IBM pulls the stock market out of a morning slump

Specialist John Parisi, right, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Stock prices are opening mostly lower on Wall Street as weak earnings from Pfizer and other companies drag down major market averages. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist John Parisi, right, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Stock prices are opening mostly lower on Wall Street as weak earnings from Pfizer and other companies drag down major market averages. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Daniel Kryger works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Stock prices are opening mostly lower on Wall Street as weak earnings from Pfizer and other companies drag down major market averages. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Fred DeMarco, left, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Stock prices are opening mostly lower on Wall Street as weak earnings from Pfizer and other companies drag down major market averages. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Matthew Diez, left, and trader Michael Zicchinolfi work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Stock prices are opening mostly lower on Wall Street as weak earnings from Pfizer and other companies drag down major market averages. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) ? News that IBM will buy back more stock and raise its dividend helped pull major stock indexes out of a morning slump Tuesday.

IBM and other technology stocks led the Standard & Poor's 500 index up. The broad-market measure ended April with a 1.8 percent gain, the sixth month in a row the index has climbed higher.

Worries about slower economic growth have rattled the stock market this month, but it has consistently bounced back. Brad Sorensen, director of market research at the brokerage Charles Schwab, said that's a result of investors having few alternatives.

"Right now it seems like every pullback in the market is seen as a buying opportunity," Sorensen said. "People may say they're getting nervous, but where else are you going to put money at this point? Into Europe with their political issues? Into Treasurys paying less than 1.7 percent?"

The S&P 500 edged up 3.96 points to close at 1,597.57. The slight gain of 0.3 percent pushed the index to an all-time high for the second day straight.

A report of another record high in European unemployment helped drive money into U.S. government debt, briefly sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note to its lowest level of the year, 1.65 percent.

IBM said it will increase its quarterly dividend by a dime, to 95 cents, and buy back up to $5 billion more of its own stock. Earlier this month, the company surprised investors when it reported a drop in quarterly earnings and sales. IBM's stock rose $3.39 to $202.54.

The tech giant's 1.7 percent gain tugged the Dow Jones industrial average up. The Dow fell as much as 84 points in morning trading but ended with a gain of 21.05 points at 14,839.80. That's an increase of 0.1 percent.

The S&P has now climbed for six months in a row. That's the longest stretch of gains since a seven-month run that started in March 2009, when the market hit a financial crisis low, and ended in October 2009.

This earnings season has delivered investors a mixed bag of news. More than half of the companies in the S&P 500 have turned in results, and seven of 10 have beaten analysts' estimates for earnings, according to S&P Capital IQ. Nearly as many, however, have come up short on revenue: Six of 10 have missed analysts' revenue targets. That suggests companies are getting more of their profits from laying off staff and other cost-cutting efforts instead of from higher sales.

The Dow and the S&P 500 ended the month with gains of 1.8 percent. It wasn't exactly a smooth ride. The two indexes reached record highs in the second week of April, then took a steep fall in the next. News that China, the world's second-largest economy, slowed unexpectedly pummeled the prices of oil, copper and other commodities. The stock market had its worst day of the year on April 15, when the S&P 500 lost 2.3 percent.

In other trading, the Nasdaq composite index rose 21.77 points to 3,328.79, up 0.7 percent. The dollar fell against the yen and the euro, and the price of crude oil fell $1 to $93.46 a barrel. Gold edged up $4.70 to $1,472.10 an ounce.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note traded at 1.67 percent late Tuesday, the same as the day before. In response to slower economic growth, bond traders from around the world have been buying Treasurys this month, driving yields down. The 10-year yield started April around 1.85 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves:

? Pfizer dropped 4 percent after the drug maker's results fell short of what analysts had expected. Falling sales of Lipitor, its cholesterol drug, crimped revenue. The world's second-largest drug maker also cut its profit forecast for the rest of the year. Pfizer lost $1.36 to $29.07

? Pitney Bowes sank 16 percent after the maker of mailing equipment and software cut its dividend in half and posted a 58 percent drop in net income. Pitney Bowes sank $2.53 to $13.67.

? Avon Products' quarterly loss wasn't as deep as analysts had expected. The direct-seller of cosmetics has been cutting staff and scaling back operations in an effort to turn around its business. Avon's stock rose 92 cents to $23.16, a gain of 4 percent.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-30-Wall%20Street/id-a58dbdbf6528494598bb198e32102cca

oscars jane fonda abc bradley cooper channing tatum Jennifer Aniston naomi watts

S&P 500 reaches new high, led by tech

NEW YORK (AP) ? Technology companies led the stock market higher Monday, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 index above the all-time closing high it reached earlier this month.

A pair of strong economic reports also encouraged investors. Wages and spending rose in the U.S. last month, and pending home sales hit their highest level in three years.

Shortly before 1:30 p.m. Eastern time, the S&P 500 index was up 12 points at 1,594, a gain of 0.7 percent. That put the index above the record closing high of 1,593.36 it reached on April 11.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 96 points to 14,808, a gain of 0.7 percent. Microsoft and IBM were among the Dow's best performers, rising 2 percent each.

