tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58956709192521439482024-02-06T21:43:57.858-08:00World NewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-28772846775362764812013-05-25T02:54:00.000-07:002013-05-25T02:54:00.337-07:00Brazil Police Arrest 9 for Abusing Indian Girls <IMG alt="36 Hours in Auckland, New Zealand" src="/26MOTHHOURS-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Changing the World, Step by Step" src="/24MOTHDIAGHILEV-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="‘The Art of Controversy’ by Victor Navasky" src="/24MOTHBOOKNAVASKY-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> Modular building, a design approach that once focused on single-family homes, is becoming increasingly popular for multi-unit residences.</P><IMG alt="European Soccer’s Biggest Star May Be a Song" src="/24MOTHanthem-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Op-Ed: Seaside’s Last Summer?" src="/24MOTHoped-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> Let’s help the opposition with secure Internet connections.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/05/23/world/americas/ap-lt-brazil-indians-sex-abuse.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-89965046757816056922013-05-24T22:21:00.000-07:002013-05-24T22:21:00.762-07:00Venezuela Prosecutor to Open Probe Over Leaked Recording Opposition deputies on Monday broadcast the recording of a conversation they said was between powerful state television commentator Mario Silva and a Cuban intelligence agent and later requested an investigation of it. </P>The man identified as Silva in the recording accused Diosdado Cabello, Congress chief and vice president of the ruling Socialist Party, of conspiring against President Nicolas Maduro and of illegally appropriating dollars through the country's currency control system. </P>"I have requested that an investigation be opened over the alleged recording of Mario Silva," chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega said via her Twitter account. </P>Ortega could not immediately be reached for comment to confirm her remarks or to explain the extent of the planned investigation. </P>Her announcement came hours after opposition deputies asked state prosecutors to investigate the accusations made in the recording. </P>Silva - whose close relationship with late President Hugo Chavez led many to see him as more powerful than some cabinet ministers - denies having made the accusations, saying U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies manipulated recordings of his voice. </P>In the recording, the man identified as Silva says he received rifles from the ministry of defense for his own protection. He also questioned the results of last April's election, suggesting hackers had infiltrated the voting system to lower Maduro's margin of victory. </P>The person in the recording leveled accusations against a range of top officials, including First Lady Cilia Flores, Defense Minister Diego Molero, and Vice President Jorge Arreaza. </P>Opposition leaders called the recording evidence both of corruption and of a fierce power struggle at the top echelons of the ruling party following the death of Chavez in March. </P>(Reporting by Diego Ore; Editing by Brian Ellsworth and David Brunnstrom) </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/05/23/world/americas/23reuters-venezuela-investigation.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-88694703399139451452013-05-24T18:45:00.000-07:002013-05-24T18:45:01.717-07:00Guantanamo Prisoners Tune In for Obama's Speech on Their Fate "Detainees follow all coverage of Guantanamo closely, including today's speech, and the post-speech commentary, analysis and editorials," said Navy Captain Robert Durand, a spokesman for the Guantanamo detention operation. </P>"There is interest and discussion, but no discernible reaction," he said. </P>The camp holds 166 prisoners, most of whom have been held without charges for more than a decade. About 100 prisoners are on a hunger strike and dozens are being force-fed to keep them alive. </P>In a speech televised from Washington, Obama announced some steps toward meeting his goal of closing the detention camp. He lifted a moratorium on prisoner transfers to Yemen and called on Congress to end restrictions on other transfers. </P>Durand did not specify how many detainees had watched the speech. He said about two dozen had unrestricted access to television in communal settings and many others held in single cells were allowed to watch live TV during certain hours, including programming in Arabic, Farsi, English, Russian, Spanish and other languages. </P>They also read about Guantanamo in newspapers, which usually arrive at the remote camp in eastern Cuba within a week of publication, Durand said. </P>In March, a U.S. Marine Corps general said Obama's failure to mention Guantanamo during his January inaugural speech or his February State of the Union speech had contributed to a sense of abandonment fueling a hunger strike at the base. </P>(Editing by Alistair Bell and Lisa Shumaker) </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/05/23/world/middleeast/23reuters-usa-obama-speech-guantanamo.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-66401560031345352272013-05-24T15:10:00.000-07:002013-05-24T15:10:00.184-07:00Cayman Islands Ex-Premier Denies New Allegations <IMG alt="Rajat Gupta’s Lust for Zeros" src="/19mothbillionaires-moth.png" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Summer Stages Throughout the Country" src="/19MOTHSUMMERSTAGE-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Weddings and Celebrations" src="/19MOTHVOWS-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> Do consumers have the power to change factory conditions abroad?</P><IMG alt="Daft Punk Gets Human With a New Album" src="/19MOTHDAFTPUNK-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Exposures: Prisoners Onstage" src="/19MOTHExposures-moth.png" width=151 height=151> Readers discuss how to adapt to a changing job market.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/05/18/world/americas/ap-cb-cayman-islands-corruption-probe.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-91893276922445699342013-05-24T11:00:00.000-07:002013-05-24T11:00:05.096-07:00Factbox: Obama Outlines Steps Toward Closing Guantanamo Prison Following are some facts about the detention operation at the U.S. Naval base in eastern Cuba: </P>* The United States set up the prison after U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in pursuit the al Qaeda network behind the hijacked plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, the Pentagon and rural Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. </P>* Upon taking office in 2009, Obama ordered the detention operation at Guantanamo Bay closed by January 2010 but missed the deadline, partly because Congress imposed tough restrictions on where prisoners could be transferred. Repatriation of prisoners was not a policy viewed sympathetically by many Americans, even though the vast majority of the 166 inmates still at the prison have been held for more than a decade without charge. </P>* The first 20 prisoners arrived on January 11, 2002. They and other early arrivals were held at "Camp X-Ray," in chain-link wire cages that have long since been replaced by modern prison buildings. The prison has held a total of 779 foreign captives. Those who remain are from 23 nations and range in age from about 26 to 65. </P>* They include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 plot, and Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who is accused of orchestrating a bombing that killed 17 U.S. sailors aboard the USS Cole off Yemen in 2000. They also include low-level foot soldiers cleared for release by U.S. military and intelligence officials, and members of China's Uighur minority who were cleared years ago by a U.S. federal court. </P>* The ongoing tribunals at Guantanamo were authorized by President George W. Bush under rules that were later revised by the Obama administration. But only seven cases have been completed in 11 years, and convictions in two of those were overturned on appeal. </P>* Almost two-thirds of the Guantanamo prisoners - 103 of them - are taking part in a hunger strike to protest the failure to resolve their fate. With the fast now in its fourth month, 32 captives have lost so much weight that medics are keeping them alive by force-feeding them liquid nutrients through tubes inserted in their noses and down into their stomachs. </P>* Obama said on Thursday he had lifted a moratorium on repatriating prisoners to Yemen. He suspended transfers there in 2010 due to reports that an al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen was behind a failed attempt to blow up a U.S. airplane on Christmas Day 2009. A total of 86 Guantanamo prisoners have been cleared for release or transfer, 56 of them from Yemen, but Obama did not indicate when those Yemenis would go home. </P>* Obama also urged Congress to lift a ban on transferring Guantanamo prisoners to the United States and asked the Defense Department to designate a U.S. site to hold military tribunals for those facing charges. </P>* Nine prisoners have so far died at Guantanamo. Seven deaths were classified as suicides, mainly by hanging, and two were attributed to natural causes, namely colon cancer and heart attack. </P>* Many detainees have said they were tortured at Guantanamo. The U.S. government has acknowledged that interrogators used now-banned techniques that included sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures and loud music. Prisoners were also chained in painful "stress positions." The CIA admitted using the simulated drowning technique known as "waterboarding" on three of the captives who were held at secret prisons and then transferred to Guantanamo. </P>* The United States spends $150 million a year to run the Guantanamo prison, or about $900,000 a year per prisoner, and the Defense Department has asked for some $200 million more to replace worn-out buildings that were meant to be temporary. By comparison, super-maximum security prisons in the United States spend $60,000 to $70,000 a year to house each inmate. Guantanamo costs are high in part because of the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, which forces the military to import food, fuel and supplies to the base from the United States. </P>(Reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by David Brunnstrom) </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/05/24/world/middleeast/24reuters-usa-obama-speech-guantanamo-factbox.