JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Insurgents attacked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, killing an Afghan guard in the second major assault on a humanitarian organization in less than a week.
Seven staff members, believed to be the total number of foreign workers at the ICRC in Jalalabad, were rescued by Afghan police during the attack, which involved a suicide bomber and three gunmen, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
Police carried away the blood-soaked body of the guard who was shot dead at the beginning of the assault, which started when the suicide bomber detonated explosives at the ICRC gate at 5:30 p.m. (1300 GMT).
The attack was the first of its kind on the strictly neutral ICRC in Afghanistan since it started operations in the country in 1987. ICRC water engineer Ricardo Munguia was shot dead in Afghanistan in 2003.
The ICRC's $90 million-a-year operations in Afghanistan are the group's biggest in the world. Some 1,800 ICRC staff work on projects ranging from providing orthopedic limbs to the war wounded to visiting militants in Afghan jails.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but concerns are mounting over how the 352,000-strong Afghan security forces will cope with an intensifying insurgency once most foreign troops leave by the end of next year.
The attack came less than a week after Taliban insurgents attacked the office of the International Organization for Migration in Kabul, killing at least three civilians and injuring four foreign aid workers.
The ICRC maintains strict neutrality in protecting civilians in armed conflict and has contact with both sides. The ICRC's medical facility across the border in Peshawar in Pakistan has treated wounded insurgents.
ICRC's Afghanistan chief Gherardo Pontrandolfi was quoted by Indian media last week as saying he believed the Taliban respected the ICRC in Afghanistan.
(Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Alison Williams)
By Tim Kenneally LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Madea goes bye-bye? A new petition published on Change.org is demanding that Oprah Winfrey's network remove Winfrey's friend and business partner Tyler Perry from OWN's airwaves, claiming that Perry "perpetuates stereotypes" about the black community. Or, as the petition puts it more whimsically, Perry "is 'malt liquor' for the community!" Perry's new series, "The Haves and the Have Nots," premiered Tuesday night on OWN to record breaking ratings. ...
May 29, 2013 ? Mexican American mothers' formal immigration status affects the educational achievement of their children and even their grandchildren, according to a study written by Penn State and University of California, Irvine, sociologists and released by the US2010 Project at Brown University.
Based on a large-scale survey of second-generation Mexican young adults in Los Angeles, the study finds that those whose mothers were authorized immigrants or U.S. citizens averaged more than two years more schooling than those whose mothers entered the country illegally. The researchers estimate that more than a third of the education gap between third-generation Mexicans and native whites is attributable to the legacy effects of grandparents' unauthorized status.
"The fact that Mexican-origin children appear to fall behind most of the rest of the population in terms of educational attainment has long been a concern of researchers and policy-makers," said James Bachmeier, research associate, Population Research Institute, Penn State. "This report indicates that this derives in large part from the fact that many of these children are raised in families in which one or both parents lack legal status."
This study and future studies may help guide the national debate on immigration reform, said Bachmeier, who worked with Jennifer Van Hook, director of Population Research Institute and professor of sociology and demography, and Mark Leach, former assistant professor of rural sociology and demography, both of Penn State.
"The extent to which parental legal status shapes the opportunities of U.S.-born children warrants more attention in the future, especially as Congress discusses comprehensive immigration reform," said Bachmeier.
According to the study, legalization may help the children and even grandchildren of immigrants increase their educational attainment.
"The implication of our findings is that clear pathways to legalization can boost Mexican American educational attainment even as late as the third generation," said Frank D. Bean, professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. "Legislation providing the possibility of entry into full societal membership helps not only the immigrants themselves but also their children and their children's children."
The study looked closely at the trajectories of parental immigration status. In 10 percent of cases, the mother was U.S.-born but married to an immigrant spouse, and about 44 percent entered the country legally. It is in comparison to the children of these mothers that the researchers found a disadvantage for those whose mothers were unauthorized immigrants -- about one third of mothers.
"There are nearly 4 million children of Mexican immigrants living in this country, most of them born here," said Bean. "At present, with few pathways for their parents' legalization, they live too long in the shadows. Because America's future labor force depends so heavily on the children of immigrants, we all have a stake in their progress."
Susan K. Brown, associate professor of sociology, University of California, Irvine, also worked on the report.
May 28, 2013 ? Firms that make greater investments in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives see less risk in their stock prices during economic downturns, according to a new study from the University of Iowa.
The research, by Art Durnev, assistant professor of finance in the Tippie College of Business, suggests that those companies have greater brand loyalty, so customers keep buying their products and paying a premium for them, regardless of the overall economy. That stability in turn reduces those firms' costs of equity capital, further reducing its overall risk.
CSR has become an increasingly important part of business in recent years, as more customers look to buy from companies with practices that match their own values, especially when it comes to environmental issues. While research has shown that companies like Patagonia and Ben & Jerry's have increased brand loyalty because of their extensive CSR initiatives, Durnev says little research has been done to see how that loyalty affects firms' stock prices.
"CSR's increased popularity inside boardrooms has outpaced the research needed to justify it," Durnev says. "Many questions still remain on how CSR policies affect the risks firms are facing and the stock market implications of those policies."