Concerns about weak business spending and slower overseas sales have cast a shadow over big tech firms, said Marty Leclerc, the managing partner of Barrack Yard Advisors, an investment firm in Bryn Mawr, Pa. Revenue misses from IBM and other big tech companies have highlighted the industry's vulnerability to the world economy. But Leclerc thinks tech companies with steady revenue and plenty of cash look appealing over the long term.

Information technology stocks rose the most of the 10 industry groups in the S&P Monday, up 1.5 percent. It's the only group that remains lower over the past year, down 2 percent, versus the S&P 500's gain of 14 percent.

The Nasdaq composite rose 32 points at 3,311, a rise of 1 percent. Apple, the biggest stock in the index, rose 3.5 percent to $431.95.

The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes reached the highest level since April 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors. Back then, a tax credit for buying houses had lifted sales. Americans' spending and income both edged up last month, the government reported Monday.

Moody's and Standard & Poor's parent company McGraw-Hill surged following news that the ratings agencies settled lawsuits dating back to the financial crisis that accused them of concealing risky investments. McGraw-Hill gained 6 percent to $54.80, while Moody's jumped 10 percent to $61.02, the biggest gain in the S&P 500.

Manufacturer Eaton Corp. rose 5 percent to $61.31 after reporting that its quarterly net income jumped, beating Wall Street's estimates. The results were helped by its acquisition of Cooper Industries, an electrical equipment supplier.

In the market for government bonds, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 1.66 percent, close to its low for the year. That's down from 1.67 percent late Friday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/p-500-reaches-high-led-tech-173611735.html

hugh jackman Aly Raisman Oscar Results Jennifer Lawrence Fall Ang Lee les miserables jennifer lawrence

KCSDS to file PIL on degradation of environment Lastupdate:- Mon ...

Srinagar, Apr 28:? Kashmir Centre for Social and Development Studies (KCSDS) has conveyed its concern for the sharply deteriorating conditions of environment and ecology in Jammu and Kashmir and has decided to file Public Interest Litigation on the issue, a spokesman of the? KCSDS said in a statement.?
?He said in a daylong Round Table Conference organized by KCSDS here on the subject Environment and sustainable Tourism, it was observed by the participants that there is free human trafficking in the name of Tourism and Amarnath Yatra in Kashmir which is unregulated and leads to environmental disaster in eco-fragile areas of the state particularly in Pahalgam and Sonmarg Valleys. The members observed that the Yatra entry is magnified and beyond the carrying capacity of lakhs of people in the name of Yatra are pushed in the area which has serious implications on ecology and results in condemnation of water.
?The members, according to the spokesman, observed that on one hand, the glaciers in the area are shrinking? due to increase in temperature by huge human rush which also effects the early melting of the Holy Lingum.
?Keeping in view the environmental hazards and challenge to the biodiversity in this eco-fragile area, it was unanimously resolved that we must ask the government to regulate the yatra and limit its time to 21 days as per the practice in vogue for past 150 years in accordance to Hindu faith for the holy month of Shrawan which concludes with the festival of Raksha Bandhan. Besides the number of yatris per day needs to be restricted to the carrying capacity which according to Nitish Sen Gupta recommendation is 2000 per day, the spokesman said.
?He said noted environmentalist Dr. Shakeel Romshu presented very disturbing figures of environmental degradation in the state. While throwing light on depletion of glaciers he said that in 1992 the total area of glaciers was 42.33 sq.kms which has shrunk to 37.56 Square KMs by the 2011.
?In his presentation Dr Javed Iqbal quoted a study conducted by Vijay Kumar Raina formerly Geological Survey of India who related that from 1934 to 2003 there was an average shrinkage of 70 feet (20 meters) on an average annually.
?In 2004-05 the retrace slode to 12 meters a year and since 2007 it is practically at standstill. It could be concluded that it is due to regulated religious tourism to Gangotri, the origion of sacred Ganga. The civil society has a highly pertinent question that why similar regulations can not be adopted for Shri Amarnathji yatra,
?Noted legal luminary Zaffar Shah asked the civil society to take up the issue of environment comprehensively in its entirety and come up with the solutions based suggestions. He floated the idea of filing Public Interest Litigation before the High Court of J&K for regulating the human influx in the name of tourism including yatra.
?While endorsing the viewpoint of Z A Shah, Advocate G N Shaheen stressed the need for mass awareness about the environmental degradation caused by unplanned development in the sensitive eco-fragile areas. He said south Kashmir faces serious health hazards due to contaminated drinking water of lidder nallah as the main water source.
?Chairperson KCSDS Prof Hameedah Nayeen, in her presidential address appreciated the views and data based information provided by the experts in RTC and emphasized the need to check environmental degradation and ecological vandalism by the government. She appreciated the resolve to explore all the possible enforceability measures to check environmental and ecological vandalism.
?Columnists Abdul Majid Zargar, Z. G Mohammad, Shiekh Showkat Hussain, Faiz Bakshi, M. Azim Tuman, Rouf Tramboo, Dr. Rouf Mohiudin, M.A Kirmani, Anwar Ashai, Fazal Illahi, Shakeel Qalander and others also made their presentation in the session.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 IST

