Exclusive: Arms ship seized by Yemen may have been Somalia-bound: U.N.

By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An Iranian ship laden with arms seized by Yemeni authorities in January may also have been bound for Somalia, according to a confidential U.N. report seen by Reuters on Monday.

Yemeni forces intercepted the ship, the Jihan 1, off Yemen's coast on January 23. U.S. and Yemeni officials said it was carrying a large cache of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, being smuggled from Iran to insurgents in Yemen.

The confidential U.N. report, by the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, cited Yemeni officials as saying that it was possible diesel carried aboard the ship could have been intended for shipment to Somalia.

The group, which tracks compliance with Security Council sanctions, raised concerns in the report about the flow of weapons to Islamist al-Shabaab militants since the U.N. Security Council eased an arms embargo on Somalia's fragile Western-backed government earlier this year.

The report did not explicitly say that weapons on the ship were headed for Somalia, but one U.N. Security Council diplomat said that if it was true that the diesel was intended for Somalia, it could not be ruled out that other items on the ship, including weapons, might also have been intended for there.

Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for Iran's U.N. mission, rejected the suggestion that Iran could be connected in any way with arms supplies to al-Shabaab.

"These are some baseless allegations and ridiculous fabrications about the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said. "This alleged report by the Monitoring Group on Somalia on arms shipments from Iran carries no basis or the minimum rationality."

A Western diplomat said that the fact that there were 16,716 blocks of C4 explosive on the Jihan 1 suggested a potential connection between Iran and al-Shabaab in Somalia, as Huthi rebels, unlike al-Shabaab, were not known to use C4.

The U.N. mission for Somalia did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The U.N. experts wrote that according to Yemeni security officials, the arms and ammunition were well-packed in small containers concealed inside several large compartments filled with diesel fuel.

"Yemeni officials indicated that this arms consignment was to be delivered to the Huthi rebellion in north Yemen," the report to the Security Council's sanctions committee said. "However the Monitoring Group investigated if some of the Jihan 1 cargo could have been intended for delivery in Somalia."

"When asked about this, security officials confirmed that the diesel could have been bound for Somalia," the report said. "Members of the crew have also divulged to a diplomatic source who interviewed them in Aden that the diesel was bound for Somalia."

The potential Somalia connection was not raised in a recent report by the U.N. Panel of Experts on Iran that monitors compliance with the U.N. sanctions regime against Tehran.

That report said five of the Iran panel's eight members found that all available information clearly placed Tehran at the center of the Jihan arms smuggling operation. But three panel members - who U.N. diplomats said were from Russia, China and Nigeria - said the Jihan incident was a "probable", not definite, violation of the U.N. ban on Iranian arms exports.

AL-SHABAAB REMAINS STRONG

The latest experts' report said Yemen was the top source of arms in Somalia.

The group wrote that authorities in Puntland - a semi-autonomous region of Somalia which has a fractious relationship with Mogadishu - had said that one reason they had passed a law banning Yemeni petroleum imports the ease with which arms were smuggled in diesel containers like the ones on the Jihan 1.

"Additional evidence indicates the involvement of an individual entity based in Djibouti as part of a network that supplies arms and ammunition to al-Shabaab in Somalia," it said.

The report said that al-Shabaab remained strong, even though it had been driven out of a number of cities and towns.

"The military strength of al-Shabaab, with an approximately 5,000-strong force, remains arguably intact, in terms of operational readiness, chain of command, discipline, and communication capabilities," it said. "At present, al-Shabaab remains the principal threat to peace and security in Somalia."

The monitoring group said it was concerned about the possible export from Somalia of know-how in the manufacture of suicide vests and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to Kenya and Uganda. It said it had analyzed a suicide vest discovered in Kenya in March, which was similar to ones used by al-Shabaab.

This, the group said, "suggests a transfer of know-how between al-Shabaab in Somalia and al-Shabaab members or its sympathizers operating in Kenya."

Although piracy off Somalia's coast had decreased, it said some of the demobilized pirates were providing private security services to unlicensed fishing vessels off Somalia's coast.

"Puntland officials estimate that tens of thousands of metric tons (1 metric ton = 1.1023 tons) of illegal catch has been fished from Puntland's coastline between 2012 and 2013 by hundreds of illegal fishing vessels," the report said.

"The vessels are predominantly Iranian and Yemeni owned and all use Somali armed security," it said.

The Monitoring Group said it was investigating reports that illegal fishing vessels were also being used to smuggle weapons.

While the reports were unconfirmed, the group had established "other connections between the illegal fishing networks and networks involved in the arms trade and connected to al-Shabaab in northeastern Somalia," the report said.

The Monitoring Group said Puntland officials estimated that as many as 180 illegal Iranian and 300 illegal Yemeni vessels were fishing in Somali waters, along with a small number of Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean and European-owned vessels.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-arms-ship-seized-yemen-may-somalia-bound-011556213.html

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Oil near $98 as protests rock Egypt government

BANGKOK (AP) ? Oil hovered near $98 a barrel Tuesday, underpinned by political unrest in Egypt that raised fears of disruption to global crude supplies.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was down 3 cents to $97.96 a barrel at early afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract jumped $1.43 to close at $97.99 in New York on Monday.

After massive weekend protests in Egypt that continued Monday, the country's military issued an ultimatum to President Mohammed Morsi that gives him 48 hours to meet the demands of the millions who have taken to the streets seeking his ouster.

The ultimatum, rebuffed by Morsi, raised worries on both sides the military could outright take over, as it did after the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. It also raised the risk of a backlash from Morsi's Islamist backers, including his powerful Muslim Brotherhood and hard-liners, some of whom once belonged to armed militant groups.

Traders were concerned that the protests in Egypt and the civil war in Syria could affect the production and transport of oil supplies in the Middle East and North Africa.

"Egypt may not be an oil producer, but they are an important passageway for everything from the Middle East to the rest of the world," said Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks in a commentary.

Brent crude was up 12 cents at $103.12 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

? Natural gas was up 0.2 cent at $3.579 per 1,000 cubic feet.

? Heating oil added 0.3 cent to $2.876 per gallon.

? Wholesale gasoline rose 1.1 cent to $2.745 per gallon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-near-98-protests-rock-egypt-government-062224300.html

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Microsoft to sell 256GB Surface Pro in the US, but only through certain resellers (updated)

Did you look on Japan with envy as Microsoft launched a 256GB Surface Pro in the country, leaving other countries with modest storage? If you're American, you won't have to fret any more: Microsoft has confirmed to Engadget that there will be "limited availability" of the 256GB model in the country through its new commercial reseller program. While the company didn't say exactly which stores will carry the Surface Pro, Windows Phone Central has already spotted the new version on sale at CDW for $1,200. New orders will still take a few days to ship, but it could be worth the wait for the ultimate version of Microsoft's official tablet.

Update: Microsoft has clarified its earlier statement in an FAQ -- at least at present, you'll have to be in business, education or the public sector to get the 256GB Surface Pro.

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

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Via: Windows Phone Central

Source: CDW

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'Glee' star Matthew Morrison engaged

Celebs

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

10 hours ago

Dave M. Benett / Getty Images Contributor

Matthew Morrison and Renee Puente.

