Abortion-rights activists plan to challenge laws in Arkansas and North Dakota. The Arkansas law bans most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, while the North Dakota measure bans them after six weeks.?
By David Crary,?AP National Writer / March 31, 2013
Kris Kitko leads chants of protest at an abortion-rights rally at the state Capitol in Bismarck, N.D. March 25. Rival legal teams, each well-financed and highly motivated, are girding for high-stakes court battles over the coming months on laws enacted in Arkansas and North Dakota that would impose the nation's toughest bans on abortion.
James MacPherson/AP/File
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Rival legal teams, well-financed and highly motivated, are girding for court battles over the coming months on laws enacted in Arkansas and North Dakota that would impose the nation's toughest bans on abortion.
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For all their differences, attorneys for the two states and the abortion-rights supporters opposing them agree on this: The laws represent an unprecedented frontal assault on the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a nationwide right to abortion.
The Arkansas law, approved March 6 when legislators overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, would ban most abortions from the 12th week of pregnancy onward. On March 26, North Dakota went further, with Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple signing a measure that would ban abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat can first be detected and before some women even know they're pregnant.
Abortion-rights advocates plan to challenge both measures, contending they are unconstitutional violations of the Roe ruling that legalized abortion until a fetus could viably survive outside the womb. A fetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks.
"I think they're going to be blocked immediately by the courts ? they are so far outside the clear bounds of what the Supreme Court has said for 40 years," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The center will be leading the North Dakota legal challenge and working in Arkansas alongside the American Civil Liberties Union's state and national offices. Both Northup and ACLU lawyers say they have ample resources to wage the battles, and they expect victories that would require their attorneys' fees to be paid by two states.
Dalrymple, in signing the ban, acknowledged that its chances of surviving a court challenge were questionable, but said it was worth the eventual price tag ? at this point unknown ? in order to test the boundaries of Roe.
North Dakota's attorney general, Wayne Stenehjem, initially said lawyers from his office would defend any lawsuits but is now considering hiring outside help. His office is working on a cost estimate for the litigation that could be presented to lawmakers soon.
"We're looking at a sufficient amount to adequately defend these enactments," Stenehjem said.
A lead sponsor of the Arkansas ban, Republican state Sen. Jason Rapert, said threats of lawsuits "should not prevent someone from doing what is right."
He contended that the ban had a chance of reaching the U.S. Supreme Court through the appeals process and suggested that the victory predictions made by abortion-rights lawyers amounted to "posturing" aimed at deterring other states from enacting similar bans.
In both Arkansas and North Dakota, the states' lawyers will be getting pro bono assistance from lawyers with Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal group.
Mathew Staver, the group's chairman, said supporters of the bans were resolved to fight the legal battles to the end, and issued a caution to the rival side.
"They ought to hold off on their celebrations," he said. "The cases have a long way to go through the court system."
The North Dakota ban is scheduled to take effect Aug. 1, along with two other measures that have angered abortion-rights backers. One would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, the other would make North Dakota the first state to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome.
The Center for Reproductive Rights is reviewing its options regarding the latter two bills, but definitely plans to challenge the 6-week ban before Aug. 1. Northup said her team is pondering whether to file suit in state court or U.S. district court.
Mar. 30, 2013 ? The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced today that it was awarded a $9.25 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to further advance a blood-cleansing technology developed at the Institute with prior DARPA support, and help accelerate its translation to humans as a new type of sepsis therapy.
The device will be used to treat bloodstream infections that are the leading cause of death in critically ill patients and soldiers injured in combat.
To rapidly cleanse the blood of pathogens, the patient's blood is mixed with magnetic nanobeads coated with a genetically engineered version of a human blood 'opsonin' protein that binds to a wide variety of bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and toxins. It is then flowed through microchannels in the device where magnetic forces pull out the bead-bound pathogens without removing human blood cells, proteins, fluids, or electrolytes -- much like a human spleen does. The cleansed blood then flows back to the patient.
"In just a few years we have been able to develop a suite of new technologies, and to integrate them to create a powerful new device that could potentially transform the way we treat sepsis," said Wyss founding director and project leader, Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. "The continued support from DARPA enables us to advance our device manufacturing capabilities and to obtain validation in large animal models, which is precisely what is required to enable this technology to be moved towards testing in humans."
The team will work to develop manufacturing and integration strategies for its core pathogen-binding opsonin and Spleen-on-a-Chip fluidic separation technologies, as well as a novel coating technology called "SLIPS," which is a super-hydrophobic coating inspired from the slippery surface of a pitcher plant that repels nearly any material it contacts. By coating the inner surface of the channels of the device with SLIPS, blood cleansing can be carried out without the need for anticoagulants to prevent blood clotting.
In addition to Ingber, the multidisciplinary team behind this effort includes Wyss core faculty and Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty member Joanna Aizenberg, Ph.D., who developed the SLIPS technology; Wyss senior staff member Michael Super, Ph.D., who engineered the human opsonin protein; and Mark Puder, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School who will be assisting with animal studies.
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Greetings. This is a reboot of an idea I had awhile back and liked it to much to let it die. Right now this is on an experimental basis, I just want to see how interested people are in it. If you like it then splendid, we will proceed. If not then at least it gave me an exuse to world build a bit.
Record Wall Street boosts sentiment, U.S. holds key in Q2
TOKYO (Reuters) - Whether the world's largest economy can sustain momentum will be a primary focus for investors for the next three months after a general recovery trend in the United States helped risk sentiment for broad markets in the first quarter of 2013. Asian shares edged higher and the euro steadied on Friday after banks in Cyprus reopened to relative calm. Overall trade was subdued, with many Asian markets, including Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, closed on Friday for Easter holidays.
