Fishermen pay price in Asia's volatile sea rifts

MASINLOC, Philippines (AP) ? Along the northwestern Philippine coast, poor children with claw hammers clamber aboard an abandoned fishing vessel to pry loose and steal rusty nails from its deck. It's become a familiar sight in villages where some fishermen have been forced to give up their livelihoods since China took control of their fishing haven last year.

Fishermen say Chinese maritime surveillance ships have shooed them from Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and roped off the entrance to the vast lagoon that had been their fishing paradise for decades. Now, they say, they can't even count on the Chinese to give them shelter there from a potentially deadly storm.

Some have paddled back in canoes to sneak into the lagoon ? teeming with pricey yellowfin and skipjack tuna, red grouper, blue marlin and lobster ? while their mother boats hide from a distance.

But other Filipino fishermen in the northwestern towns of Masinloc and Infanta have sold their boats, or simply abandoned them on the coast, and turned to other work, including raising pigs in their backyards.

Fish trader Joey Legazpi has sold most of his 12 outrigger boats, which largely depended on Scarborough's pristine fishing waters, and opened a small food store in Infanta, in Pangasinan province.

"It's gone," Legazpi said, noting that the Philippines' ill-equipped forces are no match for China's mammoth military. "We've lost hope we can get Scarborough back."

Large swarms of fishing fleets are getting entangled in an expanding labyrinth of Asian territorial conflicts. The stakes are rising as China and other rival claimants in the South China Sea pour more air, naval and paramilitary forces into the area, increasing the risk of confrontations.

Chinese maritime surveillance ships took control of Scarborough, which Beijing calls Huangyan Island, and roped off the entrance to its vast fishing lagoon following a two-month standoff with Philippine government ships last year. The chain of reefs and rocks 230 kilometers (143 miles) west of the northwestern Philippine province of Zambales falls under its 200-nautical mile (370-kilometer) exclusive economic zone, Filipino officials say.

The area lies about 870 kilometers (542 miles) from China's nearest coast. Some other South China Sea islands claimed by China are much closer than that, but those are also claimed by other countries, including Taiwan and Vietnam.

Many other areas of the sea are volatile. Vietnam lodged a protest in March after claiming its fishermen were fired upon by a Chinese ship, damaging their boat.

Two weeks ago, Filipino coast guard personnel killed a Taiwanese fisherman in a confrontation with a fishing vessel. Manila has apologized but Taiwan has retaliated by freezing jobs for Filipinos, recalling its envoy and cutting trade exchanges.

Ian Storey, senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said rival claimants have hardened their positions and tried to bolster their sovereignty claims through national legislation or before the United Nations. Beijing, which has aggressively asserted claims to virtually the entire South China Sea and separately to a string of East China Sea islands it contests with Japan, has turned to administrative acts and chased away fishermen it accuses of intrusion.

"The prospect of a resolution to the various disputes in the South China Sea is very dim," Storey said.

Filipino fishermen in Masinloc and Infanta who have journeyed to Scarborough for years told The Associated Press that Chinese surveillance ships have driven them away and pursued them in dangerous cat-and-mouse chases.

"Our fishermen have become scared," said Mayor Desiree Edora of Masinloc, a fishing town in Zambales province, which claims jurisdiction over the shoal. "What power do they have? The other side has (defense) equipment and what do the fishermen have? ? only Styrofoam, ice and so forth ? so what they did was to leave to save their lives."

Alarmed by the recent territorial tensions, Southeast Asian countries have sought a legally binding code of conduct with China to discourage belligerent behavior and prevent fighting. But Beijing has not clearly said so far when it would sit down to discuss the proposal.

Joynes Pursines, skipper of the Queen Kim Urich, said that he and his men were chased away from Scarborough Shoal three times late last year. At one point, his outrigger boat was hemmed in by two ships, their deafening horn blowing repeatedly close by and the Chinese waving red flags.

"We thought they'd ram us," he said. The Chinese ships chased him for about 3 nautical miles (5.5 kilometers) and backed away when Pursines' ship was about 10 nautical miles (18 kilometers) from the shoal.

Legazpi said the dispute over the shoal put the lives of their fishermen at risk when fierce monsoon wind threatened to lash their boats late last year. They could not enter the shallow, calm waters of Scarborough's 130 square-kilometer (80 square-mile) lagoon, because Chinese surveillance ships stood guard nearby.

"How can they do that when it's the law of the sea that people in distress should be helped?" Legazpi asked.

"My men just returned home and cut short their fishing trip. Nobody wanted to go missing at sea because there won't be any death certificate and their families wouldn't get any benefit."

He said seven of his fishermen disappeared when a storm hit the shoal in 2005.

The Associated Press sought comment on the fishermen's claims from the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing but it did not reply. Philippine officials have protested China's blockade of the lagoon.

Macario Forones, a fish trader in Masinloc, is now among those who are raising pigs to make ends meet.

"I used to have up to 60 fishermen working with me. Now all of them are gone," he said. He sent canoes into the shoal for a time, but stopped after the Chinese moved their ships to discourage such efforts.

But Forones is not giving up. He had his outrigger boat reinforced, hoping he will soon be able to send it back to the shoal.

His boat stood brightly with a new coat of white and orange paint on Masinloc's coast as a nearby abandoned vessel rotted under the sun.

___

Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila and Louise Watt in Beijing contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fishermen-pay-price-asias-volatile-sea-rifts-071908894.html

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Mexico cartel dominates, torches western state

In this May 20, 2013 photo, a masked and armed man belonging to a local self-defense group stands guard in the town of Cuemalco, Mexico. Self-defense groups started to spring up in February to fight back the Knights Templar drug cartel which is extorting protection payments from cattlemen and lime growers, butchers and even marijuana growers. The federal government sees both the self-defense forces and the cartel as dangerous enemies. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

In this May 20, 2013 photo, a masked and armed man belonging to a local self-defense group stands guard in the town of Cuemalco, Mexico. Self-defense groups started to spring up in February to fight back the Knights Templar drug cartel which is extorting protection payments from cattlemen and lime growers, butchers and even marijuana growers. The federal government sees both the self-defense forces and the cartel as dangerous enemies. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

