MANAMA, Bahrain ? Bahrain's interior minister is calling for tougher laws that could bring up to 15 years in prison for an attack on security personnel or their families.
The proposal by Lt. Gen. Sheik Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa seeks to strengthen the government's hand against escalating pro-reform protests by the kingdom's Shiite majority.
The official Bahrain News Agency says the plan was sent to the country's parliament Monday for review. The chamber is dominated by pro-government lawmakers.
Bahrain claims more than 40 riot police were injured last week in attacks that included the hurling of firebombs.
The Shiite-led uprising seeking greater rights began nearly a year ago. Authorities worry that unrest will increase before the Feb. 14 anniversary.
JERUSALEM ? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has made two overtures to West Bank settlers in the run-up to his party's leadership race on Tuesday: It's offering financial incentives to encourage people to move to settlements and opening the door to legalizing rogue settler outposts.
The gestures appear to be aimed at appeasing hardline elements in the ruling Likud Party who are sympathetic to settlers. While Netanyahu is expected to win the leadership race, a relatively strong showing by his ultranationalist rival would suggest many Likud voters consider the prime minister too soft on peacemaking with the Palestinians.
The moves threatened to derail tentative new peace efforts with the Palestinians. A round of low-level peace negotiations hosted by Jordan ground to a halt last week, in large part because of Palestinian objections to Israeli settlement construction.
Those talks are sponsored by the "Quartet" of international Mideast mediators ? the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon visited Jordan Tuesday en route to Israel and the Palestinian Authority in an effort to restart the talks.
"We must all do our part to break this impasse," Ban said. "In the short term, it is essential that provocations stop as called for by the Quartet and that the parties build confidence and sustain these nascent talks."
The Palestinians have rejected Netanyahu's latest moves.
"They are adding obstacles at a time when everyone is intensifying efforts to try to resume peace talks," said Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib. "I think with every additional settlement activity, the feasibility of having two states is diminished."
Years ago, the Israeli government halted generous financial enticements designed to encourage Israelis to settle in the West Bank, the occupied territory the Palestinians see as the core of their future state.
But in this week's government decision, 70 settlements appeared on a new list of 557 communities inside Israel and the West Bank that qualify for housing subsidies. The incentives, according to a statement from the prime minister's office, are "meant to encourage positive migration to these communities."
The list of qualifying settlements include major enclaves that would likely remain in Israeli hands under a peace deal. But most are located deep inside the West Bank and likely would have to be dismantled.
In a separate move, the government on Monday appointed a committee to examine land ownership issues in the West Bank.
The panel will review a 2005 government report that found several dozen outposts were built not only without state approval, but on privately held Palestinian land. Officials said the report needs to be reviewed because its author, state prosecutor Talia Sasson, later entered politics with a dovish political party, raising questions about her objectivity.
A court-ordered evacuation of Migron, the largest unauthorized outpost, set for next month would not be affected by the formation of the new committee, officials said.
But the panel's makeup aroused suspicions it would legalize at least some of the more than 100 outposts built without government authorization, including dozens Sasson says were erected on privately held Palestinian land.
The committee's head, former Supreme Court chief justice Edmond Levy, spoke out against Israel's withdrawal of settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005. A second panel member, Alan Baker, has represented settlers hoping to legalize unauthorized outposts.
The international community opposes all Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. But Israel distinguishes between the 121 settlements established in accordance with official procedures and the more than 100 unauthorized "outposts" that skirted the process with the help of sympathetic authorities and are considered illegal.
Peace talks with the Palestinians stalled more than three years ago, largely over continued Israeli settlement construction. With Palestinians demanding a settlement freeze, a recent round of meetings between Israeli and Palestinian envoys in Jordan has yielded no breakthroughs.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is under intense international pressure to stay at the negotiating table. A final decision is expected after Abbas consults with Arab League officials over the weekend. The Palestine Liberation Organization discussed the issue on Monday but stopped short of urging Abbas to halt the contacts.
Israel has said it wants to keep talking.
Also Tuesday, Israeli authorities said they have received permission to force feed a Palestinian prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for more than six weeks.
Prisons spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said 33-year-old Khader Adnan would not be force fed until "medical conditions" warranted it, but provided no further details.
Adnan, a leading member of the Islamic Jihad militant group, says he was kicked, punched and painfully shackled by his interrogators, according to his lawyers. His lawyers say he also wants to be put on trial and not held for months in administrative detention without charges.
___
Associated Press writer Dale Gavlak contributed to this report from Amman, Jordan.
(Reuters) ? Delivery trucks wear out, computers break down, software becomes outdated -- and finally businesses have to start investing in new equipment. Companies that want to remain competitive have to start spending again as an economy slowly recovers.
Four years after the downturn began, the replacement cycle shows signs of kicking into a higher gear in the United States even among small businesses, and it could give an unexpected boost to growth and employment this year.
That assumes no further shocks to the world economy caused by the euro zone debt crisis.
Greece and its bankers have yet to agree on chopping the country's debt load to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, something the International Monetary Fund is demanding in return for the bailout money Greece needs to avoid a default in March.
But capital spending alone is insufficient to drive a U.S. recovery that will be strong enough to quickly lift employment as consumer demand is still limited by heavy debt loads.
In the United States, large corporations have already dug into huge cash piles to upgrade plant and equipment, adding incrementally to an economy that grew by 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter.
Now small businesses, which drive about half of U.S. economic growth and a big chunk of job creation, are increasing their spending on equipment, too, an important precursor to stronger hiring.
But the U.S. jobs report for January, due on Friday, is unlikely to show marked improvement in the labor market after strong gains in December.
Economists surveyed by Reuters forecast 150,000 new jobs in January against 200,000 the prior month. Some investment banks also warn the 8.5 percent unemployment rate could tick up as signs of a gradual firming of the economy encourages more people to return to the labor force.
Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said small businesses could start hiring more aggressively as the year progresses.
In the last economic cycle, they contributed about two-thirds of the jobs growth, and when they hang out the "help wanted" signs, they can be a powerful source of employment.
"Dollar for dollar in GDP terms, they generate two jobs for every one generated by a large corporation," Shepherdson said.
For the early signs of this small business revival, Shepherdson points to two factors: access to credit has improved markedly as shown by a surge in banks' commercial and industrial lending, and an index of capital expenditure intentions, as measured by the National Federation of Independent Business, is climbing.
The NFIB in December reported that capital outlays had increased for three straight months, the first solid improvement in three years. Owners planning capital investments in the next three to six months also rose to a 40-month high.
NFIB policy analyst Holly Wade said anecdotally she hears of more businesspeople talking of increasing their budgets.
"They have stretched out their machinery and equipment and would have normally invested in replacement, but they were waiting as long as possible. Now they are starting to see better sales and earnings, and they are more comfortable investing some of those dollars in capex," she said.
"In the next three to six months, it wouldn't be surprising to see the same rate of growth in capital outlays we have seen recently," she said.
A similar pattern is evident in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's Business Outlook Survey. In January the index for capital expenditure plans for the next six months more than doubled to a reading of 22.9 from 10.8. And the U.S. Commerce Department's durable goods report for December showed capital goods orders outside of defense and aircraft rose by 2.9 percent.
Industrial conglomerate Honeywell International IncN> is one of the big companies expanding, although overall corporations give a mixed outlook for their plans.
"We're looking to spend $100 to $150 million more in capital on a year over year basis. Some that is going into facility upgrades, some of that is going into technology centers," Honeywell's chief financial officer, Dave Anderson, said with the release of the company's earnings last week.
"Don't look for it to be a driving force for recovery, but capital spending will continue to be a supportive factor," said Ellen Zentner, economist at Nomura Securities.
U.S. car and truck sales, due on Wednesday, are getting a boost from businesses replacing worn out models. They are seen holding at the 13.5 million annual rate in January.
The Institute of Supply Management, an industry group, will also release its U.S. manufacturing index on Wednesday; it is seen rising to 54.5 in January from 53.9.
(Reporting By Stella Dawson; additional reporting by Nick Zieminski)
The Facebook logo is displayed outside of Facebook's new headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
By Martha C. White
The buzz over Facebook?s forthcoming IPO has been propelled at least in part?by retail investors hoping for a piece of the social media giant?s predicted $75 billion to $100 billion valuation.
But when the company?s stock eventually hits trading floors, Facebook fans who want to get in on the company?s initial public offering?are likely to feel as left out as the Winklevoss twins.
Google?s 2004 IPO was conducted via a complicated auction process intended to level the playing field between big trading firms and the little guys. Absent such an arrangement, the advantage tends to go to the players with the most trading volume and money.
By the time your average online brokerage customer can get his or her hands on a stock like Facebook, it?s probably going to already be on an upward trajectory. And those investors hoping to buy on a dip should think twice.
Last year?s spate of tech IPOs saw the stock of companies such as LinkedIn and Zynga put on an initial bounce before stabilizing. However, the hype surrounding Facebook?s IPO has been building for so long that the stock price could stay elevated for longer than other recently debuted tech stocks, analysts say.
?The pool of small investors is so big, I think it?s going to support the stock for a while,? said Sam Hamadeh, founder and CEO of research company PrivCo.
Another issue for potential investors is the meteoric rise in valuation estimates for Facebook since its founding.
In 2005, the company was estimated to be worth $100 million. While the current valuation range has actually dropped a bit since some analysts suggested the company could be worth more than $100 billion, a more modest $75 billion valuation is still ?very aggressive,? said?Hamadeh.
Estimates for Facebook?s true value vary. Gian Fulgoni, co-founder of digital analytics company comScore, was bullish on the company in a CNBC interview Monday, suggesting it could generate $6 billion in revenue this year. (Hamadeh estimates Facebook had revenues of $3.8 billion in 2011.)?
In an event in Dallas over the weekend, Facebook?s COO Sheryl Sandberg talked about creating communities through social technology. If the company wants to fulfill its promise to shareholders it would do better to focus on its relationships with advertisers, said Nate Elliott, an analyst at Forrester Research.
?They need to get better at using the data they have,? he said. ?They have to help the marketers who are spending there [to] improve the performance of the money they?re spending.?
Large companies in particular, Elliott said, are going to start demanding better returns on their advertising dollars.
To that end, Elliott suggested that Facebook could build or buy an ad platform with part of the $10 billion it hopes to net in an IPO. It also will have to pay more to recruit and retain top talent, since it won?t have pre-IPO options to woo employees.
Retail investors who don?t have the patience to wait could seek out a mutual fund specializing in IPOs, but think of it as a lottery ticket, not your retirement plan, Hamadeh cautioned.
?The track record for IPOs is not a great one,? he pointed out. The idea of an IPO market is to invest in a company?s potential while it?s still in its infancy. In the case of Facebook, Hamadeh said, its valuation already assumes five to tenfold growth.
?It could be dead money for the next five years until it catches up with that valuation,? he said.
In other words, retail investors hoping to cash in on the social media juggernaut will have to learn patience one way or another.
Will you invest in Facebook? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.?
CNBC's Jon Fortt explains who is set to win and lose from the Facebook IPO.
NEW YORK ? U.S. stock futures are falling as uncertainty about a tentative deal to resolve Greece's debt crisis weighs on investor sentiment ahead of a summit of European leaders.
Dow Jones industrial futures are down 65 points to 12,549. The broader S&P 500 futures are down 7 points to 1,305. The Nasdaq composite is 14 points lower at 2,443.
