WASHINGTON (AP) ? Americans' confidence in the economy rose to its highest level in more than five years, bolstered by a more optimistic outlook for hiring.
The Conference Board, a New York-based private research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index jumped to 81.4 in June. That's the best reading since January 2008. And it is up from May's reading of 74.3, which was revised slightly downward from 76.2.
Consumers' confidence in the economy is watched closely because their spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.
The report shows consumers are more positive about current economic conditions and have a more optimistic view of the economy and job market in the next six months.
Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said that "suggests the pace of growth is unlikely to slow in the short-term, and may even moderately pick up."
Employers added 175,000 jobs in May, nearly matching the average monthly gain for the past year. That's enough to slowly lower the unemployment rate. The rate ticked up to 7.6 percent last month but has fallen 0.6 percentage points in the past year.
Americans have been resilient this year, despite tax increases and steep government spending cuts. Consumer spending rose at the fastest pace in two years in the first three months of the year. That helped the overall economy grow at a 2.4 percent annual pace during the January-March quarter.
Economists forecast that overall economic growth is slowing to a 2 percent annual pace in the April-June quarter, in part because they expect consumers have eased up on spending from the robust first-quarter pace.
So far, reports on consumer spending for the second quarter have been mixed. In April, consumer spending fell as income was unchanged. But spending appears to have rebounded in May, based on a preliminary report on retail sales. Americans spent more on cars, home improvements and sporting goods, boosting retail sales 0.6 percent.
The Commerce Department will release a more complete report on May consumer spending and income on Thursday.
The Conference Board survey is conducted in the first half of the month. So the June report didn't capture the impact of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments last week after the Fed's policy meeting.
Bernanke said the Fed could begin to slow its bond purchases by the end of the year. Since then, stocks have plunged and interest rates have spiked.
(ACTIVISM) OKLAHOMA CITY ? Arbor, the painting rescue dog, is slowly becoming one of the world?s most adored painters. Her most recent painting, Hope Through The Rubble, sold for $1,000, with all the proceeds going to the Central Oklahoma Humane Society. And previously, she has painted in support of abused animals. Not to burst the late Vincent Van Gogh?s bubble, but that number makes Arbor a more successful living artist. Continue reading below, to find out how the painting?s proceeds are helping the victims of the Oklahoma City tornado, and learn who is the new lucky owner of Arbor?s most recent work. ? Global Animal
Las Vegas rescue dog, Arbor, paints once again, this time the proceeds will benefit victims of the Oklahoma City tornado. Photo Credit: Facebook
Oklahoma City News, Ted Malave
OKLAHOMA CITY ? Rescue dog, turned internationally recognized painter, Arbor the Painting Dog, sold her latest painting, ?Hope Through the Rubble,? for $1,000. Arbor won?t be burying any of the money in her backyard, however, as 100% of the net proceeds are going to benefit the Central Oklahoma Humane Society.
The COHS was one of the primary organizations providing care and shelter for pets that were displaced after the devastating May 20th tornado outside of Oklahoma City.
The auction ended Thursday night, receiving 79 bids, with the winning bid going to Michelle Barker of Wichita, KS.
Michelle has ties to Oklahoma and states, ?I wanted to take part, in a small way, in the extraordinary generous gesture and gift created by Arbor to help the COHS.?
The artwork will be a birthday gift to her best friend, Shadow, her Labrador/Border Collie mix, who will be 10 years old in July.
This is Arbor?s highest selling painting to date trumping her previous high of $453. Arbor?s parents, Bryce and Jennifer Henderson, of Henderson, NV, have an inquiry in with Guinness World Records to see if this is the highest selling painting, by a dog, ever sold.
The Henderson?s were elated with the final selling price of the painting.
?It?s hard to believe,? said Bryce, ?that a little over two years ago Arbor was a stray sitting in a kennel at the county shelter with no home or future. She is a great example of the many wonderful pets you can find at your local shelter and we hope it encourages others to adopt.?
Amy Shrodes, Director of Outreach with the COHS says they already have plans for the donation, ?The funds raised will be used to support our Adoption Program, and will help enable us to find loving homes for the homeless dogs and cats from the May 20th tornado.? She adds, ?We are so thankful to be selected as the beneficiary of one of Arbor?s masterpieces during our time of need. Our animals consider her a role model for the canine population.?
The painting, entitled ?Hope Through the Rubble,? was painted entirely by Arbor as she holds a paintbrush in her mouth. The only assistance she receives is applying paint on the brush and an occasional rotation of the canvas.
