2 shot dead in Senegal election protest

FILE - This Tuesday June 27, 2006 file photo shows Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, as he waves to photographers during a farewell ceremony in Tehran. Senegal's highest court ruled just after midnight on Monday that the West African country's aging leader was eligible to run for a third term in next month's election, rejecting the appeals filed by the opposition and eliminating the last legal avenue for challenging President Abdoulaye Wade's candidacy. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)

FILE - This Tuesday June 27, 2006 file photo shows Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, as he waves to photographers during a farewell ceremony in Tehran. Senegal's highest court ruled just after midnight on Monday that the West African country's aging leader was eligible to run for a third term in next month's election, rejecting the appeals filed by the opposition and eliminating the last legal avenue for challenging President Abdoulaye Wade's candidacy. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) ? Paramilitary police in northern Senegal opened fire Monday on men and women protesting the president's plan to run for a third term, killing a woman in her 60s and a high school student, a witness and a rights group said.

The violence is uncharacteristic for Senegal, a normally peaceful nation on Africa's western coast, and suggests its political conflict is escalating. Protests spread from the capital to the interior last Friday after the constitutional court validated President Abdoulaye Wade's candidacy in next month's election.

The legality of the 85-year-old Wade's quest for a third term is disputed. The constitution was revised in 2001 to impose a two-term limit. Wade, who came to power in 2000, argues that he is exempt because he was elected before the new law was drafted.

Early on Monday, the five-judge panel rejected the appeals lodged by the opposition over the weekend. Later in the day, demonstrators gathered in the center of Podor, some 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of the capital of this nation of 12 million, to protest the court's siding with Wade.

Amadou Diagne Niang, a resident of Podor who is the local correspondent for Le Soleil, the state-owned newspaper, said the paramilitary police, known as the gendarmes, ran out of tear gas. When the protesters refused to disperse, they opened fire with live bullets. The woman and young man were killed in front of him, Niang said by telephone from Podor

Amnesty International confirmed the killings, and its West Africa researcher, Salvatore Sagues, said it "marks a dramatic escalation in the violence that has plagued Senegal in the run up to its elections."

"As further protests are planned for tomorrow, we call on the authorities to refrain from using live bullets against peaceful protesters," Sagues said.

Cmdr. Papa Ibrahima Diop, a spokesman for the National Gendarmerie, also said he had been informed that two people were killed in Podor, but that he could not disclose details because an investigation is ongoing.

In the court's ruling, the judges said Wade's first term under the new constitution should be considered as being the one that started when he was first re-elected in 2007. Therefore, his second term would be the one that he would serve if he is re-elected in Feb. 26 election.

"It was never our intention in any way to violate the constitution of our country," Wade's spokesman Cheikh Serigne Ndiaye told reporters on Monday. "The (constitutional) council agreed with our reasoning."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday that the United States respects the decision of the court. But she added that it was not in Senegal's best interest for the elderly Wade to seek another term.

"Our message to him remains the same: That the statesmanly-like thing to do would be to cede to the next generation. And we think that would be better," she told reporters in Washington.

___

Associated Press writers Sadibou Marone in Dakar, Senegal, and Bradley Klapper in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-30-AF-Senegal-Election/id-aeb0c552eaf544b59bdcc54f9c98e71b

censorship wikipedia censoring the internet sopa and pipa bills blake shelton blackout blackout

Syrian troops push back in fight on Damascus edges (AP)

BEIRUT ? Syrian forces heavily shelled the restive city of Homs on Monday and troops pushed back dissident troops from some suburbs on the outskirts of Damascus in an offensive trying to regain control of the capital's eastern doorstep, activists said.

President Bashar Assad's regime is intensifying its assault aimed at crushing army defectors and protesters, even as the West tries to overcome Russian opposition and win a new U.N. resolution demanding a halt to Syria's crackdown on the 10-month-old uprising. Activists reported at least 28 civilians killed on Monday.

With talks on the resolution due to begin Tuesday, a French official said at least 10 members of the Security Council backed the measure, which includes a U.N. demand that Assad carry out an Arab League peace plan. The plan requires Assad to hand his powers over to his vice president and allow the creation of a unity government within two months. Damascus has rejected the proposal.

A text needs support from nine nations on the 15-member U.N. Security Council to go to a vote. The French official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with departmental rules.

The British and French foreign ministers were heading to New York to push for backing of the measure in Tuesday's U.N. talks.

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron's office urged Moscow to reconsider its opposition to the measure.

"Russia can no longer explain blocking the U.N. and providing cover for the regime's brutal repression," a spokeswoman for Cameron said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.

Russia insists it won't support any resolution it believes could open the door to an eventual foreign military intervention in Syria, the way an Arab-backed U.N. resolution paved the way for NATO airstrikes in Libya. Instead, the Kremlin said Monday it was trying to put together negotiations in Moscow between Damascus and the opposition.

It said Assad's government has agreed to participate. The opposition has in the past rejected any negotiations unless violence stops, and there was no immediate word whether any of the multiple groups that make up the anti-Assad camp would attend.

The United Nations estimated several weeks ago that more than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria's crackdown since the uprising against Assad's rule began in March. The bloodshed has continued since ? with more than 190 killed in the past five days ? and the U.N. says it has been unable to update the figure.

Regime forces on Monday heavily shelled the central city of Homs, which has been one of the cities at the forefront of the uprising, activists said. Heavy machine gun fire hit the city's restive Baba Amr district.

The Syrian Human Rights Observatory reported that 14 were killed in the city on Monday. Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, put the number at 15. Both also reported the discovery of a family of six ? a couple and their four children ? who had been killed by gunfire several days earlier in the city's Karm el-Zeitoun district.

The past three days, pro-Assad forces have been fighting to take back a string of suburbs on the eastern approach to Damascus where army defectors who joined the opposition had seized control.

Government troops managed on Sunday evening to take control of two of the districts closest to Damascus, Ein Tarma and Kfar Batna, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based head of the Observatory.

On Monday, the regime forces were trying to take the next suburbs farther out, with heavy fighting in the districts of Saqba and Arbeen, he said.

At least five civilians were killed in the fighting near Damascus, the Observatory and LCC said. The Observatory also reported 10 army defectors and eight regime troops or security forces killed around the country.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities keep tight control on the media and have banned many foreign journalists from entering the country.

The wide-scale offensive near the capital suggested the regime is worried that military defectors could close in on Damascus, which has remained relatively quiet while most other Syrian cities have slipped into chaos since the uprising began in March.

The violence has gradually approached the capital. In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.

Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests the Assad regime may either be losing control or setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive.

State media reported that an "armed terrorist group" blew up a gas pipeline at dawn Monday. The pipeline carries gas from the central province of Homs to an area near the border with Lebanon. SANA news agency reported that the blast happened in Tal Hosh, which is about five miles (eight kilometers) from Talkalakh, along the border with Lebanon.

