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Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Astronaut Charles Duke Struggles Mightily to Collect the Biggest Lunar Sample Ever
Monday, October 29, 2012
GBTA forecasts continued growth in business travel spend in China ...
GBTA announces the results of its second GBTA BTI? Outlook ? China report, a semi-annual analysis of one of the largest business travel markets in the world. The report, sponsored by Visa, includes the GBTA BTI?, an index of business travel spending that distills market performance over a period of time.
Highlights
? China?s economy has slowed in lockstep with Europe?s woes. GBTA forecasts that China?s GDP will grow by only 7.8% in 2012, down from 9.2% GDP growth in 2011
? Chinese authorities have managed their economy through the global slowdown, with the economy being purposely rebalanced toward domestic growth
? Chinese business travel will continue to show strong growth over the next 18 months, with total business travel spending forecast to grow by 12.5% in 2012 to $195 billion, followed by another 14.7% in 2013
? Domestic business travel will recover sooner and more strongly than international outbound (IOB). In 2012 domestic travel spend will grow by 12.8%. It is expected that in 2013 domestic spend will grow 14.6% reaching $213
? ? ? ? ? billion USD
? Growth in IOB is forecast to slow considerably over 2012 reaching only 5.5% growth, compared to 12% growth in 2011. In 2013, IOB is expected to grow 17.5% reaching $10 billion USD
Welf J. Ebeling, regional director, GBTA Asia remarked: ?The slowdown in economic growth, attributable to the worsening situation in Europe, has been of concern to the Chinese population. The good news, however, is that the Chinese government is responding. Fiscal intervention in 2012 and 2013, as well as stronger domestic demand, should help domestic travel spending rise by over 12% in 2012. Looking ahead, we are also confident that this will translate to higher growth in overall business travel spend in 2013.?
Economic stimulus and domestic business travel
China has found that in spite of its strong growth levels it has not been isolated from the current global slowdown. This has been reflected by lower than expected GDP growth in 2012, and consequently a revised forecast for lower business travel spend. To address these setbacks the Chinese government has purposely rebalanced the economy towards domestic growth over the past few years. This has been done through the introduction of fiscal stimulus, with an increase in infrastructure spending, which includes the Ministry of Railway increasing investment projects by 16%, for example.
Domestic business travel has disproportionately benefited from these policies and in 2012 GBTA expects growth of 12.8% for domestic business travel. This level of growth is not reflected in IOB travel, for which the GBTA has forecast 5% growth this year. This slowdown in growth can be attributed in part to a significantly lower level of demand for Chinese exports, particularly in the U.S. and Europe. (Exports represent nearly 30% of Chinese GDP.)
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Sunday, October 28, 2012
TSX steady on mixed U.S. news, focus turns to Canada
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian stocks closed flat on Friday after a choppy session in which stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data fought with limp U.S. earnings for the attention of a market that was waiting for the Canadian reporting season to start in earnest next week.
"A lot of people who have positioned themselves are really just waiting for the news (to) see how things are going to come out on this side of the border," said Brian Pow, vice president, research and equity analyst at Acumen Capital Partners in Calgary, adding that disappointing results from U.S. companies have been setting the market's tone.
"Most people are trying to really figure out what the end of the year brings, what the results are going to be, and until they get an initial sense, I think they're going to be a little bit more cautious," Pow said.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> closed 0.07 of a point higher at 12,300.30. On the week, it was down just under 1 percent.
Five of the TSX's index's main groups were lower, including the financial, energy and materials sectors, which together make up roughly three-quarters of the index's weight. Energy was down 0.24 percent, while materials was off 0.27 percent. Financials were nearly flat, sliding a mere 0.04 percent.
Heavyweight decliners included diversified miner Teck Resources Ltd
Heavyweight gainers included pipeline company Enbridge Inc
The overall telecoms group was up 0.81 percent.
Sentiment was helped by U.S. data that showed gross domestic product expanded at a 2 percent annual rate in the third quarter as a late burst of consumer spending outweighed the first cutbacks in business investment in more than a year. GDP growth in the second quarter was 1.3 percent.
"My impression is that the U.S. GDP data has given stocks some reprieve after weakness in overseas markets and generally disappointing corporate earnings," said Fergal Smith, managing market strategist at Action Economics.
Tempering the positive news were lackluster results from Amazon.com and Apple Inc . <.n/>
"The technical backdrop (for U.S. stocks) has worsened and there are significant uncertainties in the next couple of weeks, so there's a real reason to trim risk ahead of the U.S. election," Smith said.
(Additional reporting by Claire Sibonney; Editing by Peter Galloway)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-may-open-lower-despite-firm-u-data-125104646--finance.html
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Iraq bombings, house raids leave 40 dead
People gather at the scene of a bomb attack in the neighborhood of Bawiya in eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012. A bombing near a playground and other insurgent attacks killed 18 people including several children in Iraq on Saturday, police said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
People gather at the scene of a bomb attack in the neighborhood of Bawiya in eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012. A bombing near a playground and other insurgent attacks killed 18 people including several children in Iraq on Saturday, police said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Iraqi children play during Eid al-Adha celebrations in Baghdad's Fadhil neighborhood, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012. A bombing near a playground and other insurgent attacks killed 18 people including several children in Iraq on Saturday, police said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Iraqi children play during Eid al-Adha celebrations in Baghdad's Fadhil neighborhood, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012. A bombing near a playground and other insurgent attacks killed 18 people including several children in Iraq on Saturday, police said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Children ride a donkey cart in Baghdad's Fadhil neighborhood, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, as the nation marks the Eid al-Adha festival. A bombing near a playground and other insurgent attacks killed 18 people including several children in Iraq on Saturday, police said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Iraqi children play during Eid al-Adha celebrations in Baghdad's Fadhil neighborhood, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012. A bombing near a playground and other insurgent attacks killed 18 people including several children in Iraq on Saturday, police said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraqi insurgents unleashed a string of bombings and other attacks primarily targeting the country's Shiite community on Saturday, leaving at least 40 dead in a challenge to government efforts to promote a sense of stability by preventing attacks during a major Muslim holiday.