In this May 20, 2013 photo, a masked man belonging to a local self-defense group sits with his weapon as he guards the town of Cuemalco, Mexico. Self-defense groups started to spring up in February to fight back the Knights Templar drug cartel which is extorting protection payments from cattlemen and lime growers, butchers and even marijuana growers. The federal government sees both the self-defense forces and the cartel as dangerous enemies. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

In this May 20, 2013 photo, armed men belonging to a local self-defense group patrol the entrance to the town of Buenavista, Mexico. Self-defense groups started to spring up in February to fight back the Knights Templar drug cartel which is extorting protection payments from cattlemen and lime growers, butchers and even marijuana growers. The federal government sees both the self-defense forces and the cartel as dangerous enemies. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

In this May 20, 2013 photo, a masked youth stands guard at the entrance of the town of Buenavista, Mexico. Self-defense groups started to spring up in February to fight back the Knights Templar drug cartel which is extorting protection payments from cattlemen and lime growers, butchers and even marijuana growers. The federal government sees both the self-defense forces and the cartel as dangerous enemies. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

In this May 20, 2013 photo, a man on a motorcycle drives past the burnt-out hulks of two trucks and a passenger bus, allegedly torched by the Knights Templar drug cartel as a warning to anyone who tries to bring reinforcements, near the town of Buenavista, Mexico. A drug cartel that takes its name from an ancient monastic order has set fire to lumber yards, packing plants and passenger buses in a medieval-like reign of terror. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

LA RUANA, Mexico (AP) ? Michoacan is burning. A drug cartel that takes its name from an ancient monastic order has set fire to lumber yards, packing plants and passenger buses in a medieval-like reign of terror.

The Knights Templar cartel is extorting protection payments from cattlemen, lime growers and businesses such as butchers, prompting a backlash in the western agricultural state, where some communities are fighting back, taking up arms in vigilante patrols.

Lime picker Alejandro Ayala chose to seek help from the law instead. After the cartel forced him out of work by shutting down fruit warehouses, he and several dozen co-workers, escorted by Federal Police, met on April 10 with then-state Interior Secretary Jesus Reyna, now the acting governor.

The 41-year-old father of two only wanted to get back to work, said his wife, Martha Elena Murguia Morales.

But, as often, the cartel responded before the government did.

On the way back, his convoy was ambushed, twice. Ayala and nine others were killed.

"I called him after the first one, and he said, 'They shot at us, but I'm OK,'" Murguia Morales said. "Then I called him again, and he didn't answer."

Help finally arrived Sunday when thousands of soldiers rolled in to restore order. The government of President Enrique Pena Nieto says troops will stay in Michoacan until every citizen lives in peace. But the offensive, headed by Secretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos, looks a lot like failed operations launched previously by former President Felipe Calderon, who started his first assault on organized crime in Michoacan shortly after taking office in late 2006.

Calderon was trying to stop drug cartels from morphing into mafias controlling all segments of society. But that's exactly what has happened, as they maintain country roads, control the local economy and mete out justice for common crimes.

In the Tierra Caliente, a remote agricultural region, fire has been a favored weapon of the cartel. On the highway between Coalcoman and La Ruana, the ruins of three sawmills torched by the cartel still smoldered this week.

The owners reportedly had failed to pay protection fees of 120 pesos (about $10) for every cubic meter of wood they sold, the equivalent of about 10 cents for every two-by-four board.

The Knights Templar also demands that avocado growers pay 2,000 pesos (about $160) per hectare of trees. Avocado warehouses were set afire this month by armed men.

The heart of a conflict where a mafia openly rules and the government is largely absent is nowhere more evident than in the lime groves that cover the hot, hilly plains, miles and miles of trees with the fruit yellowing and falling into uncollected heaps on the ground.

Mexico is the world's largest producer of limes, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 2 million tons in 2012. Much of its exports go to the United States, and Michoacan contributes a large share of that: nearly 475,000 tons of the fruit last year, half from the Tierra Caliente.

It sometimes seems like everything in Mexico, from tacos to potato chips to beer, gets a squeeze of lime.

By late last year, the cartel wasn't just extorting money from lime growers and packers. It had started charging per-box payments from lime pickers, who make only $10 to $15 per day laboring under the scorching sun.

With officials doing nothing to help, self-defense groups started to spring up in February to fight back. Heavily armed men in masks and baseball caps began manning barricades along highways and patrolling the countryside, sometimes openly battling the cartel. Last month

Then the cartel shut the warehouses, forbidding brokers to buy limes and cutting off work for the pickers who had revolted.

Straw-hatted fruit broker Carlos Torres Chavez watched on Tuesday as thousands of fresh green limes poured down the chutes from his plant's giant hoppers into a 37-ton truck for shipment to a processing mill. It was his first day open in two months, thanks to the arrival of the army.

Torres Chavez sells to mills that make lime oil. He usually gets yellow, overripe, second-rate fruit.

But because of the growers' desperation to make money, they were selling him fresh green limes for a peso per kilogram (8 cents per pound), a third of what the fruit is normally worth.

"This is a waste. These are good limes, they can be eaten. They shouldn't be going to the mill," said Domingo Mora, 54, as he picked up one of the limes sifting through the hoppers.

Mora's 24-year-old son, Daniel Mora Torres, was arrested in March along with 50 other young men from the La Ruana self-defense force and was sent to a prison in northern Mexico.

Authorities accused them of carrying banned assault rifles, and said some had links to a rival cartel, Jalisco Nueva Generation, which they deny. The federal government sees both the self-defense forces and the cartel as dangerous enemies.

Mora says his son is just a lime picker who couldn't work to feed his family after the Knights Templar banned the lime sales.

Meanwhile, in Mexico City, the federal government recently declared a lime emergency because prices had doubled to about 70 cents a pound (18 pesos per kilogram). For a fruit so central to Mexican cuisine, it was a crisis.

The government announced last week it would tackle the shortage by importing limes from Brazil. The government attributed the local scarcity to crop pests and "seasonal fluctuations" in production.

Sergio Ramirez, president of a lime trade group called Sistema Producto Limon, insisted there is no shortage and blamed the high prices on greedy fruit dealers and government bungling. His explanation doesn't play in the Tierra Caliente.

