Seeing row upon row of elephants would be a marvellous sight - except in this Egyptian souvenir shop, where the pachyderms are made of illegal ivory.
Despite being banned since 1990, a recent survey by TRAFFIC found that shops in Luxor and Cairo remain crammed with ivory trinkets. The dearth of foreign tourists since the Egyptian revolution has kept sales down, but the study found that the amount of ivory material for sale hasn't dropped since the last review in 2005.
Despite falling demand in the West, Chinese tourists have been keeping the market buoyant, according to shopkeepers interviewed for the survey. That keeps the pipeline of poached ivory, which usually runs from Central Africa via Sudan, open for business, with traders being paid on average $275 for a kilogram of good-quality tusks.
HARARE,Zimbabwe ? An independent doctors' group in Zimbabwe is reporting 800 cases of the bacterial disease typhoid in a recent outbreak.
No deaths have been reported in the past three weeks. The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said Sunday that the nation's troubled coalition government lacked urgency in dealing with public health woes.
In a statement, the group said that amid heavy rains clean water supplies were still irregular or "completely absent" in most impoverished townships in Harare. It said burst sewers were left unattended and meat and fish were sold on streets nearby.
A cholera outbreak in 2009 blamed on the collapse of water, sanitation and prevention services in Zimbabwe killed more than 4,000 people.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and his counterpart Koichiro Gemba, smile before a joint press conference in Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia have agreed to strengthen economic and security cooperation but made no progress on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute over islands off northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and his counterpart Koichiro Gemba, smile before a joint press conference in Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia have agreed to strengthen economic and security cooperation but made no progress on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute over islands off northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, shakes hands with his counterpart Koichiro Gemba prior to their meeting in Tokyo Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and his counterpart Koichiro Gemba, right, attend their meeting in Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, speaks during a joint press conference with his counterpart Koichiro Gemba in Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia have agreed to strengthen economic and security cooperation but made no progress on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute over islands off northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a joint press conference with his counterpart Koichiro Gemba, not in the photo, in Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia have agreed to strengthen economic and security cooperation but made no progress on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute over islands off northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
TOKYO (AP) ? The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia agreed Saturday to strengthen economic and security cooperation but made no progress on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute that has kept the two nations from concluding a peace treaty.
Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the two countries need to address the row over islands off northeastern Japan in a calm manner. Gemba said resolving the dispute and forging a peace treaty officially ending their hostilities in World War II is "more necessary than ever."
Both men sought to downplay the dispute and focus on ways the two nations could expand their ties.
"As the security situation in the Asia-Pacific undergoes major changes, the Japan-Russia relationship has taken on new importance," Gemba said at a joint news conference following what he called a "fruitful" two-hour meeting.
"We reaffirmed that we want to strengthen our cooperation in security, defense and economic matters, particularly energy modernization," he added.
Lavrov welcomed the increased trade between the two nations, which grew last year to 2.45 trillion yen ($31 billion).
"We want our international cooperation to expand," Lavrov said.
The two sides signed an agreement to simplify visa procedures to boost visitors and business interaction, particularly from Japan to Russia.
Ties between Japan and Russia soured in late 2010 when Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian president to visit the disputed islands, called the southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. They were seized by Soviet troops in the closing days of World War II, but Japan says they are part of its territory.
The islands are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and are believed to have oil, natural gas and mineral deposits.
"Resolving this problem and concluding a peace treaty is more necessary than ever," Gemba said. "But unfortunately ... our positions are different. We hope to resolve this through dialogue."
Lavrov said tackling the matter would have to wait until a new leader is chosen in Russia's presidential election on March 4.
"Both countries need to address the row over the islands in a calm manner without getting emotional or critical," he said.
Lavrov and Gemba were to discuss North Korea over a working lunch in the second part of their meeting. Japan and Russia are among six nations involved in long-stalled talks offering aid for North Korean nuclear disarmament.
Asked about North Korea, Lavrov said Moscow has information that the talks will "possibly resume." He did not elaborate.
North Korea, which is undergoing a leadership transition, appears to be pushing for a resumption of the talks, but the U.S. and its allies want it to first show it is serious about previous disarmament commitments. South Korea and China are the other countries involved in the talks.
Lavrov also said Russia would support Japan's efforts to press North Korea on its abduction of Japanese citizens.
After years of denials, North Korea said in 2002 that it had kidnapped 13 Japanese to train its spies. It returned five abductees but claimed the rest had died. Japan disputes that and says as many as 12 Japanese may still be captive in the North.
My great-aunt Ida loves to say, "This is only the beginning." Gearing up for her 101st birthday this May, Ida thrives on a daily Coca-Cola, full-bellied laughter, and an abundance of nourishing memories. Ida is remarkable not only for how long she's lived, but also for how she's lived: always open to the call to adventure.
Ida was born during the Taft administration, but she's hip to the times. She lives independently in an apartment complex which mostly houses college students. She's on top of current events and her celebrity crush is Stephen Colbert. But Ida's epic small talk is what sets her apart. She'll casually share: "During Prohibition, when my father had me smuggling whiskey across the border," or, "Those years we were panning for gold near Yosemite..." or, "When I was in Timbuktu..."
No seriously. She's been to Timbuktu. "But enough about me," she'll say. "You're the one out in the world. Tell me something exciting going on in your life." Um. I went to Costco and found a parking space near the front. Our frequent visits always inspire me to see more, do more, love more, laugh more and experience more.
Here is some of the unconventional wisdom Ida likes to impart: "Being comfortable isn't worth losing out on an experience."
As a newlywed during the Great Depression, Ida realized that living well doesn't have to mean living with money. Throughout their lives, she and her husband Joe would invest the little money they saved into making memories. On a whim, they'd borrow an automobile, fill up the tank with gas, and drive out to the desert for the weekend. They'd sleep in the car or under the stars.
"Don't be afraid to do what you want to do. That's what it boils right down to. You want to go through life saying: I can't do this? I can't do that? ... And, for goodness sakes, don't wait around for a pat on the back."
In the early 1970s, when Ida's contemporaries were settling into quiet retirement, she and Joe sold what they owned, bought a camper, and struck out for Europe and Northern Africa. Friends and family bet they'd be back in three months. They lived in that van overseas for three years. They came home with an international Rolodex of new close friends and a Half-moon parrot they named Pedro Nunu.
"Don't let your husband know you're boss."
Ida lights up when she remembers her husband of 60 years. They were a team. "My friends always said I spoiled Joe. But I don't think I did. He spoiled me. And besides, our marriage is the one that lasted 60 years." She doted on him by tucking love notes into his work pants and cooking his favorite meals. He'd give her free reign to travel alone to places like Kathmandu or the pyramids.
"You have to have a good sex life with your partner. It's very important. Sex is a wonderful game."
