Given the Rays? struggles behind the plate last season, it didn?t seem all that likely that the team would be content to replace Kelly Shoppach?with Jose Molina and call it a day. They went in another direction Sunday, trading incumbent John Jaso?to the Mariners for reliever Josh Lueke and a player to be named or cash.
Jaso, 28, is known for his on-base skills, and he?ll provide a pretty stark contrast to Miguel Olivo?when he?s in Seattle?s lineup next season, assuming he bounces back. Jaso hit .263/.372/.378 as a rookie in 2010 before slipping to .224/.298/.354 in 246 at-bats last season.
The Rays figure to go get a new starting catcher to replace Jaso, though they do have an internal option in Robinson Chirinos. Ramon Hernandez is still out there in free agency and would make a ton of sense for the club.
The Mariners figure to have Jaso?and Olivo?split time, though not in a straight platoon. While the left-handed-hitting Jaso?should play against the majority of righties, Olivo will get some starts there, too.
In Lueke, the Rays get a power arm, but one the Mariners didn?t value very highly. Lueke?was acquired from the Rangers in the Cliff Lee deal without Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik?having known about his having pled no contest to a false imprisonment charge (after originally facing rape and sodomy charges)?and having served jail time. Lueke throws 92-95 mph, but after he flopped in 32 2/3 innings for the Mariners last season, compiling a 6.06 ERA, it?s no surprise to see him go here. He has the potential to turn into a nice setup man or maybe even a closer for Tampa Bay.
Given that Jaso is always going to be a poor defensive catcher even if he does bounce back offensively, this looks like a win for Tampa Bay. Lueke could very well flame out, but he?s also a candidate to turn into a fine reliever, and the Rays needed to do better than Jaso for a starting catcher anyway.
LONDON (Reuters) ? British singer George Michael has been forced to postpone the rest of his European tour due to ongoing treatment for "severe" pneumonia, his spokeswoman said on Friday.
But she denied reports that the former Wham! frontman was suffering from serious heart problems and was "slowly improving" in hospital in Vienna.
"George Michael is ill with pneumonia and any other speculation regarding his illness is unfounded and untrue," she said in a statement.
"He is receiving excellent medical care; he is responding to treatment and slowly improving."
His doctors advised that the chart-topping artist behind such solo hits as "Careless Whisper" and "Faith" should postpone the rest of his Symphonica tour.
He is being treated by Christoph Zielinski and Thomas Staudinger, who said in a joint statement:
"George Michael has severe community acquired pneumonia and is being treated as an inpatient. His condition has stabilized and he is responding to treatment.
"From the current point of view, the time until recovery cannot be estimated, but he will not be able to perform the rest of the tour. Besides medical treatment, complete rest and peace and quiet are mandatory."
All British dates of his Symphonica European tour have been called off, including three this month and 11 in December.
Further announcements will be made once the gigs can be rescheduled, and ticket holders were asked to retain their tickets.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
>>>more details are coming to light about those new allegations against
jerry sandusky
, part of the growing
child sex abuse
scandal at
penn state
. nbc's jay gray is in
state college
for us tonight.
>> reporter: from the outside, it seemed to be a quiet thanksgiving for
jerry sandusky
, even as the firestorm of allegations around him continued to grow. two more
young boys
, both currently under the age of 18, have now accused the former
state penn
state coach of
sexual abuse
. as he drove off with his dog this morning,
sandusky
refused to discuss the latest accusations, but his attorney, joe amendola, confirms a report in a local newspaper that one of
sandusky
's new accusers is from his own family. and in an e-mail to the media, also goes on to say, quote, the allegations are ridiculous and unfounded. as the investigation continues to grow, so do questions about governor
tom corbett
's role in the controversy. he was the attorney general and member of the
penn stateboard of trustees
during the
grand jury
investigation of
sandusky
three years ago. during that time, never shared any information with the school.
>>i gave thought to it on a constant basis. we are very careful about how we reveal it.
>>the
grand jury
manual, though, seems to indicate he could have shared at least some of the information.
>>look, there is no question that everyone in this process, the
penn state
officials to even my good friend
joe paterno
, everyone in this process didn't act swiftly enough, didn't act courageously attorney.
>> reporter: also tonight an attorney for one of the men identified as a victim is asking for an injunction to stop the second mile charity from dissipating or transferring any of its assets as they consider suing that charity. jay gray, nbc news,
state college
, pennsylvania.
SANAA (Reuters) ? Yemen's vice president called presidential elections for February 21 on Saturday under a deal aimed at ending months of protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh that have brought the country to the edge of civil war.
