LAS VEGAS - During one of the most bizarre postfight press conferences in UFC history, a visibly annoyed Dana White announced that Nick Diaz, the big winner at UFC 137, would be getting the next title shot against Georges St-Pierre.
White said Carlos Condit agreed to step aside, so GSP and Diaz could clash at the UFC event slated for Super Bowl weekend in Las Vegas.
The reason for the change?
Well, clearly Diaz vs. St-Pierre could be a huge pay-per-view and live gate winner. White also said GSP "flipped out" after the fight saying that he felt disrespected. After Diaz defeated B.J. Penn, he stomped around the Octagon yelling "where are you Georges?" Once he got the microphone, Diaz called out the UFC welterweight champ accusing him of faking his injury to get out of tonight's scheduled main event against Condit.
"This is what I wanted since the beginning. Let's do what was supposed to be done originally. I've always wanted this fight -- now I want it even more," St-Pierre said. "I can't wait for Super Bowl weekend."
White announced the change with Diaz in attendance at press conference. This followed plenty of inane rambling by Diaz, who complained about a myriad of topics related to the Penn fight and the lead up to the card (NSFW).
The strange thing was, even after Diaz found out he'd gotten the fight he wanted, he followed it up by saying he wasn't happy more than a few more times.
The presser got pretty heated as Diaz complained about not getting paid enough. White is not a big fan of discussing money issues with the media around, so he lost cool a little a few minutes later.
It's clear that Diaz and his camp still believe that the fighter should've never been pulled from the original main event against St-Pierre. Following the press conference, his manager Cesar Gracie echoed the same sentiment, saying the fans don't care if fighters fulfill their media responsibilities.
White left immediately after the press conference saying "I'm outta here." He normally stays around for 30-45 minutes to speak with the media, but the night's drama seemed to wear him out.
This release is also available in Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese.
Shenzhen, China -- An international team of researchers, led by the University of Melbourne and BGI, has sequenced the draft genome of Ascaris suum, a parasitic roundworm of pig. This collaborative study, published online in the international journal Nature, provides a comprehensive resource to the scientific community and paves the way for the development of new and urgently needed interventions (drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests) against ascariasis and other nematodiases.
Ascaris worms are soil-transmitted helminths causing ascariasis in human and animals. Human infections are commonly found in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and favorably occurred in the tropical and sub-tropical areas with poor sanitation. Each year, more than one billion people worldwide are infected and about 135,000 are died for the diseases caused by these parasites. Parasite has been disasters to food animal producers due to the huge economic losses resulted from reduced growth and production loss of host animals.
In this study, researchers sequenced the A. suum genome at ~80-fold coverage and generated approximately 273 million base genome sequence for A. suum. The genome size is about 273 Mb and about 18,500 protein-coding genes were estimated. "Compare to the other metazoan genomes reported to date, we found this genome has few repetitive sequences, only about 4.4% of the total assembly." said Shiping Liu, the co-leading author of the study and Senior Bioinformatician of Comparative Genomics Group at BGI. "We later found out this phenomenon was probably caused by the chromatin diminution." he added.
Researchers had conducted the comparison of A. suum genome and sequences of other parasitic and free-living roundworms to understand the parasitism-related genetic factors of A. suum and its closely related species A. lumbricoides which causes human infections. In particular, many molecules and proteins identified have seemed to be involved in the invasion of host tissue and regulation with the host immune system. They predicted the secretome of A. suum to comprise 775 proteins with diverse functions and found the A. suum secretome (about 750 molecules) is rich in peptidases linked to the penetration and degradation of host tissues. Some members of the A. suum secretome may play an important role in host-tissue degradation and others are predicted to direct or evade immune responses.
"We also identified a number of potential drug targets. Notably, in the A. suum gene set, we found a homologue (acr-23) of the C. elegans monepantel receptor, suggesting that this drug may kill A. suum. By sequencing A. suum genome, we identified abundant key information to better understand the molecular biology of A. suum and the exquisite complexities of the hostparasite interactions on an immunobiological level. We believe our work will pave the way for the future Parasitic Diseases Research." said Liu.
"Each year, ascariasis affects billions of people and animals worldwide, so it is now crucial to understand its pathogenic mechanism by genomic and post-genomic approaches. In this study, we have more interesting findings, which can provide new hope for the discovery of intervention strategies, with major implications for improving global health." said Bo Li, the co-leading author of the study and Leader of Comparative Genomics Group.
###
About BGI
BGI was founded in Beijing, China on September 9th, 1999 with the mission of being a premier scientific partner to the global research community. The goal of BGI is to make leading-edge genomic science highly accessible through its investment in infrastructure that leverages the best available technology, economies of scale, and expert bioinformatics resources. BGI, and its affiliates, BGI Americas and BGI Europe, have established partnerships and collaborations with leading academic and government research institutions as well as global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, supporting a variety of disease, agricultural, environmental, and related applications.
BGI has established a proven track record of excellence, delivering results with high efficiency and accuracy for innovative, high-profile research which has generated over 170 publications in top-tier journals such as Nature and Science. These accomplishments include sequencing one percent of the human genome for the International Human Genome Project, contributing 10 percent to the International Human HapMap Project, carrying out research to combat SARS and German deadly E. coli, playing a key role in the Sino-British Chicken Genome Project, and completing the sequence of the rice genome, the silkworm genome, the first Asian diploid genome, the potato genome, and, most recently, 1000 genomes and human Gut metagenome.
For more information about BGI, please visit http://www.genomics.cn or http://www.bgisequence.com
Contact Information:
Shiping Liu
Senior Bioinformatician of Comparative Genomics Group
BGI
liushiping@genomics.cn
http://www.genomics.cn
Bicheng Yang
Public Communication Officer
BGI
86-755-82639701
yangbicheng@genomics.cn
http://www.genomics.cn
[ | 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.
This release is also available in Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese.
Shenzhen, China -- An international team of researchers, led by the University of Melbourne and BGI, has sequenced the draft genome of Ascaris suum, a parasitic roundworm of pig. This collaborative study, published online in the international journal Nature, provides a comprehensive resource to the scientific community and paves the way for the development of new and urgently needed interventions (drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests) against ascariasis and other nematodiases.
Ascaris worms are soil-transmitted helminths causing ascariasis in human and animals. Human infections are commonly found in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and favorably occurred in the tropical and sub-tropical areas with poor sanitation. Each year, more than one billion people worldwide are infected and about 135,000 are died for the diseases caused by these parasites. Parasite has been disasters to food animal producers due to the huge economic losses resulted from reduced growth and production loss of host animals.