The bloodshed appeared to be the worst in Iraq since Sept. 9, when insurgents launched a wave of bombings and other attacks that left at least 92 dead in one of the country's bloodiest days this year.
The attacks underscored the difficulties facing the country's leadership as it struggles to keep its citizens safe. Authorities had increased security in hopes of preventing attacks during the four-day Eid al-Adha celebrations, when people are off work and families gather in public places.
The deadliest attacks struck in the evening in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. Police said a car packed with explosives blew up near a market, killing 12 people and wounding 27. Half an hour later, a second car bomb went off in one of Sadr city's bus stations, killing 10 and injuring 31.
Earlier in the day, a bomb exploded near playground equipment that had been set up for the holiday in a market on the capital's outskirts in the eastern neighborhood of Bawiya. Police officials said eight people were killed, including four children. Another 24 people, including children, were wounded, they added.
"Nobody expected this explosion because our neighborhood has been living in peace, away from the violence hitting the rest of the capital," said Bassem Mohammed, a 35-year-old father of three in the neighborhood who was startled by the blast.
"We feel sad for the children who thought that they would spend a happy time during Eid, but instead ended up getting killed or hurt."
Elsewhere, a bomb attached to a bus carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims killed five people and wounded nine, according to police. The bomb, hidden on the underside of the bus, detonated as the pilgrims were heading to a Shiite shrine in Baghdad to mark the holiday.
Authorities have said they planned to increase the number of checkpoints, shut some roads and deploy extra personnel during the holiday period.
They are also relying more on undercover intelligence agents, said Lt. Col. Saad Maan Ibrahim, a spokesman for the interior ministry. He emphasized that both bombings took place on the edge of the capital rather than in densely populated areas.
"The terrorists apparently weren't able to get to the heart of the city. So they chose to attack soft targets on the outskirts," he said.
In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen broke into the houses of two Shabak families, killing a boy and his parents in one and a mother and daughter in the other, according to police. A bomb exploded near the house of another Shabak family, wounding six family members.
Shabaks are ethnically Turkomen and Shiite by religion. Most Shabaks were driven out of Mosul by Sunni militants during the sectarian fighting a few years ago.
In Tuz Khormato, about 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near in a neighborhood with a Turkomen Shiite majority. Mayor Shalal Abdoul said 11 people were wounded, including three children.
Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, is a major Muslim holiday that commemorates what Muslims believe was the Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail, the Biblical Ishmael, as a test of his faith from God. Christians and Jews believe another of Abraham's sons, Isaac, was the one almost sacrificed.
The holiday, which began Friday, marks the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims worldwide typically slaughter lambs and other animals to commemorate the holiday, sharing some of the meat with the poor.
Violence has ebbed across Iraq, but insurgents frequently attack security forces and civilians in an attempt to undermine the country's Shiite-led government.
Holidays are a particular time of concern for security forces. A wave of attacks shortly before another Muslim holiday in August, Eid al-Fitr, killed more than 90 people in one of the deadliest days in Iraq this year.
___
Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed reporting.
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Saturday, October 27, 2012
Mitt Romney casts himself as the 'real' change
With just over a week to go before Election Day, Romney aides described the candidate's speech at a rally in this battleground state as his closing argument to voters. He mostly stuck with a stump speech he has been delivering in recent days, one that included a heavy emphasis on change and his ability to be a bipartisan leader in Washington.
Romney, co-opting Obama's 2008 mantra of "change," vowed that if elected he will bring "real change" to a country at an economic turning point. "[Change] requires that we put aside the small and petty and demand the scale of change we deserve. We need real change, big change."
Obama, he added, "spoke to the scale of the times" four years ago, but now "shrinks from it." He accused his opponent of being too focused on attacks instead of working to confront big issues.
"Four years ago, America voted for a post-partisan president, but they have seen the most partisan and political of presidents, and a Washington in gridlock because of it," he said.
As he has done in recent weeks, Romney, speaking to a few thousand people here, repeatedly cast himself as someone who will rise above the partisan rancor in the nation's capital. He pointed to his record of working with Democrats as a Republican governor of Massachusetts and to his leadership as head of the 2002 Winter Olympics and in the private sector.
Romney's remarks sounded like something Obama would have said during his run four years ago. If elected, the GOP nominee promised to "work tirelessly to bridge the divide between the political parties." He vowed to meet with both Democrats and Republicans regularly and look for "common ground and shared principals."
He also sought to disarm Obama's claim that he inherited a troubled economy by insisting the president didn't do enough with what he had to work with, including a country full of people who have always "risen to the occasion." The country, he insisted, as he has at almost every campaign stop in recent months, can't take "another four years like the last four years."
In response, Lis Smith, an Obama campaign spokeswoman, dismissed Romney's remarks as "dishonest attacks" and empty promises.
"The only change Romney's offering is to take us back to the same failed policies that crashed our economy in the first place," Smith said. "That's not the change we need, and with every 'major speech,' Mitt Romney just reminds voters that's all he's got to offer."
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Friday, October 26, 2012
Random House and Penguin Are Negotiating a Merger - NYTimes ...
In an effort to stave off the challenge from online retailers in a rapidly changing market, two of the world?s largest book publishers, Random House and Penguin, are engaged in talks to combine their businesses.
Pearson, the British media conglomerate that owns Penguin, said Thursday that it was discussing a potential deal with Random House?s owner, Bertelsmann of Germany. The merger, if completed, would create a combined entity that would control nearly 25 percent of the United States book market and feature an elite roster of authors like Dan Brown, Toni Morrison and John Grisham of Random House and Junot Diaz and Patricia Cornwell of Penguin.
The potential consolidation comes as traditional publishers try to compete with dominant technology companies like Amazon, Apple and Google that have gained power in the e-book market. Lower prices offered by retailers like Amazon have put pressure on publishers to adjust their digital book strategy at a time when brick-and-mortar stores have been disappearing.
A deal could signal a move toward further consolidation among the major publishers, much the way the music industry realigned itself as it made the painful transition to the digital marketplace. Facing intense competition from Apple?s iTunes, the industry shrunk from six major record companies to three.
