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."
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TOKYO ? Japan's rapid aging means the national population of 128 million will shrink by one-third by 2060 and seniors will account for 40 percent of people, placing a greater burden on the shrinking work force population to support the social security and tax systems.
The population estimate released Monday by the Health and Welfare Ministry paints a grim future.
In year 2060, Japan will have 87 million people. The number of people 65 or older will nearly double to 40 percent, while the national work force of people between ages 15 and 65 will shrink to about half of the total population, according to the estimate, made by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
The total fertility rate, or the expected number of children born per woman during lifetime, in 2060 is estimated at 1.35, down from 1.39 in 2010 ? well below more than 2 needed to keep the country's population from declining. But the average Japanese will continue to live longer. The average life expectancy for 2060 is projected at 90.93 for women, up from 86.39 in 2010, and 84.19 years for men, up from 79.64 years.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has pledged to push for social security and tax reforms this year. A bill he promised to submit by the end of March would raise the 5 percent sales tax in two stages to 8 percent in 2014 and 10 percent by 2015, although opposition lawmakers and the public pose challenges to its approval.
Experts say that Japan's population will keep losing 1 million every year in coming decades and the country urgently needs to overhaul its social security and tax system to reflect the demographic shift.
"Pension programs, employment and labor policy and social security system in this country is not designed to reflect such rapidly progressing population decline or aging," Noriko Tsuya, a demography expert at Keio University, said on public broadcaster NHK. "The government needs to urgently revise the system and implement new measures based on the estimate."
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KITAMAAT VILLAGE, British Columbia ? The latest chapter in Canada's quest to become a full-blown oil superpower unfolded this month in a village gym on the British Columbia coast.
Here, several hundred people gathered for hearings on whether a pipeline should be laid from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific in order to deliver oil to Asia, chiefly energy-hungry China. The stakes are particularly high for the village of Kitamaat and its neighbors, because the pipeline would terminate here and a port would be built to handle 220 tankers a year and 525,000 barrels of oil a day.
But the planned Northern Gateway Pipeline is just one aspect of an epic battle over Canada's oil ambitions ? a battle that already has a supporting role in the U.S. presidential election, and which will help to shape North America's future energy relationship with China.
It actually is a tale of two pipelines ? the one that is supposed to end at Kitamaat Village, and another that would have gone from Alberta to the Texas coast but was blocked by the Obama administration citing environmental grounds.
Those same environmental issues are certain to haunt Northern Gateway as the Joint Review Panel of energy and environmental officials canvasses opinion along the 1,177 kilometer (731 mile) route of the Northern Gateway pipeline to be built by Enbridge, a Canadian company.
The fear of oil spills is especially acute in this pristine corner of northwest British Columbia, with its snowcapped mountains and deep ocean inlets. People here still remember the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, and oil is still leaking from the Queen of the North, a ferry that sank off nearby Hartley Bay six years ago.
The seas nearby, in the Douglas Channel, "are very treacherous waters," says David Suzuki, a leading environmentalist. "You take a supertanker that takes miles in order to stop, (and) an accident is absolutely inevitable."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada's national interest makes the $5.5 billion pipeline essential. He was "profoundly disappointed" that U.S. President Barack Obama rejected the Texas Keystone XL option but also spoke of the need to diversify Canada's oil industry. Ninety-seven percent of Canadian oil exports now go to the U.S.
"I think what's happened around the Keystone is a wake-up call, the degree to which we are dependent or possibly held hostage to decisions in the United States, and especially decisions that may be made for very bad political reasons," he told Canadian TV.
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich quickly picked up the theme, saying that Harper, "who, by the way, is conservative and pro-American ... has said he's going cut a deal with the Chinese ... We'll get none of the jobs, none of the energy, none of the opportunity."
He charged that "An American president who can create a Chinese-Canadian partnership is truly a danger to this country."
But the environmental objections that pushed Obama to block the pipeline to Texas apply equally to the Pacific pipeline, and the review panel says more than 4,000 people have signed up to testify.
The atmosphere has turned acrimonious, with Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver claiming in an open letter that "environmental and other radical groups" are out to thwart Canada's economic ascent.
He said they were bent on bogging down the panel's work. And in an unusually caustic mention of Canada's southern neighbor, he added: "If all other avenues have failed, they will take a quintessential American approach: Sue everyone and anyone to delay the project even further."
Environmentalists and First Nations (a Canadian synonym for native tribes) could delay approval all the way to the Supreme Court, and First Nations still hold title to some of the land the pipeline would cross, meaning the government will have to move with extreme sensitivity.
Alberta has the world's third-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela: more than 170 billion barrels. Daily production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to increase to 3.7 million in 2025, which the oil industry sees as a pressing reason to build the pipelines.
Critics, however, dislike the whole concept of tapping the oil sands, saying it requires huge amounts of energy and water, increases greenhouse gas emissions and threatens rivers and forests. Some projects are massive open-pit mines, and the process of separating oil from sand can generate lake-sized pools of toxic sludge.
Meanwhile, China's growing economy is hungry for Canadian oil. Chinese state-owned companies have invested more than $16 billion in Canadian energy in the past two years, state-controlled Sinopec has a stake in the pipeline, and if it is built, Chinese investment in Alberta oil sands is sure to boom.
"They (the Chinese) wonder why it's not being built already," said Wenran Jiang, an energy expert and professor at the University of Alberta.
In a report on China's stake in Canadian energy, Jiang notes that if every Chinese burned oil at the rate Americans do, China's daily consumption would equal the entire world's.