"Isn't it ironic, Mexico is going to import limes from Brazil, because there isn't enough supply?" asked a rancher wearing a baseball cap and leaning back into his chair at the headquarters of the local self-defense group in Tepalcatepec. "Here, the limes are falling to the ground, because the lords of the Knights Templar won't let them be sold."

The rancher, who like most of the vigilantes won't give his name for fear of reprisal, knows the price of living under the rule of the gang. They used to demand 800 to 1,000 pesos (up to $80) in protection money for each head of cattle he owned, about equal to any profit he would make from selling them.

The Mexican army was met with cheers when it arrived in La Ruana on Monday night. Federal Interior Secretary Miguel Osorio Chong promised that the offensive this time would have better coordination, cooperation and intelligence to be successful.

But federal forces up against a deeply rooted local mafia that, with at least a decade of state and local government tolerance, exerts almost governmental power.

The last time the federal government truly went after the cartel, then known as La Familia, was in 2010. Federal Police killed leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez in a gunbattle and firefights followed for weeks in dozens of spots. La Familia's leadership fell apart, but one branch of the cartel evolved into the Knights Templar, which has consolidated control.

The cartel now operates relatively openly. A man resembling its leader, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez Martinez, recently appeared on YouTube, calling on the federal government to do its job and saying the vigilantes were men sent by rival cartels from outside of Michoacan.

He has regularly sent messages depicting the Knights Templar as home-grown Robin Hoods who take from the rich, give to the poor and defend the state against other gangs.

The cartel even built public, roadside chapels to its fallen leader, "St. Nazario," which some of the vigilantes destroyed.

And it can draw crowds of supporters, either by threat, persuasion or payment, in cities such as Apatzingan, where hundreds of people have rallied to condemn the self-defense squads.

Many of the vigilante squads disappeared this week with the arrival of the army, though they vow to take up arms again as soon as the soldiers leave. But the patrols continued in the town of Buenavista, where one self-defense guard, a square-jawed young lime picker in a straw hat, carried a 16-gauge shotgun at a checkpoint. He described the cartel this way:

"It's like a monster with a thousand arms, that wants to control everything, the way you live, the way you think," said the young patrolman. "You cut off one arm, it grows another."

___

Associated Press writer E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-22-Drug%20War-Mexico/id-e1fe9df034a14c77a9bb87bd20170170

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Collaborative Gastronomy? Cookening Lets Tourists Dine In A Local's Own Home

Launching today is Cookening, a new French startup co-founded by C?dric Giorgi (previously co-editor of TechCrunch France) that combines elements of both Airbnb and Housebites. Starting with France first, a country known for its gastronomy, it enables locals to be matched with tourists so they can invite them into their homes to experience an authentic home dining experience.

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

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UK wine retailer First Quench in $242 million pension risk deal

By Sarah Mortimer

LONDON (Reuters) - British alcoholic drinks retailer First Quench is insuring a chunk of its pension liabilities with specialist provider Pension Insurance Corporation, improving retirement benefits for its 1,966 members.

A growing number of "final salary" pension schemes are running into trouble because of rising longevity and low UK government bond yields.

Insurers and reinsurers are capitalizing on increased demand from pension funds for ways to manage their liabilities by underwriting individual pension funds and charging a fee.

Pension Insurance Corp said on Wednesday it would assume responsibility for managing some of the of pension liabilities held by the trustees of the First Quench fund - amounting to 160 million pounds ($242.26 million).

Unable to pay the final-salary linked pensions of its members, First Quench - which operates the Threshers and Wine Rack brands - relinquished its debt to the Britain's Pension Protection Fund (PPF), in October 2009.

The PPF was launched in 2005 to take over the assets and liabilities of UK-based defined benefit pension schemes if an employer goes bust. It currently has around 15 billion pounds of assets under management, which it expects to rise to over 21 billion pounds in 2016.

The PPF caps the amount it pays out to members of insolvent schemes but Chris Martin, managing director of Independent Trustee Services Limited, said First Quench members should receive more money than if they stayed in the PPF scheme.

($1 = 0.6604 British pounds)

(Reporting by Sarah Mortimer; Editing by Louise Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-wine-retailer-first-quench-242-million-pension-113326388.html

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Andy Murray out of French Open due to back injury

El tenista esoc?s Andy Murray gesticula en un partido contra Tomas Berdych en el Masters de Madrid el viernes, 10 de mayo de 2013. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

El tenista esoc?s Andy Murray gesticula en un partido contra Tomas Berdych en el Masters de Madrid el viernes, 10 de mayo de 2013. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

Britain's Andy Murray wipes his face during a pause of a match with Spain's Marcel Granollers during their match at the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Murray has retired from his second-round match with Marcel Granollers in the second round of the Italian Open. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Britain's Andy Murray receives medical care during his match with Spain's Marcel Granollers, at the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Murray has retired from his second-round match with Marcel Granollers in the second round of the Italian Open. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

LONDON (AP) ? Andy Murray withdrew from the French Open on Tuesday because of a chronic back injury and will now focus on preparing for the start of the grass-court season next month.

The U.S. Open champion met with specialists this week after being forced to pull out of his second-match against Marcel Granollers of Spain at the Italian Open last Wednesday because of the long-standing complaint.

"It's a really tough decision and I love playing in Paris, but after seeking medical advice I am not fit to compete," Murray said in a statement. "Apologies to the organizers and thanks to everyone for the messages of support. Now my complete focus is on getting back on the court as soon as possible."

The French Open, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, starts Sunday.

Last week in Rome, Murray took a long injury break early in the second set against Granollers, getting his left thigh and lower back massaged.

He seemed pessimistic about his chances of playing in the French Open, the only major in which he hasn't reached the final.

"I have an issue with my lower back. It's been an issue for a while," Murray said then. "I want to make sure it goes away. It's been a problem since the end of 2011 but it got bad during last year's clay season.

"I would be very surprised if I was playing in Paris."

Murray reached the quarterfinals at the French Open last year, falling to David Ferrer, before going on to lose his first Wimbledon final to Roger Federer. He avenged that defeat against the Swiss star to win Olympic gold, and downed Novak Djovokic at the U.S. Open for his first Grand Slam title later in 2012.

