Long-lived people distinguished by their DNA

Study finds genetic signatures of the extremely old

Web edition : Monday, January 30th, 2012

People who live to be 100 often credit particular dietary or lifestyle habits, religious faith or a generally positive outlook for their aging success. But scientists have long believed extreme longevity is at least partly in the genes.

Certainly long lives seem to run in families. People who have a centenarian sibling stand a better chance of also living to 100 than most people do, and twin studies suggest that genes are responsible for about 20 to 30 percent of a person?s ability to live to 85. Yet despite efforts to comb the genetic blueprints of the very, very old for versions of genes that might make a person into the next Methuselah, scientists have largely come up empty.

Now, a group of researchers has identified a set of 281 genetic variants that together distinguish people who live to be 110 or more from the rest of us with about 85 percent accuracy. ?

Further analysis revealed several different genetic signatures among centenarians, indicating that there could be lots of ways to live beyond 100, researchers led by Paola Sebastiani and Thomas Perls of Boston University report January 18 in the online journal PLoS ONE. While the findings are drawing some criticism, the results suggest that there is a genetic component to longevity, especially at the oldest ages.

Centenarians in the study have just as many disease-associated genetic variants as other people, so the researchers think that the inherited component probably includes versions of genes that protect against age-related diseases. As people get older and older, being born with the right genetic stuff becomes more and more important for continued survival, they conclude.

?What we have is a provocative set of findings that need to be replicated,? Sebastiani says.

Controversial is the adjective many other researchers use to describe the research. In an earlier version of the study that was published online in Science in 2010, the Boston University researchers claimed to have found a set of 150 genetic variants that could correctly predict who would be a centenarian 77 percent of the time. But the study soon came under fire for technical flaws. The researchers fixed the technical problem and engaged an independent lab at Yale University to analyze the data.

Despite those revisions, the study was retracted from Science last year because the journal said the results no longer met standards for publication. Science?s reasoning is disingenuous, says Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. ?The results, if anything, are stronger,? he says. ?The data are the data, and it?s very striking.?

But other geneticists have expressed vague unease with the findings.

?The obvious technical issues have been corrected,? says geneticist Greg Cooper of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Ala. ?It certainly is worth putting out there as observations to think about.? But longevity ?is a messy trait,? one that may be too complicated to explain with a small number of genetic variants. ?I?m not totally sold? that the study really explains centenarians? staying power, Cooper says.

Part of the discomfort stems from the method used to generate the genetic profiles. Most modern genetic studies are really exercises in statistics. Researchers compare large groups of people with a trait or disease to other large groups that don?t share that trait, looking for genetic variants that appear more often in the group that has the disease.

Another challenge: It?s hard to find a large group of centenarians. Only one in 5,000 Americans lives that long, and only one person in 7 million will become a supercentenarian ? someone who is 110 or older.

In the new study, the researchers combed the genetic blueprints of 801 centenarians and 914 healthy younger people for longevity-associated variants. The researchers also replicated the findings with two additional rounds of testing; first with a separate group of 253 people in their 90s and 100s and a control group of 341 younger people, then with a third set of 60 centenarians and 2,863 other people.

The researchers detected only one individual variant ? one linked to the APOE gene, which is associated with Alzheimer?s disease ? that meets statistical standards for separating supercentenarians from people with a more average life span. Many other variants also looked as if they might be tied to longevity, but none passed statistical muster.

So Sebastiani and her team began summing the effects of variants that didn?t quite rise to the statistical threshold to see if those individual differences added up to a genetic signature that could predict longevity. Although none of the variants alone could distinguish the extremely long-lived from those with average life spans, together the variants began to form an overall picture of the genetic makeup of a centenarian. As the researchers added in more and more variants, up to the 281 reported in the study, their power to predict centenarians increased.

Such grouping of genetic variants has been used to study characteristics such as height, body mass and intelligence. That type of analysis may help detect an underlying genetic component to a trait, but doesn?t indicate which biological processes are important, says Elizabeth Cirulli, a human geneticist at Duke University?s Center for Human Genome Variation.

?It?s not that it?s invalid, it?s just not helpful,? she says.

David Hinds, a statistical geneticist at the genetic testing company 23andMe, contends that the genetic profile may be an overly optimistic interpretation of the data and may be a result of strong genetic signatures from some ethnic groups. Hinds used the 281 variants to see if he could pick out the 58 centenarians in the 23andMe database from about 90,000 other people. He couldn?t.

His analysis also indicates that the 281 variants are really a signature that identifies people of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. The demographic history of Jews might mean that fewer people of Ashkenazi ancestry have lived to become centenarians. ?It could be that the model predicts who will be a centenarian in the United States, but for the uninteresting reason that centenarians in the northeastern U.S. tend not to be Jewish,? he says.

Sebastiani says that the centenarians and control groups were carefully selected to eliminate any chance that the results would be skewed by ancestry. Hinds? failure to replicate the findings may be because the centenarians in his database aren?t really centenarians at all. ?There are a lot of false claims about old ages,? she says.

Found in: Genes & Cells

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/338019/title/Long-lived_people_distinguished_by_their_DNA

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Japan Cabinet OKs bill to cap nuke reactor life

FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Jozef Misak, third from right, and Charles Casto, second from right, walk past an emergency air-cooled power generator as they inspect the Ohi nuclear power plant in Ohi, Fukui prefecture, western Japan. Japan's Cabinet approved bills Tuesday, Jan. 31, aimed at bolstering nuclear safety regulations following last year's Fukushima disaster, including one that would put a 40-year cap on the operational life of nuclear reactors as IAEA experts generally endorsed "stress test" results following their inspection tour to the plant. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Jozef Misak, third from right, and Charles Casto, second from right, walk past an emergency air-cooled power generator as they inspect the Ohi nuclear power plant in Ohi, Fukui prefecture, western Japan. Japan's Cabinet approved bills Tuesday, Jan. 31, aimed at bolstering nuclear safety regulations following last year's Fukushima disaster, including one that would put a 40-year cap on the operational life of nuclear reactors as IAEA experts generally endorsed "stress test" results following their inspection tour to the plant. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, Kansai Electric Power Co's Ohi nuclear power plant No. 3, right, and No. 4 reactors are seen in Ohi, Fukui prefecture, western Japan, as experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency conduct their first inspection of the Japanese nuclear power plant that has undergone official "stress tests," a key step required to restart dozens of nuclear plants idled in the wake of the Fukushima crisis. Japan's Cabinet approved bills Tuesday, Jan. 31, aimed at bolstering nuclear safety regulations following last year's Fukushima disaster, including one that would put a 40-year cap on the operational life of nuclear reactors, as an IAEA experts generally endorsed "stress test" results. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

James Lyons, right , director of the Nuclear Installation Safety Division of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), shakes hands with Hiroyuki Fukano, director-general for nuclear power of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency during a meeting with Japanese nuclear officials on the IAEA's safety assessment review mission of the Ohi nuclear power plant with regards to the latest stress tests in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

James Lyons, left, director of the Nuclear Installation Safety Division of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaks to Hiroyuki Fukano, director-general for Nuclear Power of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency during a meeting with Japanese nuclear officials on the IAEA's safety assessment review mission of the Ohi nuclear power plant with regards to the latest stress tests in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan's Cabinet approved bills Tuesday aimed at bolstering nuclear safety regulations following last year's Fukushima disaster, including one that would put a 40-year cap on the operational life of nuclear reactors.