A merger of Random House and Penguin could help the publishing houses cut costs by combining resources, and it would give them more heft in negotiations with Amazon and Apple as readers increasingly abandon print for cheaper e-books.
Penguin Group USA is among the five major publishers named in a lawsuit filed last spring by the Justice Department, which accused those publishers and Apple of colluding in the pricing of e-books. Three publishers ? Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins ? settled. Penguin and Macmillan have not. Random House, the largest book publisher in the United States, was not named in the lawsuit.
?A combined Random House and Penguin would be a supplier so large it would be very difficult for any anyone to dictate terms to,? said Mike Shatzkin, the founder and chief executive of the Idea Logical Company, a consultant to publishers. He added: ?You?re allowed to collude if you?re combined.?
But for authors and their representatives, news of the merger discussions, first reported by Germany?s Manager Magazin, came as another potential blow in an already challenging profession.
Several literary agents said a merger would lead to a consolidation of publishing imprints, thus reducing the number of bidders vying for titles. They also said that combining editing and marketing resources would likely lead to layoffs and potentially put added pressure on authors, especially those who do not churn out mass-market hits.
David Kuhn, a literary agent in New York, said that a shrinking book industry could be compared to the situation in Hollywood, where studios under financial pressure now focus on churning out a handful of blockbusters a year, rather than taking risks on smaller films. ?If there are 20 fewer imprints, then that means there are 20 fewer publishers with checkbooks willing to make bets on less known entities,? Mr. Kuhn said.
Another New York agent, who insisted on anonymity to candidly discuss the deal, was more pessimistic. ?This group would be HUGE. NOT good for authors,? the agent wrote in an e-mail
James L. McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrester Research, said the early panic was justified. ?Agents should be terrified because it would give them even fewer people to play against each other,? he said.
But, he added, the consolidation of some of the remaining ?big six? publishing houses is inevitable. ?The need to get some kind of grip on the future of book publishing is driving every single one of these top six publishers in often unconventional ways,? Mr. McQuivey said.
A deal between Random House and Penguin would be subject to government approval. Regulators in Europe have demanded significant divestitures as a condition for approval of another recent cultural acquisition, the purchase of EMI by the French media company Vivendi. In the United States, Mr. McQuivey said, regulators could take other factors into account.
?They?re facing a much bigger threat in Amazon than considering it might restrain competition,? Mr. McQuivey said of the potential merger.
Although financial details remain preliminary, Bertelsmann is expected to have an ownership stake of more than 50 percent in Penguin, according to a person briefed on the talks, who was not authorized to discuss the conversations publicly.
In 1998 Bertelsmann paid more than $1 billion to acquire Random House, which now includes 200 editorially independent imprints that publish around 10,000 books a year. In 2011 the publishing house reported revenue of $2.26 billion, a 4.6 percent decline from a year earlier. In the first half of 2012 Random House reported a 64 percent increase in operating profit, largely because of the success of the ?Fifty Shades of Grey? trilogy.
Penguin, which publishes about 4,000 books annually, had $1.61 billion in revenue in 2011, a 4 percent decrease from the previous year. Revenue from e-books accounted for 12 percent of Penguin?s global revenues in 2011, up from 6 percent in 2010, according to Pearson.
For Pearson, based in London, unloading part of its struggling publishing business at a premium could help it focus on its faster growing education business. Earlier this month, Pearson?s longtime chief executive, Marjorie Scardino, said she planned to step down at the end of the year, prompting speculation that the company would eventually sell its publishing units, Penguin and The Financial Times.
A Bertelsmann spokeswoman, Susanne Erdl, declined to comment. In a statement Pearson confirmed the talks, adding that ?the two companies have not reached agreement and there is no certainty the discussions will lead to a transaction.?
Analysts said Thomas Rabe, the chief executive of Bertelsmann, based in G?ttersloh, Germany, is under pressure to make a deal because some of the company?s existing businesses are slowing, with no clear plans for growth in the digital era. Mr. Rabe took over about a year ago from Hartmut Ostrowski, who was seen as more of a caretaker, and immediately announced plans to transform Bertelsmann.
Among other things, he changed the company?s legal structure to permit a possible initial public offering of stock, which could raise funds for an acquisition. Buying Penguin would be a big move, though not necessarily the most forward-looking one, given that book publishing, over all, is stagnant or in decline.
?If you?re Bertelsmann, would you want to invest in such a slow-growth business?? asked Ian Whittaker, an analyst at Liberum Capital.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 25, 2012
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated the publication that first reported discussions about a merger. It was Manager Magazin of Germany, not The Financial Times.
Razer's gaming tablet drops by the FCC, leaves handles at home
Looking for a gaming tablet you can really grab? Don't look at the latest FCC filings then -- Federal regulators appear to have snagged some exclusive hands-on time with Razer's upcoming Project Fiona, and its trademark handlebars are nowhere in sight. The nunchuck-esque controllers we saw at CES didn't make it in the FCC's label location outline (seen above), but an attached accessory list makes note of a Razer-branded controller, powered by a 2800mAh battery, hinting that this prototype's gamepads might well be independent or detachable. The same document lists a 5600mAh battery for the tablet itself, as well as a model number: RZ09-0093.
The Federal documents show a heavily redesigned device, falling in line with Razer's recent community campaign: CEO Min-Liang Tan has been asking fans to help design Project Fiona on his Facebook page. Over the past several weeks, the community has weighed in on accessories, price, CPU / GPU configurations and more. This FCC prototype may not be the final design, but if nothing else, it's proof that the device is evolving. Check out the Government's inside scoop for yourself at the source link below.
Razer's gaming tablet drops by the FCC, leaves handles at home originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Thursday, October 25, 2012
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Climate variability and conflict risk in East Africa measured by researchers
ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2012) ? While a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder shows the risk of human conflict in East Africa increases somewhat with hotter temperatures and drops a bit with higher precipitation, it concludes that socioeconomic, political and geographic factors play a much more substantial role than climate change.
According to CU-Boulder geography Professor John O'Loughlin, the new CU-Boulder study undertaken with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder is an attempt to clarify the often-contradictory debate on whether climate change is affecting armed conflicts in Africa. "We wanted to get beyond the specific idea and hype of climate wars," he said. "The idea was to bring together a team perspective to see if changes in rainfall and temperature led to more conflict in vulnerable areas of East Africa."
