saver earthiness: March 2013

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Obama: Keystone XL pipeline not major jobs creator

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Jobs numbers and other benefits touted by supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are probably exaggerated, President Barack Obama told House Republicans on Wednesday, according to lawmakers who attended the closed-door meeting.

But Obama did not rule out a decision to approve the $7 billion pipeline, according to participants.

Obama told Republicans at the Capitol that he's still weighing a decision on the pipeline, which would carry oil from western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said Obama appeared "conflicted" on the pipeline, saying that many of the promised jobs would be temporary and that much of the oil produced likely would be exported.

But Terry said Obama also indicated that dire environmental consequences predicted by pipeline opponents were exaggerated.

"He said there were no permanent jobs, and that the oil will be put on ships and exported and that the only ones who are going to get wealthy are the Canadians," Terry said.

A White House spokesman said Wednesday no decision on the pipeline has been made.

Terry, who supports the long-delayed pipeline, said he wished Obama's comments were less negative, but said he was still hopeful the project would be approved, a view echoed by Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., another pipeline supporter.

Scalise, who asked Obama about Keystone at the GOP meeting, said the president "made light" of jobs numbers predicted by supporters, including some who have predicted that the project could create as many as 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Obama said the pipeline "is not going to create as many jobs as you (Republicans) hope," Scalise said.

Calgary-based TransCanada, which is proposing the pipeline, initially said it could create at least 20,000 jobs, including 13,000 construction jobs and 7,000 jobs among suppliers and manufacturers. The company later clarified that the figures were for one person per year, based on a two-year construction timetable. The State Department has estimated the project would create about 5,000 to 6,000 jobs.

A draft environmental report released by the State Department this month said there would be no significant environmental impact to most resources along the proposed pipeline route, which goes through Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. The report also said other options to get the oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries are worse for climate change.

State Department approval is needed because the project crosses a U.S. border.

On at least one aspect of the pipeline, Obama is "flat-out-wrong," Terry said. While some oil is likely to be exported, the total is far less than a majority, Terry said. "That was disturbing to me," he said.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: https:twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-keystone-xl-pipeline-not-major-jobs-creator-002642345--politics.html

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US retail sales up solid 1.1 percent in February

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Americans spent at the fastest pace in five months in February, boosting retail spending 1.1 percent compared with January. About half the jump reflected higher gas prices, but even excluding gas purchases, retail sales rose 0.6 percent.

The report Wednesday from the Commerce Department showed that Americans kept spending last month despite higher Social Security taxes that took effect this year. The retail sales report is the government's first look each month at consumer spending, which drives about 70 percent of economic activity.

Core retail sales, which exclude the volatile categories of gas, autos and building supply stores, rose 0.4 percent in February compared with January.

Economists were encouraged by the stronger-than-expected gain in retail sales. Some said the increase means the economy may be growing faster in the January-March quarter than they had forecast.

"This all suggests that the hit to spending from the payroll tax cut and higher gasoline prices, which reduce the amount of cash available to spend on other items, hasn't been too bad," said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics. "The recent pickup in both employment and earnings growth bodes well for consumption growth later in the year, too."

Auto sales rose 1.1 percent after a 0.4 percent January increase. The February gain was the biggest since December. Sales at gas stations surged 5 percent, the biggest advance since a 6 percent rise in August.

Sales at general merchandise stores, a category that includes major department stores such as Macy's and big discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Target, rose 0.5 percent in February. But the department store category as a whole fell 1 percent.

The solid increase in retail sales showed that Americans kept spending despite a payroll tax increase that has lowered take-home pay this year for most workers. Someone earning $50,000 has about $1,000 less to spend in 2013. A household with two high-paid workers has up to $4,500 less.

Consumers may be able to absorb higher taxes if employers continue hiring and increasing wages.

The economy added 236,000 jobs in February, driving the unemployment rate down to 7.7 percent, its lowest level in more than four years. The gains signaled that companies are confident enough in the economy to intensify hiring even in the face of tax increases and government spending cuts.

Since November, employers have added an average of 205,000 jobs a month, up from 154,000 a month in the previous four months. The hiring spree has been fueled by steady improvement in housing, auto sales, manufacturing and corporate profits, along with record-low borrowing rates.

An improving in job market has also helped lift consumer confidence. And if it continues, it could provide a spark to growth after a dismal fourth quarter of 2012.