"Glee" star Matthew Morrison is engaged to his girlfriend Renee Puente, a fact he confirmed with a simple tweet, saying he was going to "marry my best friend!"

The news initially came out during Elton John's White Tie and Tierra Ball on Thursday, an event the couple often attend. Coldplay singer Chris Martin dedicated John's "Your Song" to the couple, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and then sang the tune with John himself.

The proposal appears to have been done earlier; E! Online reported that the couple arrived at the event with her already wearing a "huge sparkler" in the appropriate left-hand finger.

Morrison tweeted the news Thursday morning.

They reportedly began dating in 2011, and this will be a first marriage for both.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/glee-star-matthew-morrison-engaged-6C10480930

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American-US Airways merger: Feds investigate possible antitrust issues

Airlines

Reuters

5 hours ago

LARRY DOWNING / Reuters

A U.S. Airways jet takes off from Washington's Reagan National Airport outside Washington, passing an American Airlines plane, February 25, 2013. Reuters reports the Justice department is probing the proposed American-US merger for antitrust issues.

The U.S. Justice Department is taking depositions as part of a probe into a planned merger of American Airlines and US Airways that would create the world's largest airline, three sources close to the discussions told Reuters.

The sticking point in talks between the Justice Department and the companies is whether the airlines will agree to sell slots -- take-off and landing rights -- to reduce their dominance at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., according to one source.

The three sources spoke privately to protect business relationships.

US Airways announced on February 14 that it planned to merge with American, which is emerging from bankruptcy, to create an $11 billion airline. The deal requires the approval of the Justice and Transportation Departments. The companies hope to wrap up the merger by the end of September.

American Airlines and US Airways declined comment. Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said only that the agency's investigation was continuing.

The fact that the Justice Department is taking sworn testimony in the form of depositions indicates it has concerns that the proposed merger creates antitrust problems. Depositions will be needed if the agency approves the deal with conditions or, in rare cases, if it decides to try to stop it. The department could also decide to approve the merger without requiring asset sales.

Depositions preserve testimony if the department decides to challenge the merger, said Robert Doyle, an antitrust expert with Doyle, Barlow and Mazard PLLC.

If the deal is approved, the new airline would have 68 percent of the slots at Reagan National, far more than Delta Air Lines with 12 percent, United Airlines with 9 percent and the 11 percent held by other airlines, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The companies have pushed back hard against any suggestion that takeoff and landing slots at Reagan National be sold.

US Airways CEO Doug Parker told lawmakers in congressional testimony last week that requiring the combined company to surrender slots could mean fewer flights to small and medium-sized cities.

Antitrust experts have said the Justice Department could request divestitures of some slots at Reagan National and a small number of other airports. Outside these hubs, the carriers fly different routes for the most part.

In late May, more than 100 members of Congress asked U.S. regulators to allow the new American to keep all the slots at Reagan National. The airport is used by many members of Congress to travel to and from their home districts.

The U.S. airline industry has undergone five years of rapid consolidation. Delta acquired Northwest Airlines in 2008, United merged with Continental in 2010 and Southwest Airlines Co bought discount rival AirTran in 2011.

With fewer carriers competing, ticket prices have risen. The average fare rose about 8 percent to $375 in the third quarter of 2012, compared with $346 in 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

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Nelson Mandela and the qualities 'within easy reach of every soul'

President Obama shouted him out today. Only recently has Mandela's private thinking during his darkest days come to light: ?'Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.'

By Robert Marquand,?Staff writer / June 27, 2013

Giant photographs of former president Nelson Mandela are displayed at the Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition at the Civic Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, June 27.

AP

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Standing in Africa today, the first black American president called the first black South African president an inspiration and a "hero."?

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By Melanie Stetson Freeman

Whether Nelson Mandela did open his eyes and smile in the hospital room when he was told days back that Barack Obama was coming for a visit isn't verified. It is what his daughter said.

But while such a scene might seem a little too perfect or scripted, in fact that itself is not out of keeping with much of Mr. Mandela's actual life.?

His life reads like an endless?series of firsts: the first in his family to go to school, the first black man to open a law firm in South Africa, the nation?s first black president.

For many of us, Mandela arrived on the world stage in 1990 as history turned a corner no one could imagine: China was asking itself about democracy in the tragedy of Tiananmen Square. The Soviet Union was falling like a domino, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In South Africa, decades of apartheid were ending.

It was a time of miracles, rainbows, unseen hopes, and new fears. Even though it all arrived together, no one predicted it.

Mandela emerged from prison with a smile like perpetual summer and a light touch. He seemed filled with history and humility, and he waved to the world just as video and celebrity culture were hitting a peak. He bespoke the globalizing times ? articulated racial equality in a way that penetrated to the heart.

?I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people,? he said. ?Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands."

Before that moment, the last time we had heard from Mandela was the year after Martin Luther King gave his ?Dream? speech at the Lincoln Memorial. It was 1964: Mandela was in the dock, on trial, facing a death sentence, saying,??I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.?

Then he disappeared, and in many ways had died to the world.

During the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, he sat in Robben Island prison; it might as well have been the dark side of the moon. Those years had little silver lining: no flowers, meetings with world leaders, plaudits, cameras, attention. No one expected the Soviet Union to collapse, for China to become the workshop of the world, or for a black man named after Britain's Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson to help peaceably end apartheid.

Only recently has Mandela?s thinking at this time come to light. His many public speeches are known. But his interior self during the depths of prison have not been. Yet they bespeak a man who found the strength not to hate, and who, while savvy to the world, also had a separate ?spiritual life.?

In 1975,?he could write:

Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others ? qualities which are within easy reach of every soul ? are the foundations of one?s spiritual life.

Development in matters of this nature is inconceivable without serious introspection, without knowing yourself, your weaknesses and mistakes. At least, if for nothing else, the cell gives you the opportunity to look daily into your entire conduct, to overcome the bad and develop whatever is good in you. Regular meditation, say about 15 minutes a day before you turn in, can be very fruitful in this regard. You may find it difficult at first to pinpoint the negative features in your life, but the 10^th ?attempt may yield rich rewards. Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.?

That letter (which is included in his book "Conversations with Myself") was sent to his then-wife, Winnie Mandela, who had just been incarcerated in Kroonstad Prison. At the time, many of Mandela?s friends were being arrested, beaten, killed. The warden of Robben Island took to urinating in the cells and gathering places of inmates.?

Yet Mandela does not talk about malice or feelings of revenge, at least in the letters. He takes a wholly different line:

The cell is an ideal place to learn to know yourself, to search realistically and regularly the process of your own mind and feelings. In judging our progress as individuals we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one?s social position, influence and popularity, wealth and standard of education. These are, of course, important in measuring one?s success in material matters and it is perfectly understandable if many people exert themselves mainly to achieve all these. But internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one?s development as a human being.?

The potent fears of a bloody civil or racial war in South Africa never materialized. Apartheid at the time had come under terrific opprobrium?in much of the world. It is probably going too far to say Mandela preached the idea of Martin Luther King Jr. in the segregated American South, of a love for the oppressor so serious that it loved in order to wipe away the self-harm done to them who act out of hatred.

