Mansions and Fine Art Made Especially for Cats and Dogs - io9

Don't you think your pet deserves a better home? The most distinguished dogs don't sleep in houses, but in elegant dwellings. There are also TARDIS cat climbers and canine haciendas. Here are the coolest cat and dog homes on Earth.

Alabama Doghouse

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(via Best Friend's Home)

Doctor Mew and the TARDIS Cat Fort

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(via TARDIS Cat Fort)

Mexican Hacienda Dog House, only for $30,000

These custom-made haciendas include running water, lighting, air conditioning and heat.

(via Beyond The Crate)

Cool Pet House for rich pets

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This house has an air-conditioning and heating system and humidifiers, and there is an option to include a Wifi webcam to check on your kitty or dog all day long.

(via Funky Pets)

Suitcase Bunk Bed

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(via etsy)

Elite Pet Havens

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Do you have $50,000-$200,000 for a custom designed ultra-luxe high-tech pet home? Choose one of these gorgeous havens.

(via Elite Pet Havens)

Wine Barrel Doghouses

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(via Jacksonville Wine Guide and Cedar Stone Ranch)

Where doghouse meats fine art: Robert Griffin's Biedermeier House

(via Dogster)

The Cat Tunnel Sofa by Seungji Mun

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(via Seungji Mun)

Atalaya cat bed

(via thecooldog)

Source: http://io9.com/mansions-and-fine-art-made-especially-for-cats-and-dogs-476412113

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USA Today founder Neuharth dies in Florida at 89

FILE- in this Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003 file photo provided by the Freedom Forum, Al Neuharth, founder of the USA Today and the Freedom Forum listens as former U.S. Sen. George McGovern speaks during the dedication of the Al Neuharth Media Center on the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, S.D. Neuharth has died in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He was 89. The news was announced Friday, April 19, 2013 by USA Today and by the Newseum, which he also founded. (AP Photo/Freedom Forum, Dave Eggen, File)

FILE- in this Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003 file photo provided by the Freedom Forum, Al Neuharth, founder of the USA Today and the Freedom Forum listens as former U.S. Sen. George McGovern speaks during the dedication of the Al Neuharth Media Center on the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, S.D. Neuharth has died in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He was 89. The news was announced Friday, April 19, 2013 by USA Today and by the Newseum, which he also founded. (AP Photo/Freedom Forum, Dave Eggen, File)

FILE - In this Dec.1999 file photo, Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, poses at his home in Cocoa Beach, Fla. USA Today founder Al Neuharth has died in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He was 89. The news was announced Friday, April 19, 2013 by USA Today and by the Newseum, which he also founded. (AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove, File)

COCOA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Critics dubbed USA Today "McPaper" when it debuted in 1982, and they accused its founder, Al Neuharth, of dumbing down American journalism with its easy-to-read articles and bright graphics.

Neuharth had the last laugh when USA Today became the nation's most-circulated newspaper in the late 1990s.

The hard-charging founder of USA Today died Friday in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He was 89. The news was announced by USA Today and by the Newseum, which he also founded.

Jack Marsh, president of the Al Neuharth Media Center and a close friend, confirmed that he passed away Friday afternoon at his home. Marsh said Neuharth fell earlier this week and never quite recovered.

Neuharth changed the look of American newspapers by filling USA Today with breezy, easy-to-comprehend articles, attention-grabbing graphics and stories that often didn't require readers to jump to a different page. Sections were denoted by different colors. The entire back page of the news section had a colored-weather map of the entire United States. The news section contained a state-by-state roundup of headlines from across the nation. Its eye-catching logo of white lettering on a blue background made it recognizable from a distance.

"Our target was college-age people who were non-readers. We thought they were getting enough serious stuff in classes," Neuharth said in 1995. "We hooked them primarily because it was a colorful newspaper that played up the things they were interested in ? sports, entertainment and TV."

USA Today was unlike any newspaper before it when it debuted in 1982. Its style was widely derided but later widely imitated. Many news veterans gave it few chances for survival. Advertisers were at first reluctant to place their money in a newspaper that might compete with local dailies. But circulation grew. In 1999, USA Today edged past the Wall Street Journal in circulation with 1.75 million daily copies, to take the title of the nation's biggest newspaper.

"Everybody was skeptical and so was I, but I said you never bet against Neuharth," the late Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham said in a 2000 Associated Press interview.

The launch of USA Today was Neuharth's most visible undertaking during more than 15 years as chairman and CEO of the Gannett Co. During his helm, Gannett became the nation's largest newspaper company and the company's annual revenues increased from $200 million to more than $3 billion. Neuharth became CEO of the company in 1973 and chairman in 1979. He retired in 1989.

As Gannett chief, Neuharth loved making the deal. Even more so, the driven media mogul loved toying with and trumping his competitors in deal-making.

In his autobiography, "Confessions of an S.O.B.," Neuharth made no secret of his hard-nosed business tactics, such as taking advantage of a competitor's conversation he overheard.

He also recounted proudly how he beat out Graham in acquiring newspapers in Wilmington, Del. He said the two were attending a conference together in Hawaii, and he had already learned that Gannett had the winning bid, but he kept silent until he slipped her a note right before the deal was to be announced.

During the mid-1980s, Gannett unsuccessfully attempted to merge with CBS in what would have been the biggest media company at the time. The deal fell apart, something that Neuharth considered one of his biggest failures.

Neuharth was proud of his record in bringing more minorities and women into Gannett newsrooms and the board of directors. When he became CEO, the company's board was all white and male. By the time he retired, the board had four women, two blacks and one Asian. He also pushed Graham to become the first female chairman of the American Newspaper Publishers Association.

"He was a great leader," said former AP president and CEO Tom Curley, who worked closely with Neuharth for many years. "He certainly was one of the pioneers on moving women and people of color into management positions. He was a very strong manager who commanded respect, I think, throughout the industry as well as from those who worked with him. His hardscrabble life, poverty in South Dakota and fighting in World War II prepared him for any battles in a competitive arena, and he loved to compete and he loved to win."

Before joining Gannett, Neuharth rose up through the ranks of Knight Newspapers. He went from reporter to assistant managing editor at The Miami Herald in the 1950s and then became assistant executive editor at the Detroit Free Press.

Allen H. Neuharth was born March 22, 1924, in Eureka, S.D. His father died when he was 2. He grew up poor but ambitious in Alpena, S.D., and had journalism in his blood from an early start. At age 11, he took his first job as a newspaper carrier and later as a teenager he worked in the composing room of the weekly Alpena Journal. His ambition already was noticeable.