In this study, researchers sequenced the A. suum genome at ~80-fold coverage and generated approximately 273 million base genome sequence for A. suum. The genome size is about 273 Mb and about 18,500 protein-coding genes were estimated. "Compare to the other metazoan genomes reported to date, we found this genome has few repetitive sequences, only about 4.4% of the total assembly." said Shiping Liu, the co-leading author of the study and Senior Bioinformatician of Comparative Genomics Group at BGI. "We later found out this phenomenon was probably caused by the chromatin diminution." he added.
Researchers had conducted the comparison of A. suum genome and sequences of other parasitic and free-living roundworms to understand the parasitism-related genetic factors of A. suum and its closely related species A. lumbricoides which causes human infections. In particular, many molecules and proteins identified have seemed to be involved in the invasion of host tissue and regulation with the host immune system. They predicted the secretome of A. suum to comprise 775 proteins with diverse functions and found the A. suum secretome (about 750 molecules) is rich in peptidases linked to the penetration and degradation of host tissues. Some members of the A. suum secretome may play an important role in host-tissue degradation and others are predicted to direct or evade immune responses.
"We also identified a number of potential drug targets. Notably, in the A. suum gene set, we found a homologue (acr-23) of the C. elegans monepantel receptor, suggesting that this drug may kill A. suum. By sequencing A. suum genome, we identified abundant key information to better understand the molecular biology of A. suum and the exquisite complexities of the hostparasite interactions on an immunobiological level. We believe our work will pave the way for the future Parasitic Diseases Research." said Liu.
"Each year, ascariasis affects billions of people and animals worldwide, so it is now crucial to understand its pathogenic mechanism by genomic and post-genomic approaches. In this study, we have more interesting findings, which can provide new hope for the discovery of intervention strategies, with major implications for improving global health." said Bo Li, the co-leading author of the study and Leader of Comparative Genomics Group.
###
About BGI
BGI was founded in Beijing, China on September 9th, 1999 with the mission of being a premier scientific partner to the global research community. The goal of BGI is to make leading-edge genomic science highly accessible through its investment in infrastructure that leverages the best available technology, economies of scale, and expert bioinformatics resources. BGI, and its affiliates, BGI Americas and BGI Europe, have established partnerships and collaborations with leading academic and government research institutions as well as global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, supporting a variety of disease, agricultural, environmental, and related applications.
BGI has established a proven track record of excellence, delivering results with high efficiency and accuracy for innovative, high-profile research which has generated over 170 publications in top-tier journals such as Nature and Science. These accomplishments include sequencing one percent of the human genome for the International Human Genome Project, contributing 10 percent to the International Human HapMap Project, carrying out research to combat SARS and German deadly E. coli, playing a key role in the Sino-British Chicken Genome Project, and completing the sequence of the rice genome, the silkworm genome, the first Asian diploid genome, the potato genome, and, most recently, 1000 genomes and human Gut metagenome.
For more information about BGI, please visit http://www.genomics.cn or http://www.bgisequence.com
Contact Information:
Shiping Liu
Senior Bioinformatician of Comparative Genomics Group
BGI
liushiping@genomics.cn
http://www.genomics.cn
Bicheng Yang
Public Communication Officer
BGI
86-755-82639701
yangbicheng@genomics.cn
http://www.genomics.cn
[ | 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.
WASHINGTON ? Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Sean Combs and Serena Williams now have a place in the National Portrait Gallery in a show opening Friday, along with other leading black figures who may be lesser known.
"The Black List" features 50 large-scale photographs from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders in a project that also included a 2008 HBO film.
After a conversation with his friend, the writer Toni Morrison, Greenfield-Sanders began thinking of all the successful black figures he knows ? and how so many were unknown. He and collaborator Elvis Mitchell scribbled down 200 names on napkins over lunch.
"I've done the art world, I've done the music world, I've done the porn world, I've done politics ? I've done all these different worlds, and it's all about accomplishment," Greenfield-Sanders, who is white, told The Associated Press. "I thought it would be interesting: As a white guy, could I do this?"
Morrison, whose portrait is in the exhibit, and others encouraged him to pursue the idea.
His theme came from the historical term, "blacklist," referring to a marginalized group. Greenfield-Sanders wanted to turn the phrase into a roll call of distinction to show the broad range of achievements of African Americans.
The project began in 2006 before most people had heard of the man who would become the first black president. Then-Sen. Barack Obama was on Greenfield-Sanders' wish list, but he said his chances of photographing Obama became less and less as the 2008 campaign drew closer.
Between 2007 and 2009, Mitchell and Greenfield-Sanders arranged 50 interviews ranging from Laurence Fishburne and Tyler Perry to businessman Richard Parsons, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Gap fashion designer Patrick Robinson. Beyond celebrities, the project includes influential but lesser-known figures, such as playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and urban environmentalist Majora Carter.
"We knew we needed to have some celebrities," Greenfield-Sanders said. "You sell it by having Fishburne and Chris Rock and the other people that draw them in, and then they learn something from these other people."
After filming interviews with each subject, Greenfield-Sanders asked for a portrait sitting. Some gave him all the time he needed. In the case of music mogul Russell Simmons, he had 45 seconds.
Simmons, later a supporter of the project, was "difficult" at first, Greenfield-Sanders said.
"He had his cell phone in his hands throughout the interview," the photographer said. "I'm not going to mince words here."
The Smithsonian exhibit is the first to feature all 50 portraits and will be open through April 2012. A smaller version of "The Black List" has been shown in New York and Los Angeles. Greenfield-Sanders also created "The Latino List," with a similar concept that is on view now at the Brooklyn Museum.
For the Portrait Gallery, the exhibition brings more diverse faces into a museum that once barred living subjects from its collection. Its bylaws had required that anyone in the permanent collection be dead for at least 10 years.
"It tended to be more of a backward look at history, rather than a forward-looking one," said Ann Shumard, curator of photographs. "With the dropping of that prohibition, it has opened us up to addressing contemporary life and the individuals who are making American history as we speak.
"That's a far more diverse and interesting group perhaps than some of the folks ... in the past."
___
Online:
National Portrait Gallery: http://www.npg.si.edu/
___
Follow Brett Zongker at http://twitter.com/DCArtBeat
FRIDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Many Alzheimer's patients who take cholinesterase inhibitors to slow their brain disease also take drugs that counter the effects of those Alzheimer's medications, a new study says.
Clinical trials have shown that cholinesterase inhibitors such as Aricept (donepezil) have a modest impact on the functional and cognitive decline caused by Alzheimer's disease, noted the researchers at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle.
"Cholinesterase inhibitors are today's primary therapy for slowing Alzheimer's disease," study leader Denise Boudreau said in an institute news release.