Further details were not immediately available.

There have been several pipeline attacks since the Syrian uprising began, but it is not clear who is behind them.

Assad's regime has blamed "terrorists" for driving the country's uprising, not protesters seeking democratic change.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

heisman finalists heisman finalists kepler 22 b kepler 22 b rosie o donnell st nicholas st nicholas

You're Probably Not Going To Sleep Through a Megaphone Alarm Clock [Alarm Clocks]

It's not the first one to go the obnoxiously loud route, but since this clever Megaphone Alarm Clock is available from the Museum of Modern Art Store, it's certainly the first to do it with a healthy dose of style. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Gxts1rVZ868/youre-probably-not-going-to-sleep-through-a-megaphone-alarm-clock

mary did you know seattle seahawks grammy nominations philadelphia eagles vince young vince young john carter

Exiting watchdog sees flaws in SEC's rulewriting (Reuters)

WASHINGTON, DC (Reuters) ? In his final act before departing the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, the agency's inspector general, David Kotz, criticized how the agency analyzes the economic impact of some of its Dodd-Frank rules.

Kotz's criticism, contained in a report, could have ramifications for the SEC, which has lost several court battles over the years because of flaws in how it demonstrates that the benefits of a rule outweigh its costs.

"We found that the extent of quantitative discussion of cost-benefit analyses varied among rulemakings," Kotz wrote in his report. "Based on our examination of several Dodd-Frank Act rulemakings, the review found that the SEC sometimes used multiple baselines in its cost-benefit analyses that were ambiguous or internally inconsistent."

Last year, U.S. business groups successfully convinced a federal appeals court to overturn one of the SEC's Dodd-Frank rules that aimed to empower shareholders to more easily nominate directors to corporate boards.

In rejecting the rule, the court said the agency failed to properly weigh the economic consequences.

Some of the business groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have since raised similar concerns with other rulemakings pending before the SEC.

Congress passed the Dodd-Frank act in 2010 to more closely police financial markets and institutions after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The legislation gives the SEC responsibility to write roughly 100 new rules.

Although the SEC is not subject to an express statutory requirement to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of its rules, other laws do require the agency to consider the effects of its rules on capital formation, competition and efficiency.

In addition, the SEC must also follow federal rulemaking procedures, such as providing the public with an opportunity to comment on its proposals.

This is the second report Kotz has issued looking at the quality of the SEC's cost-benefit analysis.

Both reports were issued after certain members of the Senate Banking Committee, including ranking Republican Richard Shelby, voiced concerns about whether regulators were adequately examining the economic impact of Dodd-Frank rules.

To determine how well the SEC is faring, Kotz's office retained Albert Kyle, a finance professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, to help carry out the review.

Friday's report covered a sample of Dodd-Frank rulemakings, including a rule allowing shareholders a non-binding vote on compensation, several asset-backed securities rules and two proposals pertaining to the reporting of security-based swap data.

Kotz's report was critical of the agency in a number of areas.

In one instance, the report cites a memo in which former General Counsel David Becker gave his opinion that the SEC should do thorough cost-benefit analyses on rules that are not explicitly required by Congress.

Rules mandated by Congress, however, generally would not need the same level of cost-benefit research, the memo said.

The report suggested that the agency should reconsider these guidelines, or else it risks "not fulfilling the essential purposes of such analyses."

SEC management, in a written response to the report, disagreed with that point.

"We believe Professor Kyle's opinion fails to appreciate both the practice limitations on the scope of cost-benefit a regulator can conduct, and the distinct roles of Congress and administrative agencies," they said.

"We think it is entirely sensible ... for the staff to focus its attention and the commission's limited resources on matters that the commission has the authority to decide."

Kotz made other recommendations, including using a single consistent baseline in the cost-benefit analysis process and having economists provide more input.

SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment beyond the SEC comments in the report.

(Reporting By Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Gary Hill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/bs_nm/us_sec_inspector_general

melissa gorga melissa gorga pueblo co pueblo co pineapple express martyn martyn

Google, Facebook, Privacy ? And You

Editor?s note: Guest author Keith Teare is General Partner at his incubator Archimedes Labs and CEO of newly funded just.me. He was a co-founder of TechCrunch. Like millions of other people, I got an email from Google this morning. It was entitled ?Changes to Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service?. The first sentence describes the intent of the changes as shortening 60 policies into one, and improving their readability. Then there is a longer explanation captured in the graphic above. The email goes on to assert that Google has not changed its privacy policy and will not sell our personal information to third parties ? ?Our privacy policies remain unchanged?. So what is going on here? Facebook is the shiny object that Larry is focused on. This is a week where Sheryl Sandberg ? Chief Operating Officer at Facebook ? spoke at Hubert Burda?s DLD conference in Munich and stated that we were in the middle of 3 trends. First, a trend ?from anonymity to real identity?. Secondly, a trend from ?wisdom of crowds to wisdom of friends? and third, a trend ?from being receivers of information to broadcasters of information?. See the video below for the actual points she made. It was a thoughtful and at the same time a polemical speech, a speech with a strong point of view. In thinking about Google?s privacy policy changes it helps to listen to Sheryl?s remarks and reflect on the context. Facebook is saying that the Internet as a pure information retrieval mechanism is dead. That the ?readwrite? web that began as long ago as cheap web site hosting in 1998, has entirely replaced the read-only web. That the identifiable author has replaced the anonymous one. We are broadcasting and we are identifiable. That reading what friends say is now dominant in that world. Facebook envisages a future in which we all broadcast almost everything to almost everybody. Google?s problem. In that world, Google?s PageRank algorithm is seriously out of date. It promotes pages based on the number of links to it. Today, pages are no longer the unit of publishing. Far smaller items than a page dominate our senses. And those smaller messages are produced in huge quantity and in real time. So the signals that make something relevant have now changed. Facebook (and Twitter) have oodles of such signals. Google, until recently, had none. Google?s solution. The changes

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/JaxxfzBvTGI/

meredith kercher waxahachie waxahachie erin burnett four loko michael savage aj burnett

Russian Rocket Fleet Grounded Again

Nope. Sorry, I know far too many people at NASA for that to remotely ring true.

However, Space flight is very dangerous, requires high label of engineering and maintenance, and is risky not jsut to the crew, but to everyone who wants to get to space. So there are a lot of details and NASA, being the experts, know what companies need to do. Companies OTOH get all pissy when they find out going to space is in no way like flying a plane and need to be held to a high standard, just like NASA.

NASA has nothing to gain by limiting private companies. Being able to rational remove themselves from low orbit bus trips is something they would like see happen.