Wimbledon runs from June 24 to July 7 this year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-21-TEN-French-Open-Murray-Out/id-f7185ce02d2f4974a882267f4621cf3d

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Apple case seen as possible spur to tax action

Apple CEO Tim Cook testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations as lawmakers examine the methods employed by multinational corporations to shift profits offshore and how such activities are affected by the Internal Revenue Code. Lawmakers want to know the tax strategy of how Apple, the world's most valuable company, based in Cupertino, Calif., holds a billion dollars in an Irish subsidiary as a tax strategy, according to a report issued this week by the subcommittee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Apple CEO Tim Cook testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations as lawmakers examine the methods employed by multinational corporations to shift profits offshore and how such activities are affected by the Internal Revenue Code. Lawmakers want to know the tax strategy of how Apple, the world's most valuable company, based in Cupertino, Calif., holds a billion dollars in an Irish subsidiary as a tax strategy, according to a report issued this week by the subcommittee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Apple CEO Tim Cook testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations as lawmakers examine the methods employed by multinational corporations to shift profits offshore and how such activities are affected by the Internal Revenue Code. Lawmakers want to know the tax strategy of how Apple, the world's most valuable company, based in Cupertino, Calif., holds a billion dollars in an Irish subsidiary as a tax strategy, according to a report issued this week by the subcommittee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., holds up his own Apple iPhone, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, as he presses Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, for answers about how Apple, the world's most valuable company, and based in Cupertino, Calif., diverts a billion dollars to an Irish subsidiary as a tax strategy, according to a report issued this week by the subcommittee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Apple CEO Tim Cook, center, is surrounded by aides as finishes his appearance on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations as the panel examined the methods employed by multinational corporations to shift profits offshore and how such activities are affected by the Internal Revenue Code. Lawmakers pressed Cook to learn more about Apple's tax strategies in keeping a billion dollars in an Irish subsidiary, according to a report issued this week by the subcommittee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., holds up his own Apple iPhone, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, as he presses Apple CEO Tim Cook for answers about how Apple, the world's most valuable company, and based in Cupertino, Calif., diverts a billion dollars to an Irish subsidiary as a tax strategy, according to a report issued this week by the subcommittee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Now that tech darling Apple Inc. has been dragged front and center into the debate over the U.S. tax code, lawmakers are hoping that the spotlight on such a high-profile company could be the catalyst for Congress to take action to close loopholes or reform the law.

At a hearing Tuesday, members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations grilled Apple CEO Tim Cook over allegations that the company's Irish subsidiaries help it avoid billions in U.S. taxes. It was a moment of high drama, a CEO of the world's most valuable company testifying before Congress for the first time ever. Cook did so voluntarily. And he parried the volley of questions from senators, insisting that the company's overseas operations have nothing to do with reducing Apple's U.S. taxes.

"We pay all the taxes we owe ? every single dollar," Cook said. "We don't depend on tax gimmicks."

The subcommittee released a report Monday that held up Apple as an example of the legal tax avoidance made possible by the U.S. tax code. Apple paid $6 billion in taxes last year. But the subcommittee estimates that Apple avoided at least $3.5 billion in U.S. federal taxes in 2011 and $9 billion in 2012 by using its tax strategy, and described a complex setup involving Irish subsidiaries as being a key factor.

The result, said Sen. John McCain: "Apple has over $100 billion, more than two-thirds of its total profits, stashed away in an offshore account."

The focus on Apple's taxes comes at a time of heated debate in Washington over whether and how to raise revenues to help reduce the federal deficit. Many Democrats complain that the government is missing out on billions of dollars because companies are stashing profits abroad and avoiding taxes. Republicans want to cut the corporate tax rate of 35 percent and ease the tax burden on money that U.S. companies make abroad. They say the move would encourage companies to invest at home and thus spur the economy and job market.

"America's tax system is broken and uncompetitive," said McCain, the subcommittee's senior Republican. "The egregious loopholes that exist in the tax code must be closed so that the nearly $1 trillion in untaxed overseas profits can come back to the United States."

Apple's enormous, iPhone-fueled profits mean that it has more cash stashed overseas than any other company: $102 billion. And Cook reaffirmed Apple's position that it has no intention of bringing that cash back to the U.S. at the current tax rate. Like other companies, it has a responsibility to shareholders to pay as little as possible in taxes. In effect, Apple is holding out for a lower corporate tax rate, and Cook spent some of his time in the spotlight to advocate for one, as well as a streamlining of the tax code to eliminate deductions and credits.

Cook, who is more accustomed to commanding a stage in front of investors and techies than facing a congressional committee, took a defensive tone with his opening statement. He punched out words when stressing the 600,000 jobs that the company supports, and underscored that Apple is the nation's largest corporate taxpayer.

Even if additional tens of billions from Apple began flowing into the U.S. Treasury, the money would barely put a dent in the $642 billion federal budget deficit. But Apple as a symbol resonates with politicians, especially Democrats, seeking to make the case that a powerful corporation shouldn't be excused from its fair share of taxes. The public dissection of Apple hopefully will spur Congress to action to fix the tax code, McCain urged. The sentiment was widely shared among subcommittee members, in a bipartisan show. McCain and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the panel's chairman, are proposing legislation to do so.

At the same time, lawmakers must tread lightly as they attack Apple, a company held in high esteem and whose ubiquitous products are seen as both innovative and indispensable.

"I love Apple," declared panel member Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., during the hearing, confiding that she had "converted" her husband to the MacBook. And McCain took a break from grilling Cook on tax questions to ask him, "Why the hell do I have to keep updating the apps on my iPhone all the time?"

Senators on the panel say Apple's situation illustrates their belief that the U.S. tax system is in dire need of repair. The U.S. tax code contains provisions designed to force companies that sell their products overseas to pay U.S. taxes on the profits from those sales. But certain loopholes allow companies to legally bypass those provisions. Sen. Levin contends that Apple's use of such loopholes is unique among multinational corporations.

Apple uses five companies located in Ireland to carry out its tax strategy, according to the Congressional report. The companies are located at the same address in Cork, Ireland, and their boards of directors share members. While all five companies were incorporated in Ireland, only two of them also have tax residency in that country. That means the other three aren't legally required to pay taxes in Ireland because they aren't managed or controlled in that country, in Apple's view.