Umm. We'll just let that speak for itself. Though if you'd like to hear more, Ida is more than happy to share.
"This is only the beginning..."
This personal catchphrase is all about delivery. Ida says it in a slow, foreboding tone and then punctuates it with laughter. It expresses her unwavering optimism that even when life is at its cruelest, there's always something more on the horizon. She's had her share of heartbreak. They lost their first child days after birth. Soon afterward, Joe was injured in a work accident, which didn't hinder their love life but meant that if they wanted children, they'd have to adopt. They cherished an adopted baby boy for four months until the biological mother changed her mind and wanted the child back. Nearly 70 years have passed, and yet, when Ida recalls holding the baby one last time, she weeps.
But for Ida and Joe, that was only the beginning. They became second parents to many, finding joy in helping out with their friends' children. They volunteered at their local elementary school. And they were always game for taking care of their siblings' children and grandchildren. When they were nearly 80 years old, they drove across the country eager at the chance to take care of me. Ida has a hard time distinguishing my features now. Her eyesight has greatly diminished. But in her mind's eye, she still sees me as a toddler polka dancing with her Joe.
When our visits come to an end, Ida always asks for her cane. "Give me my cudgel!" she playfully demands. (She uses it more as a prop than as a mobility aid.) Every time, she rises and opens her arms for a long, warm hug. She gently rests her head on my neck, and we cry. She's nearing the end of this journey, and I'm presumably still near the beginning. There's so much more for her to share and me to learn. And we love each other so much.
As I headed out last weekend, she added: "Go for a walk. Make love to your husband. And don't obsess about health... That's not healthy."
For more by Ellie Knaus, click here.
For more on happiness, click here.
For more on aging gracefully, click here.
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NEW YORK ? The stock market closed mostly lower Friday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to its first losing week of 2012, after the government reported that economic growth was slower at the end of last year than economists expected.
The Dow spent the whole day in the red. It ended down 74 points, or 0.6 percent, at 12,660.46. The loss snapped a three-week winning streak for the Dow, which fell 60 points for the week but is still up 3.6 percent for the year.
The Standard & Poor's 500 struggled above even with an hour to go in trading, but it lost the gains and finished down 2.10 points at 1,316.33. The S&P finished the week up a sliver ? 0.95 points.
The Nasdaq composite, which has more than doubled the Dow's gain for the year, edged up 11.27 to 2,816.55. It rose about 30 points this week.
Economic growth for October through December came in at an annual rate of 2.8 percent. That was the fastest of 2011 but lower than the 3 percent that economists were looking for.
Utility companies led the way down with a fall of 1.3 percent. Most of the other nine industries in the S&P also fell, but only slightly, continuing a curious trading pattern this year: Trading has been calm in the past four weeks, a big change from the violent moves up and down that marked much of 2011.
Friday was the 17th day in a row of moves of less than 100 points up or down for the Dow. The last time the index had a longer period of such small moves was a 34-day stretch that started Dec. 3, 2010.
Despite the drift lower, investors displayed some bullishness.
Roughly two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. And the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks rose nearly 2 percent for the week. Investors tend to sell stocks in the Russell when they're worried, not buy them, because smaller firms often don't have much cash and other resources when times get tough.
"Risk-taking is picking up," says Jeff Schwarte, a portfolio manager at Principal Global Equities. He says his firm has been buying small firms since late last year. "We're still finding attractive stocks."
Next week, investors will turn their attention to Facebook, the powerhouse social network, which appears headed for the most anticipated initial public offering of stock in years.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Friday that Facebook could raise as much as $10 billion in an offering that would value the company at $75 billion to $100 billion.
That would vault Facebook into the largest public companies in the world, on par with the likes of McDonald's, Amazon.com and Visa. The Journal said Facebook could file IPO papers as early as Wednesday.
Investors earlier in the week had plenty of reason to hope the indexes would keep moving higher.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced it would likely keep benchmark interest rates near zero through late 2014, more than a year longer than it previously indicated. That helped send the Dow to its highest close since May.
Also lifting spirits: Apple had its best quarter for profits, trouncing expectations.
On Thursday, the Dow kept rising, briefly passing its highest close since the financial crisis three years ago. But the rally faded after news that new home sales in December had dropped, capping a year that ranked the worst for home sales since record-keeping began in 1963.
Among stocks making big moves Friday:
? Chevron fell more than 2 percent, the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow average, after its quarterly profit and revenue came in well below what analysts were expecting. Oil and natural gas production declined.
? Ford fell 4 percent after reporting disappointing earnings because of weak sales in Europe. The company said its results were also hurt by problems at parts suppliers in Thailand because of flooding there.
? Starbucks fell 1 percent after reporting late Thursday that that full-year results were likely to come in less than expectations.
? Procter & Gamble, which makes Tide, Crest and other consumer products, fell less than 1 percent after cutting its earnings outlook.
? Legg Mason dropped 5 percent after the investment management company's earnings fell by half as clients pulled money out. Legg Mason posted earnings of 20 cents per share. Analysts expected 25 cents, according to FactSet.
(Reuters) ? Chevron Corp reported lower quarterly earnings on Friday, missing Wall Street forecasts, as rising spending on oil and gas projects and losses at its U.S. refinery business offset gains from higher crude oil prices.
Oil and gas output at the No. 2 U.S. oil company also declined to 2.64 million barrels per day (BPD) from 2.79 million BPD a year-ago, although benchmark oil prices rose about 25 percent during the quarter.
Chevron had said earlier this month its refinery margins were suffering and would be near breakeven for the quarter, but the U.S. losses pulled the entire segment into the red, and the company's profits from oil and gas sales also appeared weaker than expected.
Its shares fell 2.5 percent in early trading.
"It was a miss on some non-controllable factors," said Pavel Molchanov, analyst with Raymond James in Houston, citing the timings of sales and global pricing differences as the likely reason oil and gas profits fell about $500 million below his forecast.
Still, Chevron added 1.67 billion barrels of oil equivalent to its reserves last year, 171 percent of its 2011 output, a very strong performance, Molchanov said.
Chevron is embroiled in two major legal battles in South America, where a Brazilian prosecutor plans to file criminal charges against it and some of its local managers.
The company is facing an $11 billion lawsuit there related to an offshore oil spill in November, and it also remains locked in a legal war against plaintiffs in Ecuador, who won an $18 billion judgment against it in a court there.
PROFIT DIP
Fourth-quarter profit slipped to $5.1 billion, or $2.58 per share, from $5.3 billion, or $2.64 per share, a year earlier.
That fell short of the $2.84 per share that analysts had forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Chevron's warning of weaker earnings on January 11 knocked 17 cents per share off the average analyst estimate.
Among other U.S. oil companies, the quarterly profits from ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum Corp earlier this week topped Wall Street estimates, though Hess Corp fell short.
