Most commodity prices fell Monday as signs of slower economic growth emerged in Europe. Investors worried about future global demand for oil, copper and wheat if Europe slows further or falls back into recession.
Investors waited for Greece and its bondholders to finish a deal to cut Greece's debt, a critical step toward avoiding a messy default in March. But there was no announcement of anything official.
But there were independent signs that the European economy is slowing. France lowered its 2012 economic growth forecast to 0.5 percent from 1 percent, and Spain said its economy shrank in the fourth quarter.
European leaders met Monday to discuss ways increase economic growth and create jobs, plus the sovereign debt crisis. Even if Greece cuts its down, there are still concerns about Italy and Portugal.
"It's all very patchy," said Edward Meir, an analyst for INTL FC Stone, which offers services in commodities, capital markets, currencies and asset management, among others. "It's like they put their finger on one hole and water leaks from another. They can't get their arms around the whole thing."
Despite Monday's broad sell-off, most commodity prices are higher for the month. The main exceptions are wheat, corn, soybeans and natural gas.
Gold for February delivery fell $1.20 to finish at $1,731 an ounce. In March contracts, silver declined 26.3 cents to end at $33.527 an ounce, copper dropped 6.25 cents to $3.8265 per pound, and palladium ended down $1.65 at $688.50 per ounce. April platinum fell $6.70 to $1,616.30 an ounce.
In energy trading, the price of oil declined as investors worried that U.S. economic growth may slow after the Commerce Department said consumer spending was flat in December even though incomes rose.
In addition, Iran welcomed international weapons experts in an effort to ease concerns about its nuclear program. Europe and U.S. leaders have been concerned that Iran could be building a nuclear weapon.
Benchmark oil decreased 78 cents to end at $98.78 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil fell 2.15 cents to finish at $3.0378 per gallon, gasoline futures declined 5.07 cents to $2.8727 per gallon, and natural gas fell 4.3 cents to $2.713 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In March agriculture contracts, wheat fell 2.5 cents to end at $6.4475 per bushel, corn declined 10 cents to $6.3175 per bushel and soybeans ended down 33.75 cents to $11.8525 per bushel.
Restricting free trade arrangements (beyond preventing the use of force and fraud on others) cannot solve the real problem, yet it hobbles the market?s ability to coordinate people?s cooperative and productive plans, causing harm in the misguided attempt to accomplish good.
I am a believer in the power of liberty ? voluntary relationships ? to bring out the best in individuals and, therefore, society. But that well-founded belief makes it painful to see markets (willing exchange) blamed for virtually everything someone can think to object to, in favor of coercion of some by others via government, inspired by some utopian vision that cannot actually be achieved by that coercion.
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This is the institutional blog of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and many of its affiliated writers and scholars commenting on economic affairs of the day.
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The question then becomes why unattainable utopian visions seem to be so much more attractive and inspirational to so many people than liberty, which can achieve the best society actually attainable, and how the spell that leads to ever-increasing statism can be broken.
Leonard Read, one of America?s most prolific defenders of liberty in the 20th century, considered that question. And in his 1969 Let Freedom Reign, he offered a useful two-part answer in his chapters, ?Free Market Disciplines? and ?The Bloom Pre-Exists in the Seed.?
In ?Free Market Disciplines?, Read showed that liberty?s failure to gain more adherents than utopian statism can be, in part, traced to the fact that it is the ends envisioned, rather than the means involved, that often motivate people. And since unlike utopian visions, freedom, including free markets ? an ?amoral servant? ? cannot be proven to have no objectionable results to anyone, liberty can be saddled with an inspirational deficit. However, attributing disliked results to markets misplaces the blame. Therefore, restricting voluntary arrangements (beyond preventing the use of force and fraud on others) cannot solve the real problem, yet it hobbles the market?s ability to coordinate people?s cooperative and productive plans, causing harm in the misguided attempt to accomplish good:
[T]he free market is the only mechanism that can sensibly, logically, intelligently discipline production and consumption. For it is only when the market is free that economic calculation is possible. Free pricing is the key.
[But] it is necessary to recognize the limitations of the free market. The market is a mechanism, and thus it is wholly lacking in moral and spiritual suasion?it embodies no coercive force whatsoever.
[Quoting W.H. Pitt]: ?[T]he market, with its function for the economizing of time and effort, is servant alike to the good, the compassionate, and the perceptive as well as to the evil, the inconsiderate, and the oblivious.?
Given a society of freely choosing individuals, the market is that which exists as a consequence ? it is a mechanism that is otherwise non-definitive. It is the procession of economic events that occur when authoritarianism?is absent.
In a word, the free market is individual desire speaking in exchange terms ? When the desires of people are depraved, a free market will accommodate the depravity. And it will accommodate excellence with equal alacrity. It is "servant alike to good ? and evil.?
It is because the free market serves evil as well as good that many people think they can rid society of evil by slaying this faithful, amoral servant. This is comparable to? breaking the mirror so that we won?t have to see the reflection of what we really are.
The market is but a response to ? a mirror of ? our desires.
Instead of cursing evil, stay out of the market for it; the evil will cease to the extent we cease patronizing it. Trying to rid ourselves of trash by running to government for morality laws is like trying to minimize the effects of inflation by wage, price, and other controls. Both destroy the market, that is, the reflection of ourselves?attempts not to see ourselves as we are?
To slay this faithful, amoral servant is to blindfold, deceive, and hoodwink ourselves?denying the market is to erase the best point of reference man can have.
The market is a mechanism and is neither wise nor moral?The market is an obstacle course; before I can pursue my bent or aptitude or obsession, I must gain an adequate, voluntary approval or assent?My own aspirations, regardless of how determined, or lofty, or depraved, do not control the verdict. What these others?will put up in willing exchange for my offering spells my success or failure, allows me to pursue my bent or not.
Eventually, in a free society, the junk goes to the junk heap and achievements are rewarded.