The report says Apple capitalizes on a difference between U.S. and Irish rules regarding tax residency. In Ireland, a company must be managed and controlled in the country to be a tax resident. Under U.S. law, a company is a tax resident of the country in which it was established. Therefore, the Apple companies aren't tax residents of Ireland or the U.S., since they weren't incorporated in the U.S., in Apple's view.

"Apple is exploiting an absurdity," Levin said. He also called Ireland a "tax haven," an appellation Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny rejected when speaking in parliament in Dublin on Tuesday.

"We are not a tax haven. American investors quite understand that. Our (taxation system) is statutory-based and clear and transparent and effective right across the board," Kenny said. He also denied the assertion in the subcommittee's report that Apple had negotiated an Irish corporate tax rate of less than 2 percent. All companies pay the standard rate of 12.5 percent on profits from Irish operations, the prime minister said.

Thanks largely to the iPhone, Apple is one of the world's most profitable companies. It earned $41.7 billion in calendar year 2012. It's neck and neck with Exxon Mobil Corp. as the world's most valuable company. However, Apple's Irish subsidiaries date back thirty years, to the time when the Macintosh computer was Apple's banner product, and its profits were a fraction of 1 percent of today's figure. Cook told the panel that those Irish subsidiaries don't reduce the company's U.S. taxes at all. The company avoids paying the 35 percent federal tax rate on profits made overseas by just not bringing those profits back to the U.S., a practice it shares with other multinationals.

Apple has shifted intellectual property rights, like patents, to the Irish subsidiaries, which means other divisions of Apple pay royalties to those subsidiaries for their sales. Those intellectual property rights, like patents, are Apple's "golden goose," Levin said. Apple executives countered that the main U.S.-based company has kept the rights for North and South America, so only royalties for overseas sales flow to the Irish subsidiaries. Also, the Irish companies pay for some of the research and development costs incurred at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

"What Apple is doing is pretty mainstream," said accounting expert Robert Willens, in an interview. Shifting around the intellectual property rights has a minor effect compared to the simple avoidance of U.S. taxes by not repatriating profits, he said.

The subcommittee also has examined the tax strategies of Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and other multinational companies, finding that they too have avoided billions in U.S. taxes by shifting profits offshore and exploiting weak, ambiguous sections of the tax code. Microsoft has used "aggressive" transactions to shift assets to subsidiaries in Puerto Rico, Ireland and Singapore, in part to avoid taxes. HP has used complex offshore loan transactions worth billions while using the money to run its U.S. operations, according to the panel.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the issue highlighted by the Senate panel's report, unfairness in the U.S. tax code, is one of longstanding concern to President Barack Obama. Carney said Obama has long favored proposals "to ensure that American companies cannot use off-shore profit shifting to avoid paying taxes," including a proposal for a minimum tax on foreign earnings.

"This has been a major priority of his because he thinks it is inexplicable that our tax code would actually be written in a way that rewards companies for taking jobs and profits offshore, and thereby penalizes companies for doing what we want them to do, which is create jobs and opportunity here in the United States," Carney said Tuesday.

Apple's stock fell $3.27, or less than one percent, to close at $439.66 in Tuesday's trading.

__

Svensson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-22-Apple-Untaxed%20Profits/id-e9367e5eb7364a9d9a8a07a1611439df

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China Factory Explosion: Blast Kills 5 At Plant; 20 Missing

Bangladeshi garment workers set fire to furniture from a police control room during a protest against the collapse of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories and poor working conditions of the employees, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 27, 2013. Police in Bangladesh took into custody five people in connection with the collapse of a shoddily-constructed building that collapsed this week, as rescue workers pulled out 19 survivors out of the rubble on Saturday and vowed to continue as long as necessary to find others despite fading hopes. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Bangladeshi policemen walk after chasing garment workers protesting against the collapse of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories and their employees, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 27, 2013. Police in Bangladesh took into custody five people in connection with the collapse of a shoddily-constructed building that collapsed this week, as rescue workers pulled out 19 survivors out of the rubble on Saturday and vowed to continue as long as necessary to find others despite fading hopes. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

A Bangladeshi Muslim rescue worker prays on the rubble of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 27, 2013. Police in Bangladesh arrested two owners of a garment factory in a shoddily-constructed building that collapsed this week, killing at least 324 people, as protests spread to a second city Saturday with hundreds of people throwing stones and setting fire to vehicles. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A girl cries for her missing mother at the site of the garment building factory that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 27, 2013. Police in Bangladesh took five people into custody in connection with the collapse of a shoddily-constructed building this week, as rescue workers pulled 19 survivors out of the rubble on Saturday and vowed to continue as long as necessary to find others despite fading hopes. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Women carry portraits of missing relatives at the site of the garment factory building that collapsed Wednesday, in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 27, 2013. Police in Bangladesh took five people into custody in connection with the collapse of a shoddily-constructed building this week, as rescue workers pulled 19 survivors out of the rubble on Saturday and vowed to continue as long as necessary to find others despite fading hopes. (AP Photo/Ismail Ferdous)

A man watches while rescue workers search for survivors at a garment factory building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 27, 2013. Police in Bangladesh took five people into custody in connection with the collapse of a shoddily-constructed building this week, as rescue workers pulled 19 survivors out of the rubble on Saturday and vowed to continue as long as necessary to find others despite fading hopes.(AP Photo/Ismail Ferdous)

A Bangladeshi man holds a picture of a relative missing in a building that collapsed Wednesday hold pictures of loved ones at a makeshift morgue in a schoolyard in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 27, 2013. Police in Bangladesh arrested two owners of a garment factory in a shoddily-constructed building that collapsed this week, killing at least 324 people, as protests spread to a second city Saturday with hundreds of people throwing stones and setting fire to vehicles. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A Bangladeshi rescue worker directs others as they search in the rubble of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 27, 2013. Police in Bangladesh arrested two owners of a garment factory in a shoddily-constructed building that collapsed this week, killing at least 324 people, as protests spread to a second city Saturday with hundreds of people throwing stones and setting fire to vehicles. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Relatives mourn a victim at the site where an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. The building collapsed near Bangladesh's capital Wednesday morning, killing dozens of people and trapping many more in the rubble, officials said. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

People and rescuers gather after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

People and rescuers gather after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Rescuers assist an injured woman after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Rescue workers carry a victim's body after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Rescue workers look for survivors after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

