News http://Indore.diunsa.com/en ~ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:02:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Abortion doesn’t up risk of mental illness relapse http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/abortion-doesnt-up-risk-of-mental-illness-relapse-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/abortion-doesnt-up-risk-of-mental-illness-relapse-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:02:56 +0000 admin Still, those who had an abortion had a higher overall readmission rate both before and after the procedure than women who gave birth.Some researchers — as well as political opponents of abortion — have suggested that aborting a fetus can take a serious psychological toll on women, although doctors who do the procedures argue that’s generally not the case.We’re not saying that this group of women is necessarily doing really, really well. What we’re saying is that the procedure itself doesn’t seem to be associated with a higher risk of readmission, said Trine Munk-Olsen, from the University of Aarhus, one of the study’s authors.It does seem to be a more vulnerable group of women, she told Reuters Health.Munk-Olsen pointed out that her study only took into account psychiatric episodes that were severe enough to require intensive treatment, so it can’t give any clues into whether abortion might have an effect on more mild depression, for example.Feelings of sadness and loss around the time of an abortion are temporary and appropriate, said Dr. Anne Davis, an ob-gyn at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York.There are going to be normal emotional reactions to that type of stress, Davis, who wasn’t involved in the new study, told Reuters Health. That’s not the same thing as saying women are likely to have serious mental health issues as a result of the procedure, she added.The new data come from records of Danish women with a past psychiatric facility stay who had an abortion or gave birth between 1994 and 2007. In each of those cases, the researchers tracked the woman’s chance of being readmitted for any psychiatric disorder in the nine months before the abortion or birth and the year afterward.Of the 2,838 women getting a first abortion, 11 percent were readmitted sometime during the study. That compares to just five percent of the 5,293 women who gave birth. However, women who had an abortion were no more likely to be sent back to a psychiatric facility around the time of the abortion or afterward than in the months before the procedure — including before women became pregnant. That suggests that some of these women may have in part decided to have an abortion because of psychiatric problems and related life stressors — not that the abortion itself worsened their mental illness, Munk-Olsen and her colleagues wrote Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry. By comparison, rates of readmission were higher after having a baby than before in women who gave birth, peaking in the first month after their babies were born. That’s consistent with prior research, Munk-Olsen said, and may be due to a mix of genetic risks and sleep deprivation, biological changes and hormone swings that happen after childbirth. She said that the generally higher rate of psychiatric readmission in the abortion group, up to nine months before and a year after the procedure, might explain why some previous studies have suggested abortion does increase the risk of mental health problems. Though there’s still some controversy in the field, one expert not involved in the new research said the findings are consistent with past high-quality studies.All the things that make women think this is not the time to have a baby are risk factors for having mental health problems, said Dr. Nada Stotland, a psychiatrist at Rush Medical College in Chicago.The best predictor of your mental health after an abortion is your mental health before an abortion, she told Reuters Health. Abortion may be linked to mental health problems, but it does not cause mental health problems.The new study was partially funded by the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the charitable organization founded by Warren Buffett.Munk-Olsen said it’s impossible to be sure whether the findings would be consistent in another country such as the United States. In Denmark, she said, abortion is free, legal and not highly stigmatized.SOURCE: http://bit.ly/vZdwDFbit.ly/vZdwDF Archives of General Psychiatry, online February 6, 2012.
~Lady Gaga Latest news at http://Gaga.GotJuicy.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/abortion-doesnt-up-risk-of-mental-illness-relapse-080202201208/feed 0 Nine Texans sentenced to prison for buying guns for cartel http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/nine-texans-sentenced-to-prison-for-buying-guns-for-cartel-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/nine-texans-sentenced-to-prison-for-buying-guns-for-cartel-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:02:15 +0000 admin U.S. attorney Robert Pitman said that in many cases, the Texas purchasers were paid a couple hundred dollars for buying a weapon and handing it to a smuggler, he said.Firearms smugglers employ individuals in the United States with no criminal histories to purchase firearms, often assault-style weapons, and those weapons are then smuggled into Mexico, Pitman told reporters in San Antonio on Wednesday.The consequences of that smuggling can be seen every day in the murders which take place south of the border.Los Zetas, which are led by Mexican Army deserters who started as enforcers for Mexico’s Gulf Cartel and later branched out on their own, are blamed for much of the violence in Mexico, which is believed to have taken the lives of more than 40,000 Mexicans since President Felipe Calderon began an offensive against the cartels in 2006.The 21 people indicted in the scheme are not typical drug gang suspects with violent criminal histories, said Crisanto Perez, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He said most were otherwise law-abiding young adults who were tempted by easy money.There were originally 22 defendants, but one died since she was indicted in connection with the operation, which took place in the summer of 2010, officials said. Eight of the 22 people indicted were young housewives, Perez said.There are people out there from the criminal element who are trying to recruit our young people to be straw purchasers, Perez said. One hundred dollars to buy a gun for someone is not worth ruining your life.One straw purchaser bought one weapon while another bought 20, according to Assistant U.S. attorney Ben Seal.The nine men and women sentenced so far have been handed federal prison terms of one to six years. The others face similar sentences if convicted. The 203 weapons seized in the operation included handguns, AK-47 and AR-15 style assault rifles, and a . 0 caliber sniper rifle. Pitman said all of the weapons were purchased legally from licensed dealers, and that if any of the dealers knew the buyers were buying for cartels, they would be charged. If the dealer doesn’t know that this weapon is being purchased for someone else, and they follow the rules, there’s not anything we can do about that, Pitman said, adding that many of the gun dealers tipped off investigators to purchases that seemed out of the ordinary. Jerry Robinette of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that squeezing off the straw purchasers was an effective way of cutting down on the violence in Mexico. That’s where it starts, he said. If you don’t have straw purchasers, you don’t have the guns to turn over to smugglers to get them into Mexico. Seal said none of the guns in the operation were allowed to enter Mexico so they could be traced to cartel leaders, a tactic that has led to widespread criticism of the Justice Department’s actions in the Fast and Furious gun-walking sting in Arizona. In that operation, which ran from 2009 to 2011, U.S. government agents lost track of many of the weapons. A congressional panel is investigating Operation Fast and Furious, which was the subject of a heated hearing last week.
~Justin Bieber fun club - http://Bieber.Pizda.Net

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/nine-texans-sentenced-to-prison-for-buying-guns-for-cartel-080202201208/feed 0 CoE takes step towards allowing women bishops http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/coe-takes-step-towards-allowing-women-bishops-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/coe-takes-step-towards-allowing-women-bishops-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:51 +0000 admin The vote was the last chance for the church’s parliament, or synod, to influence the draft legislation in its long legislative process before it heads to the House of Bishops for consideration in May.If the bishops make no changes, the draft will return to synod in July for a final vote – 20 years after it voted in favor of women priests.That women will get to wear the mitre is in little doubt. What the synod had to consider was how much extra provision traditionalist Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals would get and how much more authority liberals should cede.The consecration of women, along with homosexual bishops and same-sex marriages, is among the most divisive issues facing the 77 million members of the Anglican Church round the world.Other Anglican provinces already have women bishops, including the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.Traditionalists and evangelicals, who say they represent 1,000 of the 13,000 parishes in England and Wales, wanted to strengthen the legal position of male bishops ministering in dioceses where parishes objected to women bishops.They backed a motion which in effect resurrected a proposal put forward by the two most senior Church of England clerics, the archbishops of Canterbury and York, in July 2010, but which was rejected by the synod at the time.It would have provided for a so-called nominated bishop, working alongside the female bishop under a system of a co-ordinate, or shared, jurisdiction, drawing his authority from the church rather than diocesan bishop.Traditionalists argue that as Jesus Christ’s apostles were all men, there is nothing in the Bible or church history to support women bishops. Had the synod voted for their proposal, it could have held up the legislative process by a year. As it is, traditionalists have asked the House of Bishops to provide properly for those unable in conscience to accept the oversight of women bishops. Liberals argued they had made enough concessions already, and any further compromise would create second-tier women bishops. The synod voted in favor of the liberals’ stance, that the draft legislation should go forward unchanged. We want to honor the efforts of all those who have gone before and allow the current measure to go forward to final approval and see what happens at that stage, the Reverend Rosemarie Mallett told synod. The vote could see more traditionalists move over to Rome. About 60 Anglo-Catholic priests and 1,000 parishioners have already taken up an offer by Pope Benedict to convert and form an ordinariate within the Roman Catholic Church while keeping some of their Anglican traditions. Nearly a third of the Church of England’s working priests are female.The synod vote is not binding and the House of Bishops can choose to accept it or ignore it.The draft legislation will need a two-thirds majority in each house of synod – bishops, clergy and laity – before it can go before the British parliament, with the first woman bishop unlikely before 2014.
~Justin Bieber fun club - http://Bieber.Pizda.Net

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/coe-takes-step-towards-allowing-women-bishops-080202201208/feed 0 Marlins’ Bonifacio wins arbitration hearing http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/marlins-bonifacio-wins-arbitration-hearing-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/marlins-bonifacio-wins-arbitration-hearing-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:02:00 +0000 admin A three-person ( see http://BingPeople.com) panel ruled for the Dominican Republic native after Miami offered $1. 5 million following Bonifacio’s breakout season in 2011 when he had a team-high . 96 batting average with 40 stolen bases and a 26-game hitting streak.Bonifacio, 26, earned $425,000 last year.The decision is the second in three days to go against the Marlins as a panel ruled on Monday that pitcher Anibal Sanchez should make $8 million this year.
~Taliban Official News Website- htt://taliban.us

