republic's Transport Minister Rodolphe Adada told Reuters in Durban.
He said Africa could only benefit from the eventual creation of the BRICS development bank: "What we already do individually (with BRICS members), we can multiply if we have this instrument," Adada said.
SIGNALS TO THE WEST
Bala Ramasamy, economics professor at Shanghai's China Europe International Business School, said that despite kindred statements about rebuilding the world's financial architecture, the BRICS nations have struggled to find a common identity.
"The BRICS as a group does not mean much. They mean something individually. This is not an alliance of equal partners. China is the dominant player here," Ramasamy said.
"If you think about BRICS as a balancing power to the U.S. and the EU, this is not one entity. So how do you expect them to counterbalance the United States?" he added.
The World Bank has always been led by an American and the IMF by a European since both bodies were founded in 1946. Last year, the BRICS failed to agree on a developing world candidate to be the new World Bank president and could not stop the appointment of another U.S. citizen, Korean-born Jim Yong Kim.
Frontier Advisory's Davies said he believed the only emerging power which presents a real substantive challenge to the existing world political and financial status quo is China. But he added Beijing seemed unwilling to shoulder this burden alone and sought company in the BRICS group.
In Beijing, the influential Chinese tabloid the Global Times acknowledged the BRICS would face some problems when seeking to deepen their multilateral cooperation.
"But they are at least encouraging each other and increasingly distancing their interests from Western ones. This will further define fairness and justice worldwide."
In the absence of concrete institutions to consolidate and leverage their clout on the global stage, Davies said the BRICS should consider widening their organization. "What about new members ... Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria?" he said.
Ramasamy said the BRICS summits served as "a signal to the developed world that the emerging markets are getting their act together one way or the other".
"Whether they do it or not is a separate question."
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Jon Herskovitz, Agnieszka Flak and Marina Lopes in Durban; Editing by Peter Graff)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brics-big-five-hard-run-herd-164300609--finance.html
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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৮ মার্চ, ২০১৩
FBI comes clean on top X-File: 'We never investigated' Hottel UFO memo
FBI
The FBI says a 1950 flying-saucer memo rates as the most popular file in its online document repository.
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
The FBI says it never followed up on the most popular file in its online reading room ? a one-page UFO memo that passes along a second- or third-hand report about flying saucers and alien passengers that were supposedly recovered in New Mexico.
The memo dated March 22, 1950, has been viewed almost a million times over the past two years, the FBI said this week in a blog posting. It was written by Guy Hottel, who was the head of the FBI's field office in Washington at the time, and addressed to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
In the memo, Hottel discusses an account provided to an FBI agent ... that was attributed to an informant ... who purportedly heard from an Air Force investigator ... that "three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico."
"They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter," the memo read. "Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots."
Hottel said he was told that the saucers might have been brought down, perhaps due to interference from "a very high-powered radar set-up" that the government had in that area. But he admitted in the memo that "no further evaluation was attempted" by the informant, whose name is blacked out in the online document.
The Hottel memo has been in the public record since the 1970s, but it created a huge splash in 2011 when it was added to the FBI Vault, an online repository of public records. Here's what The Sun, a British tabloid, said about the memo in a headline from those days: "Aliens Exist, Say Real-Life X-Files."
Monday's posting was written to counter such claims. The FBI denied that the memo constituted evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial spacecraft ? and?said Hottel's report was never taken all that seriously. Instead, it was considered "an unconfirmed report that the FBI never even followed up on."
The FBI said there was no reason to believe that the memo referred to another famous UFO saga, the purported discovery of a crashed alien spaceship in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. "The Hottel memo is dated nearly three years after the infamous events in Roswell," it said.?
July 9, 2008: NBC's Willie Geist has a little fun with New Mexico flying saucers to mark the anniversary of the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.
The bureau acknowledged that for a few years after the Roswell incident, Hoover followed up on an Air Force request by ordering his agents to verify any UFO sightings. "That practice ended in July 1950, four months after the Hottel memo, suggesting that our Washington Field Office didn't think enough of that flying saucer story to look into it," the posting said.
There's an alternate explanation for the Hottel memo that makes a lot more sense. Two years ago, when the memo was added to the Vault, paranormal investigator Ben Radford noted that the informant's story matched the description of a UFO hoax that was concocted by a man named Silas Newton. In 1950, Newton was telling tales about flying saucers that had crashed at a radar station near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Newton was later convicted on fraud charges, and died in 1972.