"Anticholinergic properties are often found in drugs commonly used to treat gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, urinary incontinence, depression and Parkinson's disease, and they can have negative effects on cognition and function in the elderly. There's concern that if someone is taking both types of drugs -- cholinesterase inhibitors and anticholinergic medications -- they will antagonize each other, and neither will work," she explained.
Common anticholinergic medications include Benadryl (diphenhydramine) and Ditropan (oxybutynin), which is prescribed for overactive bladders.
Boudreau and colleagues analyzed data from more than 5,600 patients aged 50 and older who had cholinesterase inhibitors prescribed to them for the first time between 2000 and 2007. Of those patients, 37 percent also took at least one anticholinergic drug and more than 11 percent took two or more anticholinergic drugs.
Among the patients who took both classes of drugs, dual use generally lasted three to four months, but one-quarter of the patients used both classes of drugs for more than a year.
The researchers also found that 23 percent of patients who received a new prescription for cholinesterase inhibitors were already using at least one anticholinergic drug, and 77 percent of those patients continued taking an anticholinergic drug after they began taking a cholinesterase inhibitor.
"It's reassuring that we did not observe an association between simultaneous use of the two types of drugs and increased risk of death or nursing home placement," Boudreau said in the release. "But concomitant use of these drugs is, at the very least, not optimal clinical practice."
The study was published online Oct. 22 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Alzheimer's patients often have multiple health problems, which may help explain why doctors might prescribe conflicting medications for these patients, the researchers said.
More information
The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more about Alzheimer's medications.
NEW YORK ? Exxon Mobil's quarterly profit rose 41 percent because the company sold oil and natural gas at higher prices, making up for lower production.
The world's largest publicly traded oil company, which owns and operates oil and gas fields from Texas to Qatar, said prices rose sharply in the third quarter. Its refineries also charged more for gasoline and other fuels that they make from oil.
Exxon sold oil in the U.S. for an average of $95.58 a barrel, up 35.2 percent from a year earlier. Internationally, it charged $107.32 a barrel, up 45.4 percent. It also charged more for natural gas.
The higher prices boosted earnings at Exxon's exploration and production business, which finds and pumps oil and natural gas. Earnings rose nearly 19 percent in the U.S. and 61 percent internationally.
Exxon's U.S. refineries also benefited. Their profits quadrupled as demand for gasoline and other fuels soared around the world, enabling them to charge more.
Yet the production decline was a disappointment for the Irving, Texas-based company. Exxon has outspent other oil giants over the past few years in the search for new fields. So far this year, it shelled out $24 billion on projects. Exxon's oil production fell 7 percent while natural gas production slipped 3 percent
Some of the declines resulted from deals that limit the amount of oil Exxon can sell as prices rise on international markets. Excluding those limits, however, production was still flat.
BP and Royal Dutch Shell also reported production declines in the July-September quarter. .
Still, Exxon Mobil Corp.'s total net income rose to $10.33 billion, or $2.13 per share, in the third quarter. That compared with $7.35 billion, or $1.44 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 32 percent to $125.3 billion.
Shares of the Irving, Texas-based company rose Thursday after it announced the quarterly results. Investors were encouraged by oil prices in the futures market. The price of crude rose more than 3 percent to $93.10 in New York.
Exxon's stock price climbed 9 cents to $81.16.
Exxon's production declines this quarter raise larger concerns. It takes years to find new sources of oil, and demand is rising as China and other countries need more fuel to run and expand their economies. Analysts say they're concerned that major producers are so far unable to supply enough crude.
"I think there is a danger that we can't keep up with demand," Argus Research analyst Phil Weiss said.
But if companies find and successfully pump oil, that should raise production levels and eventually provide producers with a return for the billions they're spending on exploration.
Chris Kahn can be reached at http://twitter.com/ChrisKahnAP.
(Reuters)- Top Chinese search engine Baidu Inc forecast strong sales that topped Wall Street estimates, after reporting robust quarterly earnings, shrugging off concerns that a weak economy could hit advertisers.
Baidu said spending by large customers was significantly better than it expected in the third quarter and its 80 percent rise in quarterly net profit was driven by spending by online retailers.
Shares of Baidu were up 7.2 percent at $148.50 in after-hours trade. Chinese Internet companies Sohu.com Inc and Sina Corp were up more than 4 percent.
China, with more than 485 million users, is the world's largest Internet market. Yet, with Internet penetration hovering around 36 percent and user sophistication outside the big cities still low, the potential for growth is huge.
"Search marketing continues to be very resilient despite the macro uncertainties. Across the board there hasn't been any weakness in any sector and they are really benefiting from the growth in e-commerce, they are firing on all cylinders," said Nomura's Hong Kong-based analyst Jin Yoon.
Baidu has solidified its position as the dominant search engine in China since Google Inc's decision in 2010 to relocate its search engine to Hong Kong following a standoff with the Chinese government over Internet censorship.
Baidu said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $691.4 million to $711.0 million, above analysts' forecasts of $649.5 million according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company's forecast of up to 8.6 percent sequential revenue growth in the fourth quarter outpaced the 4.8 percent increase expected by analysts.
"Baidu should be able to grow strongly despite any slowdown in the China economy because online advertising is gaining share from traditional advertising, it's a secular shift," said Collins Stewart analyst Mayuresh Masurekar.
For the third quarter, Baidu reported net income of $295 million, or 84 cents per share. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 86 cents a share.
Analysts on average expected a profit of 83 cents a share.
"One source of strong revenue growth was once again the e-commerce sector. In particular, the revenue contributed by the online retail sector retained impressive momentum, growing over 100 percent year over year," Baidu's Chief Executive Robin Li said on an earnings conference call.
Total revenue rose 85 percent to $654.7 million, above its own forecast of $611.1 million to $626.6 million.
GROWTH AND COMPETITION
Baidu recently launched its mobile application development platform that is seen as a prelude to the firm's full-fledged operating system.
The company has expanded into online video and travel to seek out fresh revenue streams.
Baidu is facing competition from Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings Ltd, the two other Chinese Internet giants seeking to make inroads in the lucrative search market dominated by Baidu.
"They are continuing to gain market share in China and their monetization systems are seeing improvement and that is providing some upside too," said Hong Kong-based JPMorgan analyst Dick Wei.
In the third quarter, China's online search market grew 77.8 percent to 5.51 billion yuan. Baidu had a 77.7 percent share of the market, while Google had 18.3 percent, according to data from Beijing-based consultancy iResearch.
In August, Baidu suffered a barrage of negative publicity after China Central Television ran programs accusing the company of having lax approval processes on its paid-advertising platform and slamming it for not policing its message-board product Tieba for "slanderous" remarks.
Analysts said the criticisms did not have a negative material impact on the company and was driven mostly by competitive pressure.
Shares in Baidu, whose name is taken from an ancient Chinese poem, closed up 6 percent at $138.39 on Nasdaq on Thursday. They have gained 36 percent so far this year.