More Oklahoma City News:?http://kfor.com/2013/06/14/arbor-the-painting-dog-auctions-off-work-for-1000/
Watch this heartwarming video of Arbor painting ?Hope Through the Rubble,? interspersed with pictures of pets found and reunited after the storm:
DONATE: Global Animal is collecting donations for vetted animal rescue organizations working on the ground to help with medical costs for injured animals, boarding and food, as well as helping reunite pets with their guardians in Oklahoma.
Your compassion in action and support of Global Animal Foundation can help save the lives of animals in crisis.
PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) ? At least 13 people were killed and 32 were injured when a bus carrying Romanian tourists swayed off a bridge and plunged into a deep ravine in central Montenegro on Sunday, police said.
Montenegro Interior Minister Rasko Konjevic said the bus with 46 people on board crashed some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the capital, Podgorica. He said the bus was traveling from Romania to Montenegro's Adriatic coast.
Police said the bus plunged from a bridge over the Moraca river during a rain storm and crashed some 40 meters (130 feet) into the ravine. A helicopter was used in the rescue operation mounted by Montenegro police.
Konjevic said "sadly, this death toll could climb further" because seven of the passengers were seriously injured.
The winding road that leads from Serbia in the north through the Moraca canyon and then to the seacoast is notorious for traffic accidents because it is narrow and slippery in wet weather conditions.
They look sleek, sexy and dapper in their 1960s finery, but the cast of "Mad Men" isn't always so polished. In fact, sometimes when the stars who bring Don Draper, Roger Sterling and the rest of the characters to life aren't playing the roles they're most famous for, they're barely recognizable.
Before you say "so long" to the Sterling Cooper & Partners gang for the season on Sunday night, take a look at our roundup of some of the (not-so-) familiar faces.
AMC / NBC
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on "Mad Men" and Abner on "30 Rock."
Don Draper's made some serious mistakes on "Mad Men" this season, but thankfully, the look on the right isn't one of them. No, that's just John Hamm spoofing old-timey, distasteful comedies in an "Alfie and Abner" skit from a live episode of "30 Rock."
AMC / Netflix
John Slattery as Roger Sterling on "Mad Men" and Dr. Norman on "Arrested Development."
If it looks like Roger Sterling has seen better days in the second shot, that's because the actor who plays him, John Slattery, took on the part of a washed up, dirty doctor in the recent return of "Arrested Development."
AMC / CBS
Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson on "Mad Men" and Cynthia Parks on "Picket Fences."
Peggy Olson's grown into quite the copywriter at Sterling Cooper & Partners, but way before that, actress Elisabeth Moss hit the small screen when she was still small. She made her first appearance in the quirky dramedy "Picket Fences" in 1992.
AMC / 20th Century Television
Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell on "Mad Men" and Connor on "Angel."
Even Pete Campbell -- or rather Vincent Kartheiser -- had a fresh-faced look on TV back in the day. Long before joining "Mad Men," Kartheiser played Connor, the non-vamp son of the fang-bearing lead, on "Angel."
AMC / FOX
Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris on "Mad Men" and Saffron on "Firefly."
If you're a fan of Joan Harris' just-so hair, tailored dresses and crimson lipstick, then Christina Hendricks' turn on "Firefly" might not interest you. But if you want to see Hendricks' range (and don't mind seeing her in far fewer clothes), then be sure to catch both of her decade-old episodes.
AMC / Capri Films
Jessica Pare as Megan Draper on "Mad Men" and Jennifer on "Suck."
Yikes! Megan Draper goes from Don's secretary to wife on "Mad Men," but actress Jessica Pare went from alive to undead in the movie "Suck."
AMC / NBC
Alison Brie as Trudy Campbell on "Mad Men" and Annie Edison on "Community."
When actress Alison Brie isn't playing the part of Pete's long-suffering wife, Trudy Campbell, she's laughing it up as the brainy and beautiful Annie on the sitcom "Community."
AMC / Warner Bros. Pictures
Jared Harris as Lane Pryce on "Mad Men" and Moriarty in "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows."
Rest in peace, Lane Pryce. Fans of the fallen character can see actor Jared Harris back in action in the 2011 film "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," playing the ultimate match for the sleuth -- the devious Professor Moriarty.
The season six finale of "Mad Men" airs Sunday at 10 p.m. on AMC.
NEW YORK (PIX11) ? In response to a story we first reported Thursday, one U.S. Senator is calling this situation involving the fed?s flood insurance program ?outrageous.?
