Mimicking a natural defense against malaria to develop new treatments

Dec. 27, 2012 ? One of the world's most devastating diseases is malaria, responsible for at least a million deaths annually, despite global efforts to combat it. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, working with collaborators from Drexel University, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Johns Hopkins University, have identified a protein in human blood platelets that points to a powerful new weapon against the disease.

Their work was published in this months' issue of Cell Host and Microbe.

Malaria is caused by parasitic microorganisms of the Plasmodium genus, which infect red blood cells. Recent research at other universities showed that blood platelets can bind to infected red blood cells and kill the parasite, but the exact mechanism was unclear. The investigators on the Cell Host and Microbe paper hypothesized that it might involve host defense peptides (HDP) secreted by the platelets.

"We eventually found that a single protein secreted when platelets are activated called human platelet factor 4 [hPF4] actually kills parasites that are inside red cells without harming the red cell itself," explains senior author Doron Greenbaum, PhD, assistant professor of Pharmacology, whose team studies innovative ways to fight malaria. The hPF4 targets a specific organelle of the Plasmodium falciparum parasite called the digestive vacuole, which essentially serves as its "stomach" for the digestion of hemoglobin. The investigators found that hPF4 destroys the vacuole with a deadly speed of minutes or even seconds, killing the parasite without affecting the host cell.

While host defense peptides appear to be attractive therapeutic agents, the expense of manufacturing this protein lessens its potential impact on the treatment of malaria. Greenbaum and colleagues set out to discover whether synthetic molecules mimicking the structure of HDPs could have similar beneficial effects against the Plasmodium parasite. After screening approximately 2000 small molecule HDP mimics (smHDPs) developed by biotech company PolyMedix, Inc. of Radnor, PA, Greenbaum and his team found that "all of the best hits had the same mechanism of action against Plasmodium parasites."

Like the natural hPF4 found in platelets, the most effective smHDPs tested targeted only infected red blood cells, attacking and destroying the parasite in exactly the same way, but with even greater potency and speed. "The smHDPs get into infected red cells and lyse or basically destroy the digestive vacuole or stomach of the parasite more rapidly than the hPF4 protein," Greenbaum notes. "The protein from platelets is about 25 times less potent, but the surprising thing is they act with the same mechanism. With ease, within seconds, they destroy the vacuole of the parasite."

Greenbaum's team settled on two compounds, PMX1207 and PMX207, for testing in mouse models of malaria. Both compounds significantly decreased parasitic growth and greatly improved survival rates, providing further confirmation of the potential of smHDPs as antimalarial agents. The work, Greenbaum says, shows that "we can translate a natural arm of the innate immune system in platelets to drug-like small molecules that we are honing to become potent, selective, potentially less toxic, and cheaper to make as an antimalarial."

Aside from their great effectiveness, smHDPs may have several other advantages over other antimalarial therapies. As Plasmodium inevitably adapts and becomes resistant to a particular drug therapy, the efficacy of that treatment decreases and survival rates drop. By mimicking the body's own natural defenses, the new HDP-centered approach could avoid that pitfall. "Certainly with malaria we've had a lot of problems in the last 20 years with resistance," Greenbaum explains. "One of the unique features of the synthetic HDPs is that studies show that pathogens have a difficult time generating resistance to them, because they attack membranes, not proteins. So they might be intrinsically more difficult to become resistant against."

Although Greenbaum's team focused mostly on the chronic red-blood-cell stage of malaria, their HDP-mimic also shows promise against other stages of the disease. "We think that the mimics would be useful as a transmission-blocking therapeutic," Greenbaum says. "In other words, you prevent transmission from human to mosquito and therefore back to human again. We have positive data for those two stages. It's becoming increasingly more important in antimalarial drug development that people think more and more about multistage inhibition."

The next step for Greenbaum's team is to further hone the selectivity and potency of the smHDP compounds, while developing them into drugs that can be orally administered. As Greenbaum explains, practical antimalarials need to be "taken as pills rather than having to be used intravenously, which is not going to be appropriate for treatment in endemic countries, especially in more rural environments."

Co-authors are Melissa S. Love, Melanie G. Millholland, Satish Mishra, Swapnil Kulkarni, Katie B. Freeman, Wenxi Pan, Robert W. Kavash, Michael J. Costanzo, Hyunil Jo, Thomas M. Daly, Dewight R. Williams, M. Anna Kowalska, Lawrence W. Bergman, Mortimer Poncz, William F. DeGrado, Photini Sinnis, and Richard W. Scott.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (R44 AI090762-0; NIHT32GM08076; NIHT32AI007532; R01 AI056840); a Penn TAPITMAT Pilot Program; the Penn Genome Frontiers Institute; and a Gates Grand Challenges Exploration Program.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Journal Reference:

1. Melissa?S. Love, Melanie?G. Millholland, Satish Mishra, Swapnil Kulkarni, Katie?B. Freeman, Wenxi Pan, Robert?W. Kavash, Michael?J. Costanzo, Hyunil Jo, Thomas?M. Daly, Dewight?R. Williams, M.?Anna Kowalska, Lawrence?W. Bergman, Mortimer Poncz, William?F. DeGrado, Photini Sinnis, Richard?W. Scott, Doron?C. Greenbaum. Platelet Factor 4 Activity against P.?falciparum and Its Translation to Nonpeptidic Mimics as Antimalarials. Cell Host & Microbe, 2012; 12 (6): 815 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2012.10.017

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/Az0RV2Wy5vY/121227130208.htm

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Scientists sequence genome of pathogen responsible for pneumocystis pneumonia

Dec. 26, 2012 ? Scientists have sequenced the genome of the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii, an advancement that could help identify new targets for drugs to treat and prevent Pneumocystis pneumonia, a common and often deadly infection in immunocompromised patients. The study will be published on December 26, 2012 in mBio?, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The organism cannot yet be isolated and grown for study in the laboratory, so details about Pneumocystis pneumonia, the biology of P. jirovecii, and its pathogenicity are hard to come by. The genome sequence represents a wealth of new information for doctors and researchers tackling this disease.

Pneumocystis pneumonia is an opportunistic infection that strikes most often in individuals with diminished immune systems. The corresponding author of the study in mBio?, Philippe Hauser of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, in Switzerland, says the disease gained importance in the 1980s.

"Recognized first among malnourished infants, P. jirovecii pneumonia became a public issue with the advent of the HIV epidemic," says Hauser. Today, the disease most commonly affects HIV-infected persons who are unaware of their status as well as solid organ transplant recipients and patients with hemato-oncologic or autoimmune diseases. Since the organism cannot be grown in the lab for study, researchers have long made do with studying P. jirovecii's lab-friendly relatives, species that infect animals and plants, in order to explore the secrets of the human disease.

"It is obviously better to study [P. jirovecii's] genes rather that those of Pneumocystis species from animal models. The genome has both medical and evolutionary interests for the scientific community," says Hauser.

Under normal circumstances, scientists sequencing the genome of a microorganism simply extract DNA from thick cultures of cells they grow in the lab. Since they were unable to grow P. jirovecii cells for their genomic DNA, Hauser and his colleagues took a different approach. They took a sample of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from an individual infected with Pneumocystis pneumonia, then concentrated the P. jirovecii cells using immuno-precipitation and created copies of the DNA in the sample using a technique called random DNA amplification. This mixture of DNA strands, from P. jirovecii, human, and other microbes from the lungs of the infected patient, was then sequenced using high throughput technologies.

According to Hauser and his colleagues, the fact that the sequence data represented DNA from many different species created the biggest challenge they faced. "The major challenge of the study was the in silico sorting of the reads out of a mixture representing the human host and different organisms present in the lung microbiome," he says. This challenge was met through a collaboration with Marco Pagni of the Vital-IT group of the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, who provided indispensable expertise and infrastructure.