Congress did NOTHING to help them move to a new launch vehicle. NASA originally didn't want a shuttle, they wanted specialized ships. One for people, and one for Cargo. Had congress allowed for that, we would have a more robust commercial launch system...probably.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/HZEu1U0yGKg/russian-rocket-fleet-grounded-again

brock lesnar vs alistair overeem liquor store how to tie a bow tie times square new years eve buffalo chicken dip diverticulitis jello shots

From Abkhaz to Zuni: The Language Collections of the University Library, thru Feb 17, 2012

From Abkhaz to Zuni: The Language Collections of the University Library

Exhibit - Artifacts | October?6, 2011 ? February?17, 2012?every?day?with exceptions | Moffitt Undergraduate Library, Elevator Lobby

(No event on these dates: November 11, 24, 25; December 17, 18, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 2011; January 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 2012)

Sponsor: Library

This exhibit highlights the linguistic diversity of the UC Berkeley Library?s collections, a cornerstone of the world-class research for which the University is famous. The campus libraries include material in over 400 languages, representing a vast array of cultures and time periods.

Some of the highlights include a reproduction of the Bancroft Library's Codex Fernandez Leal, one of the oldest surviving documents of Indian America, about nine feet of which is displayed on the back of the security desk of Moffitt Library; a Swahili cookbook from the Biosciences Library's famed cookbook collection, and a delightful bilingual children's book from the Education/Psychology Library.

Open during operating hours of Moffitt Library. See our website for current hours.

Check the Exhibit blog for more information and virtual updates from the Library's collections.

Attendance restrictions: Anyone wishing to enter Moffitt Library must show a current UC ID, UC Berkeley Library Borrower's Card, or Stanford ID.

Event Contact: clee@library.berkeley.edu, 510-768-7899

Source: http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/library.html?event_ID=48817&date=2012-01-26

verizon galaxy nexus verizon galaxy nexus lawrence lessig lawrence lessig time magazine person of the year 2011 time magazine person of the year 2011 good morning america

Hands-On With the Everything-Proof Pelican iPad Case

The Pelican iPad case does one thing, and it does it very well: It makes your iPad look like a Dell laptop c.1995. Kidding. It also protects the iPad within from pretty much anything you can throw at it. Pelican is famous for its super-tough camera cases, shockproof, dustproof and waterproof plastic boxes that can [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/iJVrH_18-U0/

devin hester shayne lamas cain velasquez dos santos waterboarding boxing news boxing

Video: Mitt Rips Newt & Bernanke

Republican presidential frontrunner, Mitt Romney, weighs in on competitor, Newt Gingrich's 15% flat tax, and Fed head, Ben Bernanke's tenure.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Top of page

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46140261/

ibooks 2 ifl jerome simpson indoor football league newt gingrich wife callista rick perry

New standard for vitamin D testing to ensure accurate test results

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

At a time of increasing concern about low vitamin D levels in the world's population and increased use of blood tests for the vitamin, scientists are reporting development of a much-needed reference material to assure that measurements of vitamin D levels are accurate. The report appears in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry.

Karen Phinney and colleagues explain that medical research suggests vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency may be even more common than previously thought and a risk factor for more than just bone diseases. An estimated 50-75 percent of people in the U.S. may not have enough vitamin D in their bodies. Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to the development of several conditions, including rickets (soft and deformed bones), osteoporosis, some cancers, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. People can make their own vitamin D simply by rolling up their shirt sleeves and exposing their skin to sunlight. But for those cooped up in offices all day long, food and dietary supplements also can provide vitamin D. With this renewed interest in vitamin D, scientists need an accurate way to measure its levels in the blood. Measuring vitamin D itself doesn't work because it is rapidly changed into another form in the liver. That's why current methods detect levels of a vitamin D metabolite called 25(OH)D. However, the test methods don't always agree and produce different results. To help laboratories come up with consistent and accurate methods, the researchers developed a Standard Reference Material called SRM 972, the first certified reference material for the determination of the metabolite in human serum (a component of blood).

The researchers developed four versions of the standard, with different levels of the vitamin D metabolites 25(OH)D₂ and 25(OH)D₃ in human serum. They also determined the levels of 3-epi-25(OH)D in the adult human serum samples. Surprisingly, they found that this metabolite previously thought to only exist in the blood of infants was present in adult serum. "This reference material provides a mechanism to ensure measurement accuracy and comparability and represents a first step toward standardization of 25(OH)D measurements," say the researchers.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements.

The American Chemical Society is a non-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

At a time of increasing concern about low vitamin D levels in the world's population and increased use of blood tests for the vitamin, scientists are reporting development of a much-needed reference material to assure that measurements of vitamin D levels are accurate. The report appears in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry.

Karen Phinney and colleagues explain that medical research suggests vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency may be even more common than previously thought and a risk factor for more than just bone diseases. An estimated 50-75 percent of people in the U.S. may not have enough vitamin D in their bodies. Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to the development of several conditions, including rickets (soft and deformed bones), osteoporosis, some cancers, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. People can make their own vitamin D simply by rolling up their shirt sleeves and exposing their skin to sunlight. But for those cooped up in offices all day long, food and dietary supplements also can provide vitamin D. With this renewed interest in vitamin D, scientists need an accurate way to measure its levels in the blood. Measuring vitamin D itself doesn't work because it is rapidly changed into another form in the liver. That's why current methods detect levels of a vitamin D metabolite called 25(OH)D. However, the test methods don't always agree and produce different results. To help laboratories come up with consistent and accurate methods, the researchers developed a Standard Reference Material called SRM 972, the first certified reference material for the determination of the metabolite in human serum (a component of blood).

The researchers developed four versions of the standard, with different levels of the vitamin D metabolites 25(OH)D₂ and 25(OH)D₃ in human serum. They also determined the levels of 3-epi-25(OH)D in the adult human serum samples. Surprisingly, they found that this metabolite previously thought to only exist in the blood of infants was present in adult serum. "This reference material provides a mechanism to ensure measurement accuracy and comparability and represents a first step toward standardization of 25(OH)D measurements," say the researchers.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements.

The American Chemical Society is a non-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/acs-nsf012512.php

serene branson matthew mcconaughey to catch a predator davenport chris hansen ehlers danlos syndrome band of brothers

Japan's first trade deficit since 1980 raises debt doubts (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years calls into question how much longer the country can rely on exports to help finance a huge public debt without having to turn to fickle foreign investors.

The aftermath of the March earthquake raised fuel import costs while slowing global growth and the yen's strength hit exports, data released on Wednesday showed, swinging the 2011 trade balance into deficit.

Few analysts expect Japan to immediately run a deficit in the current account, which includes trade and returns on the country's huge portfolio of investments abroad. A steady inflow of profits and capital gains from overseas still outweighs the trade deficit.