Source: http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2013/Apr/29/kcsds-to-file-pil-on-degradation-of-environment-42.asp

Katie Ledecky Aaron Ross Sikh temple Nastia Liukin Gabby Douglas hair Kayla Harrison Mars landing

Czech communist whisky matures to excellence

PRADLO DISTILLERY, Czech Republic (AP) ? The Scottish peat was put on trucks and trains. The destination was Communist-era Czechoslovakia. The recipient: apparatchiks desperate for a decent whisky.

The journey beyond the Iron Curtain during the Cold War turned out to be the easy part. When the batch arrived, the Czech distillers had only a faint idea how to make whisky ? and it took years to get things right.

"It was one thing to read about it in books, but reality is something different," recalled Vaclav Sitner, a member of the team tasked with creating a premium whisky.

Now, almost 40 years on, the last batches of "Hammer Head" are winning rave reviews. And, in a historical twist, they are owned by a U.S. hedge fund that bought the beverage company that Sitner worked for.

Sitner, whose name still appears on the label, recalls the "alchemy" and "joy" as they concocted the whisky. It sold well despite its relatively high price in a communist economy.

In Czechoslovakia, living standards were higher than in most other communist nations, but only a limited variety of Western products were available at special stores for those privileged enough to have access to foreign currency. In common stores, there was a significant shortage of Western goods, from bananas to electronics.

"There were no means to import foreign whisky," Sitner said. Communist states' currencies were not convertible and the struggling command economies failed to produce enough decent goods to sell in exchange for hard currency.

The original plan was to source all the ingredients and equipment locally ? but met no luck.

"The problem was with the peat, because it didn't work," said Sitner. "The peat we had was from South Bohemia and in combination with oak shavings it created all sorts of problems."

"It was the most expensive peat in Europe. The (Scottish) peat didn't actually cost that much but the transport cost a fortune. We placed it on trucks and a train carriage. One carriage was enough for us for 5-6 years."

Sitner and his colleagues had to rely completely on their own skills since they had no chance to travel to Scotland to visit distilleries. They needed a good barley supplier and knowledge of how to grind it, a source of suitable water and new oak barrels where the product could mature for at least three years.

A small distillery in Pradlo, in the west of the country, coincidentally had a hammer mill of the kind used in Scottish distilleries. Dating from the 1920s, it was the only one in the entire country. Work started in 1976; three years of tests were needed before trial production could start ? and mass production started eight years later.

Communist apparatchiks liked it so much that the bottles became a favored present.

"The comrades liked to drink whisky, despite the fact that people (in those days) were obligated to drink vodka," Sitner said. "But comrades still liked the whisky."

The 1989 Velvet Revolution toppled the regime and the Czech whisky also vanished from sight as the market was flooded by whiskies from all over the world. Then whisky ceased to be made for good. What left had time to mature in the original oak barrels for years to improve gradually into its current level of excellence.

The liquor company that the distillery belonged to, Stock Plzen-Bozkov, was privatized. The new owners felt the drink had no future. They sold some 250 barrels for a ridiculously low price ? "barbarism," recalled Sitner.

In 2007, U.S. hedge fund Oaktree Capital Management acquired the company.

When officials from London-based Stock Spirits Group that controls the company for the fund were presented the local whisky, their first response was "impossible it was made here," Sitner remembered. After it passed a test in a tasting with some other single malt whiskies that followed, the company decided to put it on the market.

"Look at the gold," Sitner said with pride during a recent visit to Pradlo cellar where hundreds the original oak barrels are still in place. "It's a beautiful color," he said, holding a glass just taken from a barrel.

Demand for Hammer Head has been solid around the globe, but Sitner would not reveal how much was made and how much is still available. He would only said if the current sales remain at the same level of 10,000 - 15,000 bottles a year, it is expected to be sold out in five to seven years. The whisky sells for about ?45 ($59) a bottle.

Since 2011, Hammer Head has been listed in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible, an annual international whisky guide, where it scored 88.5 points out of 100 ? putting it among "very good to excellent whiskies definitely worth buying."

"This is one of Europe's maltiest drams ... if not the maltiest," the guide said.

In 2011, it won a Masters award at the 2011 Whiskeys of the World Masters.

Petr Nemy, an organizer of whisky tastings from the Scottish Club in Prague said that after more than 20 years of aging, Hammer Head "is beautifully matured. It's delicately malty and smoky with a taste of nuts and maybe, vanilla. It has a beautifully rounded taste. It's a joy to taste it."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/czech-communist-whisky-matures-excellence-143044322.html

jamie lynn spears Chavez Dead Hugo Chavez Dead Bonnie Franklin sinkhole justin bieber Real Madrid Vs Manchester United

Officials: Cyberattack suspect had bunker in Spain

MADRID (AP) ? A Dutch citizen arrested in northeast Spain on suspicion of launching what is described as the biggest cyberattack in Internet history operated from a bunker and had a van capable of hacking into networks anywhere in the country, officials said Sunday.