But Mandela?s idea certainly was to reconcile differences on the basis of nonviolence, and to honor the other:

I detest white supremacy and will fight it with every weapon in my hands. But even when the clash between you and me has taken the most extreme forms, I should like us to fight over our principles and ideas and without personal hatred, so that at the end of the battle, whatever the result might be, I can proudly shake hands with you, because I feel I have fought an upright and worthy opponent who has observed the whole code of honor and decency.

What distance the man born in 1918 had come. In a fragment of his unfinished autobiography that appears in ?Conversations,? he remembers his early days with some ruefulness:

As a young man I ? combined all the weaknesses, errors and indiscretions of a country boy, whose range of vision and experience was influenced mainly by events in the area in which I grew up and the colleges to which I was sent. I relied on arrogance in order to hide my weaknesses. As an adult my comrades raised me and other fellow prisoners ? from obscurity ? although the aura of being one of the world?s longest serving prisoners never totally evaporated. One issue that deeply worried me in prison was the false image that I unwittingly projected to the outside world of being regarded as a saint. I never was one?.

Yet something remarkable develops in the self-described young black man, who joins the Methodist church, and does have an interest in the Bible.

From prison, Mandela describes to his wife a novel he read in 1964 called ?Shadows of Nazareth.? It is about the trial of Christ Jesus. The narrative voice in the novel is that of Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator who is asked by the Sanhedrin to judge Jesus.

Mandela, who in 1964 had just been recently sentenced in court, writes that though the trial of Jesus ?occurred about 2000 years ago, the story contains a moral whose truth is universal and which is as fresh and meaningful today as it was at the height of the Roman Empire.?

He goes on, reciting from memory, and actually adopts the voice of Pilate in the first person, as he remembers it:

But this trial [of] Christ I shall never forget!

I looked at the prisoner and our eyes met. In the midst of all the excitement and noise, he remained perfectly calm, quiet and confident as if he had millions of people on his side?. Christ had become a mighty force in the land and the mass[es] of the people were fully behind him. In this situation the priests felt powerless?

Mandela describes how Pilate agreed to judge Jesus, then offered the public a choice that freed not Jesus but the zealot Barabbas, and then how he, Pilate, finally ordered Jesus brought into the Roman court:?

For the first time in my experience, I faced a man whose eyes appeared to see right through me, whereas I was unable to fathom him. Written across his face was a gleam of love and hope; but at the same time he bore the expression of one who was deeply pained by the folly and suffering of mankind as a whole.

He gazed upwards and his eyes seemed to pierce through the roof and to see right beyond the stars. It became clear that in that courtroom authority was not in me as a judge, but was down below in the dock where the prisoner was.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/amoNcSGUFBs/Nelson-Mandela-and-the-qualities-within-easy-reach-of-every-soul

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Portuguese trade unions strike over austerity

LISBON, Portugal (AP) ? Public transport and government offices are expected to be the worst-hit services as Portugal's two trade union confederations stage a national 24-hour strike against austerity measures.

Unions representing about 1 million workers are protesting Thursday against debt-cutting measures Portugal was compelled to adopt by creditors in return for a 78 billion euros ($102 billion) bailout two years ago.

Public sector pay cuts and hikes in taxes on sales and private and corporate income have contributed to the economy's downward spiral, with the jobless rate growing to 17.8 percent and a third straight year of recession forecast in 2013.

The General Confederation of Portuguese Workers and the General Workers' Union want the center-right government to ease off the austerity measures and take more steps to create jobs and growth.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/portuguese-trade-unions-strike-over-austerity-075848250.html

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Paula Deen dropped by Wal-Mart after 'Today' tears

In this publicity image released by NBC, celebrity chef Paula Deen appears on NBC News' "Today" show, wednesday, June 26, 2013 in New York. Deen dissolved into tears during a "Today" show interview Wednesday about her admission that she used a racial slur in the past. The celebrity chef, who had backed out of a "Today" interview last Friday, said she was not a racist and was heartbroken by the controversy that began with her own deposition in a lawsuit. Deen has been dropped by the Food Network and as a celebrity endorser by Smithfield Foods. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)

In this publicity image released by NBC, celebrity chef Paula Deen appears on NBC News' "Today" show, wednesday, June 26, 2013 in New York. Deen dissolved into tears during a "Today" show interview Wednesday about her admission that she used a racial slur in the past. The celebrity chef, who had backed out of a "Today" interview last Friday, said she was not a racist and was heartbroken by the controversy that began with her own deposition in a lawsuit. Deen has been dropped by the Food Network and as a celebrity endorser by Smithfield Foods. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)

In this publicity image released by NBC, celebrity chef Paula Deen appears on NBC News' "Today" show, wednesday, June 26, 2013 in New York. Deen dissolved into tears during a "Today" show interview Wednesday about her admission that she used a racial slur in the past. The celebrity chef, who had backed out of a "Today" interview last Friday, said she was not a racist and was heartbroken by the controversy that began with her own deposition in a lawsuit. Deen has been dropped by the Food Network and as a celebrity endorser by Smithfield Foods. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)

In this publicity image released by NBC, celebrity chef Paula Deen appears on NBC News' "Today" show, with host Matt Lauer, Wednesday, June 26, 2013 in New York. Deen dissolved into tears during a "Today" show interview Wednesday about her admission that she used a racial slur in the past. The celebrity chef, who had backed out of a "Today" interview last Friday, said she was not a racist and was heartbroken by the controversy that began with her own deposition in a lawsuit. Deen has been dropped by the Food Network and as a celebrity endorser by Smithfield Foods. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)

In this publicity image released by NBC, celebrity chef Paula Deen, right, appears on NBC News' "Today" show, with host Matt Lauer, Wednesday, June 26, 2013 in New York. Deen dissolved into tears during a "Today" show interview Wednesday about her admission that she used a racial slur in the past. The celebrity chef, who had backed out of a "Today" interview last Friday, said she was not a racist and was heartbroken by the controversy that began with her own deposition in a lawsuit. Deen has been dropped by the Food Network and as a celebrity endorser by Smithfield Foods. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Paula Deen was dropped by Wal-Mart and her name was stripped from four buffet restaurants on Wednesday, hours after she went on television and tearfully defended herself amid the mounting fallout over her admission of using a racial slur.

The story has become both a day-by-day struggle by a successful businesswoman to keep her career afloat and an object lesson on the level of tolerance and forgiveness in society for being caught making an insensitive remark.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday that it ended its relationship with Deen and will not place "any new orders beyond what's already committed."

Caesars Entertainment Corp. said it had been "mutually decided" with Deen to remove her name from its restaurants in Joliet, Ill.; Tunica, Miss.; Cherokee, N.C.; and Elizabeth, Ind.

At the same time, Deen's representatives released letters of support from nine companies that do business with the chef and promised to continue. There's evidence that a backlash is growing against the Food Network, which tersely announced last Friday that it was cutting ties with one of its stars.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Deen had called him and he agreed to help her, saying she shouldn't become a sacrificial lamb over the issue of racial intolerance.

"What she did was wrong, but she can change," Jackson said.

