CAIRO (Reuters) ? Hundreds of Egyptian protesters demanding an immediate end to military rule clashed on Sunday with rivals in civilian clothes outside central Cairo's state media building, the same place where 25 people were killed in a demonstration in October.
"Down with military rule," protesters chanted. The sound of gunshots rang through the air but it was unclear who was firing.
"Tell me council, who chose you? It's Mubarak's gang that appointed you," the crowd chanted, referring to the army council which has ruled Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted on February 11.
Dozens of protesters clashed with a group of people protesters described as "thugs" brought out to attack them, hurling stones at each other. There was no sign of police or troops intervening or securing the media building.
"We were protesting here peacefully, and all of a sudden a group of around 50 thugs came from side streets surrounding the building and attacked us with stones and glass bottles, and we responded by throwing stones back at them. They tore down our tents," said Mohamed Abdo, 45, an elevator worker.
State radio said residents in a poor area next to Maspero, the site of the demonstration, had challenged the protesters because they were disrupting shops and businesses in the area.
Protesters often say such "thugs," usually youths in plain clothes and sometimes members of the police force, have been hired by the authorities to disrupt demonstrations.
The October violence at Maspero in which 25 people died erupted when troops tried to break up a protest sparked by what Christians said was an attack on a church in southern Egypt.
Egyptians have become increasingly frustrated by military rule, though many still see the army as a vital force for stability after months of political turmoil.
"The country cannot continue like this. Things are getting worse. They have to transfer power now. The country cannot stay like this any longer," said Waleed Kamal, 25.
He was not among the protesters, but lives nearby. "If we get civilian rule, the country will get back on its feet, the economic wheel will turn," he added.
Egyptians on January 25 marked the first anniversary of mass demonstrations against Mubarak in Tahrir Square, near the Maspero site of Sunday's protest.
(Writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Tim Pearce)
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updated 8:27 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2012
LONDON - Arsenal kept its bid to end a seven-year trophy drought on track Sunday, scoring three times in eight second-half minutes to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Villa led 2-0 at halftime on goals by Richard Dunne and Darren Bent, prompting near silence from Arsenal fans still waiting for a trophy to follow the 2005 FA Cup.
The home side got back in the game with Robin van Persie's 54th-minute penalty, tied it on Theo Walcott's lucky rebound and took the lead in the 61st on a second spot kick from Van Persie.
Middlesbrough and Sunderland will replay on Feb. 7 for the right to face Arsenal after drawing their fourth-round match 1-1.
Having avoided a fourth straight defeat, the Gunners are now just three games away from a Wembley final.
"We tried to keep focused and calm," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "It is an opportunity but you could see today how hard the games are."
Arsenal great Thierry Henry missed a late chance after coming on in the 89th for the third appearance of his loan from the New York Red Bulls of MLS, but home fans could still cheer the result.
Robbie Keane, on-loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, provided the cross that led to Dunne's 33rd-minute opener.
Second-tier Middlesbrough led against its local rival when Barry Robson capitalized on some weak defending to smash a 16th-minute volley across goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and in at the far post.
Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill introduced striker Fraizer Campbell at halftime for his first appearance since August 2010, and the former Manchester United trainee stroked in a low shot 14 minutes later following a mistake by Robson.
Campbell had not played for the first team for 500 days because of knee injuries.
Crawley Town, the lowest-ranked side left in this season's FA Cup, was handed a meeting with Premier League club Stoke in Sunday's fifth-round draw.
Liverpool will meet Brighton, Chelsea will host Birmingham, Norwich will host Leicester, Everton will play Blackpool or Sheffield Wednesday, and Bolton will go to the winner of the replay between Millwall and Southampton. Tottenham is at Stevenage.
___
LISBON, Portugal (AP) ? American defender Oguchi Onyewu scored on headers in the 18th and 27th minutes, giving Sporting Lisbon a 2-0 win over Beira Mar in the Portuguese league.
Onyewu received a yellow card in the first minute, then got goals off a corner kick and a free kick from the right flank, both from around the top of the 6-yard box.
He has five goals this season, including four in the league.
___
ROME (AP) ? Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored one goal and set up another as AC Milan beat Cagliari 3-0 to move back within one point of first-place Juventus in the Italian league.
Ibrahimovic scored his league-leading 15th goal with a free kick in the 32nd minute, then controlled a ball with his chest to set up Antonio Nocerino's goal in the 39th. Milan captain Massimo Ambrosini scored with his first goal of the season in the 75th.
Inter Milan's league winning streak ended at seven, one short of the club record, with a 1-0 loss at Lecce. Guillermo Giacomazzi scored off a pass from Massimo Oddo in the 40th minute, Inter had two goals called back for offside. Lazio jumped ahead of the Nerazzurri into fourth place.
It was Lecce's first home win of the season and only its fourth overall.
Lazio won 3-0 at Chievo Verona with a first-half goal from Hernanes and two in the final minutes from Miroslav Klose.
Elsewhere, Roma drew 1-1 at home with Bologna to stay sixth. Roma's 21-year-old midfielder Miralem Pjanic equalized with a free kick in the 62nd minute after Bologna captain Marco Di Vaio had scored six minutes earlier.
Also, Genoa beat Napoli 3-2 with two goals from Rodrigo Palacio and one from newly signed Alberto Gilardino to get some revenge for a 6-1 loss to Napoli last month that cost Alberto Malesani his job.
___
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? David Zurutuza lasted only five minutes, but it was long enough to score a double in Real Sociedad's 5-1 rout of visiting Sporting Gijon in the Spanish league.
The 25-year-old midfielder volleyed Antoine Griezmann's cross into the left corner for Sociedad's second-minute opener, and a minute later he scored with another shot from the right side of the area after Carlos Vela had played him clear.
But Zurutuza's dream start took an ugly turn in the fifth minute when he and Sporting defender Gregory Arnolin collided face-to-face while disputing a loose ball.
Granada coach Abel Resino got off to a winning start as his team moved out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win at Real Betis, while Getafe dealt Levante its second home loss of the season with a 2-1 win.