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/marlins-bonifacio-wins-arbitration-hearing-080202201208/feed 0 UPDATE 3-BTG Pactual to buy Chile’s Celfin in Latam push http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/update-3-btg-pactual-to-buy-chiles-celfin-in-latam-push-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/update-3-btg-pactual-to-buy-chiles-celfin-in-latam-push-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:02:28 +0000 admin * Becomes Latin America’s No. 1 independent investment bank* Billionaire Andre Esteves, partners own 80 pct of BTG* Looking for more advisory deals in Chile, Peru, ColombiaBy Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Aluisio AlvesSAO PAULO, Feb 8 (Reuters)- WireNews – BTG Pactual, the
Brazilian securities firm owned by billionaire financier Andre
Esteves, is buying Chilean rival Celfin Capital in a
cash-and-stock deal as it seeks to win more investment banking
and capital market advisory business in South America.Under the terms of the deal, Esteves and his partners will
pay $245 million in cash and give Celfin’s owners a 2. percent
stake in BTG Pactual. The takeover makes BTG Pactual
the largest independent investment bank in Latin America,
further extending its reach into fast-growing economies like
Chile, Peru and Colombia.Since it was formed it 2009, BTG Pactual has been on a
deal-making frenzy in Brazil and abroad as Esteves, a
43-year-old financial wunderkind, strives to turn the firm into
the largest investment bank in emerging markets by the end of
the decade.The global agenda for Latin America is gaining relevance in
terms of investment inflows, and our goal is to become regional
leaders, Esteves told reporters at the bank’s headquarters in
S\’e3o Paulo’s financial district.BTG Pactual has become a symbol of Brazil’s growing economic
might, competing neck-and-neck with big global investment banks
in a region with bustling capital markets and booming demand for
wealth management services.The bank has muscle to undertake bigger takeovers than
Celfin as a $1. billion stake sale to a group of investors led
by sovereign wealth funds late in 2010, a low payout ratio and
swelling trading and dealmaking profits, have beefed up cash
holdings, Esteves said. We have enough capital for acquisitions, he said, without
elaborating. Esteves spoke besides senior partner Persio Arida,
a Brazilian economist credited with helping the government break
hyperinflation in the mid-1990s. According to Exame Magazine, BTG Pactual agreed to pay $600
million for all of Celfin, which would value the stock portion
of the deal at about $355 million. The magazine did not cite any
sources in its report. Based on the Exame report, the Celfin deal would value BTG
Pactual at about $14. billion, almost 50 percent more than the
$10 billion valuation it got in December 2010, when investors
led by buyout firm JC Flowers – Co, the two largest Asian
sovereign wealth funds and the largest Middle Eastern sovereign
wealth fund, bought 18. percent of BTG Pactual. 4BANKING PRODIGY5Esteves, a mathematician who started as a computer
technician at Banco Pactual at age 21 before rising through the
ranks to become its managing partner, sold the firm to UBS AG
in May 2006 for about $3. billion. He and some
partners bought back Pactual for about $2. billion in 2009.Esteves, alongside senior partners and some of BTG Pactual’s
1,300 employees, will own 80 percent of the shop after the
Celfin deal. Forbes Magazine calculates Esteves’ net worth at
about $3 billion.He and his partners have long considered an initial public
offering to bulk up the bank’s capital, but postponed the plans
because of volatility in global markets.Last December, he said an IPO was still possible in the
medium term, without elaborating.At the news conference, Esteves said that BTG Pactual is
growing regionally because a flatter and more integrated world
is demanding regional banks to gain a global character. The
ability of BTG Pactual to lure more investment inflows into
Latin America will depend on us building up a strong regional
franchise with global reach, he said.The deal, which has been in the works since at least August,
may give BTG Pactual the proximity it needs to win
investment-banking and capital markets advisory mandates in
Peru, Colombia and Chile – thanks to Celfin’s contacts with
companies and governments there, Arida said.TOP BRAZIL M-A ADVISORThe purchase still requires regulatory approval. Once the
deal is completed, Celfin’s 15 main shareholders will become BTG
Pactual partners.Once the transaction closes, BTG Pactual will have 129
billion reais ($75 billion) in assets under management and
handle about 49 billion reais for wealthy investors.In 2011, BTG Pactual topped merger and acquisitions advisory
rankings in Brazil for the second year in a row, as its focus on
retail and other fast-growing segments resulted in $24. 5
billion worth of announced deals, according to Thomson Reuters
data. The firm advised on 52 deals last year. About $78. 4 billion
worth of deals were announced in Brazil last year, down from
$120. 1 billion in 2010, while the number of agreements rose to
745 from 698. BTG Pactual’s investment-banking unit helped the controlling
shareholders of brewer Schincariol sell a 50. 5 percent stake to
Japan’s Kirin Holdings for $2. billion. The bank also advised Italian-Argentine giant Techint Group
on its $2. billion purchase of a 27. percent voting stake in
Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas.
~News from Hollywood ? Check out http://movies.bevery-hills.org

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/update-3-btg-pactual-to-buy-chiles-celfin-in-latam-push-080202201208/feed 0 Hartford shares soar as Paulson pushes breakup http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/hartford-shares-soar-as-paulson-pushes-breakup-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/hartford-shares-soar-as-paulson-pushes-breakup-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:02:47 +0000 admin Paulson, Hartford’s largest shareholder, grew increasingly agitated and impatient on a conference call with the company and financial analysts, ultimately shouting that management had a responsibility to do more to improve shareholder value.I would say that Hartford needs to do something drastic because the stock is the lowest valuation relative to book value of any major insurance company, said Paulson, whose Paulson – Co invests some $28 billion for funds and wealthy clients.The exchange quickly drew attention in the investment world, not only because the normally cool Paulson became so obviously irritated, but because it illustrated how one of the industry’s most powerful managers was flexing his muscle to benefit shareholders’ bottom line.How long do we have to wait to hear if there is going to be a positive recommendation to separate these two businesses, he asked a few seconds later, referring to the possibility that Hartford’s life and property insurance units would be split.Shares climbed 9. percent to $20. 9 in early afternoon trading. At that level, the stock was up nearly 29 percent for the year while the broader S-P insurance index .GSPINSC was 8. percent higher.That gain is sure to help the performance of Paulson’s investments, but it does little to erase the anger felt by Paulson’s own investors last year, after poorly timed bets on Hartford and financial stocks wiped out more than 50 percent of one of his biggest portfolios.In past years, Paulson was lionized for his call on gold and his bet against the overheated housing market, earning him a personal payout of roughly $8 billion.DEPRESSED VALUEDespite the stock’s recent strong run, Hartford still trades at a ratio of 0. 3 times its book value, according to Thomson Reuters data, less than half of the sector median of 0. 0 times book (which itself is a depressed figure by historical standards). For Paulson, who owned an 8. percent stake in the company at the end of the third quarter, the interest was evident. Hartford Chief Executive Liam McGee seemed surprised to hear Paulson himself on the line, after someone else at the hedge fund firm was announced as being up to ask a question. The call came after Hartford on Tuesday reported a profit that beat expectations, even though earnings were actually down sharply and the company had to take a series of charges to boost its reserves. Many of the company’s peers are still reducing reserves, to the benefit of their bottom line, rather than increasing them. McGee said the company had looked at the possibility of splitting itself into life insurance and property insurance businesses but found there are significant challenges to making a split possible. McGee, a former Bank of America (symbol_BAC.N_2BAC.N) executive who became CEO during the financial crisis — when Hartford was one of three insurers to receive a government bailout — has said before that it was hard to make a case for a split. But McGee was pressed on the point by Paulson. What I would like to see is how you will overcome those obstacles to result in a more fair valuation for Hartford, Paulson said, his voice rising.Paulson’s questioning sharply contrasted to his own conference calls, where he has delivered even bad news in a calm and measured way in the last months, never raising his voice to sound aggressive or defensive.Pushing McGee further, Paulson insisted that management needed to present a better explanation of what it was doing. What we need you to do is overcome the obstacles to enhance the valuation for your shareholders, not merely to point out that there (are) obstacles, Paulson said.Insurers have been on the receiving end of investor outrage before. In late 2010, hedge fund manager Steve Eisman threatened the management of Hartford peer Genworth Financial (symbol_GNW.N_3GNW.N) on a conference call, saying he would launch a proxy fight unless it improved returns. Eisman never made good on the threat.
~Justin Bieber fun club - http://Bieber.Pizda.Net

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/hartford-shares-soar-as-paulson-pushes-breakup-080202201208/feed 0 Common school program reduces signs of bullying http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/common-school-program-reduces-signs-of-bullying-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/common-school-program-reduces-signs-of-bullying-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:54 +0000 admin Researchers found that teachers at schools with the behavior program reported fewer displays of aggression, teasing and rejection among their students.Catherine Bradshaw, who worked on the study, said the decreases in undesirable behaviors were modest, but that they come at an important time in kids’ development.If we wait until the rates of bullying are their highest, say, in middle school, we might have missed a developmentally sensitive time for intervention during the elementary school years, Bradshaw, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told Reuters Health.We expect the benefits will continue to increase as children move on to junior high school, she added.About 16,000 schools have been trained to implement School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, a program supported by the U.S. Department of Education that provides a framework for discipline and for encouraging good behavior.The program involves a few days of training for those who will educate teachers and staff, and Bradshaw estimated that it costs a school about an extra $1,000 to buy posters and other supplies.Bradshaw and her colleagues asked 37 schools in Maryland to participate in their study; they randomly assigned 21 of the schools to implement the behavior program and 16 schools not to.Over four years they collected teachers’ ratings of their students’ behaviors — whether kids harmed each other or fought and whether or not they were liked or rejected by their classmates.By the end of the study, both the signs of bullying and rejection increased at both groups of schools. Bradshaw said she wasn’t surprised. This is consistent with the trend that bullying picks up toward the middle school years, she said. But the schools that adopted the behavior program had a smaller uptick in bullying and rejection than the schools that didn’t use the program. What we’re seeing here is with relatively modest changes in how the school is managing discipline, it really makes a significant difference in bullying behaviors, Bradshaw said. David Smith, a professor at the University of Ottawa, said the findings are positive, but he cautioned against interpreting them as reducing bullying outright. He said that the questions focused more on aggressive behavior among the kids, and didn’t include the more subtle, verbal and social types of bullying.The other thing is because it’s only teachers who respond, they only see the half of what’s going on with regard to bullying, said Smith, who was not involved in the study.Still, it’s better than (these behaviors) going in the other direction, he told Reuters Health.Bullying has become an increasingly salient problem for school-age children, and in rare cases has ended tragically with victims committing suicide.One study found that bullying via text messages affected eight percent of kids in 2008, up from six percent the year before (see Reuters Health report of November 21, 2011).Bradshaw and her colleagues write in their report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine that they were not able to pick out which elements of the program were responsible for dampening the bullying behaviors.But they say positive reinforcement of desired behaviors coupled with consistent discipline, and consequences for inappropriate behaviors likely made a difference.SOURCE: http://bit.ly/wVEkwpbit.ly/wVEkwp Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, February, 2012.
~Kim Kardashian news - http://Kim.GotJuicy.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/common-school-program-reduces-signs-of-bullying-080202201208/feed 0 CNN suspends Roland Martin over anti-gay tweets http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/cnn-suspends-roland-martin-over-anti-gay-tweets-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/cnn-suspends-roland-martin-over-anti-gay-tweets-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:02:07 +0000 admin Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being, the TV news network said in a statement.Martin on Sunday made a series of Twitter remarks that poked fun at British soccer player David Beckham’s new underwear ad for fashion retailer H-M and at a New England Patriot football player for wearing a pink suit.Martin tweeted: If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H-M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl, as well as, Who the hell was that New England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe pink suit? Oh, he needs a visit from #teamwhipdatassHis remarks provoked protests by gay and lesbian activist group GLAAD, which said Martin was advocating violence against gay people.CNN today took a strong stand against anti-LGBT violence and language that demeans any community, GLAAD spokesman Rich Ferraro said in a statement following CNN’s decision to suspend Martin.
~Red Social de los Hispanos http://cielo.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/cnn-suspends-roland-martin-over-anti-gay-tweets-080202201208/feed 0 Women with low literacy suffer more than men: study http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/women-with-low-literacy-suffer-more-than-men-study-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/women-with-low-literacy-suffer-more-than-men-study-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:07 +0000 admin Analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) found women at all levels of literacy tend to earn less than men, but it’s at the lowest literacy levels that the wage gap between genders is most striking.Women with low literacy are twice as likely as men at the same skill level to be among the lowest earners, bringing in $300 a week or less, the report said.Because women start off so low in terms of wages, having higher literacy and more skills really makes a big difference, said Kevin Miller, a senior research associate at IWPR and co-author of the study.Women need to go further in their training and education level to earn the same as men, Miller said.The analysis was based on 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy surveys, the most recent data available, and focused on reading skills, not writing and numeric literacy. That data was collected from a nationally representative sample of 19,714 people aged 16 and older, living in households or prisons.Data showed about one-third of American adults have low literacy levels, and more than 36 percent of men and 33 percent of women fall into that category, the institute said.
~Kim Kardashian news - http://Kim.GotJuicy.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/women-with-low-literacy-suffer-more-than-men-study-080202201208/feed 0 Colorado fertilizer spill forces evacuation of homes http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/colorado-fertilizer-spill-forces-evacuation-of-homes-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/colorado-fertilizer-spill-forces-evacuation-of-homes-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:02:38 +0000 admin No one was reported injured in the accident, which occurred about 8 a.m. local time along a truck route used by commercial vehicles to pass through the town of Walsh, a ranching and farming community of about 700 people.The axle of a pickup truck that was pulling two tanks of the fertilizer snapped, and the tanks slid off the trailer near town, said Riley Frazee, director of emergency management for Baca County.One of the tanks went nose first into the pavement, Frazee said by telephone from the scene.Valves on one tank broke off, and vapors seeped from the damaged container, Frazee said. The 500-gallon tank contained anhydrous ammonia, which if inhaled can be fatal, he said.Winds blew a plume of toxic gas into the town, prompting the evacuation order, authorities said.By about 12:30 p.m., the rupture had been plugged, the tank was secured and hauled away and the evacuation order was lifted, Frazee said.
~Justin Bieber fun club - http://Bieber.Pizda.Net