But the trade figures underscore a broader trend of Japan's declining global competitive edge and a rapidly ageing population, compounding the immediate problem of increased reliance on fuel imports due to the loss of nuclear power.

Only four of the country's 54 nuclear power reactors are running due to public safety fears following the March disaster.

"What it means is that the time when Japan runs out of savings -- 'Sayonara net creditor country' -- that point is coming closer," said Jesper Koll, head of equities research at JPMorgan in Japan.

"It means Japan becomes dependent on global savings to fund its deficit and either the currency weakens or interest rates rise."

That prospect could give added impetus to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's push to double Japan's 5 percent sales tax in two stages by October 2015 to fund the bulging social security costs of a fast-ageing society.

The biggest opposition party, although agreeing with the need for a higher levy, is threatening to block legislation in parliament's upper house in hopes of forcing a general election.

Japan logged a trade deficit of 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) for 2011, Ministry of Finance data showed, the first annual deficit since 1980, after the economy was hit by the shock of rising oil prices.

Were Japan to run a current account deficit, it would spell trouble because it would mean the country cannot finance its huge public debt -- already twice the size of its $5 trillion economy -- without overseas funds.

Japanese investors currently hold about 95 percent of Japan's government bonds, which lends some stability to an otherwise unsustainable debt burden.

Domestic buyers are less likely to dump debt at the first whiff of economic trouble, unlike foreign investors, as Europe's debt crisis has shown.

The trade data helped send the yen to a one-month low against the dollar and the euro on Wednesday.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Graphic on 2011 trade data http://link.reuters.com/mev26s

Dec trade balance http://link.reuters.com/vyq65s

Exports by destination http://link.reuters.com/far65s

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"HOLLOWING OUT," AGEING POPULATION

Total exports shrank 2.7 percent last year while imports surged 12.0 percent, reflecting reduced earnings from goods and services and higher spending on crude and fuel oil. Annual imports of liquefied natural gas hit a record high.

In a sign of the continuing pain from slowing global growth, exports fell 8.0 percent in December from a year earlier, roughly matching a median market forecast for a 7.9 percent drop, due partly to weak shipments of electronics parts.

Imports rose 8.1 percent in December from a year earlier, in line with a 8.0 percent annual gain expected, bringing the trade balance to a deficit of 205.1 billion yen, against 139.7 billion yen expected. It marked the third straight month of deficits.

Japan managed to sustain annual trade surpluses through the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s and the post-Lehman Brothers global recession that started in late 2008, which makes the 2011 dip into deficit all the more dramatic.

A generation ago, Japan was the world's export juggernaut, churning out a stream of innovative products from the likes of Sony and Toyota.

Much like China today, Japan's bulging trade surplus became a source of friction with the United States and other advanced economies, who pressed Tokyo to allow the yen to rise more rapidly in order to reduce the imbalance.

A 1985 agreement between Japan, the United States and Europe's big economies -- known as the Plaza Accord after the New York hotel where it was signed -- pushed the yen higher against the U.S. dollar.

Many economists argue that sowed the seeds of Japan's current debt woes. After the Plaza Accord, Japan's economy weakened and its central bank slashed interest rates, which contributed to a credit boom that eventually spawned a financial crisis and led to two decades of economic stagnation.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Tuesday he did not expect trade deficits to become a pattern, and did not foresee the country's current account balance tipping into the red in the near future.

But Japan's days of logging huge trade surpluses may be over as it relies more on fuel imports and manufacturers move production offshore to cope with rising costs and a strong yen, a trend that may weaken the Japanese currency longer term.

A fast-ageing population also means a growing number of elderly Japanese will be running down their savings.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the government wants to closely watch the trend of exports and imports.

"There are worries that the yen's strength is driving Japanese industry to go abroad," said Fujimura. "We have to create new industries ... implement comprehensive steps to boost growth. It is important to secure employment within the nation."

($1=77.71 yen)

(Additional writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Linda Sieg and Emily Kaiser)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/ts_nm/us_japan_economy

kourtney and kim take new york anne hathaway nathan hale kohls coupons joe kapp joe kapp kohls

'Pawn Stars': Rare Les Paul Gibson 'SG' Guitar (VIDEO)

The "Pawn Stars" (Mon., 10 p.m. EST on History) were the envy of guitar enthusiasts everywhere when singer Mary Ford's nephew showed up with a guitar case in tow.

Inside the case was a piece of guitar history: A cream, 1961 Gibson "SG," once owned by guitar legend, and Ford's ex-husband, Les Paul. Ford's nephew also had a stack of papers documenting Paul's tempestuous relationship with guitar manufacturer Gibson.

How could Rick and Corey Harrison put a price on such an artefact? Well, they were helped by the fact that the owner had a price in mind -- "You're getting history here" -- and he wouldn't budge until their offer matched it.

The price? A cool $90,000.

Catch up with the "Pawn Stars" every Monday, 10 p.m. EST on History.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

Related on HuffPost:

MONDAY, JANUARY 23: "Gossip Girl"

1? of ?19

"Gossip Girl" (8 p.m. EST, The CW) "Clueless" writer/director Amy Heckerling makes her first foray into TV directing since 2005 for Blair's bachelorette party, as others scheme behind Queen B's back to make it a night to remember. After discovering the truth behind Chuck and Blair's car accident, Nate joins forces with a surprising ally to gather the evidence, while Serena and Dan pretend to be dating again to protect Blair's secret. "Gossip Girl" (8 p.m. EST, The CW)
"Clueless" writer/director Amy Heckerling makes her first foray into TV directing since 2005 for Blair's bachelorette party, as others scheme behind Queen B's back to make it a night to remember. After discovering the truth behind Chuck and Blair's car accident, Nate joins forces with a surprising ally to gather the evidence, while Serena and Dan pretend to be dating again to protect Blair's secret.

MONDAY, JANUARY 23: "Gossip Girl"

"Gossip Girl" (8 p.m. EST, The CW) "Clueless" writer/director Amy Heckerling makes her first foray into TV directing since 2005 for Blair's bachelorette party, as others scheme behind Queen B's back to make it a night to remember. After discovering the truth behind Chuck and Blair's car accident, Nate joins forces with a surprising ally to gather the evidence, while Serena and Dan pretend to be dating again to protect Blair's secret. "; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/pawn-stars-les-paul-guitar-video_n_1226062.html

super bowl 2012 news channel 5 49ers news ketamine peyton manning sf 49ers jane goodall

Study finds that Facebook users have low self-esteem (Yahoo! News)

The more time people spend with Facebook, the less happy they are, the study shows

Last year, a pair of studies showed that heavy?Facebook users have more grey matter in their brains and are subject to a condition known as?Facebook Depression. A new study from Utah Valley University suggests heavy users of?Facebook may also share another trait: low self-esteem.