Banks lift TSX on Cyprus calm; index up for quarter
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index powered ahead in a late surge on Thursday, led by strength in financial and industrial shares, on relief that banks in Cyprus reopened relatively smoothly following a bailout deal. The market received further support from BlackBerry after the smartphone maker reported a surprise quarterly profit.
More trouble for Cohen's SAC Capital as Steinberg indicted in NY
(Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Friday charged Michael Steinberg, a veteran portfolio manager with Steven A. Cohen's $15 billion hedge fund, with engaging in insider trading in two technology stocks, the most senior SAC Capital Advisors employee to be charged in the government's long-running probe. The five-count indictment was announced a few hours after Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrived at Steinberg's home in New York City at around 6 a.m. ET and arrested him.
Cyprus says threat contained, no plan to leave euro
NICOSIA (Reuters) - The president of Cyprus said on Friday the risk of bankruptcy had been contained and the country had no intention of leaving the euro, in a speech laden with criticism of Europe's currency union for "experimenting" with the island's fate. Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades spoke a day after banks reopened following an almost two-week shutdown to avert a run on deposits by worried Cypriots and wealthy foreign depositors as the country raced to clinch a rescue package from the European Union.
Quarter of U.S. firms in China face data theft: business lobby
BEIJING (Reuters) - A quarter of firms that are members of a leading U.S. business lobby in China have been victims of data theft, a report by the group said on Friday, amid growing vitriol between Beijing and Washington over the threat of cyber attacks. Twenty-six percent of members who responded to an annual survey said their proprietary data or trade secrets had been compromised or stolen from their China operations, the American Chamber of Commerce in China report said.
Exclusive: Indonesia's CT Corp proposes all-cash deal for Bakrie's media unit
TANJUNG BENOA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia's fifth-richest man has proposed to buy a controlling stake in PT Visi Media Asia, valued at up to $1.8 billion, in an all-cash deal that would give him the lion's share of the TV advertising market in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. Chairul Tanjung, the billionaire founder and chairman of CT Corp, a conglomerate with banking and media interests, told Reuters that his company wanted to buy the stake in the media unit of Indonesia's powerful Bakrie family without any partners.
Deutsche Bank probe finds incomplete data given to prosecutors: magazine
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - An internal investigation at Deutsche Bank has found that incomplete data related to a carbon tax fraud probe were handed over to prosecutors, German magazine Der Spiegel said on Friday. The probe is one of several legal headaches with which Germany's biggest lender is grappling.
Sony, Olympus delay medical venture as regulatory approval on hold
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp and Olympus Corp have again delayed the start of a joint venture to develop medical equipment because they have yet to gain approval from some regulators. "The examination by the relevant authority is taking longer than expected," the two companies said in a statement. They did not set a new date for operations to start.
Commission considers good and bad of British banking
LONDON (Reuters) - The Archbishop of Canterbury has spent the run up to Easter contemplating the ethics of the trading floor and ways to curb greed in the City of London. Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of 80 million Anglicans, is one of an influential committee of British lawmakers looking at how to change the culture of an industry laid low by price manipulation, mis-selling and fraud.
Boeing CEO urges FAA to return 787 to service, delays continue
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - - Boeing Co Chief Executive Jim McNerney on Thursday urged regulators reviewing battery problems on the company's grounded 787 passenger jet to let the plane back into service, saying he was confident the redesigned battery was safe. He would not specify when he expected the jet to be flying customers again other than saying "sooner rather than later."
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's Supreme Court said on Saturday it would rule by 1400 GMT on legal challenges to Uhuru Kenyatta's win in a presidential election, a vote seen as a test of democracy five years after ballot disputes triggered widespread bloodshed.
The country's outgoing president called for calm ahead of a decision that will either force a fresh election or confirm the victory of Kenya's richest man Kenyatta, who is facing charges of crimes against humanity in the Hague.
Defeated candidate Raila Odinga says the March 4 poll was marred by technical problems and widespread rigging. Both politicians have promised to abide by the court's final word.
"Compatriots: The Supreme Court will deliver its decision not later than 5 p.m. today, Inshallah (God willing)," Chief Justice Willy Mutunga wrote on his Twitter account.
The ruling is expected to address a list of challenges to the result. It was not immediately clear if the timing announced referred to when the court would start reading details of its verdict or the time by which it expected to complete that task.
Calm voting in this year's election, and the fact the dispute is being played out by lawyers not machete-wielding gangs, has already helped repair the image of east Africa's largest economy.
But Saturday's ruling will be the real test of whether Kenyans trust their reformed judiciary and whether supporters of rival candidates accept the result quietly in a nation where tribal loyalties largely determine political allegiances.
Paramilitary police, some on horseback, formed a security cordon around the court. Police chief David Kimaiyo has repeatedly said he would not allow public rallies.
A few dozen Odinga supporters, some draped in the Kenyan flag and others waving Odinga posters, gathered near the court but were barred from advancing by security forces.
Outgoing President Mwai Kibaki said in a message to mark the Christian Easter holiday weekend: "I call upon all of us to accept the ruling and maintain peace."
Many ordinary Kenyans insist they will not allow a repeat of the violence that killed more than 1,200 people and hammered the economy following a dispute over the last election in 2007.
"ESSENTIAL CONTACTS"
"We have moved on," said Monica Njagi, 28, an internet cafe owner in the port city of Mombasa. "Whatever the ruling, we shall go by it ... We have enough useful lessons from our past."
Kenyatta comfortably beat Odinga in terms of votes won, with 50.07 percent versus 43.28 percent, but only narrowly avoided a run-off by just edging above the 50 percent threshold.
Western donors are watching the fate of a regional trade partner and a country they see as vital to stability in a volatile area. They also face a headache if Kenyatta wins.
He is facing charges at the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity, accused of helping incite the violence after the 2007 vote. Kenyatta denies the charges and has promised to cooperate with the court to clear his name.