The approval came as International Atomic Energy Agency experts generally endorsed "stress test" results at two idled reactors in western Japan, bolstering the Tokyo government's efforts to restart the facility, though the IAEA team said some safety measures needed clarification.

Japan currently has no legal limit on the operational lifespan of its 54 reactors, many of which will reach the 40-year mark in coming years. One reactor at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant had been in use 40 years when the tsunami struck last March.

The legislation, which still needs parliamentary approval to take effect, does allow for an extension of up to 20 years. Critics have blasted that exception as a loophole, but officials have said extensions will be rare and require strict safety standards.

Also Tuesday, the chief of Kawauchi village, which straddles the exclusion zone around the Fukushima plant, told more than 2,500 residents that returning to the town areas outside the no-go zone was safe, following extensive decontamination of radiation fallout.

Most residents whose homes were outside the exclusion zone chose to leave when the Kawauchi town hall moved to Koriyama City, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.

Mayor Yuko Endo said offices, schools and other public facilities will restart in April. Kawauchi is the first of nine townships whose administrative functions shifted elsewhere to make such an announcement.

"I encourage you to go home," Endo told a televised news conference from the Fukushima government office. "Those of you who can return now, please do so. If you are still worried, you can wait a little until you feel comfortable."

About one-third of Kawauchi village lies within the 12-mile (20-kilometer) exclusion zone and remains off-limits.

Since the government announced in December that the Fukushima plant was stable, guidelines have been made for affected towns that would allow residents to return to areas with contamination levels below 20 millisieverts per year, which it says is safe, though further reduction is recommended.

Another bill approved by the Cabinet would create a new nuclear regulatory agency under the Environment Ministry that would unify nuclear safety and regulatory bodies. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is currently under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry ? which also promotes nuclear energy. Critics say that placement has contributed to lax supervision of the industry.

After the Fukushima accident, Japan reversed its nuclear energy policy and now aims to reduce its dependency on atomic power. Officials say capping the lives of reactors at 40 years is consistent with that policy.

Still, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has said Japan must rely on nuclear energy during the transition and idled reactors deemed safe after inspections need to be restarted.

The government has ordered reactors shut down since the meltdowns at Fukushima to undergo "stress tests" before they can be restarted. But passing the tests may not lead to a quick startup because of deep safety concerns in local communities hosting the reactors.

With only three of the country's 54 reactors online, officials are desperately trying to avoid a power crunch. One of the three operating reactors will go offline for regular checks next month, and Japan will have no operating reactors by the end of April.

Last week, a 10-member IAEA delegation inspected the Ohi No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at a nuclear plant in Fukui prefecture ? a rural area where 13 reactors are clustered around a bay. The reactors have undergone stress tests, which are supposed to assess whether they can withstand earthquakes, tsunamis, loss of power or other emergencies, and to suggest changes to improve safety.

The IAEA team was invited by Tokyo to visit the plant in a step seen as an attempt to drum up support for the government's safety campaign.

In a preliminary assessment Tuesday, the team said that Japanese nuclear safety officials' instructions to their operator, Kansai Electric Power Co., and the review process for the tests were "generally consistent" with IAEA safety standards.

However, the team said authorities should clarify the stress tests' goals and better define what constitutes the safety margins within which plants would be able to tolerate disasters. It also said the nuclear safety agency, or NISA, still needs to confirm certain improvements to safety before allowing the facility to resume operation.

Mission leader James Lyons said that the team was "satisfied with the work they had done as part of their primary assessment" but that there was room for improvement.

NISA chief Hiroyuki Fukano welcomed the IAEA review, saying authorities were "encouraged" that stress tests were deemed valid.

Critics, however, say the tests are meaningless because they have no clear criteria, and view the IAEA as biased toward the nuclear industry.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-31-AS-Japan-Nuclear/id-48450834de40445eba6b43bf026f79f8

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School-bus-sized asteroid to buzz Earth Friday, nearer than moon

While the near-Earth asteroid won't hit Earth, it may offer seasoned amateur astronomers a great show ? if they are in the right viewing location and have good equipment. ?

A small asteroid will make an extremely close pass by Earth Friday (Jan. 27), coming much nearer than the moon, but the space rock poses no danger of impacting our planet, NASA scientists say.

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The newfound?asteroid 2012 BX34, which is about the size of a city bus, will pass within 36,750 miles (59,044 kilometers) of Earth at about 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) Friday, astronomers with NASA's Asteroid Watch program announced via Twitter.

The space rock is about 36 feet (11 meters) wide, making it much too small to pose a threat to Earth.

"It wouldn't get through our atmosphere intact even if it dared to try," Asteroid Watch scientists tweeted today (Jan. 26). Asteroid Watch is based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Asteroid 2012 BX34 will zip by at a distance about 0.17 times that separating Earth and the moon. The moon orbits Earth at an average distance of about 240,000 miles (386,000 km). [Video and image of asteroid 2012 BX34's orbit]

While the?near-Earth asteroid?won't hit Earth, it may offer seasoned amateur astronomers a great show ? if they are in the right viewing location and have good equipment.

"Advanced amateur astronomers might be able to observe the flyby as the asteroid brightens to 14th magnitude just before closest approach on Friday," the website?Spaceweather.com reported?today.

In astronomers' classification system, higher magnitudes correspond to dimmer objects. The full moon, for example, has a magnitude around -12.75. A magnitude of +14 would put 2012 BX34 roughly on par with the maximum brightness of the distant dwarf planet Pluto.