In their paper, Durnev and his co-authors try to find those affects by looking at the stock prices of 3,005 firms from 34 countries between 2004 and 2010. The prices were from a database that factored in the social and environmental risk factors of each company, among them: labor relations, health and safety, recruitment and retention strategies, progressive workplace practices, and environmental and climate risk. In the end, the researchers drew from 9,795 firm year observations.
The researchers tabulated a CSR score for industries of between 1 and 10, with software companies having the highest scores of 7.031. Textiles and apparel were second at 6.717, and leisure equipment and products at 6.215.
The industries with the lowest CSR score were chemicals at 2.511, insurance at 3.120, and broadcast and cable TV at 3.324.
The researchers found the level of risk was significantly lower for firms with higher CSR scores, especially during economic downturns, as loyal customers kept sales higher during hard times than firms that did not practice CSR initiatives. That revenue and stock price stability led to lower equity costs, reducing firm risk further and making the stock even more attractive to buyers.
The study also finds that timing is important, as the first firm to start using CSR practices in an industry gets a larger market share, leaving less for its competitors that adopt CSR later on.
"The second entrant into the market doesn't get as many customers as the industry leader so there's less benefit, and so on," he says. Eventually, Durnev says latecomers have no incentive to start using CSR practices because its competitors have taken up so much of the market there's nothing left for them. The risk of adopting CSR, he says, is no longer worth the investment.
The study, Corporate Social Responsibility and Asset Pricing in Industry Equilibrium, was co-authored by Rui Albequerque and Yrjo Koskinen of Boston University. It received the best paper award at the first Geneva Summit on Sustainable Finance in March and will be presented in June at the Symposium on Sustainability & Finance organized by the California Public Employees Retirement System and the University of California at Davis.
NASA IRIS: Improving our view of the sunPublic release date: 29-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Hendrix Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov 301-286-7745 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
In late June 2013, NASA will launch a new set of eyes to offer the most detailed look ever of the sun's lower atmosphere, called the interface region. This region is believed to play a crucial role in powering the sun's dynamic million-degree atmosphere, the corona. The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph or IRIS mission will provide the best resolution so far of the widest range of temperatures for of the interface region, an area that has historically been difficult to study.
"This region is crucial for understanding how the corona gets so hot," said Joe Davila, IRIS project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "For the first time, we will have the capability to observe it at fundamental physical scale sizes and see details that have previously been hidden."
IRIS's capabilities are uniquely tailored to unravel the interface region by providing both high-resolution images and a kind of data known as spectra.
For its high-resolution images, IRIS will capture data on about one percent of the sun at a time. While these are relatively small snapshots, IRIS will be able to see very fine features, as small as 150 miles across.
"We have some great space observatories currently looking at the sun," said Bart DePontieu, the IRIS science lead at Lockheed Martin in Palo Alto, Calif. "But when it comes to the interface region, we've never been able to resolve individual structures. We have been able only to see conglomerates of various structures. Now we will finally be able to observe the details."
IRIS's images will be three to four times as detailed as the images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory though SDO can observe the whole sun at once. SDO's wavelengths are not tailored, however, to see the interface region. Scientists can use IRIS observations to hone in on smaller details while working with the larger instruments, such as SDO or the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hinode, to capture images of the entire sun. Together, the observatories will explore how the corona works and impacts Earth SDO and Hinode monitoring the solar surface and outer atmosphere, with IRIS watching the region in between.
Ultraviolet images look at only one wavelength of light at a time, but IRIS will also provide spectra, a kind of data that can show information about many wavelengths of light at once. Spectrographs split the sun's light into its various wavelengths and measure how much of any given wavelength is present. This is then portrayed on a graph showing spectral "lines" taller lines correspond to wavelengths in which the sun emits relatively more radiation.
Each spectral line also corresponds to a given temperature, so this provides information about how much material of a particular temperature is present. The images from IRIS' telescope will record observations of material at specific temperatures, ranging from 5,000 kelvins to 65,000 kelvins (8,540 F to 116,540 F) -- and up to 10 million kelvins (about 18 million F) during solar flares -- a range best suited to observe material on the sun's surface and in the interface region.
"By looking at spectra of material in these temperature ranges, we can also diagnose velocity and perhaps density of the material, too," said De Pontieu.
The IRIS instrument will capture a new image every five to 10 seconds, and spectra about once every two seconds. These unique capabilities will be coupled with state-of-the-art 3-D numerical modeling sophisticated enough to deal with the complexity of this region. The modeling makes use of supercomputers at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, Calif.
In combination, IRIS' resolution, fast imaging rate, wide temperature coverage and computer modeling will enable scientists for the first time to track solar material as it is accelerated and heated in the interface region and thus help pinpoint where and how the plasma gains energy and heat along its travels through the lower levels of the solar atmosphere.
IRIS was developed by Lockheed Martin as a NASA Small Explorer mission. The NASA Explorer Program is designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space for heliophysics and astrophysics missions using small- to mid-sized spacecraft. Goddard manages the Explorer Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Major contributions for IRIS were provided by Lockheed Martin Sensing and Exploration Systems, NASA's Ames Research Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Montana State University, Stanford University, the Norwegian Space Centre and the University of Oslo.
###
For more information about NASA's IRIS mission, please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/iris
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NASA IRIS: Improving our view of the sunPublic release date: 29-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Hendrix Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov 301-286-7745 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
In late June 2013, NASA will launch a new set of eyes to offer the most detailed look ever of the sun's lower atmosphere, called the interface region. This region is believed to play a crucial role in powering the sun's dynamic million-degree atmosphere, the corona. The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph or IRIS mission will provide the best resolution so far of the widest range of temperatures for of the interface region, an area that has historically been difficult to study.
