Research enables fishermen to harvest lucrative shellfish on Georges Bank

Public release date: 10-Apr-2013
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Contact: WHOI Media Relations
media@whoi.edu
508-289-3340
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Combined research efforts by scientists involved in the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) project, funded by NOAA's Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) program, and administered by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), have led to enhanced understanding of toxic algal blooms on Georges Bank. This new information, coupled with an at-sea and dockside testing protocol developed through collaboration between GOMTOX and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigators, has allowed fishermen to harvest ocean quahogs and surf clams in these offshore waters for the first time in more than two decades.

The shellfish industry estimates the Georges Bank fishery can produce up to 1 million bushels of surf clams and ocean quahogs a year, valued $10 15 million annually. "There is a billion dollars' worth of shellfish product on Georges Bank that is property of the United States but that can't be harvested because of the threat of toxicity, and 99.9% of the time, it is good wholesome product," says Dave Wallace of North Atlantic Clam Association and a GOMTOX participant. "In an unusual and unique partnership, we worked with GOMTOX scientists, the FDA, and the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Delaware and now that huge resource can go into commerce, which helps the entire country."

"We are extremely pleased that research funded by NOAA can provide such an economic boost to New England shellfisheries," says Robert Magnien, Director of NCCOS' Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research. "It is a clear example of how research authorized by the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act can protect both public health and local economies through collaborations between academic scientists, state and federal regulatory agencies, and the shellfish industry."

An elevated area of the sea floor between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia, Georges Bank is one of the best fishing grounds on Earth. But since 1990, it has been closed to harvesting of surf clams and ocean quahogs after harmful algal blooms (also referred to as "red tides") caused paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) that sickened fishermen. For decades scientists speculated the blooms on Georges Bank were fueled by coastal blooms in the Gulf of Maine.

More recent research by GOMTOX investigators, however, has shown that Georges Bank is home to a separate and distinct population of the toxic algae, which is described in a recently published paper by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientist Dennis McGillicuddy and other members of the GOMTOX team.

It has been known for many years that the phytoplankton Alexandrium fundyense is the cause of the harmful algal blooms that occur to varying severity each spring and summer along the coastal Gulf of Maine, sometimes extending as far south as Cape Cod and the adjacent islands. The algae's seed populations or "cysts" germinate from seabeds starting in early spring and bloom at the sea surface, until all of the necessary nutrients in the water are consumed. As the nutrients run out, the cells form cysts and fall to the seafloor, as seed for the following spring. High concentrations of the toxic algae can cause closure of shellfish beds and cost the region many millions of dollars.

Precisely why the blooms vary in severity has been much more difficult to determine, and has involved extensive seasonal sampling of water and sediments, study of coastal currents, environmental and oceanographic conditions, availability of nutrients, and the development of a computer program to model all of the variables.

Researchers got the first signal that something very different was happening on Georges Bank during a research cruise to count Alexandrium cells in sea water samples in spring/summer 2007. "We devised our sampling strategy to look at the cells' transport pathways from coastal waters onto the Bank," says McGillicuddy. Throughout the coastal Gulf of Maine, the numbers were very low. But when the research team started sampling at Georges Bank, they found very high concentrations of Alexandrium in the water, despite the fact that the bloom had not really begun along the coast of Maine.

"I'll never forget the moment we hit a big patch of cells on Georges Bank," says Dave Townsend, a GOMTOX scientist from the University of Maine and co-author of the paper. "We extended our sampling to go all the way across Georges Bank and we were still hitting them. We had to turn around and completely reorganize our sampling strategy based on what we were seeing in the microscope."

For such a large bloom to occur, the researchers reasoned the number of cysts on Georges Bank must be similar to the quantities needed to initiate a bloom along the coast. Yet, their fall 2007 survey to map the cyst distribution in the seabed on the Bank found very few cysts quantities not likely to cause a large bloom along the coast.

In the three-year course of intensive study on Georges Bank since then, blooms have occurred every year, in concentrations that would typically lead to toxicities in coastal shellfish beds. Yet, a parallel effort by the fishing industry and federal testing labs to analyze shellfish samples from Georges Bank found the bivalves to be clean of toxins. So while toxins were produced at and near the surface, they were not delivered to the surf clams and ocean quahogs in the seabed in quantities sufficient to threaten human health.

The system on Georges Bank was indeed a riddle: Few cysts, yet large blooms; a large bloom, yet little to no toxicity in the shellfish. Applying the same detailed analyses to the offshore population of Alexandrium that they applied to coastal populations, the scientists discovered the optimum growing conditions for Alexandrium on Georges Bank were colder and saltier than those of their coastal relatives. Their analysis uncovered how the currents in the region can isolate Georges Bank to create colder and saltier conditions. If the conditions are favorable, the researchers say, Alexandrium populations can double every three days, and in a month's time, grow from concentrations of 10 cells per liter to 10,000.

Further setting the Georges Bank population apart was the finding by GOMTOX colleagues at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), working in collaboration with the FDA, who determined that the toxin content of algae on Georges Bank was different than the coastal Gulf of Maine populations. "The toxins present in Alexandrium cells from Georges Bank were, on average, two times lower than those in the coastal Gulf of Maine," said Chrissy Petitpas, a doctoral student working in Professor Jefferson Turner's lab at SMAST.

Despite this new information and the knowledge that the clams have been shown to be safe for humans to eat at the present time, the fact remains that concentrations of the toxins in the clams on Georges Bank in 1989 and 1990 did reach dangerous levels. Scientists know that coastal shellfish populations are directly exposed to the toxins when the blooms make landfall, but they remain uncertain about the conduit for toxicity from the surface ocean to the deep shellfish beds on Georges Bank, located at about 50m depth.

But, thanks to an innovative screening protocol and regulatory structure developed collaboratively by the FDA, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, the fishing industry, and testing labs approved by the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, a system is now in place to monitor, test, and verify that clams harvested from Georges Bank are safe. The clams are checked by fishermen at sea using the newly available test kit, and re-checked by regulators when the fishing vessels reach the dock. Combined with the weekly monitoring of shellfish beds along the coast during the bloom season to protect human health, these monitoring systems are extremely effective at keeping toxic shellfish off the market.

"Toxin levels in shellfish on Georges Bank have been very low over the last few years. We are confident that this new testing protocol will serve to protect public health should toxin levels rise again in the future," said Stacey DeGrasse, seafood research coordinator in the FDA's Office of Regulatory Science and a major participant in the development of the new offshore testing protocol. "We intend to continue to work closely with NOAA to ensure that the shellfish from this region are harvested safely."

"I've run over 2,500 samples from Georges Bank since mid-March, and all of them have been clean of toxin," says Darcie Couture, a former manager of the marine biotoxins program at the Maine Department of Marine Resources, who now operates the federally permitted testing lab. "We've been fortunate in finding a way that we can safely harvest that product out there."