"I wanted to get rich and famous no matter where it was," Neuharth said in a 1999 Associated Press interview. "I got lucky. Luck is very much a part of it. You have to be at the right place at the right time and pick the right place at the right time."

After earning a bronze star in World War II and graduating with a journalism degree from the University of South Dakota, Neuharth worked for the AP for two years. He then launched a South Dakota sports weekly tabloid, SoDak Sports, in 1952. It was a spectacular failure, losing $50,000, but it was perhaps the best education Neuharth ever received.

"Everyone should fail in a big way at least once before they're forty," he said in his autobiography. "The bigger you fail, the bigger you're likely to succeed later."

Neuharth married three times. His first marriage to high school sweetheart Loretta Neuharth lasted 26 years. They had a son, Dan, and daughter, Jan. He married Lori Wilson, a Florida state senator, in 1973; they divorced in 1982. A decade later, he married Rachel Fornes, a chiropractor. Together, they adopted six children.

After he retired from Gannett, Neuharth continued to write "Plain Talk," a weekly column for USA Today.

He also founded the The Freedom Forum, a foundation dedicated to free press and free speech that holds journalism conferences, offers fellowships and provides training. It was begun in 1991 as a successor to the Gannett Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm.

Jim Duff, president and chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum, said, "Al will be remembered for many trailblazing achievements in the newspaper business, but one of his most enduring legacies will be his devotion to educating and training new journalists," according to the post on the Newseum website. Duff added, "He taught them the importance of not only a free press but a fair one."

With his entrepreneurial flair, Neuharth put the Freedom Forum on the map with Newseum, an interactive museum to show visitors how news is covered. The first museum in Arlington, Va., was open from 1997 to 2002. It was replaced by a $450 million facility in Washington that opened in spring 2008. There was also the Newscapade, a $5 million traveling exhibit.

In a June 2007 interview in Advertising Age, Neuharth was asked about the future of printed newspapers amid the upheavals of the news business.

"The only thing we can assume is that consumers of news and information will continue to want more as the world continues to become one global village," he said. "The question is how much will be distributed in print, online and on the air. I don't know how much will be delivered on newsprint. Some will be delivered by means we can't even think of yet."

___

Associated Press Writer Kristi Eaton in Sioux Falls, S.D., contributed to this story.

___

Online:

http://www.freedomforum.org/

http://www.newseum.org/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-19-Obit-Al%20Neuharth/id-ab8debb5cc4e49468ef444ba65928213

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Jon Jones gets a visit from the repo man ? or not

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones thought he was having a good day. His fight with Chael Sonnen is in just nine days. His line of Nike gear is going on sale tomorrow morning. But the repo man can mess up any day.

He shared this picture on his Instagram account with the caption, "Just when my day was going so well!! Deposit some checks at the bank, come outside to my car getting repo'd."

And this is what Jackson's MMA, where Jones trains, had to say:

Just got a call from @jonnybones to come get him from the bank. His car got repo's! Haaaa! Check out his Instagram for pictures @johnnybones

? Jackson's MMA (@JacksonsMMA) April 18, 2013

Now, this could be a practical joke Jones is playing, but look at all the stuff he had in the car sitting in a heap on the ground. If it's a joke, he sure is committed to the gag.

UPDATE: Nah, it wasn't the repo man. It was just a miscommunication on his rental car.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/jon-jones-gets-visit-repo-man-192724596--mma.html

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Better skin grafting: Inspired by spiny-headed worms, scientists invent microneedle adhesive stronger than surgical staples

Apr. 16, 2013 ? A parasitic worm may hold the answer to keeping skin grafts firmly in place over wounds, according to a new study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH).

The study will be published in the April 16, 2013 issue of Nature Communications.

The research team, led by Jeffrey Karp, PhD, BWH Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, senior study author, invented a microneedle inspired by Pomphorhynchus laevis, a spiny-headed worm that lives in the intestines of its hosts, in this case fish. The worm securely attaches to the host's intestinal wall by penetrating, and then plumping up its elongated, cactus-like head into the intestinal tissue.

"Dr. Karp and his collaborators continue to look to nature to find new ways to solve real problems in medicine," said Scott Somers, PhD, National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which partly supported the work. "Drawing on how parasitic worms attach to and feed on fish, they have designed a way to close surgical wounds that appears better than anything currently available for clinical use."

Inspired by the worm's swelling mechanism, Karp and his team created an adhesive patch that mechanically interlocks with tissue through swellable microneedle tips. The tips plump up via a water-based mechanism that is both quick and reversible.

"The adhesion strength of the tips of the microneedle is more than three times stronger than conventional surgical staples used for skin grafts fixation," said Seung Yun Yang, PhD, a BWH research fellow, and first study author.

Each cone-shaped needle is made of a stiff plastic non-swellable core and a tip that is rigid in its dry state, but swells upon contact with water. The bed of microneedles are able to effectively penetrate tissue with little force, as well as maintain continuous, seamless contact with tissue, and a high adhesion strength when the needles are in their swollen state.

"The unique design allows the needles to stick to soft tissues with minimal damage to the tissues. Moreover, when it comes time to remove the adhesive, compared to staples, there is less trauma inflicted to the tissue, blood and nerves, as well as a reduced risk of infection," said Karp.

The invention may one day be an alternative to the trauma- and infection-prone staples and sutures used in the operating room to secure skin grafts on patients with serious wounds as a result of burns, infection, cancer and other trauma.

The approach also offers the potential for delivery of therapeutics including proteins, and given its ability to attach strongly to wet tissues, the bio-inspired adhesive microneedles may be broadly applied during internal surgical procedures.