"This region is crucial for understanding how the corona gets so hot," said Joe Davila, IRIS project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "For the first time, we will have the capability to observe it at fundamental physical scale sizes and see details that have previously been hidden."
IRIS's capabilities are uniquely tailored to unravel the interface region by providing both high-resolution images and a kind of data known as spectra.
For its high-resolution images, IRIS will capture data on about one percent of the sun at a time. While these are relatively small snapshots, IRIS will be able to see very fine features, as small as 150 miles across.
"We have some great space observatories currently looking at the sun," said Bart DePontieu, the IRIS science lead at Lockheed Martin in Palo Alto, Calif. "But when it comes to the interface region, we've never been able to resolve individual structures. We have been able only to see conglomerates of various structures. Now we will finally be able to observe the details."
IRIS's images will be three to four times as detailed as the images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory though SDO can observe the whole sun at once. SDO's wavelengths are not tailored, however, to see the interface region. Scientists can use IRIS observations to hone in on smaller details while working with the larger instruments, such as SDO or the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hinode, to capture images of the entire sun. Together, the observatories will explore how the corona works and impacts Earth SDO and Hinode monitoring the solar surface and outer atmosphere, with IRIS watching the region in between.
Ultraviolet images look at only one wavelength of light at a time, but IRIS will also provide spectra, a kind of data that can show information about many wavelengths of light at once. Spectrographs split the sun's light into its various wavelengths and measure how much of any given wavelength is present. This is then portrayed on a graph showing spectral "lines" taller lines correspond to wavelengths in which the sun emits relatively more radiation.
Each spectral line also corresponds to a given temperature, so this provides information about how much material of a particular temperature is present. The images from IRIS' telescope will record observations of material at specific temperatures, ranging from 5,000 kelvins to 65,000 kelvins (8,540 F to 116,540 F) -- and up to 10 million kelvins (about 18 million F) during solar flares -- a range best suited to observe material on the sun's surface and in the interface region.
"By looking at spectra of material in these temperature ranges, we can also diagnose velocity and perhaps density of the material, too," said De Pontieu.
The IRIS instrument will capture a new image every five to 10 seconds, and spectra about once every two seconds. These unique capabilities will be coupled with state-of-the-art 3-D numerical modeling sophisticated enough to deal with the complexity of this region. The modeling makes use of supercomputers at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, Calif.
In combination, IRIS' resolution, fast imaging rate, wide temperature coverage and computer modeling will enable scientists for the first time to track solar material as it is accelerated and heated in the interface region and thus help pinpoint where and how the plasma gains energy and heat along its travels through the lower levels of the solar atmosphere.
IRIS was developed by Lockheed Martin as a NASA Small Explorer mission. The NASA Explorer Program is designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space for heliophysics and astrophysics missions using small- to mid-sized spacecraft. Goddard manages the Explorer Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Major contributions for IRIS were provided by Lockheed Martin Sensing and Exploration Systems, NASA's Ames Research Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Montana State University, Stanford University, the Norwegian Space Centre and the University of Oslo.
###
For more information about NASA's IRIS mission, please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/iris
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Shaving with an electric razor saves you the hassle of dealing with messy shaving cream and dull blades that can leave your face all cut up. But the friction generated by an electric razor's moving blades usually causes the head to heat up, which can in turn irritate a dry face. The only alternative left is to let your beard grow free, or try Braun's new CoolTec Shaver which promises to eliminate both stubble and heat.
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DETROIT (Reuters) - When Kevin Ward fulfilled his dream by opening a rib joint in one of Detroit's poorest and most blighted areas, he could not afford extra meat. If the ribs ran out, he closed for the day.
"We were doing real well considering, but inventory was a problem," said Ward, 40, who perfected his ribs while at college in Alabama and opened Slabbee's five months ago in Brightmoor.
But with advice from SWOT City, a pilot program run by foundation-backed small-business incubator TechTown Detroit, Ward has received microfinancing to solve his inventory problem. Now he plans to buy a delivery van and hire a second employee.
Ward's rib joint is just one example of new ways in which Detroit's philanthropic foundations are trying to create jobs and boost schools in a city facing potential bankruptcy. In doing so, they are conducting a sort of civic triage, choosing areas, schools and businesses with a good chance of survival.
The foundations' efforts address the breakdown of civic life that Detroit's emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, pointed out earlier this month in his first report on Detroit's financial health.
Detroit's foundations hark back to an era when the city was an economic beacon and the auto industry's birthplace. The Kresge Foundation, for example, was started in 1924 with money from the founder of what eventually became retail giant Kmart.
Some other initiatives in Detroit are paying off. The city's downtown is experiencing a small boom thanks largely to mortgage lender Quicken Loans, whose co-founder and Detroit native Dan Gilbert has moved in 7,000 employees and invested $1 billion in an attempt to attract other businesses.
But most of Detroit's 80 percent black population of around 700,000 live outside downtown, many in blighted areas.
"Downtown is critical, but there are a whole host of problems out in the neighborhoods that need to be dealt with," said Leslie Smith, CEO of TechTown Detroit, whose SWOT City pilot has led to one new small business with six more planned.