Harper is set to visit China next month. After Obama first delayed the Keystone pipeline in November, Harper told Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Pacific Rim summit in Hawaii that Canada would like to sell more oil to China, and the Canadian prime minister filled in Obama on what he said.
Jiang reads that to mean "China has become leverage."
But oil analysts say Alberta has enough oil to meet both countries' needs, and the pipeline's capacity of 525,000 barrels a day would amount to less than 6 percent of China's current needs.
"I don't think U.S. policymakers view China's investment in the Canadian oil sands as a threat," says David Goldwyn, a former energy official in the Obama administration.
"In the short term it provides additional investment to increase Canadian supply; that's a good thing. Longer-term, if Canadian oil goes to China, that means China's demand is being met by a non-OPEC country, and that's a good thing for global oil supply. Right now we are spending an awful lot of time finding ways for China to meet its demand from some place other than Iran. Canada would be a great candidate."
Pipelines are rarely rejected in Canada, but Murray Minchin, an environmentalist who lives near Kitamaat Village, says this time he and other opponents are determined to block construction. "They are ready to put themselves in front of something to stop the equipment," Minchin said. "Even if it gets the green light it doesn't mean it's getting done."
Enbridge is confident the pipeline will be built and claims about 40 percent of First Nation communities living along the route have entered into a long-term equity partnership with Enbridge. The communities together are being offered 10 percent ownership of the pipeline, meaning those which sign on will share an expected $400 million over 30 years.
But of the 43 eligible communities, only one went public with its acceptance and it has since reneged after fierce protests from its members.
Janet Holder, the Enbridge executive overseeing the project, says pipeline leaks are not inevitable, new technologies make monitoring more reliable, and tugboats will guide tankers through the Douglas Channel.
At the Kitamaat hearings, speakers ranged from Ellis Ross, chief of the Haisla First Nation in British Columbia, to Dieter Wagner, a German-born Canadian, retired scientist and veteran sailor who called the Douglas Channel "an insane route to take."
Ross used to work on whale-watching boats, and refers to himself as a First Nation, a term applicable to individuals as well as groups. He testified that the tanker port would go up just as marine life decimated by industrial pollution was making a comeback in his territory.
He held the audience spellbound as he described an extraordinary nighttime encounter last summer with a whale that was "logging" ? the half-doze that passes for sleep in the cetacean world.
"...Midnight I hear this whale and it's right outside the soccer field. ... It's waterfront, but I can hear this whale, and I can't understand why it's so close, something's got to be wrong.
"So I walk down there with my daughter, my youngest daughter, and I try to flash a light down there, and quickly figured out it's not in trouble, it's sleeping. It's resting right outside our soccer field.
"You can't imagine what that means to a First Nation that's watched his territory get destroyed over 60 years. You can't imagine the feeling."
David Arquette will be joining Courteney Cox on "Cougar Town" for the season finale.
By Michael O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter
David Arquette is taking a trip to "Cougar Town."
ABC confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that the 40-year-old actor will appear alongside wife Courteney Cox (with whom he's been separated from since 2010) on the comedy's season three finale.
More from THR: Ryan Murphy's NBC comedy lands pilot order
Arquette already serves as executive producer of the series alongside Cox under their Coquette Productions banner.
According to TVLine, he'll play a hotel concierge in the season's 15th and final episode, who goes out of his way to help the cul-de-sac crew with anything and everything.
More from THR: 'Spartacus: Vengeance' Preview: 17 things to expect on season 2
"Cougar Town" just received its Feb. 14 premiere date after months of delays. It replaces the short-lived "Work It" on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m.
Most recently, Arquette competed on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," placing fifth with partner Kym Johnson. He's previously acted alongside Cox in the "Scream" franchise and a 1996 episode of "Friends."
Are you looking forward to seeing the former pair together again on the small screen? Tell us what you think of this casting news on our Facebook page!
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The Screen Actors Guild national board of directors has voted to approve a plan to merge with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
In a statement, SAG says the board voted 87 percent to 13 percent Friday for the proposed merger at its meeting in Los Angeles.
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists' board is scheduled to meet Saturday for a vote on the package. If approved, a referendum will be sent out for a vote by members of both unions in the coming weeks.
The merger plan comes after two years of negotiations between the groups to join forces in a bid to gain more leverage in contract negotiations.
The TV and radio artists' group supported a merger with SAG in 1998 and 2003 only to see those efforts fail.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2012) ? Location matters for birds on the hunt for caterpillars, according to researchers at UC Irvine and Wesleyan University. Findings suggest that chickadees and others zero in on the type of tree as much as the characteristics of their wriggly prey.
Unfortunately for caterpillars, munching on tree leaves that are healthy and tasty can dramatically boost their own risk of becoming food. Study results, published online this week in The American Naturalist, show that dining on the trees that are most nutritious for caterpillars -- such as the black cherry -- can increase by 90 percent their chances of being devoured by a discerning bird.
"The jump in risk is surprising," said co-author Kailen Mooney, assistant professor of ecology & evolutionary biology at UCI. "It shows that for caterpillars, moving from one tree to the next can mean the difference between getting eaten and surviving."
The findings indicate a "neat potential pest control system," because the healthiest tree species harbor the greatest number of caterpillars, thereby offering the easiest pickings for winged predators, said lead author Michael Singer of Wesleyan. "Our study addresses basic theoretical questions in ecology, but we also want forest managers and conservation biologists to take away practical knowledge."
Mooney, who specializes in the ecology of predatory birds, said tree identification is probably learned by birds, not genetic. He added that Southern California bird species probably do the same with coastal sage scrub, determining which types of bushes afford a better chance of tasty insect treats.