"Although we can't predict when conditions on Georges Bank will favor a large bloom, our knowledge of the bloom dynamics was used in establishing a suitable management approach," says Don Anderson, a senior scientist at WHOI and the lead investigator on the GOMTOX project.

For the scientists, the work to understand the dynamics of the Georges Bank population continues. New DNA evidence uncovered by Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health researchers Deana Erdner (University of Texas) and Mindy Richlen from Don Anderson's laboratory at WHOI, suggests the Georges Bank Alexandrium population is genetically distinct.

"We thought the Georges Bank population was just the little toe at the end of the coastal population, but it's not. It is separate, and it occupies a distinct niche from the rest of the Alexandrium in this region," says McGillicuddy. "This was a big surprise to us."

###

The research was funded, in part, by NOAA's NCCOS, with additional support provided by NSF and NIEHS through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the oceans' role in the changing global environment.

---

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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.

Public release date: 10-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: WHOI Media Relations
media@whoi.edu
508-289-3340
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Combined research efforts by scientists involved in the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) project, funded by NOAA's Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) program, and administered by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), have led to enhanced understanding of toxic algal blooms on Georges Bank. This new information, coupled with an at-sea and dockside testing protocol developed through collaboration between GOMTOX and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigators, has allowed fishermen to harvest ocean quahogs and surf clams in these offshore waters for the first time in more than two decades.

The shellfish industry estimates the Georges Bank fishery can produce up to 1 million bushels of surf clams and ocean quahogs a year, valued $10 15 million annually. "There is a billion dollars' worth of shellfish product on Georges Bank that is property of the United States but that can't be harvested because of the threat of toxicity, and 99.9% of the time, it is good wholesome product," says Dave Wallace of North Atlantic Clam Association and a GOMTOX participant. "In an unusual and unique partnership, we worked with GOMTOX scientists, the FDA, and the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Delaware and now that huge resource can go into commerce, which helps the entire country."

"We are extremely pleased that research funded by NOAA can provide such an economic boost to New England shellfisheries," says Robert Magnien, Director of NCCOS' Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research. "It is a clear example of how research authorized by the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act can protect both public health and local economies through collaborations between academic scientists, state and federal regulatory agencies, and the shellfish industry."

An elevated area of the sea floor between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia, Georges Bank is one of the best fishing grounds on Earth. But since 1990, it has been closed to harvesting of surf clams and ocean quahogs after harmful algal blooms (also referred to as "red tides") caused paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) that sickened fishermen. For decades scientists speculated the blooms on Georges Bank were fueled by coastal blooms in the Gulf of Maine.

More recent research by GOMTOX investigators, however, has shown that Georges Bank is home to a separate and distinct population of the toxic algae, which is described in a recently published paper by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientist Dennis McGillicuddy and other members of the GOMTOX team.

It has been known for many years that the phytoplankton Alexandrium fundyense is the cause of the harmful algal blooms that occur to varying severity each spring and summer along the coastal Gulf of Maine, sometimes extending as far south as Cape Cod and the adjacent islands. The algae's seed populations or "cysts" germinate from seabeds starting in early spring and bloom at the sea surface, until all of the necessary nutrients in the water are consumed. As the nutrients run out, the cells form cysts and fall to the seafloor, as seed for the following spring. High concentrations of the toxic algae can cause closure of shellfish beds and cost the region many millions of dollars.

Precisely why the blooms vary in severity has been much more difficult to determine, and has involved extensive seasonal sampling of water and sediments, study of coastal currents, environmental and oceanographic conditions, availability of nutrients, and the development of a computer program to model all of the variables.

Researchers got the first signal that something very different was happening on Georges Bank during a research cruise to count Alexandrium cells in sea water samples in spring/summer 2007. "We devised our sampling strategy to look at the cells' transport pathways from coastal waters onto the Bank," says McGillicuddy. Throughout the coastal Gulf of Maine, the numbers were very low. But when the research team started sampling at Georges Bank, they found very high concentrations of Alexandrium in the water, despite the fact that the bloom had not really begun along the coast of Maine.

"I'll never forget the moment we hit a big patch of cells on Georges Bank," says Dave Townsend, a GOMTOX scientist from the University of Maine and co-author of the paper. "We extended our sampling to go all the way across Georges Bank and we were still hitting them. We had to turn around and completely reorganize our sampling strategy based on what we were seeing in the microscope."

For such a large bloom to occur, the researchers reasoned the number of cysts on Georges Bank must be similar to the quantities needed to initiate a bloom along the coast. Yet, their fall 2007 survey to map the cyst distribution in the seabed on the Bank found very few cysts quantities not likely to cause a large bloom along the coast.

In the three-year course of intensive study on Georges Bank since then, blooms have occurred every year, in concentrations that would typically lead to toxicities in coastal shellfish beds. Yet, a parallel effort by the fishing industry and federal testing labs to analyze shellfish samples from Georges Bank found the bivalves to be clean of toxins. So while toxins were produced at and near the surface, they were not delivered to the surf clams and ocean quahogs in the seabed in quantities sufficient to threaten human health.

The system on Georges Bank was indeed a riddle: Few cysts, yet large blooms; a large bloom, yet little to no toxicity in the shellfish. Applying the same detailed analyses to the offshore population of Alexandrium that they applied to coastal populations, the scientists discovered the optimum growing conditions for Alexandrium on Georges Bank were colder and saltier than those of their coastal relatives. Their analysis uncovered how the currents in the region can isolate Georges Bank to create colder and saltier conditions. If the conditions are favorable, the researchers say, Alexandrium populations can double every three days, and in a month's time, grow from concentrations of 10 cells per liter to 10,000.

Further setting the Georges Bank population apart was the finding by GOMTOX colleagues at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), working in collaboration with the FDA, who determined that the toxin content of algae on Georges Bank was different than the coastal Gulf of Maine populations. "The toxins present in Alexandrium cells from Georges Bank were, on average, two times lower than those in the coastal Gulf of Maine," said Chrissy Petitpas, a doctoral student working in Professor Jefferson Turner's lab at SMAST.

Despite this new information and the knowledge that the clams have been shown to be safe for humans to eat at the present time, the fact remains that concentrations of the toxins in the clams on Georges Bank in 1989 and 1990 did reach dangerous levels. Scientists know that coastal shellfish populations are directly exposed to the toxins when the blooms make landfall, but they remain uncertain about the conduit for toxicity from the surface ocean to the deep shellfish beds on Georges Bank, located at about 50m depth.