Many analysts believe the U.S. economy will grow a modest 2 percent this year. While job gains should help provide some momentum, growth will likely be held back by uncertainty about the federal budget, higher Social Security taxes and across-the-board government spending cuts that kicked in March 1.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-13-Retail%20Sales/id-d2eb03d9ec9a4d1e8501ce02c541d504

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Gay Republicans are murderous Marxist spies, or something (Americablog)

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Monday, March 11, 2013

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China's leaders take aim at Railways Ministry

Ma Kai, secretary-general of the State Council, speaks during a plenary session of the National People's Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sunday, March 10, 2013. Ma read out the report on the Cabinet's plan to streamline government ministries, doing away with the powerful Railways Ministry and creating a super-agency to regulate the media and realigning other bureaucracies in a bid to boost efficiency. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese Communist Party General Secretary and incoming-President Xi Jinping, right, walks ahead of Chinese premier-in-waiting, Li Keqiang during a plenary session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sunday, March 10, 2013. China announced plans Sunday to streamline government ministries, doing away with the powerful Railways Ministry and creating a super-agency to regulate the media and realigning other bureaucracies in a bid to boost efficiency. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese Communist Party General Secretary and incoming-President Xi Jinping reads a report during a plenary session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sunday, March 10, 2013. During the session, the Cabinet unveiled its plan to streamline government ministries, doing away with the powerful Railways Ministry and creating a super-agency to regulate the media and realigning other bureaucracies in a bid to boost efficiency. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING (AP) ? In the annals of Chinese bureaucratic power, the Railways Ministry stood apart. Running everything from one of the world's busiest rail systems to a special police force, the ministry was so pervasive and powerful it resisted government reform efforts for years. Chinese called it "Boss Railway."

On Sunday, the government gave notice it was firing the boss.

Under a plan presented to the national legislature to restructure Cabinet departments, the government said it would dismantle the ministry, moving its railways operations into a newly created company and placing its regulatory offices in the Transport Ministry.

The Railways Ministry isn't the only target. Under the restructuring plan, two agencies that censor broadcasters and print media will be combined into a super media regulator; the commission that enforces the much disliked rules that limit many families to one child will be merged with the Health Ministry; and four agencies that police fisheries and other maritime resources are being united into one to better assert China's control over disputed waters, potentially sharpening conflicts with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Certain to be passed by the rubber-stamp legislature this week, the plan reflects the priorities of the newly installed Communist Party leadership as it seeks to reduce waste, boost efficiency and address quality of life issues for a more prosperous, demanding society.

The scope and power of the Railways Ministry made it a natural place for the leadership to stamp its determination. As it expanded the railway system and built the world's largest high-speed rail network, the ministry ran up hundreds of billions of dollars in debt and sank into corruption, giving critics an opportunity to pounce.

Reformers crowed at the ministry's abolition, saying it would further market reforms. "It means the country has removed the last 'stronghold' in the way of reforming the industry from a planned economy to market economy," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang Yiming, a government macro-economic researcher, as saying.

Even the current ? and seemingly last ? railway minister had to bow to the inevitable.

"I've no regrets. Whether I'm minister of railways or not is no matter," Sheng Guangzu said on China National Radio. "The key is to develop China's railways. I'm subordinate to the needs of the national cause."

Reform-minded Chinese leaders and officials had been trying to bring the railways to heel for 15 years when the government first started separating state companies from regulatory bodies. At each turn, the ministry resisted, using long-standing ties to the military and building a record for performance. Over the past decade, it created the showcase high-speed rail system touted by the leadership as a symbol for Chinese technological power on par with the manned space program.

In announcing the restructuring, a senior Chinese official praised the progress but explained why the ministry must be abolished.

"In recent years, the railways have developed in leaps and bounds and safeguarded the smooth running of the economy and the needs of people's lives and production. But its government and enterprises are not separated. It doesn't link smoothly with other modes of transport, and there are other problems," Ma Kai, secretary-general of the State Council, the Cabinet, told the legislators.

Complaints about the railways are common among Chinese. It's the most popular form of long-distance transport, especially for Chinese who cannot afford to fly. But buying tickets is difficult, and food, drink and other services on trains are poor ? problems often attributed to corruption.

"Corruption? Of course there is in the railway bureau. There's that Boss Railway!" Chang Shangxi, a 32-year-old businessman, said as he waited for a high-speed train in Shanghai this past week. "I am sure corruption causes corners to be cut and work to be faked as the companies have to make the money back that they spent on corruption."

The ministry's ability to throw money around to get things done and preserve its power in the end helped bring it down. Liu Zhijun, the bullet train network's top booster, was ousted as minister two years ago, amid accusations that he took massive bribes and steered contracts, some of them associated with the high-speed rail network. Among his rumored misdeeds: having 18 mistresses.

Though he awaits trial, his fate ? and perhaps the ministry's ? seemed sealed when bullet trains collided near the eastern city of Wenzhou in July 2011, killing 40 people and injuring 177. The accident outraged the country's growing middle class ? the prime users of the high-speed rail. Taking to social media sites, they questioned whether speedy development resulted in shoddy work. A government investigation cited design flaws and mismanagement.

In the aftermath, the government began taking a harder look at corruption throughout the railways and the ministry. In one case, almost all of a $260 million railway line in the northeast had to be redone because unqualified sub-contractors filled bridge foundations with rocks and sand instead of concrete.