Ironically, there's a whole different section of the FBI Vault that's devoted to Newton, whom the bureau described as "a wealthy oil producer and con man." To get the story about the connections between Newton's tales and the Hottel memos, check out this thorough debunking on the Above Top Secret forum.
Even though the FBI says the memo "does not prove the existence of UFOs," it's not confirming the Silas Newton scenario, either. "Some people believe the memo repeats a hoax that was circulating at that time, but the Bureau's files have no information to verify that story," it said.
What do you think FBI Agent Fox Mulder would say? "The truth is out there"? Or "Trust no one"? Feel free to weigh in with your own verdict in the comment section below. ?
More about UFOs:
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Buckwild cast member lands back in W.Va. jail
FLATWOODS, W.Va. (AP) ? A "Buckwild" cast member is back behind bars in West Virginia.
A judge ordered 24-year-old Salwa Amin back to Central Regional Jail on Wednesday after violating the terms of her previous release.
Amin was charged last month with two counts of drug possession with intent to deliver and initially jailed on $200,000 bond. Defense attorney Michael Callaghan got that reduced to $100,000. She's now being held without bond.
Callaghan didn't immediately return messages Wednesday, but a jail official says a warrant shows Amin violated the release conditions by failing to appear in court.
"Buckwild" shows wild young West Virginians. It has drawn criticism for what some see as a negative portrayal of the state's youth.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/buckwild-cast-member-lands-back-w-va-jail-210445179.html
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Hope on the Horizon for New Hepatitis C Treatment
Although newer treatments have become available in recent years to treat the hepatitis C virus, HCV, but because they must be given with two other HCV treatments, substantial side effects and risk of drug interactions remain. A potential treatment, a drug still in the clinical research pipeline, works differently and would work against the hepatitis C virus with fewer side effects, according to a research article published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine .
Miravirsen, First of New Class of Drugs with Great Anticipated Potential
Miravirsen, the first in a new and potentially large class of drugs called RNA interference drugs, or RNAi, is an antisense oligonucleotide , explained MedpageToday.com . In layman terms, miravirsen is not a pharmaceutical, but rather a fragment of RNA that binds to substances within the genome of the hepatitis C virus, making that vital substance unavailable to the virus, causing its death. NPR.org likens miravirsen, and RNAi drugs in general, to a sponge that mops up "other RNA molecules that a virus or cancer cell needs to survive."
Miravirsen, unlike currently used HCV medications, will treat all types of the hepatitis C virus, even those that have been resistant to treatment thus far.
Judy Lieberman, M.D., Ph.D. , of Harvard Medical School and who was not involved with miravirsen research, explained to NPR.org that the pharmaceutical industry has been working for decades to make RNAi drugs work, believing they will have the potential to treat or cure many conditions such as cancer or heart disease.
For a time, hundreds of pharmaceutical companies invested time and money in RNAi drug research, but the lack of concrete results and loss of enthusiasm for the potential for this new class of drugs caused a reduction of funding for further research. Only a few pharmaceutical companies are now involved in RNAi research.
Isn't the Enthusiasm for Miravirsen High for a Drug in a Phase IIa Trial?
By most accounts, such enthusiasm for a drug in the mid-stages of clinical research is out of proportion to the information at this time. But the enthusiasm now is as much for the potential success of an RNAi drug as it is more miravirsen itself. If miravirsen is indeed proven successful, there will likely be renewed enthusiasm -- and perhaps funding -- for the development of more drugs in this class.
As Harry L.A. Janssen, M.D., Ph.D. and lead researcher on miravirsen pointed out to NPR.org, it's too soon to know how effective miravirsen will be against HCV in longer trials and although the side effects in this Phase IIa trial were minimal, there is yet no way of knowing what the long-term effects may be.
Bottom Line
It's true, miravirsen has only gone through Phase IIa of a 3-phase clinical study. The study sample was small: 27 participants with HCV received the drug in research that totaled 14 months. Side effects were limited to a rash and pain at the injection site. Four of the nine participants who received the highest dose of miravirsen had no trace of HCV after five injections.