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/colorado-fertilizer-spill-forces-evacuation-of-homes-080202201208/feed 0 Lana Del Rey has last laugh with top Billboard debut http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/lana-del-rey-has-last-laugh-with-top-billboard-debut-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/lana-del-rey-has-last-laugh-with-top-billboard-debut-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:02:55 +0000 admin New York native Del Rey, who had the Internet abuzz especially after a shaky performance on U.S. sketch show Saturday Night Live last month, sold 76,000 copies of her debut album in its first week.She was second only to British singer Adele, who continued her reign for the 19th week at No. 1 with 21.Following on the heels of Del Rey was veteran folk singer Leonard Cohen, who sold 41,000 copies of his 12th studio album, Old Ideas, a collection of songs recalling some of Cohen’s earlier and best-known works such as Hallelujah.Despite Del Rey and Cohen’s high new entries, they could not shift Adele from her top spot. She sold 121,000 copies of 21 in the past week ahead of her official comeback from throat surgery at the Grammy Awards on Sunday.The only other new entry in the top ten albums was gospel singer Fred Hammond, who entered the chart at No. 8 with God, Love – Romance, while party rockers LMFAO re-entered the chart with Sorry for Party Rocking at No. 9 and Rihanna’s Talk That Talk jumped up the chart to round out the top ten.Next week’s chart battle will see if veteran rockers Van Halen can knock Adele off the top spot with their new album, A Different Kind of Truth.
~Romania News - stiri din Romania -http://adevarul.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/lana-del-rey-has-last-laugh-with-top-billboard-debut-080202201208/feed 0 Federal court overturns stay of execution for Mississippi killer http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/federal-court-overturns-stay-of-execution-for-mississippi-killer-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/federal-court-overturns-stay-of-execution-for-mississippi-killer-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:02:34 +0000 admin Turner, 38, convicted of murdering two men in Carroll County in 1995, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection later on Wednesday in what will be the first execution in the state this year.U.S. District Court Judge Carlton W. Reeves had ordered the execution postponed on Monday until at least February 20 to allow attorneys to argue whether the state has improperly kept him from getting a psychiatric evaluation. But the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned the delay by a vote of 2-1.
~Romania News - stiri din Romania -http://adevarul.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/federal-court-overturns-stay-of-execution-for-mississippi-killer-080202201208/feed 0 He has victories, now Santorum needs money, support http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/he-has-victories-now-santorum-needs-money-support-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/he-has-victories-now-santorum-needs-money-support-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:02:35 +0000 admin A day after winning contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado, Santorum sought to build on his momentum, addressing Texas pastors, Tea Party movement activists and donors.Santorum, a former senator and staunch social conservative, became the first Republican White House hopeful to win four of the state-by-state contests to pick a nominee to oppose Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.His sweep on Tuesday raised new questions about the presumed front-runner Romney, who holds strong organizational and financial advantages but has yet to prove he can win over conservative Republicans who see him as too moderate.Santorum took the field by surprise, days after being dismissed as an also-ran.Nobody ever thinks I can win anything, Santorum told about 600 people at a meeting with area pastors at the Bella Donna Chapel in McKinney, Texas. The gift of being underestimated is a great gift.Santorum is the latest in a series of rivals seen as the conservative alternative to the more moderate Romney, who needs to refocus to re-establish himself as the favorite for the nomination.The surge came at a perfect time for Santorum, a Roman Catholic who speaks frequently about his seven children on the campaign trail and holds Christian conservative stances such as fierce opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage.With signs of improvement in the U.S. economy, social issues have taken on more prominence in the 2012 campaign, helped by recent headlines.’WAR ON RELIGION’0Republican contenders Romney, Santorum and Newt Gingrich repeatedly accuse Obama of waging war on religion because of positions including a rule requiring health insurance plans, including those offered by Catholic hospitals, to provide birth control. Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner joined the fray on Wednesday by saying the rule amounted to an attack on religious freedom and promising that Congress will act, if needed, to stop it. A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday ruled that California’s ban on gay marriage violated the U.S. Constitution. Santorum, Romney and Gingrich, a former House speaker, all denounced the decision. The Susan B. Komen for the cure breast cancer charity’s decision, later revoked, to stop funding for Planned Parenthood, also kept social issues in the public eye. With Romney targeted as a flip-flopper for abandoning earlier moderate positions on healthcare and abortion, supporters credit Santorum for his unchanging positions. In a time when there is much cynicism about the authenticity of candidates, he has that box checked, Republican strategist Keith Appell said of Santorum.Gingrich, the front-runner as recently as January 21, when he won the South Carolina primary, is struggling after campaign missteps and fierce attacks from Romney. He was not on the ballot in Missouri and was crushed in the other two states.The next major Republican nominating contests are the Arizona and Michigan primaries on February 28, while Maine wraps up its caucuses this Saturday.Critics portray Romney as a cold-hearted capitalist who cannot connect with voters because of his privileged upbringing as the son of a governor and corporate chief executive, and the personal fortune estimated at $270 million he amassed running a firm that bought – and sometimes broke up – troubled companies.Some Christian conservatives are also wary of Romney because of his Mormon religion.Santorum touts his background as the grandson of a coal miner, and says his economic policies would help generate jobs for working Americans.Michael Gamble, a pastor from McKinney, said he was moved by Santorum’s talk to the religious leaders about his family. Today (Santorum) completely won me over, he said. I think he represents the Kingdom of God.MONEY AND ATTACKSBacked by a wealthy Super PAC that pays for attack advertising against rivals, Romney has won in three of the eight states that have voted so far, including big wins in Florida and Nevada last week.Team Romney might need to tweak its strategy. So far they’ve been successful in going negative on their opponents and touting his business experience, Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said. But obviously Republican primary voters are hungry for something more.Santorum had also beaten Romney narrowly on January 3 in Iowa, a state where religious conservatives are a powerful force in Republican politics. Romney’s campaign says his business record makes him the best candidate to steer the sputtering economy. He scored points against Gingrich by targeting him as a Washington insider, and his campaign has been waging a similar attack on Santorum. Speaker Gingrich and Senator Santorum have over half a century’s worth of time in Washington between them. They can’t fix our country’s spending problem because they helped create it, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said. Santorum said he was ready for an onslaught. His campaign was already bringing in more donations, an important consideration given how far he lags Romney in the money race. In 2011, Santorum raised $2. million, according to year-end filings. Romney raised $56. million. We’re doing very, very well raising money. I think last night we raised a quarter of a million dollars online, Santorum said on CNN. In Minnesota’s caucuses, Santorum won 45 percent of the vote. Texas Congressman Ron Paul was second with 27 percent and Romney was third at 17 percent, his lowest finish this year.Santorum trounced Romney by 55 percent to 25 percent in Missouri. That vote was a non-binding primary, but has symbolic value as a measure of support in a big Midwestern state.The race was closer in Colorado where Santorum won by 5 percentage points over Romney, 40 percent to 35 percent, but Romney had been expected to win easily.
~Lady Gaga Latest news at http://Gaga.GotJuicy.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/he-has-victories-now-santorum-needs-money-support-080202201208/feed 0 Boehner vows to stop Obama contraceptive rule http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/boehner-vows-to-stop-obama-contraceptive-rule-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/boehner-vows-to-stop-obama-contraceptive-rule-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:36 +0000 admin Boehner, the top U.S. Republican, said Obama should reverse the rule, which requires health insurance plans, including those offered by Catholic charities, hospitals and universities, to provide birth control to women.Boehner said if the president refuses to rescind the measure, Congress will do so itself through the legislative process.The rule has drawn fire from religious leaders and a number of politicians, including Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.Speaking on the House floor, Boehner, who is Catholic, said, This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country cannot stand and will not stand.The Obama administration said on Tuesday it is willing to work with church-affiliated employers to implement the new policy, which was finalized on January 20. But the administration gave no indication it would reverse course.Over the weekend, Catholic clergy across the country called for congregations to pressure Obama to back down.Boehner said Americans of every faith and political persuasion have mobilized in objection to the rule, which he said constitutes an unambiguous attack on religious freedom.Boehner said, This rule would require faith-based employers … to provide services they consider immoral, including, sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs and devices, and contraception.
~Romania News - stiri din Romania -http://adevarul.com