Once the sorting task was accomplished, the researchers assembled the sequences into a genome and attempted to identify the functions of P. jirovecii's genes. This is the first time scientists have assembled the genome of a fungus from a mixed pool of DNA from a single source, often called a metagenome. Their analyses reveal a surprising fact: P. jirovecii is a parasite that must live within the human body to survive.

P. jirovecii lacks the genes necessary for creating some of the essential ingredients of life, a hallmark of obligate parasites, organisms that must rely on another creature for sustenance. "It implies that they need their host to provide these molecules. Thus, this has been quite an important finding which implied that human beings represent the reservoir of this pathogen," says Hauser. This is useful information, since it means that people are the only significant source of the organism and that both infected people and healthy carriers represent the only control points for limiting the spread of the disease.

The genome also shows that P. jirovecii apparently lacks the ability to make toxins and virulence factors, molecules that enable a microbe to invade and take advantage of its host. This makes sense, since P. jirovecii does not cause disease in healthy people, but only runs out of control when it is not confronted with an immune response.

In the study of infectious disease, access to the genome of a pathogen provides new information that can be pivotal in combating the diseases is causes. The hope is that the genome of P. jirovecii will lead to new advances in therapies for those suffering from Pneumocystis pneumonia. The current drugs of choice for treating Pneumocystis pneumonia are antifolates, but certain isolates of P. jirovecii have already developed resistance to antifolates, an ability that is very likely to spread. Now that the genome of P. jirovecii is assembled and available to researchers all over the world, scientists can tease out clues about the organism that will help identify targets for some badly needed new drugs.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/_LiDeWUJJr4/121226080900.htm

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Central African Republic appeals for French help against rebels, Paris balks

BANGUI (Reuters) - The president of the Central African Republic appealed on Thursday for France and the United States to help push back rebels threatening his government and the capital, but Paris said its troops were only ready to protect French nationals.

The exchanges came as regional African leaders tried to broker a ceasefire deal and as rebels said they had temporarily halted their advance on Bangui, the capital, to allow talks to take place.

Insurgents on motorbikes and in pickup trucks have driven to within 75 km (45 miles) of Bangui after weeks of fighting, threatening to end President Francois Bozize's nearly 10-year-stint in charge of the turbulent, resource-rich country.

French nuclear energy group Areva mines the Bakouma uranium deposit in the CAR's south - France's biggest commercial interest in its former colony.

The rebel advance has highlighted the instability of a country that has remained poor since independence from Paris in 1960 despite rich deposits of uranium, gold and diamonds. Average income is barely over $2 a day.

Bozize on Thursday appealed for French and U.S. military support to stop the SELEKA rebel coalition, which has promised to overthrow him unless he implements a previous peace deal in full.

He told a crowd of anti-rebel protesters in the riverside capital that he had asked Paris and Washington to help move the rebels away from the capital to clear the way for peace talks which regional leaders say could be held soon in Libreville, Gabon.

"We are asking our cousins the French and the United States, which are major powers, to help us push back the rebels to their initial positions in a way that will permit talks in Libreville to resolve this crisis," Bozize said.

France has 250 soldiers in its landlocked former colony as part of a peacekeeping mission and Paris in the past has ousted or propped up governments - including by using air strikes to defend Bozize against rebels in 2006.

But French President Francois Hollande poured cold water on the latest request for help.

"If we have a presence, it's not to protect a regime, it's to protect our nationals and our interests and in no way to intervene in the internal business of a country, in this case the Central African Republic," Hollande said on the sidelines of a visit to a wholesale food market outside Paris.

"Those days are over," he said.

Some 1,200 French nationals live in the CAR, mostly in the capital, according to the French Foreign Ministry, where they typically work for mining firms or aid groups.

CEASEFIRE TALKS

Officials from around central Africa are due to meet in Bangui later on Thursday to open initial talks with the government and rebels.

A rebel spokesman said fighters had temporarily halted their advance to allow dialogue.

"We will not enter Bangui," Colonel Djouma Narkoyo, the rebel spokesman, told Reuters by telephone.

Previous rebel promises to stop advancing have been broken, and a diplomatic source said rebels had taken up positions around Bangui on Thursday, effectively surrounding it.

The atmosphere remained tense in Bangui the day after anti-rebel protests broke out, and residents were stocking up on food and water.

Government soldiers deployed at strategic sites and French troops reinforced security at the French embassy after protesters threw rocks at the building on Wednesday.

In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry said protecting foreigners and embassies was the responsibility of the CAR authorities.

"This message will once again be stressed to the CAR's charge d'affaires in Paris, who has been summoned this afternoon," a ministry spokesman said.

He also said France condemned the rebels for pursuing hostilities and urged all sides to commit to talks.

Bozize came to power in a 2003 rebellion that overthrew President Ange-Felix Patasse.

However, France is increasingly reluctant to directly intervene in conflicts in its former colonies. Since coming to power in May, Hollande has promised to end its shadowy relations with former colonies and put ties on a healthier footing.

A military source and an aid worker said the rebels had got as far as Damara, 75 km (47 miles) from Bangui, by late afternoon on Wednesday, having skirted Sibut, where some 150 Chadian soldiers had earlier been deployed to try and block a push south by a rebel coalition.

With a government that holds little sway outside the capital, some parts of the country have long endured the consequences of conflicts in troubled neighbors Chad, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo spilling over.

The Central African Republic is one of a number of nations in the region where U.S. Special Forces are helping local forces try to track down the Lords Resistance Army, a rebel group responsible for killing thousands of civilians across four African nations.

(Additional reporting by Leigh Thomas; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-troops-protect-nationals-not-car-government-hollande-095315934.html

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Lakers beat Knicks 100-94 to get to .500

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The pieces of the puzzle that have been the Lakers' confounding season so far are starting to fall into place.

Kobe Bryant engineered a second-half comeback, the defense stepped up, and Los Angeles beat the New York Knicks 100-94 on Tuesday, extending its winning streak to five games.

"We're .500," a smiling Dwight Howard said. "We did it on Christmas, too. I knew this day would come."

Bryant scored 34 points in his NBA-record 15th Christmas Day game and Metta World Peace added 20 points and seven rebounds while defending Carmelo Anthony, whose 34 points led the Knicks. Anthony said he hyperextended his left knee, but expects to play on Wednesday in Phoenix.

Bryant, the league's leading scorer, has topped 30 or more points in nine straight games.

"If you're going to play on Christmas, it's always better to win. Makes it all worthwhile," said Bryant, who would soon hop a flight to Denver, getting there ahead of the Nuggets, who played the Clippers in the other half of the holiday doubleheader at Staples Center.

The Lakers improved to 14-14 ? 9-9 under new coach Mike D'Antoni ? and upped their holiday record to 21-18, including 13-9 at home. They returned to .500 for the first time since they were 8-8 on Nov. 30.

"It's so early in the season to have turned a corner," Bryant said. "We have everybody in the lineup and we're starting to see how we want to play."

The Knicks controlled most of the game behind Anthony and J.R. Smith, who had 24 points. But they struggled offensively in the fourth, when Anthony was limited to seven points and Smith had five as the Lakers' defense clamped down. World Peace fouled out with 1:58 to play and the Lakers ahead by four.

World Peace credited his defense on Anthony to "old-school basketball."

"I'm back in shape and it's a little tough to guard me," he said.

Steve Nash said: "This is what he's been doing all year. He gets his hands on a lot of balls, pounds on the other team's best guy. You can't win without that type of effort."

Smith's 3-pointer pulled New York to 96-94. After Pau Gasol made one of two free throws, Smith missed another 3 that would have tied the game at 97 with 32 seconds left.

"We missed a lot of easy shots, a lot of little chippers around the basket, shots that we normally make," Anthony said. "There were some plays that we thought should have went our way down the stretch, but for the most part, we fought. I'll take this effort any night. If we continue to play with this effort, we'll win a lot of games."