Here?s the situation:? we?ve learned thousands of homeowners are being blindsided with flood claim denials on damage to their foundations, that was clearly caused by Sandy?s flood waters.? The Sass family from Manasquan, New Jersey is the perfect example.? Like most coastal homeowners, they have flood insurance through the federal government?s National Flood Insurance Program, NFIP.? When they noticed clear cracks in their foundation after the storm, they thought for certain, they were covered.? Then, their claim was denied, not because the damage was being disputed, but because the policy language (which was written by Congress in recent years) says it ?will not insure loss to property caused directly by earth movement, even if the movement is caused by flood.?
Angie Hu, a spokeswoman for U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sent this statement, saying, ?Senator Gillibrand finds this report about thousands of homeowners having their flood insurance claims denied due to bureaucratic fine print to be outrageous. The Senator is looking into ways to change this policy so families devastated by super storm Sandy get the resources needed to rebuild and recover.?
It is a good thing she is looking into this because it will literally take an act of Congress to change the language so these people are protected by the very policy they paid into.
We contacted the NFIP through FEMA?s DC office and no one has called or emailed back.
Keep in mind, this is the very same flood program that is also requiring people to elevate their homes or else they risk coverage refusal completely. And for those residents who have faulty foundations, they cannot raise their homes unless they fix their foundations.? So those folks are either forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild from the ground up or they have to walk away from their homes completely.
It's been almost half a year since Vertu launched its first-ever Android phone, the TI, and now the company's decided to throw in a couple of limited editions to lure the big spenders. As pictured above, the new Vertu TI Colours collection is wrapped in either "Sunset Red" or "Midnight Blue" calf leather, and only 1,000 units are made for each color. As per typical Vertu style, there's a unique number etched on the back to indicate which of the 1,000 units yours is.
The rest of this hand-crafted, matt grey titanium phone remains unchanged otherwise, namely its 3.7-inch tough sapphire screen, Android 4.0, 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, 64GB storage plus an 8-megapixel camera. And of course, the phone still comes with the famed Vertu Concierge, a "100 percent independent" service that CEO Perry Oosting is very proud of. To join this exclusive club, you'll have to somehow fork out a whopping HK$90,000 or €8,900 (about US$11,700) -- just a tad more expensive than the TI Titanium Pure Black edition, but also more flamboyant. This author already spotted these new phones at Vertu's Hong Kong Airport store, and he's currently accepting donations.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israel carried out its second air strike in days on Syria early on Sunday, a Western intelligence source said, in an attack that shook Damascus with a series of powerful blasts and drove columns of fire into the night sky. Israel declined comment but Syria accused the Jewish state of striking a military facility just north of the capital - one which its jets had first targeted three months ago. Iran, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and an arch-enemy for Israel, urged states in the region to resist the Israeli attack.
Bomb hits convoy carrying Qataris in Somalia, eight dead
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suicide bomber hit a convoy of cars carrying Qatari officials through the center of Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Sunday, killing eight Somalis, officials said. The visiting delegation of Qataris, who were travelling in the Somali interior minister's bullet-proof vehicle, were "safe", a security officer told Reuters, without going into further detail. The minister was not in the car at the time.
North Korea says no plan to use American as bargaining chip
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Sunday it had no intention of using an American it sentenced to hard labor for 15 years as a bargaining chip in talks with the United States. North Korea sentenced Kenneth Bae, a Korean American who traveled to visit North Korea last November, on Thursday for what is said were crimes against the state.
Sharif says Pakistan should reconsider support for U.S. war on terror
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Nawaz Sharif, seen as the front-runner in Pakistan's election race, said the country should reconsider its support for the U.S. war on Islamist militancy and suggested that he was in favor of negotiations with the Taliban. Pakistan backed American efforts to stamp out global militancy after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and was rewarded with billions of dollars in U.S. aid.
Seven U.S. troops killed in Afghan bomb, insider attack
KABUL (Reuters) - Seven U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in Afghanistan on Saturday, NATO and Western officials in Kabul said, capping off one of the bloodiest weeks for international forces this year. The attacks underscored the dangers faced by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), even as they hand over much of the fighting to Afghans ahead of a planned withdrawal next year.
Bangladesh urges no harsh EU measures over factory deaths
DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh urged the European Union on Saturday not to take tough measures against its economically crucial textile industry in response to the collapse of a garment factory that killed 550 people. Bodies were still being pulled from the ruins on Saturday as tearful families stood by waiting for news of victims of the country's worst ever industrial accident.
Insight: Egypt opposition can't harvest Brotherhood unpopularity
CAIRO (Reuters) - It's harvest time in Egypt but the secular opposition is reaping scant benefit from the Muslim Brotherhood's difficulties in government, two years after an Arab Spring uprising swept away President Hosni Mubarak. Many Egyptians are looking to the army, or to more radical Salafi Muslim groups, rather than to liberal or leftist parties as Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and his cabinet struggle to revive a sick economy, restore security and build institutions.
