Carter Center gets $40M to eradicate Guinea worm

ATLANTA (AP) ? The Carter Center on Monday announced it received $40 million in donations to help fuel its mission to eradicate Guinea worm disease, a debilitating parasite that once plagued millions of people across the developing world.

The U.S.-based center said the funding comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation and President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates. It said the grants, along with $31 million committed last year by the United Kingdom, will help eradicate the disease by 2015.

"Millions of people in Africa and Asia will no longer risk suffering one of the most horrific human diseases ever known thanks to the generosity and global health leadership" of the donors, said former President Jimmy Carter.

There were about 3.5 million reported cases of the disease in 20 nations when the Carter Center's eradication program began in 1986. On Monday, the center said an early count showed that only 1,060 cases of the disease occurred worldwide in 2011.

Most of the cases occurred in the African nations of South Sudan, Mali and Ethiopia. There was also an isolated outbreak in Chad.

Guinea worm disease occurs when people drink water contaminated with worm larvae. Over a year, the worm can grow to the size of a 3-foot long (1-meter) spaghetti noodle. Then they very slowly emerge through the skin, often causing searing, debilitating pain for months. The disease, however, is usually not fatal.

There is no vaccine or medicine for the parasite. Infection is prevented by filtering water and educating people how to avoid the disease.

The Carter Center has worked to stem the spread of Guinea worm in part by handing out millions of pipe filters and educating residents about the dangers of drinking tainted water. The former president has also encouraged local politicians to devote time and resources to fighting the disease.

The center said it would use the funding to pay for programs aimed at stamping out the disease and to fund surveillance by the World Health Organization to certify eradication over three years.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contributed $23.3 million of Monday's pledge. Nahyan pledged $10 million and the Children's Investment Fund Foundation gave an additional $6.7 million.

"The last cases of any disease are the most challenging to wipe out," said Carter. "But we know that with the international community's support, Guinea worm disease soon will be relegated to the history books."

___

Follow Bluestein at http://www.twitter.com/bluestein .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-01-30-Guinea%20Worm/id-9b1112afb36245009c582307926a7e01

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Economy weighs heavily on Florida working class (AP)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. ? Clarito Macalalad knows what it's like to support a family of four on a $12.08-an-hour wage. But the cook at a Disneyworld restaurant suspects that the Republican presidential candidates ? and Mitt Romney in particular ? don't have any idea of what America's working poor are going through. And, partly for that reason, Macalalad says he'll probably vote for President Barack Obama in the fall.

"Romney, he's too rich," Macalalad, 38, said. "He wouldn't know what to do if he was poor."

For others, there's only one thing that matters as they weigh Romney's candidacy.

"He's not Obama," says Becky Niemczyk, 34, who works at a Christmas-themed shop in Downtown Disney and planned to back the former Massachusetts governor.

Despite Florida's wealthy beach resorts, expensive Disney vacations and swank Miami hotels, much of the state is populated by hard-working, blue-collar people who were hit hard during the recession and struggle daily.

The large working class in the populous area surrounding Interstate 4, which runs from Tampa on the Gulf Coast to Daytona Beach on the Atlantic and straight through the heart of Orlando's theme park zone, often holds the key to a candidate's success in both primary and general elections.

Over the next 10 months, Obama and the eventual Republican nominee will make countless visits to this area of a state suffering mightily from the slow economic recovery. The state has nearly 10 percent unemployment, some of the nation's highest foreclosure rates and skyrocketing property insurance costs, all of which are casting a pall over people as they decide who to support in Tuesday's Republican presidential primary and in the fall ? if they vote at all.

"It's a lot of empty promises," groused Donna Bosse, 54, who works in a kiosk selling discount theme-park tickets in a strip mall just outside Disney's gates. She doesn't plan to vote, but she still has an opinion, saying: "It's going to take a lot more than one man to turn this economy around."

In a string of interviews, voters said they are taking into account their own dwindling finances as well as the overall dismal situation as they weigh who to support in a state that has become a critical battleground in every recent White House race.

Some are enthusiastic Obama supporters. Others are mad at the president for not fixing the economy but might vote for him anyway. Still others plan to cast a ballot for Romney because they think he's a good businessman. Few mentioned the other Republican candidates: Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul. They see the general election as shaping up between Romney and Obama, largely because of the economy.

Polls show Romney with a comfortable lead over Gingrich, his chief challenger, ahead of Tuesday's primary, though there's no guarantee that Romney will end up clinching the nomination. Only four states have weighed in on the Republican nomination fight so far.

In both the primary and the general election, the economy and lack of well-paying jobs trumps all.

In this region, many of the jobs are low-wage. For instance, the average housekeeper makes between $8 and $10 an hour, according to UNITE HERE, a union that represents some 13,000 hospitality workers at Disney and other companies.

"Sometimes people take two or three jobs to make it," said Virginia Cruz, a housekeeper at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.

After 15 years with the company, she said she makes $13.18 an hour and that it's difficult to pay the $30 a week needed for health insurance, which is up from $2.95 a week when she first started.

The Republicans, she said, are ignoring the working class and she plans to vote for Obama, saying: "We need better hourly wages, better schools, better health insurance."

As for Obama's wealthy potential opponent, Cruz said of Romney: "He didn't earn nothing ... He was a businessman who owned a lot of companies. He earned it on the poor people that worked so hard for him."

It would be easy to classify all of central Florida's hospitality workers ? the tens of thousands of people who clean the theme parks, make the hotel beds and ring up the tourist tchotchkes ? as blue-collar Democrats who view Romney's wealth, estimated at between $190 million and $250 million, with suspicion. But it would be wrong.

Take Hamid Abdlouhed, a 38-year-old worker in a strip-mall tobacco shop.

"I like Mitt Romney," he said. "I like his economical skills as a businessman. I trust him more about how to solve the economy. He's been successful."

Abdlouhed respects Romney's argument that he's "earned" his wealth by working hard in a way that speaks to the American dream.

He planned to vote for Romney on Tuesday.