The ministry employs 2.1 million staff and handled 1.8 billion passengers in 2011. Its subsidiary departments oversee all railway operations, and its companies are involved with everything from design of railways to construction and freight transport. Beyond that, there's the Railway Art Troupe, which sings, dances and puts on acrobatic shows and operas. The China Locomotive Sports Team trains athletes in soccer, boxing, weightlifting, swimming, and track and field.

Until last August, it operated its own courts, as it did a police force until 2009. Capital spending last year was 630 billion yuan ($100 billion) ? rivaling the entire 670 billion yuan ($105 billion) military budget ? and its mounting debts have worried the government.

"Who is going to pay the debt that is expected to amount to nearly 3 trillion yuan?" said Zhao Jian, a railway expert at Beijing Jiaotong University. He said the official debt figure is 2.6 trillion yuan ($414 billion), but he estimates it will go higher as ongoing projects are completed.

The reorganization is supposed to add further restraint. A newly created China Railway Corporation will build and manage freight and passenger services, while a railways administration under the Transport Ministry will set technical standards and enforce them.

The railway so far has been able to rely for a large part on drawing revenues from freight and passenger services. A big challenge ahead is keeping that money coming in as competition from planes, cars and river transport increases.

___

Associated Press researchers Yu Bing in Beijing and Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-10-China-Restructuring/id-01e14247895548ce943c4ef3470b8bef

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Hungary to insert rejected laws into constitution

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, speaks during a joint press conference, at the government palace, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. Orban is in Beirut for two-day visit to meet with Lebanese officials. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) ? Hungary's prime minister can't take "no" for an answer, even when he is being instructed by the country's highest court.

Over the past 18 months, the Constitutional Court has struck down several of the government's policies, including fining or jailing the homeless for living in public spaces, banning political campaign ads on commercial radio and TV stations and forcing university students who accepted state scholarships to work in Hungary for years after they graduate.

On Monday, however, lawmakers from Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party are preparing to pass a lengthy amendment to the constitution that will entrench all those discredited policies and many others, ensuring that the government gets its way no matter what anyone says.

The amendment has alarmed the European Union, which over the past several months has forced Orban to dilute some of the laws meant to expand his control over everything from the central bank and the economy to the arts and the media.

The current argument is only the latest example of international criticism over government policies seen to be concentrating power in Orban's hands, paying lip service to democratic principles and expanding the state's role to the detriment of private enterprise.

On Friday, European Commission President Jose Maria Barroso spoke by telephone with Orban and sent him a letter expressing his concerns about possible conflicts between the planned amendment and EU laws.

"We trust that these contacts will ensure that our concerns are taken into account," commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen told The Associated Press, adding that the intention was to avoid facing "any vote that would result in incompatibility with EU law ... and would make the time ahead more difficult."

In a written response to Barroso after their call, Orban confirmed "the full commitment" of Hungary's government and parliament to European norms, but gave no direct indication that Monday's vote on the amendment, which has more than 20 articles, would be delayed.

With most domestic challengers neutralized ? Orban allies run the media council, the state audit office, the central bank and other key institutions ? the prime minister has taken to lashing out at EU bureaucrats in Brussels.

Although 97 percent of Hungary's development funds over the past years have been provided by the EU, Orban has said Hungary won't allow itself "to be dictated to by anyone from Brussels or anywhere else" and that Hungary does not need "unsolicited comradely assistance" from people in "finely-tailored suits" to write its constitution.

The U.S. has also voiced concerns about the amendment. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said it "could threaten the principles of institutional independence and checks and balances that are the hallmark of democratic governance."

The 49-year-old Orban's repeated attempts to concentrate power and carry out his "revolution in a voting booth," as he dubbed his party's landslide win in 2010, seem at odds with his past. Once a determined anti-communist dissident, he entered the political stage in 1989 by publicly calling for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary and the end of the communist dictatorship.

To rebuild an economy deeply damaged by eight years of Socialist Party rule, Orban and his "right hand," Gyorgy Matolcsy, until last week economy minister but now president of the National Bank of Hungary, have applied unorthodox policies.

Since 2010, the government, for example, has nationalized about $14 billion in assets earlier administered by private pension funds, introduced the EU's highest bank tax and value added tax rates as well as levies on financial transactions and phone calls. Hungary also has a flat income tax rate of 16 percent and, to help counter a rapidly aging population, substantial tax breaks for families with children.

Orban says the institutional overhaul is needed to break the influence of former communists. The new constitution replaces one based on a Stalin-era constitution that was rewritten in 1989, when the country threw off communist rule.

By including legislation in the constitution which earlier had been struck down as unconstitutional, the new amendment ? the fourth since the constitution, or Fundamental Law, as it is called, took effect in January 2012 ? makes it clear that Orban will accept no setbacks and that the decisions of his parliamentary majority should not be questioned.

That attitude is also expressed in one of the key articles of the amendment, which says the country's president, who signs all legislation into law, and the Constitutional Court can review whether the procedures to pass the amendment were lawful, but can't examine its contents.