The leaders gathering in Brussels hope to focus on how to stimulate economic growth when huge government spending cuts threaten to push many countries back into recession.
The latest data showed Spain's economy shrank in the last three months of 2011.
European markets also declined. In Asia, most indexes fell as investors reacted to Friday's release of data showing the U.S. economy grew more slowly than expected in the fourth quarter.
FASEB SRC announces conference registration open for: Tyrosine Kinase Signaling in Cancer, Disease, and Development Public release date: 30-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jessica Lyons SRC@faseb.org 301-634-7010 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Bethesda, MD The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) announces the opening of registration for the Science Research Conference (SRC): Tyrosine Kinase Signaling in Cancer, Disease, & Development.
This conference will take place in Snowmass, Colorado on July 22-27, 2012. Attendees will learn about the latest research on dissecting the signaling pathways regulated by soluble and membrane receptor tyrosine kinases. Highlights include the analysis of crosstalk and complex signaling networks, the use of mass spectrometry, role of miRNA in pathway regulation, and involvement of tyrosine kinases and their downstream targets in growth, adhesion, invasion, metastasis, the tumor microenvironment, angiogenesis, immunology, and neurobiology. To foster collaboration and translational research, presentations and a special workshop on therapeutic targeting will be hosted by experts. Travel grants and poster awards will be available for trainees. An impressive slate of world-renown speakers combined with the intimacy of a highly focused agenda with ample opportunities for discussion and interaction, are designed to enhance collaboration and foster new ideas and research directions in the field.
###
Since 1982, FASEB SRC has offered a continuing series of inter-disciplinary exchanges that are recognized as a valuable complement to the highly successful society meetings. Divided into small groups, scientists from around the world meet intimately and without distractions to explore new approaches to those research areas undergoing rapid scientific changes.
In recent years, the SRC series has expanded into non-summer months. To better enhance the SRC series and allow for future expansion of conferences, FASEB's Office of Scientific Meetings and Conferences recently changed the SRC name from Summer Research Conferences to Science Research Conferences.
FASEB SRC has announced a total of 36 SRCs in 2012, spanning from June through October. To register for an SRC, view preliminary programs, or find a listing of all our 2012 SRCs, please visit http://www.faseb.org/SRC.
Additionally, in efforts to continue expanding the SRC series, potential organizers are encouraged to contact SRC staff at SRC@faseb.org. Proposal guidelines can be found by clicking "Submit a Proposal" on our website at http://www.faseb.org/SRC.
FASEB is composed of 26 societies with more than 100,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. Celebrating 100 Years of Advancing the Life Sciences in 2012, FASEB is rededicating its efforts to advance health and well-being by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to our member societies and collaborative advocacy.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
FASEB SRC announces conference registration open for: Tyrosine Kinase Signaling in Cancer, Disease, and Development Public release date: 30-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jessica Lyons SRC@faseb.org 301-634-7010 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Bethesda, MD The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) announces the opening of registration for the Science Research Conference (SRC): Tyrosine Kinase Signaling in Cancer, Disease, & Development.
This conference will take place in Snowmass, Colorado on July 22-27, 2012. Attendees will learn about the latest research on dissecting the signaling pathways regulated by soluble and membrane receptor tyrosine kinases. Highlights include the analysis of crosstalk and complex signaling networks, the use of mass spectrometry, role of miRNA in pathway regulation, and involvement of tyrosine kinases and their downstream targets in growth, adhesion, invasion, metastasis, the tumor microenvironment, angiogenesis, immunology, and neurobiology. To foster collaboration and translational research, presentations and a special workshop on therapeutic targeting will be hosted by experts. Travel grants and poster awards will be available for trainees. An impressive slate of world-renown speakers combined with the intimacy of a highly focused agenda with ample opportunities for discussion and interaction, are designed to enhance collaboration and foster new ideas and research directions in the field.
###
Since 1982, FASEB SRC has offered a continuing series of inter-disciplinary exchanges that are recognized as a valuable complement to the highly successful society meetings. Divided into small groups, scientists from around the world meet intimately and without distractions to explore new approaches to those research areas undergoing rapid scientific changes.
In recent years, the SRC series has expanded into non-summer months. To better enhance the SRC series and allow for future expansion of conferences, FASEB's Office of Scientific Meetings and Conferences recently changed the SRC name from Summer Research Conferences to Science Research Conferences.
FASEB SRC has announced a total of 36 SRCs in 2012, spanning from June through October. To register for an SRC, view preliminary programs, or find a listing of all our 2012 SRCs, please visit http://www.faseb.org/SRC.
Additionally, in efforts to continue expanding the SRC series, potential organizers are encouraged to contact SRC staff at SRC@faseb.org. Proposal guidelines can be found by clicking "Submit a Proposal" on our website at http://www.faseb.org/SRC.
FASEB is composed of 26 societies with more than 100,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. Celebrating 100 Years of Advancing the Life Sciences in 2012, FASEB is rededicating its efforts to advance health and well-being by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to our member societies and collaborative advocacy.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Halle Berry’s baby-daddy Gabriel Aubry has agreed to enroll in an anger management class after being accused of pushing his former nanny around. Halle and [...]
ATHENS, Greece ? A disorderly and potentially devastating Greek debt default is looking much less likely.
Greece and investors who have bought its bonds have reached a tentative deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed euro130 billion bailout.
Negotiators for the investors announced the tentative agreement Saturday and said it could become final next week. If the agreement works as planned, it will help Greece remain solvent and help Europe avoid a blow to its already weak financial system, even though banks and other bond investors will have to accept multibillion-dollar losses. Still, it doesn't resolve the weakening economic conditions Greece and other European nations face as they rapidly rein in spending in order to get their debts under control.