But when it comes to the general election in November, he hasn't decided whether to back Obama like he did four years ago.

"Right now there's a 50-50 chance I will vote for Obama," Abdlouhed said, who, like so many others, cited the economy as his main concern.

___

Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tamaralush

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_el_pr/us_florida_economy_politics

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Russia blames radiation for space probe failure

MOSCOW?? The head of Russia's space agency said Tuesday that cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month, and suggested that a low-quality imported component may have been vulnerable to the radiation.

The unmanned probe was to have gone to the Mars moon of Phobos, taken soil samples and brought them back. But it became stuck in Earth orbit soon after its launch on Nov. 9. It fell out of orbit on Jan. 15, reportedly off the coast of Chile, but no fragments have been found.

The failure was a severe embarrassment to Russia, and space agency head Vladimir Popovkin initially suggested it could have been due to foreign sabotage.

But Russian news agencies on Tuesday quoted him as saying an investigation showed the probable cause was "localized influence of heavily radiated space particles."

Popovkin, speaking in the city of Voronezh where the report was presented to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, said two units of the Phobos-Ground probe's onboard computer system went into an energy-saving "restart" mode, apparently due to the radiation, while the craft was in its second orbital circuit.

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It was not immediately clear why the units could not be brought out of that mode.

Popovkin was quoted as saying that some microchips used on the craft were imported and possibly of inadequate quality to resist radiation. He did not specify where the chips were manufactured.

Popovkin also said the craft's builder, Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin, should have taken into account the possibility of radiation interfering with the operation and said Lavochkin officials would face punishment for the oversight.

Russia's space program has suffered a series of notable failures in recent months, including the August crash of an unmanned ship that was to send supplies to the International Space Station. That crash forced the postponement of a manned launch to the ISS because the booster rocket that failed in the crash was similar to the ones used in manned missions.

On Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported that a manned launch to the ISS that had been scheduled for March 30 will be postponed for about 45 days because tests of the capsule showed flaws in its hermetic seals.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46202087/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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Ford: Income skyrockets. Best year in a decade.

Ford saw its income jump 200 percent last year with a special tax allowance. Even without that, Ford has notched 10 consecutive quarters of profits.

Ford?Motor Co., with a more than 200 percent increase in net income for 2011, reported its strongest year in a decade as American automakers continue to recover from the tailspin of 2008 and 2009.

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Only last week, General Motors Co. reported that its global sales for last year led the industry again, after the automaker had fallen out of first place during the recession. Both GM and Chrysler Group also are expected to report profitable 2011 financial results in the coming weeks.

Domestic manufacturers are in the middle of a slow but solid recovery, said Peter Nesvold, a Jefferies & Co. analyst.

Americans are still buying historically low numbers of vehicles _ less than 13 million last year _ yet the industry is profitable and GM's operating earnings are also expected to be in the billions, Nesvold said.

"Those facts alone aren't necessarily reasons to run out and buy the stocks, but from a fundamental standpoint, it is very encouraging to see a profitable?auto?industry at these levels," he said.

Although much of?Ford's?big gain came from a special tax allowance, it still posted an annual pre-tax operating profit of $8.8 billion, almost 6 percent above the prior year, and the best since 1999. It now has recorded 10 consecutive quarters of operating profits.

Nonetheless, the automaker's results were dragged down by losses in Europe and Asia and rising commodity prices, and it reported a percentage drop in fourth-quarter operating profit compared with the same period of 2010.

Ford's?annual net income reached $20.2 billion, helped by the special one-time, non-cash gain, and was the best since 1998. The company had piled up various tax-loss credits but was unable to use them until it became consistently profitable. Now it is starting to move the credits onto its balance sheet.

This year,?Ford?expects "to continue improving our business and delivering solid profits," said Alan Mulally, the company's chief executive.

But?Ford's?fourth-quarter operating profit fell almost 15 percent, to $1.1 billion, or 20 cents per share, from $1.3 billion, or 30 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 2010. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of 25 cents. Its fourth-quarter revenue rose 6 percent to $34.6 billion.

"You can't sugar-coat the quarter. They came up short. But you have to be encouraged by the outlook," Nesvold said.

Ford's?shares fell 53 cents, or 4 percent, to $12.21.

As in prior quarters,?Ford?continues to do best in North America, its core market. The automaker reported an operating profit of $889 million for the region, compared with a profit of $670 million a year earlier.

Ford?sold 2.1 million vehicles in the U.S. market last year, an 11 percent increase. It was the No. 2 seller, capturing a 16.8 percent share of the market and trailing only General Motors.

The automaker's U.S. sales growth is a result of a product lineup that is "fuel-efficient, aggressively styled and more than competitive with traditional class-leading offerings from Toyota and Honda," said Alec Gutierrez, an analyst at Kelley Blue Book, the?auto?information company.

But?Ford?continued to struggle in Europe, losing $190 million, almost four times what it lost in the same quarter a year earlier. The European debt crisis is damaging the region's economy and will make it hard forFord?and its rival automakers to make money there this year, Gutierrez said.

Ford's?profit in South America was $108 million, down from $281 million in the prior year. It also posted a loss of $83 million in Asia _ in part because of the floods in Thailand _ compared with a profit of $23 million during the same period a year earlier.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/zKIr6oTm-HE/Ford-Income-skyrockets.-Best-year-in-a-decade

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Sun unleashes an X1.8 class flare on Jan. 27, 2012

ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2012) ? The sun unleashed an X1.8 class flare that began at 1:12 PM ET on January 27, 2012 and peaked at 1:37. The flare immediately caused a strong radio blackout at low-latitudes, which was rated an R3 on NOAA's scale from R1-5. The blackout soon subsided to a minor R1 storm.

Models from NASA's Goddard Space Weather Center predict that the CME is traveling at over 1500 miles per second. It does not initially appear to be Earth-directed, but Earth may get a glancing blow.