Exxon Mobil is due to report earnings on Tuesday, Jan 31.
Chevron is spending piles of money on production growth that will not really kick in until 2014. Its 2012 capital budget of $32.7 billion is nearly $5 billion higher than last year.
In the fourth quarter, Chevron's spending on oil and gas projects in the United States nearly doubled from a year ago to $2.0 billion, while outside the U.S. it grew by more than a quarter to $5.1 billion.
Shares of Chevron fell 2.5 percent to $103.94 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Matt Daily in New York, additional reporting by Braden Reddall in San Francisco, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
(CNN) -- President Barack Obama took his push for increased federal investment in clean energy on the road Thursday, telling crowds in Las Vegas and at a Colorado military base that America must be able to compete in a global growth industry of coming decades.Earlier Thursday, the federal government announced plans to sell off oil and gas leases on 38 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico seafloor in a new domestic energy push.The leases could yield as much as 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the Interior Department estimates. The scheduled sale in June will be the second since the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010 when nearly 5 million barrels of crude spewed into the Gulf.Obama mentioned the planned lease sales in his remarks at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, which has a 1-megawatt solar array and last year test-piloted jets that run on advanced biofuels."We are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas," he told the military crowd in detailing his strategy to increase domestic oil and gas development while promoting investment and innovation in clean energy development.His energy proposals come amid criticism from Republicans and the oil industry for the administration's rejection of a permit to build a pipeline to transport oil from Canada's tar sands production in northern Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.Obama has said the permit was rejected because Republicans forced a decision before there was time for a necessary review of a proposed route change requested by Nebraska officials, including the state's Republican governor. The president also said the rejection was due to timing, rather than the merits of the project that would create several thousand jobs for the two-year construction period.In his remarks earlier Thursday at a UPS facility in Las Vegas, Obama called his energy plan an "all-out, all-in, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy."Among other things, Obama promised more federal assistance for local governments to upgrade their automotive fleets while also pushing new tax incentives for cleaner corporate vehicles.The president also said the administration is working to develop up to five highway natural gas corridors, and he announced a new competition to encourage the development of breakthroughs for natural gas vehicles."We've got to keep at it. Think about what could happen if we do," Obama said. "Think about an America where more cars and trucks are running on domestic natural gas than on foreign oil. Think about an America where our companies are leading the world in developing natural gas technology and creating a generation of new energy jobs. ... We can do this."The president's remarks came on the second day of a three-day road trip building on themes announced in Tuesday night's State of the Union address.On Wednesday, Obama discussed the importance of core American values and fairness in the tax code during stops in Iowa and Arizona. He's planning to highlight education and college affordability during a visit Friday to Ann Arbor, Michigan.All five states -- Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and Nevada -- are considered politically critical to the president's re-election hopes in November.During his stop in Las Vegas, Obama also echoed his tax fairness mantra, once again warning that the Bush-era tax cuts can't be maintained without sacrificing either fiscal stability or critical domestic programs."Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Or do we want to keep investing in everything else -- like education and clean energy, a strong military and care for our vets? Because we can't do both," he said."If I get tax breaks I don't need and the country can't afford, it either adds to our deficit or takes away from someone else, whether it's a senior, a student or a family trying to get by. That's not right. That's not who we are."In the State of the Union address, Obama called for a 30% tax rate on people earning more than $1 million a year, saying it was wrong for the wealthy to pay a lower rate than ordinary workers. One of Obama's possible opponents in November, multimillionaire and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, revealed Tuesday he paid less than 15% in taxes last year on income derived mostly from investments.For their part, Romney and the other GOP presidential contenders accuse Obama of misguided proposals that would worsen the economy for middle-class Americans.On energy issues, the White House said Thursday that Obama will push for greater use of cleaner-burning natural gas as an automotive fuel for trucks and buses, and new support for renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power.In addition, the administration also will open up public lands to renewable electric projects aimed at producing enough power for 3 million homes.The oil and gas leases up for sale in June include the remaining, unclaimed areas off Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, ranging from as close as three miles from the coast to up to 230 miles offshore. The minimum bid for deepwater leases will be $100 per acre, according to the Interior Department.It is working on plans for a dozen more lease sales through 2017, which it estimates will open up three-quarters of the recoverable oil and gas below the outer Continental Shelf -- reserves Obama pledged to open up in his State of the Union speech.Supporters say more energy exploration will bring more jobs for Americans still reeling from the steepest economic downturn in decades. But some critics remain wary of the risks illuminated when the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon blew up and sank in April 2010, killing 11 men aboard and uncorking an undersea gusher that took three months to cap."We've got oil continuing to wash up. We've got ongoing restoration needs down there that haven't been addressed yet," said Aaron Viles, a spokesman for the New Orleans-based Gulf Restoration Network.Viles said that the depths at which drilling is planned are worrisome and that residents of coastal communities should have more input into the decisions.The BP-owned well that blew up in 2010 was nearly a mile below the surface, at depths that made efforts to cap it extremely difficult. Future drillers have to have arrangements in place to deal with a deep-sea spill, but the new requirements may be a case of "fighting the last war," Viles said."These are complicated systems. They're going to fail in complicated ways," Viles told CNN.The spill prompted the administration to cancel plans both it and the Bush administration had to open up areas off the East Coast and western Florida for drilling. Despite the halt, U.S. crude oil production has jumped 14% from 2008 to 2011, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural gas production is up by about 10% over the same period.CNN's Matt Smith contributed to this report.
CHANDLER, Ariz. ? If President Barack Obama is showing some swagger, it shouldn't be a surprise.
His job approval ratings point to an uptick. The Navy SEAL unit that killed Osama bin Laden just pulled off a daring rescue that Obama authorized in Somalia. He's fresh off a big speech before Congress, and the Republicans who want his job are criticizing each other probably more than they are Obama.
As he hits the road for three days of travel to important political states, Obama is on a roll.
Feeling good, he even tried his hand at a bit of public crooning a few days ago, channeling the Rev. Al Green to a fundraising crowd at the Apollo Theater in New York and securing the highest of pop culture distinction: a ring tone.
It could be a fleeting moment for Obama. While the economy is improving with indicators trending positively, unemployment remains high at 8.5 percent and international debt crises and tensions could unravel the gains.
For now, Obama is not hiding his upbeat demeanor.
Arriving in Iowa on Wednesday, he jogged, grinning, to a rope line of a couple of dozen supporters. He later expressed nostalgia for the days in 2007 when he was campaigning in Iowa and struck a defiant tone against congressional Republicans that was even sharper than the repudiation he offered Tuesday night in his State of the Union address.
"Our economy is getting stronger, and we've come too far to turn back now," he told workers and guests at a conveyor manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids. Speaking of Republicans, he said, "Their philosophy is simple: We're better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules."