"Instead of defending citizens from the will of the state," the new articles "defend the will of the government from constitutionality," said Mate Daniel Szabo, a legal expert with the pro-democracy Eotvos Karoly Policy Institute.

The proposal also bans courts from referring to legal precedents set under the previous constitution.

"This means stepping back to where we were in 1990," said Szabo. "We'll be starting everything over, which is very dangerous."

The new constitution was met with large street protests in 2012, with some calling Orban a dictator or a "Viktator." Recently, however, most of the domestic complaints about the amendment have come from legal scholars, though there have been some signs of public anger.

A few dozen activists staged a sit-down protest at Fidesz headquarters Thursday, while around 2,500 people marched Saturday to the Constitutional Court to protest the amendment.

For the government, the amendment is just business as usual.

Justice Minister Tibor Navracsics said the proposal "is, to a great extent, merely a technical amendment," while Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said criticism was being "fueled by misunderstandings and inadequate information."

A year before the next parliamentary elections, Hungary's opposition parties are in disarray and a new electoral law makes it even harder to seriously challenge Fidesz, so the effects of Orban's constitutional amendments could be enduring.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-10-EU-Hungary-Controversial-Constitution/id-f4931a9f2d4848d0bb9573fec87d734a

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Exclusive: Retrofits to add $1.7 billion to cost of F-35 - GAO report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retrofits of F-35 fighter planes to fix problems found in flight testing will likely top $1.7 billion, a U.S. government watchdog said in the draft of a new report about the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter program.

Extensive restructuring efforts and progress on technical issues have put the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 program on a more solid footing, but the plane's long-term affordability remains a big concern, the Government Accountability Office said in the draft, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

It said the F-35 program, which has been subject to massive delays and cost overruns and now has a price tag close to $400 billion, met most of its management objectives in 2012. But it still faced big costs because of earlier decisions to start building planes before development and testing were further along. A final report is due out next week.

The F-35 is an advanced "fifth generation" fighter meant to serve the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines for decades to come. But the program's soaring costs and technical complications have now put it in a critical position, where any new setbacks or cuts in orders from the U.S. military and its allies would drive the cost-per-plane up still further.

The GAO draft report offers the agency's most positive outlook yet for the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program, which has seen a spate of negative news in recent weeks, including two engine-related groundings this year.

But it also underscores concerns about the long-term future of the program given budget reductions in the United States and other countries that plan to buy the radar-evading warplane.

"Overall, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is now moving in the right direction after a long, expensive and arduous learning process," GAO said. "Going forward, ensuring affordability - the ability to acquire aircraft in quantity and to sustain aircraft going over the life cycle - is of paramount concern."

No comment was immediately available from the Pentagon's F-35 program office or Lockheed.

The program faces substantial costs to retrofit planes to address problems discovered in flight testing, GAO said.

Such "rework" would add $900 million to the cost of the first four batches of jets build by Lockheed, GAO said, plus about $827 million over the next six batches for a total of $1.7 billion.

Last June, GAO had forecast rework costs of $373 million for the first four batches of jets, but gave no estimate for the remaining batches.

Lockheed agreed in its contract for a fifth batch of jets to pay for 55 percent of any cost overruns up to a certain ceiling, and all cost overruns beyond that. Retrofit costs are now shared equally by the Pentagon and the contractor.

COST OVERRUNS SEEN REACHING $1.2 BLN

GAO said cost overruns on 63 planes built by Lockheed in the first four production batches were now expected to reach $1.2 billion, of which the government will have to pay about $756 million. That marks an increase from GAO's last estimate in June 2012, which forecast a cost overrun of $1.04 billion.

Lockheed is building 58 planes for the U.S. military under those first four production contracts, plus five for international partners who helped fund the plane's development.

The report said cost overruns were declining as production costs were coming down, and Lockheed was delivering jets faster. Lockheed signed a contract with the Pentagon at the end of December for a fifth batch of planes, and both sides hope to reach a deal for the sixth and seventh batches this summer.

The GAO report reiterated the agency's concerns about the long-term procurement and sustainment cost of the F-35. It said current plans would require the Pentagon to spend $10.6 billion each year through 2037 on the program, putting "an unprecedented demand on the defense procurement budget."

It said the cost of each plane would rise if the Pentagon cut its plans to buy 2,443 F-35s or the eight foreign partners - Britain, Italy, Australia, Canada, Norway, Turkey, Denmark and the Netherlands - reduced their plans to buy 697 aircraft.

Industry executives and military officials say U.S. moves to defer orders for 410 aircraft in recent years have already jacked up the cost per plane, and costs will rise further unless Congress averts $500 billion in mandatory defense spending cuts slated to take effect over the next decade. Those cuts began to roll in last week.

GAO said the Pentagon's Cost Analysis and Program Evaluation office had calculated that the average cost of the plane, which has already nearly doubled to $137 million from $69 million originally estimated, would rise by 6 percent if all 697 foreign orders vanished.