NASA scientists and other astronomer teams regularly monitor the skies in search of asteroids that could pose a danger to Earth. Experts estimate that asteroids measuring about 460 feet (140 m) across can cause widespread destruction near their impact sites, but they'd need to be even larger to cause devastation on a global scale.

Last September, NASA announced that it had catalogued about 90 percent of the largest asteroids whose orbits bring them near Earth ? a major goal set by Congress in 1998. Using NASA's recent WISE asteroid-mapping mission as a guide, scientists estimate that there are about 981 near-Earth asteroids the size of a mountain or larger. About 911 of those space rocks have been spotted, WISE mission scientists said.

Finding and mapping the orbits of such potentially hazardous space rocks is a task crucial to the long-term survival of our species, many scientists say.

Throughout history, asteroids big enough to cause major damage and disruption to the global economy and society (were they to strike a populated area today) have hit Earth, on average, every 200 or 300 years, according to former astronaut Rusty Schweickart.

Schweickart chairs the B612 Foundation, a group dedicated to predicting and preventing cataclysmic asteroid impacts on Earth. The group's chief message is that humanity's survival will someday depend on our ability to?deflect a killer asteroid?away from Earth.

The dinosaurs possessed no such technology, of course, and a catastrophic impact wiped them out ? along with many other plant and animal species ? 65 million years ago.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter:?@michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/_WKdDuF_hxM/School-bus-sized-asteroid-to-buzz-Earth-Friday-nearer-than-moon

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?Seinfeld? Actor Ian Abercrombie Dead At Age 77

“Seinfeld” Actor Ian Abercrombie Dead At Age 77

Ian Abercrombie, who played the role of Elaine Benes’ eccentric boss Mr. Pitt on “Seinfeld” has passed away at the age of 77. Other film [...]

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What a Drag

Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close), the diminutive protagonist of Rodrigo Garcia?s film of the same name, works as a waiter in a posh hotel in late 19th-century Dublin. He speaks little and, when he does, reveals still less. Outside of a cordial master/servant relationship with Dr. Holloran (Brendan Gleeson), a hard-drinking physician in residence at the hotel, the passive, blank-faced Nobbs seems to have no friendships at all. As he prepares for bed one night in his tiny, drab bedchamber, we learn the truth about this cipher of a man: Albert is in fact a woman who?s been passing as male since her hardscrabble teenage years in order to find work and avoid harassment at the hands of men.

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Subpoenas issued to financial firms in expanded probe (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Justice Department issued civil subpoenas to 11 financial institutions as part of a new effort to investigate misconduct in the packaging and sale of home loans to investors, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Friday.

Holder declined to provide specifics, including the names of the firms.

"We are wasting no time in aggressively pursuing any and all leads," Holder said at a news conference announcing details of a new working group to investigate misconduct in the residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) market, "you can expect more to follow."

President Barack Obama said he directed Holder to create the new unit in his State of the Union speech late Tuesday, saying it was needed to "help turn the page on an era of recklessness."

On Friday a slew of federal and state officials appeared at the news conference to provide details about the new group.

Housed within an earlier financial fraud task force that Obama created in 2009, it is expected to be staffed with around 50 attorneys, analysts and agents, officials said.

Some skeptics have questioned whether the new group is largely a political move because the other fraud task force already exists.

Also, the Obama administration has received heat from left-leaning activist groups that believe a separate effort to investigate misconduct in processing foreclosures and servicing home loans may not be rigorous enough to extract a meaningful settlement.

In exchange for providing up to $25 billion in housing relief, much in the form of cutting mortgage debt for distressed borrowers, the top U.S. banks are expected to put behind them government lawsuits about lending and servicing abuses - but not securitization claims.

The banks involved in the discussions include Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup and Ally Financial Inc.

Those talks have dragged into their second year as some states, including California and New York, criticized the direction of the negotiations and said the proposed settlement would release the banks from too many claims.

The deal appears to be getting closer, with last-ditch efforts to lure the hold-out states to join.

California has said it still has reservations about the deal, but California Attorney General Kamala Harris has met in recent weeks with federal officials in Washington to discuss her concerns about the settlement, people familiar with the matter said.

The attorney general in New York, Eric Schneiderman, was named as a co-chair of the new working group, prompting speculation that the position was partly aimed at persuading him to join the settlement.

In an interview with Reuters, Schneiderman said: "The releases have become narrow enough so that I'm confident a full investigation can go forward." Asked if he was signing on, he said, "Not yet," because "other issues" are still outstanding.

MULTIPLE EFFORTS

At the news conference, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan also said that the multistate deal will not prevent the working group from pursuing its own claims about the securitization of home loans.

"We would not be standing here today if we weren't absolutely confident that the releases that are being contemplated were quite narrow, focused on the conduct that was actually investigated," Donovan said.

"There will be concrete actions taken in the next few weeks to confirm we're serious," Schneiderman added in the interview.

Exactly what the new group will tackle is unclear, since the construction and sale of mortgage securities is already the subject of massive government and private lawsuits.

"The simple fact is that this is an election year, and politics will inevitably play a role in every aspect of what is at its core a superfluous investigation," said Richard Gottlieb, who heads the financial industry group at the law firm Dykema.

"Others have already done the leg work, the lawsuits have already been filed, and the courts will already be deciding these issues," said Gottlieb.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, for example, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, sued 17 large banks last September over losses on about $200 billion of subprime bonds and said the underlying mortgages did not meet investors' criteria.

Speaking at the news conference, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement director Robert Khuzami said his agency has already reviewed 25 million pages of documents on related investigations.

"To be clear, investigations into RMBS offerings have been ongoing at the SEC," Khuzami said.

Holder said the Justice Department had discussed the subpoenas with the SEC, and said the new requests do not duplicate earlier efforts from the SEC.

He also responded to criticism that federal enforcers have brought few marquee cases in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Holder said the department has brought around 2,100 mortgage-related cases.

"The notion that there has been inactivity over the course of the last three years is belied by a troublesome little thing called facts," Holder said.

Several top banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBS Americas and Deutsche Bank, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters about the new working group's efforts.

(Reporting By Aruna Viswanatha and Jim Vicini in Washington, D.C. and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/bs_nm/us_mortgages_subpoenas

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Cat Knee Joint Surgery: Cyrano The Tubby Tabby Gets Revolutionary Treatment (VIDEO)

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Because Cyrano weighs more than 20 pounds, amputating his cancer-weakened leg was out of the question. So the tubby tabby's owners turned to doctors and engineers at North Carolina State University to get him back into mice-catching trim.