"I envision that this device will be very effective in treating patients, both by skin graft fixation, but also by delivery of active substances into the surface of the wound. These substances may be for example, antibiotics, growth-promoting compounds, or anti-inflammatory molecules," said Bohdan Pomahac, MD, director of both BWH Plastic Surgery Transplantation and the BWH Burn Center, as well as study author on the paper. "It's been a pleasure to collaborate with Dr. Karp, who is a visionary in science, to help provide the link to the microneedle adhesive's clinical applicability."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brigham and Women's Hospital, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Seung Yun Yang, Eoin D. O'Cearbhaill, Geoffroy C Sisk, Kyeng Min Park, Woo Kyung Cho, Martin Villiger, Brett E. Bouma, Bohdan Pomahac, Jeffrey M. Karp. A bio-inspired swellable microneedle adhesive for mechanical interlocking with tissue. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1702 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2715

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/2nlH06_EHaE/130416114356.htm

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Wall Street set for strong open on gold bounce, data

Apr 15 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $4,139,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,137,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,442,389 4. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,100,469 5. Steve Stricker $1,935,340 6. Phil Mickelson $1,764,680 7. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 8. Jason Day $1,659,565 9. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 10. Keegan Bradley $1,430,347 11. Charles Howell III $1,393,806 12. John Merrick $1,375,757 13. Russell Henley $1,331,434 14. Michael Thompson $1,310,709 15. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 16. Bill Haas $1,271,553 17. Billy Horschel $1,254,224 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-signal-higher-wall-street-open-083126953--finance.html

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PFT: Steelers look like match with Georgia's Jones

AP

With the NFL Draft approaching, we?re taking a team-by-team look at the needs of each club. Up next is the team with the No. 15 overall selection, the New Orleans Saints. They?re short a second-rounder from the bounty penalty, which takes away a chance to fix the worst defense in league history.

Outside linebacker: While he?s certainly a useful part, the fact the addition of Victor Butler was deemed so important is telling. He can help teach new coordinator Rob Ryan?s 3-4 system, and has been a good pass-rusher in spot duty behind DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer in Dallas. But the Saints had no one to speak of to fill the role previously, as everyone else would have been a square peg into a round hole after years of acquiring 4-3 players.

Adding a pass-rusher with some pop will be crucial to fixing the side which gave up more yards last year than any other team, and local product Barkevious Mingo could fit in nicely (plus, it gives me a cheap excuse to write the name Barkevious Mingo, which is wonderful).

Offensive tackle: When you?ve invested as heavily in a quarterback as the Saints have, protecting him is a must. But the Saints have a hole at left tackle after Jermon Bushrod followed his old position coach Aaron Kromer to Chicago, and the only options now are backup Charles Brown and former draft bust Jason Smith. Brown?s an acceptable fill-in, but you?d prefer to have a better plan than that.

Brees has a quick enough delivery to buy them a little time (and excuse a lower grade of offensive line), but they need to upgrade here, and have done research on tackles who will be drafted far higher than 15th.

Wide receiver: It?s still a good group, but adding someone with speed would certainly help. Though he?s been a disappointment in San Diego, Robert Meachem played a specific role for them, and backfilling with someone who can stretch the field is a need.

Safety: They brought in Jim Leonhard, who is a fine backup and spot player. But they need to find a playmaker for the middle of the field, to replace the pedestrian Roman Harper and Malcom Jenkins as soon as possible.

The Saints can?t possibly fix all their defensive issues in a single offseason, even if they had all their picks, which they don?t. They made a quick run at cornerback Keenan Lewis and signed defensive end Kenyon Coleman, but need more help there as well. They also need to find a young quarterback, as backup Chase Daniel split for Kansas City.

Having Brees reunited with back-from-Elba coach Sean Payton gives them a little flexibility there, as the expected offensive uptick will limit the need for Ryan to turn the defense into the 1985 Bears. But the Saints made history last year with their porosity, and now they?re changing the scheme to one that?s an odd fit for the existing personnel.

Maybe that?s a good thing, but to expect there won?t be a rough transition seems unrealistic.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/14/steelers-jarvis-jones-starting-to-look-like-a-possible-match/related/

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Feds seek clues in deadly Boston blasts

BOSTON (AP) ? The bombs that blew up seconds apart at the finish line of one of the world's most storied races left the streets spattered with blood and glass, three dead, including an 8-year-old boy, more than 140 wounded and gaping questions of who chose to attack at the Boston Marathon and why.

Federal investigators said no one had claimed responsibility for the bombings one of the city's most famous civic holidays, Patriots Day. But the blasts among the throngs of spectators raised fears of a terrorist attack.

President Barack Obama was careful not to use the words "terror" or "terrorism" as he spoke at the White House Monday after the deadly bombings, but an administration official said the bombings were being treated as an act of terrorism.

"We will find out who did this. We'll find out why they did this," the president said. "Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice."

The FBI took charge of the investigation into the bombings, serving a warrant late Monday on a home in suburban Boston and appealing for any video, audio and still images taken by marathon spectators.

A European security official said Tuesday initial evidence indicates that the attacks were not the work of suicide bombers.

"So far, investigators believe it was not the work of suicide bombers, but it is still too early to rule it out completely," said the official, who spoke from the United States on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the U.S. investigation.

The Pakistani Taliban, which has threatened attacks in the United States because of its support for the Pakistani government, on Tuesday denied any role in the marathon bombings.

The fiery explosions took place about 10 seconds and about 100 yards apart, knocking spectators and at least one runner off their feet, shattering windows and sending dense plumes of smoke rising over the street and through the fluttering national flags lining the route.

Blood stained the pavement, and huge shards were missing from window panes as high as three stories. Victims suffered broken bones, shrapnel wounds and ruptured eardrums.

Roupen Bastajian, a state trooper from Smithfield, R.I., had just finished the race when he heard the explosions.

"I started running toward the blast. And there were people all over the floor," he said. "We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs. A lot of people amputated. ... At least 25 to 30 people have at least one leg missing, or an ankle missing, or two legs missing."

At Massachusetts General Hospital, Alasdair Conn, chief of emergency services, said: "This is something I've never seen in my 25 years here ... this amount of carnage in the civilian population. This is what we expect from war."

As many as two unexploded bombs were found near the end of the 26.2-mile course as part of what appeared to be a well-coordinated attack, but they were safely disarmed, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation.

WBZ-TV reported late Monday that law enforcement officers were searching an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere. Massachusetts State Police confirmed that a search warrant related to the investigation into the explosions was served Monday night in Revere, but provided no further details.

Some investigators were seen leaving the Revere house early Tuesday carrying brown paper bags, plastic trash bags and a duffel bag.

Police said three people were killed. An 8-year-old boy was among the dead, according to a person who talked to a friend of the family and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person said the boy's mother and sister were also injured as they waited for his father to finish the race.

Hospitals reported at least 144 people injured, at least 17 of them critically. At least eight children were being treated at hospitals.

Tim Davey of Richmond, Va., was with his wife, Lisa, and children near a medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners when the injured began arriving. "They just started bringing people in with no limbs," he said.