"Well, I am here to say they are wrong," he said.
In a stop later in the day in Arizona, Obama stripped off his jacket and joked about the warm weather to a crowd at an Intel chip plant, seeming to revel in being out on the stump.
The spring in his step comes as polls show slight improvement in his job approval ratings. A Washington Post/ABC poll last week had him evenly split 48-48 on that question. A Gallup tracking poll has him even in recent surveys, compared with a few months ago where more disapproved than approved
On the road through Friday, Obama will bask in the afterglow of his prime-time address and use the power of the presidency to compete for headlines with leading GOP White House hopefuls Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich as they knock heads ahead of the Jan. 31 Florida primary. He will try to promote a populist message of income equality that Obama's team believes can resonate with voters.
If 2011 began with overtures to Republicans and big business, 2012 is about operating on his own terms. He will challenge Congress to pass his initiatives, some of which he has tried before without success. For now, Obama is liberated. The thrust and parrying of governing has not picked up in Washington yet.
The road gives him an opportunity to goad congressional Republicans, believing he has been able to sway public opinion with his presidential megaphone before. He cites Washington's decision to extend, for two months, a payroll tax cut for workers. He's now seeking to extend it for the full year, and while there's little doubt that Congress eventually will agree, Obama prodded anyway.
"Your voices convinced Congress to extend this middle-class tax cut before," he said. "You remember there was little resistance there last year. I need your help to get them to do it again. Tell Congress to pass this tax cut without drama, without delay. No soap operas. Just get it done."
Political events are going his way as well.
Just as he stepped up his call for a minimum 30 percent tax rate for millionaires, Romney released his tax returns under pressure, revealing that he paid an effective tax rate of 14 percent. That not only underscored Romney's wealth, it also provided an argument for altering the nation's tax laws, a central element of Obama's re-election campaign.
Gingrich on Wednesday helped keep the focus on Romney's wealth, saying that the wealthy businessman lived in "a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatically $20 million income for no work."
Romney and Gingrich have been forced to target each other in the GOP presidential contest, freeing Obama from the fray. For instance, Romney has ads in Florida and Nevada blaming the housing crisis on Gingrich and concludes that nothing would make Obama happier than Gingrich winning the nomination.
___
AP Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta in Washington and Associated Press writer Cristina Silva in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
Young adults responded well to swine fluPublic release date: 25-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bobbie Mixon bmixon@nsf.gov 703-292-8070 National Science Foundation
Generation X report details 36- to 39-year-olds' first encounter with a major epidemic
About one in five young adults in their late 30's received a flu shot during the 2009-2010 swine flu epidemic, a University of Michigan (U-M) study released today says.
But about 65 percent were at least moderately concerned about the flu, and nearly 60 percent said they were following the issue very or moderately closely.
Using survey data collected from approximately 3,000 young adults during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza epidemic, this second of three parts in a U-M Generation X Report explores the first serious infectious disease Americans ages 36-39 ever experienced. It describes how the group kept abreast of the issue and what actions they eventually took to protect themselves and their families.
The data is part of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth conducted by the Institute for Social Research at University of Michigan and directed by Jon D. Miller, author of the report. The study, funded by the National Science Foundation since 1986, now includes responses from approximately 4,000 Gen Xers--those born between 1961 and 1981.
"These results suggest that young adults in Generation X did reasonably well in their first encounter with a major epidemic," says Miller. "Those with minor children at home were at the greatest risk, and they responded accordingly with higher levels of awareness and concern."
According to Miller, understanding GenX reactions to this recent threat may help public health officials manage future epidemics more effectively.
"This nationally-representative study helps us understand young adults' knowledge of viral infections and the ways they sought information on the H1N1 epidemic," says Gavin Fulmer, associate program director in NSF's Division of Research on Learning. "The findings can inform public health officials about the relationships among health knowledge, accessible sources of health information and preventive behaviors. This may help us address future epidemics or other potential health emergencies."
The results also show that even though a majority of Generation X young adults felt that they were "well informed" or "very well informed" about the issue, overall they scored only moderately well on an Index of Influenza Knowledge, a series of five items designed to test the level of knowledge about viral infections generally and about the swine flu epidemic specifically.
Among the other findings:
Young adults with minor children at home were most likely to follow the news about influenza closely and were most concerned about the swine flu epidemic.
Young adults were most likely to report getting information about the epidemic from friends, co-workers and family members. In the month before the survey, they reported having about nine such conversations, compared to getting news about the flu less than three times via print or broadcast media and about five times from searching the internet.
The most trusted sources of information about the influenza epidemic were physicians, followed by the National Institutes of Health, pharmacists at local drug stores and nurses from county health departments. The least trusted sources were YouTube videos, drug company commercials and Wikipedia articles.
"In the decades ahead, the young adults in Generation X will encounter numerous other crises--some biomedical, some environmental, and others yet to be imagined," says Miller. "They will have to acquire, organize and make sense of emerging scientific and technical information, and the experience of coping with the swine flu epidemic suggests how they will meet that challenge."
A third Generation X Report on the topic of food and cooking will be issued in April 2012. Subsequent reports will cover climate, space exploration, citizenship and voting.
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Young adults responded well to swine fluPublic release date: 25-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bobbie Mixon bmixon@nsf.gov 703-292-8070 National Science Foundation
Generation X report details 36- to 39-year-olds' first encounter with a major epidemic
About one in five young adults in their late 30's received a flu shot during the 2009-2010 swine flu epidemic, a University of Michigan (U-M) study released today says.
But about 65 percent were at least moderately concerned about the flu, and nearly 60 percent said they were following the issue very or moderately closely.
Using survey data collected from approximately 3,000 young adults during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza epidemic, this second of three parts in a U-M Generation X Report explores the first serious infectious disease Americans ages 36-39 ever experienced. It describes how the group kept abreast of the issue and what actions they eventually took to protect themselves and their families.
The data is part of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth conducted by the Institute for Social Research at University of Michigan and directed by Jon D. Miller, author of the report. The study, funded by the National Science Foundation since 1986, now includes responses from approximately 4,000 Gen Xers--those born between 1961 and 1981.
"These results suggest that young adults in Generation X did reasonably well in their first encounter with a major epidemic," says Miller. "Those with minor children at home were at the greatest risk, and they responded accordingly with higher levels of awareness and concern."
According to Miller, understanding GenX reactions to this recent threat may help public health officials manage future epidemics more effectively.
"This nationally-representative study helps us understand young adults' knowledge of viral infections and the ways they sought information on the H1N1 epidemic," says Gavin Fulmer, associate program director in NSF's Division of Research on Learning. "The findings can inform public health officials about the relationships among health knowledge, accessible sources of health information and preventive behaviors. This may help us address future epidemics or other potential health emergencies."