On Thursday, the 10-year-old cat from Upperville, Va., received what doctors believe is the first feline total knee replacement in the U.S.

"This is the most complex implant that NC State has made and really, in all honesty, that anyone has built for any situation that I know of," said surgeon Denis Marcellin-Little, a French-born veterinarian.

Cyrano ? his full name is Mr. Cyrano L. Catte II ? underwent treatment last year at Colorado State University for cancer in his left hind leg. The disease is in remission, but the treatment left the leg nearly useless and extremely painful.

Marcellin-Little and NCSU engineer Ola Harrysson are pioneers in osseointegration, a process that fuses a prosthetic limb with living bone. In 2005, Marcellin-Little performed the world's first surgery to fuse leg implants with a cat's bone tissue, so Cyrano's owners turned to him for help.

Britain's Dr. Noel Fitzpatrick was credited with the world's first total knee replacement in 2009 on a cat named Missy, whose leg was crushed by a car. But Marcellin-Little said Cyrano's plastic and cobalt chromium alloy implant is more like those used in humans.

"It has a form of articulation that is unique ? that allows the implant to bend and rotate," he said, demonstrating with a model during a news conference the day before the surgery. "The devil is in the details."

Such implants have become commonplace in dogs. But a cat's smaller anatomy has proved more difficult to work with, and Cyrano's damaged bones posed an additional challenge, Marcellin-Little said.

Unlike other joints, which are machined, Cyrano's knee ? in cats, it's actually called a "stifle" ? was fabricated using a laser process that hardens metal powder to exactly replicate his bones. More than a dozen people worked on developing and testing the implant, each half of which is about 2 inches long.

Marcellin-Little practiced the procedure four times on plastic models before Thursday's surgery.

The operation began around 10:30 a.m. Attendants did not wheel Cyrano to the intensive care unit until almost 5 p.m.

Marcellin-Little said the tabby's girth and big bones were a plus. He said Cyrano should be up and around in about a week, though he won't be climbing trees for a while yet.

"We would like him to take it easy for about three months after surgery," the doctor said. "And then we will let him be himself."

Because so much of the time and material were donated, university representatives could not give a total cost estimate.

"Part of this is a pure research project, in a way," said Harrysson, an NCSU professor of industrial and systems engineering.

The bill to owners Sandra Lerner and Len Bosack will be around $20,000. Sitting in a waiting room after the surgery, a visibly exhausted Lerner ? who helped found electronics giant Cisco Systems ? said "Rat Boy" is worth every penny.

"He's my child. And if it were your child, would you begrudge the money?" she said. "I have a personal philosophy that people are, at best, equal with the other inhabitants of the planet. And I'm very, very grateful that I have the money and (am) able to do it."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Allen G. Breed is a national writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. He can be reached at features(at)ap.org.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/cat-knee-joint-surgery-cyrano_n_1237481.html

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Artist plans to bury 727 jetliner in US desert

BAKERSFIELD, California (AP) ? A Swiss artist plans to bury an intact Boeing 727 jetliner in California's Mojave Desert and build a tunnel to give visitors a chance to see it.

Christoph Buchel has applied for a permit that will allow him to bury the 153-foot-long (46-meter-long) decommissioned airliner.

The Bakersfield Californian newspaper reports the project, called "Terminal," already has approval from the local planning department staff.

The jetliner would be buried 38 feet (11 meters) below the surface.

Visitors will be able to experience the subterranean art project via a tunnel connecting the plane to a parking area. And they'll be able to use the plane's restrooms, which will be connected to a septic system.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2012-01-26-Jetliner%20Burial/id-eab62a2ecfd24238a30c8c03e66ebcbc

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No energy industry backing for the word 'fracking'

Gillie Waddington of Enfield, N.Y., raises a fist during rally against hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y., on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. About 600 people registered to lobby lawmakers Monday on various bills related to the technology known as "fracking." Many are pushing a bill that would ban fracking, which stimulates gas production by using chemically treated water to fracture shale. Others are supporting a bill putting a moratorium on shale gas development. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Gillie Waddington of Enfield, N.Y., raises a fist during rally against hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y., on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. About 600 people registered to lobby lawmakers Monday on various bills related to the technology known as "fracking." Many are pushing a bill that would ban fracking, which stimulates gas production by using chemically treated water to fracture shale. Others are supporting a bill putting a moratorium on shale gas development. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A different kind of F-word is stirring a linguistic and political debate as controversial as what it defines.

The word is "fracking" ? as in hydraulic fracturing, a technique long used by the oil and gas industry to free oil and gas from rock.

It's not in the dictionary, the industry hates it, and President Barack Obama didn't use it in his State of the Union speech ? even as he praised federal subsidies for it.

The word sounds nasty, and environmental advocates have been able to use it to generate opposition ? and revulsion ? to what they say is a nasty process that threatens water supplies.

"It obviously calls to mind other less socially polite terms, and folks have been able to take advantage of that," said Kate Sinding, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council who works on drilling issues.

One of the chants at an anti-drilling rally in Albany earlier this month was "No fracking way!"

Industry executives argue that the word is deliberately misspelled by environmental activists and that it has become a slur that should not be used by media outlets that strive for objectivity.

"It's a co-opted word and a co-opted spelling used to make it look as offensive as people can try to make it look," said Michael Kehs, vice president for Strategic Affairs at Chesapeake Energy, the nation's second-largest natural gas producer.

To the surviving humans of the sci-fi TV series "Battlestar Galactica," it has nothing to do with oil and gas. It is used as a substitute for the very down-to-Earth curse word.

Michael Weiss, a professor of linguistics at Cornell University, says the word originated as simple industry jargon, but has taken on a negative meaning over time ? much like the word "silly" once meant "holy."

But "frack" also happens to sound like "smack" and "whack," with more violent connotations.

"When you hear the word 'fracking,' what lights up your brain is the profanity," says Deborah Mitchell, who teaches marketing at the University of Wisconsin's School of Business. "Negative things come to mind."

Obama did not use the word in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, when he said his administration will help ensure natural gas will be developed safely, suggesting it would support 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

In hydraulic fracturing, millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped into wells to break up underground rock formations and create escape routes for the oil and gas. In recent years, the industry has learned to combine the practice with the ability to drill horizontally into beds of shale, layers of fine-grained rock that in some cases have trapped ancient organic matter that has cooked into oil and gas.

By doing so, drillers have unlocked natural gas deposits across the East, South and Midwest that are large enough to supply the U.S. for decades. Natural gas prices have dipped to decade-low levels, reducing customer bills and prompting manufacturers who depend on the fuel to expand operations in the U.S.