Malaga beat Sevilla 2-1 in an Andalusian derby 2-1 to break a six-game winless run, while third-place Valencia was held to a 2-2 draw at Racing Santander. Atletico Madrid visits Osasuna on Monday.
On Saturday, Real Madrid opened a seven-point lead with a 3-1 win over last-place Zaragoza as Barcelona tied 0-0 at Villarreal.
___
BERLIN (AP) ? Marco Reus led Borussia Moenchengladbach to a 3-0 win at Stuttgart on Sunday to keep his team within a point of the Bundesliga's top three.
Reus sent in a dangerous free kick for Mike Hanke to score with a glancing header in the 31st minute, and then scored himself in the 81st. Igor de Camargo added another three minutes later.
Moenchengladbach remains a point behind league leader Bayern Munich, defending champion Borussia Dortmund and Schalke, who all have 40 points.
Moenchengladbach's first win over Stuttgart since 2005 sent the home team to its fourth league loss in a row.
Earlier Sunday, Mainz scored three goals in the first 17 minutes to beat Freiburg 3-1.
___
PARIS (AP) ? Marseille won its seventh straight game, defeating Rennes 2-1 in the French league as Benoit Cheyrou scored the go-ahead goal from the edge of the penalty area in the 77th minute.
Rennes midfielder Tongo Hamed Doumbia opened the scoring with a 30-yard shot in the 15th, but fifth-place Marseille equalized with an own goal from defender Onyekachi Apam just before halftime.
Ajaccio moved out of the French league's relegation zone by defeating Valenciennes 2-1, its fourth straight victory.
The visitors were down to 10 men in the 73rd when midfielder Paul Lasne was sent off for a second yellow card, but substitute Christian Kinkela scored the winner in stoppage time by curling a shot into the top corner.
Also Sunday, Bordeaux goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso fouled Yannick Sagbo but saved the subsequent penalty to salvage a 0-0 draw against Evian.
___
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) ? Celtic reached the final of Scotland's League Cup for the 29th time with a 3-1 win over Falkirk.
The teams were tied 1-1 until the 56th minute after 17-year-old Falkirk midfielder Jay Fulton equalized Celtic captain Scott Brown's penalty.
Striker Anthony Stokes put Celtic back in front with a 25-yard free kick and tapped Gary Hooper's pass in the 86th to settle the match.
Celtic will meet Kilmarnock in the final at Hampden Park on March 18. Celtic's 14 tournament wins is second only to Rangers' 27.
___
AMSTERDAM (AP) ? Luuk de Jong scored three goals as FC Twente beat FC Groningen 4-1 and moved into second place in the Dutch league.
De Jong headed Twente into the lead in the 14th, converted another cross from Ola John in the 23rd and completed his hat trick in the 58th with another header ? again set up by John.
De Jong then provided the cross headed in by midfielder Leroy Fer in the 66th.
Twente has 39 points, two behind new leader PSV Eindhoven, which beat Vitesse Arnhem 3-1 Friday. AZ Alkmaar lost 2-0 at Roda JC to drop to third.
John Guidetti also got a hat trick to guide Feyenoord to a 4-2 win over Ajax.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsRoundup: Arsenal kept its bid to end a seven-year trophy drought on track Sunday, scoring three times in eight second-half minutes to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.
??With a flick of the head, Abby Wambach sent Alex Morgan on a 30-yard run that gave the United States an early lead, the first of three goals resulting from impeccable teamwork between the veteran and the up-and-comer.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46182135/ns/sports-soccer/
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>> diego, where a 43-year-old navy doctor's wife faces a first degree murder trial. she's charged with brutally stabbing her husband, lieutenant commander fredrick trayers, two years ago. it marked the end of a tragic love triangle and may send his wife to prison. nbc's mike taibbi has the details.
>> reporter: jennifer trayers sometimes cried in court. emotional over the photos of her late husband, or of the crime scene. and over the testimony of the other woman, danielle rollins, who testified about her love of a married man.
>> he seemed to be eager to have a future with me.
>> reporter: on december 5th , 2010 , the chance with any future with lieutenant commander trade trayers ended. colleagues alerted plips he was missing. at his college jennifer trayers was bleeding and her husband dead. ten stab wounds in all. one early and fatal thrust directly into his heart. still, jennifer 's defense attorney said, she continued her frenzied attack, not thinking rationally.
>> i fully believe that you will vote not guilty on murder, but guilty on voluntary manslaughter .
>> reporter: but the prosecutor says it was murder, not manslaughter. and twice the maximum prison sentence , as much as 25 years, because the attack was planned.
>> the evidence will show that she waited to catch him unprepared. that she armed herself with knives.
>> reporter: and she also left a long e-mail for her husband's mistress, addressed, dear mrs. wonderful, the conclusion paraphrased by the prosecutor.
>> that the woman who had been having a relationship with doctor trayers would not have the opportunity of any future relationship with him, and that the defendant, jennifer trayers, would be the last person that dr. trayers would ever be with.
>> reporter: legalese, for, if i can't have him, nobody can. for "today," mike taibbi , nbc news, los angeles .
Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46180501/
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The court-appointed receiver overseeing California's prison health care system said Friday the state must keep its promise to spend more than $2 billion for new medical facilities before the federal courts can end an oversight role that has lasted six years.
California committed to spending $750 million to upgrade existing medical facilities, building a new $906 million medical center and converting juvenile lockups at a cost of $817 million. So far, only the new medical center in Stockton is being built.
Receiver J. Clark Kelso told The Associated Press that the state must begin all the upgrades before it should be allowed to retake control of a prison medical system once deemed so poor that it was found to have violated inmates' constitutional rights. They are his first public comments since a federal judge last week told officials to begin preparing for an end to the receivership.
"That leaves a court order that the state is now out of compliance with," Kelso said during the 75-minute interview. "The courts have been promised construction for the last half-decade. Somehow those promises don't get kept."