The suspect traveled in Spain using his van "as a mobile computing office, equipped with various antennas to scan frequencies," an Interior Ministry statement said.

Agents arrested him Thursday in the city of Granollers, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Barcelona, complying with a European arrest warrant issued by Dutch authorities.

He is accused of attacking the Swiss-British anti-spam watchdog group Spamhaus whose main task is to halt ads for counterfeit Viagra and bogus weight-loss pills reaching the world's inboxes.

The statement said officers uncovered the computer hacker's bunker, "from where he even did interviews with different international media."

The 35-year-old, whose birthplace was given as the western Dutch city of Alkmaar, was identified only by his initials: S.K.

The statement said the suspect called himself a diplomat belonging to the "Telecommunications and Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Republic of Cyberbunker."

Spanish police were alerted in March by Dutch authorities of large denial-of-service attacks being launched from Spain that were affecting Internet servers in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and the U.S. These attacks culminated with a major onslaught on Spamhaus.

The Netherlands National Prosecution Office described them as "unprecedentedly serious attacks on the nonprofit organization Spamhaus."

The largest assault clocked in at 300 billion bits per second, according to San Francisco-based CloudFlare Inc., which Spamhaus enlisted to help it weather the onslaught.

Denial-of-service attacks overwhelm a server with traffic, jamming it with incoming messages. Security experts measure the attacks in bits of data per second. Recent cyberattacks ? such as the ones that caused persistent outages at U.S. banking sites late last year ? have tended to peak at 100 billion bits per second, one third the size of that experienced by Spamhaus.

Netherlands, German, British and U.S. police forces took part in the investigation leading to the arrest, Spain said.

The suspect is expected to be extradited from Spain to face justice in the Netherlands.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-04-29-Spain-Cybercrime/id-2dfae81a10734665800eccb4b257b11f

ron burgundy millennial media nit championship transcendentalism bells palsy channel 5 news uc berkeley

Four die in NATO plane crash in Afghanistan

* Lewandowski scored four goals against Real Madrid * Poland international refuses contract extension (adds details, background) BERLIN, April 26 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski have not signed a deal, the newly-crowned champions said on Friday, shooting down widespread speculation of another imminent surprise transfer. "Bayern, as opposed to some reports, has no contract with Robert Lewandowski," the Bavarian Champions League semi-finalists said in a brief statement. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/four-die-nato-plane-crash-afghanistan-182134333.html

adam shulman peanut butter recall jason aldean Brigitte Nielsen Cricinfo Geno Smith ny giants

travel & leisure: An Orlando Limousine Service Can Help Make All ...

By John Adams

Do you have any important occasion coming up? A wedding, an engagement party, a romantic date, or even an important business partner coming into town? Nothing better than hiring an Orlando limousine service. You can't beat it for style, luxury and comfort. Limousine services have come up all over the US and even across important cities all over the world. People now consider hiring a Limo service as something they can not afford. Instead they have started believing that because of the style and image a limo projects, the cost is well worth it.

Cities like Orlando, New York and San Francisco have their fair share of Limousine Rentals. And any reputed limousine service will have a decent fleet with different kinds of Limousines on offer. It would be a good idea to check with the Limo rental service on what kinds of limos they have on offer. More often than not all the good Orlando limo services would have these varieties of limos. You could then figure out which type to rent. Factors to be considered are the occasion for which you want to rent a limo, how many people would have to be transported and of course the price to figure out if it is worth it.

The Standard stretch Limo: This is the kind of limo which comes into mind when you think Limousines. Most of these stretch limos are converted Bentleys. They are very formal and used for important occasions like weddings and funerals. In fact these are the most rented of all limos. You will be surprised to know that the price of renting them does not cost a fortune. Preferred by the older generation though.

The classic style limo; for those who want to ride in class and comfort. The plush interiors and beautiful design will give heads of state and oil tycoons the ride they are seeking. The classic limo was a part of many old Hollywood movies.

Hummers: A Hummer Limo has gotten to be quite popular due to its unconventionality. You can find them in bright colors and they can carry a group of people. If you're a little quirky, this is your best choice.

The SUV Limo: These limos are standard SUVs which have been transformed into limos. They have roomy interiors and can store a lot. They are perfect for longer trips.

The Sedan Limo: This name is actually a misnomer; they are essentially quality vehicles like Mercedes Benz, Jaguars, Cadillac's etc. They have a swanky looking chauffeur and used mostly to transport important business visitors who would not want to stand out unnecessarily.