"Most everybody was conscious," Lisa Davey said. "They were very dazed."

The Boston Marathon is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious races and about 23,000 runners participated. The race honored the victims of the Newtown, Conn., shooting with a special mile marker in Monday's race.

Boston Athletic Association president Joanne Flaminio previously said there was "special significance" to the fact that the race is 26.2 miles long and 26 people died at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

One of the city's biggest annual events, the race winds up near Copley Square, not far from the landmark Prudential Center and the Boston Public Library. It is held on Patriots Day, which commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution, at Concord and Lexington in 1775.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis asked people to stay indoors or go back to their hotel rooms and avoid crowds as bomb squads methodically checked parcels and bags left along the race route. He said investigators didn't know whether the bombs were hidden in mailboxes or trash cans.

He said authorities had received "no specific intelligence that anything was going to happen" at the race.

The Federal Aviation Administration barred low-flying aircraft within 3.5 miles of the site.

"We still don't know who did this or why," Obama said at the White House, adding, "Make no mistake: We will get to the bottom of this."

With scant official information to guide them, members of Congress said there was little or no doubt it was an act of terrorism.

"We just don't know whether it's foreign or domestic," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

A few miles away from the finish line and around the same time, a fire broke out at the John F. Kennedy Library. The police commissioner said that it may have been caused by an incendiary device but that it was not clear whether it was related to the bombings.

The first explosion occurred on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the finish line, and some people initially thought it was a celebratory cannon blast.

When the second bomb went off, spectators' cheers turned to screams. As sirens blared, emergency workers and National Guardsmen who had been assigned to the race for crowd control began climbing over and tearing down temporary fences to get to the blast site.

The bombings occurred about four hours into the race and two hours after the men's winner crossed the finish line. By that point, more than 17,000 of the athletes had finished the marathon, but thousands more were still running.

The attack may have been timed for maximum carnage: The four-hour mark is typically a crowded time near the finish line because of the slow-but-steady recreational runners completing the race and because of all the friends and relatives clustered around to cheer them on.

Runners in the medical tent for treatment of dehydration or other race-related ills were pushed out to make room for victims of the bombing.

A woman who was a few feet from the second bomb, Brighid Wall, 35, of Duxbury, said that when it exploded, runners and spectators froze, unsure of what to do. Her husband threw their children to the ground, lay on top of them and another man lay on top of them and said, "Don't get up, don't get up."

After a minute or so without another explosion, Wall said, she and her family headed to a Starbucks and out the back door through an alley. Around them, the windows of the bars and restaurants were blown out.

She said she saw six to eight people bleeding profusely, including one man who was kneeling, dazed, with blood trickling down his head. Another person was on the ground covered in blood and not moving.

"My ears are zinging. Their ears are zinging," Wall said. "It was so forceful. It knocked us to the ground."

___

Associated Press writers Jay Lindsay, Steve LeBlanc, Bridget Murphy, Rodrique Ngowi and Meghan Barr in Boston; Julie Pace, Lara Jakes and Eileen Sullivan in Washington; Paisley Dodds in London and Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/feds-seek-suspects-motive-boston-bombings-074509929.html

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Supreme Court to consider adoption case of American Indian girl

By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday in an adoption fight between a South Carolina couple who raised a girl for more than two years after her birth and the child's biological father who won custody of her due to his American Indian heritage.

The case will test whether the Indian Child Welfare Act, a 1978 federal law designed to prevent the removal of American Indian children from Indian families and tribes, can be used to block an adoption initiated by a non-Indian parent.

The case has drawn wide attention from adoption attorneys, child welfare organizations and Indian tribes, who say it could affect adoptions nationwide by making clear how the federal act works with state family laws.

"In the real world, it's often a daunting task to determine whether the Indian Child Welfare Act applies to a particular child," said Mark Demaray, an adoption attorney in Washington state.

Charleston residents Matt and Melanie Capobianco, a Boeing technician and developmental psychologist, respectively, sought to adopt under South Carolina law a girl they named Veronica after she was born in September 2009 to a single woman in Oklahoma.

Christina Maldonado sought to have her baby adopted after the child's father, Dusten Brown, renounced his parental rights in a text message during her pregnancy, according to court documents.

Brown, a registered member of the Cherokee Nation and a soldier at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, said he learned of the adoption four months later and signed documents relinquishing parental rights, court records show.

But he later contested the adoption, saying he misunderstood the documents he signed.

Citing the Indian Child Welfare Act, a family court in South Carolina awarded custody to Brown in 2011. In late December 2011, the Capobiancos turned 27-month-old Veronica over to Brown, who took her back to Oklahoma. The girl is now 3-1/2.

The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the ruling in a split decision, with one justice calling the case a "human tragedy."

COUPLE SEEKS TO GET CHILD BACK

The adoptive parents, who have not seen the child in more than a year, are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the decision and return Veronica to them. The couple and the child's birth mother will attend the oral arguments.

The adoptive couple argues South Carolina state law is on their side and say a ruling in their favor would not dismantle the Indian Child Welfare Act, which was originally enacted to prevent social welfare authorities from forcibly separating Indian children from their parents, a practice that was common enough at the time to prompt Congress to take action. They say the federal act "requires more of a parental relationship than biology alone."

"All the future requires is that unwed Indian fathers ? like all other fathers ? appreciate that their choices have consequences and that some decisions cannot be undone," the couple said in a court brief filed this month.

Lawyers with the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, which filed a brief in support of the couple, said in a telephone briefing last week that they hope the court will clarify how the act works with state family laws.

Under South Carolina law, Brown did not step forward soon enough to assert his parental rights, said Demaray, the academy's immediate past president.

"What does an alleged father have to do and when does he have to do it to establish paternity to be deemed a parent and therefore have the right to participate in a planned adoption?" Demaray said.

A coalition of 18 child welfare organizations agreed that state and federal laws have long required biological fathers to take financial and other responsibility for a child in order to be deemed a legal parent.

However, the group filed a brief in support of Brown and the Cherokee Nation that urged the court to protect the Indian Child Welfare Act.

The act is the "gold standard" for ensuring the well-being of children by requiring efforts be made to develop bonds between a child and fit birth parents, said Linda Spears, vice president for policy and public affairs at the Child Welfare League of America.

"There's more at stake than the custody of just one child," said David Sanders, executive vice president for systems improvement at Casey Family Programs. "We want to ensure that the act does not become collateral damage in this emotionally charged legal action."