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-34554472486456222952013-05-24T06:56:00.000-07:002013-05-24T06:57:08.072-07:00Americas Coalition Puts Marijuana Legalization Up for Discussion The report, released by the Organization of American States walked a careful line in not recommending any single approach to the drug problem and encouraging “flexibility.” </P>Prompted by President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia at the Summit of the Americas last year to answer growing dissatisfaction and calls for new strategies in the drug war, the report’s 400 pages mainly summarize and distill previous research and debate on the subject. </P>But the fact that it gave weight to exploring legalizing or de-penalizing marijuana was seized on by advocates of more liberal drug use laws as a landmark and a potential catalyst for less restrictive laws in a number of countries. </P>“This takes the debate to a whole other level,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates more liberal drug use laws. “It effectively breaks the taboo on considering alternatives to the current prohibitionist approach.” </P>The report said “the drug problem requires a flexible approach,” and “it would be worthwhile to assess existing signals and trends that lean toward the decriminalization or legalization of the production, sale and use of marijuana. </P>“Sooner or later decisions in this area will need to be taken,” it said. “On the other hand, our report finds no significant support, in any country, for the decriminalization or legalization of the trafficking of other illicit drugs.” </P>Some analysts interpreted the inclusion of decriminalization as a thumb in the eye to the United States, the country with the heaviest drug consumption and one that has spent several billion dollars on drug interdiction in the Americas, only to find that marijuana and cocaine continue to flow heavily and that violence has surged in Mexico and Central America as the drugs move north. </P>The report comes two weeks before an O.A.S. meeting in Guatemala, whose president has been open to legalizing marijuana and where the central topic is drug policy in the hemisphere. Uruguay’s president has put forward a plan for the government to legalize and regulate the sale of marijuana. </P>“The region’s leaders expressed their frustration with the limits and exorbitant costs of current policies and their hunger for a fuller, more creative debate,” said John Walsh, a drug policy analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights group. </P>But the United States has so far rejected legalization as a solution to drug violence. </P>A State Department spokesman, William Ostick, said the report would be carefully reviewed and discussed with fellow O.A.S. members in Guatemala. </P>“We look forward to sharing our latest research and experiences on drug prevention and treatment, and to strengthening operational law enforcement cooperation with our partners around the globe in support of our common and shared responsibility for the world drug problem,” he said. “We know other leaders will similarly bring their own data, and anticipate a productive and useful dialogue.” </P>Kevin Sabet, director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida, said advocates of drug liberalization were overplaying the significance of the report, which he said contained a lot the Obama administration would agree with. </P>He said a discussion of legalization was only natural, particularly since two American states, Washington and Colorado, have moved in that direction. </P>But the report, he said, also suggested that countries in the hemisphere needed to redouble their efforts to fight the impunity of drug gangs, something often overlooked or played down in the debate on the war on drugs. The report notes that drug organizations have atomized into a range of gangs carrying out kidnapping, extortion and other crimes. </P>“Institutions in the drug-producing nations are going to have to change the way they do business,” Mr. Sabet said. “You cannot only rely on reducing demand and ignore deep-seated institutional problems.” </P>Mr. Santos, in accepting the report in Bogota, said more study was needed. “Let it be clear that no one here is defending any position, neither legalization, nor regulation, nor war at any cost,” he said. “What we have to do is use serious and well-considered studies like the one the O.A.S. has presented us with today to seek better solutions.” </P><P>This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:</P><P><STRONG>Correction: May 18, 2013</STRONG></P><P>A headline on an earlier version of this article misstated the scope of the O.A.S. report’s recommendations. It suggested discussing the legalization of marijuana; it did not suggest that marijuana be legalized.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/world/americas/nations-in-americas-urged-to-consider-legalizing-pot.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-29734721823881466702013-05-20T17:58:00.000-07:002013-05-20T17:58:00.632-07:00Sea Turtle Comeback in a Corner of the Caribbean In years past, poachers from Grande Riviere and nearby towns would ransack the turtles' buried eggs and hack the critically threatened reptiles to death with machetes to sell their meat in the market. Now, the turtles are the focus of a thriving tourist trade, with people so devoted to them that they shoo birds away when the turtles first start out as tiny hatchlings scurrying to sea. </P>The number of leatherbacks on this tropical beach has rebounded in spectacular fashion, with some 500 females nesting each night during the peak season in May and June, along the 800-meter-long (875-yard) beach. Researchers now consider the beach at Grand Riviere, alongside a river that flows into the Atlantic, the most densely nested site for leatherbacks in the world. </P>"It's sometimes hard remembering that leatherbacks are actually endangered," said tour guide Nicholas Alexander as he watched more emerge from the surf. </P>With instincts honed over 100 million years, these mighty leatherbacks have migrated from cold North Atlantic waters in Canada and northern Europe to nest. The air-breathing reptiles can dive to ocean depths of more than 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) and remain underwater for an hour. They are bigger, stronger, and tolerate colder temperatures than any other marine turtle. </P>On a recent night, the protected beach was so busy that female leatherback turtles bumped into each other as they trudged up the sloping beach. Occasionally grunting from the effort, the big reptiles swept away powdery sand with their front flippers and then painstakingly dug holes with their rear flippers, laying dozens of white eggs before heading back to the ocean. These same females will be back in about 10 days to deposit more eggs. </P>The resurgence of leatherbacks in Trinidad is touted by many as a major achievement, with more than half of all adult leatherbacks on the planet having been lost since 1980, mostly in the Eastern Pacific and Asia. </P>When local conservation efforts started here in the early 1990s, locals say a maximum of 30 turtles emerged from the surf overnight during the peak of the six-month nesting season. Now, at Grande Riviere and in the eastern community of Matura, where another major leatherback colony has grown, locals say more than 700 of the turtles appear overnight at the very height of the season, in May and June. </P>Flourishing turtle tourism is providing good livelihoods for people in formerly dead-end farming towns, with the Trinidad-based group Turtle Village Trust saying it brings in some $8.2 million annually. The inflow of visitors, both domestic and foreign, to Trinidad's northeast coast jumped from 6,500 in 2000 to over 60,000 in 2012. Officials with the U.S.-based Sea Turtle Conservancy say Trinidad is now likely the world's leading tourist destination for people to see leatherbacks. </P>Hopes are high that tourism boom can help the creatures survive a slew of pressures. In a 2009 global study on the economics of marine turtle tourism, researchers from the environmental group World Wildlife Fund found turtle tourism earned nearly three times as much money as the sale of turtle meat, leather and eggs. </P>While Trinidad supports some 80 percent of total leatherback nesting in the Caribbean, with a population of some 15,000 females laying eggs every two years, the turtles are also flourishing in other spots around the region. </P>In northern Guyana, leatherbacks have become the most abundant marine turtle species instead of the rarest one as it was in recent decades. In neighboring Suriname, the creatures' numbers have jumped tenfold, according to a 2007 assessment by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/05/18/world/americas/ap-cb-caribbean-turtle-tourism.