A man who was trapped in an collapsed eight-story building housing several garment factories is reccued in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Rescue workers pull a woman out from the rubbles after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Rescue workers and people look for survivors after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Relatives mourn a victim at the site after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Rescuers carry a woman after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Rescue workers carry a young victim's body after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Rescue workers use pieces of clothes to bring down a survivor after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. The building collapsed near Bangladesh's capital Wednesday morning, killing dozens of people and trapping many more in the rubble, officials said. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

A man who was trapped in an eight-story building housing several garment factories is rescued after the structure collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. The building collapsed near Bangladesh's capital Wednesday morning, killing dozens of people and trapping many more in the rubble, officials said. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Rescue workers use clothes to bring down survivors and bodies after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. The building collapsed near Bangladesh's capital Wednesday morning, killing dozens of people and trapping many more in the rubble, officials said. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/china-factory-explosion_n_3304764.html

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The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Wandering

This awesome 8-bit retro music video from Joe Presser is a classic tale of love: boy meets girl, boy runs away from girl, girl undergoes grueling training regimen to hunt down boy and deliver smooches. It's like Forrest Gump but in reverse.

Download the song on Soundcloud

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-weirdest-thing-on-the-internet-tonight-wandering-508921313

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Extreme global warming seen further away than previously thought

By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle

OSLO (Reuters) - Extreme global warming is less likely in coming decades after a slowdown in the pace of temperature rises so far this century, an international team of scientists said on Sunday.

Warming is still on track, however, to breach a goal set by governments around the world of limiting the increase in temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, unless tough action is taken to limit rising greenhouse gas emissions.

"The most extreme rates of warming simulated by the current generation of climate models over 50- to 100-year timescales are looking less likely," the University of Oxford wrote about the findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The rate of global warming has slowed after strong rises in the 1980s and 1990s, even though all the 10 warmest years since reliable records began in the 1850s have been since 1998.

The slowdown has been a puzzle because emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases have continued to rise, led by strong industrial growth in China.

Examining recent temperatures, the experts said that a doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere above pre-industrial times - possible by mid-century on current trends - would push up temperatures by between 0.9 and 2.0 degrees Celsius (1.6 and 3.6F).

That is below estimates made by the U.N. panel of climate scientists in 2007, of a rise of between 1 and 3 degrees Celsius (1.8-5.4F) as the immediate response to a doubling of carbon concentrations, known as the transient climate response.

OCEANS

The U.N. panel also estimated that a doubling of carbon dioxide, after accounting for melting of ice and absorption by the oceans that it would cause over hundreds of years, would eventually lead to a temperature rise of between 2 and 4.5 C

(3.6-8.1F).

Findings in the new study, by experts in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Switzerland and Norway, broadly matched that range for the long-term response.

But for government policy makers "the transient response over the next 50-100 years is what matters," lead author Alexander Otto of Oxford University said in a statement.

The oceans appear to be taking up more heat in recent years, masking a build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that passed 400 parts per million this month for the first time in human history, up 40 percent from pre-industrial levels.

Professor Reto Knutti of ETH Zurich, one of the authors, said that the lower numbers for coming decades were welcome.

But "we are still looking at warming well over the two degree goal that countries have agreed upon if current emission trends continue," he said.

Temperatures have already risen by about 0.8 Celsius (1.4F) since the Industrial Revolution and two degrees C is widely viewed as a threshold to dangerous changes such as more floods, heatwaves and rising sea levels.

"The oceans are sequestering heat more rapidly than expected over the last decade," said Professor Steven Sherwood of the University of New South Wales in Australia, who was not involved in the study.

"By assuming that this behaviour will continue, (the scientists) calculate that the climate will warm about 20 percent more slowly than previously expected, although over the long term it may be just as bad, since eventually the ocean will stop taking up heat."

He said findings "need to be taken with a large grain of salt" because of uncertainties about the oceans.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/extreme-global-warming-seen-further-away-previously-thought-090821067.html

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Budget deal reached (Offthekuff)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/306658536?client_source=feed&format=rss

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velez,

As you can imagine there has been a lot of major changes since 1.3, and even a reasonable amount since Elastix 2.0.

Elastix 2.4 does not have any major bugs that would affect faxing, so working on that basis, need to look at the following areas

1) Confirm your country is setup under /etc/dahdi/system.conf
2) Confirm your country is setup under /etc/modprobe.d/dahdi.conf
3) Turn echo cancellation off for the FXO line(s) that faxes are coming in on.

Give that a check/try first, otherwise post your logs (asterisk full logs and possibly the hylafax log of the call coming in..

Regards

Bob

Source: http://srv66.palosanto.com/index.php/en/component/kunena/38-hylafax/122041-incoming-fax-not-working-elastix-24.html

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Jennifer Lawrence, more stars shine at Cannes

Celebs

Kurt Schlosser TODAY

14 hours ago

The stars continued to sparkle despite the rain falling on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence was among the big names to step out on Saturday for the premiere of the film "Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian)" at the 66th annual festival.

AFP - Getty Images

Actress Jennifer Lawrence on May 18 in Cannes, France.

AP

Actress Eva Longoria.

AP

Singer Cheryl Cole.

EPA

Actress Jane Fonda.

AP

Actress Paz Vega.

Getty Images

Actor Liam Hemsworth.

AFP - Getty Images

Model Doutzen Kroes.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/jennifer-lawrence-eva-longoria-more-stars-shine-cannes-1C9984451

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Special Education Law Blog: Bullying of Kids With Disabilities - Part I

We are repeating our very popular series on bullying of children with disabilities. ?This was one of our best received series, and bullying remains the hot button issue in special education law. ?We will include some updates and news. ?Please enjoy the series and send us any?feedback!

Bullying is a real problem in our society.? Bullies often take advantage of those whom they perceive as weaker.? The?Columbine tragedy?brought the problem to a higher level of public awareness, but the problem persists. Kids with disabilities are often singled out by bullies.? This has become one of the hottest of hot button issues?in special education law.? Several laws could be implicated, but my focus here will be upon whether?bullying?can constitute a violation of IDEA.