With Bryant double-teamed, Nash passed to Gasol, who dunked with 12 seconds to go, punctuating a win that sent Lakers fans, frustrated by the team's struggles and coaching change, home happy. The Lakers avenged a 116-107 loss in New York on Dec. 13.

A smiling Howard called Gasol's driving slam "a submarine dunk because he was very low to the ground."

Gasol responded, "I don't dunk as often as I used to so it felt good. I took it right down the lane and finished strong."

Nash had 16 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in his second game in nearly two months. He missed 24 straight games while recovering from a small fracture in his lower left leg. Howard had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Gasol had 13 points and eight rebounds.

"It was an important win for us as we were a little bit desperate," Nash said. "We've gone through a lot since Mike Brown ? new coach, new offense. It's been a difficult transition."

Bryant had eight of the Lakers' first 10 points to open the fourth during a run that provided their first lead since the opening quarter in a game matching the two teams that have played the most on Christmas Day.

They took the lead for good on Bryant's basket with 7:38 remaining. Anthony and Tyson Chandler were in foul trouble in the fourth, with Chandler fouling out late.

"They just were a little bit more aggressive," Anthony said. "Kobe got it going and Steve Nash hit some big shots down the stretch. When you have a guy like Nash doing that, it's kind of tough. Those guys know how to play. They've been waiting for Steve Nash to get back, so it's just a matter of then sticking it out until he did."

The Knicks opened the third on a 15-5 run, with Anthony setting up on the perimeter and hitting two 3-pointers as part of his 10 points that stretched their lead to 61-53. His jumper provided the Knicks' largest lead of the game, 69-60.

Bryant and Nash ignited the quiet atmosphere by leading a 17-9 run that drew the Lakers to 78-77 going into the fourth. They combined to score 15 points, although Bryant missed two free throws to end the third that would have given the Lakers their first lead since early in the game.

The Knicks' earlier roll dissolved in missed shots and a technical on Chandler for arguing a call.

"We were more determined, fought for everything," Nash said about the second half.

World Peace scored 16 points in the second quarter, including eight in a row, when the Lakers played catch-up most of the way. His 3-pointer gave the Lakers their first lead of the period with 1:10 remaining. Smith tied it up with a free throw before Nash's jumper sent the Lakers into halftime leading 51-49.

"We're playing really well together," World Peace said. "Kobe is really playing excellent now. He's still being aggressive on the offensive end, but he's giving everybody a chance to be aggressive. Pau is making strong, aggressive moves."

Bryant scored the Lakers' final nine points of the first quarter to give them a 25-23 lead. D'Antoni's plan of having Darius Morris guard Anthony didn't last long after he scored five of the Knicks' first seven points.

"I thought he'd get warmed up before he started firing," World Peace said.

NOTES: Bryant surpassed Oscar Robertson as the league's all-time Christmas Day scorer with 383 points. Robertson had 377. ... Knicks F/C Amare Stoudemire shot some before the game. He's been out all season after left knee surgery. "I'm not quite there yet, but I'm making progress," he said. "I've just got to stay patient and stay ready. We've been doing extremely intense work, as far as cardio." ... Knicks C Marcus Camby had four points and four rebounds in 8 minutes. He's been sidelined by a sore left foot and barely played this season. ... Asked about Bryant as an MVP candidate, D'Antoni said, "You can't put anybody MVP if you're below .500." ... In their only other Christmas Day meeting in 1963, the Lakers beat the Knicks 134-126 behind 47 points by Jerry West and 27 from Elgin Baylor. ... Nash said the gift bags in their lockers with the tag, "From Kobe Merry Xmas 2012" contained headphones. "Can't ever have enough," he said. ... The Lakers were all in white, while the Knicks were all in orange down to their socks in a color similar to Syracuse. ... Among the celebs holidaying at Staples Center were Rihanna and Chris Brown, Adam Levine, Samuel L. Jackson, George Lopez and Richard Lewis. Vanessa Bryant and her two young daughters sat courtside opposite the Lakers bench.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lakers-beat-knicks-100-94-500-230327781--spt.html

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New turmoil hits Egypt's tourism

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 file photo, Tourists ride in horse carriages past one of the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt. The past month saw a drop in tourists to Egypt, scared off by scenes of protests and clashes over the constitution, in new pain to a crucial industry gutted the past two years by turmoil. Tourism workers worry things won?t get any better even now that the charter has been passed: Egypt?s power struggles threaten to erupt into more unrest at any time, and some fear Islamists will eventually try to rein in alcohol and beach tourism. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 file photo, Tourists ride in horse carriages past one of the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt. The past month saw a drop in tourists to Egypt, scared off by scenes of protests and clashes over the constitution, in new pain to a crucial industry gutted the past two years by turmoil. Tourism workers worry things won?t get any better even now that the charter has been passed: Egypt?s power struggles threaten to erupt into more unrest at any time, and some fear Islamists will eventually try to rein in alcohol and beach tourism. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 file photo, a tourist uses a hand fan, inside the tomb that belongs to Queen Meresankh III at the historical site of the Giza Pyramids, near Cairo, Egypt. he past month saw a drop in tourists to Egypt, scared off by scenes of protests and clashes over the constitution, in new pain to a crucial industry gutted the past two years by turmoil. Tourism workers worry things won?t get any better even now that the charter has been passed: Egypt?s power struggles threaten to erupt into more unrest at any time, and some fear Islamists will eventually try to rein in alcohol and beach tourism. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)

FILE - In this file Friday, Nov. 23, 2012 photo, A tourist visits the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt. he past month saw a drop in tourists to Egypt, scared off by scenes of protests and clashes over the constitution, in new pain to a crucial industry gutted the past two years by turmoil. Tourism workers worry things won?t get any better even now that the charter has been passed: Egypt?s power struggles threaten to erupt into more unrest at any time, and some fear Islamists will eventually try to rein in alcohol and beach tourism. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 file photo, foreign tourists visit the historical site of the Giza Pyramids, near Cairo, Egypt. The past month saw a drop in tourists to Egypt, scared off by scenes of protests and clashes over the constitution, in new pain to a crucial industry gutted the past two years by turmoil. Tourism workers worry things won?t get any better even now that the charter has been passed: Egypt?s power struggles threaten to erupt into more unrest at any time, and some fear Islamists will eventually try to rein in alcohol and beach tourism. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

In this Monday, Nov. 5, 2012 photo, Egypt's minister of Antiquities Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim pauses during an interview with the Associated Press in Cairo, Egypt. The past month saw a drop in tourists to Egypt, scared off by scenes of protests and clashes over the constitution, in new pain to a crucial industry gutted the past two years by turmoil. Tourism workers worry things won?t get any better even now that the charter has been passed: Egypt?s power struggles threaten to erupt into more unrest at any time, and some fear Islamists will eventually try to rein in alcohol and beach tourism. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

CAIRO (AP) ? At Egypt's Pyramids, the desperation of vendors to sell can be a little frightening for some tourists.

Young men descend on any car with foreigners in it blocks before it reaches the more than 4,500 year-old Wonder of the World. They bang on car doors and hoods, some waving the sticks and whips they use for driving camels, demanding the tourists come to their shop or ride their camel or just give money.

In the southern city of Aswan, tour operator Ashraf Ibrahim was recently taking a group to a historic mosque when a mob of angry horse carriage drivers trapped them inside, trying to force them to take rides. The drivers told Ibrahim to steer business their way in the future or else they'd burn his tourist buses, he said.

Egypt's touts have always been aggressive ? but they're more desperate than ever after nearly two years of devastation in the tourism industry, a pillar of the economy.

December, traditionally the start of Egypt's peak season, has brought new pain. Many foreigners stayed away because of the televised scenes of protests and clashes on the streets of Cairo in the battle over a controversial constitution.