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-59023253569865616052013-05-20T13:20:00.000-07:002013-05-20T13:20:00.382-07:00Reporter Remembers Fear in Videla's Argentina I had trekked out to isolated Neuquen province looking for Maria Estela Martinez de Peron, the constitutionally elected leader that Videla and his military cohorts had just toppled. Working for The Associated Press, I wanted to talk to her, her captors or anyone else to get the story. </P>As it turns out, I could have been one of the military junta's first victims that sunny afternoon. </P>The waters of the giant Nahuel Huapi lake, protected by the Andean mountain range, were rough and troubled, as I walked along its shores toward El Messidor castle, where de Peron was rumored to be held. </P>I was literally on top of the world. The sunlight reflected off the eternal snows capping the towering peaks around me. </P>Then a gruff, martial voice brought me back to earth, piercing me like a frozen blade: "What are you doing here? Who are you?" </P>An enormous officer headed a patrol of about a dozen angry-looking soldiers, all dressed in olive green, approaching from the castle. </P>I responded uneasily, "I'm a journalist." </P>The officer's response was quick and menacing: "We don't want journalists or Peronists; give me your documents." </P>On one side were the soldiers, on the other the castle. </P>Just hours after the coup, an iron lid of silence had already clamped shut on the whereabouts and condition of de Peron, and I knew trying to find her would be risky. Even before the coup, people were being killed or going missing during the back-and-forth between the military and leftist militants. </P>I was the only reporter anywhere near that lake, and in that era before cellphones, my only defense was my pen and notepad. </P>About 9,000 people were ultimately killed or disappeared during Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship, according to an official accounting after democracy returned. Human rights activists believe the real number was as high as 30,000. The dead were not only those who had been involved in armed conflict, but journalists, dissidents, unionists and citizens caught in the crossfire. </P>My life during the dictatorship quickly became a surreal and dangerous search for the truth in a country convulsed by violence. </P>At one point, I had to tour all the public restrooms in central Buenos Aires because the Montoneros and People's Revolutionary Army urban guerrillas left their communiques behind toilets, mirrors or inside spouts or pipes. A spokesman for the guerrillas would call the office and let us know which bathroom they had written their missive in, and I'd rush there to check. </P>At the center of it all was the lanky, mustached Videla, whom many dubbed "Panther," because his gait resembled that of the "Pink Panther" in the popular movies and cartoons. With Videla's death Friday at age 87, many Argentines are remembering those dark days. </P>We watched the "panther," surrounded by his fellow junta leaders, jumping in celebration and shouting "goal!" at River Plate stadium as Argentina beat Holland during the 1978 World Cup final. To improve his image, Videla was portrayed as playing a role in helping Argentina win the title. </P>Less than a kilometer (about half a mile) away from the stadium was the Navy Mechanics' School, the largest clandestine detention and torture center during Argentina's "dirty war." Thousands of people were taken there, never to be seen again. </P>I passed the school every time I went to the stadium, which seemed so placid and well-maintained, at least from the outside. I never suspected what was going on inside. </P>Among the people who were killed or disappeared after entering its doors were French nuns Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet, Argentine journalist and writer Rodolfo Walsh and Azucena Villaflor, one of the founds of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo human rights group. </P>My AP colleague at the time, Oscar J. Serrat, was abducted for a day by soldiers and only released following intense lobbying. </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/05/18/world/americas/ap-lt-argentina-videla-memories-of-fear.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-74859704304898383282013-05-20T08:48:00.000-07:002013-05-20T08:48:00.739-07:00Syria's Assad: Little Chance Peace Talks Would Succeed-Newspaper Speaking in Syria with the newspaper Clarin, Assad said he was doubtful that mediation the United States and Russia have proposed could settle a deadly conflict that has convulsed the country for two years. </P>"There is confusion in the world between a political solution and terrorism. They think a political conference will halt terrorists in the country. That is unrealistic," he said in reference to insurgent groups seeking to unseat him. </P>Rebels demanding Assad's resignation have also voiced skepticism about the proposed peace talks. </P>Assad reiterated he would not resign and said peace talks would not make sense because the opposition was too fragmented to negotiate an agreement. </P>"No dialogue with terrorists," he said. Videotaped excerpts of the interview were posted on Clarin's website. </P>The Syrian conflict started with mainly peaceful demonstrations against Assad, but turned into a civil war in which the United Nations says tens of thousands of people have been killed. </P>Islamist militants have emerged as the most potent of the anti-Assad rebels. </P>On Friday, the outlook for talks appeared to hit snags. </P>The United States chided Russia for sending missiles to the Syrian government, while France made clear it would oppose any meeting if Assad's regional ally Iran were invited. </P>Russia's position is that Tehran should be part of any solution. </P>(Reporting by Maximiliano Rizzi; Editing by Terry Wade and Peter Cooney) </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/05/18/world/americas/18reuters-syria-assad.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-79556644163129648622013-05-20T05:47:00.000-07:002013-05-20T05:47:00.506-07:00Brazil Beefs Up Security for Confederations Cup <IMG alt="Rajat Gupta’s Lust for Zeros" src="/19mothbillionaires-moth.png" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Summer Stages Throughout the Country" src="/19MOTHSUMMERSTAGE-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Weddings and Celebrations" src="/19MOTHVOWS-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> Do consumers have the power to change factory conditions abroad?</P><IMG alt="Daft Punk Gets Human With a New Album" src="/19MOTHDAFTPUNK-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Exposures: Prisoners Onstage" src="/19MOTHExposures-moth.png" width=151 height=151> Readers discuss how to adapt to a changing job market.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/05/18/world/americas/ap-lt-brazil-confederations-cup-security.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-74854364855029850462013-05-20T01:14:00.000-07:002013-05-20T01:14:00.707-07:00Church Must Help the Poorest, Not Dissect Theology, Pope Says Francis, who has made straight talk and simplicity a hallmark of his papacy, made his unscripted comments in answers to questions by four people at a huge international gathering of Catholic associations in St. Peter's Square. </P>But he outdid himself in passionately discussing everything from the memory of his grandmother to his decision to become a priest, from political corruption to his worries about a Church that too often closes in on itself instead of looking outward. </P>"If we step outside of ourselves, we will find poverty," he said, repeating his call for Catholics to do more to seek out those on the fringes of society who need help the most," he said from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica </P>"Today, and it breaks my heart to say it, finding a homeless person who has died of cold, is not news. Today, the news is scandals, that is news, but the many children who don't have food - that's not news. This is grave. We can't rest easy while things are this way." </P>The crowd, most of whom are already involved in charity work, interrupted him often with applause. </P>"We cannot become starched Christians, too polite, who speak of theology calmly over tea. We have to become courageous Christians and seek out those (who need help most)," he said. </P>To laughter from the crowd, he described how he prays each day before an altar before going to bed. </P>"Sometimes I doze off, the fatigue of the day makes you fall asleep, but he (God) understands," he said. </P>CRISIS OF VALUES </P>Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, said the world was going through not just an economic crisis but a crisis of values. </P>"This is happening today. If investments in banks fall, it is a tragedy and people say 'what are we going to do?' but if people die of hunger, have nothing to eat or suffer from poor health, that's nothing. This is our crisis today. A Church that is poor and for the poor has to fight this mentality," he said. </P>Many in the crowd planned to stay in the square overnight to pray and prepare for Francis' Mass on Sunday, when the Catholic Church marks Pentecost, the day it teaches that the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles. </P>On Saturday morning, Francis met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and discussed Europe's economic crisis. </P>Apparently responding to his criticism of a heartless "dictatorship of the economy" earlier in the week, Merkel, who is up for re-election in September, later called for stronger regulation of financial markets. </P>On Thursday, Francis appealed in a speech for world financial reform, saying the global economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries. </P>(Editing by Robin Pomeroy) </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/05/18/world/europe/18reuters-pope-personal.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-7620008293988781032013-05-19T21:38:00.000-07:002013-05-19T21:38:00.166-07:003 Killed, 3 Injured in Puerto Rico Shooting <IMG alt="Rajat Gupta’s Lust for Zeros" src="/19mothbillionaires-moth.png" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Summer Stages Throughout the Country" src="/19MOTHSUMMERSTAGE-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Weddings and Celebrations" src="/19MOTHVOWS-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> Do consumers have the power to change factory conditions abroad?</P><IMG alt="Daft Punk Gets Human With a New Album" src="/19MOTHDAFTPUNK-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Exposures: Prisoners Onstage" src="/19MOTHExposures-moth.png" width=151 height=151> Readers discuss how to adapt to a changing job market.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/05/18/world/americas/ap-cb-puerto-rico-fatal-shooting.