Read full article: More…continued here
Powered by Cielo

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/boehner-vows-to-stop-obama-contraceptive-rule-080202201208/feed 0 Biologist Norton Zinder dies at age 83 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/biologist-norton-zinder-dies-at-age-83-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/biologist-norton-zinder-dies-at-age-83-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:02:50 +0000 admin His death was confirmed on Wednesday by The Rockefeller University in New York City, the institution he joined in 1952 and at which he spent most of his career. Zinder died on Friday after a long illness.Zinder was a prodigious talent, graduating from Columbia University at the age of 18 and making one of his most important discoveries while still a graduate student in his early twenties.Working with Joshua Lederberg, he discovered that viruses could transfer genes from one bacterium to another, a previously unknown mechanism of producing genetic variety that the team chose to call ‘transduction’.The discovery, made several years before the structure of DNA was fully understood, would allow later researchers to manipulate infectious strains of bacteria that had otherwise become resistant to antibiotics, among other uses.He continued his work in the burgeoning field of molecular biology at The Rockefeller University, helping to shed light on the functions of DNA, RNA and proteins – the most basic molecules of life.Later in his career, he became an influential voice in shaping the policies and ethics that govern scientific research. In the 1970s, he chaired a committee that examined the work of the National Cancer Institute, resulting in a major reorganization of the institute’s research efforts.He also was a founding member of the Human Genome Project, an international effort to identify and map out the roughly 20,000 genes that appear in the 23 pairs of chromosomes found in most human cells.Zinder was born in New York City on November 7, 1928. He was married to the former Marilyn Estricher, who died in 2004, and is survived by two sons and five grandchildren, according to The Rockefeller University.
~News from Hollywood ? Check out http://movies.bevery-hills.org

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/biologist-norton-zinder-dies-at-age-83-080202201208/feed 0 Capello quits as England manager http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/capello-quits-as-england-manager-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/capello-quits-as-england-manager-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:02:39 +0000 admin The discussions followed the FA decision to remove the England team captaincy from John Terry after the Chelsea defender’s trial for allegedly racially abusing Queens Park Rangers’ defender Anton Ferdinand was adjourned until July.Terry, who would have led England at this year’s European championships, denies the charge.Capello, 65, expressed his unhappiness with the decision in an Italian television interview Sunday.I thought it was right that Terry should keep the captain’s armband, he said.An FA statement said Capello’s resignation had been accepted and he would leave his post immediately after just over four years in charge.I would like to stress that during today’s meeting and throughout his time as England manager, Fabio has conducted himself in an extremely professional manner, Bernstein said in a statement.We have accepted Fabio’s resignation, agreeing this is the right decision. We would like to thank Fabio for his work with the England team and wish him every success in the future.A news conference with Bernstein has been scheduled for Wembley stadium at 7:00 a.m. EST Thursday.
~Lady Gaga Latest news at http://Gaga.GotJuicy.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/capello-quits-as-england-manager-080202201208/feed 0 Fed postpones decision on Capital One-ING merger http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/fed-postpones-decision-on-capital-one-ing-merger-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/fed-postpones-decision-on-capital-one-ing-merger-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:27 +0000 admin The U.S. central bank had previously announced it would post a final announcement after a closed door meeting on Wednesday.We understand that the delay is due to a scheduling conflict, and we look forward to (the Fed’s) decision early next week, Tatiana Stead, a spokeswoman for Capital One said in an email.Capital One announced plans last year to buy online deposit-taker ING Direct for $8. billion in the biggest U.S. bank acquisition since Congress passed the Dodd-Frank financial oversight law in July 2010.The deal has generated concern from consumer groups who have argued it would create another too big to fail bank, even as regulators try to create a financial system less likely to need taxpayer bailouts in response to the 2007-2009 crisis.
~News from Hollywood ? Check out http://movies.bevery-hills.org

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/fed-postpones-decision-on-capital-one-ing-merger-080202201208/feed 0 House speaker vows to stop Obama contraceptive rule http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/house-speaker-vows-to-stop-obama-contraceptive-rule-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/house-speaker-vows-to-stop-obama-contraceptive-rule-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:02:03 +0000 admin The controversy centers on a provision in the 2010 healthcare law that requires health insurance to cover basic birth control services for women – even at Catholic charities, hospitals and universities. Boehner said Obama should reverse the rule and Catholic bishops contend the policy infringes on religious liberty because the church does not condone birth control of any kind.This attack … cannot stand and will not stand, Boehner, the top U.S. Republican in Congress, vowed in a speech on the floor of his chamber.At the White House, press secretary Jay Carney said Obama will seek to ease concerns of critics but intends to implement the rule to give women access to contraceptives.There are ways to approach this that would ensure that the rule is implemented so that women have access to these important healthcare services no matter where they work, but also hopefully would allay some of the concerns, Carney said.Boehner said if the president refuses to rescind the measure, Congress will do so through the legislative process.While Boehner may be able to get such a measure through the Republican-dominated House, he could face problems in the Senate, which is controlled by Obama’s fellow Democrats.The rule has drawn fire from religious leaders and a number of politicians, including Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.With the matter threatening to explode into a major election-year fight, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he and fellow Senate Democrats support the president.Backers of Obama’s new rule say employees of faith-based groups should have access to birth control services in their health insurance coverage. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, an outspoken opponent of the rule, said he and fellow Senate Republicans were considering their options. The short answer is that we’re discussing the appropriate response, McConnell told reporters after a closed-door meeting with his members. The Obama administration said on Tuesday it is willing to work with church-affiliated employers to implement the new policy, which was finalized on January 20. But the administration gave no indication it would reverse course. During the weekend, clergy from the Catholic Church, which considers contraception a sin, called for congregations across the country to pressure Obama to back down. Boehner said, Americans of every faith and political persuasion have mobilized in objection to the rule, which he said constitutes an unambiguous attack on religious freedom. Boehner said, This rule would require faith-based employers … to provide services they consider immoral, including, sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs and devices, and contraception.
~Justin Bieber fun club - http://Bieber.Pizda.Net

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/house-speaker-vows-to-stop-obama-contraceptive-rule-080202201208/feed 0 Goldman looks on the bright side of Volcker rule http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/goldman-looks-on-the-bright-side-of-volcker-rule-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/goldman-looks-on-the-bright-side-of-volcker-rule-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:57 +0000 admin A harsh interpretation of the rule, which bans speculative trading by commercial banks, could help return-on-equity levels because banks would be able to demand more money from clients for executing trades, Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said at a credit Suisse conference in Miami.Regulation will undoubtedly bring about new ways in which the industry must manage its operations and deliver its services to clients, Viniar said, but regulatory challenges must be effectively navigated in order to provide shareholders with acceptable returns.Viniar did not provide a target for Goldman’s return-on-equity, but in a slide presentation he indicated that if Goldman were to exclude profits and losses from businesses affected by the Volcker rule from 2004 through 2011, the bank would have had the same average quarterly returns with less volatility.Return-on-equity is a closely watched indicator of how well banks use shareholder money to earn profit. Last year, Goldman reported a paltry ROE of 3. percent, far below levels above 30 percent in 2006 and 2007.After the financial crisis, Goldman executives forecast a return-on-equity target of 20 percent as the markets and economy became more stable. But they have since backed down from that target without offering a new one, citing uncertainty about how financial reforms will affect profits.The Volcker rule, named for former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, is part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill passed in July 2010. It is meant to prevent commercial banks that take deposits from gambling in the markets for their own accounts. The rule, due to go into effect in July, has numerous exceptions but has prompted many U.S. banks to close their proprietary trading desks.Viniar said on Wednesday that if regulators impose strict trading limits, Goldman would be forced to turn over assets more quickly, and would be more hesitant to buy securities from clients that it could not immediately sell.While the executive stopped short of saying Goldman would convert to an agency trading model — which matches buyers and sellers before executing a trade — he did indicate the bank would start buying securities at lower prices and selling them at higher prices to reflect the risk of taking on trades.Those wider bid-ask spreads would make trading more expensive for clients, but help boost Goldman’s returns. Viniar also said Goldman would exit or reduce business lines that require too much capital to be profitable under new rules. This would allow the bank to put more capital to work earning profit, rather than sitting idle as reserves against risky securities, he said. Ultimately, it could lead to lower dealer inventory levels and could be ROE-enhancing as we adapt to a less capital intensive business model, he said. According to a presentation the CFO gave last year, Goldman holds 32 percent of the securities on its balance sheet for at least three months, and 8 percent for at least a year. On Wednesday, he suggested that less liquid securities will not find a home on Goldman’s balance sheet in the future unless the bank can demand higher rent to hold them. It’s pretty clear the direction Wall Street is going, said Jason Graybill, senior managing director at Carret Asset Management, which invests in U.S. banks. Pay is coming down, margin is coming down, and they have to make up for returns somehow. When he says ROEs will go up, he means relative to the last two years, not ‘06 and ‘07. VOLCKER RULE SHOWDOWN5Viniar’s comments were unusual because Wall Street executives have rarely focused on the bright side of the Volcker rule, particularly since regulators in October unveiled a 300-page proposal for its implementation, with 350 questions open to public comment.While the Volcker rule is meant to prohibit banks from proprietary trading, implementation gets trickier when it comes to buying and selling securities for clients, because it is hard to tell whether a bank is entering a transaction speculatively or in the ordinary course of market-making.The Volcker rule was initially controversial because when Paul Volcker proposed it to President Obama for inclusion in the financial-reform package, he wanted to entirely separate banks that take deposits from banks that trade on Wall Street.Lobbyists for the financial industry fought hard against its inclusion in the legislation and eventually secured the modified version that prohibits proprietary trading and limits banks’ investments in hedge funds and private equity funds.Still, the unveiling of the proposed rule last October only created more of an uproar because of its length and complexity. Bankers say they fear regulators will strangle their ability to make markets for customers or hedge their own risks.I hope all of you … understand how important this is, not just for your own business but for the future of the United States, JPMorgan Chase – Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said on a conference call shortly after the proposal was released. And we hope at the end of the day we will be able to make markets freely.JPMorgan bank analyst Kian Abouhoussein estimated last year that the rule would reduce U.S. banks’ revenue by 12 to 46 percent, with Goldman taking the biggest hit because of its heavy reliance on trading.The proposal has been assailed by a wide array of interested parties far beyond Wall Street.Republicans in Congress vehemently oppose the rule for its restrictive nature, while consumer groups say it does not go far enough. John Walsh, acting director of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has said the Volcker rule will put U.S. banks at a disadvantage against foreign competitors, while foreign governments and regulators worry the rule will hurt liquidity, particularly in sovereign debt markets.Volcker himself criticized the rule at an event in November, saying it is too complicated, as did former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair, who has gained a reputation as a Wall Street foe.The public comment period for the Volcker rule ends Monday, after regulators twice extended the deadline.
~Lady Gaga Latest news at http://Gaga.GotJuicy.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/goldman-looks-on-the-bright-side-of-volcker-rule-080202201208/feed 0 Keystone could be part of Senate highway debate: Thune http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/keystone-could-be-part-of-senate-highway-debate-thune-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/keystone-could-be-part-of-senate-highway-debate-thune-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:02:40 +0000 admin Republicans in Congress want to grant a permit to TransCanada’s $7 billion project, cutting out President Barack Obama, who last month said the pipeline’s route needed more study before his administration could approve it.But to fast-track the stalled Canada-to-Texas pipeline, Republicans need to first try to attach the issue to must-pass legislation and gather enough support in the Democratic-controlled Senate.John Thune, a senator from South Dakota who is the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, told reporters the issue could rise again as the full Senate discusses the highway bill.My guess is that there will be an effort to amend the highway bill to include the Keystone provision and if there is, I’ll support it, Thune told reporters.I think anything we can do to advance the Keystone pipeline, we should do.The pipeline has become an election issue, used by Republicans to criticize Obama’s jobs record. Environmental groups oppose it because of the type of oil it will carry.The Senate Finance Committee briefly discussed a proposal to link Keystone to the highway bill on Tuesday. The provision was withdrawn after Max Baucus, the panel’s Democratic chairman, argued it would take down the bill.Baucus, who is from Montana, said he strongly supports the pipeline.Debate by the full Senate on the highway bill is set to begin as early as Thursday. The House of Representatives is also weighing whether to attach Keystone legislation to its highway and infrastructure package.
~Taliban Official News Website- htt://taliban.us