These efforts to design strategy and measure results mirror a broader shift in the charitable world, said Michael Moody of the Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. In the past, foundations were satisfied giving away food and clothing. "The history of philanthropy, especially in the Depression, has shown that doesn't work," Moody said.
The Detroit-based Skillman Foundation has focused on schools in six neighborhoods and seen graduation rates rise 14 percent from 2007 to 2012 in four of them, compared to a 1 percent rise citywide. The New Economy Initiative, which has committed $100 million to promote entrepreneurs in Detroit, says it has measured the results so far: It has helped 423 small firms and contributed to the creation of more than 7,000 jobs.
Local foundations have been criticized in the past for throwing their weight around, but Moody said they have become more collaborative and responsive as a result.
SAFETY ISSUES UNDERMINE PROGRESS
Detroit native Adriana Alvarez left her post-college job in Hawaii in 2010 to return to work for non-profit Congress of Communities, which focuses on Southwest Detroit, a neighborhood that has attracted many Hispanic immigrants in recent decades.
"If I don't give back, then others won't get a chance to learn what I have," said Alvarez, 24.
Her group has become a conduit for other local non-profits, with projects to help children avoid joining gangs through youth groups and sports, and patrolling streets to prevent crime.
Congress of Communities is one of six neighborhood groups the Skillman Foundation has invested in. Dedicated to helping Detroit's children and founded by the widow of an early executive at 3M Co who settled in the Detroit area, Skillman selected these areas for their high concentrations of children.
Skillman used to give millions of dollars annually to Detroit's ailing public school system, but found the results unsatisfactory. It chose instead to back individual schools. In order to help the communities around these schools, Skillman has funded community groups of local activists.
"The question was how do we reinvent the social contract in Detroit?" said Chris Uhl, a former banker and now vice president of social innovation. Since 2007, Skillman has issued $124 million to its six target areas.
Tonya Allen, due to become Skillman's next president, estimates the grants the foundation has made have leveraged an additional $450 million in grants from other groups since 2007.
Skillman's approach is mirrored by General Motors Co, which like Detroit's other automakers has joined efforts to help the city. GM has committed $27.1 million over five years to a United Way program to raise graduation rates at seven city schools to 80 percent from 50 percent.
The Kresge Foundation has focused on boosting the economy along Woodward Avenue, a major city thoroughfare. It has kicked in $35 million toward a $137 million, 3.5-mile (5.6-km) light rail line along Woodward, along with private companies like Quicken Loans and truck rental firm Penske. These private contributions - as well as the U.S. government's $25 million stake - will count toward further extensions of the line, said Kresge's senior director for community development Laura Trudeau.
"Our influence is limited but we try to leverage it to have a greater impact," said Trudeau.
Kresge also has committed $150 million over the next five years toward Detroit Future City, a citywide planning blueprint.
Foundations here say when they fund projects, others follow suit. New Economy Initiative Executive Director David Egner said the group has committed $7 million since 2010 to entrepreneurial seed fund Invest Detroit and attracting "tens of millions" more.
NEI, a joint effort by 10 foundations, eight of them based in southeast Michigan, now claims it has $110 million in total, a combination of investable funds and tax credits for business expansion. It is planning a second, $60 million round of fundraising to continue supporting Detroit-area entrepreneurs.
Foundation leaders say the biggest hurdle to success today is endemic violence and crime in some areas. Detroit's murder rate in 2012 was 10 times the U.S. average. Seemingly mundane facts of street life - broken street lights and inoperable fire hydrants - compound the city's problems.
"If the lights don't work and the streets aren't safe, people won't come here," said NEI's Egner.
Bill Nowling, spokesman for Kevyn Orr, acknowledges public safety is a "paramount concern."
"The region's philanthropic community is fully committed to Detroit's turnaround, but we cannot let its effort be for naught," Nowling said.
Skillman's Uhl says lack of safety undermines progress. One telling example: True Whitsey was a graduate of Frederick Douglas Academy, a Skillman-funded school, and went on to study at Ferris State University. But when he returned home for Christmas break last year, he was shot and killed while being robbed at gunpoint in the street.
"Our work is meaningless if we can't keep these kids safe," Uhl said. "If they don't fix that it doesn't mean a damn thing."
(Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Mary Milliken and Lisa Shumaker)
Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.
The address bar of the browser serves multiple purposes - you can use it to enter an address as usual, search your page history, do web searches and much more.
When you open a new tab you are presented with thumbnails of your favourite pages for quick access.
Read more about the browser at Google's introduction page.
Confirming the worst kept secret in politics, former Rep. Anthony Weiner has officially confirmed he?s running for New York City mayor, telling voters in a YouTube video that he wants a second chance in politics.
"I made some big mistakes, and I know I let a lot of people down, but I also learned some tough lessons," Weiner said in the two-minute video released Wednesday. "I'm running for mayor because I've been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance."
The move comes nearly two years after Weiner was forced to resign from Congress after he was discovered to be sexting with women who were not his wife. Last month, the ex-lawmaker kicked off a public amends tour, giving his first major interview since the scandal to the New York Times magazine. In the interview, he called the upcoming mayoral race a case of ?now or maybe never for me.?
In the video announcing his mayoral bid, Weiner is shown with his wife, Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and his young son, Jordan, in a move clearly meant to emphasize his family values.