Environmentalists worry that the fluid could leak into water supplies from cracked casings in wells. They are also concerned that wastewater from the process could contaminate water supplies if not properly treated or disposed of. And they worry the method allows too much methane, the main component of natural gas and an extraordinarily potent greenhouse gas, to escape.

Some want to ban the practice altogether, while others want tighter regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the issue and may propose federal regulations. The industry prefers that states regulate the process.

Some states have banned it. A New York proposal to lift its ban drew about 40,000 public comments ? an unprecedented total ? inspired in part by slogans such as "Don't Frack With New York."

The drilling industry has generally spelled the word without a "K," using terms like "frac job" or "frac fluid."

Energy historian Daniel Yergin spells it "fraccing" in his book, "The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World." The glossary maintained by the oilfield services company Schlumberger includes only "frac" and "hydraulic fracturing."

The spelling of "fracking" began appearing in the media and in oil and gas company materials long before the process became controversial. It first was used in an Associated Press story in 1981. That same year, an oil and gas company called Velvet Exploration, based in British Columbia, issued a press release that detailed its plans to complete "fracking" a well.

The word was used in trade journals throughout the 1980s. In 1990, Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher announced U.S. oil engineers would travel to the Soviet Union to share drilling technology, including fracking.

The word does not appear in The Associated Press Stylebook, a guide for news organizations. David Minthorn, deputy standards editor at the AP, says there are tentative plans to include an entry in the 2012 edition.

He said the current standard is to avoid using the word except in direct quotes, and to instead use "hydraulic fracturing."

That won't stop activists ? sometimes called "fracktivists" ? from repeating the word as often as possible.

"It was created by the industry, and the industry is going to have to live with it," says the NRDC's Sinding.

Dave McCurdy, CEO of the American Gas Association, agrees, much to his dismay: "It's Madison Avenue hell," he says.

___

Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-26-US-Fracking/id-9476c1f8df564d1e88f00877b03f7e58

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Amazon prices Verizon Galaxy Nexus at $99, tests your self control

Looking for an excuse to buy a LTE-enabled superphone? Look no further. Online retail giant Amazon has priced Verizon's iteration of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus at a paltry $99 for customers opening a new line of service. For those keeping score at home, that's a full $200 less than the on-contract price ($299) currently being peddled by Big Red. Why are you still reading this? Hit the source link, hammer in your Amazon credentials and get yourself one of these lean, mean, Ice Cream Sandwich running machines.

Amazon prices Verizon Galaxy Nexus at $99, tests your self control originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/WoOSIlwVvm4/

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GABA deficits disturb endocannabinoid system

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Changes in the endocannabinoid system may have important implications for psychiatric and addiction disorders. This brain system is responsible for making substances that have effects on brain function which resemble those of cannabis products, e.g., marijuana.

The endocannabinoid system is of particular interest in the field of schizophrenia research because exposure to cannabis products during adolescence and young adulthood appears to increase the risk for developing schizophrenia. Also, in studies examining brain tissue collected from people who had schizophrenia, changes in the endocannabinoid system were highly correlated with changes in the principal inhibitory chemical messenger system in the brain, the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system.

The current study was conducted in order to research the relationship between changes in the GABA system and changes in the endocannabinoid system. Led by Dr. David Lewis at the University of Pittsburgh, researchers made genetic manipulations in mice that selectively reduced the GABA system function by decreasing the expression of the enzyme that makes GABA, GAD67, or by decreasing the expression of the principal receptor target for endocannabinoids in the brain, the cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R), in order to determine whether a change in one is sufficient to cause a change in the other.

Using these techniques, the researchers demonstrated that reduced expression of GAD67 can lead to reduced expression of CB1R, but not vice versa.

"Because activation of the CB1R suppresses GABA release, lower levels of CB1R may help augment GABA release from nerve terminals that have below normal amounts due to reduced GABA synthesis," said Dr. Lewis of the results. "This evidence suggests that reduced GABA signaling is an 'upstream' event in the disease process of schizophrenia and that lower CB1R is a compensation to help normalize GABA signaling."

These findings indicate that GABA abnormalities in schizophrenia are what trigger the disturbances in the endocannabinoid system. Importantly, cannabis use also alters GABA activity in the brain.

"While the whole story is still developing, from these data, it looks like developmental deficits in GABA systems are sufficient to disturb the function of the endocannabinoid system. This could be an important clue to the link between cannabis use and psychosis," commented Dr. John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry.

Additional research will be necessary to further explore such links, including investigations into whether and/or how cannabis exposure affects the relationship between GAD67 and CB1R.

###

The article is "Cortical Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase 67 Deficiency Results in Lower Cannabinoid 1 Receptor Messenger RNA Expression: Implications for Schizophrenia" by Stephen M. Eggan, Matthew S. Lazarus, Samuel R. Stoyak, David W. Volk, Jill R. Glausier, Z. Josh Huang, and David A. Lewis (doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.09.014). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 71, Issue 2 (January 15, 2012), published by Elsevier.

Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com

Thanks to Elsevier for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116998/GABA_deficits_disturb_endocannabinoid_system

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Bank of England chief backs CEO pay restraint (AP)

LONDON ? The governor of the Bank of England has joined calls from government and Parliament for banks and other big businesses to curb lavish executive pay.

Mervyn King also said Tuesday that there is scope for the bank to pour more billions into economic stimulus, a step some analysts believe could come as early as next month.

Speaking in Brighton, King said those who set executive pay need to accept that the market economy relies on a perception that rewards are distributed fairly.

"The legitimacy of a market economy will inevitably be challenged if rewards go disproportionately to a small elite, especially one which benefited from the support of taxpayers," King said.

Major British banks, both those that were bailed out and those which benefited from the implicit support of taxpayers, are now in the spotlight of public concern about high pay and the bonus culture.

British Business Secretary Vince Cable said Monday his government will be making proposals this year to give shareholders more clout to curb excesses.

"The tragedy of the financial crisis is that those who have suffered most have been those who bear no responsibility for it, and who, whether employees or businesses, accepted the disciplines of a market economy only to find that others were excused that discipline because they were 'too important to fail,'" King said, again pointing to the financial sector.

The High Pay Commission, an independent body, reported last year that executive pay in Britain's top 100 corporations had risen far faster than overall pay.

At oil company BP, for instance, the top executive was paid 63 times the company's average pay in 2009-2011. At Barclays bank the multiple was 75 times, as was bailed-out Lloyds Banking Group.