If the agreement goes according to plan, Saleh will become the fourth Arab ruler brought down by mass demonstrations that have reshaped the political landscape of the Middle East.
Saleh returned home on Saturday after signing the deal with the opposition in Riyadh on Wednesday under which he transferred his powers to Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after 33 years in office and 10 months of protests.
In a decree run on the Saba state news agency on Saturday, Hadi said Yemenis "are called on to vote in early elections for a new president of the republic starting at 8 o'clock on the morning of Tuesday, February 21, 2012."
"The early presidential election will take place under the management of the Supreme Commission For Elections and Referendum," the decree added.
Yemen has become engulfed under Saleh by political strife that has allowed free rein to northern rebels, southern secessionists and al-Qaeda.
Under the agreement, signed with the Yemeni opposition at a ceremony hosted by Saudi King Abdullah, Saleh will receive immunity from prosecution and keep his title until a successor is elected. Hadi was charged with calling the election within three months and forming a new government with the opposition.
Hundreds of people have been killed during months of protests seeking Saleh's overthrow. The political deadlock has reignited conflicts with separatists and militants, raising fears that al Qaeda's Yemen wing could take a foothold on the borders of Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.
Details of the power transfer deal - drawn up by Yemen's richer neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Council earlier this year, and thwarted by Saleh on three separate occasions - were hammered out by U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar, with support from U.S. and European diplomats.
The deal has failed to appease protesters at Sanaa's Change Square, with many of them angry that it has guaranteed Saleh and his family immunity.
On Friday, opposition parties agreed to nominate the head of an alliance that led the protests, Mohammed Basindwa, to form a new government. Basindwa is a former foreign minister who leads the opposition National Council formed after the protests broke out in February.
SALAFI SITES SHELLED
Earlier on Saturday, 10 people were killed in north Yemen when Shi'ite Muslim rebels shelled positions held by Sunni Islamist Salafi fighters after the collapse of a week-old ceasefire, a Salafi spokesman said.
The conflict between the Shi'ite Houthi rebels and the Sunni Salafis is just one of several plaguing Yemen. In recent weeks, the Houthis have skirmished with Salafist fighters, leading local tribesmen to broker a truce between them a week ago.
"The Houthis broke the ceasefire and shelled the town of Damaj," said the Salafi spokesman, who identified himself as Abu Ismail, adding that 15 people were injured.
Members of the Zaidi sect of Shi'ite Islam, the Houthi rebels led an uprising based in the northern Saada province that Saleh's forces have struggled to crush, with Saudi Arabia intervening militarily in 2009 before a ceasefire took hold last year.
The Houthis, who effectively control Saada, are deeply wary of Saudi Arabia's promotion of puritanical Sunni Salafi creeds that regard Shi'ites as heretics.
Saleh Habra, a Houthi leader, has accused the Yemeni government of supplying arms to the Salafis, who he said were trying to build a military camp near the Saudi border. "We are trying to cut off their arms supplies," Habra told Reuters last week.
Separately, Yemeni aircraft bombed sites used by anti-government tribal militants in northern Sanaa, killing seven people, tribal sources said on Saturday.
Those sources said tribal fighters were seeking to surround a camp used by the Republican Guard, a unit led by Saleh's son.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Sami Aboudi; Writing by Mahmoud Habboush; Editing by David Stamp)
If you're going to spend much of the Thanksgiving holiday on the couch ? after all, you'll have lots of food to digest -- there's plenty of TV to watch. Check out our roundup of marathons, specials and games. All times are Eastern (ET):
Parades and Specials: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (9 a.m.-12 p.m., NBC) The National Dog Show (12 p.m.-2 p.m., NBC) Miracle on 34th Street (2 p.m.-4 p.m., NBC) Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (8 p.m.-8:30 p.m., Fox) A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (8 p.m.-9 p.m., ABC) The Real Story of Thanksgiving (8 p.m.-9 p.m., History) Punkin Chunkin 2011 (8 p.m.-10 p.m., Science & Discovery) Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (8 p.m.-10 p.m., NBC) Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown (8:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., Fox) Swampsgiving (9 p.m.-10 p.m., History) A Very Gaga Thanksgiving (9:30 p.m.-11 p.m., ABC) The 85th Anniversary of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (10 p.m.-11 p.m., NBC) This Is It (10 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Friday, VH1)