(Reporting by Melanie Lee in SHANGHAI and Alexei Oreskovic in SAN FRANCISCO; Additional reporting by Soham Chatterjee in BANGALORE; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)
MIKAWA, Japan (Reuters) ? Like other farmers on this fertile, coastal plain in northeast Japan, where patchwork rice fields stretch to the mountains beyond, Kazushi Saito knows firsthand that the nation's shrinking agricultural sector is in dire straits.
But unlike many, the 54-year-old rice farmer backs a controversial free trade deal that could remove a near 800 percent tariff on rice, aimed at excluding most imports of a staple that is ingrained in Japan's culture.
"Japan's agriculture is on the verge of collapse. If things go on this way, it can't last five years," Saito said.
Saito says the U.S.-led free trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), was "the last chance" to keep Japanese firms from falling further behind globally, spur agriculture reform -- and help his farming business turn a profit.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has signaled he's keen to join talks on the trade deal, which has Japan's powerful farm lobby in a tizzy. The initiative would in principle remove all tariffs among participants, including on farm products, and set rules on trade in a wide range of other sectors.
Here in the town of Mikawa like elsewhere in Yamagata prefecture, pro-free trade farmers like Saito are a minority.
Most rice farmers fear -- and rightfully so -- that removing the 778 percent tariff shielding them from cheaper imports would be the death knell for their mostly miniscule farms.
Tariffs on fruit and vegetables are far lower so the impact of trade liberalization would be much smaller.
"Japan is the land of 'Mizuho'," said farmer Shigeru Sato, using an ancient name for the country that means 'golden ears of rice'. "Rice is our culture. Without policies to protect rice, we cannot preserve local society."
But the 64-year-old Sato, who has been growing rice in the village of Nowara all his adult life and opposes the free trade pact, agrees something must change to keep farming alive, given falling prices as Japanese eat less rice, the high costs of fertilizer and other inputs and a maze of regulations.
"In my son's generation, there is no one in my village who is farming," he said.
With farmers like Saito outnumbered by those who fear opening up Japan's farm market, Noda must face down opposition inside his Democratic Party of Japan if he is to tell U.S. President Barack Obama that Tokyo wants to join the talks when they meet at a November 12-13 Asia-Pacific summit in Hawaii.
His decision will be taken by many as a gauge of whether the country's sixth premier in five years can deliver reforms needed to end decades of stagnation. "TPP will be a real litmus test of Noda's ability to make tough decisions," said Kenichi Kawasaki, a senior political analyst at Nomura Securities.
ANATHEMA
Free trade is anathema to many Japanese farmers, who after decades of decline make up just 4 percent of the workforce and contribute only 1 percent of GDP but pack political clout through a powerful lobby and an electoral system biased toward rural voters.
On the other hand, Japanese manufacturers, chilled by signs rivals like South Korea are pulling ahead, are pushing hard for Tokyo to join the trade talks, which include the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Seoul does not belong to the TPP but has forged free trade deals with the European Union and the United States, sending shivers down corporate Japan's spine.
Even without the pressure of freer trade, Japan's farming sector is in serious decline as its population ages and shrinks.
The average age of Japanese farmers was 66 last year; 93 percent of rice farm households work the land part-time or supplement their income with pensions. Youth are leaving Yamagata and other rural areas in search of jobs.
In a nod to the need for reform, the government last week outlined steps aimed at promoting larger, more competitive farms that would attract younger workers and drive down costs.
But farmer Saito, like most experts, says that the Democrats must alter a key policy that provides direct income subsidies to all farmers -- regardless of the size of their farms -- if they really want to encourage part-timers to lease or sell land to full-time professionals and help them turn a profit.
"Real reform would mean not providing income support to small-scale farms ... otherwise his (Noda's) policies are working against each other," said Aurelia George Mulgan, a professor of Japanese politics at Australia's University of New South Wales.
"The first is designed to achieve economic goals i.e. encouraging larger-scale farms and the second -- universal farm household income support -- is to achieve political goals."
Even with reforms, rice farmers would need to compete with imports through branding, quality and marketing rather than price and will still need government support to stay afloat.
Changing the income support program, which were devised to woo farm votes away from the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and helped vault the Democrats to power in 2009, risks eroding voter support ahead of an election in 2013 or sooner.
Pro-free trade farmers, though, want national politicians to stop treating them like election pawns and adopt policies to revitalize rural regions, which can't survive on farming alone.
However painful for many farmers, Japan cannot afford to remain outside free trade pacts such as TPP, said Hitoshi Sato, a local assemblyman in Mikawa who farms a 10-hectare (25-acre) plot.
"Without trade, there is no Japanese economy ... This is an era when all industries, even in this rural region, must operate in the context of the global economy."
(Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
New York ? His jobs plan blocked by the GOP, President Obama is unveiling a slew of executive orders to juice the economy without involving his Beltway nemeses
President Obama's big legislative push to juice the economy, the $447 billion American Jobs Act, is running into a brick wall of Republican opposition in Congress. So he's replacing his refrain of "Pass this bill" with a new mantra: "We can't wait." The substance behind the new slogan is a series of executive orders and other unilateral changes Obama is scheduled to roll out through the end of the year, to do what he can to help the economy without Congress. First up, on Monday, was an expanded Home Affordable Modification Program (HARP) designed to help struggling homeowners refinance at lower interest rates. Obama will follow that up with relief for student loans. Will these measures do any good??
These efforts are "pathetic": Housing is the millstone around the economy's neck, but HARP, which began in 2009, has barely lightened the load, refinancing a sorry 30,000 homes a month in its first two years, says Felix Salmon at?Reuters. The expanded HARP II won't do much better, and we're "never going to make a dent in the mountain of 11 million underwater mortgages at that rate." In fact, "this whole exercise is so obviously pathetic" that unless Obama's other ideas are a lot better, it "bodes very ill for the economy." "Obama's pathetic refinancing initiative"
Actually, the new HARP could do wonders: Obama's much-improved mortgage-relief plan is "a good start," says Joseph Gagnon at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. If he gets the details right and the Federal Reserve commits to keeping mortgage rates low for at least a year, the wave of refinancing could save U.S. households $80 billion a year, providing a long-term stimulus that would boost the broader economy, "perhaps creating 4 million extra jobs." "The last bullet"
But it won't help Obama in 2012: HARP II might well have "a nice stimulative effect ? possibly kicking in in time for the next president to enjoy," says Andrew Leonard at?Salon. Which is why Obama and his economic advisers should have done something like this ? or bigger ? three years ago. Now, belatedly, this will help qualifying homeowners, but it won't do much for Obama before the election. In that context, "the refrain 'We can't wait' doesn't just ring hollow ? it actively begs for mockery." "Can Obama fix Geithner?s housing bust?"