Western nations have a policy of having only "essential contacts" with indictees of the court. They say that will not affect dealings with the Kenyan government as a whole, but will worry the issue could drive a long-time ally of the West closer to emerging powers such as China.
Neighbouring African states are also keeping a careful eye on proceedings after they were hit by the knock-on effects when vital trade routes through Kenya were shut down five years ago.
Kenya's economy has yet to recover fully from the pummelling it took after the vote violence, with growth rates still yet to return to levels before that bloodshed.
"My worry is that if the court orders another election, tourism will suffer further," said Mohammed Hersi, general manager of the Whitesands hotel, a top Mombasa resort, saying clients were waiting to decide whether to come.
In the Supreme Court's hearing on Friday, the legal teams reviewed results of recounts ordered in 22 of the 33,400 polling stations after Odinga said more votes had been cast than there were registered voters. Both sides said the recounts supported their arguments.
Odinga's team argued that the failures undermined the vote. Rival lawyers said any irregularities or technical hiccups had an insignificant impact and did not change the overall outcome.
International observers said voting itself was credible, but diplomats say observers did not watch the full five-day count.
The Canon Pixma PRO-100
may be the new junior model in Canon's professional photo inkjet line, but as such it can still output gallery-quality prints at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches. It's a good choice for an amateur photographer who's looking to take the hobby more seriously.
At 8.6 by 27.2 by 15.2 inches (HWD) when closed, it's slightly larger than its Epson counterpart, the Editors' Choice Epson Stylus Photo R2000, and about the same weight. Like the R2000, it lacks an LCD; instructions and data like ink tank levels are displayed on the screen of the computer you're printing from. It offers WiFi and Ethernet as well as USB connectivity.
The PRO-100 uses eight ink tanks for its dye-based inks: black; gray; light gray; yellow; magenta; photo magenta; cyan; and photo cyan. The high-end model in the series, the Canon Pixma PRO-1, sports 12 ink tanks. Although the PRO-100's sticker price is much less than that of the PRO-1, its ink costs?at least in price per milliliter of ink, as there's no good way to measure the cost per printed page for this sort of printer?are considerably higher. Each of its tanks holds 13 ml of ink, at a cost of $1.31 per ml, compared with an even dollar per ml for the PRO-1, which has much higher capacity (36 ml) tanks. The PRO-100's ink costs per ml are also slightly higher than the $1.25 per ml of the Editors' Choice Epson Stylus Photo R2000.
The PIXMA PRO-100 has two paper trays: A rear tray for a variety of fine art and glossy photo papers, and a manual slot for thicker media. It also permits printing onto printable CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.
Speed
Speed takes a back seat to quality with near-dedicated photo printers, but faster is still preferable, all else being equal. I timed the Canon Pixma PRO-100 (using QualityLogic's hardware and software) at an average of 1 minute 17 seconds to output a 4-by-6 print and 2:01 to output an 8-by-10. This is slightly slower than the 51 seconds per 4-by-6 and 1:42 per 8-by-10 for the Epson R2000, but much faster than the Canon Pixma PRO-1's 2:14 and 3:53 times.
Output Quality
No one buys a photo printer like the PRO-100 to print text, but it's good to know it can do so if you need it to, as it has above-average quality for an inkjet. It did especially well on several of the more common business fonts. Graphics quality was slightly above par for an inkjet, though colors were off on a couple of illustrations.
It's with photos, though, that the PRO-100 really shines. In our standard photo tests, it did very well in capturing detail in both light and dark areas, and in faces. There was the barest hint of a tint in a monochrome image, but only a perfectionist is likely to notice. I also did some ad-hoc testing, including with larger-format (13 by 19 inches) prints. It didn't do quite as well as the PRO-1 in printing images with very dark backgrounds, which isn't surprising as five of that printer's 12 ink tanks are various shades of black or gray. In a couple of prints, the colors were slightly off. Still, the overall photo quality is good enough to produce prints for exhibition or sale.
The Canon Pixma PRO-1 costs twice as much as the PRO-100 and is bigger, heavier, and slower, but has considerably lower ink costs. The PRO-1 did a superior job of printing photos with black or very dark backgrounds, and did slightly better in printing other photos as well.
The Epson Stylus Photo R3000 ($849.99 direct), which prints top-tier photos and graphics, adds a color LCD and the ability to print from paper rolls.
The Epson R2000 is a touch smaller than the PRO-100 and has a slight edge in speed, as well as slightly lower ink costs (per volume at least). That said, they both produce gallery-worthy prints, and choosing between them may come down to whether you prefer the look of Epson or Canon prints, which have slightly different qualities. They both offer WiFi, Ethernet, and USB connectivity.
Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade reacts as he watches a free throw by Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade reacts as he watches a free throw by Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Miami Heat forward Shane Battier grimaces after he was called for a foul during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Miami Heat forward LeBron James, center, and guard Mario Chalmers, right, listen to guard Ray Allen during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Take heart, Heat. Look out, NBA.
When the Los Angeles Lakers' 33-game winning streak ended, they hit a bit of a lull before rolling through the playoffs and winning the NBA title.
That scenario likely would suit Miami just fine since the defending champions have said all along they were focused on repeating more than breaking a record.
Dwyane Wade even sounded relieved Miami's run stopped at 27, courtesy of the Chicago Bulls.
"Now that it's over, I'm glad it's over," he said after the 101-97 loss Wednesday night, his team's first defeat in nearly two months.
"It really didn't matter to us," Wade said. "If you get it, it's awesome. If you don't, we still won 27 games in a row. That's pretty awesome. So we really weren't like, 'We've got to get that record.' Not at all."
So, with their name firmly attached to the second-longest streak in NBA history, the Heat did what they would have done if it had still been going strong. They took Thursday off in New Orleans, where they'll face the Hornets on Friday night.