With help from a small army of students, the scientists conducted a two-year experiment in Connecticut forests involving hundreds of tree branches either covered with bird-proof netting or left bare.
Mooney noted that the results illustrate a stark choice between gaining strength through a good diet but being more vulnerable to predators and remaining weaker and hungrier but more safe.
"If a caterpillar could feed on nutritious, high-quality tree species and be left alone, this would be the best of all worlds," he said. "Instead, it's faced with a trade-off. Overall, it appears that it's better to feed on poor-quality tree species and have fewer caterpillars around you than to be on a nutritious plant with many others."
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Michael S. Singer, Timothy E. Farkas, Christian M. Skorik, Kailen A. Mooney. Tritrophic Interactions at a Community Level: Effects of Host Plant Species Quality on Bird Predation of Caterpillars. The American Naturalist, 2012; [link]
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ROME (AP) ? Italy signed a pact Thursday aimed at supporting Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw from the country in 2014, while Germany extended its military mission there for another year, developments that came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai began a tour of Europe with a stop in Rome.
Italian Premier Mario Monti assured Karzai that "Italy will not abandon" his impoverished, conflict-scarred nation, where Taliban militants once thought defeated after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 have roared back in recent years.
The two men signed a long-term cooperation agreement that deals with a wide range of areas, including political, security, and economic, as well as efforts to counter the drug trade and establish the rule of law.
While in Rome, Karzai also met with Marc Grossman, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, to discuss ongoing efforts to engage the Taliban in peace talks by having them open a representative office in Qatar, the State Department said in Washington.
Grossman was wrapping up a tour of numerous countries, including Afghanistan and Qatar, to discuss the matter. Prior to traveling to Doha, he had met with Karzai at least two times in Kabul in the last week-and-a-half, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The meeting in Rome "gave Ambassador Grossman an opportunity to debrief President Karzai on his meetings in Qatar and continue to work closely with the Afghan government on next steps in the reconciliation process," Nuland told reporters.
She refused to say if he had seen any Taliban officials in Qatar but said his meetings in Doha focused on whether and when the group would open an office there.
In Germany, parliament voted to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan to next year, signing off on a plan that gradually reduces troop levels toward an eventual complete withdrawal. The plan sets a ceiling of 4,900 soldiers, reduced from the maximum 5,350 over the last year.
By the end of January 2013, the government aims to get troop numbers down to 4,400. That's part of overall plans by the U.S. and other allies to withdraw combat troops and hand over responsibility for security to Afghan authorities by the end of 2014.
The plan garnered cross-party support, with 424 voting for it, 107 against, and 38 abstaining.
"It's positive that Parliament has supported our soldiers in Afghanistan with such a wide majority," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said. "It is also important that this mission is responsibly and orderly carried out through the end."
Germany also has promised its support for Afghanistan after troops leave in 2014.
It hosted a conference in Bonn in December, where it was one of about 100 nations and international organizations, including the United Nations, which pledged political and financial long-term support for war-torn Afghanistan to keep it from falling back into chaos or becoming a safe haven for terrorists.
PARIS (Reuters) ? A group of Western and Arab nations are seeking the expulsion of Syria from the U.N. cultural agency's human rights committee, diplomats said, the latest international effort to isolate Damascus over its violent crackdown on domestic unrest.
The U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) executive board, which includes the United States, France and Russia, elected Syria to two panels in November, including one that judges human rights violations.
A letter seen by Reuters and signed by 14 ambassadors, including those of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Qatar and Kuwait, asks for Syria's situation to be discussed at the 58-member UNESCO executive board meeting on February 27.
"UNESCO must respond to these appeals for concerted action to address the egregious human rights situation in Syria," an explanatory memo attached to the letter said.
"The situation in Syria challenges UNESCO's basic constitutional objectives, in particular to further respect for justice, for the law and for human rights and fundamental freedoms," said the letter, which was drafted in December.
More than 5,000 people have been killed since a revolt erupted in March against President Bashar al-Assad's government, according to the United Nations. Damascus says "terrorists" have killed more than 2,000 soldiers and police.
Exploratory meetings were taking place at UNESCO this week and early next week to decide how to proceed on Syria.
A UNESCO official said the agency was aware of the letter. "The committees were elected by the executive board and a new decision of the board can reform the committees so that Syria could be removed if there was a majority vote," said Neil Ford, director of public information at UNESCO.
An Arab diplomat said it was possible the board could condemn Syria, which would probably be backed by Arab League states that have parted ways with Assad, although agreeing to Damascus' expulsion could prove more difficult.
"I am not aware that UNESCO has ever before expelled a member state from one of its committees, or passed a resolution condemning Syria, so both actions would be unprecedented," Geneva-based NGO UN Watch said in a statement.
The letter was signed by major Western powers plus Denmark, Spain, Chile, Slovakia, Qatar and Kuwait and diplomats said support from more countries was likely.
A U.N. commission of inquiry in November said Syrian military and security forces had committed crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape, putting the blame on Assad's government.
HELSINKI (AP) ? Mobile phone maker Nokia Corp. on Thursday posted a fourth-quarter net loss of ?1.07 billion ($1.38 billion) as sales slumped 21 percent even as the company's first Windows smartphones hit markets in Europe and Asia.
The loss, widened by a ?1 billion loss booked on Nokia's navigation systems unit, compares with a profit of ?745 million in the same period a year earlier.
Nokia said net revenue ? including both its mobile phones and its network divisions ? fell from ?12.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010 to ?10 billion, with smartphone sales plunging 23 percent.
Nokia has lost its once-dominant position in the global cell phone market, with Android phones and iPhones overtaking it in the growing smartphone segment.