I believe that anyone should follow his star; but let him do so with his own resources or with such resources as others will voluntarily supply. This is to say that I believe in the market, a tough, disciplinary mechanism.
[An] individual, in the free market, considers how much of his own property he is willing to put on the line?the free market gives short shrift to projects that are at or near the bottom of individual preferences.
Read saw that defenders of liberty must face the fact that markets enable people to do whatever they want better ? i.e., that it is an amoral servant. It cannot be relied upon with certainty to only do good and inspirational things. But whenever they enable doing ill, they only reflect what some desire. If we reformed ourselves, markets could do no harm. And Read had great faith such improvements were possible, that ?Eventually, in a free society, the junk goes to the junk heap and achievements are rewarded.? In contrast, coercively ?reforming? ourselves by law does not eliminate the cause of such harm and so does little to actually stop it, but the restrictions on markets adopted in the process throw out the amoral servant to doing greater good than can be accomplished via any other mechanism.
Read proceeded to address the crucial distinction between the ?inspirational? utopian ends and the means that such ends necessarily entail in ?The Bloom Pre-Exists in the Seed.?
I must have been suffering from post conference delirium, because I decided to watch A Dolphin Tale on the plane ride home from ScienceOnline2012. Plot summary: a stranded dolphin (Winter) is rescued but her damaged tail must be amputated. A lonely boy (Sawyer) sees her being rescued, stalks her at the aquarium she is transported to, and ends up skipping school because the dolphin ?needs him?. Have you thrown up in your mouth yet?
Behind the scenes at Deep-sea News, we get bombarded with gag-inducing PR e-mails about everything whale and dolphin related. Clearly they do not read our blog. They ask us to promote their upcoming movie, website, or exhibit, and we all let out a collective groan. Most recently we were asked to hype up the film Big Miracle:
At this point I?ll also remind you of the poster for a A Dolphin Tale: Notice any similarities? Yeah, that?s right ? both of these are what I call ?the money shot?.
Watching A Dolphin Tale was actually disturbing ? it was basically a PG version of Cetacean porn. At regular intervals throughout the film, my eyes burned as I watched agonizing, ten minute montages of swimming dolphins, human-dolphin touchy-feelyness, and slow motion underwater footage set to dramatic music. If I re-dubbed the film with a Barry White soundtrack, I?m pretty sure this edited version would be illegal.
There were so many things wrong with this film, I don?t even know where to start. First of all, the film opens with a 10 minute CGI scene of dolphins cheerfully exploring the underwater realm. They couldn?t even get the background scenery correct, because the ocean looks like a fantasy art poster or fish tank display, complete with conveniently placed archways and stone columns everywhere.?At one point the dolphins start blowing bubble hoops which hover in midwater (for far too long to be scientifically plausible) and then proceed to swim through them.?Midway through the film Sawyer does some nighttime frolicking with the dolphin in the pool ? ha ha ha oh so happy la la la ? he swims around, then repeatedly grabs Winter?s fin as the music swells. There was a propensity of slow motion underwater dolphin love. The film?s closing montage shows Sawyer and Winter amorously swimming underwater with Winter?s new prosthetic tail, as this song plays:
The film also included lots of dramatic staring and closeups of thee dolphin?s eye. And a (annoying) comedic relief pelican.?In addition to dolphin porn, there was almost?actual?porn. After the opening dolphin jubilee there was a pointless, homoerotic pool scene with a whole lot of shirtless men giddily playing pool football. There were way too many six-packs for a family film (not that I was complaining?)
The movie was full of oscar-worthy lines such as:
?So you?re saying swimming like that is going to KILL her???? (in response to a muscle bulge on the dolphin?s stumpy tail)
Dad: ?Every aquarium in the country says it?s hopeless. No dolphin has ever lost a tail and SURVIVED!? Sawyer: ?Well they haven?t met Winter?
?We?re here because of the most amazing friend and animal I?ve ever known?Winter and I are family now. And family is forever?
?That dolphin?s taking us somwhere-we just haven?t figured out where yet?
?I thought dolphins were supposed to be smart. Don?t you understand? If you don?t get the tail your?e going to die. Why won?t you just wear the tail??? (Sawyer speaking to Winter in a sad breathy whisper)
The worst thing about this film was that Mogan Freeman, of all people, starred as the army scientist constructing the prosthetic dolphin tale. WHY DID YOU AGREE TO THIS MOVIE MORGAN FREEMAN, WHY???
One laudable inclusion was the decision to show the actual rescue footage at the end of the film ? although even in these brief clips you realize how unglamorous the real story was compared to the sugarcoated and shiny Hollywood version. Winter still resides at the Clearwater Aquarium in Florida, and her unique situation has apparently elevated her to ?role model? status for visiting amputees.
But not even that fact will redeem this godawful film.
I must have been suffering from post conference delirium, because I decided to watch A Dolphin Tale on the plane ride home from ScienceOnline2012. Plot summary: a stranded dolphin (Winter) is rescued but her damaged tail must be amputated. A lonely boy (Sawyer) sees her being rescued, stalks her at the aquarium she is ...
LONDON?? British police arrested four current and former staff of Rupert Murdoch's best-selling Sun tabloid plus a policeman on Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected payments by journalists to officers, police and the newspaper's publisher said.
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Police also searched the paper's London offices at publisher News International, News Corp.'s British arm, in a corruption probe linked to a continuing investigation into phone hacking at its now closed News of the World weekly tabloid.
News Corp.'s Management and Standards Committee, set up in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, said Saturday's operation was the result of information it had passed to police.
"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated," the committee said in a statement confirming the arrests of four "current and former employees" of the Sun.
The committee is conducting a lawyer-led internal review of News International's remaining titles, which also include The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers, as part of a drive to mend the reputational damage done by the phone hacking scandal.