While the circus atmosphere around the team slows down ? until the playoffs, anyway ? the Heat can turn to the business of wrapping up the final 11 games of the regular season without what some may call a "distraction." Clinching the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed is a foregone conclusion, and the Heat leads San Antonio by two games in the race for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Still, Lakers star Kobe Bryant urged LeBron James and his teammates to savor the moment.
"I think just as a student of the game, as a fan of the game, you appreciate those kind of streaks and you realize how difficult it is to put together that big of a streak," he said. "Obviously, the Lakers winning 33 in a row was phenomenal, but the Heat's one was just as impressive."
After their streak ended, those '71-72 Lakers lost four of their next six games. But they went 15-2 to close the regular season, then lost only three of 15 playoff games on the way to the title.
That's the only measure of success for the Heat.
"At the end of the day, a win is a win in our league," said James, the reigning MVP who averaged exactly 27 points per game during the 27-game streak. "We've gotten better throughout the season. Each and every month we've improved. We've started from behind some games, but for the most part we've played some great basketball."
They blew out some teams and rallied in the final minutes to beat others, erasing double-digit deficits and pulling off 11 fourth-quarter comebacks in their 7?-week run of dominance.
Entering Thursday, 10 NBA teams hadn't won 27 games all season.
"Really proud of the grind of the last few weeks from my guys," Miami forward Shane Battier wrote on Twitter early Thursday. "The focus and effort (and luck) was phenomenal."
They were must-see television, with ESPN and NBA TV scrambling to pick up Heat games as the streak rolled along. ESPN said the overnight rating for Heat-Bulls was the fifth-best of any regular-season game ever shown on the network.
For those who still need streaks to follow, there are plenty of options.
Women's basketball is full of them right now, with Baylor (32), Notre Dame (28) and Delaware (27) all streaking into NCAA regional games this weekend. In men's college basketball, Louisville takes a 12-game winning streak into its Midwest Regional semifinal against Oregon on Friday night. And in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins were trying for a 14th straight win against Winnipeg on Thursday night.
To put it in perspective, Heat's streak not only is the second-longest in NBA history, but the second-longest among any of the four major professional sports.
The longest current NBA streak now belongs to the New York Knicks ? six games.
On Friday, the Heat begin anew.
Miami would need to win every game left on its schedule and sweep all four playoff series to end the year with another 27-game winning streak. Meantime, Wade offered this:
"Now that it's over, let's look back on it as something that was great."
___
AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...
Oklahoma's largest recorded earthquake is the latest epicenter of a debate over the connection between fossil fuel recovery and seismic activity. To what extent does oil and gas production cause earthquakes? In the case of the 2011 Oklahoma earthquake, a new study suggests the connection is strong.
By David J. Unger,?Correspondent / March 27, 2013
Joe Reneau displays the damage his home received in two earthquakes in less than 24 hours in Sparks, Okla. The 5.7 magnitude earthquake in November 2011 may have been the result of wastewater injection from oil production, according to a new study.
Sue Ogrocki/AP/File
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Oklahoma's largest recorded earthquake may have been the result of injection wells?used for disposing wastewater from oil extraction, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Oklahoma, Columbia University and the US Geological Survey. Their findings challenge the state's own geological survey, which concluded the 5.7 magnitude earthquake was likely "the result of natural causes."
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Why It Matters
Energy: The increase in US oil production can help reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.?
Environment: Wastewater injection techniques used in conventional and unconventional fossil-fuel extraction are linked to seismic activity.
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It's the latest back-and-forth in a decades-long debate over the connection between fossil fuel recovery and seismic activity. To what extent does oil and gas production shift the ground beneath us? When does the risk of seismic activity outweigh the benefit of increased energy resources??
The 2011 event in Oklahoma is the largest earthquake linked to wastewater injection, according to the study, published Tuesday in the journal Geology.
?There?s something important about getting unexpectedly large earthquakes out of small systems that we have discovered here,? said study co-author Geoffrey Abers, a seismologist at Columbia University, in a press release. His conclusion is that ?the risk of humans inducing large earthquakes from even small injection activities is probably higher? than previously thought.?
After letting people know that they owe Google $1500 for the honor of getting Google Glass early, Google busted the ol' elementary school take back on them. Meaning, some of those "winners" won't be able to get Google Glass because they've been disqualified by Google. I wonder who those people are. More »
PAJU, South Korea (Reuters) - A heavily armed border crossing between North and South Korea that allows the North access to $2 billion in trade a year, one of its few avenues to foreign currency, remained open on Thursday despite Pyongyang's move to cut communications.
North Korea on Wednesday severed the last of three telephone hotlines with South Korea as it readied its troops to face what it believes to be "hostile" action from Seoul and Washington. The phone line is used to regulate access to the Kaesong industrial park on the North Korean side of the border as well as for military communications with the South.
Nearly 200 South Koreans and 166 vehicles carrying oil and materials drove into the park just inside the North early on Thursday after North Korean authorities used a separate phone line from the park's management office to allow access, South Korean officials said.
The North has already cut a direct hotline to U.S. military forces stationed in South Korea and a Red Cross line that had been used by the governments on both sides.
Severing hotlines is one of the least threatening but symbolic things Pyongyang can do to raise tensions and at the same time pressure Seoul and Washington to restart dialogue, said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
North Korea periodically cuts the lines. Its latest moves follow U.N. sanctions imposed for its February 12 nuclear test and routine drills by South Korean and U.S. forces. Pyongyang has also scrapped an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
"What else can they do? Actually start a war?" said Yang.
"Not answering the phone and saying the armistice is not valid any more, that's what they can do and they've done this before."
NORTH STILL ACCEPTING US DOLLARS
Workers and traders crossing the world's most heavily militarized border made sure they had U.S. dollar bills for the trip, some borrowing from a co-worker so they had enough of the zone's officially accepted currency.