Initial movies from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) look as though there was an eruption and coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with the event, and NOAA's GOES satellite also detected a solar energetic particle (SEP) event a half hour after the flare peak. How these CMEs and SEPs form and evolve, as well as their association with the flare event itself will be studied in the coming hours and days as more data and movies from NASA's SDO, STEREO and SOHO instruments become available.

What is a solar flare? What is a coronal mass ejection?

For answers to these and other space weather questions, visit NASA's Spaceweather Frequently Asked Questions page at: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/spaceweather/index.html

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130100202.htm

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Oscars tops iOS Apps of the Week (Appolicious)

This week?s top apps are quite media-centric. There are apps to make your Oscars viewing more enjoyable and apps to make your general TV watching more rewarding, too. There are even apps to keep up on digital media news and online videos. It?s the middle of winter, so you might as well pop down on the couch and enjoy these apps. It looks awfully windy outside, anyway.

The best award show of the year is less than a month away, and you can start planning your Oscars party now with the official app. Even though the actual show isn?t until February 26, the app has plenty going on before then. Right now users can view a full list of the nominees as well as check out movie trailers and other assorted videos. On the night of the show, the app will transform into a complement to the live broadcast, offering additional live camera angles for super Oscars fans to enjoy while they check out the broadcast on TV.

Shoebox is an app designed to help bring your old photos into the digital age. If you?ve got a bunch of old Polaroids lying around and don?t have a proper scanner to get them digitized, this app uses your iPhone to help you out by automatically detecting the photo?s edges and auto-flattening the image to adjust for the camera?s tilt. Once the photos are scanned in, they?re uploaded to the Shoebox website, where you can share them with their friend and family quickly and easily. Those who prefer their privacy can also opt to keep their uploaded photos private so that other users on Shoebox can?t view them.

paidContent Mobile News is the app version of paidContent.org, a website that keeps readers informed on the latest in the business of digital media. The app version boasts live updates for all of the paidContent web stories, with automatic refreshing throughout the day without users having to refresh the app themselves. Readers can also share stories through Twitter and Facebook. While paidContent Mobile News isn?t a glamorous app, it?s very useful if you enjoy following the business side of media.

Frequency lets you keep up on all your favorite online videos. You create personalized channels tailored to your specific interests, from sports to technology to music. You can then see highlights from all of your channels in the app?s ?My Feed,? section which acts like a best-of tab. If you?re tired of jumping from website to website to keep up with all of the web clips you want to watch, Frequency streamlines the process by creating a one-stop shop for web video.

Viggle is something like Foursquare for your TV viewing habits. The app lets you ?check-in? to your favorite TV shows as you watch them. Each time you check-in, you receive points from Viggle, which can later be redeemed for coupons and other rewards from retailers like Best Buy, Burger King and Fandango. If you already spend a lot of time hanging out watching TV, you might as well get rewarded for your efforts.

Create a list of your favorite iPhone apps

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_appolicious_com_articles10906_oscars_tops_ios_apps_of_the_week/44358112/SIG=12h6e87op/*http%3A//www.appolicious.com/tech/articles/10906-oscars-tops-ios-apps-of-the-week

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Soap Opera Actor Commits Suicide After Euthanizing His Dog

Soap Opera Actor Commits Suicide After Euthanizing His Dog

Soap opera star Nick Santino, who has appeared on “All My Children” and “Guiding Light”, committed suicide after feeling forced to euthanize his dog, Rocco. [...]

Soap Opera Actor Commits Suicide After Euthanizing His Dog Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/JSnu6Pjs1so/

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Germans float direct EU control over Greek budget (AP)

BERLIN ? Germany is proposing that debt-ridden Greece temporarily cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner before it can secure further bailouts, an official in Berlin said Saturday.

The idea was quickly rejected by the European Union's executive body and the government in Athens, with the EU Commission in Brussels insisting that "executive tasks must remain the full responsibility of the Greek government, which is accountable before its citizens and its institutions."

But the German official said the initiative is being discussed among the 17-nation currency bloc's finance ministers because Greece has repeatedly failed to fulfill its commitments under its current euro110 billion ($145 billion) lifeline.

The proposal foresees a commissioner holding a veto right against any budgetary measures and having broad surveillance ability to ensure that Greece will take proper steps to repay its debt as scheduled, the official said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential.

Greece's international creditors ? the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank ? already have unprecedented powers over Greek spending after negotiating with Athens stringent austerity measures and economic reforms in return for the first bailout.

The so-called troika of creditors is currently negotiating another euro130 billion rescue package for the heavily indebted country. German news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday cited an unnamed troika official as saying Greece might actually need a euro145 billion package because of its prolonged recession.

The German proposal, first reported by the Financial Times, is likely to spark controversy in Greece.

Despite the quick rejection from the EU Commission, Germany's demand underlines the frustration of the eurozone with Greece's slack implementation of the promised reforms, spending cuts and privatizations. During every verification mission last year, the troika found huge implementation shortfalls, which in turn increased gaps in Athens' budget and intensified the need for a second bailout.

A powerful budget commissioner would further diminish the political leeway of Greece's government, just as politicians there are gearing up for an election set to take place this spring.

A government official in Athens said a similar proposal had been floated last year but got nowhere. Greece would not accept such a measure, he added. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no formal proposal has been made by the EU or Germany yet.

The unprecedented and sweeping powers for creditors would indeed deal a huge blow to Greece's sovereignty, but they could help mobilize more support for the government in Athens from its European partners.

Several German lawmakers have repeatedly said that giving more money to Greece is unthinkable without stricter enforcement and control of the conditions attached to the rescue packages.

Greece is currently locked in a twin effort, seeking to secure a crucial debt relief deal with private investors while also tackling the pressing demands from its European partners and the IMF for more austerity measures and deeper reforms.

Failure on either front would force the country to default on its debt in less than two months, pouring new fuel on the fires of Europe's debt crisis.

In that case, Greece would likely leave the eurozone, which would bring disaster to the country, destabilize the currency bloc, fuel panic on financial markets and ultimately threaten the fragile world economy.