The committee's investigation into The Sun was "well advanced," News International chief executive Tom Mockridge said in an email sent to staff.
"News International is confronting past mistakes and is making fundamental changes about how we operate which are essential for our business.
"Despite this very difficult news, we are determined that News International will emerge a stronger and more trusted organisation," he added.
Emails warned James Murdoch of phone hacking
News International was providing legal support for the four arrested "colleagues," Mockridge said.
The arrests included The Sun's crime editor Mike Sullivan, its head of news Chris Pharo, and former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.
Also arrested was the paper's former managing editor Graham Dudman, now a columnist and media writer, the source said.
Police said a 48-year-old man from north London and two other men from Essex, east of London, ages 48 and 56, were arrested at their homes. The fourth man, aged 42, was arrested after reporting to an east London police station.
A Sun reporter, who asked not to be named, said: "Everyone is a bit shocked, there is disbelief really. But there is a big difference between phone hacking and payments to the police."
A 29-year-old policeman serving with the Met Police's Territorial Policing Command, was arrested at the central London police station where he worked.
All five were being questioned on suspicion of corruption.
Operation Elveden
Police searched the arrested men's homes as well as The Sun's offices in Wapping, east London.
Thirteen people have now been arrested over allegations that journalists paid police in return for information.
Their detentions are part of Operation Elveden - one of three criminal investigations into news-gathering practices.
Last week, News International settled a string of legal claims after it admitted that people working for the tabloid had hacked in to the private phones of celebrities and others to find stories.
The phone hacking scandal drew attention to the level of political influence held by editors and executives at News International, and other newspapers in Britain.
It embarrassed British politicians for their close ties with newspaper executives and also the police, who repeatedly failed to investigate allegations of illegal phone hacking.
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
The French Senate today approved a controversial bill making it a crime to deny the Armenian genocide in what many see as a political ploy ahead of elections this spring.
France poked Turkey in the eye last night by approving a new "genocide denial" bill, then this morning urged Turkey to ?remain calm.?
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But Turkish reaction was not especially calm.
After the French Senate voted in the late hours Monday to criminalize a denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide ? punishable with a year in jail and a $58,000 fine ? Turkey?s ambassador to France said he will leave.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today called the new law ?discriminatory? and ?racist? and a ?massacre of free expression,? and pointed out that French President Nicolas Sarkozy?s ancestors had once sought refuge in Turkey.
Something?s definitely out of whack in this diplomatic fallout. But it isn?t entirely Turkey?s inability to face its Ottoman past, which includes the killing or deporting of some 750,000 to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I.
Even French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, a member of the ruling party, thinks the new French law is a bad idea and ?ill-timed.?
?I?m sure we?ll find again a constructive relationship,? Mr. Juppe told French TV. ?I put out my hand and I hope it will be shaken one day.?
In fact, there are actual reasons why Turkey might see fit to remain calm, as Juppe urges. This law really isn?t about Turkey. It?s French politics.
Turkish leaders take the genocide law as a matter of national dishonor and high principles, and point to French slaughters in Algeria, and speak of rights, including of independent thought, that France champions. It is highly emotional.
Yet in France the new genocide law is seen with considerable cynicism, and with little emotion or much regard. It comes just ahead of national elections this spring. Along with its slightly craven appeal to the hundreds of thousands of French-Armenian voters, for whom the issue has always been a defining one, the law also gives President Sarkozy a way to remind conservatives that he?s against a Muslim country joining Europe.
Mr. Sarkozy has a problem with a poll-surging Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front, who accuses him of overseeing an ?Islamization? of France.
The bill is "not entirely free of ulterior electoral motives considering that there is a 500,000-strong French Armenian community in France," as the French daily Liberation put it.
French politicos have portrayed their new legal concoction as part of a long, historic fight against a ?poisonous denial? by the human race of various mass murders.
A brief morning rally pushed the Dow Jones industrial average above its highest closing price since the financial crisis Thursday, but stocks closed lower after mixed economic data tempered traders' optimism.
Solid news on factory orders and strong earnings from U.S. manufacturers highlighted one of the economy's bright spots before the market opened. The Dow and broader indexes turned negative after weaker reports on home sales and future economic growth were released in the late morning.
The Dow closed down 22.33 points, or 0.2 percent, at 12,734.63.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed down 7.63 points, or 0.6 percent, at 1,318.43.
The Nasdaq shed 13.03 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 2,805.28.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? New orders for U.S. manufactured goods rose in December and a gauge of future business investment rebounded, showing the economy ended the year with more momentum than previously thought.
Other reports on Thursday showed new claims for jobless benefits rose moderately last week, suggesting the labor market was healing only slowly, while new U.S. single-family home sales unexpectedly fell in December.
The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods climbed 3.0 percent last month, boosted by a surge in aircraft orders. Economists had forecast orders rising 2.0 percent.
"There's some momentum here," said Jacob Oubina, an economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York. "Heading into the first quarter, the momentum is going to be pretty decent."
Durable goods range from toasters to big-ticket items like aircraft which are meant to last three years and more.
The data suggested U.S. companies could be growing more willing to invest the $2 trillion pile of cash they amassed in recent years. The U.S. Federal Reserve warned on Wednesday that business investment had cooled.
Orders for capital goods outside defense and excluding aircraft, which are a proxy for business spending plans, climbed a steeper-than-expected 2.9 percent. They had declined the previous two months.
Also, shipments of orders within that category, which go into the calculation of gross domestic product, rose 2.9 percent after declining 1.0 percent in November.
The overall increase in orders was buoyed by an 18.9 percent jump in orders for civilian aircraft. Boeing received 287 orders for aircraft during the month, according to the plane maker's website, up from 96 in November.
Investors in U.S. stocks appeared to take little notice of the data, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index (.SPX) off slightly in early afternoon. U.S. Treasury debt prices rose as fears grew that the European debt crisis was heating up again.