Pyongyang's rhetoric against Washington including a vow to attack its military bases in the Pacific and to stage a nuclear strike has not yet extended to its willingness to accept dollars, which South Koreans said they had to use to buy cigarettes and other goods in the zone.
"I am a bit nervous but it looked the same as before when I went in there yesterday," truck driver Park Chul-hee, 44, told Reuters outside the Paju customs office. North Korean soldiers in and around Kaesong had been wearing combat fatigues recently, he added.
The North-South military hotline was used on a daily basis to process South Koreans and vehicles across the border and in and out of the Kaesong project, where 123 South Korean firms employ more than 50,000 North Koreans to make household goods.
About 120 South Koreans remain in the park on an average day. The presence of South Koreans at Kaesong poses a potentially serious political risk for Seoul given they could be trapped if Pyongyang sealed the border.
The first of the 511 people and 398 vehicles who were scheduled to return from the zone on Thursday began crossing the border into the South, indicating the crossing was operating normally in both directions.
"I think the third nuclear test is the last tipping point. I was worried so I came out," said one South Korean who has been running a factory in Kaesong for six years and who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Few people believe the North will shut down the project.
The $2 billion a year it generates reduces Pyongyang's dependency on China, which accounted for almost $6 billion in trade in 2012, according to South Korean government estimates.
Kaesong also generates more than $80 million a year in cash in wages. This is paid to the state rather than to workers.
If you have pets and plan to do some Easter stuff this week, remember that Easter decorations, candy and pets don?t mix!? Veterinarians say the shiny grass typically used to decorate Easter baskets shouldn?t be used because pets sometimes try to eat it and can?t digest it. The blades can get stuck internally and cause a blockage in the intestinal tract. Other things to keep out of reach of pets include?
The shiny grass in your child?s Easter basket may be especially tempting for pets if it?s packed with candy, which can lead to another big danger ? chocolate. Most adults know that it?s not good for cats and dogs, but experts said to make sure kids are warned not to share, too.
Another big danger, especially for cats is the Easter lily, which is extremely toxic if ingested by your cat. So be sure to keep any plants in the lily family out of reach from your pet. The last thing you want to do is spend your holiday in a veterinary emergency room!
I speak from experience when I say that you need to keep all alcohol out of your pets reach too. My oldest Yorkie Elvis nearly died when he was a little puppy, after taking a swig out of my girlfriends cocktail with Scotch in it at Christmas, and we spent Christmas eve in the vets ER room, while they gave him charcoal to soak up the liquor and sober him up!
What crazy thing did your dog or cat eat that made them super sick during the holidays?
Stressful life events may increase stillbirth risk, NIH network study findsPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Bock bockr@mail.nih.gov 301-496-5133 NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Pregnant women who experienced financial, emotional, or other personal stress in the year before their delivery had an increased chance of having a stillbirth, say researchers who conducted a National Institutes of Health network study.
Stillbirth is the death of a fetus at 20 or more weeks of pregnancy. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2006, there was one stillbirth for every 167 births.
The researchers asked more than 2,000 women a series of questions, including whether they had lost a job or had a loved one in the hospital in the year before they gave birth.
Whether or not the pregnancy ended in stillbirth, most women reported having experienced at least one stressful life event in the previous year. The researchers found that 83 percent of women who had a stillbirth and 75 percent of women who had a live birth reported a stressful life event. Almost 1 in 5 women with stillbirths and 1 in 10 women with livebirths in this study reported recently experiencing 5 or more stressful life events. This study measured the occurrence of a list of significant life events, and did not include the woman's assessment of how stressful the event was to her.
Women reporting a greater number of stressful events were more likely to have a stillbirth. Two stressful events increased a woman's odds of stillbirth by about 40 percent, the researchers' analysis showed. A woman experiencing five or more stressful events was nearly 2.5 times more likely to have a stillbirth than a woman who had experienced none. Women who reported three or four significant life event factors (financial, emotional, traumatic or partner-related) remained at increased risk for stillbirth after accounting for other stillbirth risk factors, such as sociodemographic characteristics and prior pregnancy history.
Non-Hispanic black women were more likely to report experiencing stressful events than were non-Hispanic white women and Hispanic women. Black women also reported a greater number of stressful events than did their white and Hispanic counterparts. This finding may partly explain why black women have higher rates of stillbirth than non-Hispanic white or Hispanic women, the researchers said.
"We documented how significant stressors are highly prevalent in pregnant women's lives," said study co-author Marian Willinger, Ph.D., acting chief of the Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of two NIH entities funding the research. "This reinforces the need for health care providers to ask expectant mothers about what is going on in their lives, monitor stressful life events and to offer support as part of prenatal care."
The NIH Office of Research in Women's Health also funded the study.
"Because 1 in 5 pregnant women has three or more stressful events in the year leading up to delivery, the potential public health impact of effective interventions could be substantial and help increase the delivery of healthy babies," added lead author Dr. Carol Hogue, Terry Professor of Maternal and Child Health at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta.
Dr. Willinger collaborated with colleagues at the NICHD and Emory University; Drexel University School of Medicine, Philadelphia; University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; Children's Healthcare of Atlanta; Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, R.I.; University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; University of Utah School of Medicine and Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City; and RTI International, Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Their findings appear in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The research was conducted by the NICHD-funded Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network (SCRN). The researchers contacted all women delivering a stillbirth as well as a representative portion of women delivering a live birth in defined counties in Georgia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Texas and Utah. The women were enrolled in the study between 2006 and 2008 in 59 community and research hospitals.
Within 24 hours of either a live birth or a stillbirth delivery, the women in the study were asked about events grouped into four categories: emotional, financial, partner-related and traumatic. They answered yes or no to 13 scenarios, including the following:
I moved to a new address.
My husband or partner lost his job.
I was in a physical fight.
Someone very close to me died.