Sports: Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions (12:30 p.m., Fox) Miami Dolphins at Dallas Cowboys (4:15 p.m., CBS) San Francisco 49ers at Baltimore Ravens (8:20 p.m., NFLN)
Marathons: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (6 a.m-4 p.m., Chiller) Cake Boss (6 a.m.-8:30 p.m., TLC) Supernanny (6 a.m.-3 a.m Friday, Style) Arrested Development (6 a.m.-6 a.m. Friday, IFC) Roseanne (7 a.m.-7 p.m., Oxygen) Cool Tools (7 a.m.-4 a.m. Friday, DIY Network) Top 30 Family Videos for Thanksgiving (7:30 a.m.-11 a.m., CMT) My Wife and Kids (8 a.m.-5 p.m., BET) IRT Deadliest Roads (8 a.m.-8 p.m., History) Deal or No Deal (8 a.m.-midnight, GSN) The First 48 (8 a.m.-4:00 a.m. Friday, A&E) Star Trek: The Next Generation (8 a.m.-5 a.m Friday, BBC America) James Bond films (8 a.m.-5:30 a.m Friday, Syfy) The Andy Griffith Show (8 a.m.-7:30 p.m., TV Land) How It's Made (9 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Science) American Guns (9 a.m.-8 p.m., Discovery) Bones (10 a.m.-8 p.m., TNT) NCIS (10 a.m.-8 p.m., USA) Braxton Family Values (10 a.m.-10 p.m., WEtv) The Godfather Parts 1 and 2(11:30 a.m.-8 p.m., AMC) Designing Women (3 p.m.-8 p.m., TV Guide Network) Brothers & Sisters (5 p.m.-1 a.m. Friday, SOAPnet) Reed Between the Lines (5 p.m.-midnight, BET) Friends (9 p.m.-5:30 a.m., Nick at Nite) The Comedy Central Roast (10:30 p.m.-1:40 a.m. Friday, Comedy Central)
Houston-area residents have to wonder if they'll be next after a teen who was standing on a street corner was swallowed by a sinkhole that opened suddenly when an underground?water main burst.
Giovanni Long, 16, told khou.com that he fell several feet and was under water for about 15 seconds as he tried to claw his way out of a hole 6 feet deep and 10 feet wide as he was walking in Kleinwood, a suburb northwest of downtown Houston.
"Everything beneath me crumbled," he told the website after?the Monday afternoon incident. "I didn't know what to do."
"I was trying to dig my way out of the hole, but the ground kept breaking back into me,"?added Long, who finally got out with a few scratches on his back and a sprained ankle. "It's funny now that I think about it ... but when it happened, it was actually scary."
Why the 12-inch water line broke wasn't?determined, but?it's possible that recent rain after months of drought caused the ground to shift.
The drought itself caused daily water main breaks across Houston. Msnbc.com reported during the height of the drought last summer about some 700 daily reports coming in.
This week Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced new, stricter sanctions on Iranian banks and those doing business with them, in order to put pressure on Tehran to engage in nuclear negotiations. Last week, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Mark Kirk introduced an amendment to impose broader, more indiscriminate sanctions against the Islamic republic. They made clear that these were directed at putting pressure on the people of Iran, presumably to topple their government. Arab Spring fever seems to have caught on in D.C.
Practically however, although sanctions imposed on a nation labeled "rogue" may make uninformed readers feel good and some senators more secure about their reelection prospects, they have little foreign policy effect and often fail to achieve the goals they claim to enable. They affect people on the ground in a tragically adverse way, and most commonly affect women and families to a crippling degree. For most women, they make life in a sparse economy even more arduous.
The U.S. senators who have introduced the amendment to impose broader sanctions against the Iranian people argue that if Iran's economy were to "collapse" under the weight of sanctions, then its people would rise up against their government. No doubt, the current regime in Iran is not well loved by its people, perhaps least of all by its burgeoning population of modern-minded women. But sanctions by the West will not motivate a historically nationalist people to topple their own government.
Iran is made up of a population that is overwhelmingly young, with a median age of 26. Its population is evenly divided between male and female, and among women of childbearing age, the average number of children is just under two. Iranian women are educated and make up at least 60 percent of its university population. They are intellectually on a par with the nation's male population, and their intellectual awareness coupled with their right to education, which was established in the 1930s, makes them a demographic that has consistently demanded legal equality and civic freedoms, both under the secular regime of the Shah, and now under the current theocratic regime. Today women in Iran make up more than 30 percent of the nation's workforce as doctors, lawyers, professors and lawmakers and fill a wide range of blue-collar jobs, which are the backbone of the economy. Sanctions threaten to chip away at this level of economic involvement directly and immediately, disempowering women and consequently marginalizing their children, who are already struggling under trying circumstances.