The research team examined extensive climate datasets from nine countries in East Africa, including the Horn of Africa, between 1990 and 2009: Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda. The team also used a dataset containing more than 16,000 violent conflicts in those countries during that time period, parsing out more specific information on conflict location and under what type of political, social, economic and geographic conditions each incident took place.
The study, which included changes in precipitation and temperature over continuous six-month periods from 1949 to 2009, also showed there was no climate effect on East African conflicts during normal and drier precipitation periods or during periods of average and cooler temperatures, said O'Loughlin.
Moderate increases in temperature reduced the risk of conflict slightly after controlling for the influence of social and political conditions, but very hot temperatures increased the risk of conflict, said O'Loughlin. Unusually wet periods also reduced the risk of conflict, according to the new study.
"The relationship between climate change and conflict in East Africa is incredibly complex and varies hugely by country and time period," he said. "The simplistic arguments we hear on both sides are not accurate, especially those by pessimists who talk about 'climate wars'. Compared to social, economic and political factors, climate factors adding to conflict risk are really quite modest."
The results are being published online Oct. 22 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors on the study include CU-Boulder Research Associate Frank Witmer and graduate student Andrew Linke as well as three scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric research -- Arlene Laing, Andrew Gettelman and Jimy Dudhia. The National Science Foundation funded the study.
Much of the information on the 16,359 violent events in East Africa from 1990 to 2009 came from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset, or ACLED, directed by Clionadh Raleigh of Trinity College in Dublin. The database covers individual conflicts from 1997 to 2009 in Africa, parts of Asia and Haiti -- more than 60,000 violent incidents to date. Raleigh started the data collection while earning her doctorate at CU in 2007 under O'Loughlin.
In addition, more than a dozen CU-Boulder undergraduates spent thousands of hours combing online information sources like LexisNexis -- a corporation that pioneered the electronic accessibility of legal and newspaper documents -- in order to fill in details of individual violent conflicts by East African countries from 1990 to 1997. The student work was funded by the NSF's Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.
The CU students coded each conflict event with very specific data, including geographic location coordinates, dates, people and descriptive classifications. The event information was then aggregated into months and into 100-kilometer grid cells that serve as the units of analysis for quantitative modeling.
Each conflict grid also was coded by socioeconomic and political characteristics like ethnic leadership, distance to an international border, capital city, local population size, well-being as measured by infant mortality, the extent of political rights, presidential election activity, road network density, the health of vegetation and crop conditions.
"The effects of climate variability on conflict risk is different in different countries," O'Loughlin said. "Typically conflicts are very local and quite confined. The effects of climate on conflict in Ethiopia, for example, are different than those in Tanzania or Somalia. The idea that there is a general 'African effect' for conflict is wrong."
The researchers used a variety of complex statistical calculations to assess the role of climate in violent conflict in East Africa, including regression models and a technique to uncover nonlinear influences and decrease "noise," said O'Loughlin, also a faculty member at CU-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science.
One component of the methods used by the team extracts predictions of individual instances of conflict from the statistical model and systematically compared them with the actual observations of conflict in the data, "a rigorous validity check," he said.
Catastrophic conflicts like those in the "Great Lakes region" -- Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo -- since the 1990s and the war with the Lord's Resistance Army led by terrorist Joseph Kony that has been running since the late 1980s in northern Uganda and neighboring regions are marked with large red swaths on the maps.
Legacies of violence are extremely important for understanding and explaining unrest, he said. "Violence nearby and prior violence in the locality, especially for heavily populated areas, are the strongest predictors of conflict."
Ongoing work is extending the study to all of sub-Saharan Africa since 1980 with a database of 63,000 violent events. Preliminary results from the work confirm the East African climate effects of higher than normal temperatures are increasing conflict risk.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Colorado at Boulder.
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Journal Reference:
- John O?Loughlin, Frank D. W. Witmer, Andrew M. Linke, Arlene Laing, Andrew Gettelman, and Jimy Dudhia. Climate variability and conflict risk in East Africa, 1990?2009. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1205130109
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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/lFUrFGf1wsY/121022162649.htm
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Monday, October 22, 2012
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Sunday, October 21, 2012
Solutions To The Leakage Problems In Plumbing System | Home ...
It seems that one of the most costly systems in a home or any building is the plumbing system. A small damage can easily snowball into a very expensive affair, and therefore, it is absolutely essential to constantly check the plumbing system. By hiring competent and skillful Watertown plumbers to attend to your plumbing needs on a consistent basis, you will save yourself the expense of future plumbing damages which might cost you thousands of dollars. Thus, it is advisable to make time to check your plumbing system at least once a month. As soon as you see a leak, take immediate action and hire the services of a professional plumber!
But how do you detect a leak? In a copper pipe, you will first see a small white circle around the leak. In the beginning it may not cause a big problem, but this can very soon grow out of hand. Remember to check the sinks in your bathrooms and kitchen. Clear out everything from beneath them and check the pipes. Moreover, many people store cleaners and other things underneath the pipes. While handy, the cold temperate and moisture in these bottles can attract mold and pests.
Some of the hard bottles and objects can accidentally knock your pipes and cause damage. Thus, Newton plumbing advise you to avoid using the space underneath sinks to store things. After checking the pipes, you should take a look at the valves around your home. If they feel tight, and are difficult to close, do not push or pull too hard as they might break. Instead, call Watertown plumbers to help you replace and fix these valves.
Last but not the least, turn off the taps and check your water meter. Generally, the meter should not be moving, but if it is, then it could suggest the presence of a leak. Call West Roxbury plumbing to aid you in looking for these leaks as they may be anywhere. The leak could be underground, from the faucets or the tanks. Call Newton plumbing, Watertown plumbing, West Roxbury plumbing or Jamaica Plain plumbing when you have these problems. Do not try to handle these issues yourself as a little mistake can end up costing you dearly. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. So before you have a huge plumbing problem on your hands, seek out warning signs in advance by thoroughly checking your system ever so often. One can always visit http://www.plumbin.co.nz/planner.html for the related information.