Source: http://bidding-travel.blogspot.com/2013/04/an-orlando-limousine-service-can-help.html

Chuck Hagel ncaa football CES russell wilson Pokemon nhl jillian michaels

Of one mind about chemical weapons and protecting the innocent

Probable evidence of chemical-gas use in Syria may soon force world leaders to intervene. Their decision should be based on a principle enshrined in a global ban of such weapons ? a respect for the innocence of civilians in not being harmed by this indiscriminate tool of war.

By the Monitor's Editorial Board / April 26, 2013

In a March 21 speech in Jerusalem, President Obama gestured strongly as he said: "I?ve made it clear to Bashar al-Assad and all who follow his orders: We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people, or the transfer of those weapons to terrorists. The world is watching; we will hold you accountable."

AP Photo

Enlarge

From afar, the probable use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime could seem like just more Middle East mayhem. Yet it is not. Which is why President Obama and other world leaders are contemplating stiff action in Syria based on evidence of at least one sarin-gas attack.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

More than other tools of war, chemical weapons are indiscriminate in what they strike. Poisonous gases can float anywhere. They can wipe out entire populations of civilians, either by design or a change of wind. Even the weapon?s users might be hit.

For these reasons, nations have gradually agreed since 1899, or at the dawn of modern warfare, to tougher sanctions against these tools of destruction. In 1997, the Chemical Weapons Convention came into force with the support of 188 states.

This steady toughening of rules is not simply because of the immense fear such weapons evoke by their effects. It is because enough people have made a conscious choice to protect the innocent ? or the very idea of innocence as the preferred condition of every human being.

As humanitarian scholar Hugo Slim wrote in a 2008 book about civilian protection, ?The main idea behind limited war and its civilian ethic is, of course, that of limited killing. This is because every human being?s life is precious to themselves, to those who love them and, if one is religious, to God as well.?

As the United States and others now debate their next steps in Syria, this century-long progress toward a near-universal acceptance of protecting the innocent from an indiscriminate weapon should be a guiding principle.

Obama and others, of course, have strategic and tactical concerns. Would outside intervention cause even more use of chemical weapons? Would a foreign invasion lead to high civilian casualties? Can an over-indebted and war-weary Europe or US afford to act?

Even deciding who is a civilian is often difficult. The Geneva Conventions define civilians for what they are not ? as not a warrior or someone directly helping a war. But what about a teacher of militant Islam? Or a teenage army conscript? What of the Syrian civilians who give bread to rebels?

And then there is the possibility that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have simply allowed a small chemical attack as a bargaining chip in possibly negotiating an end to this civil war.

Given the history of the Iraq invasion, Washington might not want to rely on its own evidence of gas having been used in Syria to lead a campaign for the United Nations to act. And the US has a mixed record of protecting civilians in war, although it is a record far better than that of its foes in recent wars.

As careful as the Obama administration has been in using predator drones to strike terrorists, for example, this aerial weapon is generally less effective than the use of soldiers on the ground in avoiding ?collateral damage? to civilians.

Obama has described the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime as a ?game changer.? The killing of civilians with Syrian fighter jets and other conventional means ? more than 70,000 ? has not yet pushed the US or others to militarily intervene. But letting the regime break international norms on chemical weapons would set a big precedent and erode a global consensus on a major humanitarian rule of war.

Respect for innocent life lies at the heart of most rules of war. Not every intended war-time attack on civilians can be prevented. But some attacks matter far more than most. Knowing the principle at stake in chemical warfare should help world leaders make the right decision on Syria.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/h0mC8TH-ROI/Of-one-mind-about-chemical-weapons-and-protecting-the-innocent

Allan Arbus Jaguars new uniforms aapl glenn beck AJ Clemente Thor 2 Trailer Administrative Professionals Day

After Childhood Cancer | Your Health Journal - Len Saunders

By Beth Kurt, MD

Less than 20 percent of children survived cancer in the 1960?s. Fortunately, the five-year survival rate for childhood cancer is now approaching 80 percent. (1)

As a consequence of these improved survival rates, more teenagers and young adults who have undergone cancer therapy will go on to face special challenges when transitioning from active cancer treatment to resuming a normal life. Many survivors of childhood cancer experience late occurring health complications related to their cancer or its treatment; thus, regular medical follow-up is critical to maintain good health.

Recent studies have found that significant numbers of childhood cancer survivors do not receive the follow-up care needed. (2) The reasons may include financial difficulties, lack of insurance or a desire to move past a cancer diagnosis. To make matters more difficult, most primary care providers have cared for only a handful of childhood cancer patients and are not well-equipped to refer families to cancer centers to provide the best follow-up care. (3)

At our After Care and Transition (ACT) Program clinic visits, we provide a summary letter to the patient and their primary care physician, which details information about the cancer diagnosis, treatment and health problems that may occur as a result. We also provide resources for further reading and ways to stay healthy.

Among the issues that cancer survivors need to discuss and learn about at their follow-up doctor visits are:

? Signs and symptoms that should prompt a visit to their doctor.

? Risk for infertility and premature menopause.