The results also show that even though a majority of Generation X young adults felt that they were "well informed" or "very well informed" about the issue, overall they scored only moderately well on an Index of Influenza Knowledge, a series of five items designed to test the level of knowledge about viral infections generally and about the swine flu epidemic specifically.
Among the other findings:
Young adults with minor children at home were most likely to follow the news about influenza closely and were most concerned about the swine flu epidemic.
Young adults were most likely to report getting information about the epidemic from friends, co-workers and family members. In the month before the survey, they reported having about nine such conversations, compared to getting news about the flu less than three times via print or broadcast media and about five times from searching the internet.
The most trusted sources of information about the influenza epidemic were physicians, followed by the National Institutes of Health, pharmacists at local drug stores and nurses from county health departments. The least trusted sources were YouTube videos, drug company commercials and Wikipedia articles.
"In the decades ahead, the young adults in Generation X will encounter numerous other crises--some biomedical, some environmental, and others yet to be imagined," says Miller. "They will have to acquire, organize and make sense of emerging scientific and technical information, and the experience of coping with the swine flu epidemic suggests how they will meet that challenge."
A third Generation X Report on the topic of food and cooking will be issued in April 2012. Subsequent reports will cover climate, space exploration, citizenship and voting.
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LONDON (Reuters) ? Teaching children with autism to "talk things through" in their heads may help them solve tricky day-to-day tasks and could increase the chances of them living independent lives when they grow up, British scientists said Wednesday.
Psychologists who studied adults with autism found that the mechanism for using "inner speech," or talking things through in your head is intact, but they don't always use it in the same way as typically developing people do.
The researchers found that the tendency to "think in words" is also strongly linked to the extent of a person's communication skills, which are rooted in early childhood.
The results suggest teaching autistic children how to develop inner speech skills may help them cope with daily tasks later in life. It also suggests children with autism may do better at school if they are encouraged to learn their daily timetable verbally rather than using visual plans, which is currently a common approach.
Autism, which affects around one percent of the population worldwide, includes a spectrum of disorders ranging from mental retardation and a profound inability to communicate, to relatively milder symptoms such as seen in people with high-functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome.
Among core features of autism are poor communication skills and difficulties with social engagement.
"Most people will 'think in words' when trying to solve problems, which helps with planning or particularly complicated tasks," said David Williams of Durham University's department of psychology, who led the study.
Typically developing children tend to talk out loud to guide themselves through tricky tasks, and only from about 7 years old do they talk to themselves in their heads to try to solve problems, he said. How good people are at it is partly determined by their communication experiences as a young child.
Williams said children with autism often miss out on the early communicative exchanges, which may explain their tendency not to use inner speech when they are older. He said the lack of inner speech use might also contribute to some of the repetitive behaviors which are common in people with autism.
"Children with autism probably aren't doing this thinking in their heads, but are continuing on with a visual thinking strategy," Williams said in a telephone interview.
"So this is the time, at around six or seven years old, that these teaching methods would be most helpful."
The study, conducted by researchers at Durham, Bristol and City University London and published in the Development and Psychopathology journal, involved 15 adults with high-functioning autism and 16 neurotypical adults for comparison.
The volunteers were asked to complete a test of planning ability for which typical people would normally use "thinking in words" strategies.
When the two groups were asked to do the task while also repeating out loud a certain word -- such as "Tuesday" or "Thursday" -- designed to distract them, the control group found the task much harder, while the autistic group were not bothered by the distraction.
"In the people with autism, it had no effect whatsoever," Williams explained. This suggests that, unlike neurotypical adults, participants with autism do not normally use inner speech to help themselves plan.
Ashley Robles took on arguably the most difficult challenge one can give oneself on last night's American Idol audition show:
She covered the Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston classic "I Will Always Love You."
But Robles rose to the occasion, belting out an impression version that granted the single mother access to Hollywood from all three judges, with Randy Jackson wondering where the heck Ashley has been all the time. Are we looking at a new frontrunner?
NOTE: Due to its late airing on the East Coast, this San Diego-based episode will be shown again tomorrow night on Fox, prior to President Obama's State of the Union Address. Tune in to watch such contenders as Aubree Dieckmeyer and Jane Carrey.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ? Joe Paterno's doctors said that the former Penn State coach's condition had become "serious," following complications from lung cancer in recent days.
The winningest major college football coach, Paterno was diagnosed shortly after Penn State's Board of Trustees ousted him Nov. 9 in the aftermath of the child sex abuse charges against former assistant Jerry Sandusky. While undergoing treatment, his health problems worsened when he broke his pelvis ? the same injury he sustained during preseason practice last year.
"Over the last few days Joe Paterno has experienced further health complications," family spokesman Dan McGinn said in a brief statement Saturday to The Associated Press. "His doctors have now characterized his status as serious. His family will have no comment on the situation and asks that their privacy be respected during this difficult time."
Paterno's sons, Scott and Jay, each took to Twitter on Saturday night to refute reports that their father had died.
Wrote Jay Paterno: "I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight."
Quoting individuals close to the family, The Washington Post reported on its website that Paterno remained connected to a ventilator, but had communicated his wishes not to be kept alive through any extreme artificial means. The paper said his family was weighing whether to take him off the ventilator on Sunday.
The 85-year-old Paterno has been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation for what his family called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Not long before that, he conducted his only interview since losing his job, with the Post. Paterno was described as frail and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was conducted from his bedside.
Roughly 200 students and townspeople gathered Saturday night at a statue of Paterno just outside a gate at Beaver Stadium. Some brought candles, while others held up their smart phones to take photos of the scene. The mood was somber, with no chanting or shouting.
"Drove by students at the Joe statue," Jay Paterno tweeted. "Just told my Dad about all the love & support--inspiring him."
Penn State student David Marselles held a candle in his right hand and posed next to a life-sized cardboard cutout of Paterno that he keeps at his apartment. A friend took a photo on the frigid night.
"I came to Penn State because of Joe Paterno. Since I was a little kid, I've been watching the games ... screaming `We Are ... Penn State' because of him. ... He inspired me to go to college," Marselles said. "With such a tragic event like this, I just thought it was necessary to show my support."
The final days of Paterno's Penn State career were easily the toughest in his 61 years with the university and 46 seasons as head football coach.
Sandusky, a longtime defensive coordinator who was on Paterno's staff during two national title seasons, was arrested Nov. 5 and ultimately charged with sexually abusing a total of 10 boys over 15 years. Sandusky's arrest sparked outrage not just locally but across the nation and there were widespread calls for Paterno to quit.
Paterno announced late on Nov. 9 that he would retire at the end of the season, but hours later he received a call from board vice chairman John Surma, telling him he had been terminated. By that point, a crowd of students and media were outside the Paterno home. When news spread that Paterno had been dumped, there was rioting in State College.