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-17287135841268633482013-05-19T18:03:00.000-07:002013-05-19T18:03:00.463-07:00Mexico Judge Orders Prison for Suspects in Killing <IMG alt="Rajat Gupta’s Lust for Zeros" src="/19mothbillionaires-moth.png" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Summer Stages Throughout the Country" src="/19MOTHSUMMERSTAGE-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Weddings and Celebrations" src="/19MOTHVOWS-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> Do consumers have the power to change factory conditions abroad?</P><IMG alt="Daft Punk Gets Human With a New Album" src="/19MOTHDAFTPUNK-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Exposures: Prisoners Onstage" src="/19MOTHExposures-moth.png" width=151 height=151> Readers discuss how to adapt to a changing job market.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/05/18/world/americas/ap-lt-mexico-shabazz.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-63239960243379743552013-05-19T13:53:00.000-07:002013-05-19T13:53:00.622-07:00The Health Toll of Immigration BROWNSVILLE, Tex. — Becoming an American can be bad for your health. </P>A growing body of mortality research on immigrants has shown that the longer they live in this country, the worse their rates of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. And while their American-born children may have more money, they tend to live shorter lives than the parents. </P>The pattern goes against any notion that moving to America improves every aspect of life. It also demonstrates that at least in terms of health, worries about assimilation for the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants are mistaken. In fact, it is happening all too quickly. </P>“There’s something about life in the United States that is not conducive to good health across generations,” said Robert A. Hummer, a social demographer at the University of Texas at Austin. </P>For Hispanics, now the nation’s largest immigrant group, the foreign-born live about three years longer than their American-born counterparts, several studies have found. </P>Why does life in the United States — despite its sophisticated health care system and high per capita wages — lead to worse health? New research is showing that the immigrant advantage wears off with the adoption of American behaviors — smoking, drinking, high-calorie diets and sedentary lifestyles. </P>Here in Brownsville, a worn border city studded with fast-food restaurants, immigrants say that happens slowly, almost imperceptibly. In America, foods like ham and bread that are not supposed to be sweet are. And children lose their taste for traditional Mexican foods like cactus and beans. </P>For the recently arrived, the quantity and accessibility of food speaks to the boundless promise of the United States. Esther Angeles remembers being amazed at the size of hamburgers — as big as dinner plates — when she first came to the United States from Mexico 15 years ago. </P>“I thought, this is really a country of opportunity,” she said. “Look at the size of the food!” </P>Fast-food fare not only tasted good, but was also a sign of success, a family treat that new earnings put in reach. </P>“The crispiness was delicious,” said Juan Muniz, 62, recalling his first visit to Church’s Chicken with his family in the late 1970s. “I was proud and excited to eat out. I’d tell them: ‘Let’s go eat. We can afford it now.’ ” </P>For others, supersize deals appealed. </P>“You work so hard, you want to use your money in a smart way,” said Aris Ramirez, a community health worker in Brownsville, explaining the thinking. “So when they hear ‘twice the fries for an extra 49 cents,’ people think, ‘That’s economical.’ ” </P>For Ms. Angeles, the excitement of big food eventually wore off, and the frantic pace of the modern American workplace took over. She found herself eating hamburgers more because they were convenient and she was busy in her 78-hour-a-week job as a housekeeper. What is more, she lost control over her daughter’s diet because, as a single mother, she was rarely with her at mealtimes. </P>Robert O. Valdez, a professor of family and community medicine and economics at the University of New Mexico, said, “All the things we tell people to do from a clinical perspective today — a lot of fiber and less meat — were exactly the lifestyle habits that immigrants were normally keeping.” </P>As early as the 1970s, researchers found that immigrants lived several years longer than American-born whites even though they tended to have less education and lower income, factors usually associated with worse health. That gap has grown since 1980. Less clear, however, was what happened to immigrants and their American-born offspring after a lifetime in the United States. </P>Evidence is mounting that the second generation does worse. Elizabeth Arias, a demographer at the National Center for Health Statistics, has made exploratory estimates based on data from 2007 to 2009, which show that Hispanic immigrants live 2.9 years longer than American-born Hispanics. The finding, which has not yet been published, is similar to those in earlier studies. </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/health/the-health-toll-of-immigration.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-14835680651394170952013-05-19T09:49:00.000-07:002013-05-19T09:49:00.443-07:00Two Men Charged With Killing Malcolm X Grandson David Hernandez and Manuel Perez, waiters at the Palace nightclub near Mexico City's popular Garibaldi Square, face charges of murder and robbery, the official said. </P>Malcolm Shabazz, who police have said was 29, died May 9 at the Palace after a dispute over a $1,200 bill. Hernandez and Perez were arrested on Monday. </P>Shabazz, who was convicted of manslaughter as a 12-year-old for setting a fire that killed his grandmother and went to prison as an adult for attempted robbery, was in Mexico City to visit Miguel Suarez, an immigration activist who was recently deported from the United States. Shabazz </P>On the night of May 8 Shabazz and Suarez visited the run-down area around Plaza Garibaldi, a popular tourist area where Mariachi music groups play on the streets amid seedy strip clubs, dive bars and bordellos. </P>Despite its proximity to the city's grand colonial center, the area is infamous for petty crime. </P>Malcolm X was a civil rights activist and leader of the black Muslim movement in the United States. He was shot to death before a speaking appearance in New York City in 1965. </P>(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; Editing by Bill Trott) </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/05/18/world/americas/18reuters-mexico-malcolmx.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-42477728785065003772013-05-19T05:24:00.000-07:002013-05-19T05:24:00.346-07:00Dissident Ex-General Released in Venezuela <IMG alt="Rajat Gupta’s Lust for Zeros" src="/19mothbillionaires-moth.png" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Summer Stages Throughout the Country" src="/19MOTHSUMMERSTAGE-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Weddings and Celebrations" src="/19MOTHVOWS-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> Do consumers have the power to change factory conditions abroad?</P><IMG alt="Daft Punk Gets Human With a New Album" src="/19MOTHDAFTPUNK-moth.jpg" width=151 height=151> <IMG alt="Exposures: Prisoners Onstage" src="/19MOTHExposures-moth.png" width=151 height=151> Readers discuss how to adapt to a changing job market.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/05/18/world/americas/ap-lt-venezuela-politics.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-29717796008647810902013-05-19T00:59:00.001-07:002013-05-19T00:59:24.868-07:00Upmarket Pakistan District Votes Again as Imran Khan Decries Killing It was not immediately clear who killed Zara Shahid Hussain, a senior member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of former cricket hero Imran Khan, who accused the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party, which has a stranglehold on the city. </P>MQM leaders denied responsibility and demanded a retraction from Khan. </P>The attack in the upscale Defence area, the family neighbourhood of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, capped a bloody election campaign in which around 150 people were killed nationwide. </P>Last Saturday's elections handed a landslide victory to opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). </P>But results from a handful of constituencies across the country are still uncertain amid accusations of vote-rigging. There is repolling in a few others where security issues prevented voting. </P>Last week's election gave the MQM 18 of 19 national assembly seats in Karachi. The constituency where Sunday's repoll was taking place, known blandly as NA-250, is thought to be a stronghold of the PTI. </P>Whatever the results, Sharif's national landslide win is assured. But as Pakistan's financial centre, Karachi generates around half of government revenues and stability in the city is key to stability of the whole country. </P>Sunday's voting took place at 43 polling stations across the constituency and, for the first time, each ballot box was guarded by a ranger and a soldier inside the booth instead of outside. </P>Police said that two gunmen shot Hussain outside her home in Defence. </P>"Her death has sent shockwaves across the rank and file of the party," Khan said in a statement. </P>"I hold (MQM leader) Altaf Hussain directly responsible for the murder as he openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts," Khan, recovering in hospital from a fall during campaigning, added in a tweet. </P>"I also hold the British government responsible as I had warned them about British citizen Altaf Hussain after his open threats." </P>Altaf Hussain is accused of murder in Pakistan and leads his party remotely from exile in England. His party is designated a terrorist organization by Canada, a charge it strongly denies. </P>In recent days he gave a speech which many Pakistanis felt was an incitement to attack political rivals. British police are investigating whether or not it constituted a hate speech. </P>The MQM, a secular party, is locked in a battle with various rival contenders for influence in Karachi, including Pakistan's Taliban movement, which has sought to gain a foothold in various districts on the outskirts of the city in recent years. </P>Khan's election campaign electrified many Pakistanis, pushing the PTI from a marginal party to Pakistan's third largest. </P>Karachi, the nuclear-armed country's key port, is home to 18 million people. It typically sees about a dozen murders a day, a combination of political killings, attacks by the Pakistan Taliban and sectarian militant groups, and street crime. </P>(Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing) </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/05/19/world/asia/19reuters-pakistan-elections-killing.