Under the agreement, the euro206 billion worth of Greek bonds that investors own would be exchanged for new bonds worth 60 percent less.
Private investors would receive new bonds whose face value is half of the existing bonds. The new bonds would have a longer maturity and pay an average interest rate of slightly less than 4 percent. The existing bonds pay an average interest rate of 5 percent, according to the think tank Re-Define.
The deal would reduce Greece's annual interest expense on the bonds from about $10 billion to about $4 billion. And when the bonds mature, instead of paying bondholders euro206 billion, Greece will have to pay only euro103 billion.
Without the deal, which would reduce Greece's debt load by at least euro120 billion, the bonds held by banks, insurance companies and hedge funds would likely become worthless. Many of these investors also hold debt from other countries that use the euro, which could also lose value in the event of a full-fledged Greek default. This is the scenario analysts fear most and why they hope investors will voluntarily accept a partial loss on their Greek bonds.
The agreement taking shape is a key step before Greece can get a second, euro130 billion bailout from its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund. Besides restructuring its debt with private investors, Greece must also take other steps before getting aid. It must cut its deficit and boost the competitiveness of its economy through layoffs of government employees and the sale of several state companies, among other moves.
This would be Greece's second bailout. The EU and the IMF signed off on a euro110 billion aid package for Greece in May 2010, most of which has already been disbursed.
Greece faces a euro14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20, which it cannot afford without additional help.
Private investors hold roughly two-thirds of Greece's debt, which has reached an unsustainable level ? nearly 160 percent of the country's annual economic output. By restructuring the debt held by private investors, Greece and its EU partners are hoping to bring that ratio closer to 120 percent by the end of this decade. Without a deal, analysts forecast that ratio ballooning to 200 percent by the end of this year as the Greek economy falters.
In return for the first bailout, Greece's public creditors ? the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank ? have unprecedented powers over Greek spending. However, Greece's problems will not be fixed simply by cutting government spending. In order to bring its debts to a more manageable level, the country must also find ways boost economic output, which would enable it to collect more taxes.
If no debt-exchange deal is reached with private creditors and Greece is forced to default, it would very likely spook Europe's ? and possibly the world's ? financial markets. It could even lead Greece to withdraw from the euro.
Sarah Ketterer, co-manager of Causeway International Value Fund, a $1.4 billion mutual fund that invests in European stocks, said the region's markets have rebounded this month largely on expectations that negotiators would reach a deal along the lines of the one being finalized now.
Any last-minute breakdown in the talks could trigger a sharp decline in European markets, she said. But a rally is unlikely if negotiations succeed.
"The equity markets have ... largely already discounted this, and you can see that in the confidence that has returned in European equities since the end of December, and especially for financial stocks," Ketterer said.
She said there "really was no other option" than reaching a deal for bondholders to take a haircut of 50 percent or more.
Ketterer said a Greek deal could help restore bond market confidence. That would help Italy manage its own debt crisis ? one that Ketterer views as more critical than Greece's because of Italy's greater size.
The investors who own Greek bonds are being represented by Charles Dallara, managing director of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance, and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of the French bank BNP Paribas.
___
Elena Becatoros in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed.
DORAL, Fla. ? Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney pitched their ideas for reforming immigration law and pushing democracy into Cuba and across Latin America as the Republican presidential candidates vied for Hispanic votes Friday, entering the final, frenzied weekend before Florida's primary.
"We are not anti-immigrant, we are not anti-immigration" Romney said to applause, suggesting the news media had unfairly tarnished his party's reputation among Hispanics. His refrain also echoed a theme that was at the heart of one of several clashes with Gingrich at Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville.
Romney followed Gingrich in speeches before hundreds of Hispanic leaders meeting near Miami, and each avoided criticizing his closest rival in what now looks like a two-man race for the nomination.
Immigration is a flashpoint issue in Florida for the GOP candidates, who are trying to strike a balance between sounding compassionate and firm about stemming the tide of illegal workers. The state has roughly 1.5 million Hispanic voters.
Gingrich called for a measured approach to revising the nation's immigration laws, "because any bill you write that is comprehensive has too many enemies." The former House speaker says he wants stricter border control, faster deportation proceedings and a guest worker program for certain immigrants.
Gingrich called for a U.S.-supported "Cuban spring" uprising against the long-standing communist regime.
If elected, Gingrich said, he would bring to bear "the moral force of an American president who is serious about intending to free the people of Cuba, and willingness to intimidate those who are the oppressors and say to them, `You will be held accountable.'"
Romney said the United States needs to work harder to promote democracy across Latin America and elsewhere. He compared it to selling soda: "We convince people around the world to buy a brown, caramel-colored water called Coca-Cola and to pay like a half day's wage for it. And they'll buy it. It's unbelievable. We're able to convince people of things that sometimes you scratch your head. ... And yet democracy, we don't sell that so well. "
Romney also pledged to appoint a Latin American envoy and to create a task force to focus on drug trafficking and other Latin American troubles.
Gingrich said he would support a Puerto Rican referendum on whether it should be granted statehood.
Their remarks were mild in comparison to their debate clash sparked by immigration issues.
Gingrich responded to a question Thursday night by saying Romney was the most anti-immigrant of all four contenders on stage. "That's simply inexcusable," the former Massachusetts governor responded.
Gingrich fired back that Romney misled voters by running an ad accusing the former House speaker of once referring to Spanish as "the language of the ghetto." Gingrich said he was referring to a multitude of languages, not just Spanish.
Romney initially said of the ad, "I doubt it's mine," but moderator Wolf Blitzer pointed out that Romney, at the ad's conclusion, says he approved the message.