?Every day starts right here,? Weiner says in a voiceover, as footage shows him in his kitchen with his wife and son. ?And it?s the best part of my day.?
It also features footage of Weiner walking through Park Slope, Brooklyn, where he grew up, talking about how much he loves New York and emphasizing his middle class roots as the son of a school teacher and a lawyer who got his start working from home. Stories like theirs, Weiner says in the video, ?is how this city was built, but it?s getting harder and harder every day.? He adds, ?The very people who put everything they had into this city are getting priced right out of it, but it doesn?t have to be that way.?
Weiner?s message is likely to be popular amid growing concerns about rising rents and the high cost of living in New York. But he enters an already crowded Democratic field of hopefuls clamoring to replace outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn?who is considered the frontrunner in the race.
It?s unclear how willing voters will be to forgive Weiner for his transgressions, but politics has long been a career of second chances. Just weeks ago, South Carolina voters sent former Gov. Mark Sanford to Congress. Sanford had been written off politically after a scandal revealed he had been engaged in an extramarital affair with a woman from Argentina during his tenure as governor.
But Weiner enters the race with lots of money. His most recent campaign report revealed he has just over $5.1 million cash in the bank?second only to Quinn, who reported $7 million.
In the video, the ex-lawmaker talks up his record in Congress, arguing he ?got a billion dollars? to hire more New York City police officers, worked to offer assistance to ?sick? first responders to the 9/11 attacks and ?led the campaign? to overhaul the nation?s health insurance industry.
?We can make a difference if we are willing to fight for it,? Weiner says in the video.
The ad concludes with footage of Weiner sitting on the porch of his childhood home with Abedin, who makes a direct appeal for her husband?s candidacy. For many voters, the moment is likely to be the first time they?ve ever heard Abedin?s voice?since she is known for avoiding the media.
?We love this city,? she tells the camera. ?And no one will work harder to make it better than Anthony.?
May 21, 2013 ? The contribution of H. pylori and smoking trends to the decline in gastric cancer in US men.
Trends in Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and smoking explain a significant proportion of the decline of intestinal-type noncardia gastric adenocarcinoma (NCGA) incidence in US men between 1978 and 2008, and are estimated to continue to contribute to further declines between 2008 and 2040.
These are the conclusions of a study by Jennifer M. Yeh of the Center for Health Decision Science at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues, published in this week's PLOS Medicine, that suggest H. pylori and smoking trends together accounted for almost half of the observed decline in intestinal-type NCGA between 1978 and 2008. Understanding the combined effects of underlying risk factor trends on health outcomes for intestinal-type NCGA at the population level can help to predict future cancer trends and burden in the US.
The researchers developed a population-based microsimulation model using risk factor data from two national databases, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), and cancer data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. They estimated that the incidence of intestinal-type NCGA in men fell by 60% between 1978 and 2008. Further analysis suggested that H. pylori and smoking trends are responsible for 47% of the observed decline, and that H. pylori trends alone were responsible for 43% of the decrease in cancer but smoking trends were responsible for only a 3% drop. Finally, the researchers projected the incidence of intestinal-type NCGA to decline an additional 47% between 2008 and 2040, with H. pylori and smoking trends accounting for more than 81% of the observed fall. Key limitations to this study include the assumptions made in the model and that the study only examined one type of gastric cancer (GC) and focused only on men.
The authors say: "In conclusion, trends in modifiable risk factors explain a significant proportion of the decline of intestinal-type NCGA incidence in the US, and will contribute to future decline."
They add: "Although past tobacco control efforts have hastened the decline, the full benefits will take several decades to be realized, and further discouragement of smoking and reduction of H. pylori infection should be priorities for GC control efforts."
All is not quiet on the Western Canadian tax front.
The Conservative federal government has enshrined into law a controversial policy that could dissuade foreign owned resource companies from establishing mining and energy subsidiaries in Canada, corporate tax lawyers say.
The new law is a response to something called ?foreign affiliate dumping? transactions. The federal government is concerned that Canada?s corporate tax base is being eroded by the technique. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced a plan to clamp down on the potential loss of tax revenue in the federal budget that was unveiled on March 29, 2012. That plan was controversial enough, yet corporate tax lawyers believe the version of the policy that was passed into the Income Tax Act earlier this year goes way beyond the ?mischief? the new rule is supposed to address.
?The proposals go much beyond that particular mischief and entail virtually any foreign controlled Canadian company acquiring shares of a so-called foreign affiliate,? says Bruce Sinclair, a chartered accountant who works with the law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.
The inflexibility of the new tax policy will send foreign companies to other jurisdictions, tax lawyers say.
?The consequence of the rule being so broad is that it potentially discourages activity that would otherwise be coming to Canada ? which is all ?found money? and which does not represent the risk of base erosion,? adds Steve Suarez, a partner in the Toronto office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. ?The real danger is that the companies never come here in the first place.?
?It?s not likely that foreign owned Canadian companies are going to put their money down into their foreign affiliates. They?re going to try to find a way for the foreign parent to structure through a different country, rather than Canada,? adds Jennifer Hanna, a tax lawyer in the Calgary office of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.
Here?s how foreign affiliate dumping works. Foreign parent companies establish a Canadian subsidiary, then use that Canadian subsidiary to serve as the legal owner of a portfolio of properties from around the world.