During a deposition in a discrimination lawsuit filed by an ex-employee, the chef, who specializes in Southern comfort food, admitted to using the N-word in the past. The lawsuit also accuses Deen of using the slur when planning her brother's 2007 wedding, saying she wanted black servers in white coats, shorts and bow ties for a "Southern plantation-style wedding."

Deen said she didn't recall using the word "plantation" and denied using the N-word to describe waiters. She said she quickly dismissed the idea of having all black servers.

Deen told Matt Lauer on "Today" on Wednesday that she could only recall using the N-word once. She said she remembered using it when retelling a story about when she was held at gunpoint by a robber who was black while working as a bank teller in the 1980s in Georgia.

In the deposition, she also said she may also have used the slur when recalling conversations between black employees at her restaurants. Asked in the deposition if she had used the word more than once, she said, "I'm sure I have, but it's been a very long time."

Her "Today" show appearance was a do-over from last Friday, when Deen didn't show up for a promised and promoted interview. Deen told Lauer she had been overwhelmed last week. She said she was heartbroken by the controversy and she wasn't a racist.

"I've had to hold friends in my arms while they've sobbed because they know what's been said about me is not true and I'm having to comfort them," she said.

Looking distressed and with her voice breaking, Deen said if there was someone in the audience who had never said something they wished they could take back, "please pick up that stone and throw it as hard at my head so it kills me. I want to meet you. I want to meet you." It's an apparent reference to the Biblical passage about whether a woman guilty of adultery should be stoned: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

"I is what I is and I'm not changing," Deen said. "There's someone evil out there that saw what I worked for and wanted it."

An uncomfortable Lauer tried to end the interview, but Deen repeated that anyone who hasn't sinned should attack her.

Asked by Lauer whether she had any doubt that blacks consider use of the N-word offensive, Deen said: "I don't know, Matt. I have asked myself that so many times, because it is so distressing to go into my kitchen and hear" what some young people are telling each other.

Deen said she appreciated fans who have expressed anger at the Food Network for dropping her, but said she didn't support a boycott of the network. Through social media, the network has been attacked by people who said executives there acted in haste to get rid of Deen.

Save for the brief announcement late Friday that it wasn't renewing Deen's contract, Food Network executives have refused to discuss the case publicly, or say whether the network plans to address Deen's fans. There have been online reports that the Food Network removed Deen's programs from the air as early as Saturday; the network wouldn't speak about what it has or hasn't put on the air.

Starting last weekend, there has been a steady erosion of support for the network. The YouGov Brandindex, a measurement of how consumers perceive a particular company or product, said the Food Network's score ? which had been generally positive ? had dropped by 82 percent in a week. The network has a negative image in the South and West, spokesman Drew Kerr said.

Deen's case has also attracted some odd bedfellows. Conservative commentator Glenn Beck said the network has "contributed to the growing un-American atmosphere of fear and silence. Hello, Joseph McCarthy."

Meanwhile, liberal HBO host Bill Maher also said Deen shouldn't lose her show. "It's a wrong word, she's wrong to use it," he said. "But do we really have to make people go away?"

The Food Channel, a food marketing agency based in Springfield, Mo., said it has been flooded with angry messages from people mistaking the company for the Food Network. There have been so many that the agency posted a message to Deen on its website that it would be happy to work with her if possible.

Among the companies expressing support for her via her representatives was Club Marketing Services in Bentonville, Ark., which helps companies sell products at Wal-Mart, and Epicurean Butter.

___

Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Athens, Ga.; Religion Writer Rachel Zoll in New York; Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio and Writer Tammy Webber in Chicago contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.today.com/

___

Follow Dave Bauder on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dbauder

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-26-Paula%20Deen/id-04409b43c6d048f8b62944eb25528eb9

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Will the GOP Embrace Marriage Equality?

Bobby Jindal has criticized the GOP and told it to stand strong. Which way will the party go?

Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters

It was a busy week in existential threats to the Republican Party.?Two issues that various Republicans have said require the party to evolve or die have been thrust into the national spotlight:?Immigration reform is on its way to passing the Senate, and the Supreme Court offered two major victories for the supporters of marriage equality.?

With comprehensive immigration reform, the more progress it makes, the louder the voices of opposition. But in the wake of the Supreme Court decisions on same-sex marriage, the reaction was markedly different, suggesting that the forces of progress have momentum on their side.?

Both issues test whether the Republican Party will regain its national stature through forward-looking appeals to a changing electorate or whether it will do so through standing fast to principle and letting that new electorate be drawn to the Republican Party. This debate pits social?conservatives against the libertarian populists and generation against generation. It?s been going on since Mitt Romney lost, long enough for there to be a debate about whether the debate is even necessary?long enough, in fact, for some to take both sides of that debate. In January, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal?knocked the GOP as ?the stupid party??for the way some of its members spoke in public, but is now?telling the GOP to stop the "bedwetting" about the way it is perceived. If you like unscripted politics, this has been an exciting week: As these wedge issues have become national news, the leaderless party has been fighting about core principles with a passion that no one can control.

Those who have argued that the GOP must embrace marriage equality hoped that the court's decision would quiet debate. Large majorities of younger voters support same-sex marriage (81 percent in an ABC poll), which means it's a key to reaching a younger demographic and also probably irreversible. "There are a lot of Republicans who believe that it's time to move on from this," says veteran Iowa GOP strategist Dave Kochel who ran Romney's campaign there. "Same-sex marriage is legal in Iowa and has been for four years. And regardless of need for some Iowa activists to continue to raise money and apply litmus tests on candidates, it's time to move on and allow the GOP to be open and hospitable to people who may disagree with our platform. I don't think anyone will be successful in rolling back the clock."?

"Jesus wept," is how Mike Huckabee characterized his reaction to the Supreme Court rulings in a?fundraising?letter.?For those who view the decisions as a blow to traditional marriage, the battle now turns to the states. Presidential hopefuls courting social conservatives will need to campaign in those local battles. "Twenty years ago Republican establishment figures were saying abortion was a losing issue," says one conservative strategist. "Earlier this year, Time magazine's cover said that the battle is over and the pro-life side has won. More than 30 states have voted to protect marriage. It's not the end, it's just the?beginning." Once and future presidential candidate Rick Santorum made the abortion link immediately in his response to the ruling "The DOMA decision is another case of the high court overstepping its role, just as it did with Roe v. Wade.??

The abortion analogy is flawed though, say Republicans in support of marriage equality. "This is not abortion," says a GOP veteran strategist. "You cannot convince this nation's young people that two same-sex?people, in love, just like them, are not entitled access to the same institution as they are because they are straight. It doesn't hold water.?Same-sex marriage?is about freedom, fairness, equality?"the right to life,?liberty?and the?pursuit of happiness" if you will. With abortion, you can in fact change minds because you have new technology, sonogram images and a better chance for survival later in the term."