Source: http://www.niutranslations.com/solutions-to-the-leakage-problems-in-plumbing-system.html
Outsourcing Accounts - Just Articles Article Directory
Trends in Small Business Financial and Accounting Outsourcing
For the past couple of years small businesses started using accounting outsource services like accounts payable, account receivable, and general bookkeeping services. As they started seeing business benefits beyond cost savings now they started outsourcing other higher-value accounting projects like accounting and financial process innovation, real-time accounting integration, budgeting and forecasting. Some small businesses are considering outsourcing their entire accounting and financial operations to outsource vendors. Increasing confidence in accounting outsource providers skills, availability of tools and technologies, and accounting process standardization are making the shift for the small businesses on outsourcing higher-value accounting projects.
Small Business accounting outsourcing maturity
Both the accounting outsourcing buyer and the provider relationship is matured for the past several years. Now several small businesses are considering their accounting outsource providers as the strategic partners. They are not using the accounting outsource providers just to save cost but to introduce innovation and efficiency in their accounting and financial business processes. Small business Accounting outsource providers have been continuously improving their service offerings using both technology and accounting business process reengineering. These accounting outsource providers have been working with several small businesses and CPA firms for several years. Each small business has its own accounting software packages and use different accounting processes to record their business transactions. By working with the small businesses the accounting outsource providers learned to standardize and reuse the accounting process improvements across different vertical domains like retailing, manufacturing, and service based industries.
As the accounting outsource providers gain accounting business knowledge for a particular vertical industry, now they are started marketing their services to other small businesses on that business domain. For example accountings outsource provider gained significant knowledge on various real estate accounts and financial transactions started marketing to other real estate companies. As they gain accounting process experience naturally they are finding their own niche in vertical business domains to sell their services.
Financial Accounting Integration
Financial accounting business processes integration is another important trend in small business accounting outsourcing started happening. Most of the small businesses have been using more than one software package to mange their financial and other business data:
Small businesses use many other homegrown software tools and technologies to manage their day-to-day operations. All these software are running in silos, and small business owners have difficult time in consolidating all their business data. They need the integrated view of all the data to produce various reports and to set strategic directions for their company. There are two choices to integrate all their financial and account data:
Upgrade from different software technologies to use enterprise software like SAP or Oracle to mange all their financial data and business transactions.
Develop custom interfaces using in-house IT team to integrate all their software systems
Outsource their financial and business data management
Outsourcing in CPA Firms
CPA firms serving small businesses have been outsourcing tax and other general accounting services for some time. Now these CPA firms are considering outsource providers for other higher-value accounting services. CPA firms can leverage their relationship with small businesses and help them in outsourcing their higher value accounting projects. For example projects like real-time accounts integration needs process knowledge specific to a small business, IT skills, and accounting process standardization skills. CPA firms may not have all the skills needed for the real-time account integration projects. They can act as a liaison between the small business owners and outsource providers in outsourcing real-time account integration projects.
for more information Outsourcing Accounts you can visit http://www.pro-accountants.com
Accounting 1 Program #2 Chapter 1 ?Basic Accounting Concepts? dkrug@jccc.edu
Find More Accounting Articles
Source: http://justarticles.net/10/outsourcing-accounts/
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Saturday, October 20, 2012
Internet Marketing Methods for Newbies - Articulos.es ? Articulos.es
Do you assume, as many people do, that being an internet marketer means that you are part of a multi-level marketing type company? Building a down line? A way to make an instant income without having a job? There is so much more to internet marketing than the gimmicks that you see on television or as you surf the internet. If you are trying to make money on the web, you are essentially engaged in internet marketing. There are many different ways to accomplish this. It?s very common for the best online marketers to use several different strategies to maximize their profits. The following are some methods commonly used to make money online.
That can be quite powerful if you take what is known about godaddy affiliate marketing training and put it to use. If you want a little advice, as soon as you are done reading this then do not stop; immediately get to work.
If you want things to change in a positive way, then you need to find a way to motivate your self on a daily basis. It is a noble thing to be different from the rest because the rest, or most, of the people just sit and wait for something to change.
Everybody with a need to know this information can do something with it, just make sure you are one who does. We are about halfway there, so let?s press ahead and discover some more. Perhaps the simplest way to start making money online is through Ebay or a similar online auction site. All you have to do is look for items in good condition that you may have around the house or garage and list them for sale on Ebay. Of course, you will soon run out of things to sell from your home; to turn it into a real business you can find a good wholesale company to buy merchandise from that you can then mark up and sell online.
If you can find a good drop shipper you can make money this way without having to keep any inventory in your home! Some people also buy very cheap items at garage sales or through other online auctions and then try to re-auction them for a profit.
Selling software is a goldmine. People are always in search of a program that will save them time and energy. Just do some research to identify what people want then sell it to them. You need a product and then you need to figure out how to sell it. In order to sell your product you can choose between any of several effective techniques that are proven to work. Projects like these can make you money around the clock. It is also very easy to automate your system so that the product is automatically downloaded after the customer purchases it.
Maybe you?d rather build a blog. You can make good profits by blogging about the things you enjoy. Of course, you will be more successful if you focus your blog on a specific topic. There are a number of options open to you for earning revenue through your blogs. You can add paid advertising to your blog sidebar. You could offer your posts up for sponsorship to advertisers. You could get paid to review certain products. You might even receive free products as part of your reviews that you could sell for more profit later. Even blogging about specified topics or including links to people?s sites within posts could earn you a fee. There are just so many ways to make money with blogging.
There are as many paths to making money online as there are ways to do it. Deciding which method best suits you will take some time and you will probably make a few mistakes along the way. Never give up, no serious marketer ever does, and in time you will find-out what it is you?re supposed to be doing.
Each of the particular issues and sub-topical paragraphs can be greatly expanded when you are talking about affiloblueprint affiliate marketing. So if it suits your fancy, or need, then you are at your leisure to delve into it and know all about it.
As we always say, it is usually the little things that can turn out to be the most important.