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-42532914542261143532012-11-19T09:35:00.000-08:002012-11-19T09:35:01.011-08:00Rebels Issue Ultimatum to Congo Forces in GomaAppId is over the quota<br />AppId is over the quota<br /> The rebel March 23 Movement, or M23, which has been fighting the Congolese government since April, reached the outskirts of Goma on Sunday night in some of the heaviest fighting since 2008 and issued an ultimatum to the government to announce direct negotiations with the group within 24 hours. </P>“To allow a peaceful exit,” a rebel statement on Monday morning said, the rebels also demanded “the complete demilitarization” of Goma and the international airport in eastern Congo, although U.N. peacekeepers would be allowed to stay. </P>Otherwise, the rebel group said, it reserved the right “to take all necessary measures,” including “following its its resistance against the government of Kinshasa up to its fall.” </P>On Sunday, a rebel spokesman had said that rebels had no intention of advancing on the city. </P>Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, is home to nearly one million people and United Nations peacekeepers who have a mandate to use force to protect civilians. </P>Goma remained largely quiet on Monday morning. Some shops were open, civilians there said, but Congo’s military spokesman said the army was digging in. </P>“We are now in a state of reinforcing our positions,” said Col. Olivier Hamuli. </P>Violence erupted between rebel forces and government troops last week and both sides claimed to have inflicted heavy losses although they provided no numbers. On Saturday, the rebels captured the town of Kibumba and continued to advance on Sunday. Despite ground battles with government troops and aerial strikes by United Nations helicopters on rebel positions, the insurgents pushed to within two miles of central Goma, long an objective in Congo’s 15-year civil war, displacing tens of thousands of people in a humanitarian camp. </P>“They were able to bypass all of the positions we had,” said the United Nations chief in Goma, Hiroute Guebre Sellasie. “We are not facing a conventional force.” </P>“The deadlock depends on so many things,” Ms. Guebre Sellasie said. “I cannot project what will happen in the next 24 hours.” </P>The M23 group is made up of soldiers from a former rebel army that signed a peace deal with the government on March 23, 2009, and was integrated into Congo’s national army. But last spring, hundreds of them mutinied, claiming that the government had failed to meet their demands under the 2009 agreement. </P>The figurehead of the group is believed to be Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, a former rebel and high-ranking army officer wanted by the International Criminal Court to answer charges that he committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. </P>The rebellion broke out as Congo and foreign governments called for the arrest of General Ntaganda. Since then, Rwanda and Uganda have been accused by a United Nations panel of experts of aiding the rebel movement, a charge that both countries deny. </P>A new wave of fighting erupted last week, with the army claiming to have killed more than 150 rebels and the rebels capturing the town of Kibumba, about 18 miles from Goma. </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/africa/rebels-issue-ultimatum-to-congo-forces-in-goma.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-41385297828885666522012-11-19T09:31:00.000-08:002012-11-19T09:31:00.555-08:00The Gaza clash escalates with the deadliest Israeli strike <IMG border="0" alt="" src="/DIPLO-1-articleLarge.jpg" width="600" height="399" itemprop="url" itemid="C:\Program Files\ABS\Auto Blog Samurai\data\World News\news\DIPLO-1-articleLarge.jpg">Bernat Armangue/the Associated Press<STRONG></STRONG>smoke rose over Gaza City on Sunday, as Israel extended its range of targets to include buildings used by the news media.<P>CAIRO — Emboldened by Islamists growing power around the region, the Palestinian militant group Hamas called for new Israeli concessions to its security and independence before it stops its rocket attacks on Israel, even as the conflict took a growing toll on Sunday.</P><IMG border="0" alt="" src="/video-gaza-121118-thumbWide.jpg" width="190" height="126">A look at violence in Gaza,<IMG alt="" src="/DIPLO-2-articleInline.jpg" width="190" height="127" itemprop="url"> </IMG> a woman and her child took cover in the southern Israeli city of Ashod, which was the target of several rockets on Sunday. <P>After five days of punishing Israeli air strikes on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and no letup in rocket fire in return for Israel and Hamas representatives met separately with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Sunday for indirect talks on a cease-fire.</P>The talks came as an Israeli bomb hit a house in Gaza on Sunday afternoon, killing 11 people in the deadliest single strike since the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalated on Wednesday. The strike, along with several others who killed civilians across the Gaza Strip, signaled that Israel extends its range of targets on the fifth day of the campaign.<P>At the end of the day, Gaza health officials reported that 70 Palestinians had been killed in air strikes since Wednesday, including 20 children, and that 600 had been wounded. Three Israelis have been killed and at least 79 wounded by persistent rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel and as far north as Tel Aviv.</P>Hamas, poorly armed banditry disguised cruise on the battlefield, seemed to try to take advantage of its increased political clout with its ideological allies in Egypt's new Islamic-led Government. The Group's leaders reject Israel's call for an immediate end to rocket attacks have instead established sweeping requirements, which would put Hamas in a stronger position than when the conflict began: cessation of Israel's five-year-old embargo of the Gaza Strip, a promise that Israel not to attack again and multinational guarantees that Israel would meet its commitments.<P>Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel stabbed his demand that all rocket fire ceases before the air campaign leaves, and Israeli tanks and troops remained lined up outside Gaza on Sunday. Tens of thousands of reserve troops had been called. "The Army is prepared to expand the operation considerably," Mr. Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.</P>Reda Fahmy, a member of Egypt's House of Lords of Parliament, and of the nation's dominant Islamic party, resulting from the negotiations, said the attitude was equally unequivocal Hamass. "Hamas has a clear and precise requirements: for the siege lifted completely from Gaza," he said. "It is not reasonable that every now and then Israel decides to level the Gaza with the Earth, and so we decide to sit down and talk about it when it is done. On the Israeli side, they want to stop the missiles from one side. How is it? "<P>He added: "if they stop the aircraft from shooting, Hamas will then stop its missiles. But the violence could not be stopped from one side. "</P>Hamas aggressive attitude in the negotiations a cease-fire is the first test of the Group's belief that the Arab spring and the increase of Islamic influence around the region has strengthened his political hand, both against Israel and Palestinian rivals, Hamas, which now controls the West Bank, with Western backing.<P>It also puts intense new pressure on President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was known for his fiery speeches defending Hamas and condemning Israel. Mr. Morsi must now strike a balance between the conflicting demands of an Egyptian public, which is deeply sympathise with Hamas and the Palestinian case against the Western pleadings to help broker a peace and Egypt's need for regional stability to revive its moribund economy.</P>Actually illustrates the Egyptian-led truce talks the divergent paths of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, a Palestinian offshoot of the original Egyptian Islamist group. Hamas has evolved into a more militant insurgents and called a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel, while the Brotherhood has effectively been Egypt's ruling party. Mr. Fahmy said in an interview in March that Brotherhoods new responsibilities required a step back from its ideological cousins in Hamas, and even a new push to convince the group to compromise.<P><P>Reporting was contributed by Ethan Bronner and Isabel Kershner, Irit Pazner Garshowitz from Jerusalem, and Peter Baker from Bangkok.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/world/middleeast/an-outgunned-hamas-tries-to-leverage-rise-of-islamists-in-region.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-14401254649425385992012-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:002012-11-19T09:30:02.120-08:00Palestinian death toll rises as Israel presses onslaughtThe losses — 19 reported killed since midnight local time — included Palestinians killed in attacks by warplanes and a drone attack on two men on a motorcycle. Another drone attack killed the driver of a taxi, hired by journalists and display "Press" sign, although it was not clear what journalists employed it, said Palestinian officials.<P>Sunday attacks Israeli forces two buildings containing local tv stations and production companies used by foreign outlets. Israeli officials denied targeting journalists, but on Monday blasted the Israeli forces again Al Sharouk block used by many local television stations, as well as Britain's Sky News and Al Arabiya channel.