Jay McCarthy, an adoption attorney in Flagstaff, Arizona, said he hoped the justices would go beyond questions of paternity to define the rights of children.

"The Indian Child Welfare Act, which grants individuals and tribes statutory rights, does not trump the child's constitutional rights," McCarthy said.

"This case provides an excellent opportunity for the Supreme Court to finally, hopefully and at long last clarify: Does a child have a constitutional right to a secure and stable home? They've never reached that issue yet."

The case is Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, U.S. Supreme Court, 12-399.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-consider-adoption-case-american-indian-girl-010759063.html

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Venezuela's choice: Chavez heir or fresh start

Venezuela's interim President Nicolas Maduro attends a ceremony marking the Day of the National Revolutionary Militia, also called Bolivarian militias, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, April 13, 2013. The Bolivarian Militia is a force of volunteers ranging from students to retirees formed by the late President Hugo Chavez. Just over a month after Chavez succumbed to cancer, Venezuelans vote Sunday to replace him. Maduro, who served as Chavez's foreign minister and vice president, is running against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles in Sunday's vote.(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Venezuela's interim President Nicolas Maduro attends a ceremony marking the Day of the National Revolutionary Militia, also called Bolivarian militias, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, April 13, 2013. The Bolivarian Militia is a force of volunteers ranging from students to retirees formed by the late President Hugo Chavez. Just over a month after Chavez succumbed to cancer, Venezuelans vote Sunday to replace him. Maduro, who served as Chavez's foreign minister and vice president, is running against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles in Sunday's vote.(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles waves as he arrives to a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, April 13, 2013. Capriles is running against ruling party candidate and acting President Nicolas Maduro in Sunday's special presidential election. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A picture of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez covers a door at the 23 de Enero neighborhood campaign command center for the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, April 12, 2013. Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's hand-picked successor, is running for president against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles on April 14, in an election to replace Chavez who died on March 5. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Dolls of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez, left, and independence hero Simon Bolivar sit inside the 23 de Enero neighborhood campaign command center for the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, April 12, 2013. Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's hand-picked successor, is running for president against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles on April 14, in an election to replace Chavez who died on March 5. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa

Defaced campaign signs of ruling party presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro cover a wall in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, April 12, 2013. Maduro, who served as Chavez's foreign minister and vice president, is running against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles in Sunday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Voters who kept Hugo Chavez in office for 14 years decide Sunday whether to elect the devoted lieutenant he chose to carry on the revolution that endeared him to the poor but that many Venezuelans believe is ruining the nation.

Nicolas Maduro sought to ride Chavez's endorsement to victory with a campaign nearly bereft of promises but freighted with personal attacks that was otherwise little more than an unflagging tribute to the polarizing leader who died of cancer March 5.

The 50-year-old longtime Chavez foreign minister pinned his hopes on the immense loyalty for his boss among millions of poor beneficiaries of a socialist government's largesse and the heft of a state apparatus that Chavez skillfully consolidated.

The governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela deployed a well-worn, get-out-the-vote machine spearheaded by loyal state employees. It also enjoyed a pervasive state media apparatus as part of a near monopoly on institutional power.

Challenger Henrique Capriles' aides accused Chavista loyalists in the judiciary of putting them at glaring disadvantage. Prosecutors and state regulators impoverished the campaign and opposition broadcast media by targeting them with unwarranted fines and prosecutions, they said

Capriles' main campaign weapon was thus jujutsu: To simply point out "the incompetence of the state," as he put it to reporters in a news conference Saturday night.

Maduro was still favored, but his early big lead in opinion polls halved over the past two weeks in a country struggling with the legacy of Chavez's management of the world's largest oil reserves. Many Venezuelans believe his confederates not only squandered but plundered much of the $1 trillion in oil revenues during his time in office.

People are fed up with chronic power outages, crumbling infrastructure, unfinished public works projects, double-digit inflation, food and medicine shortages and rampant crime that has given Venezuela among the world's highest homicide and kidnapping rates.

Capriles is a 40-year-old state governor who lost to Chavez in October's presidential election by a nearly 11-point margin, the best showing ever by a challenger to the longtime president. He showed for Maduro none of the respect he accorded Chavez. Maduro hit back hard, at one point calling Capriles' backers "heirs of Hitler." It was an odd accusation considering that Capriles is the grandson of Holcaust survivors from Poland.

"Capriles ran a remarkable campaign that shows he has creativity, tenacity and disposition to play political hardball," said David Smilde, an analyst with the Washington Office on Latin America think tank.

At his campaign rallies, Capriles would read out a list of unfinished road, bridge and rail projects. Then he asked people what goods were scarce on store shelves. The opposition contends Chavez emptied the treasury last year to buy re-election with government largesse.

Maduro, a former union activist and bus driver with close ties to Cuba's leaders, constantly alleged that Capriles was conspiring with U.S. putschists to destabilize Venezuela and even suggested Washington had somehow infected Chavez with the cancer that killed him.

But mainly he focused his campaign message on the simple theme of his mentor's October campaign: "I am Chavez. We are all Chavez."

Maduro promised to expand anti-poverty programs, but without explaining how he'd pay for them.

On Saturday evening, Maduro met with members of Venezuela's 125,000-strong citizen militias outside the museum that holds Chavez's remains to mark a poignant anniversary: Eleven years since Chavez was triumphantly restored to power after a failed coup initially recognized by the U.S. government.

Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank said Maduro campaigned "ineptly," trying too hard to "replay the Chavez script" and alienating moderate Chavistas.

Whoever wins Sunday will face no end of hard choices.

Many Venezuelan factories operate at half capacity because strict currency controls make it hard for them to pay for imported parts and materials. Business leaders say some companies are on verging on bankruptcy because they are unable to extend lines of credit with foreign suppliers.

Chavez imposed currency controls a decade ago trying to stem capital flight as his government expropriated large land parcels and dozens of businesses. Now, dollars sell on the black market at three times the official exchange rate and Maduro has had to devalue Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, twice this year.

Meanwhile, consumers grumble that stores are short of milk, butter, corn flour and other food staples. The government blames hoarding, while the opposition points at the price controls imposed by Chavez in an attempt to bring down double-digit inflation.

Capriles said he will reverse land expropriations, which he says have ruined many farms and forced Venezuela to import food after previously being a net exporter of beef, rice, coffee and other foods. But even Capriles said currency and price controls cannot be immediately scrapped without triggering a disastrous run on the bolivar.