Arrivals this month were down 40 percent from November, according to airport officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Tourism workers have little hope that things will get better now that the constitution came into effect this week after a nationwide referendum. The power struggle between Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the opposition threatens to erupt at any time into more unrest in the streets.

More long term, many in the industry worry ruling Islamists will start making changes like banning alcohol or swimsuits on beaches that they fear will drive tourists away.

"Nobody can plan anything because one day you find that everything might be OK and another that everything is lost. You can't even take a right decision or plan for the next month," said Magda Fawzi, head of Sabena Management.

She's thinking of shutting down her company, which runs two hotels in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh and four luxury cruise boats on the Nile between the ancient cities of Luxor and Aswan. In one hotel, only 10 of 300 rooms are booked, and only one of her ships is operating, she said. She has already downsized from 850 employees before the revolution to 500.

"I don't think there will be any stability with this kind of constitution. People will not accept it," she said.

Tourism, one of Egypt's biggest foreign currency earners, was gutted by the turmoil of last year's 18-day uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Scared off by the upheaval, the number of tourists fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 percent to $8.8 billion.

This year, the industry struggled back. By the end of September, 8.1 million tourists had come, injecting $10 billion into the economy. The number for the full year is likely to surpass 2011 but is still considerably down from 2010.

For the public, it has meant a drying up of income, given that tourism provided direct or indirect employment to one in eight Egyptians in 2010, according to government figures.

Poverty swelled at the country's fastest rate in Luxor province, highly dependent on visitors to its monumental temples and the tombs of King Tutankamun and other pharaohs. In 2011, 39 percent of its population lived on less than $1 a day, compared to 18 percent in 2009, according to government figures.

For the government, the fall in tourism and foreign investment since the revolution has worsened a debt crisis and forced talks with the International Monetary Fund over a $4.8 billion loan.

Morsi has promised to expand tourism, but hotel owners and tour operators say he has yet to make clear any plans.

Their biggest fear is new violence causing shocks like December's. Ibrahim, of the Eagle Travels tourism company, said that because of this month's protests, two German operators he works with cancelled tours. They weren't even heading to Cairo, but to the Red Sea, Luxor and Aswan, far from the unrest.

But some in the industry fear that, with the constitution's provisions strengthening implementation of Shariah, Islamists will ban alcohol or restrict dress on Egypt's beaches, which rival antiquities sites as draws for tourism. Officials from the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, are vague about any plans.

Ultraconservative Salafis, who are key allies of Morsi, have been more direct.

Nader Bakkar, spokesman for the Salafi Nour Party, told a conference of tour guides in Aswan earlier this month that tourists should not be allowed to buy alcohol but could bring it with them and drink it in their rooms. Tourists should also be encouraged to wear conservative dress, he said.

"We welcome all tourists but we tell them ... there are traditions and beliefs in the country, so respect them," he said. "Most tourists will have no problem if you tell them" to bring their own alcohol.

One Salafi sheik earlier this year said the Pyramids and Sphinx should be demolished as anti-Islamic ? like Afghanistan's then-Taliban rulers destroyed monumental Buddha statues in 2001. Bakkar dismissed the comments as the opinion of one cleric.

But tour guide Gladys Haddad sees the Salafis' attitude as a threat, saying the constitution should have said more to protect Egypt's pharaonic heritage. "We are talking about a civilization that they do not acknowledge. They see it as idolatrous."

"Why would a tourist come to a resort if he can't drink?" said Fawzi, of Sabena Management. "People are coming for tours and monuments, and to relax on the boats. If they feel that restriction, why should they come?"

Nahla Mofied of Escapade Travels said the Islamists might restrict what tourists can "wear and do" but, given its importance to the economy, "they may not destroy tourism fully."

Complicating attempts to draw tourists back is the lawlessness gripping Egypt the past two years. With police supervision low, tourist touts increasingly assault guides and even tourists to demand business. In September, 150 tour guides held a protest against attacks by vendors.

"We have struggled with this problem since before the revolution, but now the situation is completely out of control," Ibrahim said.

At the Giza Pyramids, police seem indifferent to the touts. Camel-riding police even join in, pushing tourists to take rides.

Gomaa al-Gabri, an antiquities employee, was infuriated at the sight, shouting, "You sons of dogs" and a slew of other insults at a policeman trying to get money off a tourist.

"They're trying to take away my income," said the father of 11. "In Mubarak's time we wouldn't dare talk to them like this. Now I can hit him with a shoe on his head and he can't speak."

For some tourists at the Pyramids, the chaos is part of the experience.

"I just love it," British tourist Brian Wilson said. "You can't blame people wanting to make money."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-26-Egypt-Tourism%20Woes/id-7dc3bfe54133485f900772684671ee8c

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Israel to build 942 more homes in east Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel has advanced the process of building 942 more settler homes in east Jerusalem under a new fast-track plan to tighten its grip on the territory, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state.

A government planning committee on Monday moved the project to the advanced stage of asking contractors to submit bids to build them, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday. Once a bid is awarded, construction can begin on the project in the Gilo area, though it can take months, if not longer, to reach that point.

An additional 300 units can be built after further planning, said attorney Daniel Seidemann, an expert on Jerusalem construction who sees the building as an obstacle to peacemaking. About 40,000 Israelis live in Gilo.

"With God's help, we will continue to live and build in Jerusalem, which will remain united under Israeli sovereignty," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the campaign launch event of his Likud Party. "We will continue to strengthen the settlements." Israeli elections are set for Jan. 22.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the new Israeli announcement was a "red line" that would block the chance for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which a Palestinian state would be established alongside Israel.

"The Palestinian Authority will take all the possible means available to respond to this," said Abu Rdeneh. The statement was posted on the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The newly-approved homes are among more than 5,000 new settler homes in east Jerusalem that Israel pressed ahead over the past week. Palestinians do not recognize Israel's 1967 annexation of the territory and say any Israeli construction there undermines their claims to it. The international community has not recognized Israel's 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a settlement construction push to punish the Palestinians after the United Nations recognized a de facto Palestinian state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip last month. Israel says the Palestinians can achieve a state only through negotiations with the Israeli government, and regards the U.N. bid as a maneuver to sidestep talks.

The Palestinians have said they hope the upgraded status will allow them to return to the negotiating table with a stronger hand. Talks stalled four years ago, primarily over settlement construction.

The construction push in east Jerusalem has drawn international condemnation, as have plans to build thousands of more settler homes in the adjacent West Bank.

Israel captured both areas and Gaza in 1967.

It withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005, but blocks most access to the territory and retains control over the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Also Tuesday, the Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas announced that Palestinian journalists there have been banned from working for Israeli media outlets.

The official statement from the Hamas Cabinet called Israeli outlets "hostile entity media institutions."

Israeli media have no permanent correspondents in the Gaza Strip, but Israeli TV channels and newspapers often employ local Palestinian journalists as stringers. The Gaza journalists do not generally identify themselves to others as working for Israeli outlets because of a taboo against cooperating with Israel.

Israel bans Israeli journalists from entering the Gaza Strip, saying their presence in Gaza would pose a risk to their security.

____

Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-build-942-more-homes-east-jerusalem-114800175.html

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India, Pakistan Cricket: Bitter Rivals Face Off In Bangalore In First Bilateral Series Since 2007

BANGALORE, India ? Four years after Pakistani gunmen laid siege to India's financial capital of Mumbai, South Asia's bitter rivals were meeting again on the cricket ground, marking a gradual thaw in their decades-old rivalry.

The first bilateral series between India and Pakistan since November 2007, comprising two Twenty20 matches and three one-day internationals, began Christmas Day with a Twenty20 match in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Pakistan won the match with five wickets to spare after India's batting collapsed at 133 for nine.

Thousands of cricket fans began lining up outside Bangalore's massive Chinnaswamy Stadium nearly five hours before the match was to begin.