First oil from South Sudan's Upper Nile to reach Sudan May 10
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - South Sudan will ship its first oil from its largest fields in Upper Nile state to export facilities in Sudan on May 10, Sudan's oil ministry told state news agency SUNA on Saturday. In March, the African neighbors agreed to resume cross-border oil flows.
Junior Italy minister removed after comment on gays
ROME (Reuters) - A junior Italian equal opportunities minister was removed from her post on Saturday less than 24 hours after being sworn in to the new coalition government, after she said gays invited discrimination by "ghettoizing" themselves. The abrupt departure of Michaela Biancofiore to another ministry was a fresh reminder of just how delicate Prime Minister Enrico Letta's fledgling left-right coalition is.
Hungarian far-right decries 'Israeli plot' before Jewish meeting
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Leaders of a far-right Hungarian party accused Israelis of plotting to buy up the country as several hundred nationalists protested on Saturday on the eve of a meeting of the World Jewish Congress in Budapest. Senior figures from the opposition Jobbik party, the third biggest with 43 seats in the 386-member parliament, harangued the crowd with charges that Israeli President Shimon Peres had praised Jews for buying property in Hungary.
When Google asked what we'd do if we had Glass, it was no doubt hoping we'd produce some world-changing ideas. We now know at least a few exist, courtesy of physics teacher Andrew Vanden Heuvel. He's long been hoping to use the wearable tech for remote teaching and one-on-one sessions, and the Glass Explorer program has given him the chance to do just that. His first stop? None other than CERN. Courtesy of a trip for Google's new Explorer Story video series, Vanden Heuvel is the first person to teach a science course while inside the Large Hadron Collider tunnel, streaming his perspective to students thousands of miles away. While we don't know if other Explorer Stories will be quite as inspiring, we'll admit to being slightly jealous -- where was Glass when we were kids?
Was Howard Kurtz fired? The Daily Beast retracted his factually incorrect blog post about Jason Collins today, and 'both sides agreed it was best to part company,' he tweeted.
By Ryan Nakashima,?Associated Press / May 2, 2013
Howard Kurtz, seen here at a movie premier in April 2012, has left The Daily Beast. Earlier today, the website retracted one of his blog posts about the coming out of NBA player Jason Collins. Both Kurtz and Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown confirmed his departure over Twitter, though Kurtz did not acknowledge any link between the retraction and his departure.
Evan Agostini / AP / file
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Columnist Howard Kurtz left The Daily Beast on Thursday, the same day the website retracted one of his blog posts in which he mistakenly accused NBA player Jason Collins of hiding a previous engagement to a woman before declaring this week that he is gay.
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A person close to the matter said Kurtz was fired because this was the latest in a series of high-profile errors, which detracted from the site's efforts to bolster the credibility of its news coverage. The gaffe also comes as The Daily Beast tries to succeed only online after dropping its print magazine, Newsweek, in December.
The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
A spokeswoman for CNN, where Kurtz hosts the TV show "Reliable Sources," said the network is reviewing the matter. Kurtz's CNN show is about "how journalists do their jobs and how the media affect the stories they cover," according to the website. Kurtz is a former media columnist with The Washington Post and was The Daily Beast's Washington bureau chief.
CNN is also looking into Kurtz's relationship with the website Daily Download, which lists him as being on its board of advisers. A Huffington Post story on Wednesday noted that Kurtz promoted the site with more than 120 links in April, compared with around 20 for The Daily Beast and fewer for his CNN show.
In the retracted Daily Beast post, titled "Jason Collins' Other Secret," Kurtz says Collins "didn't come clean" about the fact that he was engaged to be married to a woman before declaring he was gay.
But Collins does just that in the eighth paragraph of the Sports Illustrated piece that came out Monday.
"When I was younger I dated women. I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue," Collins wrote.
Mophie's usual quality shines through with this HTC One battery case, but you've got to be prepared for a major increase in size
Let's get this out of the way: The Mophie Juice Pack takes the svelte HTC One and bulks it up. A lot. It's a big case full of battery -- 2,500 mAh, to be precise -- that takes an already lanky phone, makes it even taller and fills it out like a blogger at a buffet. You need to know this before hefting this the Juice Pack.
But those of use who have used the Juice Packs before know that this is the trade-off for having a combination case and battery, an amalgamation that was made popular by the iPhone and has become that much more important as more phone manufacturers seal the batteries inside.