High international oil prices remain a boon for Venezuela, underpinning its economy. Chavez spent $500 billion to bolster social programs, trimming the poverty rate from 50 percent to about 30 percent.

But critics say the government has misused the oil industry, ordering the state oil company PDVSA into food distribution and financing of social programs while neglecting needed investment that has caused production and refining to drop.

Venezuela's oil revenue is down from $5.6 billion five years ago to $3.8 billion in 2012, and PDVSA's debt climbed to $40 billion last year. The country even imports 100,000 barrels a day of gasoline from the United States.

___

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Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-14-Venezuela-Election/id-0645824f140d4e80b6dd7d6956113715

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Reactivating memories during sleep: Memory rehearsal during sleep can make a big difference in remembering later

Apr. 12, 2013 ? Why do some memories last a lifetime while others disappear quickly? A new study suggests that memories rehearsed, during either sleep or waking, can have an impact on memory consolidation and on what is remembered later.

The new Northwestern University study shows that when the information that makes up a memory has a high value (associated with, for example, making more money), the memory is more likely to be rehearsed and consolidated during sleep and, thus, be remembered later.

Also, through the use of a direct manipulation of sleep, the research demonstrated a way to encourage the reactivation of low-value memories so they too were remembered later.

Delphine Oudiette, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of psychology at Northwestern and lead author of the study, designed the experiment to study how participants remembered locations of objects on a computer screen. A value assigned to each object informed participants how much money they could make if they remembered it later on the test.

"The pay-off was much higher for some of the objects than for others," explained Ken Paller, professor of psychology at Northwestern and co-author of the study. "In other words, we manipulated the value of the memories -- some were valuable memories and others not so much, just as the things we experience each day vary in the extent to which we'd like to be able to remember them later."

When each object was shown, it was accompanied by a characteristic sound. For example, a tea kettle would appear with a whistling sound. During both states of wakefulness and sleep, some of the sounds were played alone, quite softly, essentially reminding participants of the low-value items.

Participants remembered the low-value associations better when the sound presentations occurred during sleep.

"We think that what's happening during sleep is basically the reactivation of that information," Oudiette said. "We can provoke the reactivation by presenting those sounds, therefore energizing the low-value memories so they get stored better."

The research poses provocative implications about the role memory reactivation during sleep could play in improving memory storage," said Paller, director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Northwestern. "Whatever makes you rehearse during sleep is going to determine what you remember later, and conversely, what you're going to forget."

Many memories that are stored during the day are not remembered.

"We think one of the reasons for that is that we have to rehearse memories in order to keep them. When you practice and rehearse, you increase the likelihood of later remembering," Oudiette said. "And a lot of our rehearsal happens when we don't even realize it -- while we're asleep."

Paller said selectivity of memory consolidation is not well understood. Most efforts in memory research have focused on what happens when you first form a memory and on what happens when you retrieve a memory.

"The in-between time is what we want to learn more about, because a fascinating aspect of memory storage is that it is not static," Paller said. "Memories in our brain are changing all of the time. Sometimes you improve memory storage by rehearsing all the details, so maybe later you remember better -- or maybe worse if you've embellished too much.

"The fact that this critical memory reactivation transpires during sleep has mostly been hidden from us, from humanity, because we don't realize so much of what's happening while we're asleep," he said.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Northwestern University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. D. Oudiette, J. W. Antony, J. D. Creery, K. A. Paller. The Role of Memory Reactivation during Wakefulness and Sleep in Determining Which Memories Endure. Journal of Neuroscience, 2013; 33 (15): 6672 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5497-12.2013

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/otYtwfVMsl8/130412132428.htm

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Chinese demand for baby milk causes 'ration' in UK

LONDON (AP) ? British retailers are limiting purchases of baby milk powder to prevent customers from bulk-buying and exporting it to China for profit.

Leading supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury's say they have started advising customers to buy no more than two tins of milk powder in each transaction. The British Retail Consortium said Wednesday other retailers are imposing similar limits to ensure there is enough stock for everyone wanting baby milk.

Dairy manufacturer Danone said the increased demand is believed to be caused by unofficial exports to China to satisfy the needs of Chinese parents who want international brands for their babies.

Baby formula made by foreign brands is highly prized in China, where babies have died from Chinese-made milk powder contaminated with melamine.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-demand-baby-milk-causes-ration-uk-145052396.html

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Exxon Mobil must pay $236M in NH pollution case

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) ? Exxon Mobil Corp. was found liable Tuesday in a long-running lawsuit over groundwater contamination caused by the gasoline additive MTBE, and the jury ordered the oil giant to pay $236 million to New Hampshire to clean it up.

The jurors reached their verdicts in less than 90 minutes, after sitting through nearly three months of testimony. Lawyers on both sides were stunned by the speed with which they reached the verdict on liability and even more stunned when the jurors took barely 20 minutes more to fill out the damages verdict.

Juror Dawn Booker of Pembroke told The Associated Press that all 12 felt "very, very confident about our decision."

"We've been sitting there for three months listening," Booker said. "It was just cut and dry. We all pretty much had our own decision before we went in there.

"Honest to God, we put a lot of heartfelt thought into it," Booker said. Although the state's burden of proof was a preponderance of the evidence ? or 51 percent as the judge explained ? Booker said "it was way more than 51 percent for New Hampshire."

The panel awarded the state all $236 million it was seeking from Exxon Mobil to monitor and remediate groundwater contaminated by MTBE. The chemical was added to gasoline to reduce smog but was found to travel farther and faster in groundwater than gasoline without the additive.

"We appreciate the jurors' service during this long trial, but erroneous rulings prevented them from hearing all the evidence and deprived us of a fair trial," said Exxon Mobil lawyer David Lender. "We have strong legal and factual arguments to make on appeal."

Attorney General Michael Delaney said he anticipates an appeal and doesn't expect to see the money "anytime soon." He said the case and the verdict are historic.

The verdict is more than twice the $105 million jurors awarded the New York City Water District in 2009 in its case against Exxon Mobil over MTBE contamination. That case is on appeal.

Sher Leff, a California law firm that won the New York City verdict, was hired by the state of New Hampshire at the outset of its 2003 lawsuit to try its case against Exxon Mobil.