Despite two weeks of intensive talks, a debt relief agreement with private investors worth some euro100 billion has yet to be reached.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos met anew with representatives of international banks and other private institutions Saturday, but the talks ended without a final deal and were expected to resume Sunday, officials in Athens said.

With the current troika mission still ongoing and no final deal with the private sector creditors, Greece is unlikely to feature prominently at a summit of the EU's 27 leaders Monday, according to officials in Brussels.

___

Demetris Nellas in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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Climate of intolerance in West Bank, activists say (AP)

RAMALLAH, West Bank ? A Palestinian atheist who was jailed and beaten last year for expressing anti-Muslim views on Facebook and in blogs says Palestinian security forces are harassing him again, despite government pledges to respect human rights.

The blogger's renewed ordeal is part of a persistent climate of intolerance of dissent in the territories controlled by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, say human rights activists. They say they've seen improvements, including a marked decrease in the mistreatment of detainees, but that Abbas' security forces, who are partially funded by the West, must halt harassment and arbitrary detention.

Government spokesman Ghassan Khatib acknowledged occasional lapses, but said that in the past two years, "there's been great progress and success in reducing abuses."

Such promises mean little to atheist blogger Walid Husayin, who has lived in fear of the security forces since being released from a nine-month prison stint last summer.

"I'm sick and tired. My life has come to a halt," the 28-year-old Husayin said in a phone interview from his home in the northern West Bank town of Qalqiliya.

Since his release on bail, he has been picked up several times by security agents and held for days at a time. In one of those detentions, he was beaten with cables and forced to stand in a painful position on empty cans, said Husayin, the son of a Muslim preacher. Interrogators smashed his two computers and demanded that he stop expressing his views, he said.

Activists from three rights organizations said they witnessed an increase in arbitrary detentions in recent months, including calling in "troublemakers" for repeated interrogation, but said they hadn't yet collated 2011 figures.

Those targeted include loyalists of the Islamic militant Hamas, Abbas' political rival, and supporters of Hezb al-Tahrir, or the "Liberation Party," a puritan Islamic movement considered apolitical.

The increased pressure on dissent coincides with pro-democracy uprisings of the Mideast Arab Spring, but it's not clear if there is a direct link. Anti-government demonstrations in the West Bank usually draw just a few dozen or few hundred people, tiny compared to protests that toppled rulers in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia over the past year.

There appears to be little popular sympathy for those targeted in the crackdown, said Jamil Rabah, an independent Palestinian pollster.

In Gaza, ruled by the Islamic Hamas since a violent takeover in 2007, the Islamists appear to dealing even more harshly with critics, particularly on religious matters.

In both territories, those who violate social norms find themselves in the crosshairs. In Gaza, Hamas recently banned a televised amateur singing contest on modesty grounds because it included female contestants.

In the West Bank, Palestinian-American comedian Maysoon Zayid said her husband was roughed up and lightly hurt last fall after she mocked Palestinian officials in a skit. Witnesses identified the assailants as plainclothes security men, said Zayid, a contributor to "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on Current TV, a U.S. cable show.

She said it was the first attempt at intimidation after years of West Bank performances.

"I feel like the Palestinian Authority is going backward," said Zayid, a resident of Cliffside Park, New Jersey. "That is not the state I am fighting for."

Blogger Husayin, who got his start with anonymous Facebook posts, caused an uproar in the Arab world in 2010 by mocking Islam's Prophet Muhammad, dismissing Islam as a primitive religion and sarcastically referring to himself as God.

In November 2010, he was caught in a sting that used Facebook to find him. In the West Bank, it's against the law to defame Islam or Christianity.

He was initially held without charges, but eventually he was accused of blasphemy and insulting people's beliefs. For four of the nine months of his initial detention, he was kept in solitary confinement. He told the New York-based Human Rights Watch that he was shackled for long periods and so harshly beaten that he vomited blood. After his release on bail in August, a court gave him a three-year suspended sentence.

Husayin returned home to his conservative Muslim family, rarely venturing out. He said his family is ashamed of what people might say about him, because of his unorthodox views. Husayin said he doesn't want people to see him either ? he still fears vigilante retribution.

The blogger wouldn't allow reporters to visit, saying he feared it would inflame family tensions.

Adnan Damiri, a spokesman for the Palestinian security forces, said he was not aware of harassment against Husayin.

"It isn't acceptable to summon somebody for ideological reasons. I am prepared to deal with this case," he said.

Khatib, the government spokesman, portrayed attempts to stifle dissent as growing pains. "We can promise that in 2012, we will have progress from last year. We are building a state, and there are difficulties in doing that," he said.

While the blogger's "crime" is unusual in the West Bank, his arbitrary detention fits a pattern, activists from three human rights groups said. Shawan Jabarin of the rights group al-Haq said he was aware of hundreds of arbitrary detentions in the past few months.

The bulk of those detained are Hamas supporters.

"We haven't seen tremendous improvement in rights and freedoms," said Randa Siniora of the Independent Commission for Human Rights.

The worst abuses receded over the past two years, like torture of political activists and lengthy detentions, the activists said, and the practice of trying civilians in military courts has largely stopped, they said.

Damiri, the police spokesman, said lessons have been learned.

"There are individual cases of abuse, but we don't have a culture of revenge," he said.

Rights activists say it's too soon to speak of a major shift in attitude.

"There's a lack of accountability, a lack of laws enshrining rights," said Jabarin. "We can't talk about a culture of institutions and the rule of law."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_stifling_dissent

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NBC asks Romney to remove news material from ad

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns at the Fish House in Pensacola, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns at the Fish House in Pensacola, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? NBC asked GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Saturday to pull a campaign advertisement made up almost entirely of a 1997 "Nightly News" report on Newt Gingrich's ethics committee reprimand.

The "History Lesson" ad started running in Florida on the weekend, when it is harder for stations to switch ad traffic even if they want to. Broadcast days before Tuesday's primary, the ad shows former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw saying that some of Gingrich's House colleagues had raised questions about the then-speaker's "future effectiveness."