The Finnish company is attempting a comeback with smartphones using Microsoft's Windows software, a struggle that Nokia CEO Stephen Elop characterized as a "war of ecosystems."
He said Nokia has sold "well over" 1 million such devices since the launch of the Lumia line in the fourth quarter, in line with company expectations.
Including other models, Nokia sold 19.6 million smartphones in the quarter. By comparison, Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the same period.
The Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 hit stores in Europe and Asia in November while T-Mobile started offering the 710 in the U.S. in January. Nokia hopes to boost its poor presence in the U.S. with the higher-end Lumia 900, which AT&T will offer later this year.
"From this beachhead of more than 1 million Lumia devices, you will see us push forward with the sales, marketing and successive product introductions necessary to be successful," Elop said in a statement. "We also plan to bring the Lumia series to additional markets including China and Latin America in the first half of 2012."
In a conference call, he said Nokia would launch the Lumia 710 and 800 in Canada in February.
Nokia shares rose more than 2 percent to ?4.15 ($5.37) in afternoon trading in Helsinki.
Michael Schroeder, analyst at FIM bank in Helsinki, said markets had welcomed Elop's comments on sales of Lumia.
"It definitely alleviated concerns about a horror scenario, expected by some. Although a million is not a lot in the market, it was better than expected," Schroeder said.
The company said it would not provide annual targets for 2012 as it was in a "year of transition" but added that it expects operating margins in the first quarter of this year to be "about break-even, ranging either above or below by approximately 2 percentage points."
It repeated the target of cutting costs by more than ?1 billion by 2013.
Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics in London said Nokia "was not out of the woods yet," but its quarterly result was in line with expectations.
"Nokia is not necessarily dead in the water. Profit margins were a bit higher than expected and Nokia has not lost its third position in smartphones although it is suffering in North America and western Europe," Mawston said.
Nokia proposed a dividend of ?0.20 per share for 2011 and said that chairman and former CEO Jorma Ollila will step down at the annual meeting in May. A nomination committee proposed board member Risto Siilasmaa as the new chairman.
The average selling price of a Nokia handset rose by ?2 from the previous quarter to ?53 but was down by ?16 from a year earlier, reflecting a higher proportion of cheaper mobile phones in Nokia's product mix.
The company also reported a 4 percent drop in sales for Nokia Siemens Networks, its joint network equipment unit with Siemens AG of Germany.
After selling four in 10 cell phones worldwide in 2010, Nokia has steadily lost market share to competitors including Apple and Samsung. It didn't give any market share estimates in the report Thursday, but said its net revenue fell 9 percent to ?38.6 billion in the full year 2011, with smartphone sales plunging 27 percent and sales of lower-end mobile phones down 18 percent.
So far science has completely failed to deliver a real Jurassic Park. Hate to be the one to tell you this, but you'll never actually ride a Tyrannosaurus rex. Luckily, the geniuses at Dinoprints are really good at Photoshop. More »
We may never be able to?speak with trees, but we can at least listen to their stories thanks to this hacked?record player than can translate tree rings into music. The player called Years created by?Bartholom?us Traubeck, uses the rings from a very thin cross section of a tree's bark as a music sheet from nature.
Tree rings are most commonly used for?dendrochronology or the method of dating trees. But when you feed the hacked player a slice of the bark that's as thin as a record, it translates the rings into haunting?piano music instead. The needle found on typical players is replaced by the PlayStation Eye, which serves as a webcam that reads the rings. The thickness, strength, and growth rate of the tree where the slice of bark came from are then analyzed.
The final piece is generated when the results from the analysis are combined with data about the wood's texture and color, giving us an overall view of the tree in an eerie, poignant ditty.
Traubeck via?TheNextWeb
This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca
Speaker Denney and Chairman Semanko Submit Legal Opinion Confirming Power to Replace Redistricting Commissioners
?Boise, Idaho ? Speaker of the House Lawerence Denney and Idaho GOP Chairman Norm Semanko delivered a legal opinion to the Secretary of State today, revealing that the Idaho Attorney General's opinion regarding the replacement of Redistricting Commissioners is contrary to the controlling legal authority and clearly in error. The legal opinion, prepared by attorney Christ Troupis, concludes that ?the Idaho Attorney General?s conclusions are contrary to Idaho law settled over 45 years ago, and completely unsupported not only in Idaho, but every other jurisdiction that has addressed this issue.? Troupis? legal opinion clearly states that Denney and Semanko have the authority to remove their Redistricting Commissioners and appoint replacements.
?The legal analysis relies on two Idaho Supreme Court opinions, which ruled that the power of removal is incident to the power of appointment, absent an express Constitutional or statutory provision to the contrary.? No provision limiting the power of removal exists in the redistricting laws. [Note: The two Supreme Court cases are Gowey v. Siggelkow, 85 Idaho 574 (1963) and Hansen v. White, 114 Idaho 907 (1988). The prevailing attorney in the Gowey case was Allen Derr of Boise.]
?An opinion authored by the Attorney General's office for the Secretary of State last Friday failed to identify or recognize the controlling Supreme Court authority and instead came to the opposite conclusion, without the benefit of any binding legal precedent. The legal opinion provided to Denney and Semanko concludes that the AG's opinion is in error.
?Semanko, himself a practicing attorney for the past 18 years, with numerous appearances before the Idaho Supreme Court, and former General Counsel for the Republican National Committee, said that the AG's opinion cannot be credibly or validly relied upon by the Secretary of State or anyone else, in light of the controlling Idaho Supreme Court precedent to the contrary.