The Republican Party is already a long way from 2004, when George Bush sought to help his re-election by proposing a constitutional amendment blocking same-sex marriage. No party leaders are calling for that now, and most of the initial responses were muted. Lawmakers talked about disappointment in the ruling, but not in the emphatic tones that might inspire social conservatives. Judging by their public comments, they were much more focused on President Obama's climate-change proposals and his "war on coal." The clear message from the tepid reaction to the Supreme Court rulings is that on this question about the party's future, the momentum in the Republican Party is toward changing with the times.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/06/supreme_court_and_gay_marriage_will_the_gop_finally_embrace_marriage_equality.html

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Can You Be Addicted To Carbs? Scientists Are Checking That Out

Eating refined carbohydrates like bagels may stimulate brain regions involved in reward and cravings, research suggests.

iStockphoto.com

Eating refined carbohydrates like bagels may stimulate brain regions involved in reward and cravings, research suggests.

iStockphoto.com

Fresh research adds weight to the notion that certain foods (think empty carbs like bagels and sweet treats) can lead to more intense hunger and overeating.

Fast-digesting carbohydrates can stimulate regions of the brain involved in cravings and addiction, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Prior studies have shown that highly desirable foods, perhaps a cheesecake or pie, can trigger pleasure centers in the brain. But what's new about this research is that it shows that even when people are unaware of what they're eating, the intake of fast-digesting carbs can activate parts of the brain associated with pleasure, reward and addiction.

To evaluate this, Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity prevention center at Boston Children's Hospital, and his colleagues conducted brain scans in 12 overweight men after they consumed two different kinds of test milkshakes.

Both milkshakes had the same number of calories and similar ingredients, but one contained more fast-digesting carbs and the other was made of slower-digesting carbohydrates. The concept here is that so-called high-glycemic index foods such as sugar and highly processed breads move through the body faster than low-glycemic index foods such as fruit and whole grains.

After the participants drank the rapidly digesting carb shake, their blood sugar spiked and then crashed four hours later. And it's at this point that researchers documented activation of a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, a small area that is involved in emotions and addiction. Ludwig told The Salt: "The scans showed intense activation in brain regions involved in addictive behavior."

The idea that certain foods may be addictive is controversial. Some scientists think it's overstating the matter. And clearly it's not settled as to whether activity in these brain regions would be seen widely in the population, or perhaps only among those who are overweight or prone to overeating.

As Dr. Robert Lustig, a professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, points out, this research can't tell us if there's a cause and effect relationship between eating certain foods and triggering brain responses, or if those responses lead to overeating and obesity.

"[The study] doesn't tell you if this is the reason they got obese," says Lustig, "or if this is what happens once you're already obese."

Nonetheless, Lustig told The Salt that he thinks this study offers another bit of evidence that "this phenomenon is real." He has been a leading voice in suggesting that sugar is the cause of obesity and other health problems.

Increasingly, the concept of food addiction is gaining attention from researchers. There's a body of work exploring the connection, says Nicole Avena, a neuroscientist at the University of Florida who studies food and the brain.

This study, she says, adds to the growing literature that suggests that high-sugar foods can affect the brain "in ways that can alter reward processing and potentially fuel overeating."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/06/26/195292850/can-you-be-addicted-to-carbs-scientists-are-checking-that-out?ft=1&f=1007

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Exposure to high pollution levels during pregnancy may increase risk of having child with autism

June 18, 2013 ? Women in the U.S. exposed to high levels of air pollution while pregnant were up to twice as likely to have a child with autism as women who lived in areas with low pollution, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). It is the first large national study to examine links between autism and air pollution across the U.S.

"Our findings raise concerns since, depending on the pollutant, 20% to 60% of the women in our study lived in areas where risk of autism was elevated," said lead author Andrea Roberts, research associate in the HSPH Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

The study appeared online June 18, 2013 in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Exposure to diesel particulates, lead, manganese, mercury, methylene chloride and other pollutants are known to affect brain function and to affect the developing baby. Two previous studies found associations between exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and autism in children, but those studies looked at data in just three locations in the U.S.

The researchers examined data from Nurses' Health Study II, a long-term study based at Brigham and Women's Hospital involving 116,430 nurses that began in 1989. Among that group, the authors studied 325 women who had a child with autism and 22,000 women who had a child without the disorder. They looked at associations between autism and levels of pollutants at the time and place of birth. They used air pollution data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to estimate women's exposure to pollutants while pregnant. They also adjusted for the influence of factors such as income, education, and smoking during pregnancy.

The results showed that women who lived in the 20% of locations with the highest levels of diesel particulates or mercury in the air were twice as likely to have a child with autism as those who lived in the 20% of areas with the lowest levels.

Other types of air pollution -- lead, manganese, methylene chloride, and combined metal exposure -- were associated with higher autism risk as well. Women who lived in the 20% of locations with the highest levels of these pollutants were about 50% more likely to have a child with autism than those who lived in the 20% of areas with the lowest concentrations.

Most pollutants were associated with autism more strongly in boys than girls. However, since there were few girls with autism in the study, the authors said this finding should be examined further.

Senior author Marc Weisskopf, associate professor of environmental and occupational epidemiology at HSPH, said, "Our results suggest that new studies should begin the process of measuring metals and other pollutants in the blood of pregnant women or newborn children to provide stronger evidence that specific pollutants increase risk of autism. A better understanding of this can help to develop interventions to reduce pregnant women's exposure to these pollutants."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/child_development/~3/_Rz1cN_xQGk/130618101734.htm

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Asian shares ease as Fed meeting keeps markets on edge

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares eased on Tuesday as investors waited for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to clarify the U.S. central bank's plans for its stimulus programme - with the mere suggestion of fine-tuning it enough to unnerve market sentiment.

European stocks are seen easing, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX will open down as much as 0.3 percent. U.S. stock futures traded almost flat, hinting at a subdued Wall Street start after a rise overnight.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2 percent, with Chinese and Australian bourses leading the declines. The materials sector in the pan-Asian index was the top loser.

Australian shares faced selling in high-yielding stocks while Hong Kong shares slipped 0.5 percent after two days of gains with investors selling recent outperformers. Shanghai shares also struggled to gain as the People's Bank of China again refrained from injecting funds into the interbank market despite short-term funding costs staying high.

South Korean shares bucked the trend and rose 0.9 percent while Southeast Asian shares were also mostly higher.

The Fed's bond-buying programme, along with very accommodative monetary policies by other central banks to promote growth, such as the Bank of Japan, has underpinned market sentiment broadly, providing investors abundant funds they could put to work in higher-yielding "risk" assets, such as shares.

"The Federal Reserve has really been driving the top-down investment themes globally with quantitative easing and record low U.S. rates," said Peter Esho, investment adviser at Wilson HTM. "It has implications really into all other asset classes."

Market volatility was likely to remain elevated until the outcome of the Fed meeting and Bernanke's news conference on Wednesday.

"The sensitivity of asset prices to headlines and seemingly inconsistent moves among them - U.S. Treasury yields moving higher but the U.S. dollar coming under pressure...shows the degree of nervousness and confusion among investors regarding the most likely path of the Fed's monetary policy," Barclays Capital said in a research note.

DOLLAR OUTLOOK MIXED

Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average gave up early gains and fell 0.2 percent, swinging from Monday's 2.7 percent rise.

The dollar rose 0.3 percent against the yen to 94.78, off its 10-week low of 93.75 yen hit on Thursday, but well below last month's 4-1/2-year peak of 103.74 yen. Against a basket of six key currencies, however, the dollar index was down 0.09 percent.