But, thanks to an innovative screening protocol and regulatory structure developed collaboratively by the FDA, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, the fishing industry, and testing labs approved by the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, a system is now in place to monitor, test, and verify that clams harvested from Georges Bank are safe. The clams are checked by fishermen at sea using the newly available test kit, and re-checked by regulators when the fishing vessels reach the dock. Combined with the weekly monitoring of shellfish beds along the coast during the bloom season to protect human health, these monitoring systems are extremely effective at keeping toxic shellfish off the market.

"Toxin levels in shellfish on Georges Bank have been very low over the last few years. We are confident that this new testing protocol will serve to protect public health should toxin levels rise again in the future," said Stacey DeGrasse, seafood research coordinator in the FDA's Office of Regulatory Science and a major participant in the development of the new offshore testing protocol. "We intend to continue to work closely with NOAA to ensure that the shellfish from this region are harvested safely."

"I've run over 2,500 samples from Georges Bank since mid-March, and all of them have been clean of toxin," says Darcie Couture, a former manager of the marine biotoxins program at the Maine Department of Marine Resources, who now operates the federally permitted testing lab. "We've been fortunate in finding a way that we can safely harvest that product out there."

"Although we can't predict when conditions on Georges Bank will favor a large bloom, our knowledge of the bloom dynamics was used in establishing a suitable management approach," says Don Anderson, a senior scientist at WHOI and the lead investigator on the GOMTOX project.

For the scientists, the work to understand the dynamics of the Georges Bank population continues. New DNA evidence uncovered by Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health researchers Deana Erdner (University of Texas) and Mindy Richlen from Don Anderson's laboratory at WHOI, suggests the Georges Bank Alexandrium population is genetically distinct.

"We thought the Georges Bank population was just the little toe at the end of the coastal population, but it's not. It is separate, and it occupies a distinct niche from the rest of the Alexandrium in this region," says McGillicuddy. "This was a big surprise to us."

###

The research was funded, in part, by NOAA's NCCOS, with additional support provided by NSF and NIEHS through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the oceans' role in the changing global environment.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/whoi-ref041013.php

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Rise of Computer Programming Jobs | US Hispanics

Demand for Computer & Software Jobs Offers
2nd Career Opportunity

?You Don?t Have to be a Math Whiz to Learn,?
Says Trainer/Programmer

There are?plenty?or good jobs to be found on sites like Monster and Craigslist, says Mark Lassoff, a self-described computer geek and founder of LearnToProgram, Inc. (www.LearnToProgram.tv). The problem is, the glut of unemployed, college-educated professionals available to fill them aren?t qualified, he says.

?American companies will post positions for jobs like developing mobile apps and video games ? good, high-paying jobs with benefits ? but there just aren?t enough qualified computer programmers out there so, after a few weeks, they send these jobs overseas,? says Lassoff, who has trained employees at the Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin and Discover Card Services.

Computer programming jobs are expected to grow by 12 percent by 2020, while software developer jobs are forecast to grow by 30 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2010, the median salary for software developers were earning more than $90,500.?

There aren?t enough people to fill these jobs because technology and the job market are moving much faster than education in high schools and colleges, says Lassoff, who develops online courses, books and other materials for people who want to learn programming.

?People think you have to go back to school to learn programming and other computer skills, but you don?t,? he says. ?There?s also the myth that you have to be some kind of math or science genius to learn it. Not true. You just need to learn the process, and then practice it. You can build a portfolio by doing volunteer work for a church or charity.?

What types of people are ripe for skills like web development through an online course ? and landing a great new job?

??Career-hoppers with an IT background:?Current and former Information Technology workers are fast learners when it comes to new computer skills. If their current job is in customer service or corporate support, getting the tools to unleash their creativity may be the ticket not only to better pay but to a more gratifying career.

??Retirees:?The clich? is that older folks are so far behind on tech knowledge, they struggle with email. However, many retirees are highly motivated, curious and have plenty of time for the business of learning. They may even have worked with early computers in their careers. ?I know seniors who learned programming later in life and they like staying stimulated and challenged, and having an in-demand skill,? Lassoff says.

??The kid who plans to study computer science:?Junior high and high school curricula are still woefully behind when it comes to preparing kids for careers in computer technology. Ambitious kids who want to take their relationship with technology to the next level are thoroughly engaged by web, mobile and gaming code classes ? and they do very well.?

??The good-idea person:?Very often, someone has a great idea for a mobile app, but no idea what to do with it. A basic understanding of mobile app coding can start turning that great idea into an entrepreneurial adventure.

Courses for these training programs do not have to be expensive ? high quality yet affordable programs can be found for less than $200, he says

Source: http://www.ushispanics.com/2013/04/rise-of-computer-programming-jobs/

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To be taken seriously, should advice giving innovation consultants ...

Gregg Fraley and I both are? of the opinion that a non-creative innovation consultant who knows the theory, but doesn?t get his hands dirty, has no business in giving game-changing advice.

Via Gregg Fraley in response to this article about creativity gurus:

Interesting that even the experts don?t really know how, exactly, to be more creative. A nicely written, humorous, and thoughtful piece.

When I saw his response, I couldn?t help myself and not respond. Here is my on-going response with Gregg (from Facebook):

Not difficult to separate the posers from the rest. Litmus test question: If you are not innovative with self, then how you can you help others become innovative?

I respect people who walk the talk. If you behave this way, it means you are not afraid to fail. How much is a non-creative creativity consultant risking by regurgitating what is being said in books and everywhere else? Nothing.

Also, innovation is about making things better, and if the person who is advising/challenging you on how to make things better doesn?t act this way, then he/she has no business giving advice on what they don?t do themselves.

I know a couple of people in my neck of the woods who ?sell innovation? and know for a fact that they are running around with frameworks from other people. For me, if you are truly committed to innovation, then you have to challenge the status-quo. That means best practices. And, if you can?t identify when you are simply regurgitating best practices, then why would I expect you to challenge and stretch my thinking?

YES! I?ve never had a great idea come out of using frameworks and tools. Nor have I heard of any game-changing business be born in a strategic planning session where frameworks were used. I understand their value in helping people think, but, true advantage is cognitive.

Tools don?t make a great mind, but a fluid and adaptable mind makes frameworks irrelevant.

Of course, this is a daunting challenge for anyone and even more daunting for an organization.

Do you think creativity/innovation consultants should be held to a higher standard?

Source: http://www.game-changer.net/2013/04/09/should-innovation-consultants-be-innovators-themselves/

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Microsoft to build first innovation center in China, has software development in mind

Microsoft's relatively often finding ways to encourage software development in various fields, and the company's latest venture has it setting footsteps near the Great Wall. According to a report by news agency Xinhua, the software (and hardware) company has reached a deal with China's Hainan government that will see it build an innovation center in this territory. Focusing on IT development and skills in tourism and agriculture, this new property will be the first of its type in China, and Microsoft has high hopes that the joint efforts can, aside from becoming a crossroads of knowledge, also "boost the region's efforts to become a major international tourist destination." Frankly, seeing as to how the highly populated nation doesn't appear to be slowing down its all-around growth anytime soon, it wouldn't surprise us if Redmond decides to start setting up more of these in the years to come.