Jessica Grant, the state's lead lawyer, said it was the largest verdict ever in an MTBE case, though a financial analyst noted that the award represents about two days' worth of profit for the company.

Jurors found that Exxon Mobil was negligent in adding MTBE to its gasoline and that it was a defective product. They also found Exxon Mobil liable for failing to warn distributors and consumers about its contaminating characteristics.

The jury determined that the hazards of using MTBE gasoline were not obvious to state officials, who opted into the reformulated gasoline program in 1991 to help reduce smog in the state's four southernmost counties.

Jurors also rejected Exxon Mobil's defense that more than 300 junkyard and gas station owners not named in the lawsuit were responsible for much of the contamination. They also absolved the state of responsibility for the contamination.

The jury found damages in the amount of $816 million, but that award was reduced to 28.9 percent of the total ? reflecting Exxon's market share of gasoline sold in the state between 1988 and 2005.

Lawyers for Exxon Mobil argued the company used MTBE to meet federal Clean Air Act mandates to reduce air pollution and should not be held liable for sites contaminated by other retail businesses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified MTBE as a "possible human carcinogen." New Hampshire banned its use in 2007.

The state says more than 600 wells in New Hampshire are known to be contaminated with MTBE and an expert witness estimated the number could exceed 5,000.

Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil was the sole remaining defendant of the 26 the state sued in 2003. Citgo was a co-defendant when the trial began in January, but it began settlement negotiations with the state and withdrew from the trial. Citgo ultimately settled for $16 million, bringing the total the state has collected in MTBE settlement money to $136 million.

Fadel Gheit, managing director of oil and gas research and a senior analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., said the verdict won't put a dent in Exxon Mobil's bottom line.

"Exxon will probably make close to a $40 billion profit this year, Gheit said. "That's (the award) two days' work."

He said it's no surprise that Exxon Mobil would take the 10-year-old lawsuit to trial, saying the company "will make you sweat for every dollar you think you're going to get." Company leaders view it as a matter of principle, he said.

"Exxon is the only company I know of that will fight to the last minute," Gheit said. "I understand their mentality. Everybody thinks they can milk this cow."

The trial was the longest state trial in New Hampshire history and the verdict the largest jury verdict in state history, eclipsing the $21.6 million awarded in 2010 in a drug products liability case.

Jurors had more than 400 exhibits to sift through, including memos and reports dating back decades. Those memos included some dating back to 1984 in which Exxon Mobil researchers warned against using MTBE gasoline because of the extensive harm it can do to groundwater.

Grant, the attorney representing the state, said it was pleased the jury held Exxon Mobil accountable for widespread groundwater contamination.

"The finding of Exxon's negligence is particularly important because it shows the jury understood that this problem could have been avoided," she said.

Attorney Matt Pawa of the Pawa Law Group in Boston, who has been involved in the case from the start and brought in the Sher Leff firm, said perserverence paid off.

"When you seek justice against one of the world's biggest corporations, you have to stick it out for the long haul."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exxon-mobil-must-pay-236m-nh-pollution-case-172710602.html

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U.S. says Okada's Universal is target of criminal bribery probe

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada and his companies are being investigated in the United States for potential violations of anti-bribery laws in relation to a $2 billion casino project in the Philippines, according to a court filing.

In a Nevada state court filing, U.S. federal prosecutors sought permission to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Wynn Resorts Ltd against Okada to prevent disrupting an ongoing criminal probe into the bribery allegations.

It was the first time U.S. authorities publicly acknowledged a criminal investigation of Okada and his companies - Japan's Universal Entertainment Corp and Nevada-based Aruze USA Inc - for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, an anti-bribery statute dating to the 1970s.

The government also noted in the filing that it has been conducting a criminal investigation into Wynn's donation in 2011 to the University of Macau Development Foundation. Okada has said Wynn's board turned against him for opposing the donation.

For more than a year Okada has been locked in a legal battle with Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn, during which the former business partners have exchanged allegations of illegal conduct.

Shares of Universal Entertainment, which generates the bulk of its profits from making pachinko gaming machines for the Japanese market, tumbled 15.7 percent to 1,666 yen on Wednesday - their biggest one-day drop in almost 14 months.

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a temporary stay on discovery in the civil proceedings to allow for the criminal case to be developed. Wynn would consent to the motion while Okada would likely oppose it, according to the filing.

"Universal is cooperating fully with all investigations," said Eric Andrus, a spokesman for the Japanese company at RLM Finsbury. Kim Sinatra, general counsel for Wynn Resorts, said the company would continue to cooperate with the government.

Reuters has reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was probing $40 million in payments from Universal to a close associate of the former head of the Philippine gaming authority in 2010 around the time the company was granted concessions for its Manila Bay casino.

Universal said in December it filed a defamation suit against Reuters in Tokyo for its reporting on the payments.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne and Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-says-okadas-universal-target-criminal-bribery-probe-083232900--finance.html

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ThermoShield protects your phone in unbearable heat and bone-rattling cold

Rugged phone cases are bountiful. But, while they may offer some additional thermal protection, they're not built for true extremes. For that, you'd need either piles of insulation (too bulky) or some way to control the temperature inside the case. ThermoShield, one of over a dozen student-run companies vying for attention at Northeastern University's Husky Startup Challenge, went the latter route by slipping a Peltier element inside a slim plastic shell. The current prototype was built on a 3D printer and clearly created for an iPhone, but plans for the initial model should be simple enough to port to any handset. A standard watch battery powers the small plate and by controlling the voltage across it you generate either small amounts of heat or produce a slight cooling effect. A simple switch or slider would be used to manually control the flow of electrons. Trekking through the arctic tundra? Simply crank up the heat to keep your phone from freezing to death. Meandering through the Sahara? Take advantage of the Peltier's thermoelectric cooling properties to keep the Gorilla Glass from melting.

According to one of the creators, Hannah Bialic, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to add automatic temperature control. Though, development costs could significantly drive up the price of the ThermoShield. The hardware could all be baked directly into the case itself or an app could be created that would automate everything. Obviously, though, relying on software would limit the case to working with a single device (and let's be realistic, it won't be your beloved Nexus 4). There's no telling when or if you'll actually be able to pick up one of these variable temperature shells, but you can add your name to the mailing list at the more coverage link.

Filed under: Peripherals, Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Kmxo-F1UHMM/

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Health budget spends on mental health; cuts Medicare

By Toni Clarke

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's proposed 2014 budget includes an increase of $3.9 billion to the health department as it prepares to implement the administration's healthcare overhaul, setting money aside for mental health, but cutting medicare.