California officials are analyzing the need for new medical facilities in light of a state law that took effect last year that is sending lower-level criminals to county jails instead of state prisons. Federal judges have ordered the state to reduce its prison population by 33,000 inmates over two years to improve the treatment of mentally and physically ill inmates, a decision that has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
At its height in 2006, California's inmate population was more than 162,000.
Kelso said the medical center that is under construction in Stockton and the $750 million in upgrades are needed even if the state has fewer inmates. Conversion of the juvenile lockups was to have included new housing and treatment facilities for sick and mentally ill inmates.
Kelso has been negotiating with officials from the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and attorneys representing inmates after a federal judge issued a notice saying it was time to begin ending the federal receivership. Court oversight of medical care in the nation's largest state prison system has led to improvements in inmate health care that have cost California taxpayers billions of dollars.
"We'll just see if the parties can't find a middle ground for agreement," Kelso said.
The pace of those negotiations will determine how quickly the state can retake control of its prison health care operations, he said.
Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate said he wanted to see the receivership end as early as this summer, although he also said it would be appropriate for the courts to maintain some type of oversight role to ensure that inmate care does not deteriorate.
"I think the sooner we return day-to-day operations to the state, the better," Cate told the AP in an interview earlier this week. "We need to work out the construction issues, obviously, and I know that Clark is also concerned about making sure there's a strong structure in place to maintain the strides we've made. But if we can work those issues out, I'd love to see it be this summer."
Kelso said the state also should create a quasi-independent medical bureaucracy within the corrections department to make sure the state doesn't backslide because of budget cuts or a lack of interest.
"A lot of that has to do with budget independence and the independence of the head of prison health care really to control his or her budget," Kelso said. "They can't just get lost in the big haze that is the corrections budget."
He said the corrections department traditionally has focused on keeping inmates safely locked up, with a lesser emphasis on the well-being of those prisoners, and it is unclear if that culture has changed.
Citing inmate overcrowding as the leading cause, the federal courts previously found that medical care for California prisoners was so poor that an average of one inmate a week was dying of neglect or malpractice. It ordered the prison population reduced, prompting the department to send layoff notices this week to 545 employees because fewer workers are needed as the number of inmates declines.
In the notice he filed last week, U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson said conditions had improved enough to consider ending the receivership. He said most of the goals of the federal oversight had been met.
The San Francisco-based judge ordered Kelso, state officials and inmates' attorneys to report by April 30 on when the receivership should end and whether it should continue some role in ensuring that conditions remained constitutional.
"I think this all depends much more on the state's progress than on mine," Kelso said. "Frankly, if the construction had been done as promised, I'd be a hell of a lot closer."
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Source: http://uhcclub.com/chess-strategy/investing-in-stock-exchange-trading-for-starters/
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JERUSALEM ? Israel is often referred to as "Startup Nation," thanks to its long history of high-tech breakthroughs produced by scrappy little companies. But in one critical area, the speed of Internet connections, Israel has fallen behind other tech-savvy countries.
In the coming months, Israel's state-owned electric company hopes to change this by rolling out a nationwide, high-speed broadband network. Exploiting the small size of the densely populated country, the effort aims to put Israel at the forefront of the next generation of Internet technology.
Experts say the fiber-optic lines can provide connections of 10 to 100 times current speeds, transforming the way the Internet is used in such areas as entertainment, business and health care.
"All the developing countries that have a vision for 10 years ahead, or 20 years ahead, understand that the name of the game will be communications, broadband communications, very fast communications," said Tzvi Harpak, the electric company's senior vice president for logistics.
The technology is known as "fiber to the home," or FTTH. Using fiber optic lines, it can provide connection speeds of 100 megabits to a blazing 1 gigabit per second. Today, the typical broadband user in the developed world connects at five to 10 megabits using older cable and DSL connections.
Oliver Johnson, chief executive of British research firm Point Topic, said FTTH technology is the "gold standard" of the next generation of broadband service. Although cable and DSL lines can be upgraded to higher speeds, FTTH has smoother transmission of data and a much higher upside in terms of speed, he said.
"It's easier to go higher. It's future-proofed," he said.
The added bandwidth could transform the way the Internet is used. Massive video files will be downloaded instantly, opening the door for high-definition and 3D movies to be delivered more easily.
Since the system will have equally fast upload speeds, individuals or businesses will also be able to deliver pictures, videos and other large files. In South Korea, where FTTH lines are common, users rave of the lightning fast downloads and crystal clear Skype connections.
This could mean much-improved videoconferences in the workplace, easy sharing of information in complicated engineering tasks, doctors monitoring their patients or assisting in operations by long distance. It will also likely speed up the migration of information, photos and video from personal computers to the "cloud," making it easy for users to access their information from any Internet connection.
Around the world, decision-makers are reaching the conclusion that faster connections will be essential for economic growth. A number of countries are engaged in a gold rush of sorts as they build new networks with FTTH technology.
"Everyone feels that bandwidth will be this commodity down the road. If you don't have it, you'll be out of luck," said David St. John, spokesman for the FTTH Council, an industry trade group based in the U.S.
FTTH technology was introduced more than a decade ago, but adoption has generally been slow because of its high costs. As costs have gradually come down, particularly in densely populated areas, it has begun to take off. And when new networks are rolled out, it makes more sense to go with the new technology.
According to the council, heavily urbanized South Korea leads the world with just over half of households connected to FTTH lines, followed by Japan and Hong Kong, both at about 40 percent. In the U.S., about 7.1 million homes, or 6.6 percent, have the technology through services like Verizon's FiOS.
Not surprisingly, South Korea leads the world in average broadband connection speed at 13.8 mbps, followed by Hong Kong and Japan, according to Akamai Technologies Inc.'s closely watched "State of the Internet" report. The U.S. is ranked 16th.
Israel, dominated by DSL and cable broadband services, is No. 28, with an average connection speed of about 4.5 megabits per second. According to Point Topic, 92 percent of Israeli homes have broadband connections, a respectable number but only about 19th in the world.