"This match is like no other. There's a special thrill to a match where India faces Pakistan," said Ravinder Singh, his loyalties evident from the Indian flag colors painted on his cheeks.

"I'm telling my friends it will be worth the wait," said Singh, a college student, as he stood in a slow-moving line outside the stadium. Some of his friends were in the sky blue shirts of the Indian team.

Security was tight with thousands of paramilitary soldiers and police outside the stadium. Groups of police carried out body searches before allowing fans into the stadium after they had gone through metal detectors.

Unflustered by the tight security, cricket fans carried flags and pro-India banners while a few sported colorful wigs and face-paint.

Analysts see the cricket series as a sign the two sides are ready to move past the bitterness that followed the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, when 10 Pakistan-based gunmen killed 166 people in a three-day rampage across the city.

India blamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group for the attacks and demanded that Islamabad crack down on terrorism.

Despite a long history of mutual distrust and animosity, the love of cricket ? bequeathed to India and Pakistan by South Asia's British colonial rulers ? is one of the few things the countries agree upon.

Relations have improved since the Mumbai attacks and diplomatic ties have been renewed, but New Delhi remains unsatisfied with the slow pace of Islamabad's efforts to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice.

New Delhi froze nearly all contact with Islamabad ? including sporting ties ? after the Mumbai attacks, a hiatus that has been bridged in recent years by India and Pakistan playing matches in third countries or in international meets such as the World Cup.

In the years since the Mumbai attacks, some efforts have been made to bring bilateral relations out of the deep freeze. Direct trade has been increasing steadily as both countries make efforts to increase trade across their land border.

At the Wagah-Attari land border in Punjab, India has opened a huge customs depot and warehouses that can handle more than 600 trucks a day from Pakistan. Two-way trade direct between India and Pakistan totals around $2 billion, but a large chunk of the trade is channeled through Dubai, Hong Kong or Singapore.

Earlier this month, India and Pakistan signed an agreement that makes it easier for business travelers to get visas. People aged over 65 also will be entitled to get visas on arrival. Members of families divided during Britain's partition of the subcontinent, along with tourists and religious pilgrims, are also supposed to get quick visas.

"When Indians enter Pakistan and when Pakistanis enter India, they should feel like they are coming home," Rehman Malik, Pakistan's interior minister, said in New Delhi two weeks ago when the visa agreement was signed. India has issued more than 3,000 visas to Pakistanis for the cricket matches.

But analysts caution that policy makers in India should not get carried away by the friendly neighbor rhetoric.

"All forms of people-to-people contact, including sports, are important and should be pursued, but never at the cost of our main focus, which is terrorism emanating from Pakistan," said Vivek Katju, a retired diplomat who has served in Pakistan and was India's ambassador in Afghanistan.

Across the border, Pakistani analysts feel that while the resumption of sporting contact is welcome, the two can make real progress only when they succeed in resolving their long-standing disputes.

Rasool Bakhsh Rais, a professor of political science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan, said sports could be a "major avenue through which hostilities between the two nations could be set aside."

The expectations riding on cricket players are huge before any match, but especially when they play against their great rivals. So great are the pressures, a sports psychologist is accompanying the Pakistani team during its stint in India, Pakistani cricket officials said.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/25/india-pakistan-cricket-rivalry-bilateral_n_2363148.html

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Speed reading apps for android ? Tjen Wellens ? pygytafac ...

23 Dec

I installed some speed reading apps and tested them. I?ve so far notices a few ?categories? or groups of equals:

• One kind exists mostly from showing a text word by word in the middle of the screen. Showing each word a very short time and so you can read at a high wpm because you never need to move your eyes.
• Another kind is merely a speed reading article disguised as app.
• Another kind is no speed reading app but just a reading app with a fancy name.
• Yet another kind is training in the form of news/actually.
• And the last kind is a training app, not for your own stuff but purely for training.

I only tested them quickly and unions talked the non-interesting. But they aren?t quite what I?m looking for. Maybe I should write one myself for training and guided reading.

This entry was posted in Other and tagged Android, Self Improvement, Speed Reading. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://www.tjenwellens.eu/other/speed-reading-apps-for-android/

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Google vs. Microsoft: Santa-tracking systems go out of sync

8 hrs.

Alan Boyle , NBC News

Not even Santa Claus can avoid getting drawn into the tech clash between Google and Microsoft: The two companies have set up separate online systems to track where the Jolly Old Elf has been on Christmas Eve?? but they show him simultaneously at widely separated locations, delivering presents at a dramatically different rate.

On the official "NORAD Tracks Santa" website, powered this year by Microsoft, Santa Claus was in Rome, well past the 3-billion-present mark in his holiday rounds. At the same time, Google's Santa Tracker showed him buzzing through Agadez in the African country of Niger, not quite up to the 1-billion-present mark.

They can't both be right. Can they? Here's the word from Search?Engine?Land's Danny Sullivan, who has been tracking the discrepancy in this year's?Santa-tracking software:

"NORAD explains that it uses everything from radar to jets to track Santa. Google doesn?t explain its technology, but I suspect it tries to triangulate Santa using his cell phone signal or use of wifi hotspots.

"As for why NORAD shows Father Christmas delivering three?times the number of gifts that Google is listing, perhaps NORAD?s radars can better pinpoint presents while Google might be doing estimating.?Meanwhile? both services sometimes show presents being delivered over oceans! And why is NORAD showing Santa arriving in some places at 9pm rather than midnight, as has been the case in the past?"

Maybe this is just the sort of thing that happens when you switch software: NORAD (also known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command) has been monitoring Santa's flight as a public service since 1955, and five years ago, it teamed up with Google to keep up with the crush of Web traffic. This year, however, the NORAD Santa operation parted ways with Google and partnered with Microsoft instead.

Google stayed in the Santa game by setting up its own tracking system for "Santa's Dashboard" and Google Maps?? a system that doesn't make use of NORAD's tracking data.

Today, Canadian Maj. Gen. Andre Viens, a spokesman for NORAD, declined to intervene in the Santa-tracking war.

"It's not affecting our tracking," Viens told MSNBC. "We're not in competition with anyone. Our role, and we've been doing that for more than?50 years, is to track Santa and make sure that he has a safe and secure journey throughout the world, and throughout North America in particular."

TODAY:?Follow Santa's Christmas Eve flight

PhotoBlog: Inside NORAD's command center

Maybe it shouldn't be surprising to find?that it's so difficult to get a firm fix on Santa's position, considering how many presents he has to deliver in so little time. Some experts have speculated that the only way Santa could ?deliver gifts (or lumps of coal) to billions of homes in the course of just a few hours would be if he somehow harnessed quantum teleportation. And once you accept that, it's not that big of a leap to detect Santa in two places at once.

Alan Boyle is the science editor for NBC News Digital, and has been tracking NORAD's Santa tracker since 1998.?Boyle's usual online?hangout is over at Cosmic Log.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/google-vs-microsoft-santa-tracking-systems-go-out-sync-1C7657754

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Video: Maria's Observation: Payroll Pain

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50290418/

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Yeehaa, you're a member! - Society for News Design Scandinavia

The editors? column from SNDS Magazine issue 4, 2012.

If you read this, chances are that you are a member of SNDS ? Society for News Design Scandinavia.*

Receiving this magazine four times a year is part of what you get for your membership fee. Another thing is the book with all the winners in the Best of Scandinavian News Design competition ? which, if you didn?t pick it up at the Space seminar in Copenhagen, should have been sent to you by now.

But these are just the physical objects ? there are several other valuable advantages to being a member.

The annual seminar is your chance to meet colleagues, get introductions to new clients or find the consultant you just need to finish your project ? or to get inspiration from great speakers from the news design business.

And with SNDS being part of the much larger SND membership actually gives you access to a truely global network, with easy access to contacts in Europe, Saudi-Arabia, the United States, Russia, China, and many more!