Under Brokaw's image is a line that reads ? "Paid for by Romney for President, Approved by Mitt Romney."

The footage was used without permission and the extensive use of the broadcast "inaccurately suggests that NBC News and Mr. Brokaw have consented to the use of this material and agree with the political position espoused by the videos," NBC's vice president of media law, David N. Sternlicht, wrote Romney's campaign manager, Matt Rhoades.

"Aside from the obvious copyright issues, this use of the voice of Mr. Brokaw and the NBC News name exploits him and the journalistic credibility of NBC News," the letter said. The network asked for the campaign to stop running the ad immediately and revise any other videos or commercials to remove at NBC material.

"As a news organization, NBC News objects to any use of NBC News journalists and our copyrighted material that suggests to the public that we or our journalists are taking sides with any individual or organization involved in a political campaign or dispute, and we request that your organization respect that concern," the letter said.

Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said the campaign isn't likely to stop running the ad.

"We just received the letter. We are reviewing it, but we believe it falls within fair use," he said. "We didn't take the entire broadcast; we just took the first 30 seconds."

NBC spokeswoman Lauren Kapp said a similar request went to other campaigns that "have inappropriately" used material from "Nightly News," ''Meet the Press," ''Today" and MSNBC. Kapp said she was not aware of such uses by other campaigns.

Brokaw said in a statement released by NBC that he was "extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign."

Brokaw stepped down in 2004 after 21 years as anchor and managing editor of "Nightly News," but continues to report for the network, including on the 2012 presidential campaign.

Asked about Brokaw's concern, Fehrnstrom said only, "We respect him as a newsman who has a lot of credibility, but we believe this falls within fair use standards."

The House ethics panel investigated Gingrich's use of tax-exempt organizations. The case ended in January 1997 with a reprimand by the House and a $300,000 penalty against Gingrich for misleading the committee and prolonging its investigation.

Romney has sought the release of all records from the probe. The committee did make public its final report as well as exhibits ? which amounted to a comprehensive account of its findings. The head of the ethics committee during the Gingrich investigation, former Republican Rep. Nancy Johnson, said the committee traditionally does not publicly release investigative documents.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-28-Romney%20Ad/id-06a86123c51a490e94a3b56df5948e05

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Mitt Romney picks up Jon Voight?s endorsement?and jokes about Angelina Jolie (The Ticket)

(Charles Dharapak/AP)

PENSACOLA, Fla.?The run-up to Florida's Republican presidential primary has already been weird, thanks in part to an extended debate over whether there should be a colony on the Moon. And on Saturday, it got a little weirder.

Stumping at a seafood restaurant here along the Gulf coast, Mitt Romney picked up the endorsement of actor Jon Voight, the star of "Midnight Cowboy" who is perhaps best known these days as the father of actress Angelina Jolie. The actor has long been active in Republican politics, stumping for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in 2008 and traveling with Mike Huckabee to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year.

Voight told the crowd he was backing Romney because he was "strong" and "honest." He declared President Obama had "decided to follow his father's footsteps and take us to socialism."

The actor said Newt Gingrich "fell short" of being able to take on Obama. "We cannot afford another four years of rhetoric," Voight said.

While Jolie's name wasn't mentioned on the stump, Romney did manage to sneak in a reference to the actress's wild child reputation.

Explaining to the audience that he wasn't sure how to "chit chat with a famous actor" when he phoned Voight to ask for his support, Romney said he decided to talk about his kids.

"I started talking about my five boys," the candidate explained. "I said, you know, it's easier to raise boys than girls. Well, after a long pause, he says, 'Tell me about it.'"

The line got a huge laugh from the? crowd of several hundred people who turned out to see Romney stump with Voight, as well as Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Sen. John McCain, who entertained the crowd with his own stand-up routine while introducing Romney.

The Arizona senator, who trained as a pilot at the naval base in Pensacola, joked that the money he spent as a young bachelor in the city had single-handedly kept the city's economy alive. And, in a repeat of a line he often repeated on the presidential campaign trail here four years ago, McCain joked about Zsa Zsa Gabor's sex life.

Noting the other dignitaries on hand, McCain said, "I feel a bit like Zsa Zsa Gabor's fifth husband. I know what I'm supposed to do, but I don't know how to make it interesting."

A few feet away, Romney let out an awkward giggle.

"I thought we only brought one actor and comedian here today," Romney told McCain when it was his turn at the mic. "Gosh, that was quite a repartee there, senator. That was fabulous."

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Handy with a camera? Join our?Election 2012 Flickr group to submit your photos of the campaign in action.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20120128/el_yblog_theticket/mitt-romney-picks-up-jon-voights-endorsement-and-jokes-about-angelina-jolie

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Chevron's 4Q profit drop highlights hurdles ahead (AP)

NEW YORK ? Satisfying the world's growing energy appetite isn't easy.

Chevron Corp., which has spent more than $20 billion a year since 2007 scouring the globe for new resources, said Friday that it is struggling to produce more oil and natural gas. Production levels last year were the lowest since 2008.

The company still expects to supply more oil in the future, but its troubles last year highlight the many hurdles the industry faces as industrial and developing nations crave more oil to grow their economies.

The U.S. predicts that oil producers will fall behind as global demand ratchets up. The Energy Information Administration estimated that the world used 88.1 million barrels of oil per day in 2011 while producing only 87.6 million barrels per day. It sees the trend continuing this year and next. Oil and gasoline prices are expected to rise as countries dip into stockpiles to cover shortfalls.

In the U.S., drivers will probably pay more for gas this year. Experts think pump prices could hit $4 by spring and stay close to that for the rest of the year.

"Can we meet demand? Maybe. But doing so is going to be more challenging and expensive," Argus Research analyst Phil Weiss said.

Part of the drop in Chevron's 2011 production can be explained by contracts with foreign governments that limit the amount of crude that Chevron can keep as prices rise. Chevron also is dealing with a rash of troubles at its fields and facilities around the world.