The cost would rise by 9 percent if Washington only bought 1,500 jets and the partners stuck to their orders. But it would surge 19 percent if Washington bought 1,500 jets and the partners bought none, according to the GAO report.

(Editing by Martin Howell and Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-retrofits-add-1-7-billion-cost-f-001426819.html

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Saturday, March 9, 2013

Scientists discuss relationship between abortion and violence against women

Public release date: 8-Mar-2013
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Contact: Lea M. Parks
lea.parks@melisainstitute.com
MELISA Institute

This press release is available in Spanish.

New York, March 8th 2013 Scientists of the United States of America, Ireland, and Chile met this week in New York to discuss recent scientific evidence regarding abortion as a form of growing violence against women and girls. Indiscriminate practice of abortion is significantly correlated with coercion, a history of sexual abuse, violence during pregnancy, intimate partner violence, and with psychological consequences that may lead to suicide.

The scientific evidence was discussed by Doctors Monique Chireau (North Carolina, USA), Donna Harrison (Illinois, USA), Eoghan de Faoite (Dublin, Ireland), and Elard Koch (Concepcin, Chile). The meeting "Public Policies to reduce maternal mortality, a holistic focus on maternal health" took place in parallel to the 57th Session of the Commission of Women Status of the United Nations, whose priority theme is the "elimination and prevention of all types of violence against women and girls", activity that will continue until March 15th.

The scientists discussed different epidemiological studies, showing that:

A significant and growing proportion of induced abortions occur due to coercion by the intimate partner of the pregnant woman.
A history of sexual abuse and violence is a risk factor for abortion and subsequent mental health problems.
There is a significant correlation between the increase in the number of abortions and an increase in the rate of homicides against women versus those against men.
There is an important correlation between the increase of abortions and the suicide rate of women of childbearing age.
Countries with abortion laws that are less permissive, such as Ireland and Chile, display lower abortion rates than countries with more permissive abortion laws.
Dr. Koch, director of the MELISA Institute, presented international collaborative studies that have been recently published, which place Chile a country with one of the least permissive abortion laws in the world with the lowest maternal mortality rate in Latin America. Public policies ensuring more education for women, childbirth by skilled professionals universally available, and a timely access to emergency obstetric units would be key factors improving maternal health, and not the legal status of abortion. This evidence was in agreement with data presented by Dr. De Faoite, who showed evidence placing Ireland among the countries with the lowest maternal mortality in Europe, without having to modify their current abortion legislation. On the other hand, Dr. Chireau presented robust evidence regarding novel treatments for pregnant women with cancer, which are successful in safeguarding the life of the mother and her gestating child. Finally, Dr. Harrison discussed the risks related to complications following medical abortion with chemicals such as misoprostol, which are exacerbated in developing countries due the their lack of sufficient coverage of emergency facilities.

During the opening of these UN Sessions and commemorating the International Women's Day, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remarked "There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable." In this context, the scientists assembled in New York voiced their concern in regards to the alarming expansion of abortion as a form of violence against women in the world, something that should not be dismissed by any nation that respects fundamental human rights.

###

For more information on this subject or to arrange an interview with doctors Monique Chireau, Donna Harrison, Eoghan De Faoite, and/or Elard Koch, please contact Lea Parks, Officer of Public Relations of the MELISA Institute, to lea.parks@melisainstitute.com or to +56 41 234 5814
You can also visit www.melisainstitute.com

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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.

Scientists discuss relationship between abortion and violence against women Public release date: 8-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lea M. Parks
lea.parks@melisainstitute.com
MELISA Institute

This press release is available in Spanish.

New York, March 8th 2013 Scientists of the United States of America, Ireland, and Chile met this week in New York to discuss recent scientific evidence regarding abortion as a form of growing violence against women and girls. Indiscriminate practice of abortion is significantly correlated with coercion, a history of sexual abuse, violence during pregnancy, intimate partner violence, and with psychological consequences that may lead to suicide.

The scientific evidence was discussed by Doctors Monique Chireau (North Carolina, USA), Donna Harrison (Illinois, USA), Eoghan de Faoite (Dublin, Ireland), and Elard Koch (Concepcin, Chile). The meeting "Public Policies to reduce maternal mortality, a holistic focus on maternal health" took place in parallel to the 57th Session of the Commission of Women Status of the United Nations, whose priority theme is the "elimination and prevention of all types of violence against women and girls", activity that will continue until March 15th.