In the next installments, I'll discuss a well-reasoned recent decision, but first some background on the legal foundations for this analysis:

In the seminal decision by the Third Circuit in?Shore Regional High Sch. Bd. of Educ. v. P.S.?381 F.3d 194, 41 IDELR 234 (3d Cir. 8/30/2004) recognized that bullying could prevent educational benefit, and a school district?s failure to respond could constitute a denial of FAPE.??See also,?Gagliardo v. Arlington Central Sch Dist?489 F.3d 105, 48 IDELR 1 (2d Cir. 5/30/2007).

??????????Shortly, thereafter the Second Circuit ruled that a student with a disability cannot receive educational benefit or FAPE if he is not in a safe environment.??Lillbask ex rel Mauclaire v. State of Connecticut Dept. of Educ.??397 F.3d 77, 42 IDELR 230 (2d Cir. 2/2/2005).??

?????????? These cases provide the analytical foundation. ?

Source: http://specialeducationlawblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/bullying-of-kids-with-disabilities-part.html

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For combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, 'fear circuitry' in the brain never rests

May 18, 2013 ? Chronic trauma can inflict lasting damage to brain regions associated with fear and anxiety. Previous imaging studies of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have shown that these brain regions can over-or under-react in response to stressful tasks, such as recalling a traumatic event or reacting to a photo of a threatening face. Now, researchers at NYU School of Medicine have explored for the first time what happens in the brains of combat veterans with PTSD in the absence of external triggers.

Their results, published in Neuroscience Letters, and presented today at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatry Association in San Francisco, show that the effects of trauma persist in certain brain regions even when combat veterans are not engaged in cognitive or emotional tasks, and face no immediate external threats. The findings shed light on which areas of the brain provoke traumatic symptoms and represent a critical step toward better diagnostics and treatments for PTSD.

A chronic condition that develops after trauma, PTSD can plague victims with disturbing memories, flashbacks, nightmares and emotional instability. Among the 1.7 million men and women who have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an estimated 20% have PTSD. Research shows that suicide risk is higher in veterans with PTSD. Tragically, more soldiers committed suicide in 2012 than the number of soldiers who were killed in combat in Afghanistan that year.

"It is critical to have an objective test to confirm PTSD diagnosis as self reports can be unreliable," says co-author Charles Marmar, MD, the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Psychiatry and chair of NYU Langone's Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Marmar, a nationally recognized expert on trauma and stress among veterans, heads The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for the Study of Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury at NYU Langone Medical Center.

The study, led by Xiaodan Yan, a research fellow at NYU School of Medicine, examined "spontaneous" or "resting" brain activity in 104 veterans of combat from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars using functional MRI, which measures blood-oxygen levels in the brain. The researchers found that spontaneous brain activity in the amygdala, a key structure in the brain's "fear circuitry" that processes fearful and anxious emotions, was significantly higher in the 52 combat veterans with PTSD than in the 52 combat veterans without PTSD. The PTSD group also showed elevated brain activity in the anterior insula, a brain region that regulates sensitivity to pain and negative emotions.

Moreover, the PTSD group had lower activity in the precuneus, a structure tucked between the brain's two hemispheres that helps integrate information from the past and future, especially when the mind is wandering or disengaged from active thought. Decreased activity in the precuneus correlates with more severe "re-experiencing" symptoms -- that is, when victims re-experience trauma over and over again through flashbacks, nightmares and frightening thoughts.

Key scientific contributors include researchers at NYU School of Medicine, the University of California at San Francisco, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and the Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/fADMLxhJrxg/130518153257.htm

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NYC's Chief Digital Officer Rachel Haot on borough hopping with Google Maps and the Macintosh II

Every week, a new and interesting human being tackles our decidedly geeky take on the Proustian Q&A. This is the Engadget Questionnaire.

This week's edition of our regular session on inquiry chats with the nation's first Chief Digital Officer, Rachel Haot. NYC's CDO discusses navigating the five boroughs with Google Maps and her filtered photo obsession. Head on past the jump for the full set of responses.

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Source: Distro Issue 91

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/j5M5gi5psHU/

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Cooling ocean temperature could buy more time for coral reefs

May 14, 2013 ? Limiting the amount of warming experienced by the world's oceans in the future could buy some time for tropical coral reefs, say researchers from the University of Bristol.

The study, published by the journal Geophysical Research Letters, used computer models to investigate how shallow-water tropical coral reef habitats may respond to climate change over the coming decades.

Elena Couce and colleagues found that restricting greenhouse warming to three watts per square metre (equivalent to just 50-100 parts per million carbon dioxide, or approximately half again the increase since the Industrial Revolution) is needed in order to avoid large-scale reductions in reef habitat occurring in the future.

Shallow-water tropical coral reefs are amongst the most productive and diverse ecosystems on the planet. They are currently in decline due to increasing frequency of bleaching events, linked to rising temperatures and fossil fuel emissions.

Elena Couce said: "If sea surface temperatures continue to rise, our models predict a large habitat collapse in the tropical western Pacific which would affect some of the most biodiverse coral reefs in the world. To protect shallow-water tropical coral reefs, the warming experienced by the world's oceans needs to be limited."

The researchers modelled whether artificial means of limiting global temperatures -- known as solar radiation 'geoengineering' -- could help. Their results suggest that if geoengineering could be successfully deployed then the decline of suitable habitats for tropical coral reefs could be slowed. They found, however, that over-engineering the climate could actually be detrimental as tropical corals do not favour overly-cool conditions. Solar radiation geoengineering also leaves unchecked a carbon dioxide problem known as 'ocean acidification'.

Elena Couce said: "The use of geoengineering technologies cannot safeguard coral habitat long term because ocean acidification will continue unabated. Decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the only way to address reef decline caused by ocean acidification."

Dr Erica Hendy, one of the co-authors, added: "This is the first attempt to model the consequences of using solar radiation geoengineering on a marine ecosystem. There are many dangers associated with deliberate human interventions in the climate system and a lot more work is needed to fully appreciate the consequences of intervening in this way."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/E457eMuOI1I/130514112858.htm

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Angelina Jolie says she had double mastectomy

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Angelina Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.

The Oscar-winning actress and partner to Brad Pitt made the announcement in the form of an op-ed she authored for Tuesday's New York Times (http://nyti.ms/17o4A0f ) under the headline, "My Medical Choice." She writes that between early February and late April she completed three months of surgical procedures to remove both breasts.