Gingrich rushed out an ad Friday using debate footage that raised questions about Romney's credibility, including his reluctance to own up to the "ghetto" commercial. "If we can't trust Romney in a debate, how can we trust him in the White House," a narrator says in the Gingrich ad.
The debate was the 19th since the race for the Republican nomination began last year, and came five days before the Florida primary on Tuesday. Opinion polls show a close race, with a slight advantage for Romney. Two other contenders, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, were far behind.
Paul has already made clear his intention to skip Florida in favor of smaller, less-expensive states. On Friday, he began a two-day stretch of campaigning in snowy Maine.
Santorum, who had been campaigning aggressively here, conceded that he's better off sitting at his kitchen table Saturday doing his taxes instead of campaigning in a state where he can't keep up with the GOP front-runners.
Outside advisers were urging him to pack up in Florida completely and not spend another minute in a state where he is cruising toward a third straight loss.
The cash-strapped Santorum said he'll make a handful of Florida campaign stops but will finish Friday with his family in Pennsylvania, where he'll spend all day Saturday. He planned to return to Florida for campaign events on Sunday.
A 33,000-year-old skull of a "wolf on the way to becoming a dog" was found in a Siberian cave. Evolutionary Biologist Susan Crockford, co-author of a study about the skull in PLoS ONE, discusses why the discovery challenges common beliefs about dog domestication.
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PHILADELPHIA ? Lou Williams scored 17 points and Jrue Holiday had 15 to help the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Charlotte Bobcats 89-72 on Friday night.
Jodie Meeks scored 14 points for the Sixers, who bounced back from a rare home loss and still haven't lost two straight games all season.
The Sixers won in front of co-owners Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. The Hollywood power couple had a front-row seat for their first Sixers game of the season. Their son, Jaden, also watched the Sixers romp. Fans rhythmically chanted "We've got Will Smith! and the actor with the megawatt smile pointed toward them in appreciation.
The Bobcats scored only 10 points in the first quarter and lost their seventh straight game. Kemba Walker scored 14 points.
The Sixers improved to 9-2 at home.
While fans in Los Angeles and New York are accustomed to the A-list celebrity courtside sightings, Smith's presence was a big deal in the locker room.
Holiday, a California native who played at UCLA, suggested he could become Smith's latest sidekick, in a lineage that includes D.J. Jazzy Jeff and Carlton.
"We have the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the Fresh Prince of Hollywood," he said, smiling. "We can team up. That would be awesome."
Evan Turner and Holiday discussed which Sixer could dance the best Carlton, a move made popular in Smith's TV show, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Both agreed it would be forward Lavoy Allen. Turner met Smith once before in California and hoped he would visit the locker room after the game.
"Who doesn't like Will Smith? He's one of the best actors of all time," Turner said. "That would definitely be dope."
Holiday scored seven points in the first to get them off and running and stretch the lead to as many as 26 in the first half. Led by Williams' 10 points in the second quarter, the Sixers made 13 of 20 shots and continued to rough up the worst teams in the East to pad their solid record.
At one point in the first half, Williams had 12 points off the bench ? the same total as Charlotte's starting five.
Next week can start to prove if the Sixers are a legitiatate strong team in the East or one that has benefitted from playing the Wizards three times. Orlando, Chicago and Miami all play at the Wells Fargo Center.
There was no suspense in this one. Bobcats coach Paul Silas was hit for two quick technicals and was ejected with 4:38 left in the second quarter. He wasn't there to watch the Bobcats miss 13 of 19 shots in the third.
Early in the game, Walker tried to save a ball from going out of bounds and threw it into the bottom of the backboard.
The Sixers did their best to make Smith, a Philadelphia native, feel at home. There was the "Carlton Cam" and "Get Jiggy With it" cam for fans to dance along with and stay entertained during the rout.
Like Silas, the Smith family had seen enough and skipped out on the second half.
Notes: The 76ers signed center Francisco Elson. This is Elson's second stint with the Sixers. ... The Sixers gave away Holiday bobbleheads. "I look 50," he said.
FRIDAY, Jan. 27 (HealthDay News) -- When a couple is trying to have a baby and can't, it can be emotionally and financially draining. But help may be available in an unexpected form: acupuncture.
Medical experts believe that this ancient therapy from China, which involves placing numerous thin needles at certain points in the body, can help improve fertility in both men and women.
"Acupuncture has been around for almost 3,000 years. It's safe and there are no bad side effects from it," explained Dr. Lisa Lilienfield, a family practice and pain management specialist at the Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine in McLean, Va. "It may not be the only thing that is done in isolation to treat infertility, but it helps get the body primed and maximizes the potential effects of fertility treatments."
Dr. Jamie Grifo, director of the New York University Fertility Center and director of the division of reproductive endocrinology at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, said that "it's not a panacea, but acupuncture does help some patients have better success."
"It's one non-traditional modality to help manage the stress of infertility, and it does improve pregnancy rates and quality of life in some people," he said.
In addition to relieving stress, Lilienfield said that acupuncture can help increase a woman's fertility by improving blood flow to the ovaries and uterus. This improved blood flow can help thicken the lining of the uterus, increasing the chances of conception.
It may also help correct problems with the body's neuroendocrine system. Acupuncture can help activate the brain to release hormones that will stimulate the ovaries, adrenal glands and other organs that are involved in reproduction, according to Lilienfield. Acupuncture's effect on the neuroendocrine system may also help infertile men by stimulating sperm production, she said.
Studies that have been done on acupuncture and fertility have had mixed results, with some showing benefits and others showing none. Grifo said the differing results may have something to do with the design of the studies. Two areas that appear to be more consistently helped by acupuncture treatments are in vitro fertilization and women who are infertile due to polycystic ovary syndrome.
Two studies -- one in Acupuncture in Medicine and the other in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation -- found a benefit when acupuncture was used on the day an embryo was transferred into a woman's uterus.