Uncertainty over the Fed's thinking has weighed on the dollar recently, but its fall against the yen has also been linked to speculators and investors cutting back their yen short positions after the Bank of Japan took no action last week to quell a highly volatile domestic bond market.

The sell-off in the Nikkei, sparking yen buying, erased gains made since the central bank's big-bang stimulus unveiled on April 4, which had helped propel the index up to a 5-1/2-year high last month. Growing views that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may not deliver as aggressive a reform as previously hoped for also led to the unwinding of short-yen and long-Nikkei positions.

"The Fed is likely to stress its commitment to stimulus and signal that any tapering will not mean tightening liquidity, and that should tame recent market jitters and induce stability," said a senior official at a big Japanese investor.

At a meeting of leaders of the Group of Eight developed countries on Monday, the euro zone came under pressure to press on with a banking union and Japan was urged to follow up on massive central bank stimulus with structural reforms and measures to tackle its budget deficit.

The G8 said in a statement world economic prospects remained weak even though downside risks have lessened due partly to policy action taken in the United States, the euro zone and Japan.

Data on Tuesday showed Japan's industrial output rose 0.9 percent in April, showing a steady pickup in firms' productive activity, while Monday's economic reports showed firming recovery in U.S. housing markets.

"In general any decision to taper would signal confidence in the ongoing recovery of the U.S. economy, that is potentially an upside for markets depending on how investors take it."

U.S. crude futures inched up 0.1 percent at $97.85 a barrel and Brent also was up 0.1 percent to $105.55.

Spot gold fell 0.3 percent to $1,380.41 an ounce as muted physical demand and fears of any cut in the Fed's $85 billion monthly bond purchases weighed on sentiment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-ease-fed-meeting-keeps-markets-edge-065632370.html

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Putin and Obama set to spar over Syria arms at G8

By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama faces what could be a frosty G8 meeting with Vladimir Putin on Monday after the Russian leader clashed with the West over plans to arm Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

At their first private face-to-face meeting in a year, Obama will try to convince Putin to bring Assad to the negotiating table but the Russian leader has shown little sign of compromise.

On the summit's eve, Putin described Assad's foes as cannibals who ate their enemies intestines in front of media cameras.

"Are these the people you want to support? Is it them who you want to supply with weapons?" Putin said in London on his way to the G8.

British Prime Minister Cameron, who chairs the summit, acknowledged that there was "a big difference" between the positions of Russia and the West on Syria but he stressed there was also common ground between the world's richest powers.

Other leaders were less diplomatic: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Putin, as Assad's only big-power ally at the G8 table, was supporting thugs.

"We are not, unless there is a big shift in position on his part, going to get a common position with him at the G8."

Obama and Putin are due to meet at about 6:30 pm local time at the Lough Erne golf resort about 10 km (7 miles) outside the Northern Irish town of Enniskillen.

But Cameron could face some awkward questions at the G8 table after a Guardian newspaper report that Britain spied on officials taking part in two Group of 20 meetings in 2009.

The leaders of the United States, Japan, Canada, Russia, Germany, France, Britain and Italy - representing just over half of the $71.7 trillion global economy - will also discuss the global economy.

MARKET TURMOIL TO FOCUS MINDS

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders will likely discuss the role of central banks and monetary policy.

They are likely to say they are not content with progress so far in fixing their economies in the wake of the global financial crisis, according to a draft communiqu? seen by Reuters.

Japan's Abe will use the opportunity to explain his cocktail of fiscal and monetary stimulus known as 'Abenomics' to the leaders as investors try to absorb the implications of a signal by the U.S. Federal Reserve that it may start to slow its money-printing.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will not attend. He and his colleagues hold a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bond yields have climbed and share prices have sagged globally since Bernanke shocked investors on May 22 by saying the bank might ?take a step down' in the pace of bond purchases - a blow to a global economy still growing well below trend due to the after effects of the great financial crisis.

"Japan's decisive moves to reflate its economy will support growth in the near term, but it will need to manage the twin challenge of providing near-term stimulus and achieving longer-term sustainability," the draft communiqu? said.

The version circulated by Britain and seen by Reuters was put together before the recent market turmoil.

The leaders of the European Union and United States are likely to announce the start of formal negotiations on a free trade deal that could be worth more than $100 billion a year to each economy. Negotiators aim to finish their work by the end of next year.

TREASURE ISLAND TAX

Cameron has made tackling tax avoidance - which campaigners say costs about $3 trillion a year - a main part of the formal agenda at the summit.

He has turned up the pressure to clamp down on secretive money flows by pressing Britain's overseas tax havens into a transparency deal and announcing new disclosure rules for British firms.

Representatives of overseas tax havens linked to Britain on Saturday agreed to sign up to an international transparency protocol. Aid campaigners said Britain's action will count for little if the rest of the G8 does not follow suit.

G8 leaders will probably shy away from adopting a measure aimed at curbing tax avoidance by highlighting when companies channel profits into tax havens, and will include a watered-down alternative, according to the draft communiqu?.

Tackling corporate tax avoidance has become a political goal internationally following public anger about revelations over the past year that companies like Apple and Google had used structures U.S. and European politicians said were contrived to minimize the amount of taxes paid.

The draft summit text suggested there will be no agreement on a rule that would force companies to publish their profits, revenues and tax payments on a country-by-country basis.

(Additional reporting by Padraic Halpin in Dublin Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-putin-face-tough-talks-syria-g8-summit-072959981.html

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Putin: Russian hasn't sent S-300 missiles to Syria, won't to preserve 'stability'

President Putin's statement to EU leaders seems to put an end to often contradictory Russian and Syrian stories about whether the Assad regime would get the weapons.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / June 4, 2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin (c.), European Council President Herman Van Rompuy (l.) and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso attend a news conference in Yekaterinburg, Russia, today. Putin today said Moscow had not yet delivered advanced S-300 air-defense systems to Damascus.

Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Reuters

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Russia has changed its story, yet again, about its intention to fulfill a 3-year old contract to sell "game-changing" S-300 advanced air defense systems to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. Now the answer is "no."

Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir

Correspondent

Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?

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In direct contradiction to what top Russian officials were saying just last week, President Vladimir Putin told European Union leaders at a summit in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg Tuesday that Russia has suspended the $900 million contract to supply six batteries and 144 long range, deadly-accurate surface-to-air missiles, in the interests of preserving stability in the turbulent Middle East.

"The S-300 systems are, really, one of the best air defense systems in the world, probably the best," Mr. Putin told the leaders, who included EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

"We do not want to disturb the balance in the region. The contract was signed several years ago. It has not yet been realized," Russian news media quoted Putin as saying.

Just last month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Putin at his summer residence in Sochi and begged him not to supply the missiles to Syria. Mr. Netanyahu said the S-300s would threaten planes flying in Israeli airspace, though most experts say the real concern is that the missiles would deeply complicate the ability of Israel, and the US, to intervene in Syria's civil war using air power.

Coming out of that meeting, Putin offered no commitment either way, leaving the door open to weeks of speculation and clashing media reports about what was decided.