The election of members of the SNDS board takes place at the General Assembly at the annual seminar. As a member you are invited to the General Assembly, and if you are a paying par?ticipant at the seminar, you are a member! Now, that?s really smart. Unfortunately not many people actually show up at the general assemblies.

What we?re trying to say is ? the SNDS board members are here for you, just waiting to hear what you expect from the society and what you would like the society to do for you. Would you like to see more events, organized by SNDS? Should we initiate quick courses in Photoshop, or short visits to media houses in your local area? Or something else? You tell us.

Another possibility for you is to show off a bit ? or at least show your work to the world. SNDS Magazine would love to see more contributions from members ? articles, photo reportages, graphic tips and tricks ? anything, really, as long as it?s related to news design or visual journalism. So don?t hesitate to send a quick email if you have stuff you want to share in glossy print ? and/or on the SNDS website.

In this issue
This issue reflects the global view on working with news media. We are very proud to have Petri Salm?n?s tale of his two months of working in the German magazine Stern ? a long way from his usual work at Helsingin Sanomat, both in terms of kilometres and in the working routines of the publication. Read his report on page 16-19.

The Swedish former SND and SNDS President Sven?ke Bostr?m has looked into the recently published results of Poynter Institute?s iPad eyetrack research (p. 20-21); another former SNDS President Ole Munk (DK) reviews the recently redesigned iconographic USA Today ? which has a new look in both print and online (p. 26-28).

Our present President Anders Tapola wonders (in his column on the back page) how news companies will manage to get paid for their journalism in the future ? and we look at the different kinds of paywalls that the newspapers are building for their online content at the moment (p. 4).

The rest of the mag is more or less devoted to winners and workshops. There is exciting news about the rules of the Scandinavian competition (p. 8-9); we have a Norwegian local newspaper, Bygdanytt, which is now the best in Europe (p. 6); and we have been to both Cleveland (p. 22-25) and Copenhagen (p. 10-15) to attend the workshops of SND and SNDS ? and bring you a few photos from the events.

Next year?s SNDS seminar and workshop will again be in Copenhagen, in October. If you have any ideas or suggestions to the program, please send an email to Kristoffer Nilsen, who is the chairman of the program committee. His email is kristoffer@saftogvann.com

We hope you will enjoy this magazine, have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you in 2013!

Lisbeth Tolstrup
& Lars Pryds
Editors, SNDS Magazine

* If you?re not a member of SNDS, contact Lone J?rgensen to sign up! Lone?s contact info is on page 2 ? or on snds.org/member

See also ? full magazine: SNDS Magazine 4, 2012

Source: http://snds.org/yeehaa-youre-a-member/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=yeehaa-youre-a-member

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Old School or New Cool? Winter Tech for Every Taste

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Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/old-school-or-new-cool-winter-tech-for-every-taste?src=rss

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Life after Sandy: Breezy Point demolitions begin

David Friedman / NBC News

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversees the demolition on Saturday of a home in Breezy Point, N.Y. The house floated off its foundation during Superstorm Sandy and came to rest in the middle of Beach 215th Street.

By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News

BREEZY POINT, N.Y. -- The bulldozing of homes ruined by Superstorm Sandy has begun in this seaside enclave, but residents are only beginning to come to terms with the costly and complicated process of rebuilding.

Neatly dividing what was from what will be, an excavator on Saturday methodically tore down the first badly-damaged Breezy Point home -- a one-story, white home that floated between 150 and 200 feet into the middle of Beach 215^th Street during the Oct. 29 storm, apparently stopping only when it slid up against a light pole.

While the beginning of demolitions is an important milestone on the road to rebuilding, it left resident Tom Ryan, 64, a neighbor of the homeowner, feeling melancholy.

?It?s a sad day for Breezy Point, but it?s been a lot of sad days lately for Breezy Point, a lot of sad days,? he said as he walked away from the detritus of the home. ?Sixty-one years (here) all year round, and I?ve never seen anything like this.?

What Ryan has been seeing is a period of uncertainty in Breezy Point, a private cooperative founded more than a century ago by Irish immigrants. Sandy?s flooding is believed to have triggered a devastating fire that burned down 111 homes in one of the older areas,? known as ?The Wedge.? And the storm surge damaged more than 2,000 other residences, some of which also are not salvageable and are now about to be removed.

Overall, the storm destroyed 200 buildings and left another 200 unsafe for habitation in the New York City boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, Department of Buildings spokesman Tony Sclafani said Friday. Many of those structures, which are tagged by ?red cards,? will ultimately be demolished in the coming months, he said.?

Buildings blocking public rights of the way are the first structures being cleared in New York City, an operation being run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The removal of these roaming residences will soon be followed by the demolition of the badly damaged structures on private property, a process that the city will oversee.?

(Coastal communities in New Jersey are going through a similar procedure, though the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs cannot say how many building have been slated for demolition. Gov. Chris Christie has said that more than 22,000 homes were rendered uninhabitable by the storm.)?

Like other storm victims, residents of Breezy Point focused on salvaging possessions and cleaning up in the first days after Sandy hit. But some soon learned that they might not be able to save their homes, including many bungalows dating back decades when the area was more of a summer getaway known as the ?Irish Riviera.??

Some hired structural engineers, hoping that their homes could be saved. But in many instances, the answers were not what they had hoped to hear.

Among those getting the news that their home would have to be torn down were Jerome Hoffman, 62, and his wife, Madeline DiLorenzo-Coscia, 63, who had hoped to put the bungalow back on its foundation but found out that wouldn?t be possible.?

Miranda Leitsinger / NBC News

Madeline DiLorenzo-Coscia, 63, and her husband, Jerome Hoffman, 62, look at their 'little frame shack' in Breezy Point on Dec. 8.

DiLorenzo-Coscia said her family had owned the doomed ?little frame shack,? which was shoved off of its pilings and bombarded with other debris, for more than 50 years.

?If you look at it, it?s just a little shack ? but it?s a lifetime full of memories,? she said.? ?It?s like the Wizard of Oz. ? I just wish we could click three times and get back home.??

Those memories include playing hide and seek under the bungalows as kids, singing tunes like ?Johnny Angel? on the lifeguard stands down on the beach and going on long walks to the point, where she and her friends would read poems they?d written, then tear them up and throw them into the water.?

?I guess we thought that we were, you know, we were grownups or something, that we were heroines in our own novels,? she said.?

The couple would like to rebuild, but they?re struggling with the financial equation. Since it?s a second residence, they?re not eligible for much of the emergency financial aid available to those whose primary residences were damaged by the storm. That means they?d have to refinance their home in Brooklyn to do it and take the same sort of leap of faith that her parents did when they joined the nascent Breezy Point Co-op in 1960 as residents battled to keep their homes after a developer quietly sold the land beneath them.?

?They never regretted it. They never looked back and ? I'm sure that, you know, I?ll feel the same because it?s an investment in our children?s future and family being together, family sharing good times,? she said, adding that she wants her 18-month-old grandson, Michael, ?to be able to enjoy this.??

The co-op board said late last week that the removal of houses deemed unsafe for occupancy or unable to be repaired was expected to begin in the second week of January.?

The city will oversee destruction of homes on private property, while the Army Corps of Engineers takes down homes that no longer have four walls or are in the right of way, in addition to collecting debris from the city-led demolitions, said Patrick Moes, a spokesman for the corps? New York field recovery office.?

The process was demonstrated on Saturday, as contractors sprayed the home that floated off its foundation with water in an effort to prevent asbestos particles from going airborne. The debris, which will be tested for asbestos, was then piled into large dumpsters lined with white tarps. Federal environmental and safety officials were onsite, and appliances were separated out so they could be disposed of properly.?