There were pipeline problems this year in Thailand, tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico and equipment issues in the United Kingdom.

An offshore oil leak put Chevron at odds with the Brazilian government. Regulators there forced Chevron to shut down one of its offshore wells in December, and prosecutors are seeking $10.6 billion in damages. Chevron has voluntarily suspended plans to further explore the country's oil-rich offshore region.

The company also is in an ongoing battle with Ecuador over environmental damages from oil production operations by Texaco that took place in the country more than two decades ago. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001.

In the fourth quarter, Chevron Corp.'s profits slipped by 3.2 percent to $5.12 billion, or $2.58 per share. The results fell short of Wall Street forecasts of $2.86 per share, and shares dropped $2.63, or 2.5 percent, to close at $103.96.

Profits from Chevron's exploration and production business increased, despite weaker production, because the company sold oil at higher prices. International natural gas prices also rose in the quarter.

Despite the 2011 slowdown, Chevron's future production still looks "on track to meet our goals," Chairman and CEO John Watson said. The company expects to pump 3.3 million barrels per day by 2017, a 23.5 percent increase from 2011 levels.

Chevron's refining business struggled, as falling prices for retail gasoline and other fuels made it harder to pass along higher oil costs to customers. Chevron's U.S. refining operations lost $204 million from October to December. International refining profits fell by 46.4 percent.

For the full year Chevron earned $26.9 billion, or $13.44 per share, compared with $19 billion, or $9.48 per share in 2010. Annual revenue increased 23.3 percent to $253.7 billion.

Earlier in the week, ConocoPhillips reported a 66 percent increase in quarterly earnings, though much of that came from the sale of a pipeline and other assets. ConocoPhillips said its production fell 8 percent last year while it aggressively shed assets. Occidental Petroleum Corp. said it increased oil production about 4 percent last year while boosting profits 35 percent in the final three months of the year.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell are expected to announce their fourth-quarter results next week.

___

Follow Chris Kahn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ChrisKahnAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_chevron

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Unemployment rates decreasing in most Ky. counties (AP)

FRANKFORT, Ky. ? Most Kentucky counties are reporting a decrease in unemployment.

The Kentucky Office of Employment and Training says 114 counties reported that jobless rates fell from December 2010 to December 2011. Six counties reported an increase in unemployment during the same time period.

Woodford County had the lowest unemployment rate at 6.1 percent, followed by Fayette County at 6.5 percent and Boone County at 6.9 percent.

Jackson County had the highest jobless rate at 15.2 percent, followed by Fulton County at 14.9 percent at Magoffin County at 14.4 percent.

The statistics are based on estimates and don't include people who haven't looked for a job in the last four weeks.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_jobless_rates_kentucky

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BlackBerry Curve 9360 review

The BlackBerry Curve 8300 emerged as one of the best smartphone ideas of 2007. It pre-dated the first Android handset by a full year, and unlike the original iPhone, it was priced within reach of the average consumer. It introduced the masses to the possibilities of a connected and capable handset, and was the primary catalyst for the BlackBerry's meteoric rise to household name. With each subsequent iteration, however, the Curve remained a handset geared toward first-time smartphone buyers, and that axiom feels particularly true today.

RIM's BlackBerry Curve 9360 outed -- is this Apollo?

RIM launches new BlackBerry Curve (video)

Blackberry Curve 9360 hands-on

We're now presented with the Curve 9360 ($29), a device that's ostensibly hobbled in order to differentiate itself from RIM's higher-end offerings, most notably the Torch 9810 ($49), Torch 9860 ($99) and Bold 9900 ($199). Specifically, we refer to its lack of a touchscreen. The omission will certainly be a deal-breaker for some, but whether it causes the market to reject it as a whole remains unknown. For our part, we're most interested in the impact on the handset's usability and its relevance in an increasingly competitive environment. In other words, has RIM included enough improvements to keep its Curve franchise afloat, or will this iteration sink like a stone? Join us after the break, as we delve into the Curve 9360 and explore these finer details.

Gallery: BlackBerry Curve 9360 review

Continue reading BlackBerry Curve 9360 review

BlackBerry Curve 9360 review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nations try to oust Syria from UNESCO rights panel (AP)

PARIS ? Several countries are trying to push Syria off a UNESCO committee that deals with human rights, a panel it quietly joined despite its deadly crackdown on Arab Spring protesters.

U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based NGO, and others said Wednesday that a growing group of countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany and Qatar, want to unseat Syria from the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations.

The committee deals with multiple issues but has a strong human rights component.

The NGO said the countries want the issue on the agenda of an Executive Board meeting, from Feb. 27 to March 10, of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

With more than 5,000 Syrians killed in protests, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has condemned Syria for human rights abuses.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_eu/unesco_syria

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Mark Shuttleworth Unveils New Head-Up Display for Ubuntu 12.04

Every time I write about Ubuntu and its (not-so) new Unity interface, I see lots and lots of comments decrying it as useless, an abomination, the worst thing to ever happen to computers, etc. Personally, I'm not so flummoxed by it, but there's no denying that Unity has been a divisive addition to Canonical's flagship Linux distribution. The choice to move application menus up to the global bar at the top of the screen has been frustrating to many, and a lot of power users find Unity too mouse-intensive. Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu's Self-Appointed Benevloent Dictator For Life, yesterday unveiled the next step in the Unity evolution: the Head-Up Display. According to Shuttleworth, their testing revealed that "users spent a lot of time, relatively speaking, navigating the menus of their applications, either to learn about the capabilities of the app, or to take a specific action." The goal of the new Head-Up display is to -- eventually -- replace menus altogether. Instead of clicking through menus, users type the command they require in a search box.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/zskt7K1JnQY/

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Clashes spread in Tibetan region in China (AP)

BEIJING ? Deadly clashes between ethnic Tibetans and Chinese security forces have spread to a second area in southwestern China, the government and an overseas activist group said Wednesday.

The group Free Tibet said two Tibetans were killed and several more were wounded Tuesday when security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in Seda county in politically sensitive Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province. It quoted local sources as saying the area was under a curfew.