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/keystone-could-be-part-of-senate-highway-debate-thune-080202201208/feed 0 Flower week stretches customs inspectors http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/flower-week-stretches-customs-inspectors-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/flower-week-stretches-customs-inspectors-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:02:42 +0000 admin This week, they’ll have yet another responsibility: Inspecting tens of millions of Valentine’s Day flowers.Ninety percent of the flowers Americans will give to their sweethearts on Valentine’s Day are imported, and nearly all of those imports originate in Colombia and Ecuador. Before they can enter the United States, the flowers must be inspected for signs of bugs or disease.That means at Miami International Airport’s cargo terminal, the country’s largest flower entry port, officials will inspect more than 670 million Valentine’s Day flowers this year, according to the Association of Floral Importers of Florida.And almost all of them will arrive in the United States this week, since fresh flowers can’t be frozen, stored or shelved. Plus, they must get from the fields of Colombia to the flower shop to the recipient’s vase at precisely the right moment: Late flowers aren’t exactly the height of romance.Valentine’s Day is an unusual holiday, said Christine Boldt, the association’s executive vice president. You can buy a Christmas gift in October and stick it in your closet. Even flowers for Mother’s Day don’t have to be given to Mom on that day. Moms are very forgiving and a couple of days either way won’t matter.However, if you don’t give fresh flowers to your wife or girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, you’re history.The result is a flower rush that hits the ports of entry at the same time, which Chuck Pritchard, a Customs and Border Protection official at the Miami port of entry, says makes for a hectic week.This is a very busy time for us, Pritchard said. We bring officers in from other stations to help deal with this additional work.Every refrigerated container of flowers and the wooden pallets on which the flowers are loaded must be inspected to make sure they are not carrying any insects or diseases that could infect U.S. agriculture. During last year’s Valentine import season, Customs and Border Protection identified 1,176 pests on flowers imported from Colombia and 866 on Ecuadorian flowers, according to CBP supervisor Eduardo Perez in Brownsville, Texas. The intercepted pests included miner flies, aphids and moths. Ensuring that flowers arrive in local florist shops at exactly the right time for Valentine’s Day is a logistical headache – and doesn’t come cheap. Colombian and Ecuadorian growers have to time their blooms for just the right moment, then bring in extra crews to harvest and cut roses by hand. Flights then must be added to get the flowers to Miami and the other ports of entry, where they are transferred to waiting trucks to be taken just in time to florist shops. All that costs money, and is the reason flowers at Valentine’s Day are more expensive than flowers the rest of the year, said Bolt, of Florida’s flower importer association. It isn’t opportunistic and greedy florists taking advantage of young lovers, like most people think, she said. Most florists would probably tell you that they actually lose money on Valentine’s Day due to the costs of making all of this happen in the course of a week or so. At the Customs station in Brownsville, Perez said that inspectors enjoy the opportunity during flower week to help couples celebrate Valentine’s Day.This is just one added thing that we’re looking for, he said. Of course, our focus is on stopping weapons of terror coming into this country.
~Taliban Official News Website- htt://taliban.us

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/flower-week-stretches-customs-inspectors-080202201208/feed 0 Greek deal prospects rise, euro ministers to meet http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/greek-deal-prospects-rise-euro-ministers-to-meet-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/greek-deal-prospects-rise-euro-ministers-to-meet-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:02:16 +0000 admin Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker invited ministers from the 17-nation single currency area to meet on Thursday evening and the International Monetary Fund said managing director Christine Lagarde would also attend.They are expected to examine a complex package involving a 130 billion euro EU/IMF rescue and a bond swap with private creditors, which hinges on Athens accepting conditions that require big cuts in many Greeks’ living standards.Juncker went ahead and called the meeting even though leaders of the three Greek coalition parties were still discussing with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos the terms of a rescue package to avoid a chaotic default in March that would send wider tremors around the world economy.International lenders are demanding that the leaders of the conservative New Democracy party, PASOK socialists and far-right LAOS commit themselves in writing to implement the program of pay and pension cuts, structural and administrative reforms.After a series of delays, the leaders finally received a 15-page document on Wednesday morning laying out the principles of the bailout and its conditions, a party official told Reuters. Attached were a further 30 or so pages laying out how the program will be implemented.The plan involves cutting the minimum wage by about 20-22 percent, a government official said. It also gives political leaders the option of cutting pensions over 1,200 euros by up to 20 percent or cutting supplementary pensions by 15 percent on average or a combination of cuts in both main and supplementary pensions, the official said.NEW BONDS FOR OLDOther elements of the deal have been gradually slotting in place, including a bond swap with private creditors to ease Greece’s debt burden by reducing the value of government bonds held by banks and insurers.The new bonds would have an average interest rate of around 3. percent, said state NET TV, but creditors will have to swallow a 70 percent cut in the value of their debt holdings. German Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Steffen said in Berlin the bond swap offer to private creditors could be made as early as next week. He voiced exasperation at Greece’s failure to implement economic and fiscal reforms since the debt crisis erupted two years ago, saying governance remained below European standards. I believe we can say today that we have made little progress on Greece since 2010, worryingly little progress, Steffen said. With banks and insurers having mostly agreed to take a hefty writedown, Athens and the commercial banks are urging the European Central Bank to forego profits on its Greek bond holdings to help cut the debt to a sustainable level. But ECB policymakers are still divided on what contribution the bank could make to a restructuring of Greek debt, two euro zone monetary policy sources said. While the ECB has ruled out joining private creditors in voluntarily accepting losses on its Greek bonds, it could provide indirect relief by renouncing profits from bonds it bought at below face value.The ECB’s 23-member Governing Council, which holds a regular monthly meeting on Thursday, has yet to agree a position. Some policymakers are reluctant to share the burden for fear of easing pressure on Athens to agree spending cuts. There are also concerns about avoiding setting a precedent for other countries.There is no agreement yet. Some people on the Council still oppose this, said one monetary policy source, adding that ECB President Mario Draghi had not yet revealed his position.As far as I know no formal decision has been made, although of course it is one of the things we could theoretically agree to, a second source said.Facing elections possibly as early as April, Greek leaders have been loath to accept the lenders’ tough conditions.An opinion poll on Wednesday showed that PASOK, which ruled Greece until Papandreou’s government collapsed last November, has most to fear from elections. The monthly survey by Public Issue for Kathimerini newspaper showed support for PASOK had collapsed to eight percent from the nearly 44 percent it commanded when it returned to power in 2009.One Greek news website wrote an open letter to Papademos on Wednesday demanding that he end this water torture.Greeks cannot any longer stand this torment of constant insecurity that is destroying the country and hurting our national dignity, it said. The prime minister must end this endless bargaining that demeans the country and its citizens.Euro zone officials say the full package must be agreed with Greece and approved by the euro zone, ECB and IMF before February 15 so that complex legal paperwork can be completed in time to avoid a bond redemption deadline on March 20.
~News from Hollywood ? Check out http://movies.bevery-hills.org