</P>Attacks, apparently aimed at a computer store on the third floor of the building, triggered a blaze that sent the theme of dark smoke creeping up the sides of the building. Video footage showed clouds of grey smoke billowing from high-rise building as the missiles hit home.<P>An Israeli bomb pummeled a home deep in the ground here on Sunday, killing 11 people, including nine in three generations of a single family, in the deadliest single strike in six days of cross-border conflicts. Family members were buried Monday in a rite, transformed into a gesture of defiance, and was a rally supporting Gaza militant Hamas rulers.</P>A militant leader said Tel Aviv in the Israeli heartland, would be hit "again and again" and warned Israelis that their leaders were misleading them and would "take them to hell."<P>Air strikes indicated further that Israel was striking a variety of targets. Three Israelis have been killed and at least 79 injured by continued rocket fire into southern Israel and as far north as Tel Aviv.</P>Israel says its onslaught is designed to stop Hamas from launching rockets, but after an apparent lull overnight, hurtled more missiles against targets in Israel, some of them intercepted by Israel's iron Dome defense system. Four were intercepted by five rockets fired at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Monday, but a messed up through concrete roof at the entrance to an empty school. There were no reports of casualties, Other rockets rained on areas along the border with Gaza.<P>Later defeated another volley Ashkelon. Several missiles were intercepted, but one crashed on a House, causing damage but no casualties, News reports said 75 rockets had been fired by midafternoon.</P>Sunday totaled a new blitz of the Palestinian rockets nearly 100 by nightfall, including two that had risen against the population center in Tel Aviv, but was knocked out of the sky by Israeli defense forces.<P>In a statement on Monday said the Israel Defense Forces overnight targets included "underground rocket launchers, terrorist training bases, tunnels, Hamas command posts and arms storage facilities." But news reports said strikes flattened two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and two adults and injuring 42 people, while a shrapnel burst from a second attack killed a child and wounded others living near the ruins of the former national security compound.</P>The latest exchanges offered a grim light Egyptian-led truce efforts have so far proved inconclusive. The United Nations Secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, was set to join efforts in Cairo on Monday.<P>Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, spokesman for Israel Defense Forces, said there had been a reduction of up to 40 percent in the rocket fire from Gaza, while Israeli forces had launched 40 raids on tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, at both entrances and along the road leading to them, causing considerable damage.</P>He said six rocket launch team and two men on motorcycles were affected, while the Israeli forces continued to intercept Palestinian radio signals in order to urge Gaza residents to steer clear of the activists.<P>In the Israeli strike Sunday morning it took emergency workers and a Caterpillar digger more than an hour to reveal the extent of the devastation in the two-storey home of Jamal Dalu, a shop owner. Mr. Dalu was a neighbor when the blast wiped out almost his entire family: his sister, wife, two daughters, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren ages 2 to 6 all perished under the rubble, as well as the two neighbours, an 18-year-old and his grandmother.</P><P>Ticket prices and Jodi Rudoren Anonymous reported from Gaza City and Alan Cowell from London. Reporting was contributed by Isabel Kershner from Ashkelon, Israel; Ethan Bronner, Myra Noveck and Irit Pazner Garshowitz from Jerusalem; RINA Castelnuovo from Ashdod, Israel; Peter Baker from Bangkok; and David d. Kirkpatrick from Cairo.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-conflict.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-64635820578174519042012-11-19T09:26:00.000-08:002012-11-19T09:26:00.772-08:00Analysis of news: in the second debate, Obama strikes againPresident Obama, who concluded that he was "too polite" in his first debate with Mitt Romney, ensured no say that after their second. He broke off, he scolded, he filibustered, he shook his head.<P>He tried to talk the right over Mr. Romney, who tried to talk over him back. President, who waited patiently on his trip last time around forced its way into Mr. Romney time this time. At one point he squared Mr. Romney face to face, almost chest to chest, in the middle of the stage, as if they were in a ring of roos.</P>"The Governor Romney said just not true."<P>"Not true, Governor Romney, not true."</P>"What you say is simply not true."<P>For a President who is a threat on the edge of a single expression, could make a stronger case at Hofstra University on Long Iceland Tuesday night could hardly have been more compelling. Thirteen days after the presidential election, he took decency to a Xanax extreme, he tucked away a dinner of steak and potatoes and then went out on stage with lots of red meat for eager supporters.</P>If it decisively want to redirect the course of the campaign is still visible, but the President emerged from the encounter have settled nerves within his panicky party and claim a new chance to frame the race with just three weeks left.<P>Heading into the evening, said the Obama camp that he needed at least a draw to turn turmoil over the first debate and running some of the potential drama from the final meeting on Monday. But the risk was, of course, that a confrontation could turn very happy swing voters he covets.</P>Strategy on Tuesday evening was clear: undercut Mr. Romney character and credibility by portraying him as lying about his true views on issues like taxes and abortion. Mr. Obama questioned again and again about the man on stage with him was the same "serious conservative" candidate that time right in the Republican primary election.<P>He painted Mr. Romney as a tool of big oil, which is soft on China, hard on immigrants, political rough on Libya and hypocritical on guns and energy. He inserted many of the attack lines that went unused in Denver, after Mr. Romney business record, his personal income taxes and are considered in the final minutes of debate, his comments about 47 percent of Americans he once too dependent on the Government.</P>"Governor Romney has a five-point plan," charged Mr. Obama. "He has a one-point plan" which is to help the rich, he said.<P>He mocked Mr. Romney, noting that he once closed a coal plant as Governor of Massachusetts. "Now suddenly you are a great champion of coal," he said.</P>As for trade, he said, "Governor, you are the last person who will get tough on China."<P>And he pressed Mr. Romney for not revealing how he would pay for his tax and deficit reduction targets. "We have not heard from the Governor any specifics beyond big bird and eliminate funding for planned parenthood," he said.</P>Mr. Romney held its own and gave as good as he got, presenting Mr. Obama as a failed President who has stacked on trillions of dollars of debt, leaving millions of Americans without work, security for American personnel in Libya, done nothing to reform entitlement programs bungled and deserted a middle class "crushed under the policies of a President who does not understand what it takes to get the economy working again."<P>But it was Mr. Obama who was the central storyline of the night, his performance, comes across as a striking contrast to the, his first face-off with Mr. Romney. In the days leading to Tuesday night encounter, Mr. Obama huddled in a Virginia resort with advisers to practice a more aggressive approach, without which one way or another referenced illegitimate or passage over a line of presidential dignity. It was a line he would stride up to several times during more than 90 minutes, and some would argue that he slipped over it. at times.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/us/politics/in-second-debate-obama-strikes-back.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-8102236582232505552012-11-19T09:24:00.000-08:002012-11-19T09:24:00.045-08:00DealBook: Citigroup Investors hope clarity on the Bank's path quickly <IMG id="100000001848862" alt="Vikram Pandit did not overhaul Citibank fast enough, or aggressively enough, in many investors' eyes." src="/BANK-tmagArticle.jpg" width="592" height="315">Jemal Countess/Getty Images of Pandit TimeVikram not overhaul Citibank quickly enough or aggressively enough in the eyes of many investors.<P>As Michael l. Corbat takes up the reins at Citigroup, analysts and investors have a message for him: shrink your bank, and be much more transparent, as you do.</P><P>Mr. Corbat will take over from Vikram s. Pandit as Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup four difficult years after the financial crisis. During this period, Mr. Pandit Service Banking behemoth and attempted to focus the Citi of the firms he felt it could do best. But increasingly, many investors felt Citis overhaul was not bold or fast enough.</P><P>"Citigroup has acted as if it is too big to care," said Mike Mayo, an analyst at CLSA, a brokerage company. "This means that they are too large to be sensitive to shareholder concerns."</P><P>Dissatisfaction with the Citigroups progress motivated shareholders to vote against a $ 15 million salary package for Mr. Pandit in April. The vote came shortly after the Federal Reserve killed Citigroups plans to pay capital to shareholders, a damning evidence that legislators still weren't comfortable with the Bank.</P><P>Since these expressions of dissatisfaction is Citigroups shares significantly higher, although they are still down 89 percent, as Mr. Pandit took over in December 2007. Stock building trades on a pitiful valuation reflects two dominant views on the markets: Citigroup's transformation has a long way to go, and its annual accounts can be opaque.