Here?s the problem ? or to use the word favoured by tax experts ? the mischief. Canada?s tax rules used to allow a foreign parent company to ?loan? to the Canadian subsidiary the money that would be used to buy those various global properties. Profits generated from those global assets would flow into coffers of the Canadian subsidiary. Any profits that would then be passed up the chain to the foreign parent would be described as ?interest? payments on the loan rather than a dividend. That skirted around a Canadian rule that requires companies to remit withholding tax on dividend payments.
The system created possibilities for abuse, and tax lawyers understood why the government felt the need to plug the apparent loophole. Still, the initial policy shocked a lot of tax lawyers, who immediately saw that it might prevent foreign companies from investing in Canadian subsidiaries. Tax lawyers raised the issue with officials from the Department of Finance, and some technical changes were made as the policy was developed.
However, the resulting tax law, which entered into force this year, continues to trouble tax lawyers. They believe the federal government?s new law is far broader than it needs to be to close the loophole. As a result, the new law will capture a lot of corporate structures in which a foreign-owned Canadian subsidiary is managing a bundle of assets for reasons other than tax avoidance.
?The transactions they are trying to stop are clearly abusive and erode the Canadian tax base, so the rules do address an important problem,? says Alan Rautenberg of Bennett Jones LLP in Calgary. ?However, there doesn?t seem to be a lot of desire for a more careful targeting of these kinds of rules.?
Historically, foreign natural resource companies have viewed Canada as a great jurisdiction to domicile a mining or energy division. Canada?s two main stock exchanges, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange, are globally regarded as the best places in the world to raise capital for mining and energy ventures, particularly those at the exploration stage. Foreign investors also appreciate the technical and financial expertise that is available in Canada for resource projects.
An earlier version of the policy would have provided relief to those foreign owned subsidiaries who have chosen to base themselves in Canada for reasons other than tax avoidance, a so-called ?business purpose? exemption. Yet the version of the policy that has been passed into the tax act creates a much more limited exemption, the ?closely connected to Canada? test.?
?It?s fair to say that most tax advisors believe that the way that this exception has been worded is very narrow, and it will be very challenging for subsidiaries to be able to meet that test,? Mr. Sinclair says.
Commitment to ongoing work with other forestry companies remains strong
On the third anniversary of the signing of the historic Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA), environmental signatories are suspending further work with Resolute Forest Products. We remain committed to continuing our work with other signatory companies to plan for protection of critical Boreal woodland caribou habitat and sustainable forest management practices.
?We are very pleased with the groundbreaking solutions for conservation we have forged under the CBFA with companies such as Tembec, Alberta Pacific Forest Industries, and Millar Western Forest Products in northeastern Ontario and Alberta respectively,? said Janet Sumner of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).
?We are also optimistic about advancing conservation and sustainable forestry plans through our on-going work with Tolko, Weyerhaeuser, and Corner Brook Pulp and Paper in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland."
?However, despite three years of work we feel we have not been able to make meaningful progress towards science-based conservation and sustainable forestry plans with Resolute Forest Products on its large tenures in Quebec and Northwestern Ontario. After creating and revising numerous conservation analyses, and putting several workable proposals on the table, we have come to the sad conclusion that Resolute will not do the minimum that the science says is required to protect our forests and the threatened caribou that call them home,? adds Sumner.
?We believe that Resolute is not meeting its commitments to ensure caribou survive on the forests it manages. In our opinion, it has so far proven itself unwilling to strike a balance between its economic interests and the local survival of a nationally threatened species,? added Todd Paglia of ForestEthics.
The environmental groups? assessment, based on federal government science, is that Resolute?s forestry plans would severely diminish the chances that any caribou herds within their tenures will survive after their logging operations. The federal recovery strategy under the Species At Risk Act requires that all caribou herds in Canada be managed to create a minimum likelihood of 60% survival.
All environmental signatories to the CBFA are suspending further work with Resolute until it can commit to scientifically defensible conservation plans that would give caribou a reasonable chance of survival.
?The CBFA has proven itself a workable model with companies that honour their commitments. Last year, signatories announced a joint caribou action plan for northeastern Ontario that proposed an 8,000 km2 logging-free zone to protect critical caribou habitat and an increase of wood supply for local mills,? adds Sumner.
In Northeast Alberta, signatories supported the establishment of the proposed Dillon River Wildland Park and the Gipsy-Gordon Wildland Park, and this month have agreed on an approach for Caribou Action Planning in the Athabasca and Cold Lake regions. They are now commencing outreach to Provincial, Aboriginal, municipal and energy sector leaders to move forward.
The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement was signed in 2010 by all member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada and nine environmental groups. Environmental groups continuing to implement the CBFA are the Canadian Boreal Initiative, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, David Suzuki Foundation, ForestEthics, Ivey Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and the International Boreal Conservation Campaign.
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For more background on the CBFA, visit http://www.canadianborealforestagreement.com/
There is no sadder moment than the one where you realize it's time to upgrade your computer. The load times are too slow, the battery no longer holds a charge, and it's just too damn heavy. Now, imagine a school with dozens of outdated computers, and think just how bad that moment of realization can really be. Neverware, a company based out of NY, is aiming to change all that with a turnkey solution that automatically boosts performance of old computers for a low monthly fee. Obviously, demand for this type of service is high, especially in the education industry, which is why Neverware has just closed a $1 million round from investors that include Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Collaborative Fund, and Nihal Mehta.