Police on Saturday evening barricaded the block where Paterno lives, and a police car was stationed about 50 yards from his home. Several people had gathered in the living room of the house. No one was outside, other than reporters and photographers.
Trustees said this week they pushed Paterno out in part because he failed a moral responsibility to report an allegation made in 2002 against Sandusky to authorities outside the university. They also felt he had challenged their authority and that, as a practical matter, with all the media in town and attention to the Sandusky case, he could no longer run the team.
Paterno testified before the grand jury investigating Sandusky that he had relayed to his bosses an accusation that came from graduate assistant Mike McQueary, who said he saw Sandusky abusing a boy in the showers of the Penn State football building.
Paterno told the Post that he didn't know how to handle the charge, but a day after McQueary visited him, he spoke to the athletic director and the administrator with oversight over the campus police.
Wick Sollers, Paterno's lawyer, called the board's comments this week self-serving and unsupported by the facts. Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations, Sollers said.
"He did what he thought was right with the information he had at the time," Sollers said.
Sandusky says he is innocent and is out on bail, awaiting trial.
The back and forth between Paterno's representative and the board reflects a trend in recent weeks, during which Penn State alumni ? and especially former players, including Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris ? have questioned the trustees' actions and accused them of failing to give Paterno a chance to defend himself.
Three town halls, in Pittsburgh, suburban Philadelphia and New York City, seemed to do little to calm the situation and dozens of candidates have now expressed interest in running for the board, a volunteer position that typically attracts much less interest.
While everyone involved has said the focus should be on Sandusky's accusers and their ordeals, the abuse scandal brought a tarnished ending to Paterno's sterling career. Paterno won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and those two national championships, the last in the 1986 season. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.
Throughout his coaching years, Paterno maintained that, yes, winning was important, but even more important was winning with honor.
Egyptian journalist Ashraf Khalil brings insight and thorough reporting to his account of the end of the Hosni Mubarak government.
Journalism in a specific setting usually deserves its reputation as the ?first rough draft of history.? Because the end of the Hosni Mubarak government in Egypt came just last year, it would be reasonable to expect little of historical permanence from a book-length account of what happened. Yet Egyptian journalist Ashraf Khalil confounds expectations with an insightful account that feels rich ? and perhaps will attain permanence.
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Khalil, who sometimes writes for this newspaper, lives in Cairo, speaks the Arabic language fluently, and has reported Egyptian news for a long time. He also served as editor in chief of an English-language newspaper, The Cairo Times, that pushed against censorship from the dictatorship by operating as much as possible in the manner of the relatively free Western media. An account from Khalil is certain to top anything coming from the traditional Western foreign correspondent who parachutes into a hot spot without the appropriate language training or knowledge about the context. It is difficult to imagine a better guide to the Egyptian portion of the so-called Arab Spring than Khalil?s book Liberation Square.
Like all accounts that look inside long-standing dictatorships, ?Liberation Square? cannot completely account for what may be the most perplexing dilemma of human history: Why does any population allow the rise of brutal, dishonest men (and occasionally women) to dominate every aspect of life? Can any author thoroughly parse the reality of an Adolf Hitler or a Josef Stalin or a Hosni Mubarak and show us how that person gains control over millions or tens of millions of an historically proud, accomplished, spirited people? No. But Khalil labors mightily to reach that explanatory summit, and offers plenty of wisdom, along with action-packed reportage, along the way.
Khalil opens his narrative on January 28, 2011, when a sufficient number of Egyptian citizens finally massed near Tahrir Square in Cairo to overwhelm the brutal police who had helped keep Mubarak in power for 29 years. The book then moves back in time to explain how Mubarak, a poorly regarded military general, became ?the accidental dictator,? and how he consolidated his hold on the nation through force and corruption. Thoughtful Egyptians knew throughout the Mubarak dictatorship that they had let a proud heritage become compromised. Cruel jokes about his lack of brain power coursed through Egyptian society, and not even harshly violent security guards could halt the dark humor. For decades, however, the jokes trailed off into the atmosphere and nothing changed for the better. That is why, Khalil explains, on January 28, 2011, ?there was a distinct undercurrent of bitterness and shame mixed in with the euphoria and the resurgent sense of empowerment coursing through the Cairo streets? as it became clear Mubarak would resign.
Hamas' political chief Khaled Meshal is stepping down as the militant Palestinian group faces a regional moment of change.
Hamas? political chief is stepping down after nearly 16 years, leaving the militant Palestinian group with a potential leadership battle just as Islamist allies elsewhere in the Middle East are enjoying momentum from election victories.
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Khaled Meshal, who headed Hamas? headquarters in Damascus, recently informed the group?s leadership council that he won?t stand for reelection, said a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza. It is unclear exactly why Mr. Meshal is choosing to step aside and who is likely to succeed him.
Recent upheaval in the Middle East has been a mixed bag for Hamas. On the one hand, it has empowered groups like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which controls nearly half of the new parliament, prompting Hamas leaders to boast about an "Islamic Spring" and emboldening backers in the West Bank. But the very same regional changes have cast it adrift from its headquarters in Syria and prompted Meshal to suggest non-militarized confrontation with Israel, to the chagrin of some in the movement.
The outcome of the Hamas leadership change could impact relations with Israel and the US, which consider it a terrorist group, and the rest of the international community.
"It is important to see whether this vacuum will be filled by the moderates or a hawk, because this will affect the future of Hamas and Palestinian politics," says Mohammed Dejani, a political science professor at Al Quds University who believes the Muslim Brotherhood victory will force Hamas to mellow.
Islamic Spring misread?
"People are misreading the Islamic movements in Egypt and Tunis. It is an Islamic Spring, but it's not an Islamic Spring Hamas thinks about. There has been a religious revival, but in a sense of moderation and not in a sense of religious fundamentalism."
Meshal was once considered more of a hard-liner compared to Hamas? leaders in the Gaza Strip. However, talk of a shift away from military action and accepting a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have made him look like a pragmatist. He has also been spearheading efforts toward reconciliation with President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party, which support talks with Israel and reject military confrontation.
He had ample reason for the apparent shift. In recent months Hamas started moving staff and families out of Damascus because of the fighting in Syria. Observers believe that Hamas is seeking to open a headquarters in Egypt, and wants to signal that it has the potential to recast itself as more moderate.?
Speculation about Mr. Meshal?s departure ranged from losing a power struggle with rivals from the Gaza Strip to a desire to go along with regional trends toward democracy and regime change.
That said, few expect that Hamas? evolution will be as far reaching as recognizing Israel and approving peace talks. That would risk making the organization look like President Abbas? Fatah party, which is faulted by Palestinians for failing to win independence though negotiations.
Hard-liners astonished
Even with the current signs of change, Hamas risks alienating its foot soldiers in the Gaza Strip with conciliatory moves.?Meshal raised eyebrows with his comments on non-militarized grassroots resistance in a December interview with The Associated Press in which he said that grassroots "popular" protests have the "power of a tsunami."