In a separate report, the Conference Board said its index of future U.S. economic activity rose to a five-month high in December as labor market conditions improved.
The Labor Department data showed new U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose last week but the underlying trend continued to point to improving labor market conditions.
Initial claims for state unemployment aid increased 21,000 to 377,000. The four-week moving average for initial claims, which provides a better view of trends, fell 2,500 to 377,500.
"We're still very much established below 400,000, continuing to suggest that there is modest improvement in the labor market," said Lindsey Piegza, an economist at FTN Financial in New York.
On Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank could do more to help growth if the economy falters, and the Fed indicated interest rates would likely remain near zero until late 2014.
Among the darker clouds looming over the U.S. economy is a sovereign debt crisis in Europe that is widely seen triggering a recession in the euro zone.
Greece was due to resume tortuous negotiations on a debt swap with private creditors in Athens on Thursday, with the European Central Bank thrown into the mix after IMF chief Christine Lagarde said public sector holders of Greek debt may need to take losses too.
Increased consumer spending and efforts by companies to restock their shelves likely led the U.S. economy to accelerate at the end of 2011 although many economists expect some of that strength to wane early this year.
A report due Friday is expected to show the economy grew at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, up from 1.8 percent in the previous period.
The Commerce Department also released a report showing new U.S. single-family home sales unexpectedly fell in December for the first time in four months, while the median home price dropped, dampening some of the hopes the housing sector will boost the economy this year.
The housing market remains constrained by high unemployment, falling prices and an oversupply of unsold homes following a bust that triggered the 2007-09 recession.
Still, there were a record low 157,000 new homes on the market last month. That could fuel additional speculation the housing sector was on the cusp of a recovery.
(Additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani in Washington and Emily Flitter and Karen Brettell in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
NASHVILLE, Tenn?? Country singer Merle Haggard, who was admitted to a Georgia hospital last week after illness forced him to cancel a show, was recovering from a host of health issues discovered while he was being treated for pneumonia, his spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Haggard was admitted to hospital on Jan. 17, when illness forced him to cancel a show in Macon, Georgia, just moments before taking the stage. He later said that being hospitalized "probably saved my life."
The 74-year-old singer, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, is recovering from double-pneumonia but was also being treated for a number of serious ailments that doctors discovered while he was hospitalized.
Merle Haggard has pneumonia, cancels tour dates
Haggard's pneumonia is "almost completely clear, while he is recovering from three stomach ulcers, the removal of eight polyps from his colon and diverticulitis in his esophagus," which were discovered by the Macon medical staff, according to his Los Angeles-based spokesperson Tresa Redburn.
"He will be back up and running in 30 days," said Redburn, adding that Haggard would be in the hospital for "at least a few more days."
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"Thanks to the wonderful people all over the world that prayed their special prayers," Redburn quoted Haggard as saying.
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"I'm a new man. Another special thanks to the folks of Macon, Georgia, for their kindness, their intelligence and probably saving my life," he said.
Haggard had to cancel the remainder of his January tour and was planning on beginning his performance schedule again in late February.
With influences ranging from Lefty Frizzell to Bob Wills to Jimmie Rodgers, Haggard is an architect of country music's so-called "Bakersfield Sound." He is best known for songs like "Mama Tried," "Okie from Muskogee" and "The Fightin' Side of Me."?
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan probably produced its first trade deficit last year in more than three decades as energy imports surged to cover for the loss of nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster, a major blow to an economy built on its exports prowess.
For decades Japan used an exports-orientated economic policy to build up global brand names such as Toyota, Sony and Canon and a manufacturing might that was the envy of the world.
Official trade figures due for release on Wednesday are expected to show that Japan swung to a deficit for the first time since 1980, as utilities purchased fossil fuels for power stations to make up for the loss of nuclear power.
Economists say Japan's trade will be in deficit for the next few years as it copes with the Fukushima catastrophe that released radiation into the atmosphere and forced most nuclear power stations to shut in the face of a public outcry over safety.
Trade will then return to a surplus, but long-term trends suggest the surplus will weaken anyhow. A rise in the yen to a record last year of fewer than 77 per dollar from more than 250 in 1980 is making Japanese exports increasingly uncompetitive and so encouraging manufacturers to move overseas.
"Japan can continue to export goods, but if you focus exclusively on the trade balance, then the days as an exporter are ending," said Seiji Adachi, senior economist at Deutsche Securities.
The argument that Japan can rely on surpluses from its international trade to offset a large public debt could also look less convincing and lead some investors to bet that a funding crisis will come sooner than originally expected.
"Last year I thought we could continue to finance our debt for 10 years. Now I think it's seven years," Adachi said.
Trade data for December and 2011 as a whole is due on Wednesday at 8:50 a.m. (Tuesday 2350 GMT). Adachi forecasts a 2011 deficit of 2.4 trillion yen ($31.2 billion).
That would be the first shortfall since a 2.6 trillion yen deficit in 1980, one ironically also caused by a jump in oil import costs when world prices rose.
Since then Japan has been able to rely on exports of goods, including its iconic autos, MP3 players, computer chips and in recent years games consoles, to produce one trade surplus after another.
ENERGY NEEDS
Liquefied natural gas imports jumped to a record last year as utilities turned to gas-fired power generation to plug the gap left by the shutdown of most nuclear reactors after the March 11 earthquake caused the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.
Japan, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, has also seen import values rise due to high crude prices. Assuming that oil prices remain high, this could also keep Japan in a trade deficit for the next few years, economists say.
The trade deficit could narrow to 1.9 trillion yen in 2012 and then widen to 2.2 trillion yen in 2013, Adachi said.
In addition to energy imports, a surge in outward-bound mergers and acquisitions by Japanese firms will also lower export volumes as manufacturers go abroad, Adachi said. They are also expanding production to overseas locations rather than in Japan.