When I worked in Islamic Iran I had many female counterparts in the professional world around me. They were neither silent nor diminutive. They were no more answerable to a patriarchal power than I was, and they were instrumental in executing the work at hand, just as essentially as the men were. They were treated with respect and the dignity that comes with cultural equality (if not the legal equality that Iran's Sharia legal system withholds from them), and though covered from head to toe, they were just as emancipated as my Western counterparts.
Sanctions threaten to take these very women out of the work force. The working women of Iran that make up 30 percent of its workforce and seek economic self-determination, in a part of the world where that kind of involvement is crucial to development, will find their jobs dwindling unmercifully if tougher global sanctions take hold. The women will be inched out of the workforce first as the economy shrinks. No member of the Islamic republic's ruling class will lose their jobs or suffer the indignation of poverty. But the women who work as tailors, housekeepers, shop sellers, fruit vendors, office maids, cooks or assembly-line workers will find themselves nudged out of the jobs that keep a humble roof over their heads and plain food on the family table. Is this where we want the sanctions to be aimed?
Iranian women are an inherently emancipated group. Their struggle for equality has been documented for more than 100 years, and their success can be measured in their achievements, which include a globally renowned Nobel Laureate, celebrated authors, moviemakers, actresses, entrepreneurs, space travelers, journalists, presidential advisors and parliamentarians, both at home and abroad. These are not the women we should marginalize with sanctions that are ill-structured, with questionable strategic impact, and uncertain effects in the short and long terms. There has to be a better way to empower a population looking to disempower the same regime we wish to destabilize.
Demanding American consumers make sure that if a DVR app doesn't ship with global Spotify support or HDD-managment capabilities, it's kicked to the kerb. Demure UK consumers command less respect -- we're happy if our software does anything useful at all. That's why Sky hasn't rushed in updating its Sky+ app for iOS and Android, but in December it'll finally enable users to add Series Links (like Season Passes, only shorter and with fewer filler episodes) at the push of a touchscreen. Sadly you don't get the option to stream from your home box, so don't uninstall that Sky Go app if you're looking for a profanity-laden dose of Deadwood at the grocery store.
ESF awards 13th European Latsis Prize to James Vaupel on pioneering demographic researchPublic release date: 23-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shira Tabachnikoff, ESF stabachnikoff@esf.org 33-038-876-7132 European Science Foundation
Strasbourg --
The European Science Foundation (ESF) has awarded this year's European Latsis Prize to Professor James W. Vaupel, of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. The theme for this year's prize was "Demography." Professor Vaupel was awarded the prize for his contributions to research on ageing and lifespan, and his profound influence on demographic research. The Prize was awarded on the eve of the Annual Assembly of the European Science Foundation, which will take place on 24 November in Strasbourg, France.
The European Latsis Prize, entering its 13th year, is valued at 100,000 Swiss francs (80,000). The Prize is funded by the Geneva-based Latsis Foundation and awarded by the ESF to an individual or a research group who, in the opinion of their peers, has made the greatest contribution to a particular field of European research. The theme "Mathematics" has been chosen for the 2012 Latsis Prize.
"The recognition of my work into demographic research is extremely flattering and I am delighted to be considered for such an esteemed award," commented Vaupel. "This research has been my life work and I am extremely passionate about it. The world is continually changing and demographic changes are quite fascinating. I like to say based on our research that 70 year-olds today are as healthy as 60 year-olds were 50 years ago. We are gaining about two additional years of healthy life every decade."
James Vaupel is honoured for a lifetime of groundbreaking research into the biology of ageing, the statistics of senescence and the connection between public health and longevity. His key papers on mortality and lifespan have each been cited many hundreds of times, and he has been honoured by the Ipsen Foundation in France and twice by the Population Association of America. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. The Latsis Prize announced in the month that the planet's human population reached 7 billion highlights the importance of both the discipline and his contribution to it.
He founded the Max Planck Institute in Rostock in 1996 and turned it into one of the world's leading centres of demographic research. He and colleagues have looked for lessons about the dynamics of ageing going also beyond the human species to see if senescence is a property of all complex systems. But perhaps his most dramatic contribution is in the contention that there seems no looming limit to human lifespan: an argument he put with Jim Oeppen in Science in 2002.