? Risk for long-term heart toxicity and ways to improve or maintain heart health.

? Resources for mental health counseling.

? College scholarship opportunities.

? Other preventative health measures: use of sunscreen/risk for skin cancer, hearing protection etc.

One particular challenge stems from normal tensions between adolescent desires for autonomy and privacy, and strong parental desires to protect and care for their child both during and long after a life-threatening illness.

During appointments with our patients, we do our best to educate adolescents and young adults about the importance of learning their own medical histories and speaking up when they have a concern about how they are feeling. This can be difficult, as adolescents may be inclined to deny symptoms like pain, depression or certain worries in front of their parents, and ?neglect? to share information unless the right questions are asked. Well-meaning parents, on the other hand, are so used to being the primary historian and making decisions for their child, that it?s a learning process for them, too.

We encourage patients and their physicians to contact us if they have questions about how a health concern may relate to their cancer history. All of us at the ACT clinic keep an open-door policy, even after patients have officially ?graduated? from the practice.

References:

1) National Cancer Institute

2) Oeffinger KC, Mertens AC, Hudson MM, Gurney JG, Casillas J, Chen H, et al. Health care of young adult survivors of childhood cancer: a report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. Ann Fam Med 2004;2:61-70.

3) Nathan PC, Daugherty CK, Wroblewski KE, Kigin ML, Stewart TV Hlubocky FJ et al, Family physician preferences and knowledge gaps regarding the care of adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer. J Cancer Survivor, 2013.

- Beth Kurt, MD, pediatric oncologist, Spectrum Health Medical Group and co-director of the After Care and Transition (ACT) Program for childhood cancer survivors at Helen DeVos Children?s Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI.

Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/after-childhood-cancer/

lisa lampanelli lisa lampanelli bronx zoo memphis grizzlies celebrity apprentice grizzlies bronx zoo crash

Muslim-Christian relationship fuels row in Egypt

CAIRO (AP) ? An alleged romance between an Egyptian Muslim college student and a Coptic Christian man heightened sectarian tension on Friday in a small rural Egyptian town where police fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing Muslims who surrounded a Coptic church in anger over the inter-faith relationship, a security official and priest said.

The Muslim protesters accuse Saint Girgis Church of helping 21-year-old Rana el-Shazli, who is believed to have converted to Christianity, flee to Turkey with a Coptic Christian man.

Stories of conversions to Christianity or Islam, inter-faith romances and the illegal building and expanding of churches have caused a series of deadly sectarian incidents in recent years. Since Islamists rose to power after Egypt's 2011 uprising that forced out longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Christians have grown more fearful of intimidation and violence from fellow Egyptians, especially ultraconservative Salafis.

The alleged romance has been fueling sectarian tension for nearly two months in Wasta, a rural town in Beni Suef province, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Cairo.

Muslims have attacked churches there and forced Christians to close their shops for nearly eight days last month and members of the Christian man's family have been arrested, including his mother and father, after a prosecutor accused them of collaborating in hiding the woman. The woman's family issued an ultimatum for the church to bring her back early this month, but when it didn't, violence erupted anew.

On Friday, ultraconservative Salafis distributed flyers accusing the church of "proselytizing Christianity," according to a copy of the flyer posted on a social networking site. It called on residents to rally inside a mosque located meters (yards) from the church to "rescue a Muslim soul and bring her back from the deviant path."

Father Bishoy Youssef of the church said he heard loudspeakers from the adjacent mosque calling on worshippers to join a march to the church for the sake of the girl. He said churches in Wasta had been forewarned about "threats to attack the churches" and scheduled early morning masses that would be finished before Friday prayers at the mosque.

"God protect us," he said. "We have nothing to do with this whole story,"

Clashes erupted when protesters hurled stones at security forces that had cordoned off streets leading to the church. Police fired tear gas, according to a security official, who added that police arrested five people, including the girl's uncle. According to the security official at the scene, two people were injured by gunshots and others suffered breathing problems from the tear gas.

Last month, another priest from the same church told Coptic Christian Karama TV network that protesters set his car on fire.

Like previous incidents, sessions to foster reconciliation were held with elders from the town, but extremists seemed intent on escalating the tension, Youssef said.

Abu Islam, a well-known extremist cleric who was tried in an Egyptian court for insulting Christianity, appeared last month on his television program, which is broadcast on The Nation TV, calling on Muslims to take action against any church network that seeks to convert Muslim women to Christianity.

"This girl is not coming back," he said. "The Christians mess with our honor and faith."

Also on Friday, a Christian girl disappeared in the southern ancient city of Luxor. A security official said the family of 20-year-old Rania Manqaryous filed a complaint with police accusing a Muslim man, who was a neighbor, of abducting their daughter.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

In the past, similar incidents have triggered deadly sectarian violence.