With a week left in an already successful Kickstarter campaign (approaching three times its initial $50,000 goal), the makers of the MiiPC are giving backers the chance to increase their system's memory. Add $15 before the close of the project and you'll be able to double things up, from 1GB to 2GB of RAM and 4GB to 8GB of storage -- the move comes in response to pledger feedback, according to the company. And speaking of listening, the makers of the parental-friendly Android PC are also tossing in a free built-in mic for those who pre-ordered, just for good measure.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles against air quality regulators who are requiring the city to do more to control dust on a lake that was siphoned dry a century ago to provide water for the booming metropolis.
U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii granted a motion Wednesday to dismiss the lawsuit in the latest chapter in a decades-old spat over water rights in the arid region 200 miles north of Los Angeles. The lawsuit was filed last year in U.S. District Court in Fresno.
The conflict began in 1913, when Los Angeles began diverting water from Owens Lake, which then went dry in 1926. The lakebed has since been plagued with massive dust storms and poor air quality despite efforts by the city to keep dust down.
The scandal created by the diversion project was fodder for the 1974 film "Chinatown," and an aqueduct carrying away the water was dynamited repeatedly by angry residents after increased pumping in the 1920s combined with a drought ruined many farms.
Since a 1998 agreement, Los Angeles has spent more than $1 billion to tamp down the dust as part of the nation's largest dust mitigation project, mainly by putting water back into more than 40 square miles of the lakebed.
The utility is currently working to control dust on another 3-square-mile parcel, said Ted Schade, air pollution control officer for the Great Basin Air Pollution Control District.
The city alleged in its lawsuit that 2011 orders from the pollution control district to further increase the mitigation were excessive and questioned whether Los Angeles was even responsible for problems in that area of the lake.
Joe Ramallo, spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said in an email Thursday that the judge's ruling was largely procedural and didn't address the core issue.
"We remain committed to exploring all available means for stopping the enormous waste of California's scarce water supply and protecting consumers from the wasteful spending of Owens Valley regulators," he said.
The city has a lawsuit still pending in state court and has proposed a project that would reduce water use at Owens Lake by 50 percent by using vegetation, ground water, gravel and other means to reduce dust.
The federal lawsuit, which also named the California Air Resources Board, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, had asked the court for relief from the "systematic and unlawful issuance to the city of dust control orders and fee assessments."
The department said last year when it filed the action that additional dust control would cost up to $400 million when each ratepayer already provides $90 a year to improve air quality around Owens Lake. The city uses 30 billion gallons annually ? enough to fill the Rose Bowl each day to overflowing for one year ? to keep dust down, the city said.
The latest legal ruling could come at a particularly bad time for the city.
Survey results released Thursday showed snow pack in California was at 17 percent of normal, an ominous situation for a state that depends on a steady stream of snowmelt to replenish reservoirs throughout the summer.
Owens Lake air quality regulators agreed this summer will be particularly dry and are working with the city to use less water on dust, said Schade, whose pollution district covers Inyo, Mono and Alpine counties in a vast region northeast of Los Angeles.
One solution, in addition to placing vegetation and gravel, includes spot-treating areas that are producing the most dust, he said.
"We realize that this is a dry year," Schade said. "We acknowledge the fact that they are putting water on the lakebed, and we recognize the value of that water."
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Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus
ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, fresh from winning a confidence vote in parliament, told Germany on Tuesday his government would meet its budget commitments but expected Europe to drop its austerity mantra and do more to lift growth.
Speaking in Berlin on his first foreign visit since taking office on Sunday, Letta warned that Italy's February election, which saw a surge of support for parties attacking the European Union, showed that a change of course was needed.
"The message which has arrived from the Italian electorate should not be underestimated," he said, standing next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a news conference.
Merkel, seen by many in southern countries like Italy, Spain and Greece as the champion of Europe's increasingly unpopular belt-tightening approach, struck a conciliatory tone, saying "budget consolidation and growth need not be contradictory".
"The goal is not deficit or growth numbers but getting people back to work," she said.
The 46-year-old Letta, whose coalition is built on an uneasy alliance of his center-left Democratic Party and the center-right People of Freedom party of Silvio Berlusconi, has joined a growing chorus in Europe calling for an end to austerity.
"We have done and will continue to do everything needed to keep our finances in order but we believe Europe must pursue policies for growth," he said, adding that productive investment should be promoted as strongly as fiscal consolidation.
Letta took the helm of the euro zone's third biggest economy in the middle of a severe crisis, with unemployment at 20-year highs and a recession, already matching the longest since World War Two, seen dragging on all year.
He has already come under pressure from coalition partners to negotiate budget leeway for Rome with its EU partners. But he faces opposition in Germany, which has its own elections in September and where voters are strongly in favor of making heavily indebted states like Italy cut spending.