Since December 2009, the Bank of England has spent 275 billion pounds ($430 billion) to buy high-grade assets, including government and corporate bonds, a program known as quantitative easing.

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, concerned about the lagging growth of the U.K. economy, authorized the latest injection of 75 billion pounds in October.

"With inflation falling back and wage growth subdued, there is scope for interest rates to remain low, and, if necessary, for further asset purchases, to prevent inflation falling below the 2 percent target," King said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_economy

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Syria FM signals crackdown will continue (AP)

BEIRUT ? Syria's foreign minister has signaled that his country will continue its 10-month crackdown on dissent.

Walid al-Moallem said Tuesday it's the duty of the government to take any steps it sees necessary to protect against chaos.

His news conference came one day after President Bashar Assad's regime rejected an Arab-brokered plan to end the country's bloodshed.

The plan calls for a unity government within two months, which would then prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held under Arab and international supervision.

Syria has long held that a foreign conspiracy is behind the uprising.

Al-Moallem said Tuesday it was clear that some Arab countries have joined the conspiracy.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria's foreign minister says some Arab countries have joined the conspiracy against his country.

Walid al-Moallem spoke at a news conference on Tuesday, one day after President Bashar Assad's regime rejected an Arab-brokered plan to end the country's bloodshed.

The plan announced Sunday calls for a unity government within two months, which would then prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held under Arab and international supervision.

Syria has long held that a foreign conspiracy is behind the country's 10-month uprising, not peaceful protesters seeking change.

Also Tuesday, Gulf countries said they planned to pull out of the Arab League observer mission in Syria. The move was seen as yet another blow to Damascus.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

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Obama to 'hang out' in live video chat room (AP)

NEW YORK ? President Barack Obama plans to "hang out" in a video chat room to answer questions about his State of the Union address, part of a White House effort to test new social networking tools and the latest evidence of the growing intersection of social media and politics.

Google announced Monday that Obama will participate in a 45-minute live video chat room known as a "Hangout," part of the online search giant's social networking site Google Plus. The chat will take place Monday afternoon, Jan. 30, capping a week of social media engagement the White House is planning around the State of the Union speech.

Obama speaks to Congress and the nation on Tuesday.

Google Plus will solicit questions over the video sharing site YouTube, and users will then vote on their favorites. The president will answer some video questions, and will also chat directly with a group of the questioners.

The exchange will appear on the White House Google Plus page, and will be live streamed on the whitehouse.gov website.

Obama participated in YouTube town halls after his last two State of The Union speeches, taking questions submitted to the video sharing site. The planned Hangout goes a step further, offering some of those questioners a chance to interact directly with the president.

Macon Phillips, White House director of digital strategy, said the White House would have no role in choosing the questions or participants in the Hangout.

"For online engagement to be interesting, it has to be honest," Phillips said. "We want to give Americans more control over this conversation and the chance to ask questions they care about."

Google has hosted Hangouts with other political figures, including Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. But Obama's planned Hangout will be a presidential first and is certain to draw more attention to Google Plus, which has battled to catch up with social networking giant Facebook in membership and influence.

The Hangout element "will make for really personal conversation with the president that's never really happened before," said Steve Grove, head of community partnerships for Google Plus. "Whether it's good for Google Plus or not, I guess viewers will decide by how well we pull it off."

Google, Facebook and other social media sites have been steadily boosting their presence in electoral politics.

Facebook cosponsored a Republican primary debate with NBC News earlier this month, and last year Obama visited Facebook's headquarters in California, where he took questions submitted to the site.

Google sponsored a Republican debate with Fox News in September and has been a go-to hub for online political advertising.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_social_media

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Arnie visits Austrian town run on green energy (omg!)

GUESSING, Austria (AP) ? It was another chance to tuck into a schnitzel. But Arnold Schwarzenegger's visit to a small eastern Austrian town had a more compelling purpose.

Austria's most famous living son is proud of his record of greening California while governor. So his visit to Guessing, which meets its energy needs through renewables, was fitting.

In both Guessing and California, "the world has already become a better one," he told fans and dignitaries gathered in his honor Sunday.

After a lunch of Wiener schnitzel and Kaiserscharrn ? chopped up pancakes with jam ? Arnie toured the village's energy plants, describing his push for green energy as "my crusade."

And yes, the "Terminator" star did say, "I'll be back."

___

Philipp Jenne contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_arnie_visits_austrian_town_run_green_energy183907326/44264919/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/arnie-visits-austrian-town-run-green-energy-183907326.html

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Ask Engadget: Are there UK-based Voicemail to SMS / email alternatives?

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Nish, who needs to replace his voicemail to SMS/email system due to Ribbit Mobile's forthcoming closure. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"Hi there, I've been using Ribbit Mobile for the past few years for voicemail -- the voicemail to SMS/email function is brilliant. However, the beta trial is ending on the 31st January with no immediate plans to go live. Do you know of any UK-based alternatives for voicemail to SMS/email systems I can switch to? Thanks!"

So guys, come help out a brother from the motherland with your suggestions for digital telephony transcription, any Brits out there find Google Voice to be the answer? Is there something only a few of you know about that'll change the world? If you're in an animal home, sat down on your own, why not share your knowledge in the comments below.

Ask Engadget: Are there UK-based Voicemail to SMS / email alternatives? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/21/ask-engadget-are-there-uk-based-voicemail-to-sms-email-alternat/

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Government by Gobbledygook

Consider, for example, the relevant federal rules about renovating an old building suspected of containing lead paint. I hesitate to even quote examples of confusing regulatory language lest my column itself become unreadable, but surely the U.S. government can do better than: ?On or after July 6, 2010, all renovations must be performed in accordance with the work practice standards in ?745.85 and the associated recordkeeping requirements in ?745.86(b)(1) and (b)(6) in target housing or child-occupied facilities, unless the renovation qualifies for the exception identified in ?745.82(a).? You?ll be glad to know, however, that ?745.82(a) does, among other things, offer an exemption for ?emergency renovations? (which has a word salad definition of its own)?with the sub-exception that ?emergency renovations are not exempt from the cleaning requirements of ?745.85(a)(5), which must be performed by certified renovators or individuals trained in accordance with ?745.90(b)(2), the cleaning verification requirements of ?745.85(b), which must be performed by certified renovators, and the recordkeeping requirements of ?745.86(b)(6) and (b)(7).? Got it? Me neither.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=9a6c25396043cd7bcd906f6e7a09ccbd

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(AP)

Islam is not a religion nor is it a cult. It is a complete system.
Islam has religious, legal, political, economic and military components. The religious component is a beard for all the other components.