Filed under: Misc, Microsoft

Comments

Via: ZDNet

Source: China Daily

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/GO6LQAjl9og/

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North Korea suspends last project with South, Putin cites Chernobyl

By Christine Kim

PAJU, South Korea (Reuters) - North Korea suspended its sole remaining major project with the South on Monday, after weeks of threats against the United States and South Korea, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said any nuclear conflict could make Chernobyl look like a fairy tale.

Reclusive North Korea's decision to all but close the Kaesong industrial park coincided with speculation that it will carry out some sort of provocative action - another nuclear weapons test or missile launch - in what has become one of the most serious crises on the peninsula since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

Tension has been rising since the United Nations imposed new sanctions against the North in response to its third test of a nuclear weapon in February. Pyongyang has been further angered by weeks of joint military exercises by South Korean and U.S. forces and threatened both countries with nuclear attack.

Putin said conflict on the peninsula could cause greater devastation than the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.

"I would make no secret about it, we are worried about the escalation on the Korean peninsula, because we are neighbors," he told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a visit to a trade fair in Germany.

"And if, God forbid, something happens, Chernobyl which we all know a lot about, may seem like a child's fairy tale. Is there such a threat or not? I think there is... I would urge everyone to calm down... and start to resolve the problems that have piled up for many years there at the negotiating table."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said North Korea could not go on "confronting" the authority of the Security Council and challenging the international community.

"I sincerely hope that they will fully comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions. This is an urgent and earnest appeal from the international community, including myself."

A senior North Korean official, quoted by the official KCNA news agency, said after a visit to Kaesong that authorities would withdraw North Korean workers and then decide on whether it would continue to operate.

North Koreans attend a rally held to gather their willingness for a victory in a possible war against the United States and South Korea in Nampo, North Korea, April 3, 2013 in this picture released by... more? North Koreans attend a rally held to gather their willingness for a victory in a possible war against the United States and South Korea in Nampo, North Korea, April 3, 2013 in this picture released by the North's official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang on Wednesday. REUTERS/KCNA (NORTH KOREA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A RVICE TO CLIENTS. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS less? ?

"It will temporarily suspend the operations in the zone and examine the issue of whether it will allow its (continued) existence or close it," KCNA quoted Kim Yang Gon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, as saying.

KCNA said leaders in South Korea, a major U.S. ally, were "running the whole gamut of intrigues to find a pretext for igniting a war against (North Korea) after reducing the Kaesong Industrial zone to a theatre of confrontation".

Seoul, it said, was trying to "turn the zone into a hotbed of war" against the North.

The North last week barred South Koreans from entering the zone and South Koreans had been leaving the zone gradually in the past week as raw materials and food begin to run out.

Analysts had suggested Pyongyang would continue to allow Kaesong to operate as it accounted for some $2 billion in annual trade, with 50,000 North Koreans working in the zone making household goods for 123 South Korean companies.

It also generates more than $80 million a year in cash in wages - paid to the state rather than to workers.

About 475 South Koreans workers remain in Kaesong. Thirteen factories have stopped operations due to lack of raw materials, according to the South's Unification Ministry.

"North Korea's unilateral decision to push ahead with this measure cannot be justified in any way and North Korea will be held responsible for all the consequences," the ministry said in a statement.

"The Korean government will calmly but firmly handle North Korea's indiscreet action and we will do our best to secure the safety of our people and the protection of our property."

"PREENING, POSTURING"

Bruce Cumings, a historian and author of "North Korea: Another Country", said in a report Pyongyang was behaving to a pattern.

"Nothing is more characteristic of this regime than its preening, posturing, overweening desire for the world to pay it attention, while simultaneously threatening destruction in all directions and assuring through draconian repression that its people know next to nothing about that same world," he wrote.

The zone was the last shared link between the two Koreas as the North cut off three telephone "hot lines" and declared it was tearing up the armistice that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.

Earlier on Monday, the South's Defence Ministry denied suggestions that a nuclear arms test was imminent in North Korea, saying reported movements around the reclusive country's atomic site were routine, contradicting earlier government comments.

China's Foreign Ministry said it wanted to see nuclear-free peace on the Korean peninsula. Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a Beijing briefing that China "believes that the only way to realize denuclearization is dialogue among all the parties concerned".

North Korean authorities told embassies in Pyongyang they could not guarantee their safety from Wednesday - after saying conflict was inevitable amid the joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises due to last until the end of the month. No diplomats appear to have left the North Korean capital.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits Seoul this week and the North holds celebrations and possibly military demonstrations next Monday to mark the birth date of its founder, Kim Il-Sung - grandfather of the current leader, 30-year-old Kim Jong-un.

The turmoil has hit South Korean financial markets, long used to upsets over the North. Shares in Seoul dipped to near a four-month low as the rhetoric prompted selling by foreigners after substantial losses on Friday.

Pyongyang has shown no sign of preparing its 1.2 million-strong army for war, indicating the threats are partly intended for domestic purposes to bolster Kim, the third in his family dynasty to rule North Korea.

But it has moved what appears to be a mid-range Musudan missile to its east coast, according to media reports last week.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed aerial footage of what it said were ballistic missile interceptors being deployed near Tokyo in response to North Korea's threats and actions.

Japan in the past has deployed ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptors, as well as Aegis radar-equipped destroyers carrying Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors in the run-up to North Korean missile launches.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment on the reports.

"Unveiling specific actions by the Self-Defence Forces is tantamount to putting down our cards on the table," Suga told a news conference. "I would like to refrain from commenting."

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park in Seoul, Terril Yue Jones in Beijing, David Morgan, Aruna Viswanatha and Mark Felsenthal in Washington, Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo and Alexei Anishchuk in Hanover; Writing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/n-korea-may-preparing-nuclear-test-report-042700809.html

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Too Short: Charged With Four Misdemeanors After Arrest, Failed Escape Bid

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/too-short-charged-with-four-misdemeanors-after-arrest-failed-esc/

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Merkel tells Putin to give NGOs a chance

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, attend the opening of the Hannover Fair at the Congress Center in Hannover, Germany, Sunday April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, attend the opening of the Hannover Fair at the Congress Center in Hannover, Germany, Sunday April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin for the opening of the Hannover Fair at the Congress Center in Hannover, Germany, Sunday April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, center left, pose for a photo at the opening of the Hannover Fair at the Congress Center in Hannover, Germany, Sunday April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)

HANNOVER, Germany (AP) ? Germany's leader has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Kremlin needs to encourage civil society as well as push for technological modernization, underlining tensions as Putin seeks to bolster economic ties with a visit to a major trade fair.