According to the Chinese government's version of events, a "mob" of people charged a police station in Seda and injured 14 officers, forcing police to open fire on them.

The official Xinhua News Agency said police killed one rioter, injured another and arrested 13.

The violence comes as some 30 Tibetans who were wounded Monday when Chinese police fired into a crowd of protesters were sheltering in a monastery in neighboring Luhuo county, a Tibetan monk said. Military forces have surrounded the building, said the monk, who would not give his name out of fear of government retaliation.

The Draggo monastery could no longer be reached by phone Wednesday.

The counties have been tense for some time, and at least 16 Buddhist monks, nuns and other Tibetans have set themselves on fire in protest 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.

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.

"Chinese forces are responding with lethal force to Tibetans' ever-growing calls for freedom," Free Tibet director Stephanie Brigden said in a statement Wednesday.

A man who answered the telephone at the Seda county government office would not confirm or deny the group's account of Tuesday's violence. He would not give his name.

Later Wednesday, phone lines for Seda police and government offices were constantly busy while calls to many other numbers in the county could not be connected.

Xinhua cited a police officer as saying the mob gathered Tuesday afternoon to storm the Chengguan Police Station and that they attacked police with gasoline bottles, knives and stones.

"They also opened fire at us, injuring 14 police officers," the report quoted the officer as saying.

Chinese authorities have similarly blamed Monday's unrest in Luhuo on a "mob" and said that overseas advocacy groups are twisting the truth about what happened in order to undermine the government. The government says order has been restored there after one Tibetan died and four others were injured. It said five police were wounded.

The International Campaign for Tibet says three were killed on Monday, including the brother of a religious leader in a local monastery.

Independent confirmation of the clashes is difficult due to a heavy security presence and lack of access to outsiders.

The United States, which will host Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping at the White House next month, has expressed grave concern at the reported violence.

U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Maria Otero urged Beijing to address "counterproductive policies" in Tibetan areas that have created tensions and threatened Tibetans' religious, cultural and linguistic identity.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington has always been clear with China about its concerns for the human rights of Tibetans and others. She said the U.S. would be "just as clear" when Xi visits next month.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

____

Gillian Wong can be reached on http://twitter.com/gillianwong

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_as/as_china_tibet

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New iOS Hack Lets You Natively Tweet By Talking To Siri

There's no shortage of novel things you can strongarm Siri into doing for you these days, but sometimes it's the little things that get me excited. While not as innately flashy as being able to start a car, a new (and currently nameless) tweak from developer InfectionFX does something that Siri should have been able to do from the beginning: tweet for you.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/sLv4EDWu8kc/

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Hollywood embraces hopeful tales with Oscar nominations (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? A group of movies offering personal redemption and hope swept up Oscar nominations on Tuesday, led by Martin Scorsese's colorful "Hugo" with 11 and silent-era romance "The Artist" with 10, including a best film nod for both.

They were joined in the key category for the world's top movie honors by baseball film "Moneyball" and Steven Spielberg's World War One drama "War Horse," about a boy looking for his horse amid deadly conflict, which each had six nominations.

Drama "The Descendants," starring George Clooney as a man dealing with a troubled family who eventually finds an answer to his problems, also landed in the best film category.

"It's a small movie and a simple movie. There's no cynicism or sarcasm. It's about hope and how people have to adapt to a changing world," "The Artist" director Michel Hazanavicius told Reuters about his film telling of a silent film-era actor whose Hollywood star falls until he finds love.

"Hugo" producer Graham King said that while much has been written about Scorsese creating an homage to the birth of movies, the film has many layers including the story of "a boy who is trying to find his family and find his way home."

"Descendants" producer Jim Burke added fuel to the hopeful fire by telling Reuters: "It's not uncommon for a family to have its ups and downs and it seems to me, despite the tragic nature of some occurrences, they engaged (the father) with his family and brought them closer."

Joining those films in the race for best movie was civil rights drama "The Help," Woody Allen's whimsical "Midnight in Paris," Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" and 9/11 movie "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."

The number of bright films in the race follows a trend at box offices that helped push triumphant tale "The King's Speech" to last year's best film Oscar winner during hard economic times. And they contrast with recent best picture winners, crime thriller "The Departed," dark drama "No Country for Old Men," and war tale "The Hurt Locker."

The Oscars are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and this year's winners will be named at a gala ceremony in Hollywood on February 26.

NINE NOMINEES; ONE WINNER

With so many nominees - nine - among best picture contenders, clues in the race come from the best director category because in the Oscar's 83 previous years there has been a strong correlation between the best director and best film winners.

Joining Hazanavicius in that category are "The Descendants" maker Alexander Payne, Scorsese with "Hugo," Allen for "Midnight in Paris" and Malick with "Tree of Life." Shut out was Tate Taylor, director of widely touted "The Help."

Although it had 11 nominations, the nods for "Hugo" came largely from categories such as art direction and costume design, whereas "The Artist" landed in top groups including best actor for Frenchman Jean Dujardin and supporting actress for Berenice Bejo. Actors make up the largest voting branch of the Academy.

Among actresses, Meryl Streep playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" will compete against Glenn Close in a gender-bending role in "Albert Nobbs," Viola Davis for "The Help," Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn."

Tuesday's nomination marked the 17th for Streep and extended her reign as Oscar's most-nominated actress. She faces stiff competition from Williams in her turn as Marilyn Monroe. Earlier this month, Streep won the Golden Globe for best actress in drama and Williams was named top actress in a comedy or musical.

CLOONEY VS. PITT

The title of best actor sets up an intriguing match between friends Clooney and Brad Pitt. Pitt turned in a magical performance as baseball executive who finds success using statistics to build a winning team in "Moneyball."

But the pair of Hollywood A-listers face-off against Dujardin, as well as Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and Demian Bichir in "A Better Life."

It was Oldman's first nomination, and speaking to Reuters from Berlin, he said he was "thrilled and shocked" at the nod.