In 2010, the ultraconservative Muslim Salafis claimed that Camilla Shehata, a Coptic Christian wife of a priest, had converted to Islam, but was abducted by the church to force her to return to Christianity. Iraq's branch of al-Qaida used the incident as justification for an attack on a Baghdad church that killed 68 people, and threatened to conduct similar attacks in Egypt until the church released her. On Dec. 31, 2011, a suicide bomber killed at least 21 Christians at a church in the port city of Alexandria ? an attack linked to the Shehata case.

In May 2011, at least 12 people were killed and a Cairo church was burned in clashes after a Christian woman had an affair with a Muslim man. When she disappeared, the man alleged that Christian clergy had snatched her and were holding her prisoner in a local church because she had converted to Islam.

Separately, dozens of mostly masked protesters hurled stones and firebombs in clashes with riot police at Egypt's presidential palace in a Cairo suburb. Protests have become a weekly occurrence in Egypt with unrest continuing since the 2011 uprising.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/muslim-christian-relationship-fuels-row-egypt-200817211.html

kentucky basketball oaksterdam the fray national anthem dallas tornado oikos kentucky wildcats oakland school shooting

How Many People Have Really Been Killed by Chernobyl?

A Greenpeace activist carries several of 3,000 wooden crosses to be set up in front of the Soviet-built nuclear power plant in Bohunice on April 25, 1991, to commemorate the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl five years earlier.

Photo by Thomas Szlukovenyi/Reuters

When the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in 1986, experts predicted as many as 40,000 extra cancer deaths from the radiation spewed onto parts of what was then the Soviet Union. Friday is the 27^th anniversary of the disaster. How many people has Chernobyl killed so far?

We?ll probably never know. That?s partly because even 40,000 cancer deaths are less than 1 percent of the cancer mortality expected in the affected population. Statistically, the deaths are undetectable. Even if they weren?t, science usually can?t say that a particular cancer was induced by radiation rather than something else.

One exception is thyroid cancer, a very rare disease in children that skyrocketed to nearly 7,000 cases in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine by 2005. There is no doubt that radioactivity from Chernobyl caused them, including about a dozen fatalities. We also know that two people died in the explosion and more than 100 people, mostly firefighters ignorant of the dangers, received doses high enough to cause acute radiation syndrome. Of them, 29 died within a few months, followed by 18 more deaths over the years. The group seems to be at higher risk for blood cancers.

Other than those sad cases, controversy rages about Chernobyl?s death toll. For the vast majority of the most affected populations, the disaster delivered doses equivalent to a handful of CAT scans. At such low levels, radiation?s health effects are considered long-term and stochastic, or essentially random.

Like the atomic decay that creates radiation, which is impossible to predict for any individual atom, the health effects radiation causes are random, too. A given person who lived in the fallout zone might or might not possess a cesium-137 atom that is quietly mimicking potassium in some innocent cell. The atom might or might not release radiation that hits DNA and mutates it in such a way that might lead to cancer.

The predictions of Chernobyl cancer mortality were based on formulas derived from studies of Japanese atomic bomb survivors. The formulas take the total amount of radiation the Chernobyl disaster released, smear it across the entire affected population, and multiply by a risk factor to come up with a number of deaths.

Experts differ in the risk factors they use, but all the formulas assume that radiation?s long-term health effects?primarily leukemia, the cancer most commonly caused by the atom bombs?are directly proportional to the dose. They also assume there is no minimum threshold dose below which there is no danger. In the radiation exposure jargon, that?s called the linear no-threshold theory.

As Slate?s Darshak Sanghavi has pointed out, the true health effects of low-level radiation can?t be known because any study to identify them would have to include an impossibly large number of people. Additionally, it isn?t clear that the effects of the intense, immediate radiation exposure from the atomic blasts pose the same dangers as do the low but chronic doses from Chernobyl. There is some evidence that cellular repair mechanisms can compensate for lower doses of exposure. For whatever reason, a predicted spike in leukemia cases in people exposed to Chernobyl fallout has not been detected.

Given all the uncertainty, current estimates of the number of deaths caused by Chernobyl differ widely. In 2005, the United Nations predicted 4,000 deaths. Three years later, its committee on atomic radiation abandoned the linear no-threshold model for predicting Chernobyl cancer deaths from doses below the lifetime equivalent of four abdominal CAT scans because of ?unacceptable uncertainties.? Critics such as Greenpeace responded with new predictions of 93,000 cancer deaths caused by Chernobyl.

When evidence is lacking, people make a judgment call about whether to believe something that is theoretically possible but can?t be detected. In the case of cancer deaths from low-level Chernobyl radiation, the U.N. has decided that they don?t exist and linear no-threshold adherents have decided that they do. Neither can be proved right or wrong.

Got a question about today?s news??Ask the Explainer.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=991d3a09f077b666dbc03b1eb41b93b9

atlanta hawks 2012 white house correspondents dinner forrest gump bernard hopkins nfl draft grades devils la riots

Hyundai Suicide Ad Everyone is Talking About - Business Insider

It was shaping up to be a great, great week for Hyundai.?