It will be some time before more is known about the potential for this drug. In the meantime, 2 million baby boomers infected with HCV in the United States alone, and 170 million people worldwide with HCV, wait with bated breath for the most successful treatment with the least amount of side effects and potential adverse reactions.
The scientific and medical community wait to see if the first RNAi drug proves to be successful.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hope-horizon-hepatitis-c-treatment-162500868.html
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Italy politics still stuck as Bersani to face president
By James Mackenzie
ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani was left on Wednesday with only slim hope of forming a government after talks with rival party leaders ended with rejection from Beppe Grillo's 5-Star Movement.
Bersani said he would report back to President Giorgio Napolitano on Thursday and called on all parties to "accept their responsibilities" and allow a government to be formed.
A February election resulted in deadlock and without an agreement between the parties Italy might have to head back to the polls, adding to the uncertainty in the euro zone as it battles to contain the crisis in Cyprus.
But there was little sign of movement from the other parties, with Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL), saying Bersani had maneuvered himself into a "blind alley" by continuing to seek support from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
"The question is closed, and it is Bersani who has closed it and now finds himself in a blind alley," said PDL national secretary Angelino Alfano.
"It's up to him to turn the situation around, if he wants to, in the interests of the country."
In last month's election, Bersani's alliance won a majority in the lower house of parliament but not in the Senate, leaving it unable to govern on its own.
He has ruled out joining forces with Berlusconi's center-right alliance, the second largest force in parliament, which says a coalition of the two main political forces is the only way to give Italy a government.
The rebuff by 5-Star was expected as the group has always said it will not back the parties it blames for Italy's social and economic crisis.
NO CREDIBILITY
"There are no conditions that would allow us to give a confidence vote to a government made up of these parties because they have no credibility," 5-Star's Senate leader Vito Crimi said after meeting Bersani.
Adding insult to injury, 5-Star's founder, the fiery ex-comic Grillo, posted an entry on his blog calling mainstream politicians including Berlusconi and Bersani "old whoremongers ... who gaily take the piss every day with their daily appeals for governability".
Bersani had hoped to gain support from 5-Star for a limited platform of institutional and economic reforms and he said Grillo's party would have to justify its refusal to support a government in parliament. However Grillo's comments appear to have ended any prospect of an accord.
Some parliamentarians still held out hopes of some form of deal with the center-right that would allow the election of a new president acceptable to Berlusconi's bloc to succeed Napolitano, whose term ends in May.
Bersani played down talk of any such deal.
"It hasn't been put to me in those terms. You can't speculate about any deal over the government and the office of president of the Republic," he said.
The main marker of investor confidence, the spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their safer German counterparts, has widened this week.
"Risks for Italian debt remain very high in the coming weeks," said Annalisa Piazza, a market economist with Newedge in London.
"Although Bersani's consultations with other political leaders might lead to a grand-coalition government, markets are aware that such a government will not last long," she said.
If he cannot reach an agreement, Napolitano may appoint a respected outsider to try to form a technocrat government or a broad cross-party coalition. If that fails, Italy faces the prospect of a return to the polls, possibly within months.
(Additional reporting by Paolo Biondi and Gavin Jones; Editing by Toby Chopra and Robin Pomeroy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-5-star-movement-refuses-back-center-left-111140582.html
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বুধবার, ২৭ মার্চ, ২০১৩
US market futures up ahead of durable goods report
NEW YORK (AP) ? U.S. stock market futures are rising ahead of a report on February orders for machinery and other long-lasting items that is expected to show businesses remain confident in the economic recovery.
The Commerce Department reported a surge in investment in durable goods for January, and economists expect another strong showing.
Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 19 at 14,405. Nasdaq 100 futures added 6.5 to 2,790.75. S&P 500 futures gained 2.30 to 1,549.2.
European markets are up as investors gain in the bailout arranged for Cyprus, even as the island nation decided to keep its banks closed for another two days in an attempt to ward off a run.
Most Asian markets dipped. Stocks in China fell in response to government moves to cool off the real estate sector.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-market-futures-ahead-durable-goods-report-122106218--finance.html
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Wells Fargo bank site attack disrupts service
Wells Fargo's online banking site was experiencing problems Tuesday, with a denial-of-service attack likely the reason behind the slowdowns for some customers trying to access the site.