Workers try to retrieve any mementos that they come across during a demolition, Moes said, and on this day they saved a military-style trunk for the homeowner.? NBC News was unable to contact the homeowner.?

?It?s a part of the grieving process,? Moes said of the work. ?Whether it is a pile of debris or a house ? that?s someone?s home.?

Residents whose homes that stayed put on their property but are beyond saving are racing to complete forms needed for demolition. The co-op board informed them that the city, under the auspices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would pay for the demolition of those homes deemed to be a public safety hazard by the buildings department, but only if homeowners complete the paperwork by Dec. 31.?

As the demolition process beings, residents are eager to begin laying plans for rebuilding. But they must wait for anticipated new building requirements. The co-op said Saturday it is awaiting the release of new FEMA flood zone maps, which will help determine construction criteria.?

Such concerns are weighing on Pat and Cam Livingstone, whose small oceanfront one-story home will have to be torn down after the floodwaters raced through and thrust a neighbor?s deck against one side of it.?

John Makely / NBC News

Pat and Cam Livingstone stand outside their home at 220 Oceanside in Breezy Point, which was floated off of its foundation by Superstorm Sandy.

Pat Livingstone, 74, said the couple would like to rebuild.?

?But you just don't know with the storms that are coming every year, it seems to be,? she said earlier this month, as she and her husband retrieved a few items from the home, including a decades-old top hat and some collector coins. ?We'll have to see, that's where we're at. We have to see. What are they going to let us do? What are the restrictions? Are we going to get insurance???

Sandy-struck Breezy Point facing 'greatest historical challenge'

?They want to go up,? she said, referring to the expectation that authorities will require homes to be elevated several feet. ?Can we walk up? Are there going to be ramps? We're pushing 80 now,? she said with a small chuckle.?

Cam Livingstone, 76, said the 20 years that the couple lived full time in Breezy Point were some of the best years of their lives.?

?We had good times here,? he said, his hand resting on the roof of their badly damaged home. ?We threw some big parties.??

But now, he said, they wonder if the effort to rebuild would be worth it.

It ?wouldn't be the money so much,? he said of the possibility of returning, but ?do we want to take another chance at this stage of our life??

Down the promenade from the Livingstones, Bob Hauck, a 58-year-old plumber, has decided it is a risk worth taking.

The storm scooped his oceanfront single-story home off its foundation and plopped it down 100 feet straight back, in a sandy area. He joked that the address of his home should now be 210 Sand Lane instead of 210 Oceanside.

John Makely / NBC News

Bob Hauck looks over what is left of his home at 210 Oceanside in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, NY.

?It?s just mind boggling,? he said of the house he owned for 25 years. ?I?m just trying to picture how it lifted and got pushed back and actually came down, you know, pretty intact.?

Gone are the picture window with a double sash that once offered a full panorama of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the big front deck where Hauck would smoke a cigar and visitors would drop by to say hello. Water warped the floor, in places shoving it up two feet, and pushed in the kitchen wall.?

?Melancholy's an understatement. It?s suppressed grief, it?s suppressed grief,? he said of the state of his home. ?There are no options, you know, in regard to this home. ? the cards are dealt, and we have to play our hand.?

Hauck, a father of four adult children who started coming to this shoreline community with his parents decades ago, said he has ?Breezy sands in my shoes.? It will take all of his financial resources to come back, he said, but he will do it.?

?The beach was our home, and it was a special home because it was a home of a bygone era,? he said, calling it ?a piece of heaven on Earth.??

Hauck said he has been motivated by his neighbors, who have been quick to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, with some even moving back in though water only just became available in one section of the community on Saturday.

He?s ready to do the same.

?It?s like a dream I know I am not going to wake up from. ? It wasn?t the long term plan, but we?ve got to take what we?re given,? he said, adding that he told his family, ?We had a great run and we?ll have another great one.?

Madeline DiLorenzo-Coscia's "little frame shack" is just one of the homes that will be demolished in Breezy Point. (John Makely / NBC News)

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Netanyahu lauds Kerry nomination for U.S. secretary of state

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday welcomed the appointment of his personal friend John Kerry as U.S. secretary of state and described him as "a known supporter of Israel's security".

President Barack Obama nominated Kerry on Friday, calling the veteran U.S. senator the "perfect choice" as America's top diplomat.

Netanyahu said in a statement: "I congratulate John Kerry on being chosen for the position of U.S. Secretary of State. Kerry is very experienced and is a known supporter of Israel's security."

But Netanyahu may find Kerry no less critical than his predecessor of Israel's policy of settlement building in the occupied West Bank, an area Palestinians want as part of a future state.

"When new settlements go up ... it undermines the viability of a two-state solution," Kerry told a Senate hearing.

Kerry will be the leading Cabinet member charged with tackling pressing global challenges, including trying to restart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and Iran's nuclear standoff with the West.

Netanyahu, who has had frosty ties with Obama, also mentioned his good personal relations with Kerry in his statement.

"John Kerry and I are friends for many years and I greatly appreciated the fact that half a year ago, after the death of my father, he came to visit me during my mourning. I look forward to cooperating with him," he added.

While Obama put one important piece of his revamped cabinet in place, he held off on naming a new defense secretary.

The delay came in the face of a growing backlash from critics of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who is considered a leading candidate to replace Leon Panetta at the Pentagon.

Officials in Netanyahu's office have privately voiced concern over the possibility that Hagel might take over at the Pentagon.

Some American Jewish leaders contend that Hagel, who left the Senate in 2008, at times opposed Israel's interests, voting several times against U.S. sanctions on Iran, and made disparaging remarks about the influence of what he called a "Jewish lobby" in Washington.

Asked last week about a statement by Hagel in 2006 that the "Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people here," Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he would "have to answer for that comment" if he is nominated.

"And he'll have to answer about why he thought it was a good idea to directly negotiate with Hamas and why he objected to the European Union declaring Hezbollah a terrorist organization," said Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. (Additional writing by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-lauds-kerry-nomination-u-secretary-state-job-191806222.html

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Faced with brutal elephant poachers, Cameroon calls in the army

BOUBA NDJIDA NATIONAL PARK, Cameroon (Reuters) - The welcome committee for Cameroon's Bouba Ndjida National Park, a former safari tourism destination, would not look out of place on a battlefield.

Faced with the threat of horse-mounted Sudanese elephant poachers armed with machine guns, the central African nation has deployed military helicopters and 600 soldiers to try to protect the park and its animals.

Its decision to call in the army follows a bloody incursion into the park last winter during which poachers from Sudan killed some 300 elephants, or 80 percent of the park's elephant population, within a few weeks.

Armed only with World War One-era rifles, the park's eco-guards were defenceless in the face of the Sudanese 'jandjaweed' poachers who had travelled thousands of miles on horseback to seize the tusks.

The raid left hundreds of elephant corpses in its wake.

Many of the animals' faces had been hacked off and the bodies lay decomposing in a park that used to attract safari tourists in large numbers.

Cameroon says it is determined to make sure such a scene is never repeated.

"With the kind of deployment we have in the park here today, the message is very clear," Brigadier General Martin Tumenta told Reuters during a visit to the park. "Any poacher who finds himself here will simply be destroyed."

Equipped with helicopters, night vision gear, and scores of jeeps, Cameroon's military has set up two garrisons in the park and several camps along Cameroon's border with Chad and the Central African Republic, Tumenta said.

Last winter's massacre followed a record year for elephant poaching in 2011, an illegal trade that has become a multi-billion dollar industry in Africa fuelled by demand for ivory ornaments from China, some of whose citizens are increasingly wealthy.

Ivory sells for about $300 per kg on the black market, according to conservation group TRAFFIC, meaning that an average-sized tusk weighing 6.8 kg can be sold for a small fortune in central Africa, a region plagued by poverty and underdevelopment.