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Having married into a beekeeping family, I couldn't help but notice that the writer of this article seems fairly uninformed.
For one thing, TFA mentions the rise in the trucking of bees and attributes it without explanation to CCD. Bees are subject to a number of well understood diseases and parasites that beekeepers spend lots of time and money to protect their bees from. CCD is the blanket term for all the less well-understood diseases, parasites and harmful environmental factors. It strikes me as odd to assert that beekeepers would move their businesses around the country in an effort to combat an unknown threat, especially since for all they know, the new location (or the act of moving itself) could contribute to CCD.
AFAIK, there are two primary reasons for migratory beekeeping: 1) To protect bees from *known* diseases and parasites. Wintering bees involves letting the hives power down for a few months. Unfortunately, during this time of lowered activity, they have an increased susceptibility to problems like wax moths and other parasites. Moving the bees in the winter to places where pollination needs to occur means getting the bees to a warmer and healthier environment and let's them end the winter stronger. 2) Financial incentive. Trucking your bees across the country means moving your entire business at least twice a year and is a large personal and financial burden. However, because demand for pollination services is so high, doing so actually ends up being profitable, and businesses that do not engage in this practice end up being less viable and more vulnerable to the random setbacks that plague any agricultural endeavor.
In other words, migratory beekeeping is a matter of survival rather than preference. Moving your bees is a pain in the butt and often involves being away from your family for months at a time, but it is deemed necessary to stay competitive with both domestic and international (e.g. Argentina & China) producers.
Another troubling phrase in the article is "industrialized hives." I'm not really sure what this might refer to, since economies of scale don't apply as much to beekeeping as they do pig farming or corn growing. You can't just create a mega-honey factory with millions of hives. The bees have to be distributed across a large area. Bees live as hives of a size governed by biology, and because bees have a well-understood range, only so many hives can be put in any one place. I am sure that very large honey outfits do exist, but in my experience, very small businesses (less than 10 people) is actually the norm, and these small businesses are as affected by the various diseases and parasites as anybody else.
Any finally, I just have to say something about this assertion, "Transporting the hives from farm to farm then spreads the pathogens to local bee populations." This may be true, but these pathogens spread even before migratory beekeeping became common. In fact, they spread in spite of a universal desire to keep them from spreading and international and interstate restrictions on moving bees. The irony is that the spread of these pathogens was one of the factors that made migratory beekeeping necessary. On the other hand, maybe keeping all hives local would slow the spread of new diseases and disease variants. That would be a good thing, I suppose.
PARIS ? France's Socialist Party has formally anointed Francois Hollande as its candidate for presidential elections in six months, culminating a weeks-long process of primaries.
The 57-year-old Hollande is expected to be the top rival to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy ? who has not yet declared his candidacy but is expected to do so.
Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry told a party convention Saturday that "the change we want now has a name, Francois Hollande."
Hollande defeated Aubry by a large margin in an Oct. 16 vote for a Socialist candidate after three rounds of debate.
Among the five others defeated by Hollande was his former companion, Segolene Royal, mother of his four children ? who challenged Sarkozy in 2005 elections.
BEIJING ? China's trade with its close ally North Korea nearly doubled in the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2010, state media reported Sunday.
The 87 percent increase to $3.1 billion was announced at the start of a visit to the North by Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang that reaffirms strong ties between the communist neighbors.
Li said China was hoping for better relations between North and South Korea and a resumption of long-stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.
China wants to work with all parties in promoting the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and safeguarding regional peace and development, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Li's statement as saying.
North Korea relies heavily on China for food and fuel aid and many consumer products. Chinese companies are the main investors in North Korean mining, and the sides recently signed agreements on road building and jointly developing an industrial park on an island near the Chinese city of Dandong.
"The economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has shown great potential, with bilateral trade and investment volume reaching new highs," Xinhua said, citing the Chinese ambassador to Pyongyang, Liu Hongcai.
Bilateral trade between China and North Korea still is dwarfed by economic ties between China and South Korea. China is South Korea's largest trade partner.
Trade between Beijing and Seoul rose more than 20 percent in the first eight months of the year to $159 billion and is expected to hit about $250 billion for all of 2011.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2011) ? A study focusing on the family and friends of people who were suicidal has highlighted the main challenges they face when trying to judge whether a person is in danger and decide what they should do about it.
The research was carried out by Dr. Christabel Owens from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, supported by Devon NHS Partnership Trust and funded by the UK Medical Research Council. The findings are published in the British Medical Journal on 22nd October 2011.
Researchers investigated 14 suicides aged 18-34 in London, the South West and South Wales, none of whom were receiving specialist mental health care. They asked relatives and friends of the deceased what they had witnessed in the period leading up to the suicide and how they had interpreted what they saw. In all, 31 lay informants (parents, partners, siblings, friends and colleagues) took part.
The findings of the research show that relatives and friends did not always receive clear and unambiguous warning signals from the suicidal individual, and that, even when it was obvious that something was seriously wrong, they could not always summon the courage to take action.
Family members and friends of those who may be contemplating suicide are confronted by powerful emotional blocks, particularly fear. They may be afraid of intruding into another person's emotional life or afraid of damaging a cherished relationship by 'saying the wrong thing'. The whole situation is emotionally charged, and that affects the way in which people respond.
Unlike conditions such as stroke, where national awareness campaigns have been built around the very obvious signals to look for, this study emphasises that for suicide there is no clear "if you see this, then do that" message -- despite research literature suggesting that warning signs for suicide do exist.
Said Dr. Owens: "Even doctors with many years' training and experience find it very difficult to assess whether or not a person is at imminent risk of suicide. Family members and friends find themselves in uncharted territory, with no training and little public information to guide them. They may know that a relative or friend is troubled but have absolutely no idea that suicide is a possibility. The person may give very indirect hints, possibly when disinhibited by alcohol, that they are thinking of killing themselves, but it is difficult for others to know how seriously to take these messages and how to respond to them."
The study indicates that, where emotional or psychological pain is involved, people do not seek medical help lightly. For a person who is feeling overwhelmed and suicidal, consulting a doctor and confessing those feelings requires immense courage and is often a last resort. Said Dr. Owens: "It is sad that, in the course of our research, we have repeatedly come across examples of people who did go to their GP, were given a cursory risk assessment and sent home with little or no support, and subsequently killed themselves. In other cases, a relative has taken their concerns to a GP and asked for advice, and has been told that the case cannot be discussed with them for reasons of patient confidentiality and that the person must visit the GP themselves."
Having identified the challenges facing family and friends of the suicidal, the authors of this study will, in partnership with statutory and voluntary organisations, work on developing solutions.