In the wake of the EU's decision last week to drop its arms embargo against Syria, opening the door to arms shipments to the rebels by Britain and France, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Rybakov insisted the S-300 sale would go ahead ? for exactly the same reason Putin now says it has been halted ? to preserve "stability" in the region.

"We believe [S-300 sales] are to a great extent restraining some ?hot heads? from considering scenarios in which the conflict may assume an international scale with the participation of outside forces," Mr. Rybakov said.

"We understand all the concerns and signals sent to us from various states. We see that this issue worries many of our partners. We have no reasons to reconsider our position in this sphere," he added.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu went further, telling journalists last week that Russia is now prepared to sell Syria not only "defensive" weapons like the S-300, but "offensive" ones like tactical missiles, tanks, and fighter planes as well.

Mr. Assad put in his own misleading two cent's worth, telling a Lebanese TV station that the Russians had firmly promised to supply him with the S-300s and suggesting that the first shipment of them might have already arrived in Damascus.

Experts say it now appears likely that Putin did, in fact, agree at that May meeting with Netanyahu to suspend S-300 deliveries to Syria. That's not unprecedented: His predecessor Dmitry Medvedev negotiated a secret deal with Netanyahu that led to Russia cutting off S-300 and other major weapons' exports to Iran in 2010.

"When will everybody learn that the main thing is to listen to what Putin says? He is the truth of the last instance in this country," says Alexander Sharavin, director of the independent Institute of Military and Political Analysis in Moscow.

"People can say all sorts of things, and maybe they have their sources, but there is only one person in Russia who can actually decide whether to deliver S-300s to Syria or not. We know this person's name. And he seems to have made his decision quite some time ago," even if he's only informing us of it now, he adds.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/117EvQzYTBg/Putin-Russian-hasn-t-sent-S-300-missiles-to-Syria-won-t-to-preserve-stability

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How to Make Use of Cheap Internet Banner Advertising

For years now, internet banner advertising has captured the World Wide Web for it has become a large help in saving an amount of money while reaching beyond territories. Banner advertising played a major part in market trafficking all over the internet and many individuals and companies have bought themselves these cheap internet banner advertising. Some made use of it financially; others have no idea on what to do with it.

With your cheap internet banner advertisement, would you just sit in front of your computer and wait for people to notice you? Would you let your company get trampled by other companys marketing strategies?

Okay, so you admit you bought internet banner advertising, but does that mean you wont do anything about it because it costs cheap?

These following steps will help you get up on your feet and make your cheap internet banner advertising priceless. With these simple instructions, there will always have traffic on your website.

First, to be able to capture the attention of your target audience, your title and topic should be thought of with concern. You have to make the people believe that your cheap internet banner advertising is worthy of their time. The advertisement has to meet the audiences need.

For the people to bring attention to your internet banner advertising, you should be able to raise the curiosity and convince the people. You should be able to deliver your products or services with strong words that may lead the target audience at deciding.

You should be able to constructs words on your advertisements that could lead the target audience that you are directly talking to them to give a sense of familiarity on your services.

As you persuade the people by calling for them and directing them to buy or entail your services, they give importance to your business proposal. Your cheap internet-based banner advertising will become one of the sought for ads there are.

Make sure to present your ads to the global community repeatedly to get them familiar with you and your services.

Always remember that having a website doesnt mean it could sell products by itself. You must be sure to accompany it with marketing strategies. By buying banner advertising, you or your company would save time and money while achieving market sales. These internet banners advertising may come cheap, but it could lead you or your company to riches.

Source: http://blogcashbiz.com/28507/how-to-make-use-of-cheap-internet-banner-advertising/

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FDA warns shorter name of new Roche cancer drug may cause confusion

(Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration warned on Monday that using a shorter name for Roche's new breast cancer drug Kadcyla may lead to the treatment being confused with an older therapy and cause potential harm to patients.

The FDA issued a warning on its website saying that some third-party publications, health information systems and websites were incorrectly using a truncated version of Kadcyla's generic name.

Kadcyla, generically known as ado-trastuzumab emtansine, was being referred to as "trastuzumab emtansine," which can lead to the drug being confused with Roche's blockbuster breast cancer drug Herceptin, generically known as trastuzumab.

The dosing and treatment schedules for Kadcyla and Herceptin are quite different, so confusion between these products could lead to dosing errors and potential harm to patients, the FDA said on its website. (http://link.reuters.com/guh87t)

Roche said in an email that it had discussed the risk with the FDA during the review of its application.

"To help reduce future risk, the FDA requested that we add a prefix ("ado") to the generic name for Kadcyla."

Roche added that it has also developed a new packaging for Kadcyla to further differentiate it from Herceptin.

Shares of the company were down nearly 1 percent at 233.3 Swiss francs at 1535 GMT.

Health care professionals should use both the brand name Kadcyla and the generic name while communicating medication orders and in computerized order entry systems, the FDA said.

No medication errors related to the confusion between Kadcyla and Herceptin were reported to the FDA since Kadcyla's approval on February 22, the FDA said, adding that medication errors had occurred during the clinical trials testing the drug's safety and efficacy before the approval.

(Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fda-warns-shorter-name-roche-cancer-drug-may-150123623.html

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Bashful? Buy the little blue pill online

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? Men who are bashful about needing help in the bedroom no longer have to go to the drugstore to buy that little blue pill.

In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press that the drugmaker will begin selling its popular erectile dysfunction pill Viagra to patients on its website.

Men still will need a prescription to buy the blue, diamond-shaped pill on viagra.com, but they no longer have to face a pharmacist to get it filled. And for those who are bothered by Viagra's steep $25-a-pill price, Pfizer is offering three free pills with the first order and 30 percent off the second one.

Pfizer's bold move upends the drug industry's distribution model. Drugmakers don't sell medicines directly to patients. Instead, they sell in bulk to wholesalers, who then distribute the drugs to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors' offices.

But the world's second-largest drugmaker is trying a new strategy to tackle a problem that plagues the industry. Illegal online pharmacies increasingly offer patients counterfeit versions of Viagra and other brand-name drugs for up to 95 percent off with no prescription needed. Patients don't realize the drugs are fake or that legitimate pharmacies require a prescription.

Other major drugmakers likely will watch Pfizer's move closely. If it works, drugmakers could begin selling other medicines that are rampantly counterfeited and sold online, particularly treatments for non-urgent conditions seen as embarrassing. Think: diet drugs, medicines for baldness and birth control pills.

"If it works, everybody will hop on the train," says Les Funtleyder, a health care strategist at private equity firm Poliwogg who believes Pfizer's site will attract "fence-sitters" who are nervous about buying online.

But it won't be the end of drugstores, as pharmaceutical companies aren't allowed to sell prescriptions to individual patients. So Pfizer is having national drugstore chain CVS Caremark Corp. fill the orders placed on viagra.com.

The online Viagra sales are Pfizer's latest effort to combat a problem that has grown with the popularity of the Internet.

In recent years, Americans have become more comfortable with online shopping, with many even buying prescription drugs online. That's particularly true for those who don't have insurance, are bargain hunters or want to keep their medicine purchases private.