Officials said there was evidence that the Sudanese poachers were on their way back to the park - a territory of lush forests, rivers and hilly plains about the size of Luxembourg - now that the dry season had arrived, making travel easier.

"It is clear we are dealing with a very heavily-armed group of men carrying machine guns and mortars," said Tumenta, saying soldiers had seized some weapons and ivory from a poacher camp in the bush last year.

The World Wildlife Fund has called Cameroon's deployment a "bold and courageous move" to protect the region's dwindling elephant population.

However, local residents said the huge military presence was disturbing.

"It's now very dangerous because of the soldiers who are just everywhere in the bush," said Saidou Sule, a 48-year-old farmer from a village near Garoua, the provincial capital.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/faced-brutal-elephant-poachers-cameroon-calls-army-105949738.html

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Vikings deny Texans home-field playoff advantage

HOUSTON (AP) ? The Minnesota Vikings don't need record-setting days from Adrian Peterson to stay in the playoff race.

Peterson rushed for 86 yards, falling far short of the 2,000-yard mark, yet helping the Vikings (9-6) keep their postseason chances alive with a 23-6 upset of the Texans on Sunday. Christian Ponder threw a touchdown pass, Toby Gerhart added a score and Blair Walsh kicked three field goals as the Vikings won their third straight.

The win raises the stakes for the Vikings, who host Green Bay next Sunday in the regular-season finale.

"We obviously have a big one next week, and if we don't win that one, this one doesn't mean anything," Ponder said. "Our No. 1 goal is to make the playoffs."

The loss kept the Texans (12-3) from clinching home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. They would still claim home-field advantage with a win next week at Indianapolis.

"Very disappointing because we had a chance to line up here and get something done today," coach Gary Kubiak said. "That doesn't mean we still can't get it done. That's the most important thing."

Peterson had his lowest rushing total since getting 79 yards on Oct. 14 in a loss at Washington, breaking a streak of eight 100-yard games. Peterson, who is from Palestine, Texas, had more than 100 family and friends at the game.

"We knew they were going to focus on the run, which is OK," Peterson said of the Texans. "It felt good to see other guys get involved and us continue to move the ball down and score some points."

He has 1,898 this season and needs 208 yards to break the NFL single-season rushing record held by Eric Dickerson. Minnesota coach Leslie Frazier said he took Peterson out late as a precaution because he has a sore abdomen.

"I'll get some rest and be ready to get a W and break that record," Peterson said.

The Vikings took a 10-3 lead when Walsh kicked a 56-yard field goal. The kick gave Walsh, a rookie, the NFL record with nine field goals of 50 yards or longer this season.

The Texans failed to score a touchdown for the first time since 2006.

"We didn't play well," Kubiak said. "I think we battled defensively, but offensively we probably played as bad as we've played. I take full responsibility for that. It's a huge, huge disappointment. We've got to get over it really quick."

J.J. Watt had a sack to leave him with 20 ? this season.

Houston got within 10 points before Gerhart's 3-yard run extended the lead to 23-6 with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter. That drive was helped by a 29-yard run by Ponder.

Ponder, who got married on Monday, was 16 of 30 for 174 yards to help the Vikings pile up 345 yards. He finished with seven rushes for 48 yards ? 14 more yards rushing than the Texans had.

"Christian had a terrific day throughout, playing with a lot of poise, a lot of control ? he did all the things we needed," Frazier said. "But it was all set up by our run game."

Arian Foster had 10 rushes for 15 yards before leaving with about nine minutes left in the third quarter with an irregular heartbeat. Kubiak said he is OK, but he was taken out as a precaution.

"I'll be fine," he said. "I'll be OK. It's a very minor situation."

Ben Tate took over and didn't fare much better with four carries for 17 yards.

The Texans were foiled by their inability to convert third downs, going 1 of 11. Quarterback Matt Schaub went 18 of 32 for 178 yards.

Houston got to the Minnesota 1 with a 12-yard reception by Kevin Walter late in the third quarter. Then came an incomplete pass followed by a run for no gain by Tate. Schaub was sacked by Fred Evans for a loss of 14 yards to make the Texans settle for a 33-yard field to cut the lead to 16-6.

Houston had to punt on its first possession of the third quarter, but got the ball right back when Watt sacked Ponder and forced a fumble. Bradie James recovered, but the Texans had to punt again.

The Vikings extended their lead to 16-3 when Walsh made a 39-yard field goal on the first drive of the second half. That series was helped when Ponder found Jarius Wright on a 15-yard reception, and the Vikings got 15 more yards when Whitney Mercilus was flagged for unnecessary roughness on Ponder.

Houston was on the Minnesota 28 early in the second quarter when Jasper Brinkley forced Foster's fumble, which was recovered by A.J. Jefferson.

A 41-yard field goal by Walsh left Minnesota up 13-3 at halftime.

Peterson ran for 20 yards to get Minnesota's offense going. The Vikings took a 7-3 lead when Kyle Rudolph grabbed a 3-yard touchdown reception. Rudolph also had a 27-yard catch that drive.

Houston's Andre Johnson had seven receptions for 97 yards.

NOTES: The Texans wore decals with the initials S.H.E.S. as a tribute to the school shooting victims at Sandy Hook. ... Playing in his 137th game, Johnson got his 800th career reception on his first catch, making him the second-fastest player to reach the milestone. Marvin Harrison did it in his 131st game. ... Johnson has 100 catches this season, making him the fifth player in NFL history to have at least 100 catches in four or more seasons.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vikings-deny-texans-home-field-playoff-advantage-212819044--spt.html

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Tougher EU sanctions against Iran come into force

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Rigorous new sanctions against Iran's banking, shipping and industrial sectors took effect on Saturday, as part of the European Union's effort to force Tehran to scale back its nuclear program.

The sanctions, agreed in October, entered EU law with their publication in the European Union's Official Journal on Saturday.

The toughest EU measures yet, they include bans on financial transactions, sales to Iran of shipping equipment and steel, and imports of Iranian natural gas, adding to earlier bans, including on the OPEC producer's oil.

They reflect heightened concern over Iran's nuclear goals and Israeli threats to attack Iranian atomic installations if diplomacy and other measures fail to deliver a solution.

Diplomats say they hope talks with Iran can resume in January, but are waiting for an answer from Tehran, which maintains its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes.

In a statement, Britain's foreign office said there was a clear need "for an urgent solution".

"Iran's leaders know that sanctions are having a significant impact," Britain's Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt said.

"They should be in no doubt that the international community will keep up the pressure until they are ready to negotiate in good faith and take the concrete steps needed to convince the international community that they are not building a nuclear weapon."

The new sanctions mark a significant change of policy for the 27-member bloc, which previously sought mainly to target specific people and companies with economic restrictions.

It has lagged the United States in imposing blanket industry bans because it is anxious to avoid penalizing ordinary Iranian citizens, while punishing the Tehran government.

Sanctions have increasingly inflicted severe pain on the Iranian economy, although the country has years of experience of circumventing them by using front companies and tortuous shipping routes.

The new European measures make clear natural gas shipments are prohibited in any form and swapping, as opposed to simply buying, cargoes is also outlawed.

While imposing a general ban on financial transactions, they make exceptions for those involving humanitarian aid, food and medicine purchases and provisions for legitimate trade.

In a statement, the European Commission said the new law brought the number of entities subject to sanctions to 490 and the total number of persons to 105.

The latest companies added to the banned list include energy and steel distribution firms and financial companies.

The latest individual to be added is Babak Zanjani, owner of the Sorinet Group, based in the United Arab Emirates. He is referred to as "a key facilitator for Iranian oil deals and transferring oil-related money".

Iran says its nuclear project has only peaceful energy purposes and has refused in three rounds of talks since April to scale back its uranium enrichment activity unless major economic sanctions are rescinded.

(Editing by John Stonestreet)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tougher-eu-sanctions-against-iran-come-force-104036477.html

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