Years of trade surpluses and a high savings rate among Japanese fuelled confidence that the country could comfortably service its mounting debt, which has reached twice the size of its $5 trillion economy, the biggest burden among industrialized nations.
Japan has avoided the sell-off in its sovereign debt that has become common in debt-stricken Europe.
One reason, analysts have often cited, is that running a trade surplus makes Japan a creditor to other nations. Hefty holding of overseas assets by Japanese investors also helped give Japan a high credit status.
Economists have predicted that as the Japanese population ages and the savings rate falls that these surpluses could swing to deficits.
A shift from nuclear power generation could prove expensive enough to hasten the oncoming of Japan as a deficit nation and increase the need for tax hikes and spending cuts to lower outstanding debt.
The change in Japan's energy balance is also proving painful for Japanese companies as it is happening largely without a well-defined energy policy from the government to assure firms that energy supplies and costs will remain stable in the future.
Nippon Keidanren, the country's largest business lobby, cited uncertainty about energy, a strong yen and the manufacturing shift overseas on Tuesday as reasons why pay raises are out of the question for annual labor union negotiations in the spring.
"The wild card is energy costs," said Hiroaki Muto, senior economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co.
"What we really need is some type of revolution to make ourselves more energy efficient. In that sense, you could say the government's energy policy is contributing to all of this."
The trade deficit could peak out at 5 trillion yen in 2015 due to expensive energy imports, Muto predicted.
Maroon Bells reflecting into Maroon Lake in Aspen, Colo.
Jerry Pearson had tried to capture this image of Maroon Bells near Aspen, Colo., a few times but had to contend with wind strong enough to cause ripples in the water.
"This particular day was nice because the Aspen area had received it's first dusting of snow and there was no wind and the sun was shining with clear skies," Pearson told TODAY.com. He took the photo in October 2005.?
"The most enjoyable thing I liked about Maroon Bells was the hiking," Pearson said. "It's a?steep?hike up to?an area where you?can stand directly at the?base of the three 14,000-foot mountains. There is also another lake at the base of the mountains which is beautiful."?
You can learn more about hiking to Maroon Lake here.
Pearson said that photography has been a hobby of his since he joined the Navy about 38 years ago. He has since retired from the military, but continues to take pictures when he travels.
Do you have some photos you want to share? Submit them for a chance to be featured in the weekly gallery by clicking here.
You can also join our It's a Snap Facebook community by clicking here, and share your photos with others.
No, it's not a Philippe Starck-designedhearing aid, although we kind of wish it were. What you're actually looking at is an over-the-ear sensor, dubbed the e-AR, made to mimic the human vestibular system. In layman's terms, this 3D accelerometer-equipped device, crafted by Sensixa, is capable of recording real-time information related to posture and orientation, much like the inner ear does, which is then relayed via an embedded low power radio to a remote receiver. The tech, which we spied passing through the FCC's gates, has already undergone several trials for sports and is now being eyed for use in geriatric care. (Take that, Life Alert pendants.) Interest piqued? Then feel free to peruse the rest of the filing and provided user's manual at the source below.
Shadows all around you as you surface from the dark Emerging from the gentle grip of night's unfolding arms Darkness, darkness everywhere, do you feel all alone? The subtle grace of gravity, the heavy weight of stone
You don't see what you possess, a beauty calm and clear It floods the sky and blurs the darkness like a chandelier All the light that you possess is skewed by lakes and seas The shattered surface, so imperfect, is all that you believe
I will bring a mirror, so silver, so exact So precise and so pristine, a perfect pane of glass I will set the mirror up to face the blackened sky You will see your beauty every moment that you rise
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." Albert Einstein
JERSEY CITY, N.J.?? Josue Rafael Orellana Garcia fled his impoverished neighborhood in Honduras for the United States as a teenager, to escape what began as teasing over his disabilities and escalated into what his mother said were threats to kill him if he did not join a gang.
Making his way illegally to New Jersey to be with his mother, he applied for asylum in 2008, claiming he'd be killed by gangs if forced to return to the small but violence-plagued nation. He lost his case, was deported in 2010, and last year was found dead, his body riddled with bullets. He was 20.
Now his family has taken the unusual step of trying to win him asylum posthumously. His attorney, Joshua Bardavid, said it's an effort to get the U.S. government to acknowledge the "entire system let him down" and to call attention to the plight of thousands of Central American teenagers.
But the case also highlights a growing debate among immigration experts over whether the grounds for asylum in the United States should be expanded to include more modern forms of conflict, such as gang violence.
To be granted asylum in the U.S., applicants must prove a well-founded and documented fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. They must also show that the government or ruling authority in their home country is unwilling or incapable of adequately protecting them.
U.S. Immigration Judge Frederic Leeds in Newark found Orellana's claims credible but said the young man had not sufficiently documented that he and his family had been targeted by gangs. Even if he had, there is no legal precedent for extending "the concept of family group to the concept of joining gangs," wrote the judge, while expressing appreciation for what he said were creative arguments on the young man's behalf.
Though the law does not consider the threat of gang recruitment as meeting the definition of a protected social group, some believe it should, said Dana Leigh Marks, the president of the National Association of Immigration Judges.
"There are those who would argue the asylum law is old-fashioned and needs to be modernized, while others would argue it is a limited remedy that is not supposed to resolve all problems and allow everyone to qualify," Marks said.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the international body responsible for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers worldwide, issued a memo in 2010 urging courts to expand existing asylum law interpretations to consider victims of organized gangs as warranting protection, if their cases satisfy all other legal requirements.
But those who oppose expanding the class of potential asylum seekers say it could undermine an already overburdened U.S. immigration system with a flood of new applicants.
"There's no limit to the categories you could add by our (U.S.) standards. There is a lot of oppression in the world," said Steven Camarota, director of research at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, an organization which advocates stricter immigration rules and believes asylum and all other aspects of immigration law should be decided by the U.S. Congress, not the courts.