What we find valuable is augmenting our source knowledge with related searches that are based on sub-topical interests. Then, since you know it is important, simply drill down to discover more about it.
Whether you choose to commit to more timely research is of course you decision, and we find many people do exactly that.
Tampa-born Saniyah Geiman hobbies and interests include Affiloblueprint rc aircrafts and robotics. She gets stimulated by checking out and going to new resorts including Czech Republic.
www.richandwell.com/affiliate-marketing-training/mark-ling/affiloblueprint/
Source: http://www.articulos.es/arte-y-cultura/internet-marketing-methods-for-newbies.html
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Friday, October 19, 2012
How To Avoid Medical Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment - Part 2 - Care2
In part 1 of this blog series ??The Shocking Dangers of Medical Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment ? I shared with you the data supporting how more tests do not necessarily equate to better health. In fact, if you read the post, you?ll see that even medically recommended cancer screening tests, such as mammography, can result in false positive tests, misdiagnosis, or overdiagnosis, potentially leading to medically unnecessary surgical procedures and potentially dangerous treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation.
The tendency for many health conscious, cancer-fearing patients is to request every test on the planet. How many of you have received the fear-mongering viral emails insisting that you march right up to your doctor and demand that she order a CA-125 test in order to prevent your late-stage ovarian cancer diagnosis? (Yup, it showed up in my inbox 14 times. And if you want to know what I think about CA-125 as a cancer screening test, read my book?What?s Up Down There. I explain my thoughts there.)
In short, more tests means more diagnoses ? which doesn?t necessarily translate into better health. In fact, it can translate into more side effects, more complications, and more risky treatments.
The Risk Of Unnecessary Medical Tests
From the time she was a young woman, Barbara just knew she was going to get cancer. Although she had no family history of cancer and no reason to believe it should afflict her, something in her gut told her it would happen ? some day. She did what she could to avoid it. She went for yearly physicals, got her Pap smears every year, and ate an organic, mostly plant-based diet.? She even convinced her doctor to let her start getting mammograms five years younger than the recommended age.
When she turned forty-five, she saw an advertisement for a full-body scan that promised to detect cancer early. Her insurance wouldn?t cover it, but Barbara figured yearly body scans would be the best way to detect cancer early, so she chose to make the investment in her health. Sure enough, although she was asymptomatic, her first body scan revealed multiple tumors ? one in her kidney, one on her ovary, and one in her liver.
Multiple tests and biopsies ensued. The liver and kidney tumors turned out to be benign, but a CA-125 blood test, performed to evaluate whether the ovarian tumor could be cancerous was found to be elevated.? Because this raised the suspicion that the ovarian tumor could be cancer, Barbara underwent surgery to remove her ovary. Fortunately, no cancer was found.
A week after the surgery, Barbara was in severe pain and went to the emergency room, a thorough work up revealed that during the surgery, Barbara?s ureter, the tube that connects the kidney and bladder, was accidentally severed. Another surgery was necessary to repair the damaged ureter, and Barbara had to wear a catheter for a month after the surgery.
Why? Because she was afraid, and her fear led her to undergo medically unnecessary tests that wound up putting her health at risk.
But What If Cancer Is Found?
Barbara?s case study highlights why unnecessary medical testing can be harmful to your health. But what if the scans had diagnosed a previously undiagnosed cancer? Wouldn?t that have been a good thing?
Not necessarily. You see, we all make cancer cells every day.? Our bodies are at risk all the time. Infectious agents cross into our bodies. Abnormal proteins get made. Strands of DNA get damaged. Stuff goes awry pretty much 24/7. But the good news is that the body is perfectly engineered to repair itself when the self-repair mechanisms are activated (Hint, Hint: They?re only active when your nervous system is relaxed.)
Left untreated, many diseases come and go, without ever producing symptoms or getting diagnosed. And that?s how it should be.? When we start overmedicalizing the body?s natural process, we may wind up putting the body at risk.
Sure, if you?re one of those asymptomatic people who gets diagnosed early with a cancer because of a screening test, you?re probably counting your lucky stars. And phew ? hopefully your early diagnosis was a good thing. But when you look at the data, the reality is that your outcome might not be much different than if you waited until you had symptoms in order to pursue treatment?
Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-to-avoid-medical-overdiagnosis-overtreatment-part-2.html
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Alaska woman wins national award for elder care | KTOO
An Alaska woman has won a national award for her efforts to bring culturally important care for Alaska Native elders.
Kay Branch is among 10 recipients of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation?s 2012 Community Health Leaders Award.
Branch, who will be honored with the other recipients in San Antonio Wednesday night, directs the statewide elder care program for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in Anchorage.
The 57-year-old woman says her mission is to see more elders stay in their villages and cared for by family members or locals.
When that?s not possible, Branch and others in a tribal health network seek ways to bring an elder?s culture to urban nursing homes and assisted living facilities, such as providing traditional foods like moose stew and fish head soup.
Source: http://www.ktoo.org/2012/10/18/alaska-woman-wins-national-award-for-elder-care/
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012
5 Ways to Make Your Property More Attractive to Buyers | ComFree ...
See this beautiful home at ComFree.com
Homeowners who plan to sell their home can make it more attractive to buyers. Below are five home improvements that are inexpensive to carry out and will make your home more appealing to potential buyers.
Ways to make your property more attractive to buyers #1
Deep Clean
The first thing to do is to deep clean the home, inside and out. A well cared for home looks attractive to buyers and they are more likely to consider purchasing it.
Windows should be washed inside and out so that they sparkle. Ceilings and corners should be dusted to get rid of cobwebs and surface dust. Every surface in the house should be dusted or washed including light fixtures, computers, pictures and picture frames, and other items that collect dust.
Items such as mirrors and faucets should be polished to a shine and maintained so that there are no water spots or fingerprints on them. If the caulk in the bathroom is discolored or cracked, it should be removed and new caulk applied.
Carpets should be cleaned and vacuumed daily so that they always appear clean and neat. Floors without carpet, such as tile, linoleum or hardwood, should be waxed and swept daily and mopped when necessary.
To make the inside of the home even more appealing, homeowners should replace worn bedding and curtains with new colors to match and set off the wall color. Fresh, clean towels that complement the color scheme should be hung in the bathroom and dishtowels should be hung in the kitchen.