?Denney and Semanko plan to name their two new Redistricting Commissioners to fill the vacant positions tomorrow, in advance of the Commission reconvening on Thursday.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? European Union governments agreed on Monday to an immediate ban on all new contracts to import, buy or transport Iranian crude oil, a move to put pressure on Tehran's disputed nuclear program by shutting off its main source of foreign income.
However, to protect Europe's economy as it battles to overcome a debilitating debt crisis, the governments agreed to phase in the embargo, giving countries with existing contracts with Iran until July 1, 2012 to end those deals.
At a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, EU governments also agreed to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank and to ban all trade in gold and other precious metals with the bank and other public bodies, EU officials said.
Western powers hope the far stricter sanctions net, which brings the EU more closely into line with U.S. policy, will force Iran to scale back or halt its nuclear work, which Europe and the United States believe is aimed at developing weapons. Iran says it is enriching uranium solely for peaceful purposes.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she wanted financial sanctions to persuade Tehran to return to negotiations with the West, which she represents in talks with Iran.
"I want the pressure of these sanctions to result in negotiations," she told reporters before the ministers met.
"I want to see Iran come back to the table and either pick up all the ideas that we left on the table ... last year ... or to come forward with its own ideas," she said.
Tehran says its nuclear program is necessary to meet its rising energy needs, but the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency said last year it had evidence that suggested Iran had worked on designing a nuclear weapon.
EU sanctions follow fresh financial measures signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve and mainly targeting the oil sector, which accounts for some 90 percent of Iranian exports to the EU. The European Union is Iran's largest oil customer after China.
MEASURED STEPS
Economic considerations weighed heavily on EU preparations for the embargo in recent weeks because of the heavy dependence of some EU states on Iranian crude. Greece, which is at the heart of the debt crisis, is almost entirely dependent on Iranian oil. It must now seek alternative sources.
Diplomats will return to the issue of oil sanctions before May, officials said, to assess whether the measures are effective and whether EU states are succeeding in finding sufficient alternative resources.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil-rich states in the Gulf are expected to increase their output of crude oil to offset the loss of access to Iranian exports.
"There will be a review of the embargo before May," one EU official said. The review could potentially affect the date when the full ban takes effect, diplomats said.
Greece, which depends on financial help from the EU and the International Monetary Fund to stay afloat, gets nearly a quarter of its oil from Iran, thanks to favorable financing terms from Tehran.
"The financial situation of Greece at the moment is not the brightest one, and rightly they are asking us to help them find a solution," a senior EU official told reporters on Friday.
With a significant part of EU purchases of Iranian oil covered by long-term contracts, the grace period will be an important factor in the effectiveness of the EU measures.
The unprecedented effort to take Iran's 2.6 million barrels of oil per day of exports off international markets has kept global prices high, pushed down Iran's rial currency and caused a surge in the cost of basic goods for Iranians.
(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft in London and Sebastian Moffett in Brussels; Editing by Luke Baker and)
Actor talks to MTV News about role as a cop 'battling for his life in the ultimate extreme.' By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Sam Worthington in "Man on a Ledge" Photo: Summit
When walking into a theater to see a movie called "Man on a Ledge," it may seem like there isn't a whole lot of mystery to what the film will be about. But it has to get more complicated from there, right? To find out, MTV News' Josh Horowitz visited the New York City set and talked to the stars themselves.
"The movie is called 'Man on a Ledge.' It's about a guy on a ledge," said Anthony Mackie, one of the stars of the film.
Mackie's co-star Elizabeth Banks expanded on the plot and revealed more of the mystery. "Really, everything's in the title," she said. "It's about a man on a ledge, and the people around him who are trying to figure out why he's on the ledge, and how to get him off the ledge before he falls off and dies."
During the visit, Josh Horowitz sat on the ledge to speak with the man himself, Sam Worthington.
Worthington explained that obviously there's more to the movie than the man and his ledge. What makes it worth watching is the story behind the man: A good cop was framed and wrongfully sent to prison, and after a thrilling escape, he takes to the ledge in order to prove his innocence once and for all. "This is his retrial," Worthington said.
"Good action really comes down to the stakes, what's at stake, whether it's rescuing the girl, getting the diamonds or whatever," Worthington said. "He's battling for his life in the ultimate extreme, just on a ledge. He's on the edge on the ledge. Because the stakes are so high, I think that's why we can label it a thriller, an action thriller."
But even with high stakes, a movie taking place primarily on the side of building has a limited amount of space to move within. Banks said that even though Worthington's character is more or less stuck, there's still a lot of movement. "He moves around, though, on the ledge, and I think also he's constantly in danger. We're really trying to keep him alive, even though he doesn't want to jump," Banks said. "There is always a danger that you could slip and fall. You have to unravel an entire scenario that's happening."
The scenario Banks referred to is the heist going on across the street, the whole reason behind the man on the ledge and his desperate attempt to clear his name.
For Worthington, "Man on a Ledge" has provided challenges as an actor he doesn't face every day. "This one's been different because I've been having to talk. I'm having to act for the first time probably ever," he said.
That might not be what you expect from a movie with such a simple title, but Worthington learned from Mackie that acting is exactly what the movie requires. "Mackie's done these kinds of movies, and he said to me, 'Our job is to ground the action,' " he said. "That's always what I've been trying to do. If we can get away with it on this one, it's not just a gimmick movie then."
Are you excited for "Man on a Ledge"? Let us know in the comments section!
SANTA ANA, Calif. ? A 23-year-old Iraq War veteran charged with the stabbing deaths of four homeless men in a rampage that terrorized Southern California had selected additional victims, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Former Marine Itzcoatl Ocampo chose the final victim because the man appeared in a news article about police warning homeless men to be careful, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.