Few realize that the vast majority of online pharmacies don't follow the rules, industry experts say.

The Internet is filled with illegitimate, professional-looking sites that run 24-hour call centers and lure customers with spam emails. A January study by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which accredits online pharmacies, found that only 257 of 10,275 online pharmacy sites it examined appeared legitimate.

Experts say the fake drugs such websites sell can be dangerous. That's because they don't include the right amount of the active ingredient in the medicine, if any, or they contain toxic substances such as heavy metals, lead paint and printer ink. They're generally made in filthy warehouses and garages in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Online buyers are "playing Russian roulette," says Matthew Bassiur, vice president of global security at New York-based Pfizer.

"The factories are deplorable. I've seen photographs of these places," he says. "You wouldn't even want to walk in them, let alone ingest anything made in them."

Pfizer is among many drugmakers that have long been aggressive in fighting counterfeiters. Pfizer conducts undercover investigations and works with authorities around the globe to combat the problem.

Counterfeit versions of Viagra and dozens of other Pfizer medicines rob the company of billions in annual sales.

Viagra is one of Pfizer's top drugs, with $2 billion in worldwide revenue last year. And it's the most counterfeited drug in the U.S., according to the company.

A 2011 study, in which Pfizer bought "Viagra" from 22 popular Internet pharmacies and tested the pills, found 77 percent were counterfeit. Most had half or less of the promised level of the active ingredient.

Viagra is appealing to counterfeiters because it carries a double whammy: It's expensive and it treats a condition with an "embarrassment" factor.

Crooks running the illegal online pharmacies brazenly explain their ultra-low Viagra prices ? often $1 to $3 a pill ? by claiming they sell generic Viagra.

Generics are copycat versions of brand-name prescription drugs. They can't be sold legally until after a drugmaker's patent, or exclusive right to sell a drug, ends. Generic drugmakers don't have to spend $1 billion or so on testing to get a new drug approved, so their copycat versions often cost up to 90 percent less than the original drug.

But there is no such thing as generic Viagra in the U.S. Pfizer has patents giving it the exclusive right to sell Viagra here until 2020 and for many years in other countries.

Many patients are unaware of that.

Dr. David Dershewitz, an assistant urology professor at New Jersey Medical School who treats patients at Newark's University Hospital, says erectile dysfunction is common in men with enlarged prostates, diabetes and other conditions, but most men are too embarrassed to discuss it.

He says well over half of his patients who do broach the issue complain about Viagra's price. Some tell Dershewitz that they go online looking for bargains because they can't afford Viagra.

"The few that do admit to it have said that the results have been fairly dismal," but none has suffered serious harm, he says.

For Pfizer, that's a big problem. People who buy fake drugs online that don't work, or worse, harm them, may blame the company's product. That's because it's virtually impossible to distinguish fakes from real Viagra.

"The vast majority of patients do believe that they're getting Viagra," said Vic Cavelli, head of marketing for primary care medicines at Pfizer.

The sales lost to counterfeits threaten Pfizer at a time when Viagra already is losing is dominance in the market.

Pfizer invented the term "erectile dysfunction" to replace the less-palatable medical term "impotence" after it came up with the first drug for the condition. It was a lucky find. Pfizer was testing an experimental blood pressure drug when older men in the study started telling research staff about an unexpected but welcomed side effect: better erections.

Pfizer quickly developed Viagra and made the discussion about erectile dysfunction mainstream with ads featuring ex-Sen. Bob Dole and other public figures.

But Viagra's share of the $5 billion-a-year global market for legitimate erectile dysfunction drugs has slipped, falling from 46 percent in 2007 to 37 percent last year, according to health data firm IMS Health.

The reason? Competition from rival products, mainly Eli Lilly and Co.'s Cialis ? the pill touted in those ubiquitous commercials featuring couples in his-and-hers bathtubs in bizarre places.

Judson Clark, an Edward Jones analyst, forecasts that Viagra sales will decline even further, about 5 percent each year for the next five years, unusual "for a drug in its prime."

Clark says he thinks Pfizer's strategy will prevent sales from declining, but he's unsure how well it will work.

"It's a very interesting and novel approach," he says. "Whether it returns Viagra to growth is hard to say."

___

On the Net:

Link to accredited pharmacies: http://www.nabp.net/programs/accreditation/vipps/find-a-vipps-online-pharmacy

___

Linda A. Johnson at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bashful-buy-little-blue-pill-online-070407742.html

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More hurricanes for Hawaii?

May 5, 2013 ? News of a hurricane threat sends our hearts racing, glues us to the Internet for updates, and makes us rush to the store to stock up on staples. Hawaii, fortunately, has been largely free from these violent storms in the recent past, only two having made landfall in more than 30 years.

Now a study headed by a team of scientists at the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, shows that Hawaii could see a two-to-three-fold increase in tropical cyclones by the last quarter of this century. The study, which appears in the May 5, 2013, online issue of Nature Climate Change, though, leaves open the question, how worried Island residents should get.

"Computer models run with global warming scenarios generally project a decrease in tropical cyclones worldwide. This, though, may not be what will happen with local communities," says lead author Hiroyuki Murakami.

To determine whether tropical cyclones will become more frequent in Hawaii with climate change, Murakami and climate expert Bin Wang at the Meteorology Department, University of Hawaii at Manoa, joined forces with Akio Kitoh at the Meteorological Research Institute and the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The scientists compared in a state-of-the-art, high-resolution global climate model the recent history of tropical cyclones in the North Pacific with a future (2075-2099) scenario, under which greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, resulting in temperatures about 2?C higher than today.

"In our study, we looked at all tropical cyclones, which range in intensity from tropical storms to full-blown category 5 hurricanes. From 1979 to 2003, both observational records and our model document that only every four years on average did a tropical cyclone come near Hawaii. Our projections for the end of this century show a two-to-three-fold increase for this region," explains Murakami.

The main factors responsible for the increase are changes in the large-scale moisture conditions, the flow patterns in the wind, and in surface temperature patterns stemming from global warming.

Most hurricanes that might threaten Hawaii now are born in the eastern Pacific, south of the Baja California Peninsula. From June through November the ingredients there are just right for tropical cyclone formation, with warm ocean temperatures, lots of moisture, and weak vertical wind shear. But during the storms' long journey across the 3000 miles to Hawaii, they usually fizzle out due to dry conditions over the subtropical central Pacific and the wind shear from the westerly subtropical jet.

Surprisingly, even though fewer tropical cyclones will form in the eastern Pacific in Murakami's future scenario, we can expect more of them to make their way to Hawaii.

The upper-level westerly subtropical jet will move poleward so that the mean steering flow becomes easterly. Thus, storms from Baja California are much more likely to make it to Hawaii. Furthermore, since the climate models also project that the equatorial central Pacific will heat up, conditions may become more favorable for hurricane formation in the open ocean to the south or southeast of Hawaii.

"Our finding that more tropical cyclones will approach Hawaii as Earth continues to warm is fairly robust because we ran our experiments with different model versions and under varying conditions. The yearly number we project, however, still remains very low," reassures study co-author Wang.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/x-cborZ3cwc/130505145937.htm

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