On April 19, the car maker's new ad for the British market, which centers around a man attempting suicide in his new Hyundai, was named Ad of the Week by The Drum???a well-thought-of U.K. marketing magazine. On Thursday, April 25, The Guardian also highlighted the spot as worth a watch.

Hyundai's marketers thought they had a potentially huge hit on their hands: Maybe it would even win some awards for its originality. Car advertising is usually riddled with visual clich?s, such as the open road, night-time city driving, and over-the-top stunts like driving through walls of flames or crystal chandeliers.

They dreamed of marketing awards, but they could not have been more wrong.

How wrong? Watch the ad. When done, pick up your jaw and then scroll down to find out what happened next:

Watch Hyundai's controversial ad below:
?

?

The spot is unusual and dramatic: It shows a depressed man locking himself in his car, attempting to suffocate himself with exhaust fumes. But the Hyundai ix35 is a fuel cell car, and its tailpipe emits only water vapor. "How clever!" the marketers must have thought. Then, as the music swells dramatically, and the man leans back to accept his fate ... nothing happens. He's forced to get out and open the garage door to let the steam out.

Holly Brockwell

Holly Brockwell's father's suicide note.

But then, also on April 25, came a blog post by an advertising copywriter in London whose father committed suicide in just such a fashion as was depicted by Hyundai. She published his suicide note. Suddenly, the ad wasn't a bold, creative move against car advertising clich?s. Instead, it was a tasteless joke about depression and death.

Her post, and a copy of the ad on YouTube, immediately went viral. It's the most talked about ad of the week alright ? but for all the wrong reasons.?

Hyundai immediately tweeted an apology and promised to withdraw the ad. But it was too late. By that time, the ad had become its own case study on how to create a PR crisis. Hyundai tried to get the ad removed from YouTube, but copies of it were being published faster than the company's lawyers could challenge them.

Friday, it emerged that Hyundai was given warning days ago that the ad would likely cause offense. Adweek contacted the company on April 19, and wrote a widely overlooked blog post suggesting the spot was crass.

Hyundai never responded to the Adweek reporter.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/hyundai-suicide-ad-everyone-is-talking-about-2013-4

basketball wives manny ramirez easter 2012 jeremy lin espn sassafras mardi gras 2012 the secret world of arrietty

Harlem Shake Fire Snafu: Yikes!

Source:

slither slither naacp glen campbell jerusalem artichoke bud shootout aretha franklin

Boston bombing interrogation: Will prosecutors have a Miranda problem?

The government has cited public safety in its decision to question Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the alleged Boston Marathon bomber, for 16 hours before reading him his Miranda rights. Legal experts differ on whether that's OK.

By Ron Scherer,?Staff writer / April 26, 2013

The US Marshals Service said Friday that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, charged in the Boston Marathon bombing, had been moved from a Boston hospital to the federal medical center at Devens, about 40 miles west of the city.

Elise Amendola/AP

Enlarge

The Federal Bureau of Investigation questioned alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for 16 hours over two sessions without telling him he had the right to remain silent and to not implicate himself.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

The FBI?s legal rationale for the long questioning period: It needed to find out if public security was at risk, perhaps because more bombs were planted or a collaborator was on the loose.

Was the government?s questioning excessive? And might it have some impact on the case?

Judging by the responses of some criminal defense lawyers, the government appears to be right on the line of what is permissible under the law ? in terms of the amount of time involved and possibly the type of questions asked.

However, it?s hard to know how long it will take to get information that may be necessary to protect the public, former prosecutors say.

?It does not seem unreasonable to question Tsarnaev for that period of time,? says Thomas Dupree, a former deputy assistant attorney general and now a partner in Washington law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. ?Public safety is paramount here. Law enforcement has to have time to ask questions.?

But 16 hours of questioning seems excessive to Tamar Birckhead, a former federal public defender in Massachusetts and now an associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

?In the past, it was interpreted as five minutes. Then 50 minutes was found to be fine,? Ms. Birckhead says. ?But 16 hours definitely seems beyond the pale.?

Both sides acknowledge that the so-called public safety exception is vague.

The issue goes back to 1980 when police in the Queens borough of New York received a call that a woman said she had been raped and the suspect was in a supermarket carrying a gun. A police officer ended up apprehending a suspect who had an empty shoulder holster.

After the police officer handcuffed the suspect, he asked him where the gun was. The suspect nodded toward some cartons. The officer retrieved the gun, formally arrested him, and read the man his Miranda rights. The man said that he would answer questions without an attorney present and that he owned the gun.

The trial court excluded the statement and the gun as well as his other statements because of the Miranda violation. This was affirmed by an appeals court. But in 1984, the US Supreme Court overturned the lower courts and said that in this case, public safety (finding the gun) was more important than the Miranda warning.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/BJVBlPlt0ws/Boston-bombing-interrogation-Will-prosecutors-have-a-Miranda-problem

what time does the super bowl start super bowl 2012 josephine baker ben gazzara nfl hall of fame 2012 ufc diaz vs condit super bowl start time