The criteria used in the selection procedure are scientific excellence, societal impact, and contribution to European progress. The nominations were evaluated by a jury of eminent scientists in the field. Sir Roderick Floud, chairman of the jury that selected Professor Vaupel as the winner of this year's prize remarks "Professor Vaupel was chosen because of his seminal contributions to several different fields within demography, his central role in the development of demographic research and training in Europe, and the importance of his work for the understanding of the "grand challenge" of population ageing in Europe."
###
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ESF awards 13th European Latsis Prize to James Vaupel on pioneering demographic researchPublic release date: 23-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shira Tabachnikoff, ESF stabachnikoff@esf.org 33-038-876-7132 European Science Foundation
Strasbourg --
The European Science Foundation (ESF) has awarded this year's European Latsis Prize to Professor James W. Vaupel, of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. The theme for this year's prize was "Demography." Professor Vaupel was awarded the prize for his contributions to research on ageing and lifespan, and his profound influence on demographic research. The Prize was awarded on the eve of the Annual Assembly of the European Science Foundation, which will take place on 24 November in Strasbourg, France.
The European Latsis Prize, entering its 13th year, is valued at 100,000 Swiss francs (80,000). The Prize is funded by the Geneva-based Latsis Foundation and awarded by the ESF to an individual or a research group who, in the opinion of their peers, has made the greatest contribution to a particular field of European research. The theme "Mathematics" has been chosen for the 2012 Latsis Prize.
"The recognition of my work into demographic research is extremely flattering and I am delighted to be considered for such an esteemed award," commented Vaupel. "This research has been my life work and I am extremely passionate about it. The world is continually changing and demographic changes are quite fascinating. I like to say based on our research that 70 year-olds today are as healthy as 60 year-olds were 50 years ago. We are gaining about two additional years of healthy life every decade."
James Vaupel is honoured for a lifetime of groundbreaking research into the biology of ageing, the statistics of senescence and the connection between public health and longevity. His key papers on mortality and lifespan have each been cited many hundreds of times, and he has been honoured by the Ipsen Foundation in France and twice by the Population Association of America. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. The Latsis Prize announced in the month that the planet's human population reached 7 billion highlights the importance of both the discipline and his contribution to it.
He founded the Max Planck Institute in Rostock in 1996 and turned it into one of the world's leading centres of demographic research. He and colleagues have looked for lessons about the dynamics of ageing going also beyond the human species to see if senescence is a property of all complex systems. But perhaps his most dramatic contribution is in the contention that there seems no looming limit to human lifespan: an argument he put with Jim Oeppen in Science in 2002.
The criteria used in the selection procedure are scientific excellence, societal impact, and contribution to European progress. The nominations were evaluated by a jury of eminent scientists in the field. Sir Roderick Floud, chairman of the jury that selected Professor Vaupel as the winner of this year's prize remarks "Professor Vaupel was chosen because of his seminal contributions to several different fields within demography, his central role in the development of demographic research and training in Europe, and the importance of his work for the understanding of the "grand challenge" of population ageing in Europe."
###
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Breast Cancer and the Environment: IOM report release Dec. 7Public release date: 22-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christine Stencel news@nas.edu 202-334-2138 National Academy of Sciences
Although women have little or no control over some of the risk factors for breast cancer, such as those related to aging and genetics, they may be able to reduce their chances for developing the disease by avoiding certain environmental risks. BREAST CANCER AND THE ENVIRONMENT: A LIFE COURSE APPROACH, a new report from the Institute of Medicine, assesses the breast cancer risk posed by various environmental factors, identifies actions that offer potential to reduce women's risk for the disease, and recommends targets for future research. The report, sponsored by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, will be released with a press briefing and presented at a plenary session at the 2011 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).
###
DETAILS:
The report will be released on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at a one-hour press briefing starting at 1:30 p.m. EST/12:30 p.m. CST in Room 217D of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, 200 E. Market St., San Antonio. Reporters who cannot attend may participate through a live teleconference by dialing 888-647-7462 (U.S. and Canada) or 1-201-604-0169 (international). Participants from the committee that wrote the report are:
Irva Hertz-Picciotto (chair), professor and chief, division of environmental and occupational health, University of California, Davis
David Eaton, associate vice provost for research, and professor and director, Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health, University of Washington, Seattle
Robert A. Hiatt, professor and chair, department of epidemiology and biostatistics, and director. population sciences, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco
Cheryl Lyn Walker, Welch Professor and director, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station
Advance copies of the report will be available to reporters only beginning at 11 a.m. EST Tuesday, Dec. 6. THE REPORT IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 1:30 P.M. EST WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7. Reporters can obtain a copy and arrange interviews with members of the authoring committee by contacting the National Academies' Office of News and Public Information; tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu. More information on the study is available at http://www.iom.edu/BreastCancerEnvironment.