The study from the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation also found that women with polycystic ovary syndrome and men who had infertility issues with no known cause also benefitted from acupuncture.
The actual treatment session involves placing very thin needles at specific points in the body. In Chinese medicine, these points are believed to be areas where a person's "qi" (pronounced chee), or life force, is blocked, according to the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. In Western medicine, it's believed that the needle placement may release the body's natural painkillers.
Acupuncture is commonly used to treat pain, such as back pain, headache and menstrual cramps, according to the center.
Lilienfield said that acupuncture treatment costs vary, depending on where someone lives and the training of the practitioner. In her center, a treatment costs about $135, and most people receive six to eight treatments for infertility, she said. Insurance reimbursement also varies, she noted, though many insurance companies will pay for acupuncture.
In general, someone younger than 35 is often advised to try to get pregnant for about a year before seeking treatment for infertility. "But, if you're anxious to get going, six months is a reasonable time to wait," Lilienfield said. And women older than 35 probably shouldn't wait more than six months, she added.
Grifo said he doesn't favor waiting that long to seek treatment. "If you are trying to get pregnant and struggling with it, you don't need to wait a year," he said. "And, if you're over 35, don't wait six months to get worked up if it's causing you distress."
More information
The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has more on acupuncture.
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum listens to a question at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum listens to a question at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) ? Rick Santorum is tired, almost broke ? and going home.
The former Pennsylvania senator is leaving Florida just days before the Tuesday primary that even he expects to deal him a third consecutive loss.
Santorum says he would rather spend his Saturday sitting at his kitchen table to do his taxes than campaigning in a state where the race for the Republican presidential nomination has become a two-man fight between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.
The cash-strapped candidate acknowledges that he simply can't keep up with the GOP front-runners in Florida.
"We're going to talk about the Constitution and talk about being a strong conservative," Santorum said at an event here this week. "And that's all we can do."
Outside advisers are urging him to pack up in Florida completely and not spend another minute in a state where he is cruising toward a loss.
Santorum seem to be listening. He has yet to announce his primary day schedule but says it was a mistake for him to remain in South Carolina on its primary day.
"We can't let grass grow," he told reporters Thursday. "South Carolina Election Day was sort of a wasted day for us."
But he pledged to continue his campaign regardless of the Florida outcome.
It's a grim period for Santorum, who just three weeks ago was riding high after narrowly winning the Iowa caucuses. The victory was short-lived. He lost big in both New Hampshire and South Carolina.
He faced an uphill battle even before the race turned to Florida. He doesn't have the money to spend on television ads in Florida's expensive media markets. He couldn't compete with the thousands-strong crowds his rivals have been drawing. And he wasn't able to find a moment here that crystalized the rationale for his candidacy.
"Other candidates tell you they need your help," Santorum told Florida Republicans this week ? almost pleaded really. "They're lying. I really need your help."
But help didn't come ? at least in this state ? for a candidate who is visibly exhausted and running on, at most, four hours of sleep each night.
So Santorum is going home to Pennsylvania, which he represented in the Senate, and Virginia, where he lives with his wife and seven children, to get some rest and, he says, prepare his own taxes. He also plans fundraisers in both states as he works to rebuild his campaign account to pay for upcoming contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.
Santorum also is looking at Arizona and Michigan, which vote at the end of February ? if he makes it that far.
His inner circle of advisers is looking at the campaign checkbook. They say they can keep a lean campaign rolling in case Gingrich or Romney implode.
"This race is just starting. It's a three-man race," Santorum insists. "We're going to be in this race for the long term."
For now, at least, polls show Santorum dramatically trailing in Florida, the largest and most diverse state in the early nominating schedule. And he seems to be coming up short as he tries to win over voters with his everyman persona.
"I wish he had a little more passion in the belly," said Don Waldt, a Punta Gorda retiree who attended a Santorum rally at dusk this week. "He is conservative and authentic. But he isn't on top and doesn't seem to have a clear path to the top."
Dana White has his mind made up. You're never going to know what UFC fighters truly make and that's just the way it has to be.
"So just because you don't know everything, you don't have to know anything, and to be honest with you? It's none of your [expletive] business how much these guys are making. They're making a lot of money. [...] How much money is none of your business. I'm not asking how much money you're making."
White believes that the salary information, so readily available in the other pro sports has ruined things for the athletes. He pointed to the recent $214 million megadeal inked by Detroit Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder.
"His whole life is going to change. He thought it was bad before with the (expletive) he had going on in his life? Everybody and their mother is coming after that 214," White said. "Believe me when I tell you. Mark my words, Prince Fielder talk to me in five years and tell me what it was like when the news put out there that you were making $214 million dollars. I'm not going to do that to my guys."
The UFC often gets a bad rap for fighter pay because the only numbers revealed are those given to state commissions. The promotion beefs up the pay with behind-the-scenes discretionary and pay-per-view bonuses. White is often asked if all the complaints about pay would go away if Zuffa simply revealed all the details.
"Even when we sat down and had that first FOX meeting, the guys at FOX were like, holy [expletive]! They're like, 'Why don't you plaster this everywhere? This is the thing that will put you guys over the top. This is the thing that people love to see and talk about. Look at Mike Tyson.' And I said, 'Yeah, look at Mike Tyson,'" White said. "I've had these conversations with Mike. Mike said that when his money was reported, his [expletive] life was miserable. I'm not doing it."
Some believe the UFC's reluctance to be more transparent prompted the Federal Trade Commission to open an anti-trust violation investigation to look into Zuffa's practices.
The FTC vs. the UFC? That's a heavyweight fight. That's Dana White's worst nightmare. The FTC looks for antitrust violations, picking apart monopolies as the unfair bullies they are -- and as far as I'm concerned, the UFC is guilty as charged.