Islamization occurs when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their so-called ?religious rights.?
When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to ?the reasonable? Muslim demands for their ?religious rights,? they also get the other components under the table. Here?s how it works (percentages source CIA: The World Fact Book (2007)).
As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone. In fact, they may be featured in articles and films, stereotyped for their colorful uniqueness:

United States ? Muslim 1.0%
Australia ? Muslim 1.5%
Canada ? Muslim 1.9%
China ? Muslim 1%-2%
Italy ? Muslim 1.5%
Norway ? Muslim 1.8%

At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs:

Denmark ? Muslim 2%
Germany ? Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom ? Muslim 2.7%
Spain ? Muslim 4%
Thailand ? Muslim 4.6%

From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population.
They will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves ? along with threats for failure to comply. ( United States ).

France ? Muslim 8%
Philippines ? Muslim 5%
Sweden ? Muslim 5%
Switzerland ? Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands ? Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad &Tobago ? Muslim 5.8%

At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world but to establish Sharia law over the entire world.
When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions ( Paris ?car-burnings). Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats ( Amsterdam ? Mohammed cartoons).

Guyana ? Muslim 10%
India ? Muslim 13.4%
Israel ? Muslim 16%
Kenya ? Muslim 10%
Russia ? Muslim 10-15%

After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning:
Ethiopia ? Muslim 32.8%

At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare:

Bosnia ? Muslim 40%
Chad ? Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon ? Muslim 59.7%

From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels:

Albania ? Muslim 70%
Malaysia ? Muslim 60.4%
Qatar ? Muslim 77.5%
Sudan ? Muslim 70%

After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide:

Bangladesh ? Muslim 83%
Egypt ? Muslim 90%
Gaza ? Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia ? Muslim 86.1%
Iran ? Muslim 98%
Iraq ? Muslim 97%
Jordan ? Muslim 92%
Morocco ? Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan ? Muslim 97%
Palestine ? Muslim 99%
Syria ? Muslim 90%
Tajikistan ? Muslim 90%
Turkey ? Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates ? Muslim 96%

100% will usher in the peace of ?Dar-es-Salaam? ? the Islamic House of Peace ? there?s (supposed) to be peace because everybody is a Muslim: we know however that this isnt true is it...?

Afghanistan ? Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia ? Muslim 100%
Somalia ? Muslim 100%
Yemen ? Muslim 99.9%

Of course, that?s not the case. To satisfy their religiously ordained blood lust, Muslims then start killing each other for a variety of reasons...and they are coming to a neighborhood near you...so keep thinking they are not going to harm you and they "accept" you.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_apnewsalert

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AP sources: Perry abandoning bid, backing Gingrich

FILE - In this Jan.. 18, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks in Greenville, S.C. AP Source says Texas Gov. Rick Perry abandoning presidential bid. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

FILE - In this Jan.. 18, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks in Greenville, S.C. AP Source says Texas Gov. Rick Perry abandoning presidential bid. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks at the Personhood USA forum in Greenville, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) ? Texas Gov. Rick Perry will abandon his presidential bid and endorse Newt Gingrich, two Republican officials said Thursday, a move coming just two days before the pivotal South Carolina primary as Republican front-runner Mitt Romney struggles to fend off a challenge from the former House speaker.

Perry scheduled a news conference Thursday morning at a hotel in North Charleston to announce his decision.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the announcement.

Adding to the intrigue in the last hours of the South Carolina campaign, a bus emblazoned with Herman Cain's name sat in the hotel parking lot where Perry was to speak. Cain, a tea party favorite, dropped out of the race late last year.

Perry has faced calls in recent days to drop out of the race in hopes of compelling conservative voters, whose support has been divided among several like-minded candidates, to rally behind Gingrich in hopes of stopping Romney.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor considered the more moderate candidate in the race, has benefited thus far from having several conservative challengers competing for the same segment of voters. New polls show Romney leading in South Carolina but Gingrich gaining steam heading into Saturday's contest in a state where conservatives hold great sway in choosing the GOP nominee.

Perry's decision to endorse Gingrich does not necessarily mean conservatives will rally behind the former House speaker. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a champion of the anti-abortion issue, is still in the race and over the weekend was endorsed by a group of evangelical leaders.

And there's no guarantee that the Texas donors who fueled Perry's bid will shift to Gingrich, even if the governor asks them to.

Romney has been working to court them in recent weeks, having made repeated visits to Texas to meet with major Republican donors. He also won the backing of former President George H.W. Bush. Several Perry supporters, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid publicly discussing their next steps before Perry's announcement, said they have been approached by Romney's campaign and will support him as the most-likely candidate to face President Barack Obama in November.

At least three so-called "super" political action committees have sprung up since early 2011 supporting Perry. One, Americans for Rick Perry, raised about $193,000 during the first half of 2011, federal election records show.

But none of the groups has been more prominent than Make Us Great Again, which aired more than $3.3 million worth of ads in Iowa and South Carolina supporting the Texas governor. A spokesman for the group did not immediately return calls from the AP seeking comment about whom, if anyone, the PAC would support after Perry drops out.

Perry entered the race last August to great fanfare and high numbers in polls. But his standing quickly fell after a series of gaffes and other verbal missteps. Those errors called into question whether the Texas politician who had never lost a race during his three-decade career in elected office was ready for the national stage.

His biggest flub came in a nationally televised debate in early November, when he could not remember the name of the third Cabinet department he pledged to eliminate.

Perry could only manage to say, "Oops." Making fun of himself afterward, he told reporters: "I stepped in it."

It was a cringe-inducing moment replayed more than a million times on YouTube. The memory lapse not only solidified Perry's reputation for weak debate performances, it gave the impression that he couldn't articulate his own policies. The stumble further tamped down his already faltering poll numbers.

Perry, 61, was relatively unknown outside of Texas until he succeeded George W. Bush as governor after Bush was elected president in 2000. A former Democrat, Perry had already spent about 15 years in state government when he became governor. He went on to win election to the office three times ? the most recent was in 2010 ? to become the state's longest-serving chief executive.

Part of Perry's appeal came from his humble beginnings as a native of tiny Paint Creek, Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M University and was a pilot in the Air Force before winning election in 1984 to the Texas House of Representatives. He switched to the GOP in 1989, and served as the state's agriculture commissioner before his election as lieutenant governor in 1998.