The study surveyed 425 college students about their use of?social networking use, in addition to questions about how they spent their time socializing offline. Students who spent the most time on Facebook were the most likely to agree with the statement that others had better lives than they did. Those who were more likely to friend people on Facebook they did not personally know were the most likely to believe that others were happier than they were.?The study doesn't single out Facebook as the cause of low self-esteem ? it could simply mean that people with low self-esteem are more likely to friend strangers than those with happy and healthy offline lives.

Logically, the study makes a lot of sense. When you're constantly bombarded with pictures from friends' vacations, news of new relationships, and videos of last weekend's party, it's easy to feel that others are leading busier and more enjoyable lives than you are. Especially when negative aspects of peoples' lives such as loneliness, sadness, and failure are often minimized or unshared.

(Source)

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/techblog/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20120124/tc_yblog_technews/study-finds-that-facebook-users-have-low-self-esteem

doomsday clock nate robinson sharia law sharia law new hampshire primary results ron paul golden state warriors

Ozzy Osbourne won't sing at son Jack's wedding

>> this morning on "today's beauty" seize the gray from jamey lee curtis's pixie cut to emmy lou harris 's long locks the days of hiding your gray hair long gone. here are tips for silver strands as "prevention" magazine's beauty director jennifer goldstein joins us. great to see you.

>> good to be here.

>> i love this a lot of celebrities are rocking it even if they don't have naturally gray hair like kelly osbourne .

>> we saw at the golden globes this past weekend she dyes her hair gray prematurely. that's how cool it can look. we did a study at prevention.com and found 71% of people think women with gray hair can be sexy. that is only a few percentage points behind the number of people who think men with gray hair can be sexy.

>> right. we often hear of a man with salt and pepper hair but for women --

>> yes. i think people have a hesitation to do it. now you can see you can make it look really gorgeous. if someone in their 20s is doing it then it can look great.

>> let's talk about the source of gray hair. you hear people especially moms say you're giving me gray hair. is that possible?

>> a lot of people think stress can cause gray hair and they are studying that but so far there is no proven link. what we do know is that as we age there is a decrease in melanin and that's how you get gray hair.

>> let's look at how you make it work for you. first up is pamela . let's look at pamela 's short hair off the top there. what did you do?

>> well, pamela had a -- was growing in her gray hair but her cut is what we want to talk about. a lot of women think when they have gray hair they have to go short. what you don't want to do is get a really feathery or layered cut. you want something sharp and modern. look how great she looks now. you can ask your stylist not to use a razor because a razor frays the end of your hair and that can have that fly away quality.

>> it can look dry.

>> untidy and dry.

>> yes.

>> another good tip is if you have a hair cut like this or any hair cut with gray hair use a blue tinted shampoo once a month.

>> blue tinted.

>> you don't want to use it every day.

>> does it give you blue hair ?

>> you won't look like marge simpson . once a month. this is clairol shimmer lights. it counteracts any yellow from the gray hair.

>> i want to touch it. it looks so soft.

>> shiny, beautiful. modern and cool.

>> please don't be offended that i am rubbing your hair. really gorgeous. next up maureen . she has longer hair. again, a little bit of the frizziness. how did you improve the look?

>> when you have gray hair it is important to style it correctly. and maureen air dried i think in this picture and what you need to know with gray hair is it can look dryer like we said.

>> why is that?

>> it grows in more coarse and is more porous than pigmented hair. it is important to use shine products and it's important to try and get that smooth, polished finish stow doo it doesn't look wiry and crazy.

>> so this is solely with shine products.

>> this is ultra shiny silver spray from sally beauty. you don't want to use anything that has alcohol which can be drying. you don't want to use anything too heavy because it can coat the hair and make it look sort of dusty.

>> now with maureen and pamela their hair, the gray seems so perfectly placed. you can't control that.

>> you can't control where you're going to get the gray hairs unfortunately.

>> it looks gorgeous.

>> it seems that when people's gray hair grows in it looks great whatever shade it is. silver gray, white.

>> both of them have dark hair. is it harder if you're a blonde going gray?

>> either way. there is a study that shows gray goes faster. if you want to grow in your gray hair it's going to grow a lot faster than it does when it's pigmented. it's not that hard.

>> we have judy. let's take a look at the before picture. she looks absolutely lovely. i think the only thing that is missing, lip stick or something?

>> exactly. you have to change your makeup a little bit when you do go gray.

>> why?

>> you tend to look washed out because the white or the gray around your face sort of gives you that washed outlook. so it's really important to do your makeup correctly. one of the key things is brows. usually when your hair is growing gray your brows are going gray also.

>> right.

>> you want to pencil them in. don't make them dark brown or really severe.

>> do you make them the color of your natural color hair?

>> usually a taupe color half way between gray and brown looks good on anybody. we used sonia taupe brow pencil and then if you see here we have a selection of makeup products. you don't want beiges and browns and taupes.

>> corals there.

>> you want coral, apricot, rose, those kind of colors that bring life back to the skin and add rosiness.

>> does it matter if you are as fair as she is or dark as i am?

>> she might wear a lighter pink or you might use a fuschia. you don't want mauve or beige. it would look washed out.

>> absolutely beautiful. let's go out.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46113371/ns/today-entertainment/

jejune who won the glee project who won the glee project full tilt poker full tilt poker shel silverstein dont ask dont tell

Bonus season not as festive for bank CEOs (AP)

NEW YORK ? JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, posted record profit for 2011. Morgan Stanley's latest quarter topped expectations as the bank trimmed costs and cleaned up mortgage-related problems. But CEOs Jamie Dimon and James Gorman aren't taking home bigger bonuses.

Banks are curbing bonus pay for last year, as stock prices slumped, mortgage-related costs still mounted and the Occupy Wall Street movement went national.

On Friday, regulatory filings showed Gorman received 2011 stock awards valued at $5.1 million ? half of what he got in 2010. JPMorgan's Dimon received restricted stock worth $12.6 million and stock appreciation rights reportedly valued at about $5 million. That's about even with the year before.

None of the banks have yet filed annual proxy statements, which include complete details on CEOs' pay.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_bi_ge/bank_bonuses

eagle rock music festival arbor apple crisp recipe apple crisp recipe listeria symptoms listeria symptoms lsat

The Jewish Community of Japan Aids Its Home in the Rebuilding Process (ContributorNetwork)

The earthquake and subsequent tsunami in northern Japan devastated the physical landscape, but as the aftermath unfolds, time has proven that it cannot kill the spirit of a proud people such as the Japanese. The Jewish Community of Japan (JCJ) has a history spanning over sixty years in Tokyo, and the members of that community, along with foreign partners, have already been doing their part to help rebuild the country they call home.