Some of the stressful events were more strongly associated with stillbirth than were others. For example, the risk of stillbirth was highest:
for women who had been in a fight (which doubled the chances for stillbirth)
if she had heard her partner say he didn't want her to be pregnant
if she or her partner had gone to jail in the year before the delivery
"At prenatal visits, screening is common for concerns such as intimate partner violence and depression, but the questions in our study were much more detailed," said co-author Uma Reddy, M.D., M.P.H., also of NICHD. "This is a first step toward cataloguing the effects of stress on the likelihood of stillbirth and, more generally, toward documenting how pregnancy influences a woman's mental health and how pregnancy is influenced by a woman's mental health."
###
About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):
The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute's website at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
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Stressful life events may increase stillbirth risk, NIH network study findsPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Bock bockr@mail.nih.gov 301-496-5133 NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Pregnant women who experienced financial, emotional, or other personal stress in the year before their delivery had an increased chance of having a stillbirth, say researchers who conducted a National Institutes of Health network study.
Stillbirth is the death of a fetus at 20 or more weeks of pregnancy. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2006, there was one stillbirth for every 167 births.
The researchers asked more than 2,000 women a series of questions, including whether they had lost a job or had a loved one in the hospital in the year before they gave birth.
Whether or not the pregnancy ended in stillbirth, most women reported having experienced at least one stressful life event in the previous year. The researchers found that 83 percent of women who had a stillbirth and 75 percent of women who had a live birth reported a stressful life event. Almost 1 in 5 women with stillbirths and 1 in 10 women with livebirths in this study reported recently experiencing 5 or more stressful life events. This study measured the occurrence of a list of significant life events, and did not include the woman's assessment of how stressful the event was to her.
Women reporting a greater number of stressful events were more likely to have a stillbirth. Two stressful events increased a woman's odds of stillbirth by about 40 percent, the researchers' analysis showed. A woman experiencing five or more stressful events was nearly 2.5 times more likely to have a stillbirth than a woman who had experienced none. Women who reported three or four significant life event factors (financial, emotional, traumatic or partner-related) remained at increased risk for stillbirth after accounting for other stillbirth risk factors, such as sociodemographic characteristics and prior pregnancy history.
Non-Hispanic black women were more likely to report experiencing stressful events than were non-Hispanic white women and Hispanic women. Black women also reported a greater number of stressful events than did their white and Hispanic counterparts. This finding may partly explain why black women have higher rates of stillbirth than non-Hispanic white or Hispanic women, the researchers said.
"We documented how significant stressors are highly prevalent in pregnant women's lives," said study co-author Marian Willinger, Ph.D., acting chief of the Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of two NIH entities funding the research. "This reinforces the need for health care providers to ask expectant mothers about what is going on in their lives, monitor stressful life events and to offer support as part of prenatal care."
The NIH Office of Research in Women's Health also funded the study.
"Because 1 in 5 pregnant women has three or more stressful events in the year leading up to delivery, the potential public health impact of effective interventions could be substantial and help increase the delivery of healthy babies," added lead author Dr. Carol Hogue, Terry Professor of Maternal and Child Health at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta.
Dr. Willinger collaborated with colleagues at the NICHD and Emory University; Drexel University School of Medicine, Philadelphia; University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; Children's Healthcare of Atlanta; Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, R.I.; University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; University of Utah School of Medicine and Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City; and RTI International, Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Their findings appear in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The research was conducted by the NICHD-funded Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network (SCRN). The researchers contacted all women delivering a stillbirth as well as a representative portion of women delivering a live birth in defined counties in Georgia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Texas and Utah. The women were enrolled in the study between 2006 and 2008 in 59 community and research hospitals.
Within 24 hours of either a live birth or a stillbirth delivery, the women in the study were asked about events grouped into four categories: emotional, financial, partner-related and traumatic. They answered yes or no to 13 scenarios, including the following:
I moved to a new address.
My husband or partner lost his job.
I was in a physical fight.
Someone very close to me died.
Some of the stressful events were more strongly associated with stillbirth than were others. For example, the risk of stillbirth was highest:
for women who had been in a fight (which doubled the chances for stillbirth)
if she had heard her partner say he didn't want her to be pregnant
if she or her partner had gone to jail in the year before the delivery
"At prenatal visits, screening is common for concerns such as intimate partner violence and depression, but the questions in our study were much more detailed," said co-author Uma Reddy, M.D., M.P.H., also of NICHD. "This is a first step toward cataloguing the effects of stress on the likelihood of stillbirth and, more generally, toward documenting how pregnancy influences a woman's mental health and how pregnancy is influenced by a woman's mental health."
###
About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):
The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute's website at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
As President Xi Jinping and his wife tour Africa, China?s fashion world is scrutinizing Peng Liyuan's wardrobe - and Chinese stock markets are keeping a close eye, too.
By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / March 27, 2013
If you want to make a killing on the stock market, here?s an unusual tip: Identify the fashion house behind the clothes that Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan is wearing at her next public appearance and buy shares in that company, fast.
Skip to next paragraph Peter Ford
Beijing Bureau Chief
Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.
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Ms. Peng, currently touring Africa with her husband, the new Chinese President Xi Jinping, is proving a smash hit back home and inspiring fashionistas to replicate her look.?
So when a news story on Tuesday identified the pearl earrings that Peng was wearing as coming from the city of Zhuji, the stock price of all the pearl producers in Zhuji rose on the news. One company?s stock rose so far so fast that market regulators capped its price rise on Wednesday.
Peng has captured the Chinese imagination as a stylish and modern face for her country, most of whose first ladies have ranged recently from dowdy to invisible. And the state-controlled press is playing the story for all it is worth, with front page photos and breathless coverage.
?Peng Liyuan Opens the Door for Chinese Fashion and Confidence? read the enthusiastic headline of an editorial in Wednesday?s edition of Global Times, a tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party.