The scientists discussed different epidemiological studies, showing that:

A significant and growing proportion of induced abortions occur due to coercion by the intimate partner of the pregnant woman.
A history of sexual abuse and violence is a risk factor for abortion and subsequent mental health problems.
There is a significant correlation between the increase in the number of abortions and an increase in the rate of homicides against women versus those against men.
There is an important correlation between the increase of abortions and the suicide rate of women of childbearing age.
Countries with abortion laws that are less permissive, such as Ireland and Chile, display lower abortion rates than countries with more permissive abortion laws.
Dr. Koch, director of the MELISA Institute, presented international collaborative studies that have been recently published, which place Chile a country with one of the least permissive abortion laws in the world with the lowest maternal mortality rate in Latin America. Public policies ensuring more education for women, childbirth by skilled professionals universally available, and a timely access to emergency obstetric units would be key factors improving maternal health, and not the legal status of abortion. This evidence was in agreement with data presented by Dr. De Faoite, who showed evidence placing Ireland among the countries with the lowest maternal mortality in Europe, without having to modify their current abortion legislation. On the other hand, Dr. Chireau presented robust evidence regarding novel treatments for pregnant women with cancer, which are successful in safeguarding the life of the mother and her gestating child. Finally, Dr. Harrison discussed the risks related to complications following medical abortion with chemicals such as misoprostol, which are exacerbated in developing countries due the their lack of sufficient coverage of emergency facilities.

During the opening of these UN Sessions and commemorating the International Women's Day, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remarked "There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable." In this context, the scientists assembled in New York voiced their concern in regards to the alarming expansion of abortion as a form of violence against women in the world, something that should not be dismissed by any nation that respects fundamental human rights.

###

For more information on this subject or to arrange an interview with doctors Monique Chireau, Donna Harrison, Eoghan De Faoite, and/or Elard Koch, please contact Lea Parks, Officer of Public Relations of the MELISA Institute, to lea.parks@melisainstitute.com or to +56 41 234 5814
You can also visit www.melisainstitute.com

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/mi-sdr030813.php
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Chrome OS fends off all hacks at Pwnium 3, others fall at Pwn2Own

Google's Pwnium challenge followed a familiar pattern in its first two years, with white hat hackers invariably finding a Chrome vulnerability and prompting a round of patches that ultimately made the software stronger. For the Chrome OS-focused Pwnium 3, there's been a slight hiccup: there were no hacks to patch. Despite Google offering a total of $3.14159 million in bounties, entrants couldn't demonstrate a working exploit on the Series 5 550 target machine. That may be a testament to Google's steady security improvements, but it doesn't help discover what holes are left. We'd add that few were left unscathed at the Pwn2Own competition running in tandem -- the regular Chrome browser, Firefox and Internet Explorer all came tumbling down, and Safari may have escaped only because contestants didn't register in advance. Even so, the Chrome OS results may have Chromebook Pixel owners feeling better about their purchases.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Apple, Microsoft, Google

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Source: Geek.com, eSecurity Planet

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/UAmpcXF4NoU/

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Friday, March 8, 2013

Milky Way's neighbor galaxy closer than thought

Astronomers in Chile announced that they are able to measure more accurately the distance to Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy?adjacent to the Milky Way.

By Clara Moskowitz,?SPACE.com / March 6, 2013

Nearly 200 000 light-years from Earth, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, floats in space, in a long and slow dance around our galaxy. As the Milky Way?s gravity gently tugs on its neighbour?s gas clouds, they collapse to form new stars. In turn, these light up the gas clouds in a kaleidoscope of colours, visible in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Josh Lake/ASA, ESA

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The distance to one of the Milky Way's next-door neighbors, a satellite galaxy that orbits its outskirts, has been determined more accurately than ever before, astronomers announced today.

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The achievement could help scientists calibrate other cosmic distances, which are essential for understanding how quickly the universe is expanding and solving the mystery of?dark energy. Dark energy is the name given to whatever is tugging the universe apart and causing its expansion to accelerate.

According to the new measurement, the nearby dwarf galaxy called the?Large Magellanic Cloud?lies 163,000 light-years away.

"I am very excited because astronomers have been trying for a hundred years to accurately measure the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud, and it has proved to be extremely difficult," Wolfgang Gieren, an astronomer at Chile's Universidad de Concepci?n, Chile, said in a statement. "Now we have solved this problem by demonstrably having a result accurate to 2 percent."

The finding was nearly a decade in the making, and required repeated precise measurements of rare pairs of binary stars that are oriented so that they eclipse each other as they orbit, from the perspective of Earth. [How Scientists Measured the Large Magellanic Cloud Distance (Video)]

Using telescopes at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory and the Las Campanas Observatory, both in Chile, Gieren and his colleagues identified eight pairs of eclipsing binaries in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

By tracking the changes in the star pairs' brightness when one star passed in front of the other, and vice versa, as well as measuring the stars' orbital speeds, the scientists could deduce the stars' sizes and masses, as well as details regarding their orbits. With this information, combined with measurements of the stars' total brightness and colors, their precise distances could be determined.

These measurements improve on previous estimates of the Large Magellanic Cloud's distance, which were all based on methods that had inherent uncertainties.

"Because the LMC is close and contains a significant number of different stellar distance indicators, hundreds of distance measurements using it have been recorded over the years," said team member Ian Thompson of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. "Unfortunately, nearly all the determinations have systemic errors, with each method carrying its own uncertainties."