Putin's trip to the central German city of Hannover highlights Russia's interest in developing foreign trade, including further business ties with Germany. The two leaders were touring the fair on Monday.

At the opening of the event on Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said real modernization is enhanced by a strong civil society. Germany's ties with Russia have been strained lately by the Kremlin's heavy-handed response to opposition groups and pressure on non-governmental organizations.

Merkel said Germany was ready to help Russia diversify its economy, pointing to innovation, research and training as key points.

"We are convinced that this can best succeed if there is an active civil society," she said. "We must intensify this discussion ... and also give nongovernmental organizations ? the many groups that we in Germany know as motors of innovation ? a good chance in Russia."

A law approved last year in Russia requires all NGOs that receive funds from abroad and engage in vaguely defined political activities to register as "foreign agents," a term invoking Cold War-era spying connotations.

Leading Russian NGOs have pledged to boycott the bill. Putin responded by ordering wide-ranging checks of up to 2,000 NGOs across the country to check their compliance with the law. Among others targeted were two German think-tanks ? the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which is aligned with Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, linked to the opposition Social Democrats.

"I would have liked clearer words from the chancellor," Claudia Roth, a leader of Germany's opposition Greens, told ARD television. Roth said Russian NGOs face "repression ... defamation, discrediting and criminalization, and that simply requires very, very clear words."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-08-Germany-Russia/id-92682f2090f240ff99b51e8067342f4a

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Fire Printers Seem Like The Best Terrible Idea Ever

Inkjet printers are incredibly annoying, and if this one didn't print with fire there would be no making over the inkjet's image. But it does. It's called the FireWriter. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/uFj_gJomWf8/fire-printers-seem-like-the-best-terrible-idea-ever

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Fetal exposure to excessive stress hormones in the womb linked to adult mood disorders

Apr. 6, 2013 ? Exposure of the developing fetus to excessive levels of stress hormones in the womb can cause mood disorders in later life and now, for the first time, researchers have found a mechanism that may underpin this process, according to research presented April 7 at the British Neuroscience Association Festival of Neuroscience (BNA2013) in London.

The concept of fetal programming of adult disease, whereby the environment experienced in the womb can have profound long-lasting consequences on health and risk of disease in later life, is well known; however, the process that drives this is unclear. Professor Megan Holmes, a neuroendocrinologist from the University of Edinburgh/British Heart Foundation Centre for Cardiovascular Science in Scotland (UK), will say: "During our research we have identified the enzyme 11?-HSD2 which we believe plays a key role in the process of fetal programming."

Adverse environments experienced while in the womb, such as in cases of stress, bereavement or abuse, will increase levels of glucocorticoids in the mother, which may harm the growing baby. Glucocorticoids are naturally produced hormones and they are also known as stress hormones because of their role in the stress response.

"The stress hormone cortisol may be a key factor in programming the fetus, baby or child to be at risk of disease in later life. Cortisol causes reduced growth and modifies the timing of tissue development as well as having long lasting effects on gene expression," she will say.

Prof Holmes will describe how her research has identified an enzyme called 11?-HSD2 (11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2) that breaks down the stress hormone cortisol to an inactive form, before it can cause any harm to the developing fetus. The enzyme 11?-HSD2 is present in the placenta and the developing fetal brain where it is thought to act as a shield to protect against the harmful actions of cortisol.

Prof Holmes and her colleagues developed genetically modified mice that lacked 11?-HSD2 in order to determine the role of the enzyme in the placenta and fetal brain. "In mice lacking the enzyme 11?-HSD2, fetuses were exposed to high levels of stress hormones and, as a consequence, these mice exhibited reduced fetal growth and went on to show programmed mood disorders in later life. We also found that the placentas from these mice were smaller and did not transport nutrients efficiently across to the developing fetus. This too could contribute to the harmful consequences of increased stress hormone exposure on the fetus and suggests that the placental 11?-HSD2 shield is the most important barrier.

"However, preliminary new data show that with the loss of the 11?-HSD2 protective barrier solely in the brain, programming of the developing fetus still occurs, and, therefore, this raises questions about how dominant a role is played by the placental 11?-HSD2 barrier. This research is currently ongoing and we cannot draw any firm conclusions yet.

"Determining the exact molecular and cellular mechanisms that drive fetal programming will help us identify potential therapeutic targets that can be used to reverse the deleterious consequences on mood disorders. In the future, we hope to explore the potential of these targets in studies in humans," she will say.

Prof Holmes hopes that her research will make healthcare workers more aware of the fact that children exposed to an adverse environment, be it abuse, malnutrition, or bereavement, are at an increased risk of mood disorders in later life and the children should be carefully monitored and supported to prevent this from happening.

In addition, the potential effects of excessive levels of stress hormones on the developing fetus are also of relevance to individuals involved in antenatal care. Within the past 20 years, the majority of women at risk of premature delivery have been given synthetic glucocorticoids to accelerate fetal lung development to allow the premature babies to survive early birth.

"While this glucocorticoid treatment is essential, the dose, number of treatments and the drug used, have to be carefully monitored to ensure that the minimum effective therapy is used, as it may set the stage for effects later in the child's life," Prof Holmes will say.

Puberty is another sensitive time of development and stress experienced at this time can also be involved in programming adult mood disorders. Prof Holmes and her colleagues have found evidence from imaging studies in rats that stress in early teenage years could affect mood and emotional behaviour via changes in the brain's neural networks associated with emotional processing.

The researchers used fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to see which pathways in the brain were affected when stressed, peripubertal rats responded to a specific learned task. [1].

Prof Holmes will say: "We showed that in stressed 'teenage' rats, the part of the brain region involved in emotion and fear (known as amygdala) was activated in an exaggerated fashion when compared to controls. The results from this study clearly showed that altered emotional processing occurs in the amygdala in response to stress during this crucial period of development."

Abstract title: "Perinatal programming of stress-related behaviour by glucocorticoids." Symposium: "Early life stress and its long-term effects -- experimental studies."

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/eVqdzmTpLPM/130407090835.htm

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Immigration benefits for gay couples if DOMA struck down

Same-sex marriage supporters rally at the U.S. Supreme Court on March 27, 2013. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Earlier this week, we wrote about how if the federal Defense of Marriage Act is struck down by the Supreme Court this summer, it may lead to confusion for same-sex married couples who live or work in the 38 states that specifically bar the recognition of gay marriage.

If DOMA is struck down, same-sex couples who live in the nine states (and District of Columbia) that allow gay marriage will see their marriage recognized at the federal level for the first time ever, qualifying them for more than 1,100 federal statutes that provide benefits and responsibilities to married couples.