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/greek-deal-prospects-rise-euro-ministers-to-meet-080202201208/feed 0 Turks seek world action as Syria’s Homs bleeds http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/turks-seek-world-action-as-syrias-homs-bleeds-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/turks-seek-world-action-as-syrias-homs-bleeds-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:02:17 +0000 admin Dozens more were killed during the day, according to the opposition, drawing comparison with the plight of Benghazi which triggered Western attacks on Libya last year and accelerating a global diplomatic showdown whose outcome is far from clear.I’ve seen whole families killed this week, an activist called Ahmed told Reuters from Homs, the scene of one of the bloodiest government onslaughts in the 11-month-old revolt against Assad. Now I feel like I’m just waiting to be the next to die, added the accountant aged 28.Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Reuters before flying to Washington for talks on Syria that Turkey, which once saw Assad as a valuable ally but now wants him out, could no longer stand and watch and wanted to host an international meeting to agree ways to end the killing and provide aid.It is not enough being an observer, he said. It is time now to send a strong message to the Syrian people that we are with them, he added, while refusing to be drawn on what kind of action Turkey or its allies would be prepared to consider.Syrian army tanks and artillery pounded areas of Homs where revolt had flourished, demolishing buildings where people were living, short of water, food and medical supplies and pinned down by sharpshooters on rooftops.Syrian state media blamed foreign-backed terrorists for killing 30 security personnel on Tuesday and causing an explosion that set a refinery ablaze.All the international community should work together to help, Davutoglu said. Especially those who cannot even go from one street to another in Homs. You have pictures of children running from one house to another house while under artillery attack … They cannot continue these methods of oppression.Syria’s position at the heart of the Middle East, allied to Iran and home to a powder-keg religious and ethnic mix, means Assad’s opponents have strenuously ruled out the kind of military action they took against the isolated Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.Some form of corridors for aid and evacuation, or ceasefire accords inside Syria, may be the most achievable demands. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1For graphic of Homs http://link.reuters.com/tuc56slink.reuters.com/tuc56s2^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^3RUSSIAN WRATH4Russia and China, which let the United Nations support the air campaign in Libya, provoked strong condemnation from the United States, European powers and other Arab governments when they vetoed a much less interventionist resolution in the Security Council last week that called on Assad to step down. While Moscow sees him as a buyer of arms and host to a Soviet-era naval base, for both Russia and China Syria is also a test case for efforts to resist U.N. encroachment on sovereign governments’ freedom to deal with rebels as they see fit.Campaigning for next month’s presidential election that he is certain to win, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who first won the presidency after storming the rebel Russian city of Grozny, said: A cult of violence has been coming to the fore in international affairs … This cannot fail to cause concern.We of course condemn all violence regardless of its source, but one cannot act like an elephant in a china shop.Help them, advise them, limit, for instance, their ability to use weapons but not interfere under any circumstances.It is unclear what Turkey, a NATO member and rising Muslim, democratic force in the Middle East, could do to bring Moscow into any international initiative alongside those regional and world powers which have sided with the rebels against Assad.Now it is still time for diplomatic efforts, and we are using all diplomatic means, Davutoglu told Reuters when asked when Turkey, which has taken in refugees and rebel commanders, might envisage sending its own forces across the border.Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who had described the Russian and Chinese veto at the U.N. as a fiasco, telephoned outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday and afterward issued a statement repeating that Assad had lost legitimacy.The Kremlin said Medvedev told Erdogan that the search for a solution should continue, including in the Security Council, but that foreign interference was not an option. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who visited Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, said the president’s opponents should sit down and talk with him.Medvedev also spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy asking him and other Western countries to avoid hasty, unilateral moves towards Syria and said that the position of the international community should be balanced and objective, the Kremlin said.As the diplomatic gears turned, the military offensive in Homs and elsewhere showed no sign of let up. Activists in the city also accused militiamen of slaughtering three families in their homes – the sort of incident that is fueling fears of a descent into more widespread, Iraq-style sectarian killing.The day’s death toll stood at over 100, activists said, offering figures that could not be independently verified. U.N. APPALLED1The United Nations’ top human rights official called on Wednesday for urgent international action. Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: I am appalled by the Syrian government’s willful assault on the city of Homs, and its use of artillery and other heavy weaponry in what appear to be indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas in the city. Speaking by satellite phone from the beleaguered Bab Amro neighborhood, activist Hussein Nader said that the bombardment has lessened on the district by dusk but that tanks had moved closer to the besieged district, where 30,000 inhabitants have been without water, electric or telephone lines days. He said bombardments has killed 42 civilians on Wednesday with many others wounded: There are neighborhoods on the eastern side of Bab Amro that are disaster zones from heavy shelling apparently designed to open the way for tanks. Dozens of people are under the rubble with no way to get to them because they are firing at anyone who moves in the street. He said activists were trying to distribute water in bottles but that bandages and antiseptics had run out.Asked about resistance in the district, Nader said the Free Syrian Army was outgunned and that fighters were laying low, awaiting an impending tank infantry onslaught on the district.The onslaught on Homs has not relented despite a promise to end the bloodshed that the Syrian leader gave to Russia.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe dismissed Syrian pledges of peace as deceit, and we’re not going to fall for it.A group known as the Syrian Revolution General Commission called in a statement in the afternoon for outside humanitarian protection and that the day’s death toll stood at 100 – similar to the figure distributed by activists for Tuesday.OPPOSITION DEFIANTSyrian opposition figures, who said Lavrov had brought no new initiative, spurn Assad’s promises of reform as meaningless while his troops are killing civilians and say he must go.Walid al-Bunni, a senior member of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), dismissed Lavrov’s dialogue proposal.The Arab initiative is clear. Assad must step down and Syrians will then be ready to sit together at a table with whoever succeeds him to discuss a democratic transition, the head of the SNC’s foreign policy committee told Reuters.Among other points of pressure, a senior EU diplomat said European Union governments had reached an agreement in principle to impose sanctions on the Syrian central bank this month as part of new measures intended to force Assad out.In Cairo, a representative of a Gulf Arab state to the Arab League told Reuters that military intervention, such as that backed by Qatar and other Arab states in Libya, should be an option: There are many alternatives and among them is sending peacekeeping troops whether Arab or international. The mission of such forces in case they were sent would be to create safe zones to protect civilians and prevent the Syrian army from entering them, the Arab diplomat said, adding that an arms embargo should also be considered. We should think about a clear mechanism to restrain the Syrian army, he said. The Syrians have taken the Russian and Chinese veto as a license to kill. Separately, eleven kidnapped Iranians in Syria have been released but 18 others are still being held hostage, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said. Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the kidnappers wanted to pressure Tehran to abandon its support of the Syrian government, but Iran would not change its position.
~Justin Bieber fun club - http://Bieber.Pizda.Net

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/turks-seek-world-action-as-syrias-homs-bleeds-080202201208/feed 0 U.S. adds faster traveler screening to more airports http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/u-s-adds-faster-traveler-screening-to-more-airports-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/u-s-adds-faster-traveler-screening-to-more-airports-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:51 +0000 admin The expedited screening program will grow throughout 2012 from seven pilot locations to all three major airports in the New York and Washington areas and others including Boston, Chicago, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Denver, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said.Certain frequent flyers and people enrolled in the Customs and Border Protection’s Trusted Traveler programs may no longer have to take off their shoes, pull laptops from cases and remove belts and coats when passing through security, the TSA said.To date, more than 336,000 travelers have passed through the expedited screening lanes tested at airports in Dallas, Miami, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Detroit, it said.American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have been participating at certain pilot locations, TSA said, and US Airways, United Airlines and Alaska Airlines will join the operations later this year.Passengers eligible for the expedited screening will have already been vetted and have information embedded in the barcode of their boarding passes, which might trigger TSA to send them to an alternate security lane.TSA said the program is a way to make airport security more intelligence-driven rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to assessing passenger risk.The TSA has come under pressure in the past to tailor airport security screening to focus on higher risks, particularly after complaints last year that young children and the elderly were being unnecessarily scrutinized.No passenger, however, is guaranteed expedited screening, TSA said, and random security measures will remain throughout the airport.
~Taliban Official News Website- htt://taliban.us