Pinning down the distance of the LMC, in turn, allows scientists to refine their estimates of other, farther cosmic distances. That's because the measurements of close distances are used to calibrate measurements of far-off objects. The new findings should help astronomers narrow down the?Hubble Constant, which denotes the rate of the universe's expansion, and is integral for the study of dark energy.

"We are working to improve our method still further and hope to have a 1 percent LMC distance in a very few years from now," said researcher Dariusz Graczyk . "This has far-reaching consequences not only for cosmology, but for many fields of astrophysics."

The findings are detailed in the March 8 issue of the journal Nature.

Follow Clara Moskowitz?@ClaraMoskowitz?and?Google+. Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on?SPACE.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/QAOsHQLwrbA/Milky-Way-s-neighbor-galaxy-closer-than-thought

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Maternal obesity increases the risk of frequent wheezing in offspring

Public release date: 8-Mar-2013
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Contact: SINC
info@agenciasinc.es
34-914-251-820
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

Tobacco and excess weight: 2 factors linked to asthma in babies

The fact that excess weight during pregnancy has negative consequences is not new information. A new study now concludes that the children of mothers obese before falling pregnant are four times more likely to have frequent wheezing, which is one of the symptoms of asthma, compared to the children of mothers weighing a normal weight.

Researchers from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) assessed whether obesity in mothers increases the risk of their children having frequent wheezing, a symptom associated with susceptibility to asthma during infancy that manifests as sharp, whistling sounds when breathing.

During an asthma attack, the muscles surrounding the airways tense up and their lining becomes inflamed. The passage of air is then reduced. One of the symptoms is wheezing which as a general rule begins subtly and can then worsen during the night or the first few hours of the day when breathing in cold air or even during exercise.

Published in the 'Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology', the study confirms that on average the risk of wheezing during the first 14 months of life is four times greater in the children of mothers with obesity compared to the children of mothers with a normal weight.

"We are basing this on the assumption that obesity in mothers can be a potential intergenerational risk factor for asthma," as explained to SINC by Stefano Guerra, lead author of the study. "Our proposal was to determine whether maternal obesity is associated with a greater risk of early wheezing phenotypes in children."

Therefore, the experts analysed the data of 1,107 pairs of mother and child from a Spanish study on infancy and environment (INMA project). The results confirmed the association between maternal obesity and wheezing regardless of the weight of the child and other factors such as the education of the mother, her age, whether she is a smoker, etc.

"The independent relationship of obesity before pregnancy with the increased risk of frequent wheezing in children adds more evidence to the effects of foetal exposure and its consequences on asthma-related phenotypes," states Guerra, suggesting "possible preventative benefits of loosing excess weight."

The search for the cause of asthma in infants

The experts have spent years searching for the key to asthma in infants as it is an illness that affects more than 300 million people worldwide. Of these, 52% are not diagnosed and 47% do not have a good control over the disease.

According to the latest figures from the Spanish Guide to Handling Asthma (GEMA), although the mortality rate of this illness has reduced since 1960 to 2.22 for every 100,000 (based on data from 2005), prevalence in Spain has increased during the same period.

###

Reference:

Stefano Guerra, Claudio Sartini, Michelle Mendez, Eva Morales, Mnica Guxens, Mikel Basterrechea, Leonor Arranz, Jordi Sunyer. "Maternal Prepregnancy Obesity is an Independent Risk Factor for Frequent Wheezing in Infants by Age 14 Months". Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2013, 27, 100 doi: 10.1111/ppe.12013

Contact:

Stefano Guerra
Centro de Investigacin en Epidemiologa Ambiental (CREAL)
E-mail: sguerra@creal.cat

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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.

Maternal obesity increases the risk of frequent wheezing in offspring

Public release date: 8-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: SINC
info@agenciasinc.es
34-914-251-820
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

Tobacco and excess weight: 2 factors linked to asthma in babies

The search for the cause of asthma in infants

###

Reference:

Contact:

Stefano Guerra
Centro de Investigacin en Epidemiologa Ambiental (CREAL)
E-mail: sguerra@creal.cat

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/f-sf-moi030813.php

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Small airports irked by removal of body scanners

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) ? Managers at dozens of small airports have expressed outrage at federal officials for hauling new full-body scanners away from their facilities and sending them to large hubs that haven't yet upgraded older machines criticized for showing too much anatomy.

U.S. Transportation Security Administration contractors were threatened with arrest after officials at a Montana airport said they received no notice before the workers arrived. In North Dakota, the scanners are set to be yanked from a terminal remodeled last year with $40,000 in local funds just to fit the new machines.

"We think it's silly to have installed the thing and then come back nine months later and take it out," Bismarck airport manager Greg Haug said.

The L3 Millimeter Wave body scanners, which are about the size of a minivan on end and produce cartoonlike outlines of travelers, are being removed from 49 smaller airports across the country to help replace 174 full-body scanners used at larger airports. After controversy erupted over the bare images of a person's body the full-body scanners produce, Congress set a June deadline for them to be removed or updated.