The story set off White.
"There was guy yesterday, he wrote this story and you could tell this thing was like 'I want some attention. I want some attention. Maybe he'll get mad and say some [expletive].' [...] When we get stories written about us like that, I know it seems like I get crazy and come off too personal ... well, [expletive] yeah it's personal! What you're saying is untrue," said White.
White said everything about the promotion is on the up and up.
"If the government wants to come in and look inside and take a peak and look around, they're more than welcome," White said. "Many of you have heard stories and all kinds of things ... mark my [expletive] words right here, right now, today ... we're not going anywhere. And everything we say is true."
As far as we know the FTC is still looking at Zuffa. White certainly came off sounding very confident nothing will come from the investigation.
White pointed out that there is no sports that has been more heavily scrutinized by governments all levels. The promotion has survived and thrived to become what White called the best sports story of the last 50 years.
CANBERRA, Australia ? Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard stumbled and was caught by a security guard as riot police helped her force a path through a crowd of rowdy protesters following a ceremony to mark Australia's national day Thursday.
She was unharmed and later remarked that she was made of "pretty tough stuff" and commended police for their actions.
Some 200 supporters of indigenous rights had surrounded a Canberra restaurant and banged its windows while Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott were inside officiating at an award ceremony.
Around 50 police escorted the political leaders from a side door to a car. Gillard stumbled, losing a shoe. Her personal security guard wrapped his arms around her and supported her to the waiting car, shielding her from the angry crowd.
The protesters had been demonstrating for indigenous rights nearby at the so-called Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a ramshackle collection of tents and temporary shelters in the national capital that is a center point of protests against Australia Day.
Australia Day marks the arrival of the first fleet of British colonists in Sydney on Jan. 26, 1788. Many Aborigines call it Invasion Day because the land was settled without a treaty with traditional owners.
Abbott appeared to be the target of protesters, who chanted "shame" and "racist" outside the restaurant.
The Tent Embassy celebrated its 40th anniversary on Thursday. Abbott had earlier angered indigenous activists by saying it was time the embassy "moved on."
Gillard was unharmed and later hosted another Australia Day function for foreign ambassadors at her official residence.
"The only thing that angers me is that it distracted from such a wonderful event," Gillard told reporters.
"I am made of pretty tough stuff and the police did a great job," she added.
Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks to members of the media after an event at a Holiday Inn, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Cocoa, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks to members of the media after an event at a Holiday Inn, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Cocoa, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
COCOA, Florida (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is promising to establish a permanent base on the moon by 2020 if he's elected.
Gingrich, the former House speaker, told an overflow crowd gathered on Florida's space coast Wednesday that he wants to develop a robust commercial space industry in line with the airline boom of the 1930s. He also wants to expand exploration of Mars.
The pronouncements appeared to thrill the crowd of roughly 700 people. Florida's space coast is still suffering from a recent round of federal cuts to the space program.
But how would Gingrich pay for it?
The Republican presidential contender says he wants to offer prizes to help stimulate investment by the private sector.
Ever since the first televised presidential debate in September 1960, when Richard Nixon was said to have been deemed the winner by Americans listening on the radio and John F. Kennedy was preferred by those watching TV, conventional wisdom has dictated that looks matter in politics. For decades political observers have pointed out that in presidential match-ups, it?s often the taller man who wins. In recent years, social and political scientists have begun looking seriously at this question, trying to quantify the effects of physical attractiveness in the lab. In presidential politics, does it help to look like Mitt Romney? Or, put another way, how much does Newt Gingrich?s face hurt him?
It has long been known that certain pain-related conditions, like fibromyalgia, migraine and irritable bowel syndrome, are more common in women than in men. And chronic pain after childbirth is surprisingly common; the Institute of Medicine recently found that 18 percent of women who have Caesarean deliveries and 10 percent who have vaginal deliveries report still being in pain a year later.
But new research from Stanford University suggests that even when men and women have the same condition ? whether it?s a back problem, arthritis or a sinus infection ? women appear to suffer more from the pain.
There is an epidemic of chronic pain: Last year, the Institute of Medicine estimated that it afflicts 116 million Americans, far more than previously believed. But these latest findings, believed to be the largest study ever to compare pain levels in men and women, raise new questions about whether women are shouldering a disproportionate burden of chronic pain and suggest a need for more gender-specific pain research.
The study, published Monday in The Journal of Pain, analyzes data from the electronic medical records of 11,000 patients whose pain scores were recorded as a routine part of their care. (To obtain pain scores, doctors ask patients to describe their pain on a scale from 0, for no pain, to 10, ?worst pain imaginable.?)
For 21 of 22 ailments with sample sizes large enough to make a meaningful comparison, the researchers found that women reported higher levels of pain than men. For back pain, women reported a score of 6.03, men 5.53. For joint and inflammatory pain, it was women 6.00, men 4.93. Women reported significantly higher pain levels with diabetes, hypertension, ankle injuries and even sinus infections.
For several diagnoses, women?s average pain score was at least one point higher than men?s, which is considered a clinically meaningful difference. Over all, their pain levels were about 20 percent higher than men?s.
Unfortunately, the data don?t offer any clues as to why women report higher pain levels. One possibility is that men have been socialized to be more stoic, so they underreport pain. But the study?s senior author, Dr. Atul Butte, an associate professor at Stanford?s medical school, said that explanation probably did not account for the gender gap.
?While you can imagine such a bias,? he said, ?across studies, across thousands of patients, it?s hard to believe men are like this. You have to think about biological causes for the difference.?
An extensive 2007 report by the International Association for the Study of Pain cited studies showing that sex hormones may play a role in pain response. In fact, some of the gender differences, particularly regarding headache and abdominal pain, begin to diminish after women reach menopause.