But if a same-sex married couple moves from New York, which allows gay marriage, to North Carolina, which does not, would their marriage still be recognized at the federal level for things like tax breaks, Social Security survivor benefits, and the ability to apply for family medical leave from work?

An exchange between the attorney arguing against DOMA, Roberta Kaplan, and Justice Samuel Alito during oral arguments in the case last week suggested that the answer might be no.

Alito asked whether a New York gay couple who moved to North Carolina could qualify for the same federal estate tax breaks that heterosexual married couples enjoy if one spouse dies. "Our position is only with respect to the nine states ... that recognize these marriages," Kaplan responded.

Kaplan's answer suggested that if DOMA is struck down, same-sex married couples who moved to states that don't recognize their union would lose both federal and state recognition of their marriage, effectively causing their union to temporarily disappear.

But since we ran that story, we've been contacted by other legal experts who say they believe many, if not most, federal benefits would still be available to same-sex couples even if they moved away from the state that granted their marriage into one that prohibits gay marriage.

Lavi Soloway, an attorney who represents same-sex married couples on immigration issues, said he expects his clients will be able to apply for green cards for their spouses as soon as DOMA is struck down, no matter which state they reside in. That's because in immigration law, your marriage is recognized if it's valid in the place where it was performed. In estate tax, the specific case Kaplan and Alito talked about, a marriage is considered valid only if it's recognized in the state you are residing in when your spouse dies.

If DOMA is struck down, then, it will probably lead to a case by case analysis of the 1,138 federal statutes that use marriage as a factor to see which benefits gay couples who move away from states that grant same-sex marriages will qualify for. In some of those statutes?such as estate tax exemptions?the place of residence will be the deciding factor, while in others, such as the ability to apply for a green card for your spouse, it will only matter where your marriage license was issued. In cases where it's not clearly spelled out, it will most likely be up to the federal agency to decide whether the marriage is valid or not.

"Whether North Carolina will recognize their marriage or not, they're still married," said Erwin Chemerinsky, founding dean at the University of California Irvine school of law. "Their marriage doesn't disappear."

The state-federal conflict will likely lead to legal chaos and a bevy of lawsuits, nonetheless. Chemerinsky predicts the issue will reach the Supreme Court again, with same-sex couples arguing that states' not recognizing their marriages denies them their right to equal protection under the law.

Couples could also argue that states' refusal interferes with their constitutionally guaranteed right to interstate travel.

In a column for Bloomberg, Harvard law professor Noah Feldman imagined a scenario in which couples are "both married and unmarried for purposes of the same tax returns, mortgages and hospital visits." He called the potential upcoming lawsuits?and divergent conclusions drawn by different courts?"legal chaos."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/one-clear-result-doma-struck-down-immigration-benefits-200551444--election.html

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Death toll hits 72 in India building collapse

People gather around a heap of debris at the site of a building collapsed as a rescue operation continues on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, Friday, April 5, 2013. A half-finished building that was being constructed illegally in a suburb of India's financial capital collapsed, killing 35 people and injuring more than 50 others, police said Friday. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

People gather around a heap of debris at the site of a building collapsed as a rescue operation continues on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, Friday, April 5, 2013. A half-finished building that was being constructed illegally in a suburb of India's financial capital collapsed, killing 35 people and injuring more than 50 others, police said Friday. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

An Indian social worker talks to injured girl Sandhya Thakur, whose mother was killed in a building collapse, at a hospital on the outskirts of Mumba, India, Friday, April 5, 2013. A residential building being constructed illegally on forest land in a suburb of India's financial capital collapsed into a mound of steel and concrete, killing at least 47 people and injuring more than 70 others, authorities said Friday. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Indian rescue workers help an injured woman after a building collapse on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, Friday, April 5, 2013. The half-finished building that was being constructed illegally in a suburb of India's financial capital collapsed on Thursday, killing 35 people and injuring more than 50 others, police said Friday. (AP Photo)

A hospital worker cares for a 10-month-old child injured in a building collapse, at a hospital on the outskirts of Mumba, India, Friday, April 5, 2013. The residential building being constructed illegally on forest land in a suburb of India's financial capital collapsed into a mound of steel and concrete, killing at least 41 people and injuring more than 50 others, authorities said Friday. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

An injured girl Sandhya Thakur, whose mother was killed in a building collapse, takes a drink at a hospital on the outskirts of Mumba, India, Friday, April 5, 2013. A residential building being constructed illegally on forest land in a suburb of India's financial capital collapsed into a mound of steel and concrete, killing at least 41 people and injuring more than 50 others, authorities said Friday. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

MUMBAI, India (AP) ? The death toll in the collapse of a residential building being constructed illegally in India's financial capital rose to 72 Saturday amid diminishing hopes of finding any survivors alive, police said.

Another 70 people were injured when the eight-story building on forest land in the Mumbai suburb of Thane caved in into a mound of steel and concrete Thursday evening, police said.

Thirty-six of the injured were still in city hospitals and the rest discharged after medical treatment, said Sandeep Malvi, a spokesman for the local municipal corporation.

Most bodies have been recovered, but some people might still be trapped in the debris, said Malvi. He expected the rescue operation to be completed later Saturday.

Police officer Dahi Phale said that rescue workers with sledgehammers, chainsaws and hydraulic jacks worked through Friday night to break through the tower of rubble in their search for possible survivors. Six bulldozers were brought to the scene.

Malvi said 20 bodies were recovered overnight.

Prithviraj Chavan, the top elected official of Maharashtra state, said a government probe has been ordered into the accident, and that a deputy municipal commissioner and a senior police officer have been suspended for dereliction of duty.

At the time of the collapse, between 100 and 150 people were in the building. Many were residents or construction workers, who were living at the site as they worked on it, said Sandeep Malvi, a spokesman for the Thane government.

The dead included 17 children, police said.

A nearby hospital was filled with the injured, many of whom had head wounds, fractures and spinal injuries. Hospital officials searched in vain for the parents of an injured 10-month-old girl who had been rescued.

At least four floors of the building had been completed and were occupied. Workers had finished three more floors and were adding the eighth when it collapsed, police Inspector Digamber Jangale said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the structure to collapse, but local police commissioner K.P. Raghuvanshi said it was weakly built. Police were searching for the builders to arrest them, he said.

Police with rescue dogs were searching the building, which appeared to have buckled and collapsed on itself.

Raghuvanshi said rescue workers had saved 15 people from the wreckage.

Building collapses are common in India as builders try to cut corners by using substandard materials, and as multi-storied structures are built with inadequate supervision. The massive demand for housing around India's cities and pervasive corruption often result in builders adding unauthorized floors or putting up illegal buildings.