But officials at smaller airports said removing their machines will produce longer lines, increased pat-downs, decreased security and a waste of taxpayer money.

North Dakota officials are especially critical of the swap because the state's airline boardings are skyrocketing with booming oil development. TSA is slated to remove the newly installed scanners this week at airports in Bismarck, Grand Forks and Minot.

"It does seem like a waste of time and energy, but the biggest issue is security concerns," state Aeronautics Commissioner Larry Taborsky said of removing the machines. "We are feeding a lot of traffic into the national system."

"Smaller airports are being treated as less important as bigger airports in the system," said Dave Ruppel, manager of the Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Steamboat Springs, Colo. "Any airport you go through is an entrance into the whole system."

Ruppel's airport lost its scanner late last month. He said the move to replace machines at big airports with scanners from smaller airports is "a political solution to a security problem."

TSA said in a statement that it will cost about $2.5 million to remove the machines from the 49 smaller airports and reinstall them at bigger facilities. The agency would not identify the specific airports where the scanners are slated to be removed. Airport directors said the machines cost about $150,000 each.

"TSA's deployment strategy is designed to ensure advanced imaging technology units are in place at checkpoints where they will be used a significant portion of operating hours, increasing overall use across the system," the agency's statement said. "TSA will continue to evaluate airport needs and will reassess its deployment strategy when additional units are procured."

That's little comfort for airport officials who point out the scanners were touted by TSA for being more secure, less intrusive and quicker.

At the Grand Forks airport, a bank of windows at the terminal had to be removed to place the machine, said Patrick Dame, airport director. The airport authority board in Grand Forks passed a resolution last week that prohibits the TSA from altering the terminal to remove the machine that has been in place less than a year.

"They're free to take the equipment, but they can't take the building apart to do so," Dame said.

Minot's scanning machine has been in place for only about 10 months, airport director Andy Solsvig said.

"With ours, they can disassemble it and wheel it out the door," Solsvig said.

That's what happened Tuesday night at the Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, Calif., said Jack Gotcher, airport director. The airport had its new scanner for about a year but it's now going to Los Angeles International Airport, he said.

"We're back to the metal detector, where we were before," Gotcher said.

Many of the 140,000 boardings at the Bakersfield airport are oil workers heading to North Dakota's rich oil patch in the western part of the state, he said.

The North Dakota Aeronautics Commission said 2012 was a record year at the state's eight commercial airports with more than 1 million boardings, bolstered by big gains in the western part of the state, where booming oil development has spurred huge increases in airline activity.

Haug, Bismarck's airport manager, said to keep the machines, an airport must have had more than 250,000 boardings annually for three consecutive years. Bismarck had 236,000 boardings last year and is projected to surpass that soon.

"It's just a matter of time that they'll have to come back in under mandate and reinstall them because we'll quality as a bigger airport," Haug said. "This is not one of TSA's finest hours."

Airport officials in Helena, Mont., have been more drastic in attempts to keep the machines. Airport manager Ronald Mercer said workers under contract with TSA attempted to pull the machine at the airport last week but were told to leave the property or be arrested.

"We told them we weren't going to allow them to do it," Mercer said.

TSA's decision to remove the machine was a surprise to airport officials, Mercer said.

"We never heard they were coming to get it in the first place and we haven't heard anything since," he said. "We have heard rumors that they are sending federal marshals to come get it."

Taborsky, who has had a hip replacement, said the new machines allowed him to pass through security checkpoints without setting off an alarm. He said he'll likely have to go back to being a subject of pat-downs once the machines are gone.

"I'm going to set off the old metal detector now so it is really personal," Taborsky said. "It's going to impact the elderly, who have had hip or knee replacements, in particular."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-06-Body%20Scanners-Small%20Airports/id-3a37f45135624539a098c2652f6b8789

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Valerie Harper Has Brain Cancer, Months Left to Live | Gossip Cop

Truth rating: 10

People Valerie Harper

9:20 am, March 6th, 2013

(People)

Valerie Harper has terminal brain cancer.

The beloved ?Mary Tyler Moore Show? and ?Rhoda? star makes the announcement in the new issue of People magazine, where Harper reveals she?s suffering from leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, a rare condition in which cancer cells spread into the membrane surrounding the brain.

Harper ? who previously battled lung cancer ? may not have more than three months left to live, according to her doctors.

She was diagnosed with?the incurable disease?in January.

?I was stunned,? Harper tells People. ?And in the next minute I thought, ?This could draw more attention to cancer research.? I think there?s an opportunity to help people.?

With possibly just weeks left to live, the actress says she doesn?t??think of dying.?

?I think of being here now,? says Harper.

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Source: http://www.gossipcop.com/valerie-harper-dying-brain-cancer-terminal-months-left-to-live-incurable-leptomeningeal-carcinomatosis-people-magazine-interview/

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