In other key awards, Berenice Bejo will be joined in the best supporting actress race by Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer, both in "The Help," Janet McTeer for "Albert Nobbs" and Melissa McCarthy for comedy "Bridesmaids."

"We've been working so hard for six months, and to finally get a nomination was like, 'wow,' It was worth it," Bejo told Reuters about her and her movie's nominations.

Best supporting actor nominees were Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn," Jonah Hill for "Moneyball" and veterans Nick Nolte in "Warrior," Christopher Plummer for "Beginners" and Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."

Foreign language film nominees were Belgian movie "Bullhead," Canada's "Monsieur Lazhar," Iranian film "A Separation," "Footnote" from Israel and Poland's "In Darkness."

"Rango" will compete for best animated movie against "Kung Fu Panda 2," "Puss in Boots," "A Cat in Paris," and "Chico & Rita."

Finally, Sony Pictures Entertainment had the most nods, 21, of any studio, but producer King with "Hugo," studio Fox Searchlight with "Descendants" and Harvey Weinstein and his Weinstein Co. ("The Artist," "Iron Lady" and "Marilyn"), may be the biggest winners because typically nominations lure fans to box offices and all of those movies are in theaters, now.

(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Will Dunham and Cynthia Osterman)

(This story corrects to Tuesday in the first paragraph.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/media_nm/us_oscars_nominations

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Education campaigner wants to expel climate denial

Read more: "US education advocates tackle climate change sceptics"

Eugenie Scott has struggled to keep creationism out of the classroom ? now her organisation is taking on climate change deniers too

You have battled for decades against the teaching of creationism in science lessons in the US. Why are you now also tackling climate change denial?
We have been receiving more and more reports of teachers being pressured against teaching climate change, much as they are pressured against teaching evolution. Right now the evidence is anecdotal but we have heard enough to suggest that it is a problem.

What form does this pressure against teaching climate change take?
We have heard that students will get up and walk out of the class when teachers start talking about climate change, or that parents will complain. Teachers don't want to fight with parents, and it is easy for them to think that it's just too much trouble to teach about climate change. That short-changes the education of the kids.

Have there been legislative attempts to influence teaching about climate change?
We have seen attempts to pass legislation directing teachers to teach both sides of the issue as if the science were in question. Five or six years ago we began to notice that evolution and the origin of life, global warming, and stem cells and human cloning were being bundled together in proposed state legislation calling for teachers to teach all sides of the controversy. The good news is that people in these states have managed to get these bills bottled up and not passed, except for one state: Louisiana.

How will you help teachers combat pressure over the teaching of climate science?
Often teachers and administrators don't appreciate the very strong scientific consensus that exists. We will give teachers ammunition to help make the case to administrators that this is sound science that should not be compromised. We can provide teachers with support from local scientists who can back them up. Good science education does not call for the teaching of denialist arguments.

You already do this for the teaching of evolution. Does climate science pose any new challenges?
In the US we have constitutional provisions requiring you not to advocate religion in public schools. So if people try to "balance" the teaching of evolution with creationism we can say: "If you do bring that in, you will be sued and you will lose." We cannot make this argument with climate change; there is no constitutional protection against bad science. It's going to be tougher.

Are there any links between creationists and climate change deniers?
The tactics are very similar but the personnel, by and large, are different. There are many more organisations opposing climate science, it's much better funded and has better access to the popular media. The motivation against evolution is religious. The motivation against climate change is economic and political.

Profile

Eugenie Scott is executive director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) based in Oakland, California, which defends the teaching of evolution in schools. This week the NCSE launched an initiative to defend climate change education

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New Genetic Clues to Breast Cancer? (HealthDay)

SUNDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified three new genomic regions they believe are linked with breast cancer that may help explain why some women develop the disease.

All three newly identified areas "contain interesting genes that open up new avenues for biological and clinical research," said researcher Douglas Easton, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in England.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with about 1 million new cases annually worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths a year.

Scientists conducting genome-wide association studies -- research that looks at the association between genetic factors and disease to pinpoint possible causes -- had already identified 22 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Locus is the physical location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.

"The three [newly identified] loci take the number of common susceptibility loci from 22 to 25," said Easton.

However, the three new susceptibility loci might explain only about 0.7 percent of the familial risks of breast cancer, bringing the total contribution to about 9 percent, the researchers said.

Michael Melner, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society, said this current research adds some important new clues to existing evidence, but he agreed that the number of cases likely associated with these three variants is probably low.

"So the total impact in terms of patients would be fairly small," Melner said.

The study is published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics.

To find the new clues, Easton's team worked with genetic information on about 57,000 breast cancer patients and 58,000 healthy women obtained from two genome-wide association studies.

The investigators zeroed in on 72 different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A SNP -- pronounced "snip" -- is a change in which a single base in the DNA differs from the usual base. The human genome has millions of SNPs, some linked with disease, while others are normal variations.

The researchers focused on three SNPs -- on chromosomes 12p11, 12q24 and 21q21.

Easton's team found that the variant on the 12p11 chromosome is linked with both estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (which needs estrogen to grow) and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. The other two variants are only linked with ER-positive cancers, they said.

One of the newly identified variants is in an area with a gene that has a role in the development of mammary glands and bones. Easton said it was already known that mammary gland development in puberty is an important period in terms of determining later cancer risk. "But these are the first susceptibility genes to be shown to be involved in this process," he said.

One of the other SNPs is in an area that can affect estrogen receptor signaling, the researchers found.

Melner, noting some of the research is "fine tuning" of other work, said in his view the new understanding of the signaling pathways and their genetic links is the most important finding.

"When you delineate a pathway, you bring up new potential targets for therapy," he said. "The more targets you have, you open up the potential for having multiple drugs and attacking a cancer more easily, without it becoming more resistant."

Overall, Melner added, the results underscore the complexity of the different mechanisms involved in breast cancer development.

More information

For more about the genetics of breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120123/hl_hsn/newgeneticcluestobreastcancer

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