Within 24 hours of the quake, The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) contacted the JCJ to assist with relief efforts. The board members of the JCJ identified NGO-JEN (http://www.jen-npo.org/en/index.html) as a great way to channel supplies and workers to those who needed it most on the ground in northern Japan, so they set up a fund to funnel money from the JDC directly to NGO-JEN. To date, the JDC and the JCJ together have raised more than $60,000 for the cause. The immediate response of the JDC has been a gratifying experience for the community, and has helped NGO-JEN to work more efficiently to put the aid and supplies where they are needed most.

Some members of the Jewish community are setting up deliveries to go without having the auspices of an organization. One member was able to get a truck and supplies out to Miyagi Prefecture within a week of the disasters. He organized food, blankets, medical supplies and even shoes to the victims. Culturally, most Japanese people who are in their homes do not wear shoes, so when the earthquake and tsunami occurred, they fled in stocking feet. Beyond blankets and coats to combat cold weather, shoes are also good items for donation.

Another board member of the JCJ has been working with the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) as they have set up a field hospital in Minamisanriku to help those affected by the disaster who need on-site medical attention. This is a wonderful contribution from the State of Israel to the people of Japan. The JCJ member who has been in touch with the group helped with obtaining necessary items on the ground for the Israeli team, such as Kosher food and other Japanese supplies. If they stay through the Jewish holiday of Passover in mid-April, he will assist in getting them ready for the holiday as they deem necessary.

Things are getting back to normal in the community itself. The Rabbi of the JCJ, Rabbi Antonio DiGesu, plans to hold services as usual this Sabbath. The religious school, which boasts close to eighty children, will have classes this Sunday. Passover preparation continues in full force. On a normal year, the JCJ hosts upwards of 200 people for first and second night seders, celebrated at the start of Passover, and there is no reason for that to cease.

Most of the JCJ members are foreigners from across the US, Europe, Australia and other places. Most, if they left at all, are now returning to Tokyo - their adopted city. Time and time again the Japanese have proved their ability to recover from the wreckage of disaster, and this time will be no different. Throughout history, the Japanese have proven themselves a resilient group of people, as have the Jews. The Jewish Community of Japan is honored to assist this proud people and be part of their culture and society as they go through the rebuilding process.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/aids/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120123/us_ac/8203145_the_jewish_community_of_japan_aids_its_home_in_the_rebuilding_process

bonjovi dead amber portwood sam shepard sam shepard johnny knox johnny knox monday night football

Tracy Morgan of '30 Rock' collapses at Sundance (AP)

PARK CITY, Utah ? The publicist for comedian and "30 Rock" cast member Tracy Morgan says the actor suffered from a combination of exhaustion and altitude when he collapsed at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

Publicist Lewis Kay says Morgan is grateful to the medical center staff for their care Sunday in Park City, where the elevation is 7,000 feet.

Morgan was escorted from the Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards ceremony Sunday night at the festival.

Kay says Morgan is seeking medical attention and is with his fiancee. He says hospital officials report no drugs or alcohol were found in Morgan's system.

Morgan is attending Sundance in connection with the comedy film "Predisposed," one of the 100 films at the festival, in which he plays a drug dealer named Sprinkles.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_en_ce/us_film_sundance_tracy_morgan

tony blankley jay z and beyonce steelers blue ivy carter pittsburgh steelers charles barkley beyonce

High court throws out Texas electoral maps (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court handed Texas Republicans a partial victory Friday, tossing a court-drawn electoral redistricting plan that favored minorities and Democrats but leaving the future of the state's political maps - and possibly control of the U.S. House - in the hands of two federal courts with Texas' April primaries looming.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ordered a three-judge court in San Antonio to craft a new map that pays more deference to one originally drawn up by Texas' GOP-led Legislature. The immediate effect was to scrap the interim map the San Antonio court drafted that would have favored Democrats to pick up four new congressional seats Texas will add in 2012.

Republicans, led by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, heralded the ruling as a clear victory for the state.

"The Court made clear in a strongly worded opinion that the district court must give deference to elected leaders of this state, and it's clear by the Supreme Court ruling that the district court abandoned these guiding principles," he said in statement.

But the Supreme Court didn't go as far as Texas wanted, which was to implement the maps the Legislature drew for this year's election. Doing so would have rewritten existing election law as well as the Voting Rights Act. Only Justice Clarence Thomas said he would have gone that far.

Still, the outcome appeared to favor Republicans by instructing the judges to stick more closely to what the Legislature did, said election law expert Richard Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, law school.

After the 2012 election, Texas will have 36 seats in the next Congress, a gain of four seats. Under the map initially drawn by the San Antonio court and thrown out on Friday, Democrats would have been favored in three or four new seats. The GOP holds 23 of the current 32 seats.

In its decision, the Supreme Court said the San Antonio judges particularly erred in altering the borders of legislative and congressional districts in areas of the state where the allegation that the Legislature's map discriminated doesn't apply.

Although Republicans were quick to say Friday's decision will benefit them, Democrats and minority groups said that's not so.

Jose Garza, who argued on behalf of minority groups and Texas Democrats at the Supreme Court, said Abbott, the Texas attorney general, is "celebrating too early." Garza said he expects the new maps drawn by the San Antonio court to look very similar to the ones rejected Friday.

Garza said he interpreted the Supreme Court's ruling, in part, as a call for the San Antonio court to better explain its decisions.

Others involved in legal efforts opposing the Legislature's map echoed Garza.

"This is not a victory for Texas," said Nina Perales, a lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, one of several groups involved in legal efforts to throw out the Legislature's map. "They wanted their unprecedented maps in place, and Texas hasn't been allowed to do that."

Perales said she expected the Supreme Court to remand a decision on the maps to the San Antonio court and said she was confident that minority groups would be protected even if the new baseline for creating a map was the Legislature's original draft.

Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis, said Friday that she saw the decision bolstering the judge's decision to make changes to her Fort Worth-based district. Davis filed a lawsuit against the state Senate plan after her district was carved into three pieces, splitting Latino and African-American voters.

Beyond the jousting about how to interpret Friday's ruling was a reality that the electoral battlegrounds in Texas will remain hazy for the foreseeable future. Both Democrats and Republicans see Texas as potentially key for control of the U.S. House, but until the new maps are in place, neither side will have a clear sense of how it might fair in the state.

The Supreme Court didn't set a deadline for the San Antonio court to produce an acceptable map, but the clock is ticking toward Texas' scheduled April 3 primaries. The primaries have already been pushed back from March 6, and both parties expect the date to be pushed back again ? a prospect causing consternation among Republican leaders who worry the GOP presidential race will be decided before Texas votes.