Perry's success as a politician suggested he would be a strong competitor to Obama. He had never lost a race in Texas, and his fight against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010 showed how tough he could be on a rival.

Perry picked Aug. 13 for his official announcement speech, the same day as the Iowa Straw Poll. While rival Michele Bachmann won that poll, the Texas governor cast a shadow over her victory by challenging her as conservatives' best hope for winning the nomination and defeating Obama.

He entered near the top of some polls. But his support of a Texas policy to allow children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates soon proved to be problematic with conservatives nationwide. So, too, did his 2007 order that would have required schoolgirls in Texas to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus. Although state lawmakers overturned the order, Perry defended the vaccination as necessary to combatting the sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.

His performance on the campaign trail also led to concerns about how his rhetoric would sound to a national audience. During a campaign stop in Iowa in August, he suggested that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would be practically committing treason if he were to print more money and said, "I don't know what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas."

A Perry speech to a New Hampshire audience in October led to a damaging video, during which he appeared unusually animated ? "loopy" to some observers ? a stark contrast to the image of the serious, starchy governor he had projected. Amid questions, Perry later told reporters that he hadn't been drinking or taking medication at the time and called it "a pretty typical speech for me."

More flubs followed. While criticizing the nine-member Supreme Court to a newspaper editorial board, he referred to "eight unelected and frankly unaccountable judges" and struggled to come up with the name of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, then called her "Montemayor." He urged college students in New Hampshire to support his candidacy, "those of you that will be 21" on Election Day, though the voting age is 18.

The widespread criticism of those performances and his rivals' attacks on his immigration and vaccination policies led to a significant drop in support.

___

AP Special Correspondent David Espo in North Charleston and Associated Press writer Chris Tomlinson in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-19-Perry/id-59e613190268484c8f9d410a8bdce9c6

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Longtime Hamas leader Mashaal asks to quit (AP)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip ? Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal has decided not to seek another term, the movement said Saturday, paving the way for a possible leadership contest at a time when the anti-Israeli Islamic group faces far-reaching decisions on whether to stay the course of militancy or moderate.

However, Hamas suggested Mashaal could be asked to stay on, in what would be a boost for his more pragmatic line.

Mashaal could not be reached for comment Saturday, but his decision not to seek another term as head of Hamas' political bureau was confirmed in a Hamas statement. Mashaal, who like other top Hamas leaders is based in Syria, has led the 15-member bureau since 1996, or nearly twice as long as permitted under Hamas rules.

Hamas said Saturday the final decision on Mashaal's future will be left to the 55-member Shura Council, which oversees the political bureau and authorizes key decisions. Mashaal was last reaffirmed in his post in April 2009, and it is not clear if and when the Shura Council would appoint a successor.

Word of Mashaal's decision comes at a time of change in Hamas' relationship with its parent movement, the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood has scored election victories in Egypt and Tunisia following the pro-democracy protests of the Arab Spring over the past year, and has urged Hamas to moderate.

Brotherhood leaders have encouraged Mashaal to pursue reconciliation with Palestinian rival Fatah, led by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and to abandon violence, according to several Hamas figures.

In discussions within Hamas, Mashaal has praised the pragmatism of the Brotherhood and proposed that Hamas take steps toward becoming a strictly political movement, rather than also maintaining a parallel military wing. This would eventually require a decision to halt attacks on Israel, something Hamas has so far avoided.

In recent months, Mashaal has led attempts to reconcile with Fatah, although he has encountered some opposition from senior Hamas activists in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamists since they seized the territory from Abbas in 2007. The Gaza branch of Hamas would likely lose jobs and influence in any reconciliation deal.

Mashaal is to meet with Abbas in Cairo early next month to try to move bumpy reconciliation efforts forward. The rivals had previously agreed to hold general elections in the Palestinian territories in late spring, but smaller gestures, such as mutual prisoner releases, have not yet been carried out, suggesting continued distrust.

Some in Fatah expressed concern Saturday that a Hamas leadership change could put reconciliation on hold.

"Mashaal had a significant role in pursuing reconciliation," said Amin Maqboul, a Fatah negotiator in the talks with Hamas. "We hope that his successor takes the same path, particularly ... since there are some forces in Hamas in Gaza who are not interested in reconciliation."

Raed Naerat, a West Bank-based Hamas expert, said he expects the movement to stay on Mashaal's current course, arguing that his policies have been endorsed by the collective leadership.

Mashaal first told the Hamas leadership at a Shura Council meeting in Sudan last month that he does not plan to seek re-election, according to Hamas insiders who spoke on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

It is unclear whether Mashaal is serious about stepping aside, or hopes to elicit a show of support from the movement by announcing he is not seeking re-election. Under Hamas' internal rules, the head of the political bureau can only serve two terms for a total of eight years, and Mashaal faced severe criticism in the past for staying on past that.

Some said the Arab Spring may be influencing Mashaal's strategy.

"With this step, Mashaal wanted to emphasize that Hamas is a democratic movement, but the final decision will be made by the Shura Council," said Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas figure in Gaza who spoke to Mashaal earlier in the week.

It's not clear if and when Hamas elections would be held. Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Lebanon, said the date of possible internal elections would not be revealed, citing security reasons.

Possible contenders for Hamas' leadership include Mashaal's deputy, Moussa Abu Marzouk, and Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister in Gaza.

In recent months, Mashaal has increasingly adopted a pragmatic tone, though Hamas insists it will not formally renounce violence or recognize Israel ? conditions set by the international community for ending its boycott of the group. In its founding charter, the movement is committed to Israel's destruction and has killed hundreds of Israelis in militant attacks that have included shootings and suicide bombings. Since 2007, the group has ruled the Gaza Strip, a sliver of territory wedged between Egypt's Sinai desert and Israel.

In a December interview with The Associated Press, Mashaal said he wanted to focus on a strategy of holding mass protests against Israel, in the style of Egypt and Tunisia, where citizens successfully overthrew their dictatorships. However, he did not renounce violence.

Hamas leaders in Gaza tend to adopt a harder line, although they have mostly observed a truce with Israel for the past three years. Palestinian militants from other groups have fired rockets at Israel with varying intensity recently, but it has not escalated into larger violence.

Hamas considers all of Israel to be occupied Palestinian land. The Palestinian Authority, led by Abbas, seeks a state alongside Israel in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

Mashaal is originally from the West Bank Palestinian village of Silwad. He survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997 in Jordan.

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Daraghmeh reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Diaa Hadid in Jerusalem, Zeina Karam in Beirut and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed reporting.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians

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