Even before the vote of confidence in the Senate on Tuesday, Berlusconi threatened to pull his People of Freedom out of the coalition if Letta does not abolish an unpopular housing tax.
HOUSING TAX
Berlusconi, who is not in cabinet but is playing a decisive role behind the scenes, added that the government must re-negotiate Italy's EU deficit commitments, echoing similar comments made earlier by two of Letta's own ministers.
Under strong pressure from Berlusconi, Letta has already agreed to halt the housing tax levy due in June and is looking at stopping a planned increase in sales tax, due to come into force in July.
But he has not said how he will pay for the 4 billion euro revenue shortfall.
Asked whether he had discussed the tax changes with Merkel, Letta said no country had to justify its internal fiscal policies so long as it maintained its overall budget targets.
"The ways in which we will find the resources are up to us, I don't have to explain it to anyone," he said.
Italy's 2013 deficit target now stands at 2.9 percent of gross domestic product, a notch below the EU ceiling of three percent, but its public debt is set to reach a towering 130 percent of gross domestic product this year, second only to Greece in the euro zone.
On Wednesday, Letta travels to Paris where he is likely to find a more sympathetic hearing from French President Francois Hollande, who is also pushing for a switch of emphasis towards growth rather than austerity.
He will then go to Brussels, where he plans talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
Unemployment figures on Tuesday underlined the depth of the economic crisis in Italy with an overall jobless rate of 11.5 percent in March and youth unemployment running at 38.4 percent.
With social tensions rising as a result of the crisis, both the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement led by comic Beppe Grillo and Berlusconi's PDL campaigned strongly against the EU in the recent election, blaming it for the austerity policies followed by former prime minister Mario Monti.
The country's biggest labor unions on Tuesday said they would hold a joint protest on June 22 to push for more job creation policies.
(With additional reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Adrian Croft in Brussels; writing by Steve Scherer and James Mackenzie; editing by Mike Collett-White)
Contact: Alisa Z Machalek alisa.machalek@nih.gov NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
NIH-funded study reveals protein, fatty molecules and cellular energy work together during endocytosis
Cells ingest proteins and engulf bacteria by a gymnastic, shape-shifting process called endocytosis. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health revealed how a key protein, dynamin, drives the action.
Endocytosis lets cells absorb nutrients, import growth factors, prevent infections and accomplish many other vital tasks. Yet, despite decades of research, scientists don't fully understand this membrane remodeling process. New research reveals, on the real-life scale of nanometers, how individual molecules work together during a single act of endocytosis.
"We've discovered new details about a basic process used in all sorts of ways by every cell in the body," said co-author Joshua Zimmerberg, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Program in Physical Biology at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), where the research was conducted. "It's the culmination of a 30-year journey."
The research was led by Vadim Frolov, Ph.D., a former postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Zimmerberg's lab. It appears in a Science paper co-authored by an international team of researchers in the United States, Spain, Russia and India.
In addition to funding Dr. Zimmerberg, NIH also supported the work through a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to co-author Sandra Schmid, Ph.D. at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Schmid is an expert on dynamin.
Scientists have known for years that dynamin plays the major role in endocytosis. After other molecules known as coat proteins pinch the cell's membrane to form an inward-puckering sac, dynamin wraps, python-like, around the neck of the sac and squeezes it tightly. A jolt of energy from a molecule called GTP severs the neck, releasing a free-floating bubble, called a vesicle, inside the cell, and sealing the cell's outer membrane shut. All the while, neither the cell nor the vesicle leak any of their contents.
Drs. Zimmerberg, Schmid and colleagues discovered how the cell overcomes a seemingly insurmountable energy barrier to accomplish this feat. It's not a matter of brute force, as previously suspected, but something much more zen-likemolecular cooperation.
Neck severing starts when dynamin dips slightly into the pliable cell membrane. Lipids (oily molecules) in the membrane move aside, shifting their tails to accommodate the protein. This molecular crowding stresses the membrane, further constricting the neck of the developing vesicle.
Then GTP finishes the job. But not, as you might expect, with a fatal tug of the dynamin noose. Rather the opposite: Like a yoga instructor, GTP encourages the membrane to relax, despite its extreme stress. In the middle of this state of relaxation, the vesicle suddenly pinches off.
In trying to understand this counterintuitive move, the researchers speculate that GTP melts the inside of dynamin a bit, turning the protein into a flexible scaffold that stabilizes the membrane while the lipids rearrange themselves.
"We see no other way to lower the energy barrier to remodeling without having any leaks," states Dr. Frolov, who formulated the idea.