MOORE, Okla. ?As a hailstorm bore down on the devastated region Tuesday afternoon, first responders continued to sift through debris to try to find survivors and figure out how many people died in the massive tornado that ripped through southern Oklahoma City and other towns a day earlier.
Twenty four people have been confirmed dead--including 9 children--and 237 were injured by the massive twister, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said. At news conference Tuesday, Fallin said officials are trying to find out if other victims might have been taken to local funeral homes and are not yet been counted in the death toll.
"We're going through that debris and we're going to keep looking until everybody's found," FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said at the news conference.
Fallin said authorities "don't even know if there are missing people" but will turn over every piece of debris to find survivors possibly trapped in the rubble. First responders will check each damaged piece of property three times to ensure no one who needs help is overlooked, Fallin said.
"This was the storm of storms," Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said.
[Photos from the scene.]
Earlier, authorities said they expected more vicitms to be uncovered.
"Not to be pessimistic... but we think the death toll will continue to climb as we find more bodies," Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb said on CNN.
Mother Nature was showing no mercy to Moore on Tuesday. Drenching rains and lightning had moved into the area by 9 a.m, and marble-sized hail fell in the afternoon.
Officials said water, electricity and cell phone service was down in some areas. They urged people to stay away from the area. Residents can call 1-800-621-FEMA to find shelter.
President Barack Obama said the federal government would help with the disaster response.
"The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground there for them, beside them, as long as it takes for their homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen, the parents to console, the first responders to comfort and of course frightened children who will need our continued love and attention," Obama said Tuesday morning at the White House.
Seven of the dead children were found at Plaza Towers Elementary School Monday night, which took a direct hit when a titanic tornado chewed a deadly and destructive 20-mile path through Newcastle, Moore and parts of southern Oklahoma City for 40 minutes. Officials said that unlike 100 other schools in the area, Plaza Towers was not equipped with a tornado safe room.
Schools Superintendent Susan Pierce choked up at a news conference when talking about the twister, which destroyed at least two schools. She said every Moore school implemented its tornado shelter plan before the storm hit Monday. "We're in the process of learning as much as we can about what happened," she said, adding that graduation for Moore's high school seniors will still take place this Saturday in Oklahoma City.
Classes were still in session at Plaza Towers when the twister, estimated to be packing winds of 190 mph or greater, crushed nearly every corner of the property. Teachers? cars were thrown into the building, and the playground no longer exists.
?All you could hear were screams,? Local resident Stuart Earnest Jr. said of the scene at the Plaza Towers school after the storm. ?The people screaming for help. And the people trying to help were also screaming.?
?I can only hope those little kids killed didn't suffer,? said Earnest, one of many who rushed to the school to help survivors.
[In tornado's wake, worried parents seek out kids]
With several students still unaccounted for, rescuers worked overnight digging through the rubble. Police say they are still digging through the structure.
?I just hope they find her,? Shannon Galarneau said of her 10-year-old niece, a Plaza Towers student who was missing as of early Tuesday morning. ?You just feel helpless.?
The girl's younger sister, also a student at the school, survived by suffered cuts to her head and bruises on her back. The 8-year-old was still wearing her hospital bracelet while asleep on her grandmother's shoulder in the front seat of a pickup truck just after midnight.
?She said it was probably the scariest day of her life,? Galarneau said.
Monday's tornado was estimated to be more than a mile wide at times. Its path was nearly identical to the one taken by a record-breaking May 1999 tornado that devastated the area.
Galarneau and her husband could see the twister a mile and a half from their front porch and scrambled to hide.
?It barreled down fast,? said Galarneau, who found refuge in a utility closet.
[How to Help: Oklahoma storms]
Obama declared several Oklahoma counties disaster areas and pledged to support the area's rescue and recovery. The funnel?s fury crumbled homes for several blocks around the school and in other parts of Moore. Missing street signs and other landmarks made some neighborhoods unrecognizable even to locals.
?It is a barren wasteland,? Galarneau said. ?Everything is leveled.?
Allen and JoAnn Anderson huddled under quilts and pillows in their bathtub with their Yorkie, Magand, and cat, Meow, when the tornado came down their street.
?It was like standing in the middle of a train track and having the train go right over you,? said Allen, 63.
They emerged from the tub 15 minutes later to find their brick house gone and cars badly damaged.
?There?s no house. It?s just a pile of rubble,? Allen said.
The couple checked into a motel with their pets late Monday. Chunks of attic insulation were still stuck in JoAnn?s sandy-blond hair, and her legs were partially caked in dried mud.
?It could be worse,? JoAnn said. ?We're alive.?
The tornado developed very quickly and caught many people like, Kelly Damphousse, off guard. He and his family were unloading a 26-foot U-Haul truck at a storage facility when they spotted the ferocious funnel.
--Yahoo News' Liz Goodwin is reporting from New York.
?We recently moved into a new home and have been busy re-vamping, tearing down, and re-constructing this/that in our new home.? It?s been fun??but a complete learning process.? If you?d like to see other Home Improvement Projects that we?ve been figuring out (from the help of friends, family, and the ol? internet), be sure to check them out.