All four victims were stalked and the killer looked for the right opportunity to execute them, he said. At least three of the victims were stabbed more than 40 times.
The district attorney said a panel will be convened to decide whether to seek the death penalty.
The charges include special allegations of multiple murders and lying in wait and use of a deadly weapon. The minimum sentence if convicted is life in prison without parole.
Rackauckas said prosecutors have no indication that Ocampo is mentally ill.
"It will be proven that the defendant planned all of his murders in advance, that he stalked his victims, that he looked for the right opportunity to execute them," Rackauckas said.
Ocampo's family said he was a troubled man when he returned from Iraq. Ocampo's own father is also homeless.
The killing spree began in December, raising concerns that a serial killer was preying on the homeless. Police and advocates then went on nightly patrols to urge them to sleep in groups or seek shelter.
Police arrested Ocampo when bystanders chased him down after 64-year-old John Berry was stabbed to death outside a fast-food restaurant in Anaheim, about 26 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said Berry had filed a report with authorities saying he believed someone was trying to follow and stalk him. Welter said, however, that authorities were working through nearly 600 leads and tips but had not gotten to that report.
"It is unfortunate that we didn't get to him before the suspect did," Welter told reporters.
Welter also said Ocampo had twice gone through motorist checkpoints set up by police to seek potential information about the killer from members of the public, but there was nothing that drew their attention to Ocampo.
The weapon was described as a 7-inch, single-edge blade made of heavy gauge metal.
The blade went through bone without chipping or breaking the blade, Rackauckas said.
Julia Smit-Lozano, the daughter of one of the victims, told the Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/zRNO6m) that prosecutors said her father, Paulus Smit, 57, was stabbed more than 50 times outside a library in Yorba Linda on Dec. 30.
Authorities have provided no information on the evidence against Ocampo, or a possible motive. But Anaheim Police Chief John Welter has said investigators are confident they have the man responsible for the murders.
Ocampo is being held in isolation in an Orange County jail, is wearing a protective gown and is being monitored 24 hours a day, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
"Obviously he has some psychological problems just by the nature of the crimes, so they don't want him to hurt himself," Amormino said.
Ocampo's father, Refugio Ocampo, said his son was deployed to Iraq in 2008 and came back a changed man. He said his son expressed disillusionment and became ever darker as he struggled to find his way as a civilian.
After he was discharged in 2010 and returned home, his parents separated. The same month, one of his friends, a corporal, was killed during combat in Afghanistan. His brother said Ocampo visited his friend's grave twice a week.
Like the men Ocampo is accused of preying on, his father is homeless. His father lost his job and ended up living under a bridge before finding shelter in the cab of a broken-down big-rig he is helping repair.
Just days before his arrest, Itzcoatl Ocampo visited his father, warning him of the danger of being on the streets and showing him a picture of one of the victims.
"He was very worried about me," the father said. "I told him, `Don't worry. I'm a survivor. Nothing will happen to me.'"
Itzcoatl Ocampo lives with his mother, uncle, younger brother and sister in a rented house on a horse ranch surrounded by the sprawling suburbs of Yorba Linda.
At the home, his mother, who speaks little English, tearfully brought her son's Marine Corps dress uniform out of a closet and showed unit photos, citations and medals from his military service.
The son followed a friend into the Marine Corps right out of high school in 2006 instead of going to college as his father had hoped.
His family described a physical condition Itzcoatl Ocampo suffered in which his hands shook and he suffered headaches. Medical treatments helped until he started drinking heavily, they said.
A neighbor who is a Vietnam veteran and the father both tried to push Ocampo to get treatment at a Veterans Affairs hospital, but he refused. Refugio Ocampo said he wanted his son to get psychological treatment as well.
In addition to Berry and Smit, James Patrick McGillivray, 53, was killed near a shopping center in Placentia on Dec. 20 and Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found near a riverbed trail in Anaheim on Dec. 28.
New report reviews US nitrogen pollution impacts and solutionsPublic release date: 17-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ian Vorster ivorster@whrc.org 508-444-1509 Woods Hole Research Center
Highlights new research, and offers solutions for a nitrogen-soaked world
The nitrogen cycle has been profoundly altered by human activities, and that in turn is affecting human health, air and water quality, and biodiversity in the U.S., according to a multi-disciplinary team of scientists writing in the 15th publication of the Ecological Society of America's Issues in Ecology. In "Excess Nitrogen in the U.S Environment: Trends, Risks, and Solutions," lead author Eric Davidson (Woods Hole Research Center) and 15 colleagues from universities, government, and the private sector review the major sources of reactive nitrogen in the U.S., resulting effects on health and the environment, and potential solutions.
Nitrogen is both an essential nutrient and a pollutant, a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion and a fertilizer that feeds billions, a benefit and a hazard, depending on form, location, and quantity. "Nitrogen pollution touches everyone's lives," said Davidson, a soil ecologist and executive director of the Woods Hole Research Center. "This report highlights the latest understanding of how it's harming human health, choking estuaries with algal growth, and threatening biodiversity, such as by changing how trees grow in our forests." Its authors, a diverse mix of agronomists, ecologists, groundwater geochemists, air quality specialists, and epidemiologists connect the dots between all of the ways that excess nitrogen in the environment affects people, economics, and ecology. They argue for a systematic, rather than piecemeal, approach to managing the resource and its consequences. "We're really trying to identify solutions," emphasizes Davidson.