</P><IMG id="100000001849711" alt="" src="/dbgfx-bank-articleInline-v2.jpg" width="190" height="316">The New York Times<STRONG></STRONG><P>Although relatively unknown to shareholders, Mr. Corbat starts with a reputation as a tenacious Executive with a deep knowledge of Citigroup, where he has worked for nearly 30 years. He even got good reviews from people who have been skeptical about Citigroup and its management. Sheila c. Bair, former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which clashed with Mr. Pandit, knew Mr. Corbat from interactions during the financial crisis.</P><P>"He was involved in several meetings with us," Ms. Bair said, adding, "he was prepared, and he knew his stuff."</P><P>Some analysts believe now, Mr. Corbat could open the door to more radical move at Citigroup.</P><P>"I think that this is a genuine and long-term positive for Citi," said Gerard Cassidy, a banking analyst with RBC capital markets.</P><P>Still, Mr. Corbat perhaps impress quickly, given the pent-up frustration among shareholders. His first public conference calls as CEO on Tuesday was not encouraging on that front. He seemed to disappoint analysts who wanted to hear Mr. Corbat express a greater desire to change things. Instead, he said, "today's changes do not change the strategic direction for Citi, which we believe is a good thing."</P><P>In a memo to employees on Tuesday sounded Mr. Corbat more urgently. He wrote: "we must deliver sustained profitability, improved operational efficiency and shareholder returns."</P><P>Part of Mr. Corbat jobs will get more out of Citigroups best results operations. Many of its international lending organizations consistently do well, and he can look for ways to ensure investors give greater recognition to this force.</P><P>An idea may be to sell minority holdings in these operations in foreign exchanges, something that Spanish bank Santander has done recently with its Mexican unit. If these shares perform well, it would highlight the value in these companies and maybe lift the Citigroups stock. Asked about that idea Tuesday, said Mr. Corbat, "I want to look at these things and see what the numbers say."</P><P>Burning question, however, is whether he has the will to get out of businesses that the Bank does not excel in, even though the short-term costs are high. Mr. Cassidy, the analyst, said Mr. Corbat should sell any business line could not achieve the kind of returns to shareholders is expected. Citigroups Chairman, Michael e. O'Neill, reduced aggressive size of Bank of Hawaii when he led it.</P><P>"He shrunk the Bank with 30 percent; It is what Citi has to do, "Mr. Cassidy said.</P><P>In particular, some investors Citigroup be faster on selling assets in Citi Holdings, bad Bank Citigroup set up for its unwanted and loss-making assets. Mr. Corbat ran Citi Holdings until the end of last year. Faster sales can mean Citigroup would not get the best price possible for the $ 171 billion in assets in Citi Holdings. It could lead to higher losses when the sale took place.</P><P>But selling assets faster could free up capital the Bank stops there. This could in turn lead to a major improvement of Citigroups regulatory capital ratios, which investors look very closely. Banks can show they have little trouble meeting these ratios often get better valuations on their shares.</P><P>Citigroups investment bank are other obvious targets for shrinkage. Right now, it is huge. Department for "securities and banking" in Citigroup has 903 billion dollars of assets. It is only slightly smaller than Goldman Sachss assets. And Citis investment bank revenue has been uneven since the financial crisis.</P><P>The unit also is seen as a black box, something Mr. Corbat will have to deal with if he wants to regain investor confidence, said analysts. Citigroups revelations not as detailed as those of some other banks. For example, publishes each quarter, Goldman Sachs a critical number that shows how much profit it makes on the capital.</P><P>But Citigroup does not, for its investment bank; It simply tell not outsiders how much capital it has implemented in this device. As a result, it could make unproductive investments in Wall Street operations without shareholders knowing. This could be the case in other business areas as well.</P><P>Self created for Mr. Corbat may be that if he increases the publication, can investors shy away at any alarming numbers and dump stocks. He may even so could result.</P><P>"They have open up the kimono," Mr. Cassidy said.</P><P>Perhaps Mr. Corbat will Citigroup's quiet revolutionary, a leader who is ready to make a bold move to win, and win back shareholders. He offered up a button-down remark on Tuesday that could provide a tidbit hope to shareholders who are counting on him to double Citigroup's remodeling. "I would not minimize the impact you can have on a place," he said.</P><br /><p><a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/investors-hope-for-clarity-quickly/?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-18520163209352190262012-11-19T09:22:00.000-08:002012-11-19T09:22:00.447-08:00Gazans begræde Dalu familie dræbt af israelske bombeThere were few, if any visible tears on the intense, chaotic, lengthy funeral on Monday, Jamal and seven relatives among the 12 people killed the day before in the single deadly attacks since the latest hostilities between Israel and the Gaza Strip began on Wednesday after months of Palestinian militant rocket fire into Israel. Instead, there were fingers jabbing the air to signal "Allah is the only one," defiant chants about resistance and calls for revenge, in the Green Hamas flag and the white paper in its Al-Qassam Brigades signature.<P>On the destruction of the family home, a man Dalu climbed on top of the pile of rubble where a dozen photographers had positioned himself and hoisted the body in one of the four slain children in the air several times, as if a totem. At the mosque, was interrupted by the launching of a missile eulogy, which is tied to Israel. And at the cemetery, head of a Qassam directed, not even mourning but prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, warning, "we still have so much in our pockets, and we show you where we are."</P>Much of the militant splendor was probably meant as a message to the news media, and thus the world, given how Dalus immediately had been the face of the Palestinian cause. But the tone, much more fundamentalist than sad, was also a potent sign of martyrdom, as all parts of culture at this location, and the numbness, many here have developed for death and destruction after years of cross-border conflicts.<P>"This blood, which was delivered by your family will not go in vain," a Hamas minister told grieving in the mosque. "Of these children, these little flowers, rights rights are on our necks.</P>"We all have to die today or tomorrow," he added. "But the dead are martyrs and none died yesterday."<P>Avital Leibovich, a spokeswoman Lieutenant for the Israel Defense Forces, said it was "still out" Sunday afternoon strike on Dalu home in Al Nasser neighborhood, which she described as an accident. She said the target had been a man "responsible for rocket launch" from the neighborhood, and that 200 -300-rockets had been fired toward Israel under his command in recent days, but it was unclear whether the man even lived nearby.</P>The two-story structure had been Obliterated homes for 15 people in three generations. Patriarch, also known as Jamal, ran a shop in Al-Zawya market sells seeds, sugar, tea and other staples, which his grandfather had started and he had worked since childhood. He survived because he had been on the market when the bomb hit. Jamal's son Mohammed worked in the Hamas Government as a police officer; neighbors and relatives insisted that he was not a Qassam fighter or a political leader, although the extent of the militant presence at the funeral raised questions.<P>In addition to Mohammed, his wife and his four children, was Jamal's sister, wife and two daughters were killed in the attack, after the Hamas Ministry of health, as well as the two neighbours, an 18-year-old and his grandmother. Jamal and his wife, Tahani, had recently returned from their first pilgrimage to Mecca, relatives said, and was filled with joy and optimism from the experience. They have five surviving children, relatives said, including 18-year-old Abdullah, who was practically conducted funeral, his arms around the shoulders of two friends.</P>"This is occupation is doing injustice to the Palestinians," said the elder Mr. Dalu, in a brief interview in the House as he awaited the bodies will be moved from the morgue. "They have not given us a warning. They hit just the House with the kids in it. My daughters were in their youth. What have you done to them? "<P>But even if the deaths were condemned as a massacre, mourning was neither overwhelmed by emotions or tired, the current casualty count Paling conditions for 1,400 lost four years ago when the Israelis invaded Gaza.</P>As devout Muslims, many of them to want what they see as martyrdom in the fight for a Palestinian State. such funerals is a rhythm of life here, punctuating the bodies taken from the morgue to his family home, then to the mosque and the cemetery in which attracts large crowds ordered processions.<P>"We are accustomed to it, we got used to the killing," said Emad Al-Dalu, 35, an accountant and cousin to death. "Each of us has seen one of his relatives, one of his neighbors has died. We defend our rights. We can take more. "</P>Three-hour ritual was an almost all-male affair. Several dozen women Show bodies map in a home near pile rubble, one of them collapses in grief. But even close female relatives have followed basic course not service at the mosque, nor the burial.<P>So it was the men who conducted bodies: grown-ups on stretchers over their shoulders in the stretcher bearer style, and children, to be cradled in their arms as they walked, then ran through the normally traffic-clogged the city's now-empty streets. Some were wrapped in white sheets, others in the Palestinian or Hamas flags. Just head to the rear and would have sent the service at times.</P>The crowd ran down a long Hill, around several corners, and finally in the Sheikh Radwan cemetery, a messy mosaic of stone on a steep mound of dirt. That split it into several circles around the separate graves.