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We decided after moving into our home, that the floors on the main level needed some love.? There was a mixture of hardwood and old carpet (about half and half).? The old carpet really had to go (do you ever imagine who/what has been on old matted carpet?? it?s not a good place for your brain to go?) and the hardwood had us stumped.? We considered keeping it and sanding/re-staining or just adding more wood and staining it a color that closely matched the already existing wood.? But, we ultimately wanted a completely different plank of wood.? So, it seemed crazy to put money into re-staining the old wood or trying to match it??when we didn?t really like it.? So, we decided to tear it out.
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Steve and I chatted with 2 of our brother?s??..and gathered some tips and advice. And then learned a few things along the way that we are GLAD we figured out!?
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Time savers (and muscle savers) are priceless tips. ;)
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?SO here you go?
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***Even if you?re not installing your own hardwood floors, doing the demo will definitely save you some cash.? Just ask your installers what it will save you. (But we installed our own floors and a ?How-To? on that will be shared soon.)***
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First off all, there are several ways to remove a hardwood floor but we chose the QUICKEST option.? However, if your wood is in good condition, consider selling or donating.? You may have to pick through to salvage the good pieces of wood if some of yours is rotten (like ours was in some places) but there are people who are in the market to purchase old hardwood floor pieces.? Even if it?s cut into pieces like ours was.? (But some may want the full pieces.)? Also, if we would have had more time, we were thinking of posting an ad, stating that we had old hardwood floors that would be free with removal.? Then, the interested person could come and remove it as carefully as they wanted to??and then we wouldn?t have had to do a thing.? But I guess, you also have to be careful who you allow into your home for many days while they remove it.? So, yeah.? Pros and cons to weigh here.
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But we chose the quickest route possible.? And have a pile of salvaged wood pieces, ready to be donated.
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Okay, so the fastest way to remove old hardwood floors is to cut the boards into smaller sections.? This is helpful because hardwood planks are all different lengths and make it really tough to remove quickly.? So cutting them into smaller pieces of wood, makes it easier to pry up.? So, using a Circular Saw (ours was a worm drive?..and it gave it some ooommph), cut lines into your hardwood, perpendicular to the direction the wood is laying.? And cut each section about 1-2 feet wide.
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IMPORTANT:? Be sure your saw blade is set to the thickness of your hardwood floors, so that you?re not cutting through your sub-floor.? Our hardwood was 5/8 inch thick?.so that?s how far the blade fell beneath the base of the saw.?
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Then start sawing away (and get ready for a TON of dust).
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Now, it?s time to start prying the wood up.
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We used a 2 inch Pry Bar and a Mallet.? We purchased a Dead Blow Mallet, which has sand inside of the head.? Each time you strike something, the sand propels forward in the head, giving you some extra force.? Great tool??and we totally noticed a difference.? (So, a great investment!)
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We used both tools and started prying up all that old wood.
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And yes, it seems daunting but progress is pretty quick with these tools.? (It?s the clean up that takes more time.)
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Now??..here are 2 MUST HAVE tools that we used for removing the metal.? And we would NEVER remove hardwood floors without them.?? Do you realize how many nails and staples are used to install hardwood floors?? About a trillion. :)
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So, for removing staples??.the Nail Claw was faster. And those little suckers popped right up using the claw.? Just insert under the staple and rock back.? The staples will pop right up.
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However, if you have a broken staple (that snapped in the middle and no longer has a place to hook the nail claw), we used the Curved Vice Grips.? Just pinch, rock, and they pull right out.? These Vice Grips also work well for nails.? We originally just used these Vice Grips for everything??..but because you have to squeeze to close and then release, they just take a little more time.? You know, like a half second per staple.? But hey?..that adds up.? That?s why we also purchased the Nail Claw (above) and loved that for ripping out all staples.
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Now??..after all nails and staples are removed, you?re going to have piles of debris.? Something that we figured out while working, is that a large magnet would save us some grief.?
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Just glide across the floor, gathering up everything metal??
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??and dispose.?
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And then the rest of the small wood pieces and saw dust can be sucked up with a Shop Vac.? (because most shop vacs won?t suck up metal and you don?t want those pieces to clog or cut up your vacuum anyway.)
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Then repeat, repeat, and repeat some more.
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In case you need an idea??we tore up about 700 square feet of hardwood and we probably spent about 10-12 hours tearing it all up.? We would tackle it in the evenings after the kids were in bed, and would work for 2 hours or so.? It really wasn?t so bad and was pretty satisfying as we worked.? Demo work is actually pretty fun.? And besides, you?re getting a good work out without even trying. ;)
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Oh wait, wait, wait???a few last minute MUST HAVE ITEMS:
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**I would NEVER tear up hardwood without the above pictured items.? You?re on your hands and knees for HOURS, so those knee pads were a life saver.? And yes, your hands will get torn up without gloves?..so don?t even consider working without them.? And there?s all sorts of dust and pieces of wood flying around??so those glasses will save you. :)
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And that?s it.
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I hope that was helpful.? And a little encouraging.? Because even if you?re not laying your own hardwood floors, doing the demo will definitely save you some cash.
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(But if you ARE laying your own hardwood floor, I have a whole post on how we installed ours.? Almost done.)
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Public release date: 29-May-2013
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There is no sadder moment than the one where you realize it's time to upgrade your computer. The load times are too slow, the battery no longer holds a charge, and it's just too damn heavy. Now, imagine a school with dozens of outdated computers, and think just how bad that moment of realization can really be. 