The neighborhood where the building collapsed was part of a belt of more than 2,000 illegal structures that had sprung up in the area in recent years, said Malvi, the town spokesman.

"Notices have been served several times for such illegal construction, sometimes notices are sent 10 times for the same building," he said.

G.R. Khairnar, a former top Mumbai official, said government officials who allowed the illegal construction should be tried along with the builders.

"There are a lot of people involved (in illegal construction) ? builders, government machinery, police, municipal corporation ? everybody is involved in this process," he told CNN-IBN television.

The building that collapsed was illegally constructed on forest land, and the city informed forestry officials twice about it, Malvi said.

A local resident, who did not give his name, said the site was meant to hold a smaller structure and accused officials of turning a blind eye to the problem.

"They made an eight-story building of what was supposed to be a four-story building. People from the municipality used to visit the building but the builder still continued to add floors," he said.

In one of the worst recent collapses, nearly 70 people were killed in November 2010 when an apartment building in a congested New Delhi neighborhood crumpled. That building was two floors higher than legally allowed.

___

Ngashangva reported from New Delhi.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-06-AP-AS-India-Building-Collapse-/id-0a811d21c77d4636bda16162e13046af

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Tunisia union says govt shields militia after attack

TUNIS (AFP) - Tunisia's main trade union confederation, the UGTT, lashed out on Saturday at the Islamist-led government for failing to crack down on a militia for attacking their headquarters in December.

General Union of Tunisian Workers secretary general Houcine Abassi accused the government of lacking the "political will to recognise that the UGTT was attacked by the League for Protecting the Revolution (LPR)," a group said to support the government.

Several dozen alleged members of the LPR attacked union members on December 4 outside their Tunis headquarters as they gathered to mark the 60th anniversary of the assassination of their founder.

Government members of the commission of inquiry into the incident did not accept union claims that the LPR was trying to "use violence to pressure the UGTT into accepting the government's wishes."

A final report into the fighting, which had been due in January, has yet to be published.

Relations between the UGTT and Ennahda, the Islamist party that heads the government coalition, are already tense.

The UGTT, which has several hundred thousand members, and Ennahda, regularly trade accusations. Most recently the union accused Ennahda of trying to curtail the right to strike in the new constitution that is being drafted.

Ennahda believes the UGTT is partly responsible for rising tensions by ramping up strikes that knock out entire sectors of the economy. A general strike called by the UGTT after the February murder of anti-Islamist politician Chokri Belaid paralysed the country.

These disputes and the violence that accompanies them have made foreign investors skittish.

Source: http://www.modernghana.com/news/456984/1/tunisia-union-says-govt-shields-militia-after-atta.html

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401(k) Rollovers: IRA Plan Providers Mislead, Overwhelm Savers ...

Aggressive marketing of IRAs by plan providers ? often with misleading or false advise or promotional pitches ?? is costing individuals unnecessary fees and pushing them into unsuitable options when rolling over 401(k)s, according to a new government report.

Call-center representatives for financial firms often encourage rolling 401(k) savings into an IRA, ?even with only minimal knowledge of a caller?s financial situation,? said a investigation by the Government Accountability Office released Wednesday.

?Plan participants are often subject to biased information and aggressive marketing of IRAs when seeking assistance and information regarding what to do with their 401(k) plan savings? when they separate from their employer.

The opportunity for financial firms to sell participants their own retail investment products and services, such as IRAs, often results in steering? participants toward the purchase of products and services that ?do not serve the participants? best interests,? the GAO found.

Individual retirement accounts ? known as IRAs ? have become important retirement savings vehicles for many, including small business owners, independent contractors, and other workers not covered by an employer sponsored pension plan.

But 401(k) plan participants separating from their employers find it difficult to understand and compare all their distribution options.

Information participants currently receive is either too generic and without detail, leaving them without knowing key factors to make decisions about their savings. Often, consumers are left overwhelmed and confused, the GAO said.

The GAO hired undercover investigators to call 30 of the largest 401(k) providers to review how the firms market products to 401(k) account holders.

Eleven firms encouraged a rollover to an IRA; 12 raised doubts about the caller?s ability to roll over to a new employer?s plan; and 16 promoted IRAs for having more investment options.

Seven incorrectly said that there were no fees to open or maintain an IRA, according to the GAO. Moreover, 5 out of 10 large firms advertised free IRAs on their websites, but included fee information within hard-to-find documents.

Here?s an example from the GAO report:

For example, in response to a call from our investigator, a representative at a service provider?s call center said that IRAs differ from 401(k) plans because an IRA ?has no taxes.?

The representative did not explain what taxes he was referring to in his comment. Though IRA cash outs to not require up-front tax withholding the way 401(k) plan cash outs do, ultimately most IRA and 401(k) plan distributions will be taxed the same way at the end of the year.

Given many individuals? lack of basic financial literacy, such a statement could be misunderstood by some to mean that savings in a 401(k) plan are taxed but savings in an IRA are not. In fact, both IRAs and 401(k) plans offer a place to accumulate retirement savings tax ? free until distribution.

The GAO recommends that the U.S. Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service work to ensure that individuals receive ?complete and timely information, including enhanced disclosures, about the distribution options for their 401(k) plan savings? when separating from an employer.

In response, Labor and Treasury generally agreed with the findings and will explore ways to implement these recommendations.

The GAO said the Secretary of Labor should require plan service providers to disclose any financial interests they may have when assisting individuals with distribution options ?in a clear, consistent, and prominent manner.?

Source: http://ecreditdaily.com/2013/04/401k-rollovers-ira-plan-providers-mislead-overwhelm-savers-gao/

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Math Says That Senator Susan Collins May Be Next to Support Gay Marriage

Since senatorial announcements of newfound support for gay marriage have gotten dull, the hot new trend in politics is to try and predict which senator will be next to come out into the open on the issue. Some, like the Washington Post's Sean Sullivan, made predictions based on their guts. But if we learned anything during 2012, it's that data always trumps gut calls. So we looked at the data.

RELATED: Morning Vid: Ted Olson Defends Prop. 8 Ruling On Fox News

We had three theories of what state characteristic might serve as a predictor that its senator was about to change his or her mind. The first was how Obama fared in the state last November, that there might be correlation between how Obama did electorally and the order in which senators declared support on the issue. The second was household income, that senators' shifts correlated to socioeconomics. And, finally, that the correlation was between the density of same-sex couples in a state.

RELATED: New York Senate Punts Gay Marriage to Next Week

Obama's margin of victory

A quick description of methodology is in order. The blue line on each chart below (pegged to the left axis) indicates (using?data very helpfully compiled by the?Post) the number of days between a senator's announcement of support and the first senator to make such an announcement: Barbara Boxer, in June 2006. (This isn't quite true; Ron Wyden announced in 1996, but that threw off the curve.) So the flat part at the right of the blue curve is the recent spate of announcements. We included both interactive and static versions of the charts because we wanted to include a trend line ??that dashed red line in the second chart below. (For the truly curious, that line is a fifth-order polynomial.)