<P>Jamal and two of his siblings were lowered vertically in a one-square-yard hole, the men are covered with a concrete slab and then dirt. Baby, 1-year-old Ibrahim, was buried along with her mother.</P><P>Hala Nasrallah and fares Anonymous contributed reporting.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/middleeast/gazans-mourn-dalu-family-killed-by-israeli-bomb.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-40643300775480895682012-11-19T09:19:00.000-08:002012-11-19T09:19:00.896-08:00Cuba to End Exit Visa Requirement in JanuaryAppId is over the quota<br />AppId is over the quota<br /> Now that bureaucratic barrier is on its way out. The Cuban government announced on Tuesday that it would terminate the exit visa requirement by Jan. 14, possibly letting many more Cubans depart for vacations, or forever, with only a passport and a visa from the country where they plan to go. </P>The new policy — promised by President Raúl Castro last year, and finally announced in the Communist Party newspaper — represents the latest significant step by the Cuban government to answer demands for change from Cubans, without relinquishing control. </P>Like some recent economic openings in Cuba, it allows the government to carefully calibrate the flow of change. </P>Even Cubans with passports will need to have them renewed, and the law says that applicants can be prevented from leaving for several reasons, including “national security”; enough, experts say, to keep dissidents from traveling. </P>Cuba’s doctors, scientists and other professionals, who have long faced tight restrictions on movement, might be held back as well because the new policy includes a caveat allowing the government to limit departures to “preserve the human capital created by the Revolution.” </P>And yet, the new migration law also gives Cubans latitude to stay abroad longer, letting them remain outside the country for two years, and possibly longer, before losing their rights to property and benefits like health care — an increase from 11 months under the current policy. </P>Analysts say the government is encouraging a larger class of Cubans to travel, partly so that they can earn money elsewhere and return, injecting capital into the island’s moribund economy. The benefits of such an arrangement are already clear: remittances to the island have grown to an estimated $2.3 billion a year, from $1 billion in 2004. </P>But whether the new law will create a temporary or permanent mass exodus, Cubans and experts say, will be determined by how many people have the means and passports to leave, and which countries welcome them. </P>“The decision to lift the exit visa is a significant one for several reasons, although like most of the new reforms, it depends a great deal on how it is implemented,” said Robert Pastor, professor of international relations at American University. “Nonetheless, by removing a state barrier to leave, this reform could lead to a large outflow — many of whom will eventually want to come to the United States — or it could begin to allow a circular flow of people that could enhance the economic opening of the island.” </P>The Cuban government’s earlier steps toward a market economy have mostly fallen short of expectations. There are now hundreds of thousands of small business owners on the island of 11 million people, but not nearly the numbers the government initially said it needed to cut back on the nation’s bloated public payrolls. </P>Experts say fears of instability have often hampered the push for a rapid economic opening, leading celebrated new laws — allowing for property sales and entrepreneurship, for example — to be later larded with restrictions and taxes. </P>Cubans in Havana and Miami say they are convinced the same dynamic will apply to travel. They mostly greeted the end of the exit visa after 51 years with their usual stance of “we’ll see.” </P>On Tuesday, there were no long lines at the passport office in Havana or at foreign embassies, and many Cubans said they still faced hurdles to a legal departure. </P>“It’s all very good,” said Laydis, 30, an employee at a bank in Havana who gave only one name to avoid government reprisals. “But which interesting country is going to give me a visa?” </P>Her colleague Maricel, 44, who is eligible for a Spanish passport because her grandparents were from Spain, identified another problem. “Sure, I can go,” she said, “but where am I going to get the money?” </P>After all, the new law, despite cutting a bureaucratic hurdle, might not mean lower costs to leaving: Yoani Sánchez, the well-known Cuban blogger whose exit visa requests have been repeatedly denied, said on Twitter that the cost of a Cuban passport will nearly double, to just over $100. </P><P>An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Havana, and Jacqui Goddard from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/world/americas/cuba-lifts-much-reviled-rule-the-exit-visa.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5895670919252143948.post-32789999292153945952012-11-19T09:16:00.000-08:002012-11-19T09:17:03.569-08:00Daily Multivitamin May Reduce Cancer Risk, Clinical Trial FindsAppId is over the quota<br />AppId is over the quota<br /> After a series of conflicting reports about whether vitamin pills can stave off chronic disease, researchers announced on Wednesday that a large clinical trial of nearly 15,000 older male physicians followed for more than a decade found that those taking a daily multivitamin experienced 8 percent fewer cancers than the subjects taking dummy pills. </P>While many studies have focused on the effects of high doses of particular vitamins or minerals, like calcium and vitamin D, this clinical trial examined whether a common daily multivitamin had an effect on overall cancer risk. A randomized, double-blinded study of the kind considered the gold standard in medicine, the study was one of the largest and longest efforts to address questions about vitamin use. </P>The findings are to be presented Wednesday at an American Association for Cancer Research conference on cancer prevention in Anaheim, Calif., and the paper was published online in The Journal of the American Medical Association. </P>The reduction in total cancers was small but statistically significant, said the study’s lead author, Dr. J. Michael Gaziano, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the VA Boston Healthcare System. While the main reason to take a multivitamin is to prevent nutritional deficiencies, Dr. Gaziano said, “it certainly appears there is a modest reduction in the risk of cancer from a typical multivitamin.” </P>He noted that other measures are likely to protect against cancer more effectively than daily use of multivitamins. </P>“It would be a big mistake for people to go out and take a multivitamin instead of quitting smoking or doing other things that we have a higher suspicion play a bigger role, like eating a good diet and getting exercise,” Dr. Gaziano said. “You’ve got to keep wearing your sunscreen.” </P>The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and a grant, initiated by the investigators, from the chemical company BASF Corporation. Pfizer provided the multivitamins. The sponsors did not have input into the study design, data analysis or manuscript preparation, the authors said. </P>About half of all Americans take some form of a vitamin supplement, and at least one-third take a multivitamin. But many recent vitamin studies have been disappointing, finding not only a lack of benefit but even some harm associated with large doses of certain supplements. The 2010 dietary guidelines for Americans state there is no evidence to support taking a multivitamin or mineral supplement to prevent chronic disease. </P>The American Cancer Society recommends that people eat a balanced diet, but that those who take supplements choose a balanced multivitamin that contains no more than 100 percent of the daily value of most nutrients. </P>Though several researchers said they were somewhat surprised by the findings, others called the results encouraging. </P>“It is a small overall effect, but from a public health standpoint it could be of great importance,” said Dr. E. Robert Greenberg, an affiliate at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “Other than quitting smoking, there’s not much else out there that has shown it will reduce your cancer risk by nearly 10 percent.” </P>Multivitamin use had no effect on the incidence of prostate cancer, which was the most common cancer diagnosed in the study participants. When researchers looked at the effect of vitamin use on all other cancers, they found a 12 percent reduction in occurrence. Overall cancer deaths were reduced among vitamin users, but the difference was not statistically significant. </P>A major limitation of the study is that it included only male physicians, who were particularly healthy, with extremely low smoking rates, said Marji McCullough, a nutritional epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society. “We still need to find out whether these findings can be applied to others in the population,” she said. </P>While the research effort may have benefited from the fact that the physicians who participated were very diligent about taking their pills, the researchers also suggested that the effect of multivitamin use may have been muted because the participants were very health-conscious to begin with. </P>Dr. David Chapin, 73, a gynecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston who participated in the trial, said that although he had “never believed” in vitamins, he might start taking a daily multivitamin now, despite the modest benefit. </P>“A lot of studies make big news, but when you look at the nitty-gritty, they don’t show all that much,” Dr. Chapin said, adding that he recently discovered he had been taking a placebo pill. “This was a very reliable study, it was very well designed and administered, and it went on and on and on.” </P><br /><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/health/daily-multivitamin-may-reduce-cancer-risk-clinical-trial-finds.html?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714765947798574096noreply@blogger.com0