Make sure there are no odors in the home, especially pet and smoke odors. Remove odors by cleaning daily and using some type of pet odor eliminator.
Ways to make your property more attractive to buyers #2
De-clutter
Homes that do not have a lot of knick-knacks, pictures and other personal items are more attractive to potential buyers. De-cluttering also makes the home look more spacious. A good rule of thumb is that if an item has not been used for over a year, such as exercise equipment, clothing and other items that take up space, donate it, store it or throw it away.
A good way to de-clutter a home is to rent a storage unit and store personal items that the homeowner does not want to part with. Boxing them up and storing them in a closet, garage or basement is not a good idea. A potential purchaser will still see a lot of boxes taking up space and it will distract them from imagining the home as their own. If they cannot see themselves living there comfortably, they will generally not purchase it.
Furniture should complement each room, not take it over. If there is too much furniture in a room, it should be stored in the storage unit or, if unwanted, donated to charity or sold.
Ways to make your property more attractive to buyers #3
Paint
The walls in the home should be painted a neutral shade, such as beige, so that the home looks warm and inviting. White walls look cold and sterile to purchasers and colors, such as blue, red and other dominant colors, may not appeal to them, either. Although they may like the home, if they do not like the colors and do not want to paint before moving in, they may decide they do not want to buy it.
If the outside of the home looks old and faded and has cracked or peeling paint, it should be repainted. A fresh coat of paint in neutral colors will make the home look very attractive.
Ways to make your property more attractive to buyers #4
Repairs
Repairs should be completed before showing the home. Leaky faucets should be fixed, any holes in the walls should be patched and painted over, any doors or windows that jam or will not close should be repaired.
Other repairs that should be completed include replacing burned-out light bulbs and broken light fixtures and blinds. Anything that squeaks should be oiled, such as door hinges and window fittings.
Ways to make your property more attractive to buyers #5
Curb appeal
Once the outside of the home has been painted, attention should be turned to the yard. The lawn should be mowed regularly and the sidewalks should be edged. A power washer can be used to clean sidewalks, the driveway and other outside areas so that they look neat and clean.
Bushes should be trimmed and flowers planted or, as an alternative, potted plants set in strategic locations. If there are fences, they should be repainted if needed and repairs made.
Completing the above tasks does require some work, but they are inexpensive ways to make the home more appealing to potential buyers. An appealing home will generally sell much faster than a home that looks run down, uncared for and cluttered.
If you plan on buying or selling a home, visit ComFree.com today.
Source: http://blog.comfree.com/2012/10/17/ways-to-make-your-property-more-attractive-to-buyers/
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"Girls," "Enlightened" Get Premiere Dates From HBO
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/girls-enlightened-premiere-dates-hbo-215652484.html
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Tuesday, October 16, 2012
15 sick; food safety failures, arrogance in Canada?s E. coli O157 outbreak
In mid-1994, Michael Taylor was appointed chief of USDA?s Food Safety and Inspection Service.? On Sept. 29, 1994, USDA said it would now regard E. coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef as an ?adulterant,? a substance that should not be present in the product. By mid-October, 1994, Taylor announced plans to launch a nationwide sampling of ground beef to assess how much E. coli O157:H7 was in the marketplace. The 5,000 samples would be 
That?s the long-winded version for what a USDA official said in a 1994 television interview: we?ll stop blaming consumers?when they get sick from the food and water they consume.
With 15 confirmed E. coli O157 illness across Canada linked to XL Foods in Alberta, the company laid off 2,000 employees Saturday, then called 800 back to work so they can get on with re-opening the plant the Canadian Food Inspection Agency closed Sept. 27, 2012.
Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture said, ?My thoughts are with the workers and the community affected by this private sector business decision.?
He didn?t say anything about the sick people, other than platitudes about how ?we won?t compromise when it comes to the safety of Canadians? food.?
But there?s lots of others eager to blame consumers, almost 20 years after the Jack-in-the-Box outbreak sparked Taylor?s actions.
Dr. Jean Kamanzi, who used to be a director at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and now is responsible for food hygiene in Africa for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Program said any E. coli bacteria in the meat could be rendered harmless if it?s cooked to a safe internal temperature ? 71 degrees Celsius.
?The meat we?re now throwing into the garbage, which contains this so-called E. coli, if you take it and cook it like you?re supposed to there?s no problem. It?s edible. These are good proteins. ? ?This is collective hysteria. We?re throwing away meat, we?re throwing everything away. Maybe we?re in a rich country and we can allow ourselves the luxury of not taking any risks at all ? but these risks, we take them every day when we touch meat.?
Jean?s point about this being a problem for wealthy countries is taken, but it?s not collective hysteria, especially to the people who got sick.
Dr. Sylvain Quessy, who teaches meat hygiene and is the vice-dean at the faculty of veterinary medicine at the University of Montreal, says that, from a statistical standpoint, 
?Everyone?s worrying about a number of cases that is not excessive compared with what you?d normally expect. What we?re telling people ? it?s as true now as it was before ? is you need to cook your meat properly. (And) wash your hands and wash the things the raw meat touched and you eliminate the danger.?
Sylvain Charlebois of the University of Guelph, said, ?If you cook your meat correctly and thoroughly, you will likely eliminate all risks. I would argue that if we educate the public, and we make sure that consumers know what to do with their beef products, you will likely eliminate most of the risks.?
And I thought Australia was stuck in the 1980s.
The feds responded, ?despite the fact that proper cooking and handling of food helps prevent illness, the best way to protect yourself is to not eat recalled products at all.?
Taylor did what he did back in 1994 based on the extreme virulence of shiga-toxin producing E. coli like O157:H7, the underestimated risk of cross-contamination, and that food safety isn?t simple, it?s complex. Consumers and food service workers have a role, but these other factors mean loads must be reduced throughout the system.
And this is without getting into the risk of needle- or blade-tenderized steaks and roasts, which sickened some of the people in the XL outbreak.
Just cook it doesn?t cut it. The U.S. meat industry has been told this for years. Why doesn?t 
And although officials insist it was planned months before the XL fiasco, CFIA is going to be audited later this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the first time in three years.