There is good news: effective air quality regulation has reduced nitrogen pollution from U.S. energy and transportation sectors. On the other hand, agricultural emissions are increasing. Ammonia, a byproduct of livestock waste, remains mostly unregulated and is expected to increase unless better controls on ammonia emissions from livestock operations are implemented. Additionally, crop production agriculture is heavily dependent on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer to increase crop yields, but approximately half of all nitrogen fertilizer applied is not taken up by crops and is lost to the environment.
"Nitrogen is readily mobile, and very efficiently distributed through wind and water," said author James Galloway, a biogeochemist at the University of Virginia. Airborne nitrogen from agricultural fields, manure piles, automobile tailpipes, and smokestacks travels with the wind to settle over distant forests and coastal areas.
The report reviews agricultural solutions, and notes that applying current practices and technologies can reduce nitrogen pollution from farm and livestock operations by 30 to 50 percent. It tabulates strategies to help farmers optimize efficient use of fertilizer, rather than just maximize crop yield, including buffer strips and wetlands, manure management, and ideal patterns of fertilizer application. It also considers the cost of implementing them, and programs for buffering farmers against losses in bad years.
"There are a variety of impacts due to the human use of nitrogen," said Galloway. "The biggest is a positive one, in that it allows us to grow food for Americans and people in other countries, and we don't want to lose sight of that." Balancing inexpensive abundant food against the damage done by nitrogen escaping into the environment is a conversation the authors would like to hear more prominently in policy arenas. "Yes, we have to feed people, but we also need clean drinking water, clean air, and fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico," emphasizes Davidson. "The science helps to show those tradeoffs, and where we most stand to gain from improved nutrient management in agriculture."
The following impacts from nitrogen pollution are cited:
More than 1.5 million Americans drink well water contaminated with nitrate, a regulated drinking water pollutant, either above or near EPA standards, potentially placing them at increased risk of birth defects and cancer, which are noted in the report.
Agricultural and sewage system nutrient releases are likely linked to coral diseases, bird die-offs, fish diseases, and human diarrheal diseases and vector-borne infections transmitted by insects such as mosquitoes and ticks.
Two-thirds of U.S. coastal systems are moderately to severely impaired due to nutrient loading. There are now nearly 300 hypoxic (low oxygen) zones along the U.S. coastline.
Air pollution continues to reduce biodiversity, with exotic, invasive species dominating native species that are sensitive to excess reactive nitrogen. For example, in California, airborne nitrogen is impacting one third of the state's natural land areas, and the expansion of N-loving, non-native, highly flammable grasses in the western U.S. has increased fire risk.
###
The report is published by Ecological Society of America's Issues in Ecology, and can be viewed in Issue 15 at http://www.esa.org/science_resources/issues_ecology.php
The Woods Hole Research Center addresses the great issues for a healthy planet through science, education, and policy. We combine satellite remote sensing with field research to study, model, map, and monitor Earth's chemistry and ecology, and we use this knowledge to address the planet's great issues. We work around the Earth, from local to global scales, including the Amazon and Cerrado of South America, the Congo Basin and East Africa, the high latitudes of North American and northen Eurasia, and across the United States. We are unique in the depth of our science capability in combination with our commitment to the environment.
[ | 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.
New report reviews US nitrogen pollution impacts and solutionsPublic release date: 17-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ian Vorster ivorster@whrc.org 508-444-1509 Woods Hole Research Center
Highlights new research, and offers solutions for a nitrogen-soaked world
The nitrogen cycle has been profoundly altered by human activities, and that in turn is affecting human health, air and water quality, and biodiversity in the U.S., according to a multi-disciplinary team of scientists writing in the 15th publication of the Ecological Society of America's Issues in Ecology. In "Excess Nitrogen in the U.S Environment: Trends, Risks, and Solutions," lead author Eric Davidson (Woods Hole Research Center) and 15 colleagues from universities, government, and the private sector review the major sources of reactive nitrogen in the U.S., resulting effects on health and the environment, and potential solutions.
Nitrogen is both an essential nutrient and a pollutant, a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion and a fertilizer that feeds billions, a benefit and a hazard, depending on form, location, and quantity. "Nitrogen pollution touches everyone's lives," said Davidson, a soil ecologist and executive director of the Woods Hole Research Center. "This report highlights the latest understanding of how it's harming human health, choking estuaries with algal growth, and threatening biodiversity, such as by changing how trees grow in our forests." Its authors, a diverse mix of agronomists, ecologists, groundwater geochemists, air quality specialists, and epidemiologists connect the dots between all of the ways that excess nitrogen in the environment affects people, economics, and ecology. They argue for a systematic, rather than piecemeal, approach to managing the resource and its consequences. "We're really trying to identify solutions," emphasizes Davidson.
There is good news: effective air quality regulation has reduced nitrogen pollution from U.S. energy and transportation sectors. On the other hand, agricultural emissions are increasing. Ammonia, a byproduct of livestock waste, remains mostly unregulated and is expected to increase unless better controls on ammonia emissions from livestock operations are implemented. Additionally, crop production agriculture is heavily dependent on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer to increase crop yields, but approximately half of all nitrogen fertilizer applied is not taken up by crops and is lost to the environment.
"Nitrogen is readily mobile, and very efficiently distributed through wind and water," said author James Galloway, a biogeochemist at the University of Virginia. Airborne nitrogen from agricultural fields, manure piles, automobile tailpipes, and smokestacks travels with the wind to settle over distant forests and coastal areas.
The report reviews agricultural solutions, and notes that applying current practices and technologies can reduce nitrogen pollution from farm and livestock operations by 30 to 50 percent. It tabulates strategies to help farmers optimize efficient use of fertilizer, rather than just maximize crop yield, including buffer strips and wetlands, manure management, and ideal patterns of fertilizer application. It also considers the cost of implementing them, and programs for buffering farmers against losses in bad years.