Meanwhile, a separate three-judge federal court panel in Washington heard testimony this week about whether the map drawn by the Texas Legislature violated the federal Voting Rights Act, which requires states with a history of discrimination to get advance approval before changing the way they conduct elections. That proceeding will continue next week, with closing arguments set for February. With thousands of documents and dozens of hours of testimony to consider, a decision from that panel could be months away but could also affect the composition of Texas' maps.

The legal battle over Texas' maps was prompted by the results of the 2010 census, which found that Texas added more than 4 million residents since 2000, most of them Latinos and African-Americans. Minority groups and Democrats have maintained that they are being denied deserved voting power by GOP lawmakers seeking maximize electoral gains.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_go_su_co/us_supreme_court_texas_redistricting

dishnetwork bill monroe nike pro combat nike pro combat gardasil gardasil usnews

Sri Lanka donates eyes to the world (AP)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka ? At 10:25 a.m., a dark brown eye was removed from a man whose lids had closed for the last time. Five hours later, the orb was staring up at the ceiling from a stainless steel tray in an operating room with two blind patients ? both waiting to give it a second life.

S.P.D. Siriwardana, 63, remained still under a white sheet as the surgeon delicately replaced the cornea that had gone bad in his right eye following a cataract surgery. Across the room, patient A.K. Premathilake, 32, waited for the sclera, the white of the eye, to provide precious stem cells and restore some vision after acid scalded his sight away on the job.

"The eye from this dead person was transplanted to my son," said A.K. Admon Singho, who guided Premathilake through the hall after the surgery. "He's dead, but he's still alive. His eye can still see the world."

This gift of sight is so common here, it's become an unwritten symbol of pride and culture for Sri Lanka, an island of about 20 million people located off the southern coast of India. Despite recently emerging from a quarter century of civil war, the country is among the world's largest cornea providers.

It donates about 3,000 corneas a year and has provided tissue to 57 countries over nearly a half century, with Pakistan receiving the biggest share, according to the nonprofit Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society. The organization began promoting eye donation decades ago, but has since faced allegations of mismanagement and poor quality standards.

The supply of corneas is so great in Sri Lanka that a new, state-of-the-art government eye bank opened last year, funded by Singapore donors. It has started collecting tissue from patients at one of the country's largest hospitals, hoping to add an additional 2,000 corneas to those already shipped abroad annually. Nearly 900,000 people have also signed up to give their eyes in death through the Eye Donation Society's longstanding eye bank.

"People ask me, 'Can we donate our eyes while we are living? Because we have two eyes, can we donate one?'" said Dr. Sisira Liyanage, director of Sri Lanka's National Eye Hospital in the capital, Colombo, where the new eye bank is based. "They are giving just because of the willingness to help others. They are not accepting anything."

The desire to help transcends social and economic barriers. Prime ministers pass on their corneas here along with the poorest tea farmers. Many Sri Lankans, about 67 percent of whom are Buddhist, believe that surrendering their eyes at death completes an act of "dana," or giving, which helps them be reincarnated into a better life.

It's a concept that was first promoted a half century ago by the late Dr. Hudson Silva, who was frustrated by the massive shortage of corneas in his native Sri Lanka. Most eyes back then were harvested from the handful of prisoners hanged each year, leaving little hope for blind patients in need of transplants.

Silva wrote a newspaper piece in the late 1950s pledging to donate his own corneas and appealing to readers to also give "Life to a Dead Eye." The response was overwhelming.

With no lab facilities or high-tech equipment, he and wife Irangani de Silva began harvesting eyes and storing them in their home refrigerator. They started the Eye Donation Society, and in 1964, the first cornea sent abroad was hand-carried in an ice-packed tea thermos aboard a flight to Singapore. Since then, 60,000 corneas have been donated.

While the Society's eye bank was a pioneer, questions about quality emerged as international eye banking standards improved over the next 20 to 30 years. Concerns have recently been raised about less advanced screening for HIV and other diseases, and the eye bank has also faced allegations of mismanagement.

Many of its corneas are harvested from the homes of the dead in rural areas across the country, making auditing and quality assurance levels harder to maintain, said Dr. Donald Tan, medical director of Singapore National Eye Center, who helped set up the new eye bank. Once, he said, a blade of grass was found packaged with tissue requested for research.

Eye Donation Society manager Janath Matara Arachchi says the organization sends "only the good and healthy eyes" and has not received a complaint in 20 years. Arachchi said the organization checks for HIV, hepatitis and other sexually transmitted diseases by dipping a strip into blood samples and waiting to see if it changes color for a positive result. Sri Lanka's Health Ministry also said it has received no complaints about the eye bank from other countries.

Medical director Dr. M.H.S. Cassim denied that anyone from the organization is making money off donations sent abroad. He said they charge up to $450 per cornea to cover operational costs and the high price of preservatives needed to store the tissue.

The cornea is the dome-shaped transparent part of the eye that covers the iris and pupil. It helps to focus entering light, but can become cloudy from disease or other damage. Corneas must be carefully extracted from donors to avoid damaging the thin layer of cells on the back that pump water away to keep it clear. They must be harvested within eight hours of death, and can today be preserved and stored in refrigeration for up to 14 days.

Sri Lanka has no official organ donation registry, as is provided in some countries when driver's licenses are issued. Instead, the idea is passed down from generation to generation. Eye donation campaigns are organized at temples by Buddhist monks, but people of other faiths also give, including Hindus and Christians.

Future donors simply mail in the bottom half of a consent form distributed by Silva's Eye Donation Society. The top portion, which looks like an award certificate with a fancy scroll lacing around it, is also filled out and often proudly displayed on the wall ? serving as proof to the living that the pledge comes from a generous spirit.

"Just think if we had that level of organ donation and commitment and belief system in the United States, where we have these long lists of people waiting for hearts, livers and kidneys," said Dr. Alfred Sommer of Johns Hopkins University, who spent more than 40 years fighting blindness in the developing world. "If we had that level of cultural investment, there would be no lists for organ transplants."

The U.S. is the world's biggest cornea provider, sending more than 16,000 corneas to other countries in 2010, according to the Eye Bank Association of America. But Sri Lanka, which is 15 times smaller, actually donates about triple that number of corneas per capita each year.

There is no waiting list for eye tissue in Sri Lanka, and its people get first access to free corneas. About 40,000 have been transplanted locally since the beginning, but that still leaves a surplus each year.

Pakistan, an Islamic country where followers are typically required to be buried with all parts intact, has received some 20,000 corneas since overseas donations began, Cassim said. Egypt and Japan are two other major recipients, receiving 8,000 and 6,000 corneas respectively to date, he said.

But Sri Lanka cannot meet global demand on its own. An estimated 10 million people ? 9 out of 10 in poor countries ? suffer worldwide from corneal blindness that could be helped by a transplant if tissue and trained surgeons were available, according to U.S.-based SightLife, an eye bank that partners with developing countries. It has been working with Sri Lanka's new government facility.