Despite its small size, Israel is one of the world's leading high-tech centers.
Israeli companies have created leading products in areas such as security software, instant messaging and e-commerce. Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and other technology giants maintain operations here, and Apple Inc. is reportedly planning its first overseas development center in Israel. Akamai itself was co-founded by an Israeli-American.
With so much at stake, it is not surprising the government is backing Israel Electric Corp.'s effort to roll out the fiber-optic network.
"Providing high-quality, fiber-to-the-home bandwidth for consumers all over Israel (especially in peripheral areas) is a national interest as it promotes economic growth, education, provision of government services, social welfare," said Eden Bar-Tal, the director general of Israel's Communications Ministry.
Despite the relatively late start, Israel is well-positioned to quickly join the world's leaders. About 92 percent of the 7.8 million people live in urban areas, according to government statistics, making it easier to connect large numbers of people relatively quickly.
The electric company also has a key advantage in being able to build on top of its existing infrastructure of overhead wires. That avoids the costly process of having to dig up existing cables or laying down new wires.
It hopes to have 10 percent of the country wired by next year, and two-thirds of the country covered within seven years.
If Israel can stick to that schedule, it would be "among the leading countries" in terms of deployment, said St. John of the trade council.
Harpak, of the electric company, said IEC is seeking bids from potential partners to help build the network. Companies have until Jan. 31 to submit their business plans.
Under guidelines set by the government, the partner will hold a 51 percent stake in the new company, while the electric company will hold a 49 percent stake. Bidding starts at 300 million shekels, or around $75 million, said Harpak, who is heading the election committee that will choose the new partner.
The election committee will review the proposals and hold an online auction by midyear to select its partner, Harpak said.
IEC is banned from identifying any of the potential suitors, but local media reports have said Telecom Italia SpA, BT Group PLC and local companies Elbit Systems Ltd., Rapac Communication & Infrastructure Ltd. and private equity firm Tamares are all in the running.
The new company is to build the infrastructure, while allowing Internet service providers to actually market the service to consumers.
"There's been quite a lot of interest," said Philippe Guez, Managing Director at Rothschild, the investment bank that is acting as the financial adviser to the election committee. "We believe and hope the government and the Israel Electric Corp. will make the appropriate changes in order to make this wonderful project happen."
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DAVOS, Switzerland ? European financial chiefs are trying to soothe global CEOs and political leaders, insisting they have a handle on the eurozone's troubles.
Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says he's "quite optimistic" about a Greek debt restructuring deal, despite recent strains in the complex talks. He says he doesn't expect Greece to default.
He stressed that recent developments in markets have been "positive" for Italy and Spain.
France's Finance Minister Francois Baroin welcomed actions by the European Central Bank that he says have helped "reduce tensions in the European banking system."
Both spoke Friday at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where many business and political VIPs fear that Europe's debt crisis will drag the global economy into a new recession.
North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue wears a Freightliner hat as she smiles during a news conference at a Freightliner plant in Cleveland, N.C., Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012. About 1,100 workers laid off from a factory that builds long-distance Freightliner trucks will be called back to work to meet increasing demand as economies in the U.S. and elsewhere improve, Daimler Trucks North America said Thursday. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue wears a Freightliner hat as she smiles during a news conference at a Freightliner plant in Cleveland, N.C., Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012. About 1,100 workers laid off from a factory that builds long-distance Freightliner trucks will be called back to work to meet increasing demand as economies in the U.S. and elsewhere improve, Daimler Trucks North America said Thursday. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? Democratic North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue, the first woman elected governor in the state, said Thursday she would not seek re-election this year because she believes a bid would make it more difficult to fund education.
Perdue has faced poor poll numbers, continued budget troubles and a campaign investigation while Republicans took over the Legislature last year.
She announced last week she would offer a budget this spring that would seek a sales tax increase for education. Republicans let a temporary sales tax increase expire last summer, and at least one legislative leader called her proposal dead on arrival.
"We live in highly partisan times, where some people seem more worried about scoring political points than working together to address the real challenges our state faces," Perdue said in an email to supporters. A re-election bid, she added, "will only further politicize the fight to adequately fund our schools."
Perdue faced a tough rematch against former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, a Republican she narrowly defeated in 2008 in the state's closest gubernatorial contest since 1972. Perdue's win was partly attributed to Barack Obama's surprise victory in North Carolina ? the first in 36 years for a Democratic nominee for president.
News of Perdue's decision came as North Carolina Democratic Rep. Brad Miller said he also would not seek re-election, avoiding a potential primary contest against fellow Democrat David Price after the Republican-controlled Legislature drew them into the same district.
North Carolina is considered an important state for Obama's re-election prospects and Democrats decided to hold the party convention in Charlotte in September.
Perdue, 65, has struggled with a state economy hit hard by the recession and an unemployment rate persistently above the national average. Polling conducted throughout her term has consistently shown her approval ratings hovering around 40 percent.
She's had to deal with state budget problems that led her and fellow Democrats to raise the sales tax by a penny in 2009 and make deep cuts to education and health care. The first-term governor more recently clashed with the new Republican leadership in the General Assembly, which swept into power after the 2010 elections and gave GOP control of the Legislature for the first time since the 1870s.
Perdue has traded jabs with Republican leaders on issues ranging from jobless benefits to a measure allowing death row inmates to use statistical evidence of racial bias to challenge their convictions. In a sign of the tension, she vetoed a record 16 bills last year.
She faced scrutiny about her 2008 campaign and more than three dozen flights that she didn't initially report on campaign filings required by state election officials. A local prosecutor has said the governor wasn't the focus of his investigation, but four people have been indicted related to the flight investigation, including her former campaign finance director.
Perdue had said for months she was running again, and she raised more than $2.6 million in 2011. The amount was only slightly more than what McCrory had raised during last year ? a poor showing in a state where Democratic candidates routinely outspend Republicans in statewide elections. Perdue's term goes through the end of the year.