Said Dr. Owens: "There are some suicide prevention skills training courses available, but they are not ideal for members of the general public, and we don't know how to get them to the people who need them. We still need to identify the key messages that we have to get across to people, and work out how to deliver them to relatives and friends of those who are at risk of suicide."
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Journal Reference:
C. Owens, G. Owen, J. Belam, K. Lloyd, F. Rapport, J. Donovan, H. Lambert. Recognising and responding to suicidal crisis within family and social networks: qualitative study. BMJ, 2011; 343 (oct18 1): d5801 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d5801
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
ATLANTA ? Health officials say more adults in the Midwest and West have suicidal thoughts than people in the rest of the country, but Rhode Island leads in suicide attempts.
Researchers on Thursday released the first government study to offer a state-by-state look at suicidal thoughts and attempts. The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based on confidential surveys of more than 90,000 people.
The study doesn't answer why people in some places think about suicide more than others.
Serious thoughts of suicide range from about 1 in 50 adults in Georgia to 1 in 15 in Utah. For suicide attempts, the range goes from 1 in 1,000 adults in Georgia and Delaware to 1 in 67 in Rhode Island.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Senate Republicans and Democrats rejected each other's economic stimulus bills on Thursday, underscoring their inability to craft a bipartisan solution on job creation before next year's elections.
All 47 Senate Republicans, joined by two of President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats and one independent, stopped a key piece of Obama's $447 billion economic stimulus plan.
The $35 billion proposal would raise taxes on millionaires to create or protect 400,000 jobs for teachers, firefighters, police officers and other first responders. In a 50-50 vote, its backers fell short of the needed 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to clear a Republican-led procedural roadblock.
"For the second time in two weeks, every single Republican in the United States Senate has chosen to obstruct a bill that would create jobs and get our economy going again. That's unacceptable," Obama said in a statement vowing to continue pushing for passage of the plan "piece by piece."
Democrats fired back by blocking a Republican bid to repeal a 3 percent withholding tax on business set to take effect on January 1, 2013. The 57-43 vote was also short of the needed 60 to stop a procedural roadblock by Democrats. Ten Democrats crossed party lines to vote in favor of the measure.
Democrats control the Senate, 53-47.
Both sides accused the other of jockeying for position in advance of the 2012 presidential elections that seems certain to feature the economy as the top issue.
"Protecting millionaires and defeating President Obama are more important to my Republican colleagues than creating jobs and getting our economy back on track," charged Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid.
"The American people want us to do something about the jobs crisis," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. "What Republicans have been saying is that raising taxes on business owners isn't the way to do it."
WASHINGTON GRIDLOCK
Obama's approval rating is only about 41 percent largely because of his inability to bolster the economy. But Congress is even more unpopular: its approval rating is about 12 percent after budget battles pushed the government to the brink of a shutdown and an unprecedented default.
With the U.S. jobless rate stuck above 9 percent for five straight months, a recent Wall Street Journal-NBC poll showed that voters back Obama's bill by a two-to-one margin.
Obama spent three days this week campaigning in North Carolina and Virginia, key states in his reelection bid, to promote his jobs bill and crank up pressure on Republicans.
The president's strategy is to force Republicans to accept his proposals or be painted as obstructing economic recovery.
Republicans counter that Obama's plan are laden with wasteful spending and job-killing tax hikes on millionaires.
McConnell argued that the Republican bill to repeal a pending 3 percent withholding tax on business mirrored a provision that Obama included in his own jobs bill.
Democrats disagreed, noting that Obama's proposal would have delayed implementation of the tax, not repealed it.
In issuing a veto threat shortly before the Senate vote, the White House also pointed out that the Republican measure, unlike Obama's proposal, called for $30 billion in spending cuts to cover lost tax revenue.
Obama's overall $447 billion bill seeks to create jobs with a mixture of stimulus spending and tax cuts for the middle class and small businesses. It would be financed by a 5.6 percent surtax on millionaires.
McConnell rejected Democratic charges that his party is trying to hurt the economy to damage Obama's reelection bid.
"If Republicans wanted the economy to fail, we'd all line right up behind the president's economic policies, rather than opposing them," McConnell said.
(Reporting by Thomas Ferraro; editing by Anthony Boadle)
BRUSSELS ? NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday that the alliance had agreed to end its seven-month campaign in Libya on Oct. 31.
"We have taken a preliminary decision to end Operation Unified Protector on Oct. 31," Fogh Rasmussen said after a meeting of the alliance's governing body, the North Atlantic Council. "We will take a formal decision early next week."
Diplomat said NATO air patrols are set to continue over Libya in the next 10 days as a precautionary measure to ensure the stability of the new regime. They will gradually be reduced in coming days if there are no further outbreaks of violence.
Rasmussen hailed the success of the operation which started on March 19 with a series of U.S.-led attacks designed to suppress Moammar Gadhafi's formidable air defenses, including missile and radar networks. Libya's former rebels killed Gadhafi on Thursday, and officials had said they expected the aerial operation to end very soon.
"It shows that freedom is the biggest force in the world," Fogh Rasmussen said.
He said NATO had no intention of leaving any residual force in or near Libya.
"We expect to close down the operation."
The council took into account the wishes of Libya's new government and of the United Nations, under whose mandate NATO carried out its operations.
The success of the military operation has helped reinvigorate the Cold War alliance and polished the reputation of France and Britain, the two countries that drove it forward.
Analysts attributed its success to the fact that NATO remained steadfast over the summer during a long and grinding stalemate against Gadhafi loyalists and avoided the temptation to send ground troops into Libya.
NATO earlier said its commanders were not aware that Gadhafi was in a convoy that NATO bombed as it fled Sirte. In a statement Friday, the alliance said an initial Thursday morning strike was aimed at a convoy of approximately 75 armed vehicles leaving Sirte, the Libyan city defended by Gadhafi loyalists. One vehicle was destroyed, which resulted in the convoy's dispersal.
Another jet then engaged approximately 20 vehicles that were driving at great speed toward the south, destroying or damaging about 10 of them.
"We later learned from open sources and allied intelligence that Gadhafi was in the convoy and that the strike likely contributed to his capture," the statement said.
Intelligence gleaned during surveillance flights around Sirte on Thursday indicated that a "command and control group, including senior military leaders" were attempting to flee from the town, Cameron's spokesman Steve Field said.
"There was a strike, there was damage to the convoy, the Free Libya Fighters then moved in ? as to what happened next that is not entirely clear," he said.
NATO warplanes have flown about 26,000 sorties, including over 9,600 strike missions. They destroyed Libya's air defenses and over 1,000 tanks, vehicles and guns, as well as Gadhafi's command and control networks.