The report will be discussed at a SABCS plenary session beginning at 2:45 p.m. EST/1:45 p.m. CST in Exhibit Hall D of the convention center. For more information about SABCS, contact Jeremy Moore, tel. 215-446-7109. Media information is available at http://www.sabcs.org/Media/index.asp.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Breast Cancer and the Environment: IOM report release Dec. 7Public release date: 22-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christine Stencel news@nas.edu 202-334-2138 National Academy of Sciences
Although women have little or no control over some of the risk factors for breast cancer, such as those related to aging and genetics, they may be able to reduce their chances for developing the disease by avoiding certain environmental risks. BREAST CANCER AND THE ENVIRONMENT: A LIFE COURSE APPROACH, a new report from the Institute of Medicine, assesses the breast cancer risk posed by various environmental factors, identifies actions that offer potential to reduce women's risk for the disease, and recommends targets for future research. The report, sponsored by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, will be released with a press briefing and presented at a plenary session at the 2011 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).
###
DETAILS:
The report will be released on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at a one-hour press briefing starting at 1:30 p.m. EST/12:30 p.m. CST in Room 217D of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, 200 E. Market St., San Antonio. Reporters who cannot attend may participate through a live teleconference by dialing 888-647-7462 (U.S. and Canada) or 1-201-604-0169 (international). Participants from the committee that wrote the report are:
Irva Hertz-Picciotto (chair), professor and chief, division of environmental and occupational health, University of California, Davis
David Eaton, associate vice provost for research, and professor and director, Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health, University of Washington, Seattle
Robert A. Hiatt, professor and chair, department of epidemiology and biostatistics, and director. population sciences, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco
Cheryl Lyn Walker, Welch Professor and director, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station
Advance copies of the report will be available to reporters only beginning at 11 a.m. EST Tuesday, Dec. 6. THE REPORT IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 1:30 P.M. EST WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7. Reporters can obtain a copy and arrange interviews with members of the authoring committee by contacting the National Academies' Office of News and Public Information; tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu. More information on the study is available at http://www.iom.edu/BreastCancerEnvironment.
The report will be discussed at a SABCS plenary session beginning at 2:45 p.m. EST/1:45 p.m. CST in Exhibit Hall D of the convention center. For more information about SABCS, contact Jeremy Moore, tel. 215-446-7109. Media information is available at http://www.sabcs.org/Media/index.asp.
[ | 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.
Two new child sex abuse investigations have been launched against former Penn state football coach Jerry Sandusky. Unlike the previous eight cases, these new alleged victims are still minors. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.
?
Msnbc.com staff and wire reports
Officials with The Children and Youth Services in Pennsylvania are investigating two new cases of child abuse alleged against former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, The Patriot News reported?Tuesday.
If the new allegations -- reported less than 60 days ago --?are found to be credible, it would the first known cases involving people who are still under the age of 18, the newspaper reported.
The state's Children and Youth Services only investigates reports of abuse if victims are minors. All others are handled by police agencies, according to Pennsylvania law.
Sandusky faces 40 criminal counts accusing him of sexually abusing eight boys beginning in the?mid-1990s. Authorities say some assaults happened on Penn State's campus and were reported to administrators but not to police agencies.
Sandusky has maintained his innocence.
Hearing delayed Also on Tuesday,?a judge delayed Sandusky's preliminary hearing in the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa.
The hearing, set for Tuesday, was rescheduled for Dec. 13, according to court records. The change was made ?to accommodate the logistical needs involved in the hearing,? a posting on the courthouse website read.
Messages seeking comment from Sandusky?s attorney Joe Amendola and the state attorney general's office weren't immediately returned to msnbc.com or NBC News.
Amendola told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday that he was worried that?there would be new criminal allegations against his client.
"My concern is, if they bring new charges based upon new people coming forward, that bail's going to be set and he's going to wind up in jail," Amendola said.?
Sandusky was initially released on $100,000 unsecured bail, which means he didn't have to post collateral to be freed.
Until the preliminary hearing, prosecutors can seek to have bail modified by the district judge, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin told The Associated Press. After that hearing, bail changes would have to be pursued by a county court petition, he said.
Scandal Meantime, Pennsylvania court officials say all the judges in Penn State's home county have removed themselves from potentially presiding over the child sex-abuse case against Sandusky.
The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts announced Tuesday that out-of-county judges have been named to deal with any related court business in the Centre County case.