SEATTLE ? Tens of thousands of Pacific Northwest residents faced the prospect of a chilly weekend after a powerful storm brought snow and ice and left a tangle of fallen trees and damaged power lines. Several Oregon counties saw their worst flooding in more than a decade.
The National Weather Service forecast more rain and winds gusting as high as 40 mph Saturday in Western Washington, a combination that could bring down even more snow-laden and ice-damaged trees.
Nearly 230,000 customers were without power late Friday night in Western Washington, about 220,000 of them Puget Sound Energy customers.
The utility has brought in repair crews from across the West and planned to field more than 800 linemen on Saturday, in addition to tree-trimming crews, spokesman Roger Thompson said.
"The wind is a wild card that could set us back," he said, adding PSE hoped to have the majority of the outages restored by Sunday, although some customers will probably be without power into early next week.
The Weather Service predicted weekend lows in the mid-30s.
Several warming shelters have been opened in the area to aid people whose homes are without heat.
Despite warnings from emergency officials, the first cases of possible carbon monoxide poisoning surfaced Friday night. Two families in the Seattle suburb of Kent were taken to hospitals after suffering separate cases of possible poisoning. Both had been using charcoal barbecues indoors for heat.
The storm was already blamed for three deaths. A mother and her 1-year-old son died after torrential rain on Wednesday swept away a car from an Albany, Ore., grocery store parking lot. An elderly man was fatally injured Thursday by a falling tree as he was backing an all-terrain vehicle out of a backyard shed near Seattle.
On Washington's Mount Rainier, a blizzard kept rescuers from searching Friday for two campers and two climbers missing since early this week. Just east of that region, about 200 skiers and workers were able to leave the Crystal Mountain ski resort after transportation officials reopened the area's main highway, closed two days earlier by fallen trees.
Near Tacoma, three people escaped unharmed Friday when a heavy snow and ice load on the roof of an Allied Ice plant caused the building to collapse. West Pierce Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Hallie McCurdy said they heard loud noises and got out just in time.
As floodwaters receded, residents of Oregon's Willamette Valley began taking stock of damage in soaked cities.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber paid a visit Friday to the hard-hit town of Turner, where 100 homes were damaged or still underwater.
Friday's mainly dry streets belied a morning of terror barely 24 hours earlier, when emergency crews conducted 55 boat rescues as water filled streets, homes and businesses.
"You just watch the water rise hour by hour, and there's nothing you can do about it," Mayor Paul Thomas said. "It's a long, slower sort of torture."
Kitzhaber said the state would work with local and federal officials to try and get disaster funding to Turner and other communities hard-hit by flooding.
The governor praised residents' strong sense of community as neighbors helped each other.
Nancy Ko saw that spirit first-hand. From the safety of higher ground, she watched a live feed from a security camera as water rose over the curb and lapped against the front door of the convenience store and cafe she owns just feet from Mill Creek.
Out of the blue, five strangers showed up and plopped sandbags in front of the door, preventing damage that she believes would have otherwise been far more severe.
"Just a godsend," said Ko, a Korean immigrant who has owned the store for six years. "Good person, amazing persons."
Elsewhere in the Willamette Valley, a 35-year-old woman who drove a Ford Mustang into 4 feet of floodwater was plucked from the roof Friday by deputies who arrived by boat to save her. It was one of a number of dramatic rescues in western Oregon, left sodden by as much as 10 inches of rain in a day and a half that has brought region's worst flooding in 15 years.
Interstate 5, the main road connecting Seattle and Portland, was briefly closed near Centralia so crews could remove fallen power lines.
Much of Washington's capital, Olympia, was without power.
Gov. Chris Gregoire's office, legislative buildings and other state agencies in Olympia lost electricity for several hours before power was restored. The governor thanked repair crews late Friday by hand-delivering peanut butter cookies.
The storm was "a constant reminder of who's in charge. Mother Nature is in charge, she gives us a wake-up call every once in a while, this is one of those," Gregoire said.
It was still snowing in the Cascades, with up to 2 feet possible in the mountains over the weekend.
At Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle, airlines were trying to accommodate passengers whose flights were canceled Thursday. The airport's largest carrier, Alaska Airlines, canceled 50 of its 120 daily departures Friday. On Thursday, Alaska and sister airline Horizon canceled 310 flights to and from Seattle, affecting 29,000 passengers.
In Seattle, Carly Nelson was negotiating an icy sidewalk on her way to Starbucks. Nelson has been frequenting her neighborhood coffee shop to avoid cabin fever.
"I'm pretty tired of it. It gets old pretty fast. All my friends are stranded in little pockets and you can't get together to go to yoga," she said. "I'm just looking forward to being able to go wherever I want to go."
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Cooper reported from Oregon. Associated Press writers Doug Esser, Ted Warren, Rachel La Corte, Nigel Duara and Nicholas K. Geranios contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (AP) ? The price of oil lingered around $100 a barrel this week, helping to keep retail gasoline prices at their highest levels ever for this time of year.
Crude has ranged from about $98 per barrel to around $102 per barrel this week. On Friday benchmark oil fell $2.21 to end at $98.33 per barrel in New York. The national average for gasoline was $3.38 per gallon Friday. Pump prices peaked at about $4 a gallon in May as crude oil approached $114 a barrel.
Oil and gasoline prices are staying high now because of tension in the Middle East and worries about Europe sliding into a recession.
Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, if the U.S. and other countries impose more sanctions on it because of its nuclear program. Many analysts doubt that Iran could set up a blockade for long, but any supply shortages would cause supplies to tighten.
Gas prices are likely to move up or down based on the outcome, PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said. If the situation calms down, retail gas prices could fall from 25 cents to 50 cents a gallon. If the situation intensifies, prices could increase by that much.
"It's that much of a wild card," Flynn said. "I think it's a very volatile situation and I think we could go either way."
Europe is still struggling with massive debt problems that threaten to drive the region into recession. The uncertainty about how the crisis will play out is helping to keep oil prices up as well.
Retail gasoline consumption in the U.S. has been falling steadily for the past 10 months, according to surveys by MasterCard SpendingPulse. Although recent data points to the U.S. economy slowly improving, many drivers appear to be sticking with habits they picked up during the recession ? watching how much they spend on expensive gas and combining trips to save on fuel.
Those habits may continue. Flynn and other analysts think that the national average for gas could reach $4 per gallon again by spring, as refiners switch to more expensive anti-smog blends ahead of the summer driving season.
In other energy trading, natural gas fell 2 cents to finish at $2.34 per 1,000 cubic feet. The price remains near a 10-year low because a mild winter has cut demand and supplies remain plentiful. Heating oil fell 5 cents to end at $2.99 per gallon and gasoline futures fell 3 cents to $2.78 per gallon.