"To those of you who have supported me throughout my years of public service, I will always be grateful for the confidence you have placed in me," Perdue said. "In my remaining months in office, I look forward to continuing to fight for the priorities we share, by putting North Carolinians back to work and investing in our children's future."
Democratic state Rep. Bill Faison, who has been hinting he wanted to run for governor, said he was not surprised Perdue is stepping aside. For weeks, prominent people in the party worried about Perdue's low poll numbers had been visiting the governor and suggesting she not run, Faison said.
"I don't think anyone will be surprised by what that announcement is," Faison said.
Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, another Democrat, would seem to consider a run. Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper, who toyed with a gubernatorial bid in 2008 but decided against the idea, announced Thursday he would run for a fourth term as the state's top law enforcement officer.
A native of Virginia, Perdue worked as a teacher and moved in the 1970s to the coastal town of New Bern, where she became director of geriatric services at a hospital before entering politics. She served in the Legislature and as lieutenant governor before being elected governor.
___
Robertson reported from Raleigh. Associated Press writers Michael Biesecker and Tom Breen in Raleigh also contributed to this report.
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TUESDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to high levels of a group of common household chemicals may impair children's immunity, a new study suggests.
The team of researchers, from the United States and Denmark, showed that elevated exposures to perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in early childhood was associated with a reduced immune response to two routine immunizations.
"We found that PFC pollution is apparently making the immune system more sluggish, so that it doesn't react as vigorously to vaccines as it should," said study author Dr. Philippe Grandjean, an adjunct professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
The findings appear in the Jan. 25 issue of the Journal of the Medical Association.
PFCs are commonly used in a wide range of household products including nonstick cookware, carpets, upholstery and food packaging such as microwave popcorn bags; previous research has found that the chemicals are present in most people's bloodstreams.
Other recent studies have linked increased exposure to the chemicals with early menopause and elevated cholesterol levels. But Grandjean said this is the first study in humans to find an association between high levels of PFCs in the blood and an impaired immune response.
"What we don't know is whether this association represents a general immune system dysfunction, and if it has implications in regards to infections, allergies or even cancer," Grandjean said. "We are looking at something that appears to be just the tip of the iceberg, and we'd very much like to know what the rest of the iceberg looks like."
For the study, Grandjean and his colleagues followed 587 children born in the Faroe Islands between 1999 and 2001. In the Faroes, located in the North Atlantic Sea between Iceland and Norway, frequent intake of seafood is associated with increased exposure to PFCs.
To examine the chemicals' effects on immunity, the research looked at antibody levels to the tetanus and diphtheria vaccines, which children in the Faroes are given at 3, 5 and 12 months of age, with a booster shot at 5 years of age. The children's prenatal exposures to five kinds of PFCs were measured by conducting blood tests on their mothers in the last weeks of their pregnancies. Postnatal exposure was assessed through blood tests at age 5. The researchers then measured serum antibody concentrations against tetanus and diphtheria vaccines at ages 5 and 7.
Grandjean's team found that all of the five PFCs measured showed negative associations with antibody levels. In children who had twice the average levels of PFCs in their blood at age 5, their immune response to the tetanus and diphtheria vaccines at age 7 was only half of what it should have been, Grandjean said.
The researchers noted that most levels of PFCs measured in the children studied at age 5 were lower than the levels found in a group of 3-year-olds to 5-year-olds in the United States studied in 2001 and 2002.
Another children's environmental health expert said the findings were concerning. "It's one more thing, along with a number of other findings about perfluorinated chemicals, that suggests we should all be concerned about them in general and try to decrease everybody's exposure to them," said Dr. Jerome Paulson, medical director of the Child Health Advocacy Institute at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Grandjean said that in addition to avoiding products made with PFCs such as microwave popcorn and nonstick cookware, parents who want to reduce their young children's exposure to PFCs should vacuum their rugs and upholstery more frequently "to control the levels of house dust."
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on exposure to PFCs.
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Full text RSS - You can now subscribe to the full text of Today on New Scientist.Just five drugs work against sleeping sickness and all can be toxic - new lab tests are the first step towards finding safer alternatives
Even for the most privacy-conscious individual, contacts are a liability and may give away your location
Many fear that by-products of shale fracking - cracking the rock to release its gas - will harm their health. New Scientist examines the evidence
Many animals have iridescent colours to draw the eye. But golden moles are blind and live in the dark, so why them?
Watch software paint in a variety of styles, challenging the notion that machines can't be creative
Watch the first slow motion video of a goose flipping its body during flight before landing
London's Design Museum has revealed its plans to move sites in a bid to solve the world's problems with the power of design
It still being January means we are (just about) still allowed to make predictions for the coming year - Charlie Ball peers into his crystal ball
As work gets under way to pump fuel oil from the wrecked cruise liner, we assess the risk to the local ecosystem
A camera, a GPS unit and a corpse left to forensic science are shedding some light on the way vultures consume people
People with eye degeneration report better vision after controversial treatment based on human embryonic stem cells
Increased solar activity as the sun nears its maximum has removed satellite debris from low Earth orbit, making it temporarily safer
What is life, asks Dimitar Sasselov in The Life of Super-Earths: How the hunt for alien worlds and artificial cells will revolutionize life on our planet
Bacteria battle each other with highly sophisticated smart impalers - now we're turning this arsenal against them
Solar radiation levels around our planet are at their highest levels since 2003, but they don't seem to be breaching our magnetic shields
See how a new collaborative game between humans and pigs could be used to combat barnyard boredom
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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? The New York Giants again proved their resilience on the road by reaching the Super Bowl with a 20-17 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in the National Football Conference championship game.
A 31-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes at a damp Candlestick Park sealed a hard-fought victory for the Giants, who last won the Super Bowl over the New England Patriots four years ago with an improbable run to the title as a wild card.
Tynes, who also kicked a game-winning field goal to send New York to their previous Super Bowl, split the uprights after the Giants had gained a decisive turnover in San Francisco territory after a fumbled punt return by back-up receiver Kyle Williams.