In a world where China is more often seen as a threatening potential enemy than as a friend, according to a number of recent international opinion polls, Peng is a more useful weapon for Beijing?s image-makers than an aircraft carrier.
She was already massively popular before her husband became president earlier this month; indeed, as a nationally famous singer of patriotic and military songs, she was better known than Mr. Xi until he was tapped five years as next in line for the top job. And then she dropped out of sight.
Recently she has quietly begun doing first lady-like things, such as becoming a World Health Organization ambassador in the fight against HIV-Aids. She is ?widely viewed as a tremendous element of China?s soft power,? wrote leading foreign policy pundit Shen Dingli in an opinion piece for the ?Global Times? earlier this week. ?Now ? it is time to present such soft power on the world stage.?
Peng has not opened her mouth in public yet, but has used her fashion sense to project China?s soft power. Everything she wears is Chinese made and designed, and sometimes clearly designed in the oriental style. That is a marked contrast with the sense of style that prevails among most wealthy Chinese women, which tends towards well known Western brands.
Such brands are bad news in China at the moment, too closely identified with corrupt officials and their wives at a time when Xi has promised a crackdown on corruption.
Study warns on location data privacy A study of mobile phone data - used by advertisers or even released publicly - reveals that individuals can be identified using only four location points.
Source: BBC News Posted on:
Monday, Mar 25, 2013, 8:48am Views: 23
Mar. 25, 2013 ? The virus that causes cold sores, along with other viral or bacterial infections, may be associated with cognitive problems, according to a new study published in the March 26, 2013, print issue of Neurology?, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study found that people who have had higher levels of infection in their blood (measured by antibody levels), meaning they had been exposed over the years to various pathogens such as the herpes simplex type 1 virus that causes cold sores, were more likely to have cognitive problems than people with lower levels of infection in the blood.
"We found the link was greater among women, those with lower levels of education and Medicaid or no health insurance, and most prominently, in people who do not exercise," said author Mira Katan, MD, with the Northern Manhattan Study at Columbia University Medical Center in New York and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. The study was performed in collaboration with the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami in Miami, FL.
For the study, researchers tested thinking and memory in 1,625 people with an average age of 69 from northern Manhattan in New York. Participants gave blood samples that were tested for five common low grade infections: three viruses (herpes simplex type 1 (oral) and type 2 (genital), and cytomegalovirus), chlamydia pneumoniae (a common respiratory infection) and Helicobacter pylori (a bacteria found in the stomach).
The results showed that the people who had higher levels of infection had a 25 percent increase in the risk of a low score on a common test of cognition called the Mini-Mental State Examination.
The memory and thinking skills were tested every year for an average of eight years. But infection was not associated with changes in memory and thinking abilities over time.
"While this association needs to be further studied, the results could lead to ways to identify people at risk of cognitive impairment and eventually lower that risk," said Katan. "For example, exercise and childhood vaccinations against viruses could decrease the risk for memory problems later in life."
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Leducq Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Academy of Neurology (AAN).
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Journal Reference:
M. Katan, Y. P. Moon, M. C. Paik, R. L. Sacco, C. B. Wright, M. S. V. Elkind. Infectious burden and cognitive function: The Northern Manhattan Study. Neurology, 2013; 80 (13): 1209 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182896e79
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - In the law-and-order state of Oklahoma, where more women are incarcerated per capita than any other state in the country, a graduation ceremony on Monday celebrated an alternative to locking up nonviolent female criminals.
Four women who completed an intense rehabilitation program were handed dismissal papers from the Oklahoma County district attorney that dropped the criminal charges that normally would have sent them to the penitentiary.
The hope is that after a year or more of therapy, the four women will turn around their lives and, in turn, avert their children from a path to incarceration.
Some, including Oklahoma's state prison director, Justin Jones, believe breaking the cycle of incarceration by focusing on rehabilitating young mothers is a sensible alternative to prison overcrowding and building more penitentiaries.
"If you really want to stop the growth of imprisonment in the nation and in particular, Oklahoma, you've got to look at the next generation," Jones said.
About 70 percent of the next generation of inmates are going to be the children of men and women now in prison, he said.
"Programs like this are really critical in stopping that cycle of incarceration," Jones said.
But it's a tough sell in Oklahoma, a politically conservative state that executes more condemned prisoners per capita than any other state, including its neighbor to the south, Texas, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Oklahoma's prison system has been at 100 percent capacity for decades, Jones said, and 1,900 men and women who have been sentenced to the state penal system are being held in county lockups until there is room for them.
The numbers are projected to keep growing.
The female incarceration rate in Oklahoma stands at 121 per 100,000 population, compared with a national average of 65, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Oklahoma's high female incarceration rate is related to strict mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offenders, poverty and the state's historically weak response to child abuse and drug addiction, according to Amy Santee, a senior program officer for the George Kaiser Family Foundation in Tulsa.
"Their trauma started very early in life," she said, adding that "it's very difficult to access substance abuse treatment unless you have money."
The foundation has provided key funding for an alternative prison program called Women in Recovery that began in 2009 and is aimed at young mothers in Tulsa County. The Oklahoma County program, called ReMerge, is patterned on the Tulsa experiment. ReMerge is funded by non-profits and by state and local government agencies.
The programs in the two counties are expensive and intense.
They include group and individual therapy, housing, job training and transportation. The women take regular drug tests and are monitored using global positioning devices on their ankles, at least for some time.
Many women in the programs have been sexually or physically abused as children, are victims of domestic violence and are addicted to drugs or alcohol, program officials said.
In many cases, the women have lost custody of their children, are estranged from their families and find themselves without a support system, said Terri Woodland, program director of ReMerge.
"Oklahoma is behind," Woodland said. "It seems overwhelming. If I could wave a magic wand, I'd give them all a grandmother, and an aunt."
The four women recognized on Monday expressed gratitude for the help and hope for the future.