Brent crude fell $1.69 to finish at $109.86 per barrel in London.
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AP Energy Writer Chris Kahn contributed to this report.
ANKARA, Turkey ? A hospital in southern Turkey on Saturday performed the world's first triple limb transplant, attaching two arms and one leg to a 34-year-old man, an official said.
At the same time, a team of doctors at Akdeniz University Hospital, in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, transplanted the face of the same donor onto another patient ? a 19-year-old man. It was Turkey's first face transplant.
"Today, we have put our signature on a world success," Dr. Israfil Kurtcephe, the university hospital's rector, told reporters after the two operations. "For the first time a hospital has transplanted two arms and a leg on one patient."
Dr. Omer Ozkan, who headed a 25-member team, said both patients were being cared for in the intensive care unit and were "doing well."
"We have a critical 10-15-day period ahead of us for both operations, but if we pull through this period we will be making history," Ozkan said.
The full face transplant lasted some nine hours, while the limb transplants took 12 hours.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said Atilla Kavdir, the 34-year-old receiving the limbs, lost his arms and right leg when he was 11 after he hit power lines outside his home with an iron rod to scare away pigeons and received an electric shock.
The teenage face transplant recipient was burned in a house fire when he was a baby.
The limbs and face became available early on Saturday and the hospital began the operation at 3:15 a.m., Anadolu said.
The world's first double arm transplant was in Germany in 2008, while the first double leg transplant took place in Spain in July 2011.
More than a dozen face transplants have been carried out around the world, starting in November 2005 with a French woman who was mauled by her dog. The first face transplant in the U.S. was in December 2008.
EASLEY, S.C. ? Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is drawing big, enthusiastic crowds and fending off new attacks from GOP front-runner Mitt Romney while reveling in a strong debate performance and a nod from tea party favorite Sarah Palin.
Now he's set to pick up the endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who officials say is abandoning his presidential bid to back the former House speaker. Adding to the intrigue, a bus emblazoned with Herman Cain's name sat in the hotel parking lot where Perry was to speak and endorse Gingrich. Cain, a tea party favorite, dropped out of the race late last year.
For all the positive developments for Gingrich, it's unclear whether his latest burst of momentum, reflected in both internal and public polling, will be enough for him to overtake Romney in Saturday's South Carolina primary. Complicating his effort is another conservative ? Rick Santorum ? who threatens to siphon his support.
And now, just two days before South Carolina votes, Gingrich is facing a fresh challenge that could undercut his efforts to cast himself as the strongest conservative challenger to Romney.
ABC News said it will air Thursday night an interview with Gingrich's second wife on its late-night news program "Nightline." The network has not indicated what the ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, said in the interview, but ABC planned to release excerpts ahead of Thursday night's GOP debate and "Nightline" itself.
In an interview Thursday with NBC's "Today" show, Gingrich declined to talk in detail about any damage to his campaign that might come from the interview.
"I'm not going to say anything bad about Marianne," Gingrich said, adding that he thought it was wrong for the network to be "intruding into family things that are more than a decade old."
The mere existence of the interview shines a spotlight on a part of Gingrich's past that could turn off Republican voters in a state filled with religious and cultural conservatives who may cringe at his two divorces and acknowledged marital infidelities.
Marianne Gingrich has said Gingrich proposed to her before the divorce from his first wife was final in 1981; they were married six months later. Her marriage to Gingrich ended in divorce in 2000, and Gingrich has admitted he'd already taken up with Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide who would become his third wife. The speaker who pilloried President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky was himself having an affair at the time.
Underscoring the potential threat to his rise, Gingrich's campaign released a statement from his two daughters from his first marriage ? Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman ? suggesting that Marianne Gingrich's comments may be suspect given the emotional toll divorce takes on everyone involved.
"Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets and sometimes differing memories of events," their statement said.
A CNN/Time South Carolina poll released Wednesday showed Gingrich in second place with support from 23 percent of likely primary voters, having gained 5 percentage points in the past two weeks. Romney led in the poll with 33 percent, but he had slipped some since the last survey. Santorum was in third place, narrowly ahead of Texas Rep. Ron Paul and well ahead of Perry.
Regardless of the South Carolina outcome, Gingrich was making plans to continue to Florida, which holds its primary Jan. 31.
"There is one candidate who can give you a conservative nominee and only one candidate who can stop Mitt Romney," Gingrich told an overflow crowd of about 400 at Mutt's BBQ in Easley on Wednesday. "A vote for anyone else is a vote that allows Mitt Romney to potentially be our nominee."
Confidence exudes from Gingrich, who rose in Iowa only to be knocked off course after sustaining $3 million in attack ads in Iowa from an outside group that supports Romney. Gingrich posted dismal showings in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
By the time the race turned to South Carolina, he was sharply criticizing Romney as a social moderate who is timid about attacking the nation's economic troubles. He also raised questions about Romney's experience as a venture capitalist, while a super PAC that supports Gingrich aggressively attacked Romney as a vicious corporate raider. And Gingrich ripped Romney for standing by as a super PAC run by former top Romney political aides continued to attack him in South Carolina.
Romney ended up on the defensive and by Monday night's debate, Gingrich was back in command. He earned a standing ovation when he labeled Democratic President Barack Obama "the best food stamp president in American history." The clip became the centerpiece of a television ad that began airing Wednesday as Gingrich worked to cast himself as the Republican with the best chance of beating Obama in the fall ? stealing a page from Romney's playbook.
Said Gingrich senior adviser David Winston, "His taking on Barack Obama showed a toughness and an electability that the electorate is looking for."
On Tuesday, Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, announced that, if she lived in South Carolina, she would vote for Gingrich to keep the Republican race going.
Since then, Romney's campaign, probably sensing Gingrich's rise and working to deflect from its own troubles, has been trying to undercut Gingrich's claim that he helped President Ronald Reagan create millions of jobs in the 1980s, likening it to "Al Gore taking credit for the Internet."
Romney also dispatched supporters to make the case that Gingrich is erratic and unreliable. A new Romney Web video features former Republican Rep. Susan Molinari of New York saying Gingrich lacked discipline and labeling his time as speaker "leadership by chaos."
Gingrich, for his part, has been helped by the fact that Santorum has seemed unable to capitalize on the endorsement of a group of influential Christian conservatives. Those who aren't backing the former Pennsylvania senator seem to be coming Gingrich's way.
Gingrich picked up the endorsement of Florence pastor William Monroe on Wednesday, after receiving the backing of former Perry supporter James Livingston, a retired Marine who had been featured in an advertisement for the Texas governor. Greenville businesswoman Vivian Wong, who had endorsed former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, threw her support to Gingrich on Sunday, the night Huntsman withdrew from the race.
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Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
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