?The sex-abuse?allegations have stunned Penn State and altered the image of its legendary?college football coach, Joe Paterno, who was ousted amid the scandal.
Hearings for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, the two former?Penn State administrators accused of failing to properly report suspected abuse and of?perjury before a grand jury, was set for Dec. 6 in the Dauphin County Courthouse in Harrisburg. Both maintain their innocence.
Do you see that? It's the Fujitsu Arrows F-07D. Unlike some phones we won't mention, it doesn't boast about being the world's thinnest (and it doesn't come with a 10.6mm hump at one end). No, this telephone is 6.7mm all the way along -- so svelte the brave boys at the FCC probably had to pop next door to borrow a ruler that measures things that small. The 109-gram device has a measly 4-inch 800 x 480 OLED display and a five megapixel camera, but you might have noticed that it's also quite thin. NTT DoCoMo's newest telephone also crams in a FOMA module, making it capable of HSPA-level 14Mb/s download speeds. Just be careful it doesn't blow away in the wind -- personally, we've always preferred smartphones that give us a little something to hold onto.
ROME (Reuters) ? Newly installed Prime Minister Mario Monti got straight to work at the weekend, reviewing Italy's parlous finances before a round of meetings in coming days with European leaders to discuss the growing euro zone debt crisis.
Monti easily won confidence votes in record time in both houses of parliament last week, just days after his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi lost his majority and quit -- the latest EU premier to fall victim to the Europe-wide economic emergency.
The new government of technocrats, supported by almost all Italy's main parties, will focus first on enacting austerity measures passed by Berlusconi that aim to balance the budget in 2013 and halt the rise in Italy's monumental debt pile.
But with the economy looking certain to slow, additional measures will be needed and Monti, who is also economy minister, spent his first hours in office reviewing the latest data.
Italian newspapers said on Sunday that new budget measures were likely to be unveiled within two weeks, with a property tax abolished by Berlusconi set to return, plus moves to tackle tax evasion and a cut in payroll taxes to lift employment.
As the broad outlines of his program emerge, Monti will travel to Brussels on Tuesday for talks with Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.
On Thursday he will have lunch in Strasbourg with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Europe's two main powerbrokers showed growing exasperation with Berlusconi, believing he had failed to grasp the severity of the crisis, and there was obvious relief in Paris and Berlin over the arrival of Professor Monti, a former EU commissioner.
"Up until now Italy was part of the problem, now it is part of the solution," said Daniel Gros, the head of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels.
EUROBOND DIVISIONS
But Monti will find himself at odds with Merkel over ways out of Europe's financial crisis, which has roiled markets and raised fears for the future of the euro single currency.
While Germany has rejected calls for common euro zone debt issuance, Monti enthusiastically endorsed the measure before taking office, writing in the Financial Times in July that eurobonds "are the only answer to Europe's crisis."
He is only likely to make headway on this issue if he can show Europe that he has a firm grasp on Italy's finances and a clear vision of how to cut its debt, currently running at a perilous 120 percent of gross domestic product.
Although he secured huge support in last week's vote from a parliament spooked by a sudden jump in Italian borrowing costs, he could face a battle as he tries to win backing for greater austerity or implementing a pledge to liberalize the hidebound economy.
Berlusconi said on Sunday he expected Monti to stay in office until the end of the legislature in 2013. While he was ready to back a new property tax, Berlusconi warned that other measures, such as a mooted wealth tax, were not acceptable.
"The government is made up of highly competent technocrats. That does not mean they have carte blanche on everything. We will be very attentive on every single measure," he told Corriere della Sera newspaper.
"Monti cannot ignore us. (My party) is the biggest party in parliament and will be an irreplaceable point of reference for this government," he added.
U.S. employers, struggling to contain rising healthcare costs, are expanding their use of high-deductible insurance plans, which help reduce monthly insurance premiums by shifting a greater share of medical expenses to workers, a new survey shows.
In 2011, 32% of companies with 500 or more employees offered high-deductible plans. That was up from 23% in 2010, according to the survey of 2,844 private and public employers by the benefits consulting firm Mercer.
In all, 13% of insured employees in the survey were enrolled in such a plan this year, up from just 3% five years ago.
Under high-deductible plans, employees pay for more of their initial medical expenses with money deposited by them and their employers into health savings accounts. Money in the accounts can be rolled over from year to year, allowing workers to build up large sums for future medical expenses.
?One feature of the [high-deductible] plans that employers like is the flexibility in funding employees? spending accounts,? said Laura Baker, a principal in Mercer?s Los Angeles office. ?A growing number of employers are making their account contributions contingent on the employees? willingness to take steps to improve their own health.?