"Today we?ve seen an unusually high volume of website traffic which we believe is a denial of service attack," a bank spokesperson told NBC News. "The vast majority of customers are not impacted and customer information is safe."
Customers who are having problems logging on are encouraged to do keep trying, "as the disruption is usually intermittent," the spokesperson said. "We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience."
This isn't the first time the bank site has been under a denial-of-service attack, where hackers inundate a website with traffic to delay or disrupt it.
Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Ally Financial, and regional bank BB&T have also been hit with attacks in the past year. Sources have previously told NBC News and Reuters that the attacks may be part of an effort by Iranian hackers against major U.S. financial institutions and other corporate entities.
Last fall, a financial services industry group, the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, issued an alert about the attacks to members, raising the threat level from "elevated" to high," because of "credible intelligence" about the potential for such attacks.
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Sens. Claire McCaskill, Mark Warner announce support for gay marriage
"Supporting marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples is simply the right thing to do for our country, a country founded on the principals of liberty and equality," Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill wrote Sunday on her blog. On Monday, Virginia Senator Mark Warner called marriage equality "the fair and right thing to do."
Sen. Claire McCaskell (D) of Missouri, seen here in October 2012 outside a St. Louis school, says she now believes that gay couples should be allowed to marry, a change from her stance during her 2012 re-election campaign in which she defended the right of Missouri voters to outlaw same-sex weddings.
Jeff Roberson / AP / File
EnlargeMissouri Sen. Claire McCaskill says she now believes that gay couples should be allowed to marry, a change from her previously nuanced stance during last year's re-election campaign in which she defended the right of Missouri voters to outlaw same-sex weddings.
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The Democratic senator's support for gay marriage is a matter of both personal belief and public policy, her spokesman said Monday. McCaskill declared her position on her blog Sunday evening.
"I have come to the conclusion that our government should not limit the right to marry based on who you love," McCaskill said on her Tumblr site. "While churches should never be required to conduct marriages outside of their religious beliefs, neither should the government tell people who they have a right to marry."
On Monday, another senator joined the growing chorus of support for marriage equality.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who describes himself as a centrist, announced on Facebook that he now supports gay marriage.
Like McCaskill, Warner has seen his position evolve over time. He had previously supported civil unions that confer some of the rights and privileges of marriage. In the waning days of his term as governor, Warner became the first governor to ban discrimination in hiring and workplace protection for gay state employees.
In 2010, he backed ending the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays in the military.
On Facebook, Warner says he supports marriage equality "because it is the fair and right thing to do."
These statements are coming out just as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on the topic: Tuesday they will hear arguments on Prop. 8, California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, then arguments Wednesday concerning a part of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act that bars same-sex couples who are legally married from receiving federal tax, pension and other benefits available to other married people.
Missouri voters overwhelmingly adopted a constitutional amendment in 2004 defining marriage as between a man and a woman. During her unsuccessful campaign for governor that year, McCaskill said she opposed gay marriage but also opposed the constitutional amendment, because Missouri already had a similar state law.
"I just didn't think it was an appropriate thing to put in our constitution," McCaskill said during an October 2004 gubernatorial debate.
McCaskill has generally shied away from discussing gay marriage during her Senate campaigns. But she defended Missouri's right to ban gay marriage when asked last June about a federal appeals court decision striking down certain parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
"It's been decided in Missouri. It's in our constitution. I don't quarrel with that decision," McCaskill said nearly 10 months ago. "I, for one, think it's much better for these decisions to be made at the state level, like we have here in Missouri."
McCaskill acknowledged in her Sunday posting that "my views on this subject have changed over time."
"But as many of my gay and lesbian friends, colleagues and staff embrace long term committed relationships, I find myself unable to look them in the eye without honestly confronting this uncomfortable inequality," McCaskill said. "Supporting marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples is simply the right thing to do for our country, a country founded on the principals of liberty and equality."
President Barack Obama announced his support for gay marriage last year. Other politicians also have recently followed suit, including former Democratic Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. Rob Portman.
Former President Bill Clinton signed the federal Defense of Marriage Act ? which requires the federal government to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages ? but he recently wrote an op-ed saying it's time to overturn it.
Follow David A. Lieb at: http://www.twitter.com/DavidALieb
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