"I was so nervous today before the game just anticipating this kind of game," Tynes told reporters. "I'm usually pretty cool but there was something about tonight that I knew I was going to have to make a kick."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin tipped his hat to his team for the late Williams turnover, forced by Jacquian Williams and recovered by Devin Thomas.
"That play at the end of the game was unbelievable, just to give us a chance of winning," Coughlin said after the Giants' fifth straight victory on the road.
"Otherwise it was a defensive struggle and no team was able to really move the ball."
The Giants, who made the playoffs after winning the regular season finale three weeks ago, will face the American Football Conference champion Patriots in the National Football League's title game in Indianapolis on February 5.
For much of a wet and windy afternoon in their formidable fortress of Candlestick Park, the 49ers appeared likely to withstand everything the Giants threw at them.
The home team applied early pressure as steady drizzle enveloped the stadium before quarterback Alex Smith connected with tight end Vernon Davis for a 73-yard touchdown, sending the home crowd wild with delight.
Davis, hit with a personal foul for excessive celebration on a camera stage in the end zone, came close to straying out of bounds as he powered down the right side but the touchdown was upheld after the play was reviewed.
San Francisco's defense kept the Giants at bay for the rest of the first quarter but New York responded early in the second, Eli Manning hitting fullback Bear Pascoe with a short pass to the right for a touchdown to cap a 10-play drive over 69 yards.
BRUISING DEFENSE
Both teams were defending tightly but, with Manning finding his groove, the Giants advanced 51 yards in 10 plays before edging ahead 10-7 just before half-time when Tynes kicked a 31-yard field goal.
Smith was sacked early in the third quarter but, after the 49ers had again cramped the Giants offense, he hit Davis for a 28-yard touchdown in the left corner for a 14-10 lead.
San Francisco carried that lead into the final quarter and stayed in control with their bruising defense before the fumble by Williams, hit on his knee by the bouncing ball after a Giants punt, led to a turnover.
New York took advantage as Manning's laser-like arm finally found wide receiver Mario Manningham for a 17-yard touchdown after a superbly orchestrated six-play drive.
A 25-yard field goal by 49ers kicker David Akers leveled the score at 17-17 with 5:43 left before the game spilled into nerve-jangling overtime and sudden-death.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game against this defense," said Manning, who was sacked six times and completed 32-of-58 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns.
"We hit a couple big plays and the receivers stepped up and had some great plays and played tough all game."
Sunday's win gave Manning five career road playoff victories, the most of any NFL quarterback, and put Tom Coughlin into a tie for the most by a coach with seven.
(Editing by Frank Pingue and John O'Brien)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/sp_nm/us_nfl_nfc
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BEIJING ? About 30 Tibetans injured after Chinese police fired into a crowd of protesters in a restive southwestern region were seeking shelter Tuesday in a monastery while military forces surrounded the building, a Tibetan monk said.
Chinese authorities said Monday's unrest was caused by a "mob" and that overseas advocacy groups were twisting the truth about what happened in order to undermine the government.
The violence in Luhuo county in the politically sensitive Ganzi prefecture of Sichuan province comes amid high tensions after at least 16 Buddhist monks, nuns and other Tibetans self-immolated in the past year. Most have chanted for Tibetan freedom and the return of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
A monk from Luhuo county's Shouling monastery, one of the most famous monasteries in the region, told The Associated Press by phone that 33 wounded people were being cared for in a clinic within the religious compound. At least 50 military vehicles were parked outside the monastery, he said.
"They want to take the injured people away but we won't let them because we don't trust them, we don't know what will happen to them," said the monk, who would not give his name out of fear of government retaliation. He said the monks worried about the massive security response.
"We are all in the monastery. Without the local residents around, the monks don't dare to go out," he said.
Accounts of Monday's violence differ, and independent confirmation is impossible due to a heavy security presence and lack of access to outsiders. Tibet activist groups said police opened fire on thousands of peaceful protesters, while the Chinese government says a far smaller number of Tibetans and police clashed after the Tibetans attacked a police station and smashed cars.
The monk at the Shouling monastery told the AP that the protesters had been peaceful until police fired into the crowd, killing one man. "When it all started we were only standing in the streets shouting slogans," he said. After police opened fire, the Tibetans responded by smashing police cars and windows, he said. But he rejected official accounts that five police were also injured in the clash.
He said Tibetans were frustrated by the government's tight restrictions on their religious practices.
"The Chinese government says we have religious freedom but we have no freedom at all. If we did, then they would not be talking badly about the Dalai Lama. They say you cannot listen to the Dalai Lama, if we have pictures of the Dalai Lama we have to take them down," he said. "This really hurts our feelings; they hurt our self-esteem."
The London-based International Campaign for Tibet said three Tibetans were killed and nine wounded, while another group, Free Tibet, said one died and up to 30 others were shot and wounded in Luhuo, also known as Draggo in Tibetan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei slammed such groups, accusing them of exaggeration. Hong said order has been restored after one Tibetan died and four others were injured, and that five police were also wounded.
"Overseas forces of 'Tibet independence' have always fabricated rumors and distorted the truth to discredit the Chinese government with issues involving Tibet," Hong said in remarks carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.
Xinhua said more than 100 people, including monks, some armed with knives and stones, gathered to attack a police station after hearing rumors that three monks would set themselves on fire. They smashed two police vehicles and two fire engines and stormed shops, it said.
Ganzi is a rugged, deeply Buddhist region filled with monasteries that has been at the center of dissent for years. It is among the traditionally Tibetan areas of Sichuan province and other parts of western China that have been closed to outsiders for months amid a massive security presence.
Many Tibetans resent Beijing's heavy-handed rule and the large-scale migration of China's ethnic Han majority to the Himalayan region. While China claims Tibet has been under its rule for centuries, many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for most of that time.
___
Gillian Wong can be reached on http://twitter.com/gillianwong
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Lauren Conrad debuted her new pink hairstyle online yesterday. Awesome new 'do or awful new hue? We're biased towards all things LC, but you make the call!
The 25-year-old tweeted a link to an Instagram pic of her "cotton candy bun" Saturday.