Companies say the approach is a benefit to them and their workers because it helps keep a lid on monthly insurance expenses. The Mercer survey showed that the average cost of employee coverage under high-deductible plans was nearly 20% lower than traditional insurance plans -- $7,787 compared to $9,385.
The shift to the high-deductible plans may be one reason behind slower growth of health insurance costs reported by employers.
The average per-employee cost of health benefits grew by 6.9% last year. The average costs have grown by 6.1% this year, and are expected to rise by 5.7% in 2012, the survey found.
ALSO:
Proposed health insurance rate regulation initiative submitted
Wal-Mart cuts health coverage for part-timers, raises premiums
New California healthcare laws expand consumer protections
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NEW YORK ? Here's one way to avoid getting trampled by bargain-hunting hordes knocking down store doors on Black Friday: Online deals service LivingSocial is unveiling a slew of bargains for the holidays that are just a couple of mouse clicks away.
LivingSocial is announcing Monday that it will offer discounts from national businesses such as Verizon Wireless, Electronic Arts Inc. and the sneaker brand Sketchers USA Inc., a contrast to the local deals for spas, restaurants and weekend escapes that it's known for.
Such offers will give national brands access to social media-savvy customers who might not otherwise think to visit their stores. It's also good, cheap marketing, as the deals are often widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.
LivingSocial, meanwhile, gets to sign up new subscribers and take a cut from the money they spend on the coupons.
It also gets to participate in a day-after-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza that's normally reserved for brick-and-mortar retail stores.
One set of deals, available for three days starting on Black Friday, includes $5 for magazine subscriptions that normally cost $12. Customers won't be able to redeem those coupons until Monday, so stores already offering monster sales on Black Friday won't have to cut their profit margins even thinner.
On Cyber Monday, the online shopping day that follows Thanksgiving weekend, LivingSocial will unveil another set of deals. Nearly all of the discounts are 50 percent off ? such as paying $40 to be able to spend $80 at wine retailer Wine.com. These coupons will go on sale Monday, Nov. 28, and can be redeemed starting the next day.
OfficeMax Inc. isn't known for attracting big holiday crowds, but Chris Duncan, a vice president of direct and loyalty marketing, said the company decided to offer a LivingSocial deal to reach new customers looking for e-readers, tablets and other gadgets.
Mitch Spolan, senior vice president of national sales at LivingSocial, said the service isn't changing its local-business focus, but gets the opportunity to offer something special nationally from time to time.
LivingSocial, which is based in Washington, D.C., has more than 46 million subscribers, who typically get deals through emails and other alerts sent at least daily.
LivingSocial's larger competitor, Chicago-based Groupon Inc., is not doing Black Friday promotions this year. Instead, it's promoting discounts on big, expensive experiences dubbed "once in a lifetime," such as $5,000 for a three-day trip to studio tours and tapings of the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
ARUSHA, Tanzania ? A former mayor who was one of the most wanted suspects in Rwanda's 1994 genocide has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against humanity and genocide, the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said.
The court had charged Gregoire Ndahimana with being responsible for the deaths of about 2,000 Tutsis, most of whom died when bulldozers knocked down the church where they had sought refuge.
The court said in a statement the former mayor of Kivumu was found guilty of genocide and extermination by aiding and abetting and because he had authority over local police. The court said it dismissed another count of complicity in genocide.
The slaughter "reflected broad coordination" among several groups, the court noted.
"Though this did in no way exonerate the accused, it did, however, suggest that his participation through aiding and abetting may have resulted from duress rather than from extremism or ethnic hatred," the court's statement read.
Ndahimana had been on the run for 15 years before he was captured in Congo and sent to the detention facility in Arusha in 2009.
More than half a million members of the Tutsi ethnic minority and moderates from the Hutu majority were slaughtered during the 100-day genocide. Many former Hutu militia leaders fled to Congo, which neighbors Rwanda, after Tutsi rebels fought their way to power.
U.S. officials said in a statement that they welcomed the decision as "an important step in providing justice and accountability for the Rwandan people and the international community."
"The conviction of Mr. Ndahimana is of particular significance, because as mayor of Kivumu he had authority over the police, and yet failed to prevent the massacre of more than 1,500 people who sought refuge and protection.
Militia, police, civil and religious authorities participated in bulldozing the church, burying the refugees sheltered inside," read a statement issued by the State Department.
The U.S. also called on all countries to seek nine fugitives still sought by the court.
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Public release date: 23-Nov-2011
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