The daily airstrikes finally broke the stalemate that developed after Gadhafi's initial attempts failed to crush the rebellion that broke out in February. In August, the rebels began advancing on Tripoli, with the NATO warplanes providing close air support and destroying any attempts by the defenders to block them.
NATO was sharply criticized by Russia, China, South Africa and other nations for overstepping the limited U.N. Security Council resolution that allowed it to protect civilians, and using it as a pretext to pursue regime change in Libya.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said earlier Friday that "the operation has reached its end."
But in London, Britain had suggested that NATO may not immediately complete its mission in Libya, wary over the potential reprisal attacks by remaining Gadhafi loyalists.
___
Associated Press writers Elaine Ganley in Paris and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.
___
Follow Slobodan Lekic on Twitter at http://twitter.com/slekich
A nice high-res photograph of what could be a finished version of Nokia's first WP7 phone has appeared online, showing us the phone previously known as the "Sea Ray" in all its... er... glory. More »
The beer drinkers in Boston? Amateurs. Pikers. For real beer drinking, you gotta read this New York Daily News story about the Yankees, based on reports from ?insiders?:
According to one of the insiders,?Jason Giambi?and?Roger Clemens?would routinely drink beer on the dugout bench when they played for the?Yankees, passing back and forth what Giambi called his ?protein shake,? code for a cup of beer, the source said.?And they weren?t the only ones who partook. ?Rally beers are big in the clubhouse,? one insider said. ?Guys would drink them all the time, on the bench, in the clubhouse, in the training room. It?s common.?
But you gotta take all of that with a grain of hops, because the next anecdote quoted from this source ? about Jose Canseco hitting three homers on beer-power while with the Yankees ? was debunked by ESPN?s David Schoenfield earlier today.
My guess: the story is largely true ? ballplayers like beer and will drink it whenever ? even if the details are exaggerated for dramatic effect. ?Which makes it like most Daily News stories, most likely.
Either way, I continue to not be shocked by any of the allegations that come out of Boston. And continue to not think any of them are that big a deal.
NEW YORK ? Ann Romney is a smiling presence at her husband's side. Gloria Cain doesn't campaign at all. And Anita Perry raised eyebrows with her claim that her husband had been "brutalized" for his faith.
The wives ? and one husband ? of the 2012 presidential contenders are still learning to manage the unforgiving scrutiny that comes with their role. A spouse can be a priceless asset, validating and humanizing the candidate in voters' eyes. But an absent spouse can raise questions, and a provocative comment from a spouse can wound the candidate or pull him or her off message at a critical juncture.
That's what happened to Texas Gov. Rick Perry after his wife spoke to voters at North Greenville University in South Carolina a day before Perry was to unveil his energy policy. Intense and weepy at times, Anita Perry said her husband had come under withering assault in part because of his evangelical Christian faith.
"It's been a rough month," she said in remarks recorded by NBC News. "We have been brutalized and beaten up and chewed up in the press. We are being brutalized by our opponents and our own party. So much of that is, I think they look at him ? because of his faith."
Rick Perry defended his wife when pressed on whether he agreed with her assertion. But it was unquestionably a distraction for Perry, who had tried to restore his focus on the economy after a month of bad debate performances and slipping poll numbers.
"We look at the spouse to give us some clue as to the character of the candidate," said Myra Gutin, a Rider University communications professor who studies first ladies. "He or she has to be circumspect, to avoid controversy as much as possible. But it's very hard for spouses to watch their significant other go through a hard time, so they sometimes speak out about it."
Emotional outbursts have bedeviled many candidates' spouses over the years.
Former President Bill Clinton's finger-wagging bursts of anger drew plenty of attention when he campaigned for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary campaign against Barack Obama. And Obama's wife, Michelle, came under withering criticism that year when she told a campaign audience, "for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country."
The outcry over Michelle Obama's comment led to an emergency retooling of her image. As first lady, she's become a popular figure by focusing on relatively safe issues like childhood obesity, military families and harvesting a garden on the White House lawn.
Among the GOP candidates' spouses, Ann Romney, wife of GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, has so far managed to avoid any noticeable missteps in part because she's been through a presidential campaign before. She's said she feels more relaxed than she did during her husband's 2008 race, and she projects confidence when she introduces him at campaign events.
"If they don't pick Mitt, that's their stupid mistake, not mine," she often says to laughs.
Ann Romney is often credited with softening the former Massachusetts governor's stiff image, describing him as a devoted father and husband who has stood by her during treatment for multiple sclerosis and breast cancer.
Mary Kaye Huntsman, wife of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, has been a near constant presence in New Hampshire, where her husband has focused his entire campaign effort. She's become a regular at local restaurants around the state capital, Concord, even when cameras aren't rolling.
She approached a group of reporters at an event last week, saying "people are crying out for" her husband's candidacy even though he's languished in low single digits in most polls.
"He'd rather lose than be inauthentic," she said.
While Ann Romney and Mary Kaye Huntsman have been ubiquitous on the trail, Gloria Cain, wife of pizza magnate Herman Cain, has been nearly invisible. With recent polls showing him surging into a virtual tie with Romney, Cain has faced questions about his wife's absence.
"My wife and I, we have a family life, and she is maintaining the calmness and the tranquility of that family life," Cain said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Cain told The Associated Press that his wife "is a lot more introverted than I am" but said he expects she'll make an appearance with him around Thanksgiving.
"Campaigns can be grueling, and I like my wife," he said Saturday. "I want to keep her alive so she can hold that Bible when they swear me in as president."
Carol Paul, Texas Rep. Ron Paul's wife, in also an infrequent campaigner.
The absence of a spouse can be problematic for a presidential front-runner. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean learned that in 2004 when he was competing for the Democratic nomination and his wife, Judith Steinberg Dean, refused to leave her medical practice to campaign with him. She eventually did so but only after his campaign faltered in Iowa, the first nominating contest.
Struggling to gain traction, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has cast his marriage to his wife, Karen, as central to his candidacy, in which he has sought to highlight conservative social issues. The two have seven children, including a daughter born with severe birth defects. Another son died shortly after birth.
Introducing his wife at a conservative gathering earlier this month, Santorum suggested candidates should be judged on their spouses.
"When you look at someone to determine whether they'd be the right person for public office, look at who they lay down with at night and what they believe in," Santorum told the Values Voter summit.
Spouses have caused problems for some of the candidates this year.
Marcus Bachmann proved to be a distraction for his wife, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, when he was forced to defend his Christian counseling business from claims its therapies include "curing" gay patients. Michele Bachmann had actively opposed gay rights throughout her political career, but the controversy around her husband's clinic came as she was trying to focus her presidential bid on the economy and taxes.