The picture (below) shows streaks of pale pink mixed in with her trademark blonde locks, piled atop her lovely head. If anyone can pull it off:
This is actually not the first time LC has made an unconventional coiffure choice.
In July, the former star of Laguna Beach / The Hills dyed the ends of her hair different hues of pink and blue. Why that unusual color combo? Her fans voted for it!
"Roses are red, violets are blue," she tweeted. "The color of my hair is up to you!"
Thoughts on LC's pink hair this time around? Vote in our poll below!
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/lauren-conrad-debuts-pink-hair-love-it-or-leave-it/
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Chart shows number of Afghan asylum seekers since
Chart shows number of Afghan asylum seekers since
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? More Afghans fled the country and sought asylum abroad in 2011 than in any other year since the start of the decade-long war, suggesting that many are looking for their own exit strategy as international troops prepare to withdraw.
From January to November, more than 30,000 Afghans applied for political asylum worldwide, a 25 percent increase over the same period the previous year and more than triple the level of just four years ago, according to U.N. statistics obtained by The Associated Press ahead of their scheduled publication later this year.
Many Afghans are turning to a thriving and increasingly sophisticated human smuggling industry to get themselves ? or in most cases, their sons ? out of the country. They pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to cross into Iran or Pakistan to more $25,000 for fake papers and flights to places like London or Stockholm.
Thousands of refugees also return each year, but their numbers have been dwindling as the asylum applications rise. Both trends highlight worries among Afghans about what may happen after 2014, when American and other NATO troops turn security over to the Afghan army and police.
The true numbers of people leaving is likely even higher ? since those who are successfully smuggled abroad often melt into an underground economy. Still, the jump in a rough indicator like asylum seekers suggests the total numbers are also on the rise.
Smuggling people out of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan is a $1 billion-per-year criminal enterprise, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimates. Those who pay to leave often face a risky journey and detention abroad because many developed countries now see many Afghans who flee as illegal economic migrants, not political refugees.
Still, the business finds an eager clientele in Afghans such as Ahmad, an unemployed 20-year-old in Kabul. He has agreed to pay a smuggler $400 to take him over the Iranian border, where he hopes to find work and save up to move on to Europe in a few years. He has no money, but his smuggler is giving him credit ? he'll have a month to pay up once he's in Iran.
"I don't think anything will improve in three or five years, so it's better to leave now," said Ahmad, who expects to leave for Iran within a few weeks. He asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of being arrested.
Ahmad's family fled to Iran during the Taliban's late 1990s rule and returned full of hope after the regime fell. But now, he sees no future in his homeland.
"If foreign troops leave, the situation will only get worse, not better," he said.
That's a view shared by many. Tajma Kurt, who manages an International Organization for Migration program helping Afghans who have returned home, says she's noticed a marked change in ordinary Afghans' outlook since roughly 2007, when the Taliban insurgency began to gain strength and violent attacks increased.
"Before, they were looking for a job, discussing buying a house or whatever," Kurt said. "Now, they are all thinking of leaving because the situation has deteriorated dramatically and they don't see that it's going to get much better."
Devastated by decades of war, Afghanistan is already the world's biggest source of refugees, with more than 3 million of its total population of 30 million still outside the country, most in Iran and Pakistan, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner of Refugees and the Afghan government.
After the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention that toppled the Taliban, some 5.7 million Afghan refugees returned. The vast majority of those came back in the first five years. The numbers have since dwindled, with about 60,000 refugees returning last year, about half the number as the previous year.
As the pace of returns slowed, the number of Afghans seeking asylum abroad rebounded. In 2011, 30,407 sought asylum through November, the latest available figures.
Driving both trends is not only economic ambition but deep uncertainties about the country's future, says Abdul Samad Hami, deputy minister of Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
"Who knows what happens when foreign troops leave Afghanistan? Is it going to get better or worse? Who knows what happens with the foreign aid to Afghanistan ? going down or increasing?" he said.
Some Afghans fear that once most foreign troops leave, the Taliban will take over more territory and civil war could erupt along ethnic lines, as it did in the 1990s. Others worry the Afghan economy will collapse if foreign aid dries up.
The real number of Afghans leaving is unknown, but undoubtedly higher than the asylum figures. The country's foreign ministry recently said 50,000 Afghans illegally entered Greece in the past two years alone, many of them now stranded without passports or money to move farther into Europe. Most of those arranged their journey with smugglers.
For their money, many endure a perilous journey.
Esmat Adine nearly drowned after the overcrowded boat he was on sank off Indonesia late last year, killing at least 200 fellow asylum-seekers headed for Australia. He says he left his wife and infant son at home in Afghanistan and paid $5,000 to travel to Australia after the Taliban threatened to kill him for working with American aid workers. He flew from Kabul to Dubai, then boarded a plane to Jakarta, Indonesia. From there, he was taken to eastern Java and was packed onto the doomed boat.
When the vessel capsized, Adine managed to survive by swimming to a nearby island.
"I swam and swam until I reached the shore," Adine, 24, told The Associated Press in an Indonesian detention center, where he is awaiting a ruling on his legal status. "I thought of how my wife and children are counting on me, of how I must earn a good life in Australia, free from intimidation."
He says he still hopes to be able to enter Australia and send for his family.
Australia has vowed to crack down on asylum-seekers but has been forced to relax a policy of mandatory detention because its detention camps are dangerously overcrowded.
Hami, the Afghan refugee official, says the country has come a long way and if the transition goes smoothly, fewer people will want to leave. But he conceded that depends on whether the government can provide security and jobs.
"If the situation gets worse, people will go out. If the situation gets better, people will return."
___
Associated Press reporters Massieh Neshat in Kabul and Ali Kotarumalos in Indonesia contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 22-Jan-2012
Share ] Contact: Zoe Dunford
zoe.dunford@nbi.ac.uk
44-016-032-51490
Norwich BioScience Institutes
Under a year since a huge tsunami inundated paddy fields in Japan with salty sludge, scientists are near to developing locally-adapted, salt-tolerant rice.