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"We may find the treatment of women in some countries poor, compared to our standards, but would you say if they're treated poorly, they're a member of a particular social group?" Camarota said.
Ricardo Estrada, a minister of migratory affairs with the Honduran embassy in Washington, said he was not familiar with Orellana's case but that "it's likely that his story could be true, because conditions point to it."
"Lamentably, our country is going through a crisis of violence," Estrada told The Associated Press, in an interview conducted in Spanish. "The problem is enormous, and security is an issue the government is really trying to tackle, but it's very challenging with a government that has little resources in comparison to the narco-cartels, who often have better arms than the police."
Investigators face a huge backlog of homicide investigations, but have few resources, he said.
Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world, according to a 2011 United Nations report which cited 6,200 killings, or 82.1 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, in 2010. Earlier this month, the Peace Corps withdrew all volunteers from the country, citing safety and security concerns. The U.S. agreed this past week to send a team of experts to help the Honduras government with "citizen security issues."
In a motion filed in December with the Board of Immigration Appeals, Bardavid argued that Orellana, as a result of being shot dead after being deported, now meets the burden of proof required of asylum applicants to show they would suffer irreparable harm if sent back to their country.
"I think it's something that needs to be acknowledged: that we failed him; that he came here seeking safety, and the entire system let him down," Bardavid said.
Spokeswoman Kathryn Mattingly of The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the BIA, said the agency does not comment on pending cases or prior decisions.
Orellana's mother, Josefa Rafaela Garcia Mejia, lives legally in the United States under a program that allows immigrants from qualifying countries to live and work in the U.S. on a restricted visa. She said gangs killed her son, the youngest of her four children.
Orellana had been picked on from a young age after losing one eye and much of his hearing from being struck by a tree during Hurricane Mitch, which devastated much of Honduras in 1998, Garcia said. She sent money home, working as a home health aide in New Jersey, to support Orellana and his three siblings, and to buy him a glass eye.
As he got older, his mother said, Orellana told her in frequent phone calls that he was being pursued and threatened by gangs that controlled their San Pedro Sula neighborhood, trying to recruit young people. The threats got so bad, she said, her son fled, against her advice. He was alone at the age of 17 when he crossed illegally into the U.S. to join her in New Jersey.
In a court hearing in July 2009, the judge asked Orellana why, if he had been attacked several times by notorious Central American gangs, he had never gone to the police to file a report.
"Like I mentioned, we would call the police but the police were afraid to come where we lived," Orellana replied.
After Leeds' decision was upheld on appeal, the young man was deported to Honduras in March 2010. He disappeared on July 23, 2011, after telling his grandmother he was running to the store, his mother said. His body was discovered three days later in a nearby wooded area, according to a story in the Honduran newspaper La Tribuna.
"I say as a mother, as a Christian woman, my son was not involved with gangs; he never carried so much as a nail clipper," Garcia said, crying as she clutched a photograph of him. "If they had not deported my boy, he would not be dead."
___
Follow Samantha Henry at http://www.twitter.com/SamanthaHenry
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
On this week?s SlatePolitical Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the suddenly-exciting South Carolina primary, President Obama?s decision not to approve the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada, and the protests over the Internet piracy bills known as SOPA and PIPA.
By Krystal D'Costa (Click here for the original article)
I?ll never forget the day S brought home a live chicken. When we lived in Queens, there were a number of fresh poultry and livestock suppliers that catered to the growing West Indian community so live poultry was readily available, but there were also a few backyard farmers in the neighborhood. S was at a gas station when he heard a cheeping noise. He knelt down to investigate and when he straightened up, found a chick sitting on the mat in the car. ?What was I supposed to do?? he asked showing me the chick later that day. ?It jumped in the car.?
His affinity with animals is nothing new. He trained goldfish. He has refused to kill mice, insisting on releasing them into the wild. At fifteen, he nursed a pigeon back to health after setting its broken wing. During a trip to Trinidad, he befriended a bull?despite being warned away by my uncles?by sitting in the mud with it for hours. And today, we are the proud parents of two cats (we did not keep Chicken Little) who can?t seem to get enough of him. I am definitely second fiddle in their feline minds?though handy to have around when they need to be fed.
S is not alone. Pat Shipman (2010) notes the significance of pets?and animals?in our lives:
In both the United States and Australia, 63% of households include pets, compared to 43% of British and 20% of Japanese households. In the United States, the proportion of households with pets is larger than those with children (522).
This relationship, dubbed the animal connection by Shipman, may have played an important role in human evolution, linking the traits that distinguish Homo sapiens from other mammals. How is it that some animals transitioned from food to friends, and what is the significance of this relationship?
The animal connection is the process by which pets or livestock become companions and/or partners, and are treated as members of the family. It refers to the close relationship between animals and humans starting 2.6 million years ago (mya), beginning with the use and study of animals by humans, and leading to regular social interactions. Today this is manifested in the adoption of animals and the care provided to them in the course of that relationship. The roots of this relationship may be found in the development of three often recognized traits of humans: making and using tools, symbolic behavior (including language, adornment, and rituals), and domestication of other species. Shipman views the animal connection as a fourth trait, tying the other three together and having an immense effect on human evolution, genetics, and behavior (2010: 522).
Though tool use has been documented in other nonhuman mammals, the manufacture and use of tools by humans is an extremely complex behavior. Modern chimpanzees are often recognized for their tool usage, but this usage varies whereas humans consistently use tools. Early humans used tools to process carcasses, and we have evidence of this from the marks left on the bones after contact with implements. Stone tools gave humans an advantage: they no longer needed to compete with scavengers. They could hunt game on their own and/or drive off those scavengers if needed. The increased meat in the human diet meant that humans occupied a predatory niche, and as such necessarily needed to disperse so that their localities could support their needs. While Shipman makes clear that the fossil record supports that expansion of geographic range about 2 mya, the more interesting point, in my opinion, is that in seeking out live game, humans needed to learn about their prey, which opened the door for a more meaningful relationship with animals.