RELATED: The Depth of Michele Bachmann's Fear of Gays

And so: The relationship between announcements of support and how Obama fared in the state. What we're looking for is a dashed line that clearly descends over time.

RELATED: New Jersey Senate Passes Gay Marriage Bill

RELATED: Most Americans Glad Obama Endorsed Gay Marriage, Won't Change Their Vote

Data from Washington Post.

Verdict: Correlation.

It seems clear that how Obama fared in a state is a good indicator of when a senator is likely to announce support for same-sex marriage. Which isn't a surprise, of course. Politicians are very reactive to political support. And the more political support demonstrated for a candidate that supports same-sex marriage, the more likely another candidate would be to take the same position.

If this model is correct, the next five most-likely announcements would come from:

• 1. Susan Collins, Maine
• 2. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin
• 3. Dean Heller, Nevada
• 4. Chuck Grassley, Iowa
• 5. Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire

These are all Republican senators. Which isn't a big surprise; it makes sense that states that voted for Obama but have Republican senators would most likely be what's left. The four Democrats who still haven't endorsed ? Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia ? would be the 23rd, 25th, 38th, and 39th most likely to do so under this model.

Please note: If Heller or Grassley declares his support for gay marriage, send warm coats to Hell.

Household income

Data from Washington Post and the Census Bureau.

Verdict: No correlation.

The line here is probably too flat to use as a guide of who might be next to endorse the concept. So we can skip our predictions.

Density of same-sex couples

Data from Washington Post and the Census Bureau.

Verdict: Hard to tell.

There appears to be a loose correlation between the density of same-sex couples in a state (as a percentage of all households, calculated by the Census) and how rapidly a senator will declare his or her support. This may, then, be a good test case. If one of the following five senators is next to declare an evolution, we may be on to something.

• 1. Susan Collins, Maine
• 2. Dean Heller, Nevada
• 3. Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire
• 4. Marco Rubio, Florida
• 5. Jeff Flake, Arizona

Rubio and Flake are interesting cases. The former is going to be abnormally sensitive to tricky political situations, given his ambitions. The latter recently said he expected a pro-gay-marriage Republican presidential candidate in the future, though he likely didn't mean Rubio.

All of this data, of course, correlates to a bunch of other things, like urban density for example. Consider it more of a thought exercise than anything.

If you're curious, the Post's Sullivan made the following predictions, in order: Lisa Murkowski, Alaska; Susan Collins, Maine; Richard Burr, North Carolina; Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire; Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania. Somehow Dean Heller didn't make the cut, but otherwise not all that different than our list.

Meanwhile, Nate Silver of 538, the man who taught us all about the supremacy of data, did his own analysis of the data. Among his conclusions:

Some senators will continue to oppose it, either because it does not yet constitute a majority position in their states (like Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, they may say it should be decided at the state level), or because they oppose it on moral grounds, or because they are more concerned about a primary challenge than the general election.

Heitkamp announced her support today. Maybe there's something to this gut thing after all.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/math-says-senator-susan-collins-may-next-support-201618057.html

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Judge strikes restrictions on "morning-after" pill

By Jessica Dye

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make "morning-after" emergency contraception pills available without a prescription to all girls of reproductive age, while blasting top Obama administration officials for interfering with the process.

The ruling in a Brooklyn court is the latest step in the years-long legal saga over the pill known as "Plan B," which has sparked political controversy.

Currently, only women age 17 or older can obtain emergency contraception pills without a prescription. Point-of-sale restrictions require that all women present identification to a pharmacist before obtaining the drug.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman said the FDA's rejection of requests to remove age restrictions was "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."

FDA spokeswoman Erica Jefferson declined to comment on the ruling, saying it was an ongoing legal matter.

The Center for Reproductive Rights and other groups had petitioned the FDA to strike down age and access limits, saying there was no scientific proof that girls younger than 17 could not safely use the drug without supervision.

Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, hailed the ruling. "Women all over the country will no longer face arbitrary delays and barriers just to get emergency contraception," she said.

The ruling is also likely to be well received by medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommended last year that pediatricians write advance prescriptions for patients under 17.

But opponents of abortion decried the ruling and warned that the pill's widespread availability could spur criminal activity.

"When these are right out there with the bubble gum, they're going to be part of the date rape cocktail," said Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life.

Some pharmacists across the United States have refused to dispense emergency contraceptives because it violates their religious faith. Making the pills available over the counter removes the pharmacist's role in dispensing the drug, which Brauer welcomed.

POLITICAL CONTROVERSY

Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd's Plan B in 1999 became the first emergency contraceptive available for prescription use in the United States. The company also markets Plan B One-Step, a one-pill version of Plan B.

"Teva has received the Court's decision and we are currently reviewing it," said company spokeswoman Denise Bradley. "We have no additional comment at this time."

Emergency contraceptives generally sell for $10 to $80. Although they can work as long as 120 hours after unprotected sex, they are most effective in the first 24 hours.

Sanford Bernstein analysts estimate Teva's 2013 sales for Plan B at just $1.5 million, though, because of generic competition like Next Choice from Actavis Inc.

In 2005 the FDA declined to approve over-the-counter sales of the drug, overruling its panel of outside experts as well as its own scientists.

In December 2011 the FDA reversed that stance and moved to approve over-the-counter sales with no age limits. But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled it, ordering that girls under 17 could only get the pills with a prescription.

As a result of that policy, women well beyond their teens are often asked to present proof of age to show that they are old enough to purchase the pills without a prescription, Judge Korman said.

'QUESTION HER GOOD FAITH'

In his ruling on Friday, Korman said Sebelius' actions were clearly political.

"Nevertheless, even with eyes shut to the motivation for the secretary's decision, the reasons she provided are so unpersuasive as to call into question her good faith," he wrote.

Representatives of the Department of Health and Human Services were not immediately available to comment on the ruling.

One FDA veteran praised the decision, though.

"This has been a 10-year saga during which the FDA was not allowed to do its role properly, not allowed to make science-based decisions," said Susan Wood.

Wood resigned from the FDA as assistant commissioner for women's health in 2005 over its decision not to approve over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception. She is now director of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at George Washington University in Washington.

"This decision gives the FDA the chance to reclaim its ability to make decisions based on science, medicine and evidence," Wood said, "not politics."

(Reporting by Jessica Dye in New York; Additional reporting by Sharon Begley in New York, Stephanie Simon in Boston and Toni Clarke in Washington; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Martha Graybow, Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-strikes-restrictions-morning-pill-123759152.html

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