Canada exported more than $4 billion worth of beef and pork in 2010, much of it to the United States.
The final USDA report from its 2009 CFIA audit found weaknesses in the ability of Canadian inspectors to verify consistent sanitation and hazard protection in some slaughter plants, but noted the agency was planning to take action to deal with the shortcomings.
It also said agency inspectors and supervisors were routinely not following procedures for monitoring sanitation controls as laid out by the CFIA.
?Principal areas of weakness included the inability of inspection personnel to implement consistent sanitation and hazard analysis and critical control points verification procedures,? says the report, which was sent to the CFIA in October 2010.
?And, more significantly, (there is) the lack/loss of consistent supervisory reviews to identify weaknesses in inspection performance when it occurred.?
The report did find that the Canadian inspection system adequately verified testing for generic E. coli.
This banter is of no use to people sickened in the outbreak.
Source: http://barfblog.com/15-sick-food-safety-failures-arrogance-in-canadas-e-coli-o157-outbreak/
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Monday, October 15, 2012
Pakistan sends girl shot by Taliban to UK for care
A supporter of Pakistani political party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), reacts while holding a poster of 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai, who was shot last Tuesday by the Taliban for speaking out in support of education for women, during a rally to condemn the attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. Tens of thousands rallied in Pakistan's largest city Sunday in support of a 14-year-old girl who was shot and critically wounded by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticizing the militant group. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)
A supporter of Pakistani political party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), reacts while holding a poster of 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai, who was shot last Tuesday by the Taliban for speaking out in support of education for women, during a rally to condemn the attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. Tens of thousands rallied in Pakistan's largest city Sunday in support of a 14-year-old girl who was shot and critically wounded by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticizing the militant group. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)
A Pakistani paramilitary soldier, right, reacts to the killing of several policemen at the site of an attack by militants, in the small town of Matni, near Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 15, 2012. A Pakistani official says over 100 militants attacked a police station in the northwest late on Sunday night, killing several policemen and beheading two of them. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
Pakistani paramilitary soldiers check the site of an attack by militants, in the small town of Matni, near Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 15, 2012. A Pakistani official says over 100 militants attacked a police station in the northwest late on Sunday night, killing several policemen and beheading two of them. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
Pakistani police officers and officials pray next to the bodies of policemen who were killed by militants, during their funeral in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 15, 2012. A Pakistani official says over 100 militants attacked a police station in the small town of Matni, near Peshawar, late on Sunday night, killing several policemen and beheading two of them. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
Pakistani police officers carry the bodies of fellow officers, who were killed by militants, during their funeral procession, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 15, 2012. A Pakistani official says over 100 militants attacked a police station in the northwest late on Sunday night, killing several policemen and beheading two of them. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Pakistan airlifted a wounded teenage activist shot by the Taliban to the United Kingdom on Monday for more specialized medical care and to protect her from follow-up attacks threatened by the militants.
The attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai as she was returning home from school in Pakistan's northwest a week ago has horrified people across the country and abroad. It has also sparked hope the government would respond by intensifying its fight against the Taliban and their allies.
Malala was targeted by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticizing the militant group's behavior when they took over the scenic Swat Valley where she lived. Two of her classmates were also wounded in the attack and are receiving treatment in Pakistan.
The Taliban have threatened to target Malala again until she is killed because she promotes "Western thinking."
Malala was flown out of Pakistan on Monday morning in a specially equipped air ambulance provided by the United Arab Emirates, said the Pakistani military, which has been treating the young girl at one of its hospitals.
Video footage handed out by the military showed Malala being wheeled out of the hospital on a stretcher, covered in a white sheet and surrounded by uniformed army officers. She was placed in the back of an ambulance and driven to the airport, where she was put on a plane.
A panel of doctors recommended that Malala be shifted to a center in the United Kingdom that has the ability to provide "integrated" care to children who have sustained severe injuries, said a military statement.
"It was agreed by the panel of Pakistani doctors and international experts that Malala will require prolonged care to fully recover from the physical and psychological effects of trauma that she has received," the military said.
The plane stopped for several hours in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi on the way to the United Kingdom, said the Pakistani Ambassador to the UAE Jamil Ahmed Khan. The ambassador visited Malala during the stop and said she appeared to be in stable condition. Her parents were not on the plane with her, he said.
Malala will be treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in central England, a center which has specialized in the treatment of troops wounded in Afghanistan, said British Prime Minister David Cameron's office.
"The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague in a statement sent to reporters. "Malala's bravery in standing up for the right of all young girls in Pakistan to an education is an example to us all."
Pakistani doctors at a military hospital earlier removed a bullet from Malala's body that entered her head and headed toward her spine. The military has described her recovery as satisfactory and said she was able to move her legs and hands several days ago when her sedatives were reduced. They have not said whether she suffered any brain damage or other permanent damage.
On Monday, the military said damaged bones in Malala's skull will need to be repaired or replaced, and she will need "intensive neuro rehabilitation." The decision to send the girl abroad was taken in consultation with her family, and the Pakistani government will pay for her treatment.
Pakistanis have held rallies for Malala throughout the country, but most have only numbered a few hundred people. The largest show of support by far occurred Sunday when tens of thousands of people held a demonstration in the southern party city of Karachi organized by the most powerful political party in the city, the Muttahida Quami Movement.
Late Sunday night, over 100 Taliban militants attacked a police station in the small town of Matni, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the main northwest city of Peshawar. The heavily armed militants killed six policemen, including two who were beheaded, said police officer Ishrat Yar.
The police engaged the militants in a gunbattle that lasted for several hours, but the insurgents escaped after burning the police station and four police vehicles, said Yar.
One of the policemen who was beheaded was a senior official who commanded several police stations in the area and was leading reinforcements against the attack, said Yar. Another 12 policemen received gunshot wounds.
A Pakistani Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Afridi, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the police were targeted because they had killed several militants.
The Taliban have carried out hundreds of attacks throughout Pakistan but the attacks rarely include such a high number of militants as in the assault on the police station in Matni.
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Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.
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