Wild animals are certainly able to communicate with each other, but language has thus far largely been relegated to humans, who have a clearly identifiable syntax and grammar (520). Animals have alarm calls, but there are limits to what they can communicate. For instance, a chimp alerting his troupe about a snake cannot provide details about the snake: The chimp cannot say it is a brown snake. (Or maybe it can, and we just don?t know.) And while educated apes may have a vocabulary of about 400 words, they don?t apply syntax and grammar to those words (520). Language allows humans to share information, and we have developed delightfully complicated means of doing so:
Ritual, art, ochre, and personal adornment are used to transmit information about such concepts as beliefs, group membership, or style, leaving physical manifestations visible in the archaeological record. Nothing interpreted as art, ritual, the use of ochre, or personal adornment has been reported in nonhuman mammals in the wild (521).
As more sophisticated stone tools were developed, humans could pursue larger game. But this might often require collaboration, which encouraged language. Perhaps the strongest example of this is prehistoric art which depicts animals extensively, revealing morphology, coloring, behaviors, and sexual dimorphism (Shipman 2010: 524). It creates a record to be shared with others.
Domestication required humans to select for desirable behavioral traits and control the reproductive and genetic output over generations. They lived in close proximity to the animals, historically even bringing them into the home. Indeed, the physical closeness of humans to animals has allowed some infectious diseases to enter the human population from animal hosts, e.g., measles (dogs), mumps (poultry), tuberculosis (cattle), and the common cold (horses) (529). However, the benefits have outweighed the costs when it comes to keeping animals near?animals are much more than a food source:
The Goyet dog is at least 17,000 years older than the next oldest domesticate (also a dog) ? animals were domesticated first because their treatment was an extension of tool making (Shipman 2010: 524).
Animals were domesticated as living tools. They expanded the reach of humans and made other resources more accessible. Animals could provide labor, milk, wool, and opportunities for the production of tools and clothing. And domestication was hedged on an understanding of biology, ecology, physiology, temperament and intelligence.
While much has been made of the monkey who appears to have adopted a cat, such cross-species alloparenting is rare. Humans are the exception. We routinely take in animals integrate them into our families, creating a beneficial relationship. Our connection to Fido may be deeply rooted in our evolutionary history.
? Reference: Shipman, P. (2010). The Animal Connection and Human Evolution Current Anthropology, 51 (4), 519-538 DOI: 10.1086/653816
After one of the wildest, most tumultuous weeks of the 2012 GOP presidential race, South Carolina voters finally head to the polls Saturday to cast their ballots in the Republican primary.
At the end of the day, Mitt Romney could be barreling toward Florida, poised for a Jan. 31 kill shot. But it could just as well be Newt Gingrich whose fortunes are looking up, bolstered by a victory that will make it hard to count him out for the near future.
Continue Reading
Below are POLITICO?s five things to watch as the polls close:
1) The point spread
Given the volatility of the South Carolina race, the biggest question is still who will win. But the next guessing game is about just how close the finish will be.
The momentum is clearly on Newt Gingrich?s side, and he has been ahead in the last two days of public polling. But a large swath of voters are undecided, and Mitt Romney could still pull out a win.
Gingrich has made clear he?s moving ahead to Florida regardless of where he finishes in a race that has been largely redefined as a two-man contest in the final week. So the question will be, how definitively does Romney or Gingrich win?
Romney would love, obviously, to finish with a decisive first-place finish ? preferably by a margin of four percentage points or more. A win would not only make his move toward the nomination almost impossible to stop, but it would poke holes in Gingrich?s arguments about Romney as too moderate to capture conservative hearts.
Given the state?s conservative, Southern and evangelical makeup ? it?s a place where Romney?s camp has long feared secret pockets of anti-Mormon sentiment ? a victory would be a significant achievement. He was never the likely victor in South Carolina, despite polls showing him way ahead after his New Hampshire victory.
But if Romney wins with Gingrich as a close second, the former House Speaker will feel emboldened to argue his own case ? especially since he was the victim of apparent dirty tricks in the final two days. And if he routs Romney by five points or more, the former Massachusetts governor will be in for a long week in Florida, where voters will go to the polls Jan. 31.
2) Regional performance
The key areas to watch for Romney are the coastal counties, home to more moderate voters, and places where John McCain fared extremely well in the 2008 primary. The coastal counties to watch? Charleston, Horry and Beaufort.
Boa constrictors kept tightening their grip on dead rats with faked heartbeats for 20 minutes, but let go when the pulse stopped. Christopher Intagliata reports.
January 18, 2012?|
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True to their name, boa constrictors squeeze the life out of their prey. But how does a boa know it's snuffed out a rat? The snake listens for a heartbeat. When it stops, that's the cue to let go, according to a study in the journal Biology Letters. [Scott M. Boback et al, Snake modulates constriction in response to prey?s heartbeat]
Researchers outfitted rat cadavers with artificial beating hearts. They used dead rats to control for other signs of passing, like muscle spasms. Then they warmed up the rats, set the hearts pumping, and dangled them in front of hungry boas.
The snakes attacked. And as long as that rat heart kept thumping, the boas kept tightening their coils and applying bursts of pressure, sometimes for more than 20 minutes. But as soon as scientists killed the heartbeat, the boas loosened up.
Even captive-born boas who'd never hunted live prey paid attention to the pulse?suggesting the behavior is innate. And for good reason. The authors say constriction takes a lot of energy. And it can be dangerous, say, if an enemy strikes while the snake's coiled around its quarry. But by following the telltale heart, boas can keep the pressure on just long enough. Before a relaxing meal.