The researchers also found that, without access to GTP, dynamin will keep growing, twisting three or four times around the neck of the sac. When GTP is present (as is the case in living organisms), it only lets dynamin coil once or twice before it snaps off the vesicle.
All of this information helps scientists better understand a process critical to life.
Genetic defects in endocytosisand the reverse process, exocytosisare linked to a host of human diseases, including muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer's disease, leukemia and many others. In addition, some parasites and other pathogens can hijack endocytosis, commandeering the process to enter and infect human cells.
Dr. Zimmerberg is bringing his basic research findings to the clinic. He is studying changes in muscle cell membranes in people who have an adult-onset form of muscular dystrophy. In the disease, the membrane around muscle cells weakens and tears. Eventually, cells with damaged membranes die, leaking a number of enzymes into the bloodstream. Dr. Zimmerberg hopes to identify changes in blood chemistry that shed light on the disease process and point to possible new treatments. The study soon will begin recruiting patients as volunteers.
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This research was supported in part by the intramural program of the NICHD and by NIGMS grant GM42455.
About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):
The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute's website at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/.
About the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS):
NIGMS supports basic research to increase our understanding of life processes and lay the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention. For more information on the institute's research and training programs, see http://www.nigms.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
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Contact: Alisa Z Machalek alisa.machalek@nih.gov NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
NIH-funded study reveals protein, fatty molecules and cellular energy work together during endocytosis
Cells ingest proteins and engulf bacteria by a gymnastic, shape-shifting process called endocytosis. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health revealed how a key protein, dynamin, drives the action.
Endocytosis lets cells absorb nutrients, import growth factors, prevent infections and accomplish many other vital tasks. Yet, despite decades of research, scientists don't fully understand this membrane remodeling process. New research reveals, on the real-life scale of nanometers, how individual molecules work together during a single act of endocytosis.
"We've discovered new details about a basic process used in all sorts of ways by every cell in the body," said co-author Joshua Zimmerberg, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Program in Physical Biology at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), where the research was conducted. "It's the culmination of a 30-year journey."
The research was led by Vadim Frolov, Ph.D., a former postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Zimmerberg's lab. It appears in a Science paper co-authored by an international team of researchers in the United States, Spain, Russia and India.
In addition to funding Dr. Zimmerberg, NIH also supported the work through a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to co-author Sandra Schmid, Ph.D. at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Schmid is an expert on dynamin.
Scientists have known for years that dynamin plays the major role in endocytosis. After other molecules known as coat proteins pinch the cell's membrane to form an inward-puckering sac, dynamin wraps, python-like, around the neck of the sac and squeezes it tightly. A jolt of energy from a molecule called GTP severs the neck, releasing a free-floating bubble, called a vesicle, inside the cell, and sealing the cell's outer membrane shut. All the while, neither the cell nor the vesicle leak any of their contents.
Drs. Zimmerberg, Schmid and colleagues discovered how the cell overcomes a seemingly insurmountable energy barrier to accomplish this feat. It's not a matter of brute force, as previously suspected, but something much more zen-likemolecular cooperation.
Neck severing starts when dynamin dips slightly into the pliable cell membrane. Lipids (oily molecules) in the membrane move aside, shifting their tails to accommodate the protein. This molecular crowding stresses the membrane, further constricting the neck of the developing vesicle.
Then GTP finishes the job. But not, as you might expect, with a fatal tug of the dynamin noose. Rather the opposite: Like a yoga instructor, GTP encourages the membrane to relax, despite its extreme stress. In the middle of this state of relaxation, the vesicle suddenly pinches off.
In trying to understand this counterintuitive move, the researchers speculate that GTP melts the inside of dynamin a bit, turning the protein into a flexible scaffold that stabilizes the membrane while the lipids rearrange themselves.
"We see no other way to lower the energy barrier to remodeling without having any leaks," states Dr. Frolov, who formulated the idea.
The researchers also found that, without access to GTP, dynamin will keep growing, twisting three or four times around the neck of the sac. When GTP is present (as is the case in living organisms), it only lets dynamin coil once or twice before it snaps off the vesicle.
All of this information helps scientists better understand a process critical to life.
Genetic defects in endocytosisand the reverse process, exocytosisare linked to a host of human diseases, including muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer's disease, leukemia and many others. In addition, some parasites and other pathogens can hijack endocytosis, commandeering the process to enter and infect human cells.