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/u-s-adds-faster-traveler-screening-to-more-airports-080202201208/feed 0 Hungarian town suffers as Nokia announces big layoffs http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/hungarian-town-suffers-as-nokia-announces-big-layoffs-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/hungarian-town-suffers-as-nokia-announces-big-layoffs-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:02:46 +0000 admin They only told us they will let go a mix of people, from all departments, she told Reuters outside the factory on Wednesday, shivering as a bitter cold wind blew from the north.Of course it upsets everyone, she said. In this world a good living is hard to come by. We’ll stay as long as we can, then we may get our severance cheques… Then we’ll see.Nokia arrived in Hungary during the boom years of the late 1990s. As its devices reigned supreme on global markets, Hungary produced so many that consumers in Asia and Africa often came to identify the country with the Nokia phone.But globalization has moved more jobs further east to Asia, and the spread of smartphones has knocked Nokia off its throne in the mobile world, spelling bad news in Komarom, a town of just 20,000 residents in the northwest of Hungary.Komarom is separated from Komarno in Slovakia only by the Danube river, and many Slovaks commute every day to work in the Nokia plant.Nokia said Wednesday it would let go 4,000 more people around the world, more than half of them in Hungary, ending all phone assembly operations in Europe.In Hungary, 2,300 jobs will be axed in two or three steps by the end of the year, Nokia told its workers, adding that most of the losses would be blue-collar, manufacturing positions.The move hurts the labor market in Hungary as well as Slovakia, where about a third of Nokia’s workers have commuted from, even as Hungary’s political elite repeatedly declared the phone giant one of its most prized investors.I still stand by this: we should support foreign investors who, for decent profit, create jobs for Hungarians and using Hungarian labor they create value, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told an audience of his supporters Tuesday, praising Nokia along with companies like German car makers Audi and Daimler. These firms must be welcomed and kept around, Orban said. It remains to be seen just how big a dent Nokia’s move will put in Hungary’s economic output. The firm’s Hungarian revenues have topped 1 trillion forints ($4. 6 billion) per year despite any recent market trouble, the news web site index.hu said. The phone maker’s output has boosted Hungary’s overall industrial performance so much that its struggles were felt on a macroeconomic level, analysts said. The silver lining is that Nokia is not moving the highest added-value activities, only the assembly function, which represents the lowest added-value in the factory, Takarekbank analyst Gergely Suppan told Reuters. The higher-value functions remain here and the lower-value is shipped off to Asia. A BADLY KEPT SECRETThe fact that Nokia would lay off a large chunk of its Hungarian workers was more than obvious for a long time in Komarom, workers told Reuters.The size of the changes was kept secret but the fact that it was coming was clear, said Zoltan Laszlo, who leads the workers’ union at the Komarom plant.Nokia, like most such firms, adopted a new strategy to move assembly as close to its suppliers as possible, and for quite some time, we have ordered our supplies from Asia.Workers filed out from the factory at 2 p.m. as the morning shift ended, silently boarding dozens of buses that awaited them in the parking lot.Few of them would give their names in conversations, because they said management only told them big layoffs would come this year, but who would stay and who would go was not yet clear.Massive layoffs have been in the air for a long time, several workers said. When Nokia closed down its plant in Romania last year, some of the assembly equipment was installed in Komarom, but the factory was used far below capacity.There were times when entire rows of machines just sat there idle, said Kornel Kisistok, 29. People were told to take weeks off at a time. Bosses never admitted what was going on, but we knew it could not continue like this for long.Then today they set up an event hall, gathered everyone around and told us what we needed to know.
~Red Social de los Hispanos http://cielo.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/hungarian-town-suffers-as-nokia-announces-big-layoffs-080202201208/feed 0 New solar cell could boost efficiency by 25 percent http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/new-solar-cell-could-boost-efficiency-by-25-percent-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/new-solar-cell-could-boost-efficiency-by-25-percent-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:02:22 +0000 admin Scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed a hybrid solar cell which is capable of converting 44 percent of sunlight into electrical power, 29 percent more than traditional cells’ capability of 34 percent, they said in the journal NanoLetters on Wednesday.Solar cells convert the sun’s energy into electricity. They absorb energy through semi-conductor materials like silicon from light particles called photons, generating electrons to make electricity.However, silicon solar cells cannot extract all the energy in a photon and much of the energy from the more energetic blue photons is lost. Usually a solar cell generates one electron from each photon captured.We present the first hybrid solar cell that utilizes a phenomenon called singlet exciton fission to generate two electrons for each absorbed photon in the organic material, Bruno Ehrler, lead author of the research, told Reuters.Hybrid cells are not new and were first developed in 1996 but their efficiency needs to be increased and stabilized before they can be commercialized.These (hybrid cells) are the first of their kind so it is very difficult to estimate when they will go into commercialization, Ehrler said.The firm Eight19 works closely with the group and will put our cells in production if they turn out to be commercially viable. However, in order to assess that we need to investigate the devices further. This might take 2 to 3 years, he added.The price of silicon-based panels and cells has fallen dramatically over the past year, cutting profit for manufacturers and putting them under more pressure to produce even cheaper products.Fledgling technology such as concentrating photovoltaic solar, which multiplies the sun’s powers up to hundreds of times, has gained the backing of some large industry players due to its promise of delivering cheaper electricity than traditional solar panels. The university research team’s new hybrid cells could help to reduce costs as well, Ehrler said. Since our materials can be dissolved and processed by roll-to-roll printing, we expect the actual cost of a solar panel be much lower than (with) conventional silicon solar cells. On an industrial scale, the cost of making the basic silicon solar cell would dominate over the cost of an organic layer printed on top of it. However, this discovery is in an early stage so it is difficult to predict the final cost and device structure, he added.
~Lady Gaga Latest news at http://Gaga.GotJuicy.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/new-solar-cell-could-boost-efficiency-by-25-percent-080202201208/feed 0 Ousted at gunpoint, ex-president of Maldives takes to streets http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/ousted-at-gunpoint-ex-president-of-maldives-takes-to-streets-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/ousted-at-gunpoint-ex-president-of-maldives-takes-to-streets-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:02:46 +0000 admin Mohamed Nasheed, who in 2008 became the first democratically elected president of the 1,200-island archipelago best known for luxury tourism, resigned on Tuesday after three weeks of opposition protests culminated in a police revolt.Just a day after he stepped down, it was as if Nasheed had stepped back in time: riot police and soldiers launched tear gas grenades and beat him and other supporters, a scene played out scores of times under the 30-year rule of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, whom he succeeded.Witnesses said around 40 or 50 people including Nasheed had been injured, some severely. Police and soldiers surrounded the main hospital and kept journalists out of Republic Square, the site of the protest on Male’s northern seafront.I was quite close to him when they began to charge. He had some cuts and bruises but he was beaten quite badly, a cousin of Nasheed who asked not be identified for his own safety told Reuters.Adam Manik, a senior official in Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said the former leader was in a safe house. The party in a statement appealed for international help, and Nasheed blamed his old rival Gayoom for the crisis.AT GUNPOINTNasheed on January 16 ordered the military to arrest the criminal court chief justice, saying he was blocking multi-million dollar corruption and human rights cases against Gayoom allies. That set off the protests that led to his departure.Yes, I was forced to resign at gunpoint, Nasheed told reporters after addressing a meeting of his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in his first public appearance since his ouster. There were guns all around me and they told me they wouldn’t hesitate to use them if I didn’t resign.Earlier, a close aide told Reuters the military on Tuesday marched Nasheed into his own office to give his resignation on state TV, in the first eyewitness account. The gates of the president’s office swung open and in came these unmarked vehicles we’ve never seen before and Nasheed came out with around 50 soldiers around him, and senior military men we’d never seen before, said Paul Roberts, Nasheed’s communications adviser. Nasheed in his resignation broadcast said he was stepping down to avoid bloodshed against the people. Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik was installed as president, and on Wednesday promptly denied being part of any coup despite a widely reported January 31 meeting at which opposition parties swore allegiance to him. Do I look like someone who will bring about a coup d’etat? Waheed told a news conference. There was no plan. I was not prepared at all. Waheed, who runs a small party, said he expected to have a cabinet in a few days, and had invited all parties to join a national unity government that would rule until presidential elections in October 2013. ACT OF TERRORISMNasheed’s party refused, and he urged Waheed to step down.I call on the chief justice to look into the matter of who was behind this coup. We will try our best to bring back the lawful government, Nasheed told a gathering of the MDP party faithful in a sweltering conference call on Wednesday.As soon as the meeting broke, Nasheed led thousands of supporters across the capital to Republic Square, scene of many of the Maldives’ political turning points including the police mutiny on Tuesday.There, police and soldiers in riot gear on Wednesday began firing tear gas and charged protesters with batons, beating some and hauling away others.The Maldivian police on Wednesday on state TV termed the march and ensuing protest an act of terrorism.There were unconfirmed reports that Nasheed supporters attacked two police stations on the second-largest atoll, Addu.Several ambulances raced away from the scene and dozens of sandals lay strewn and broken across the pavement, abandoned as people took flight from the police charges.The political tumult in the Sunni Muslim nation was far from the tourists who stream to the chain of desert islands, seeking sun and sand at luxury resorts that can cost $1,000 a night.Nonetheless, the British government advised its citizens against travel to Male.
~Swimsuits hot collection - http://eroticx.com/video

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/ousted-at-gunpoint-ex-president-of-maldives-takes-to-streets-080202201208/feed 0 Sharapova breezes into Paris Open quarter-finals http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/sharapova-breezes-into-paris-open-quarter-finals-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/sharapova-breezes-into-paris-open-quarter-finals-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:02:00 +0000 admin The former world number one from Russia dropped serve twice early in the opening set but an upset was never on the cards at the Pierre de Coubertin hall.After being held 3-3 in the first set, she won nine of the 10 remaining games, taking victory after 68 minutes when Scheepers netted a routine shot.I struggled a little bit at the beginning because the surface is quicker than at the Australian Open or the Fed Cup, Australian Open finalist Sharapova, who will next face either Romanian Monica Niculescu or German ninth seed Angelique Kerber, told reporters.
~Lady Gaga Latest news at http://Gaga.GotJuicy.com