"There are a variety of impacts due to the human use of nitrogen," said Galloway. "The biggest is a positive one, in that it allows us to grow food for Americans and people in other countries, and we don't want to lose sight of that." Balancing inexpensive abundant food against the damage done by nitrogen escaping into the environment is a conversation the authors would like to hear more prominently in policy arenas. "Yes, we have to feed people, but we also need clean drinking water, clean air, and fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico," emphasizes Davidson. "The science helps to show those tradeoffs, and where we most stand to gain from improved nutrient management in agriculture."
The following impacts from nitrogen pollution are cited:
More than 1.5 million Americans drink well water contaminated with nitrate, a regulated drinking water pollutant, either above or near EPA standards, potentially placing them at increased risk of birth defects and cancer, which are noted in the report.
Agricultural and sewage system nutrient releases are likely linked to coral diseases, bird die-offs, fish diseases, and human diarrheal diseases and vector-borne infections transmitted by insects such as mosquitoes and ticks.
Two-thirds of U.S. coastal systems are moderately to severely impaired due to nutrient loading. There are now nearly 300 hypoxic (low oxygen) zones along the U.S. coastline.
Air pollution continues to reduce biodiversity, with exotic, invasive species dominating native species that are sensitive to excess reactive nitrogen. For example, in California, airborne nitrogen is impacting one third of the state's natural land areas, and the expansion of N-loving, non-native, highly flammable grasses in the western U.S. has increased fire risk.
###
The report is published by Ecological Society of America's Issues in Ecology, and can be viewed in Issue 15 at http://www.esa.org/science_resources/issues_ecology.php
The Woods Hole Research Center addresses the great issues for a healthy planet through science, education, and policy. We combine satellite remote sensing with field research to study, model, map, and monitor Earth's chemistry and ecology, and we use this knowledge to address the planet's great issues. We work around the Earth, from local to global scales, including the Amazon and Cerrado of South America, the Congo Basin and East Africa, the high latitudes of North American and northen Eurasia, and across the United States. We are unique in the depth of our science capability in combination with our commitment to the environment.
[ | 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.
NEW YORK ? Players and teams started rushing to settle arbitration cases Monday, a day before the sides were to swap proposed salaries.
Thirteen players agreed to contracts, leaving 124 set to exchange figures after 142 filed for arbitration last week. About 80-100 more were expected to reach agreements before the sides submit proposals Tuesday afternoon for one-year contracts that are not guaranteed.
San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum was expected to set records for the highest salaries asked for and received in arbitration. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner made $13.1 million last season, completing a two-year deal worth $23.2 million.
The highest figure ever requested was $22 million by Houston pitcher Roger Clemens in 2005 after he became a free agent and accepted arbitration. Among players with less than six years of major league service, the high of $18.5 million has been held by Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter since 2001.
San Francisco figures to top the $14.25 million the Yankees submitted for Jeter.
Others set to swap include NL Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw and Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Andre Ethier, Philadelphia pitcher Cole Hamels and teammate Hunter Pence, World Series star Mike Napoli of Texas and Chicago Cubs pitcher Matt Garza.
Washington pitcher Gio Gonzalez, acquired from Oakland last month, has the big deal thus far, a $42 million, five-year contract that includes both a club option and a vesting player option. It could be worth $65.5 million over seven seasons.
Settlements are happening more slowly than in recent years: The 142 players who filed were the most since 150 in 1992.
About a half-dozen more players will become eligible for arbitration next year, when eligibility increases slightly for players with two to three years of major league service, from the top 17 percent by service time to the top 22 percent. They join unsigned players with at least three but less than six years of service.
Among one-year contracts announced Monday were deals for San Francisco outfielder Angel Pagan ($4.85 million), Pittsburgh All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan ($4.1 million) and right-hander Charlie Morton ($2,445,000), Detroit right-hander Rick Porcello ($3.1 million) and left-hander Phil Coke ($1.1 million), Kansas City second baseman Chris Getz ($937,500) and catcher Brayan Pena ($835,000), New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes ($3.2 million), Los Angeles Angels third baseman Alberto Callaspo ($3.15 million), Milwaukee outfielder Nyjer Morgan ($2.35 million), Tampa Bay reliever J.P. Howell ($1.35 million), Boston pitcher Franklin Morales ($850,000) and Washington catcher Jesus Flores ($815,000).
Baltimore announced deals for two players who agreed to them before filing: right-hander Darren O'Day ($1.35 million) and left-hander Dana Eveland ($750,000).
Among free agents, outfielder Ryan Ludwick and the Cincinnati Reds agreed to a $2.5 million, one-year contract, a person with knowledge of the agreement said, speaking on condition of anonymity because it was subject to a physical. Cincinnati announced a minor league deal with catcher Dioner Navarro.
Oft-injured reliever Joel Zumaya and Minnesota agreed to an $850,000, one-year contract, a person with knowledge of that deal said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team had yet to announce it.
Philadelphia and pitcher Joel Pineiro agreed to a minor league contract, a person familiar with that deal said, also on condition of anonymity because it had not been announced.
Boston agreed to minor league contracts with pitchers Aaron Cook and Justin Germano that were announced, and a deal with Vicente Padilla that was not announced.
In a trade, Colorado acquired right-hander Guillermo Moscoso and left-hander Josh Outman from Oakland for outfielder Seth Smith, who struck out against Boston's Jonathan Papelbon for the final out of the 2007 World Series.
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Public release date: 17-Jan-2012
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