Following a Japan-UK research collaboration, a new method for marker assisted breeding is being used to slash the time it takes to isolate new traits such as salt tolerance. Details of the new method, called MutMap, will be published in Nature Biotechnology on Sunday so they can be used by scientists and breeders worldwide to dramatically accelerate crop breeding.
"The beauty of the new method is its simplicity," said Professor Sophien Kamoun, co-author on the paper and Head of The Sainsbury Laboratory on Norwich Research Park.
"By working with cultivars favoured by farmers and already adapted to local conditions, the MutMap method will enable plant scientists and breeders to develop new crop varieties in nearer a year rather than five to ten years."
The new technique also takes advantage of the speed at which sequencing can now be done to screen plant mutants for valuable traits.
"Until now, plant breeding has not been able to take advantage of the genomics revolution," said lead author Professor Ryohei Terauchi from Japan's Iwate Biotechnology Research Centre.
"MutMap overcomes one of the greatest limitations, which has been the time it takes to identify genetic markers for desirable traits."
Important traits such as drought and salt tolerance, semidwarfism, plant height and yield are often controlled by many genes each having a subtle effect. It is therefore difficult to identify the complete genetic basis for them.
Such traits are often bred in from wild relatives and without genetic engineering many years of back-crossing are required to breed out all the characteristics of the wild plant except the quality desired.
In the new method, scientists work with an elite rice cultivar and create mutants that harbour different traits. One mutant is identified with the desired trait and this is crossed with the original cultivar and grown in the field. The difference between the progeny of this cross and the elite cultivar can then be identified.
"The differences can be unequivocally observed even if they are small," said Professor Kamoun.
The changes detected are called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS) and insertion-deletions (indels) tiny genetic improvements that can be observed using genome sequencing.
In the study to be published on Sunday, the scientists focused on plant height because of its crucial role in yield. The introduction of this trait fuelled the Green Revolution in wheat, rice and other cereals from the 1960s, but has not been thoroughly exploited. The gene for semidwarfism was first identified in the model plant Arabidopsis at the John Innes Centre, and only discovered in rice in 2002.
For the current study, they also measured six other traits of agricultural importance. Terauchi and his team have since established a mutant collection for salt tolerance which they are screening for markers. Once these have been identified, they will be used to develop rice cultivars that can be grown in paddy fields flooded by the tsunami last March.
The method will not work for all important traits, and further research is needed to establish how it can be applied to crops with larger genomes such as wheat, barley and maize.
###
The research collaboration grew out of the TSL approach to train biologists in bioinformatics, enabling them to take full advantage of it as an experimental science. Dr Kentaro Yoshida from Terauchi's group was funded by a Daiwa Adrian prize to receive training at The Sainsbury Laboratory in 2010.
Further funding was provided by research agencies in Japan and TSL's core funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
[ | 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.
Public release date: 22-Jan-2012 Share ] Contact: Zoe Dunford
zoe.dunford@nbi.ac.uk
44-016-032-51490
Norwich BioScience Institutes
Under a year since a huge tsunami inundated paddy fields in Japan with salty sludge, scientists are near to developing locally-adapted, salt-tolerant rice.
Following a Japan-UK research collaboration, a new method for marker assisted breeding is being used to slash the time it takes to isolate new traits such as salt tolerance. Details of the new method, called MutMap, will be published in Nature Biotechnology on Sunday so they can be used by scientists and breeders worldwide to dramatically accelerate crop breeding.
"The beauty of the new method is its simplicity," said Professor Sophien Kamoun, co-author on the paper and Head of The Sainsbury Laboratory on Norwich Research Park.
"By working with cultivars favoured by farmers and already adapted to local conditions, the MutMap method will enable plant scientists and breeders to develop new crop varieties in nearer a year rather than five to ten years."
The new technique also takes advantage of the speed at which sequencing can now be done to screen plant mutants for valuable traits.
"Until now, plant breeding has not been able to take advantage of the genomics revolution," said lead author Professor Ryohei Terauchi from Japan's Iwate Biotechnology Research Centre.
"MutMap overcomes one of the greatest limitations, which has been the time it takes to identify genetic markers for desirable traits."
Important traits such as drought and salt tolerance, semidwarfism, plant height and yield are often controlled by many genes each having a subtle effect. It is therefore difficult to identify the complete genetic basis for them.
Such traits are often bred in from wild relatives and without genetic engineering many years of back-crossing are required to breed out all the characteristics of the wild plant except the quality desired.
In the new method, scientists work with an elite rice cultivar and create mutants that harbour different traits. One mutant is identified with the desired trait and this is crossed with the original cultivar and grown in the field. The difference between the progeny of this cross and the elite cultivar can then be identified.
"The differences can be unequivocally observed even if they are small," said Professor Kamoun.
The changes detected are called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS) and insertion-deletions (indels) tiny genetic improvements that can be observed using genome sequencing.
In the study to be published on Sunday, the scientists focused on plant height because of its crucial role in yield. The introduction of this trait fuelled the Green Revolution in wheat, rice and other cereals from the 1960s, but has not been thoroughly exploited. The gene for semidwarfism was first identified in the model plant Arabidopsis at the John Innes Centre, and only discovered in rice in 2002.
For the current study, they also measured six other traits of agricultural importance. Terauchi and his team have since established a mutant collection for salt tolerance which they are screening for markers. Once these have been identified, they will be used to develop rice cultivars that can be grown in paddy fields flooded by the tsunami last March.
The method will not work for all important traits, and further research is needed to establish how it can be applied to crops with larger genomes such as wheat, barley and maize.
###
The research collaboration grew out of the TSL approach to train biologists in bioinformatics, enabling them to take full advantage of it as an experimental science. Dr Kentaro Yoshida from Terauchi's group was funded by a Daiwa Adrian prize to receive training at The Sainsbury Laboratory in 2010.
Further funding was provided by research agencies in Japan and TSL's core funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
[ | 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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/nbi-sth011812.php
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