Comparison of effects of red wine versus white wine on hormones related to breast cancer risk Public release date: 19-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: R Curtis Ellison ellison@bu.edu 508-333-1256 Boston University Medical Center
Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) prevent the conversion of androgens to estrogens, and could play a role in the development of breast cancer. This study of 36 pre-menopausal women consisted of a cross-over intervention trial to determine if there were differences between red wine and white wine in their effects on AIs. Subjects sequentially consumed eight ounces of red wine, followed by white wine (or vice versa), each beverage for a one-month period. The investigators concluded that red wine, but not white wine, was associated with significant effects on some indices of estrogen metabolism; free testosterone and luteinizing hormone were increased, but no significant differences were noted in estrogen levels.
Forum reviewers considered the results interesting and that they contribute to our understanding of the relation of wine to hormonal levels. On the other hand, they were concerned about methodological problems, including a lack of baseline data and variations in the timing during the menstrual period of blood sampling (which could affect estrogen levels). Also, no significant effect of the interventions was seen on blood levels of estradiol.
Further, the Forum thought that it should be pointed out that data are inconsistent on the relation of red wine consumption to the risk of breast cancer; many studies do not show beverage-specific effects on risk. More research will be needed to determine if the polyphenols in red wine can play a role in lowering the risk of breast cancer.
###
Reference: Shufelt C, Bairey Merz CN, Yang YC, Kirschner J, Polk D, Stanczyk F, Paul-Labrador M, Braunstein GD. Red versus white wine as a nutritional aromatase inhibitor in premenopausal women. J Women's Health, 2011;DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2011.3001
Comments on this paper were provided by the following members of the International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research:
Lynn Gretkowski, MD, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Mountainview, CA, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Erik Skovenborg, MD, Scandinavian Medical Alcohol Board, Practitioner, Aarhus, Denmark
Creina Stockley, clinical pharmacology, Health and Regulatory Information Manager, Australian Wine Research Institute, Glen Osmond, South Australia, Australia
Harvey Finkel, MD, Hematology/Oncology, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Arne Svilaas, MD, PhD, general practice and lipidology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
Ulrich Keil, MD, PhD, Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Mnster, Mnster, Germany
David Van Velden, MD, Dept. of Pathology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Fulvio Ursini, MD, Dept. of Biological Chemistry, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Gordon Troup, MSc, DSc, School of Physics, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
R. Curtis Ellison, MD, Section of Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
For the detailed critique of this paper by the International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research, go to http://www.bu.edu/alcohol-forum and click on Recent Reports.
The specialists who are members of the Forum are happy to respond to questions from Health Editors regarding emerging research on alcohol and health and will offer an independent opinion in context with other research on the subject
Helena Conibear co Director
The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research
helena@alcoholforum4profs.org
Professor R Curtis Ellison co Director
The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research
ellison@bu.edu
http://www.alcoholforum4profs.org
http://www.bu.edu/alcohol-forum
Tel UK: 44-1300-320869
[ | 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.
Comparison of effects of red wine versus white wine on hormones related to breast cancer risk Public release date: 19-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: R Curtis Ellison ellison@bu.edu 508-333-1256 Boston University Medical Center
Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) prevent the conversion of androgens to estrogens, and could play a role in the development of breast cancer. This study of 36 pre-menopausal women consisted of a cross-over intervention trial to determine if there were differences between red wine and white wine in their effects on AIs. Subjects sequentially consumed eight ounces of red wine, followed by white wine (or vice versa), each beverage for a one-month period. The investigators concluded that red wine, but not white wine, was associated with significant effects on some indices of estrogen metabolism; free testosterone and luteinizing hormone were increased, but no significant differences were noted in estrogen levels.
Forum reviewers considered the results interesting and that they contribute to our understanding of the relation of wine to hormonal levels. On the other hand, they were concerned about methodological problems, including a lack of baseline data and variations in the timing during the menstrual period of blood sampling (which could affect estrogen levels). Also, no significant effect of the interventions was seen on blood levels of estradiol.
Further, the Forum thought that it should be pointed out that data are inconsistent on the relation of red wine consumption to the risk of breast cancer; many studies do not show beverage-specific effects on risk. More research will be needed to determine if the polyphenols in red wine can play a role in lowering the risk of breast cancer.
###
Reference: Shufelt C, Bairey Merz CN, Yang YC, Kirschner J, Polk D, Stanczyk F, Paul-Labrador M, Braunstein GD. Red versus white wine as a nutritional aromatase inhibitor in premenopausal women. J Women's Health, 2011;DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2011.3001
Comments on this paper were provided by the following members of the International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research:
Lynn Gretkowski, MD, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Mountainview, CA, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Erik Skovenborg, MD, Scandinavian Medical Alcohol Board, Practitioner, Aarhus, Denmark
Creina Stockley, clinical pharmacology, Health and Regulatory Information Manager, Australian Wine Research Institute, Glen Osmond, South Australia, Australia
Harvey Finkel, MD, Hematology/Oncology, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Arne Svilaas, MD, PhD, general practice and lipidology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
Ulrich Keil, MD, PhD, Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Mnster, Mnster, Germany
David Van Velden, MD, Dept. of Pathology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Fulvio Ursini, MD, Dept. of Biological Chemistry, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Gordon Troup, MSc, DSc, School of Physics, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
R. Curtis Ellison, MD, Section of Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
For the detailed critique of this paper by the International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research, go to http://www.bu.edu/alcohol-forum and click on Recent Reports.
The specialists who are members of the Forum are happy to respond to questions from Health Editors regarding emerging research on alcohol and health and will offer an independent opinion in context with other research on the subject
Helena Conibear co Director
The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research
helena@alcoholforum4profs.org
Professor R Curtis Ellison co Director
The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research
ellison@bu.edu
http://www.alcoholforum4profs.org
http://www.bu.edu/alcohol-forum
Tel UK: 44-1300-320869
[ | 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.
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Public release date: 19-Jan-2012
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