Read full article: More…continued here
Powered by Cielo

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/sharapova-breezes-into-paris-open-quarter-finals-080202201208/feed 0 Insight: Komen charity under microscope for funding, science http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/insight-komen-charity-under-microscope-for-funding-science-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/insight-komen-charity-under-microscope-for-funding-science-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:37 +0000 admin While the absolute dollar amount of those grants has steadily grown, it has not kept pace with the surge in donations Komen has received, a Reuters analysis of the group’s financial statements shows.Komen has come under heavy public scrutiny since it moved last week to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, a women’s health network that provides birth control, abortions and other services. Although it reversed that decision on Friday, the outcry has prompted a closer look from activists, media and lawmakers at how the charity powerhouse operates.Critics within the philanthropic and research communities in particular have raised questions over its scientific approach to some issues and how it spends the money it raises.Komen’s financial statements since 2003 reveal how much the group known for its pink ribbon symbol spends on activities from research to education, screenings, treatment and fund-raising.In 2011, the foundation spent 15 percent, or $63 million, of its donations on research awards that fund studies on everything from hard-core molecular biology to the quality of breast-cancer care for Medicaid patients.That proportion was down from 17 percent in 2009 and 2010. In 2008, that percentage reached 29 percent of donations. The annual financial statements cover April 1 through March 31.Komen reports spending a total of $685 million for research in the past 30 years, a considerable sum in private cancer philanthropy, and its money goes to a wide variety of initiatives.In 2011, 83 cents of every dollar spent went to mission programs, spokeswoman Leslie Aun said in an email statement to Reuters. We’re the only organization doing breast cancer on all these fronts – in research, global work, advocacy and community work.The organization’s 2011 financial statement reports that 43 percent of donations were spent on education, 18 percent on fund-raising and administration, 15 percent on research awards and grants, 12 percent on screening and 5 percent on treatment. (Various other items accounted for the rest.)0Aun did not immediately address the declining share of revenue that went to research in the past few years. In that period, Komen saw its annual revenue rise by almost $100 million to $420 million and increased its spending on education. When informed of the figures, Komen supporter and widely-followed breast cancer blogger Lisa Bonchek Adams expressed surprise. The Connecticut mother of three was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, ran her first Race for the Cure in 2008, and raised $15,000 for Komen in 2009. Although Adams knew that Komen spends a large fraction of its revenue on raising awareness of breast cancer and promoting screening, she said that the much smaller amount that goes to finding a cure is definitely a concern; 15 percent is shockingly small. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^4Komen research spending: http://link.reuters.com/huv46slink.reuters.com/huv46s5^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^PLAUDITS FOR LOW OVERHEADStill, in categories like administration and overhead Komen wins plaudits from outside experts. Charity Navigator, an independent nonprofit that scrutinizes such groups’ finances, awards it four out of four stars, and 65. 5 out of 70 points for financial performance.That reflects the relatively small amount Komen reports spending on administration and fundraising (18 percent of donations) and its accountability and transparency. Komen issues audited financial statements, for instance, and has policies on conflicts of interest and whistleblowing.By comparison, the American Cancer Society (ACS) gets three stars and a score of 53. 5. The Wishing Well Foundation, which fulfills requests from terminally ill children, gets zero stars and 4. .Komen also shines for what it pays founder and CEO Nancy Brinker: $417,712 in 2011. That is almost $300,000 less than the Breast Cancer Research Foundation reported in salary and benefits for its president last year. Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood’s president, received $354,716 in the fiscal year ending in June 2010.In absolute terms, Komen is a leader in funding breast cancer research among private organizations. The $63 million it granted in 2011 pales beside the estimated $763 million spent by the National Institutes of Health in 2011 and the $150 million budgeted by the Department of Defense in 2012.But it dwarfs the $17 million awarded by ACS for breast cancer research in 2010. In percentage terms, ACS spent 16 percent of donations on all cancer research, largely because much of its focus is patient support, which includes providing transportation and housing for people undergoing treatment for cancer. It reported much higher fund-raising and administration costs than Komen, accounting for 30 percent of donations.The Breast Cancer Research Foundation reported spending 92 percent of what it raised on research; the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 56 percent.The Avon Foundation, which sponsors both walks and research efforts, does not itemize its breast cancer spending in its financial statements.Planned Parenthood generates the bulk of its $1 billion in annual revenue from health services it provides and government grants. Donations accounted for $224 million in 2010, and the group’s annual report did not identify how those specific funds were earmarked. FOCUS ON WOMEN1Even $63 million is too little to support most of the worthy grant requests Komen receives: of the initial applications it receives, the group funds between 10 percent and 15 percent. Of the full proposals – those deemed good enough that scientists were invited to submit an extensive description of their proposed research – it funds less than 20 percent, said a leading cancer researcher with close ties to Komen. Some experts who applaud Komen for supporting research are critical less of the how much than the what. They say funding choices may place too great an emphasis on treatment and the most basic of basic research, rather than prevention and a true cure. It would be good if they spent more on finding the cause of breast cancer and preventing it, said breast surgeon and author Susan Love, whose eponymous research foundation focuses on raising an army of women to volunteer for breast-cancer studies. They fund a lot of research on mice and rats and cell lines, she said. But rats and mice don’t get breast cancer; you have to give it to them.That also raises doubts for some researchers about how applicable the results of lab rodent studies are to humans. Experts have begun to argue that an emphasis on this type of research partially explains why so little progress has been made in the war on cancer.Komen, recognizing that concern, now supports studies that have the potential to impact research and treatment in the next decade, says the cancer biologist.The foundation’s science advisors say they have also tried to identify areas that have gotten short shrift from other funders – for instance, the recurrence of a type of breast cancer fueled by the hormone estrogen many years after diagnosis. Many recurrences occur eight to 12 years after the initial diagnosis, when women think they are out of the woods.THE ‘AWARENESS’ MESSAGEBy far, the largest single category in Komen’s budget is education. It spent an average of 37 percent of money raised on education from 2003 to 2011, the Reuters analysis showed, and 43 percent in 2011.Education encompasses a wide variety of activities at Komen. One community grant was used to identify the seven best books on breast cancer and buy copies for local libraries. In general, education means getting out its awareness message, with an emphasis on screening mammography.Komen’s 2011 financial statement reports $51 million spent on screening services, 12 percent of donor dollars. In explaining its initial decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood’s mammography programs, Komen said it wanted to support groups that provide that screening rather than, as Planned Parenthood does, offer referrals for it.Screening is their thing, said sociologist Gayle Sulik of the University of Albany and author of the 2011 book Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women’s Health.What they’re best at is awareness, which you could also call publicity, she said. Getting out the word that breast cancer exists is what they excel at – that and raising money. But if your mantra is ‘end breast cancer,’ screening isn’t going to do it.Although screening mammography detects breast cancer earlier than waiting for symptoms to appear, it does not decrease mortality from breast cancer as scientists, advocates, and public health experts had hoped. After a number of recent studies concluded that screening mammography makes a small difference, if any, on mortality, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended screening mammography every two years for women 50 to 74, rather than annually, and having a first mammogram at 50 rather than 40. That undercut Komen’s mantra that early detection through screening mammography can reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer. An official statement spear-headed by Komen’s scientific advisory board concurred with the task force recommendations. But some people at the affiliates and the national board were uncomfortable with that, says the cancer biologist close to Komen. The result was some complex messaging, with the official Komen statement focusing more on increasing access to mammograms than on the emerging science about their dwindling medical benefits. Komen’s messages to women sometimes diverge from mainstream science in other ways as well. The group urged insurers to continue covering the Roche drug Avastin even after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rescinded its approval for breast cancer. The FDA decision was based on two large studies that showed Avastin does not prolong the lives of women taking it for metastatic breast cancer and can in fact cause serious harm. Komen emphasized that some women and their doctors claimed that Avastin was keeping them alive and that they would die without it. The Komen view on Avastin was not shared by other breast cancer activists. National Breast Cancer Coalition president Fran Visco said that the FDA should never have approved the drug for that purpose in the first place.Komen’s advocacy of breast self-exams, part of its awareness message, also clashes with the position of the NBCC, a group that is widely respected for rejecting what it sees as false promises in detecting or treating cancer.Because self-exams have not been shown to detect breast cancer earlier or to reduce mortality, the National Cancer Institute no longer distributes how-to guides. The Preventive Services Task Force recommends that doctors not even teach the practice.Some Komen contributors say they hope the controversy over the organization’s approach will prompt it to pursue its mission even more effectively. This whole flap might be good for Komen in the long run, says Adams. People have been afraid to criticize them, but sometimes being out under the microscope can help.
~Europa News - News Europa- http://www.ieuropa.net

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/insight-komen-charity-under-microscope-for-funding-science-080202201208/feed 0 Milwaukee archdiocese bid to duck abuse suits sparks ire http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/milwaukee-archdiocese-bid-to-duck-abuse-suits-sparks-ire-080202201208 http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/milwaukee-archdiocese-bid-to-duck-abuse-suits-sparks-ire-080202201208#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:28 +0000 admin The aggressive stance taken by the archdiocese reminds victims’ advocates how leaders of the U.S. church long resisted pleas to deal harshly with offenders and fairly with victims during the decade-long scandal.It also contrasts with earlier church bankruptcies where most victims’ claims of abuse were acknowledged and compensated, lawyers and experts said.In court papers, the Milwaukee archdiocese is arguing in three test cases that the claims should be tossed out either because the abuse or church cover-up occurred too long ago, involved perpetrators such as a choir director who were not direct employees of the church, or involve victims who had already obtained settlements.If U.S. bankruptcy (http://bankruptcy.ieurope.net) Court Judge Susan Kelley rules in the church’s favor, only 17 claims would remain out of 574 lodged against the archdiocese, said James Stang, a lawyer representing a committee of claimants.It’s not very pastoral of them to do, Stang said of the church’s objections to the bulk of claims.He said the archdiocese was utilizing Wisconsin’s strict application of the statute of limitations, which limits how long after the crime claims can be filed.It strikes me as heinously duplicitous, said attorney Jeff Anderson, who has handled scores of clergy abuse cases and represents victims in the Milwaukee bankruptcy (http://bankruptcy.ieurope.net) case.On the one hand the archbishop invites every individual who has been harmed and sexually abused to come forward to make claims with promises to be treated with respect and a measure of justice. And as soon as they do, he brings in a motion to pour salt in the wounds to have the claims thrown out.When the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (http://bankruptcy.ieurope.net) protection in January 2011, Archbishop Jerome Listecki cited the financial drain of settling with hundreds of claimants while apologizing to the victims and acknowledging missteps by the church in dealing with abusers. Tens of millions of dollars are at stake, with claims totaling more than $100 million. Milwaukee is the eighth American diocese to declare bankruptcy (http://bankruptcy.ieurope.net), with the first three filed in 2004 in Portland, Oregon; Tucson, Arizona; and Spokane, Washington. Altogether, the U.S. church has paid out more than $2 billion in settlements, and the abuse crisis has spread around the world. Other church bankruptcy (http://bankruptcy.ieurope.net) cases were not as adversarial in resolving abuse claims as Milwaukee’s may turn out to be, said Jonathan Lipson, a University of Wisconsin law professor. I think it’s a pretty aggressive position at this point, Lipson said, noting the archdiocese’s objections to claims come so soon after last week’s deadline for filing claims. An archdiocese spokesman, Jerry Topczewski, said the six-year statute of limitations for fraud has passed in all three of the test cases. Fraud is alleged if church officials withheld knowledge about an abusive clergyman. Unfortunately, because you’re in a legal proceeding, you have to do things that people from the outside say, ‘Oh, you’re unfeeling,’ Topczewski said.He said the archdiocese is pursuing its goal to emerge from bankruptcy (http://bankruptcy.ieurope.net) with a plan of reorganization, which requires it to know who its creditors are and roughly what they are owed.NAMING NAMESThe archdiocese began publicizing the names of offending clergy in the years after the abuse scandal first made headlines in Boston in 2002. There are 44 names of offenders on the archdiocese’s website, 19 of them deceased. Many of the claims date to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, which could doom them.For victims whose claims are rejected, the archdiocese has asked the judge for permission to put an initial $300,000 into a therapy fund to pay for counseling.We’re trying to do the right thing, because we’re the church. Tell us the answer about who gets to be in the (bankruptcy (http://bankruptcy.ieurope.net)) proceeding. But let us still do our ministerial job, Topczewski said.The archdiocese dealt with explosive charges in March 2010 against the late Rev. Lawrence Murphy, who had molested some 200 deaf boys over two decades. In Murphy’s case, Anderson has sought to push charges of a church cover-up up to the Vatican and Pope Benedict, who formerly was in charge of the Holy See’s disciplinary arm and interceded with the church in the case.Stang contended the Milwaukee archdiocese has not been dealing fairly, citing a transfer of more than $50 million from church accounts to a Catholic cemetery fund, ostensibly for upkeep. A like amount had earlier been sought by abuse victims.The dynamics of these cases vary. They tend to be determined in part by the temperament of the lawyers as well as the temperament of the claimants, Lipson said.The claimants are hurt and angry in Milwaukee, an archdiocese with 633,000 Catholics.This has turned me away from the Church, said life-long Catholic Adele Kotowski, 59. She had attended church regularly but stopped a few years ago when the abuse crisis became public, though she continued sending her granddaughter to a Catholic school. The bankruptcy (http://bankruptcy.ieurope.net) halted a process that many victims have been insistent about: full disclosure of the crimes and the cover-up. Among our clients, it was unanimous that until they come clean, until there is a disclosure and until there is exposure, there can’t be closure and we wouldn’t settle with them, Anderson said. The U.S. bankruptcy (http://bankruptcy.ieurope.net) court case number is 11-20059.
~Lady Gaga Latest news at http://Gaga.GotJuicy.com

Read full article: More…continued here

Related Posts
]]> http://Indore.diunsa.com/en/milwaukee-archdiocese-bid-to-duck-abuse-suits-sparks-ire-080202201208/feed 0