Research also suggests that men and women have different responses to anesthesia and pain drugs, reporting different levels of efficacy and side effects. That bolsters the idea that men and women experience pain differently.
One reason for the lack of information about sex differences is that many pain studies, in both animals and humans, are done only in males. One analysis found that 79 percent of the animal studies published in a pain journal over a decade included only male subjects, compared with 8 percent that used only female animals.
In addition, experiments testing pain in men and women have shown that they typically have different thresholds for various types of pain. In general, women report higher levels of pain from pressure and electrical stimulation, and less pain when the source is from heat.
Melanie Thernstrom, a patient representative on the Institute of Medicine pain committee from Vancouver, Wash., said the newest research ?really highlights the need for more treatment and better treatment that is gender-specific, and the need for far more research to really understand why women?s brains process pain differently than men.?
Some researchers believe the pain experience for women may be even more complicated. Women who have given birth, for instance, may have a different threshold for ?worst pain ever,? causing them to underreport certain types of pain. The bottom line, Dr. Butte said, is that far too little is known about how men and women experience pain and that more study is needed so that, ultimately, pain treatment can be customized to each patient?s needs.
?If doctors have a threshold for when they give a dose or start a medication,? he said, ?you could imagine that the number they are using is too high or too low because a person may be in more pain than they are saying.
?In the end, it comes down to what the brain perceives as pain.?
Brain cells known for assisting neurons may be killing them in patients with ALS
By Erica Westly
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January 25, 2012?|
Image: Stephen Waxman and Hank Morgan/Photo Researchers, Inc
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig?s disease, is a progressive neuromuscular disease that affects about 130,000 people worldwide a year. The vast majority of patients are isolated cases with no known family history of the disease. They usually start developing symptoms of the loss of motor neurons in middle age and die within five years of diagnosis. Researchers know very little about what causes ALS. Now a recent study in Nature Biotechnology suggests that the neuron death associated with the disease may be caused by astrocytes, a type of brain cell that normally helps neurons.
Previous research had suggested that astrocytes could become toxic in the rare form of ALS known to have genetic roots, and the study authors wanted to see if a similar phenomenon might happen in the more common iso??lated cases. The answer turned out to be yes: when they cultured astro?cytes from those ALS patients, the healthy motor neurons in the culture began to die off after a few days. Other types of neurons were unaffected by the astrocytes, suggesting that they specifically harm the neurons involved in controlling the body?s movements.
Lead author Brian Kaspar, a neuroscientist at Ohio State University, and his collaborators next will attempt to figure out what makes the astrocytes behave this way. If researchers can understand why motor neurons die in ALS, they may have a better chance of finding a cure.
Another week has kicked off here at Android Central and we're already rolling with a great start. If you managed to miss out on anything from this weekend, get your self caught up and don't be shy to stop by the Android Central forums and get in on the action in there:
WASHINGTON ? The nation's five largest mortgage lenders have agreed to overhaul their industry after deceptive foreclosure practices drove homeowners out of their homes, government officials said Monday.
A draft settlement between the banks and U.S. states has been sent to state officials for review.
Those who lost their homes to foreclosure are unlikely to get their homes back or benefit much financially from the settlement, which could be as high as $25 billion. About 750,000 Americans ? about half of the households who might be eligible for assistance under the deal ? will likely receive checks for about $1,800.
But the agreement could reshape long-standing mortgage lending guidelines and make it easier for those at risk of foreclosure to restructure their loans. And roughly 1 million homeowners could see the size of the mortgage reduced.
Five major banks ? Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Ally Financial ? and U.S. state attorneys general could adopt the agreement within weeks, according to two officials briefed on the discussions. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the agreement publicly.
It would be the biggest settlement of a single industry since the 1998 multistate tobacco deal.
President Barack Obama is expected to address the housing crisis and unveil new administration proposals during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
The settlement would only apply to privately held mortgages issued between 2008 and 2011, not those held by government-controlled Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Fannie and Freddie own about half of all U.S. mortgages, roughly about 31 million U.S. home loans.
As part of the deal, about 1 million homeowners could also get the principal amount of their mortgages written down by an average of $20,000. One in four homeowners with a mortgage ? or roughly 11 million people ? owe more than their home is worth. These so-called "underwater" borrowers have little chance at refinancing.
Democratic attorneys general are meeting Monday in Chicago to discuss the deal with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. Republican attorneys general will be briefed about the deals via conference call later in the day.
Critics, including some members of Congress, say they want a thorough investigation of potentially illegal foreclosure practices before a settlement is hammered out.
"Wall Street again is trying to pass the buck. Instead of criminal prosecutions, we're talking about something that's not more than a slap on the wrist," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who has been critical of the proposed settlement.
Under the deal:
? $17 billion would go toward reducing the principal that struggling homeowners owe on their mortgages.
? $5 billion would be placed in a reserve account for various state and federal programs; a portion of that money would cover the $1,800 checks sent to those homeowners affected by the deceptive practices.
? About $3 billion would to help homeowners refinance at 5.25 percent.
In October 2010, major banks temporarily suspended foreclosures following revelations of widespread deceptive foreclosure practices by banks. Discussions then began over a national settlement.
Some states have disagreed over what terms to offer the banks. In September, California announced it would not agree to a settlement over foreclosure abuses that state and federal officials have been working on for more than a year.
New York, Delaware, Nevada and Massachusetts, which sued five major banks earlier in December over deceptive foreclosure practices, have also argued that banks should not be protected from future civil liability. The deal will not fully release banks from future criminal lawsuits by individual states.
And both sides have also fought over the amounts of money that should be placed in the reserve account for property owners who were improperly foreclosed upon. Many of the larger points of the deal, including a $25 billion cost for the banks, have long been worked out, officials say.
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Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
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