Newt Gingrich this summer was pressed on why he had maintained a $500,000 line of credit at Tiffany's, presumably to purchase expensive jewelry for his third wife, Callista. The former House speaker also left the campaign in its early months to take a Mediterranean cruise with Callista, a decision that caused most of his campaign staff to quit.
The two carried on a 6-year affair while Gingrich was married to his second wife and was pressing for Bill Clinton's impeachment for involvement with a White House intern. Gingrich has sought to portray his marriage to Callista as a deeply committed partnership. The couple campaigns extensively together, and Callista's new children's book, "Sweet Land of Liberty," has become a best seller.
Until her remarks in South Carolina, Anita Perry had been a relatively low-key presence on the campaign trail, as she was during her husband's three campaigns for Texas governor. She's often appeared with Perry at events but rarely spoke. She made an exception at a campaign event in Iowa, reminding her husband, during his defense of in-state college tuition for children of illegal immigrants, to mention that the students must be pursuing U.S. citizenship.
"Family members always take these campaigns a little more personally than the candidates do," Perry told NBC News when asked about his wife's comments on religion.
Rider University's Gutin went further: "Mrs. Perry needs to realize that if her husband becomes the Republican nominee, this is just the beginning."
___
Associated Press writers Charles Babington in Washington, Shannon McCaffrey in Atlanta and Steve Peoples in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.
___
Beth Fouhy can be found on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bfouhy
With the Obama administration threatening to seize medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the state, the California Medical Association voted Friday to support the decriminalization of marijuana. The Association, the state?s largest physician organization, originally opposed California?s 15-year-old medical marijuana initiative.
The group continues to be skeptical of the medical value of marijuana, according to a Los Angeles Times report, but the CMA is calling for medical testing and for marijuana to be regulated like alcohol and cigarettes.
The organization?s president said in a statement: ?CMA may be the first organization of its kind to take this position, but we won?t be the last. This was a carefully considered, deliberative decision made exclusively on medical and scientific grounds.?
A spokesman for the California Police Chiefs Association was quoted by the Times as saying in response to the decision, ?I wonder what they?re smoking.?? ?PZS
California Medical Association:
?CMA may be the first organization of its kind to take this position, but we won?t be the last. This was a carefully considered, deliberative decision made exclusively on medical and scientific grounds,? said James T. Hay, M.D., CMA President-Elect. ?As physicians, we need to have a better understanding about the benefits and risks of medicinal cannabis so that we can provide the best care possible to our patients.?
CMA?s Board of Trustees, a representative body of physician delegations across the state, adopted the policy without objection.
The federal government currently lists cannabis as a Schedule I drug. That classification restricts the research and ability to study the substance. Part of the policy adopted by CMA emphasizes that the drug should be rescheduled in addition to being legalized.
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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Kern County coroners say a worker who was left brain dead after an accident at a recycling plant last week was taken off life support and has died.
The accident killed his younger brother, 16-year-old Armando Ramirez, on Wednesday. The two were working side-by-side, cleaning out a tunnel at the Community Recycling and Resource Co. in Lamont.
Armando was overcome by the gas and Heladio was injured trying to save him from the tunnel.
Rescuers had to use breathing equipment to bring the brothers out of the tunnel.
State and federal labor officials have opened investigations into the accident.
POSTED: 6:28 am HST October 15, 2011 UPDATED: 9:09 am HST October 15, 2011
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Finance ministers from the world's largest economies pledged Saturday to take "all necessary actions" to stabilize global financial markets and ensure that banks are well capitalized."We will ensure that banks are adequately capitalized and have sufficient access to funding to deal with the current crisis," the Group of 20 finance ministers said in a statement issued after a two-day meeting in Paris.The meeting comes as officials in Europe move closer to an agreement on a comprehensive plan to secure the banking system and resolve Europe's long-standing sovereign debt problems.The plan, outlined by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso last week, will be discussed in detail at a meeting being held by the European Council in Brussels on Oct. 23."We heard encouraging things from our European colleagues in Paris about a new comprehensive plan to deal with the crisis on the continent," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in a statement.Geithner added that European leaders "clearly have more work to do on the strategy and the details."But he sounded optimistic about the support the plan has received from Europe's two largest economies. "When France and Germany agree on a plan together and decide to act, big things are possible," he said.European leaders have been under pressure to decisively resolve the debt crisis in Greece and increase the firepower of a recently overhauled bailout fund to provide a stronger "backstop" for other euro area nations struggling with unsustainable levels of debt, such as Italy and Spain.The 27-nation European Union has also been grappling with the threat of a banking crisis, amid fears in financial markets that banks do not have enough capital to withstand the shock of a contagious sovereign debt crisis.The G20 ministers welcomed the recently approved overhaul of the European Financial Stability Facility, which now has power to intervene in the sovereign debt market and loan money to governments that need to recapitalize banks.The EFSF is still widely seen as needing additional "leverage" to address both the sovereign debt and banking crisis simultaneously.EU officials are expected to discuss ways to give the ?440 billion fund greater "firepower" at a meeting later this month, but increasing the amount of money the fund controls has been ruled out."We look forward to further work to maximize the impact of the EFSF in order to avoid contagion, and to the outcome of the European Council on October 23 to decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan," the G20 communiqu? read.The "comprehensive plan" is expected to be formally presented early next month when the G20 heads of state meet in Cannes, France. Meanwhile, the G20 also said it made progress on an "action plan" to address problems in the global economy and help boost growth.The ministers said developed economies must continue to reduce debts and deficits, while taking steps to spur economic growth.Emerging economies need to address risks such as inflation and capital imbalances, the G20 said, adding that developing nations with export-driven economies need to stimulate domestic consumption.The G20 said it is taking "concrete steps" to strengthen the international monetary system, including the management of capital flows and exchange rates.The ministers also mwelcomed new surveillance powers by the International Monetary Fund, but the statement seemed to suggest that the G20 expects more from the multinational lending institution."We committed that the IMF must have adequate resources to fulfill its systemic responsibilities and look forward to a discussion of this in Cannes," the G20 said.Geithner said in his statement that the IMF has a "substantial arsenal of financial resources" that can be used to "supplement" Europe's comprehensive plan.But he added that the IMF resources would be used "alongside a more substantial commitment of European resources." The G20 also pledged to continue working on plans to strengthen the global financial system and contain the risks posed by financial institutions that are deemed too-big-to-fail.The G20 consists of large, industrialized economies such as the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and Canada. It also includes emerging economic powers China, India, Brazil and Russia.
LAS VEGAS - During one of the most bizarre postfight press conferences in UFC history, a visibly annoyed Dana White announced that Nick Diaz, the big winner at UFC 137, would be getting the next title shot against Georges St-Pierre.
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Public release date: 28-Oct-2011
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