Jolie, 37, writes that she made the choice with thoughts of her six children after watching her own mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, die too young from cancer.

"My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56," Jolie writes. "She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was."

She writes that, "They have asked if the same could happen to me."

Jolie said that after genetic testing she learned she carries the "faulty" BRCA1 gene and had an 87 percent chance of getting the disease herself.

She said she has kept the process private so far, but wrote about with hopes of helping other women.

"I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made," Jolie writes. "My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer."

Phone and email messages left by The Associated Press late Monday night seeking comment from Jolie representatives were not immediately returned.

She is anything but private in the details she provides, giving a description of the procedures.

"My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a 'nipple delay,'" she writes, "which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area."

She then describes the major surgery two weeks later where breast tissue was removed, saying it felt "like a scene out of a science-fiction film," then writes that nine weeks later she had a third surgery to reconstruct the breasts and receive implants."

Many women have chosen preventive mastectomy since genetic screening for breast cancer was developed, but the move and public announcement is unprecedented from a star so young and widely known as Jolie.

She briefly addresses the effects of the surgery on the idealized sexuality and iconic womanhood that have fueled her fame.

"I do not feel any less of a woman," Jolie writes. "I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."

She also wrote that Brad Pitt, her partner of eight years, was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Southern California for "every minute of the surgeries."

Bertrand, Jolie's mother, died in January 2007. She had small roles in the movies "Lookin' to Get Out" in 1982 and "The Man Who Loved Women" in 1983. She raised Jolie and her brother after divorcing their father, Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, when Jolie was a toddler.

Jolie has appeared in dozens of films including 2010's "The Tourist" and "Salt," the "Tomb Raider" films, and 1999's "Girl, Interrupted," for which she won an Academy Award.

But she has appeared more often in the news in recent years for her power coupling with Pitt and her charitable work with refugees as a United Nations ambassador.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/angelina-jolie-says-she-had-double-mastectomy-061422044.html

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Various Medical Education & Research Courses | ArticlesMagic Plus!

One of the fields that constantly demand the need of professionals is the medical sector. With the growing population and the worldwide need of health care practitioners and administrators required to run the various facilities, the need of such individuals has increased all the more. Today, medical education & research has become one of the most dominant and the largest industry in the world. There are variety of specializations and supporting areas that it covers. This includes administrative or clerical work, and development and technology. But, to become an expert in this field, an individual needs to posses high knowledge and skills required to carry out the work.

There are lots of institutes that offer various programs which can help you learn and enhance your knowledge and skills. However, it is important that you choose the one which is highly experienced and well known. Reputation is the key factor that you need to take into consideration. A reputed institute can provide you with proper medical education training. They function to promote health and welfare by providing quality education and hands on training to their students. Some of their structured programs are specially aimed at promoting research in all the areas of medicine for healthcare experts.

These medical education and research centers introduced professionals to the latest innovations in the medicine field. Individuals can also gain the opportunity of learning firsthand about the most up to date techniques and technologies used in the process through their medical device training sessions. For those who are conducting research in various specialties, they support them by providing sponsorship with the most effective environment that can help them achieve maximum outcomes from their studies.

There are lots of other services that they offer. This includes providing anatomic tissue for research and education purpose. The tissue is acquired, maintained, transported and distributed keeping the entire uniform anatomical acts and as well as the local, state and federal laws in mind. Various tests are performed for each donor and only after positive results a tissue is extracted. All anatomic tissues are stored, prepared and transported under the IATA and DOT dangerous goods acts. These samples help professionals in their research by which they can come up with accurate and productive conclusion.

Moreover, you can easily find a medical education and research center of your choice online. All major medicine institutes have their websites. These portals are sufficed with all the details that an individual would need to know regarding their courses and programs being offered. Some of the websites even offer the services of booking your course online. For doing so, all you need to do is fill up a registration form with our accurate details and choose the course that you want to opt for. You can choose between the off-site, on-site simulation training, human tissue for research and professional continuing education courses.

So, if you are looking for to gain hand on training and expert knowledge about medical education and research, all you need to do is visit any of these website and opt for the program that best suits you requirement.

Adam Eaton is the author of this article on Medical Education Training. Find more information, about Medical Education & Research here

Source: http://articles-plus.com/various-medical-education-research-courses.html

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GOP Seeks to Bolster Border Security in Bill

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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324059704578473372143916606.html?mod=rss_Politics_And_Policy

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Ares Capital Earnings: What Investors Should Watch | Wall St. Cheat ...

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) will report earnings before markets open on Tuesday, May 7th. Ares Capital Corporation is a closed-end management investment company. The Company seeks to generate both income and capital appreciation through debt and equity investments by primarily investing in U.S. middle market companies.

Here is your Cheat Sheet to Ares Capital Earnings:

Earnings Expectations: Analysts expect earnings of $0.40 per share on revenues of $194.78 million.

Analyst Trends:

Analysts have a more negative outlook for the company?s next-quarter performance. Over the past three months, the average estimate for next quarter?s earnings has fallen from a profit of $0.42 to a profit $0.41. For the current year, the average estimate is a profit of $1.65, which is worse than the estimate ninety days ago.

The stock market is at 5-year highs! Discover the best stocks to buy in today?s market. CLICK HERE for Your Stock Investor Cheat Sheet NOW!

Earnings Trends:

Here?s how Ares Capital has been performing on an annual basis:

Fiscal Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Revenue ($) in millions	240.46	245.27	483.40	634.49	748.02
Diluted EPS ($)	-1.56	1.99	3.91	1.56	2.21

Next, our CHEAT SHEET investing framework asks us to drill down to the recent quarterly data:

Quarter	Dec. 31, 2011	Mar. 31, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012
Revenue ($) in millions	187.12	167.74	177.56	190.57	212.16
Diluted EPS ($)	0.5759	0.49	0.41	0.59	0.7049

Past Performance:
Ares Capital has beat analyst estimates 3 times in the past four quarters. Shareholders could expect a boost if the company beats estimates.

?E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter? is a core component of our successful CHEAT SHEET investing framework. Don?t waste another minute ? click here to discover our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now!

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Email any earnings discrepancies to earnings [at] wallstcheatsheet.com)

Source: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/ares-capital-earnings-what-investors-should-watch.html/

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