"Sri Lanka has long been known to be a country with an incredible heart for eye donation and a willingness to share surplus corneas to restore sight around the world," said SightLife president Monty Montoya. "While efforts have been made to share information with other countries, I am not aware of any one location being able to replicate Sri Lanka's success."

Where possible, eye tissue should be transplanted within hours of death. That was done in the Colombo operating room where patients Siriwardana and Premathilake were stitched up with what looked like tiny fishing hooks, then bandaged and helped outside.

For Premathilake ? whose sight was lost when an open can of acid spilled onto his face while working at a rubber factory ? this is his last hope. His right eye still blinks, but there is nothing but an empty pink cavity inside. The stem cells attached to his left eye should help create a new window of sight that he hopes will allow him to go back to work, or at least carry out daily tasks without depending on his parents.

"I am extremely happy," he said. "I didn't know the man who died in his previous life, but I'm always going to say blessings for him during his next births."

____

Associated Press writer Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report from Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_as/as_sri_lanka_eyes_to_the_world

lady gaga marry the night video pac 12 championship game pac 12 championship game bobby valentine bobby valentine al franken al franken

Occupy Wall Street and Islamic Finance: Economic Justice Is ...

Economic justice has been a central theme of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. It is often found written on placards and in the tweets of OWS protesters. The term is well known: A search for it on Google will yield millions of results. But what exactly does economic justice mean?

In common usage, economic injustice tends to refer to economic outcomes and opportunities, such as a high degree of concentration of income and wealth and limited access to financing. Much of the debate concerns whose interests drive a government?s economic decisions in shaping these outcomes and opportunities ? for example, how taxes are levied and spent.

Academic writings show the complexity of the topic. In his book Justice: What?s the Right Thing to Do?, Michael Sandel of Harvard University explains that an individual?s definition of economic justice depends on his beliefs. For instance, some may?believe?that any distribution of income and wealth produced by a free market is just.

But there is no such thing as a free market, according to Ha-Joon Chang of Cambridge University. Chang argues that regulations restrict the freedom to contract in all markets ? from restrictions on child labor to requiring banks to hold capital. If there is no free market, how can the distribution of income and wealth produced by it be just?

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has offered some clarity to this complex debate. In his book The Idea of Justice, he explained that we do not need a theory of the ideal state of justice in order to pursue justice. In addition, public reasoning and discussion can help reduce injustice.

?When people across the world agitate to get more global justice . . . they are not clamouring for some kind of ?minimal humanitarianism,?? Sen wrote. ?Nor are they clamouring for a perfectly just world society but merely for the elimination of some outrageously unjust arrangement to enhance global justice.? Perhaps the OWS protesters would agree.

Following the global financial crisis that started in 2008, many commentators pointed out the negative externalities imposed on society by the financial sector. They expressed deep concerns about the privatization of profits and the socialization of losses by the financial sector ? or, as an OWS protester might put it, economic injustice perpetrated through political manipulation.

The frequent references to economic justice by the OWS movement should strike a familiar chord in the small but growing field of Islamic finance.

The literature on the subject is full of mentions of justice. Mohammad Nejatullah Siddiqi, who has been writing in the field since the 1950s, has even called Islamic finance a ?quest for justice.? Similarly, Taqi Usmani, a prominent Muslim jurist, repeatedly talks about ?distributive justice? in his writings on Islamic finance.

In late 2011, an OWS protester in London was photographed holding a placard that said, ?Let?s Bank the Muslim Way?? Unsurprisingly, her photo received much attention in Islamic financial circles and quickly found its way into some PowerPoint presentations. That the OWS movement derives inspiration from the Arab Spring adds more color to the context and the theme of economic justice.

Clearly, it is too much to burden the Islamic financial sector with delivering economic justice all by itself. That necessarily involves wider economic policy, and the Islamic financial sector is but a small niche within global finance. But why is Islamic finance expected to facilitate economic justice?

One explanation is that the Islamic prohibitions of riba?and excessive gharar?include in their scope the lending of money on interest and the trading of risk. While they restrict the freedom to contract, they also keep finance tied to the real economy and promote enterprise and risk sharing. This is in sharp contrast to many established elements of conventional finance ? from treasury bills to credit default swaps.

In theory, because of these prohibitions and other?moral checks and balances ? such as avoiding socially harmful industries and excessive consumption ? Islamic finance should facilitate the distribution of wealth and opportunity, thereby facilitating economic justice.

The initial experiments in Islamic finance in late 1960s are often seen as broadly consistent with the spirit of economic justice.?Since the establishment of the first Islamic commercial bank in 1975, however, Islamic finance has largely consisted of commercial banking within conventional fractional reserve banking. According to a research report published by TheCityUK, as much as 72% of the assets in this nearly one-trillion-dollar sector are in commercial banking.

Observers have long held the view that, legal form and religious symbolism aside, the economic substance of Islamic commercial banking is very similar to, if not the same as, that of conventional commercial banking. In the concluding chapter of their book, Islamic Law and Finance: Religion, Risk, and Return, Harvard University professors Frank Vogel and Samuel Hayes III wrote that it is a ?legal and financial embarrassment? that Islamic banks ?mimic conventional banks? instead of being the profit-and-loss investment intermediaries that Islamic economic theory demands. They went on to suggest that genuine profit sharing through pooled funds could be the solution.

Such observations regarding Islamic finance are not confined to banking; one comes across them in capital markets and insurance, too. Observers may also find it puzzling that one could switch from conventional finance to Islamic finance but still be dealing with similar debt-based financial services and some of the same large financial institutions, such as HSBC, Citibank, and Goldman Sachs, which are seen as part of the problem by the OWS movement.

In response, Islamic finance practitioners tend to argue that the current legal, tax, and regulatory frameworks are meant for conventional finance but that Islamic finance is forced to fit into them, creating the gap between its theory and its practice. Some practitioners also contend that their customers are not looking for something different from conventional financial services in their risk-return profile. Others may say that they are doing what they can under the current circumstances and that it will take time and a different legal and economic framework to move toward alternatives that are more authentically Islamic and just.

The arguments offered by Islamic finance practitioners are not without merit. But the OWS protestors might ask: If the economic substance of Islamic banking is the same as that of supposedly unjust conventional banking after nearly 40 years, how would banking the Muslim way facilitate economic justice?

Perhaps the answer is that reducing economic injustice in practice can be even more difficult than debating the complexities of its theory. Be it conventional or Islamic finance, economic justice remains enticing but elusive.

Source: http://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2012/01/20/ows-and-islamic-finance-economic-justice-is-enticing-but-elusive/

bill gates steve jobs bill gates steve jobs 99% associated press breast cancer awareness breast cancer awareness guinea worm