The budget asks for $1.5 billion in increased funding to help set up healthcare exchanges and educate consumers on the enrollment process, which is scheduled to begin on October 1. The exchanges are to begin providing coverage on January 1.

The increase would contribute to a budget of $80.1 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services, up nearly $4 billion over 2012. The 2013 budget is still being finalized.

"Even as it invests in areas that we know are critical for our future prosperity, the budget also contributes to the president's goal of cutting the deficit in a balanced way," health secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at a news briefing in Washington on Wednesday.

"That means safeguarding every dollar, cutting waste and duplication, seeking out savings wherever we can and making some very difficult choices we wouldn't have made at other times."

The budget calls for cuts to Medicare as part of a broad plan to reduce the program's costs by roughly $400 billion over the next decade. At the same time, it proposes $130 million in funding for mental health services and additional funding for research into gun violence following the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting in December.

"While we know the vast number of Americans who struggle with mental illness are not violent, recent tragedies have reminded us of the staggering toll that untreated mental illness takes on our society," Sebelius said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will receive more than $30 million to support a nationwide violent death surveillance system and conduct research on the causes and prevention of gun violence.

The budget increases funding for the Food and Drug Administration by $821 million and provides $31 billion to the National Institutes of Health to, among other things, fulfill the government's commitment to enhance research into Alzheimer's disease.

Of the FDA's proposed total budget of $4.7 billion, $295.8 million would be earmarked for food safety, including the implementation of the new Food Safety Modernization Act.

The food safety funding would consist of $43.4 million in taxpayer money and the rest in industry fees, including $58.9 million from food facilities for registration and inspection and $165.7 million from food importers.

Under the new safety law, the FDA for the first time will be allowed to penalize U.S. companies that fail to monitor produce they import from abroad. The Act was signed into law in January 2011 and represents the most sweeping reform of food safety laws in more than 70 years.

"The budget proposal is a significant investment in food safety," said Sandra Eskin, project director of the Food Safety Campaign at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The FDA's commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who appeared with Sebelius at the news briefing along with an array of other government health officials, described the agency's budget as "austere." She said 94 percent of the budget would come from user fees paid by industry.

The health department's budget assumes a permanent change to the way Medicare pays physicians. The current formula, known as the "sustainable growth rate" has called for reductions in physician payment rates since 2002, but each year Congress has blocked the reduction.

The government said it supports a period of payment stability lasting "several years" to allow time to develop new payment models that would reward healthcare practitioners who provide high-quality efficient care.

The budget also reduces the federal subsidy of Medicare costs for wealthier people and lists savings from reducing the length of time given to biologic drugs to 7 years from 12 years, allowing generic drugs to enter the market sooner.

Savings are also expected from a proposal that would allow the Federal Trade Commission to prevent branded pharmaceutical companies from paying generic drugmakers to delay the launch of generic rivals, known as "pay for delay" deals.

"This was in Obama's proposal in 2011, so this is not new," said Mark Schoenebaum, an analyst at ISI Group. "What is new is that the savings have increased from $3 billion to $11 billion, so still relatively small."

(Reporting By Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Andre Grenon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-health-budget-raises-spending-reform-mental-health-152758744.html

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World stocks up but Japan's Nikkei reverses gains

BANGKOK (AP) ? World stock markets rose Tuesday as investors looked ahead to U.S. corporate earnings, but Japan's benchmark index finished marginally lower, ending a four-session rally sparked by the Bank of Japan's bold program to revive the country's moribund economy.

The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo posted strong gains last week after the head of Japan's central bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, unveiled aggressive action to shake Japan out of nearly two decades of growth-crippling deflation. The bank will pump huge amounts of money into the economy via government bond purchases and pursue a 2 percent inflation target in order to spark lending and spending.

But the rally ran out of stream Tuesday and the Nikkei edged down slightly to close at 13,192.35. The Japanese yen neared 100 to the dollar, its weakest since May 2009, before trimming its losses.

In early European trading, Britain's FTSE rose 0.5 percent to 6,306.03. Germany's DAX rose 0.4 percent to 7,694.96. France's CAC-40 gained 0.7 percent to 3,690.82. Wall Street futures were slightly positive. Dow Jones industrial futures added 0.1 percent to 14,572 and S&P 500 futures gained 0.2 percent to 1,561.70.

With Japan's monetary battle plan now laid out, investors are turning to quarterly earnings reports from major U.S. companies. The reporting season began in earnest Monday when Alcoa, a major maker of aluminum, turned in a mixed report. Its earnings were ahead of expectations but its revenue missed forecasts. Later this week, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase announce their first-quarter results.

Good performances from banks could boost confidence among investors, said Evan Lucas of IG Markets.

"Credit growth is the one thing that people are struggling to see in the U.S. If you see that, it means there is a bit of stability coming through to the underlying economy," Lucas said.

Gains in Hong Kong and mainland China markets reflected a decreasing sense of alarm over the outbreak of a new bird flu strain in eastern China that has killed seven people so far. There is no sign that the virus is being transmitted from human to human.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7 percent to 21,870.34 and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6 percent to 2,225.77. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index advanced 0.8 percent to 926.22.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.4 percent to 4,973.80. Benchmarks in Singapore and Indonesia also rose. Thailand and Taiwan fell.

South Korea's Kospi rose 0.1 percent to 1,920.74 as tension brewed on the Korean Peninsula amid joint U.S.-South Korean military drills.

Pyongyang recalled all its workers from the Kaesong industrial complex, the last major economic link between South Korea and North Korea. The won hovered at its lowest levels since July 2012. A dollar was buying 1,139.5 won at late afternoon time in Asia.

Australian mining stocks were lifted by gains in commodity prices.

Rio Tinto Ltd. rose 3.5 percent. Fortescue Metals Ltd. jumped 7.3 percent. But Africa-focused miner Sundance Resources plummeted 47 percent as it came out of a three-week trading halt. The company said Monday that it had ended talks with Hanlong Mining after the Chinese company ran into problems financing a $1.3 billion takeover deal.

Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 28 cents to $93.64 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 66 cents to finish at $93.36 a barrel on Monday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3031 from $1.3007 late Monday in New York. The dollar fell to 98.93 yen from 99.24 yen after trading as high as 99.66 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/world-stocks-japans-nikkei-reverses-gains-095017768--finance.html

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