"I was completely broken," said Dashelle Black, 39. "Today, I have a driver's license that I didn't have for 12 and a half years. That's amazing to me. I have my own place and pay my own bills. I never thought I would make it back."
(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Sandra Maler)
For such a tiny country, Cyprus and its failing banks have created an awfully big economic, financial and geopolitical mess for European bankers and government officials.
The island nation ? with land mass and economy smaller than Vermont ? was bracing Sunday for the looming collapse of its banking system and economy, as scores of officials from Brussels to Nicosia spent the weekend scrambling to avert the crisis.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, en route to the European capital of Brussels on Sunday, has "a very difficult task to accomplish to save the Cypriot economy and avert a disorderly default," a government spokesman said.
That task grew more difficult by the hour.
Europe?s so-called "troika" ? its central bank; its political body, the European Union; and the International Monetary Fund ? were holding firm to a joint ultimatum to accept their latest bailout offer by Monday. If the Cypriot parliament won't go along, the country faces an immediate cutoff of a financial lifeline that has kept Cyprus? bloated banks ? a lucrative tax haven for wealthy Russian depositors ? afloat for months.
The latest gambit, a 20 percent tax on bank accounts bigger than the $130,000 insured limit, has yet to win approval from the Cypriot parliament. The plan would also intensify the ongoing political backlash from wealthy Russian depositors, along with local account holders still seething with resentment over Europe?s insistence that any bailout inflict direct financial hardship on the Cypriot people.
So far, there appears to be little immediate risk of the crisis spreading to the global economy or financial market, according to most analysts.
"The market doesn't care,? said Carnegie Mellon economist Adam Lerrick. ?Cyprus is a tiny economy. Its banks are not highly connected with the rest of the international financial system. There is no risk of contagion here."
But even if a deal can be struck to fill in a $7.5 billion hole in the Cypriot banking system, the standoff between Nicosia and Brussels has inflicted lasting damage on the island nation?s economy, opened up new rifts between Russia and Europe and widened the political divide pitting the eurozone?s wealthy northern countries against its struggling southern neighbors.
?What could go wrong here?? wondered Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. ?Just about everything.?
For starters, a $7.5 billion bailout would amount to a band-aid for Cyprus' bloated banks. Swollen by more than $30 billion in Russian deposits, they've recently held up to 10 times the nation?s annual economic output. Much of the rest consists of bad bets on Greek bonds recently subject to a European-imposed "haircut."
Even with a proposed restriction on withdrawals, those banks now face a tidal wave of withdrawals and losses when they reopen after a week-long, government-imposed ?holiday.?
The bailout also would do little to rescue the indebted Cypriot government.
?After the banking system is stabilized ? a technocratic matter ? the government itself is out of cash and has no access to the financial market,? said Weinberg. ?The terms for fixing the government, unlike the stark choices for resolving busted banks, are still wide open to negotiation.?
The crisis has left European leaders with even bigger problems.
The plan to force bank depositors to pay for their own bailout, a so-called ?bail-in,? hasn't gone unnoticed in other heavily indebted countries with weak banking systems. Now, millions of deposits in other southern European countries with much bigger economies, like Portugal, Spain and Italy, are left to wonder just whether their banks accounts may be the next to be raided.
?This is the first time that a government has ever reneged on the 100,000 euro guaranteed deposit scheme," said Wilbur Ross, an American investors who specializes in turning around failed companies. "That's a little bit scary because there's no bank in the whole world that can withstand a real run.?
Europe?s weaker banks can ill-afford to see depositors grow more nervous. In Spain, for example, cash has been flying out the door since last summer, when the government took over four banks sinking under the weight of bad mortgages and stuffed their bad assets into a new entity called Sareb. With house prices ? and the overall Spanish economy - still shrinking, state-owned banks continue to post massive losses, adding to the Spanish government?s debt.
Failure to strike a bailout deal with Cyprus also would rattle more than just a Spanish bankers nerves.
By turning its back one of its member states, European central bankers would renege on a pledge to do ?whatever it takes? to keep the common currency intact. The likely departure of Cyprus from the euro would increase the odds that voters in Spain, Italy, Greece or Ireland, chafing under northern Europe?s demands for economic sacrifice, might also decide to go it alone.
?The whole condition of the euro has been that once you go in you cannot get out,? said Julian Callow, Barclays chief international economist. ?Now, if a country does leave for whatever reason, that sets a really important precedent. People start asking questions in other countries as well.?
Resentment has been simmering for two years in countries with weaker southern economies looking to their northern neighbors for help. While voters in Germany grow weary of subsidizing ongoing bailouts, many in the southern tier believe that the wealthier northern companies are profiting from their economic pain.
?Despite the very peculiar rhetoric that German voters hear from some of their politicians, they have benefited handsomely from this crisis,? said Athanasios Orphanides, the former Cyprus central bank governor who oversaw its entry to the euro. ?The German government is essentially getting money at zero interest rates in the credit markets, and then it's loaning it to Ireland at very high interest rates. And of course, the money goes back to the German citizens.?
Despite the widespread political and financial risks, European officials and central bankers appear steadfast in holding Cyprus to the onerous terms that have produced ongoing street protests as one failed plan yielded to another.
Some analysts believe that resolve has been fortified by long-running frustration with Cypriot bankers? refusal to rein in risky deposits, based in part on the assumption that Europe would have to bail them out if they got into trouble. Ongoing tensions between Europe and Russia on a range of issues - including Cyprus? recently-discovered, sizable natural gas deposits ? have further complicated matters.
But in the end, Europe may pay a heavy price if it refuses what amounts to about $23 in aid for every Cypriot citizen, according to Weinberg.
?That is less than a night at the movies with a family or cafe lattes and croissants for two at Starbucks,? he said. ?This is the cost of ensuring that the public sees no bank in Euroland will be allowed to fail and that they can take out their deposits. Is this so much to pay??
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Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
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