Dr. Zimmerberg is bringing his basic research findings to the clinic. He is studying changes in muscle cell membranes in people who have an adult-onset form of muscular dystrophy. In the disease, the membrane around muscle cells weakens and tears. Eventually, cells with damaged membranes die, leaking a number of enzymes into the bloodstream. Dr. Zimmerberg hopes to identify changes in blood chemistry that shed light on the disease process and point to possible new treatments. The study soon will begin recruiting patients as volunteers.
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This research was supported in part by the intramural program of the NICHD and by NIGMS grant GM42455.
About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):
The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute's website at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/.
About the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS):
NIGMS supports basic research to increase our understanding of life processes and lay the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention. For more information on the institute's research and training programs, see http://www.nigms.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Last night we asked you how you grip the iPhone while typing, and tonight we're continuing our typing series by asking you about your orientation -- portrait or landscape?
Apple says they designed the iPhone with one-handed ease of use in mind, and maybe that's why it took them until iOS 3 to make landscape mode persistent across most of the built-in apps. But for a lot of people, the extra-wide, Cadillac-style typing experience of landscape is exactly what they want, number of hands it takes to hold and use it be damned.
For others, it might depend on the app. Portrait for on the go or quick stuff, landscape for speed-texting or longer-form writing.
When you want to get your type on, which orientation do you hold your iPhone? Portrait or landscape? Vote in the poll up top and give us the details and why you do what you do below!
This is not the first time Iranian officials have complained about the portrayal of Iran in Hollywood cinema.
By Roshanak Taghavi,?Correspondent / March 12, 2013
This film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Bryan Cranston (l.) as Jack O?Donnell and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in 'Argo,' a rescue thriller about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.
Claire Folger/Warner Bros./AP/File
Enlarge
Iran announced today that it will sue Hollywood for creating films the Islamic Republic alleges intentionally ?propagate fear of Iran throughout the world,? according to state media reports.?
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Citing director Ben Affleck?s Oscar-winning film ?Argo? as ?the most recent example of various fear-mongering tactics? used by Hollywood, the semi-official Fars News Agency said?French lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, widely known for defending Venezuelan-born terrorist?Ilich Ram?rez S?nchez (?Carlos the Jackal?), is in Tehran for talks with Iranian government officials to determine where and how a lawsuit should be filed.?
?These people [in Hollywood] are using films to propagate global panic about Iran,??Fars cites Ms. Coutant-Peyre as saying. ??The act [of the lawsuit] itself is valuable,? added Ms. Coutant-Peyre, ?because it can stir interest and discussion among the peoples of the world, until they can discern between what is the truth and what are lies about Iran, and think about them.? The dialogue created by Hollywood [about Iran] can?t be one-sided."
It is unclear who will specifically be named in Iran's lawsuit. ?Ms. Coutant-Peyre said she has prepared a case and will provide more details at a press conference Wednesday, Fars reports.
?Argo? was privately screened in downtown Tehran on Monday as part of a state-organized conference on ?Hollywood Deceit," according to state media reports.?
Based?on a true story about how the CIA, with the help of Canadian officials, smuggled six American diplomats out of Iran after the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy, ?Argo? was first screened at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 7, the same day Canada closed its embassy in Tehran and expelled Iran?s diplomats from the Canadian capital, Ottawa.?
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's central bank kept rates on hold at 12 percent for a ninth time in a row, citing concerns over ongoing external price pressures, despite the headline inflation rate being within the bank's target band.
Increasing macroeconomic stability in Africa's second biggest economy, including a more stable naira currency, is drawing in foreign investors, but many are still wary of excessive government spending and widespread corruption.
Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said on Tuesday that while Nigeria had achieved "a reasonable degree of moderation" with consumer prices, this was largely to do with cuts to the fuel subsidy no longer feeding through to higher prices, adding that there was still an upside risk to inflation.
The bank's decision was a 9-3 majority, Sanusi said. Most analysts had expected the bank to keep rates on hold.
The bank also held the cash reserve requirement at 12 percent, and the liquidity ratio at 30 percent.
Nigerian consumer inflation rose to 9.5 percent in February, from 9 percent in January, the statistics bureau said on Saturday, but it was within the central bank's single digit target for a second month in a row.
"The sharp drop in inflation in early 2013, compared with early 2012, is largely to do with the base effect of the partial removal of the fuel subsidy," Sanusi said, and therefore did not necessarily reflect a sustainable downward trend.
President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to remove Nigeria's blanket motor fuel subsidy in January 2012, and although mass protests forced him to partly reinstate it, he was able to increase fuel prices by around 50 percent.
The central bank has come under increasing pressure from business lobbies to cut rates to stimulate the economy.
"The committee carefully weighed the action of relaxing monetary policy, noting that reversing the current trend of monetary policy might have signalled a preference for a higher inflation rate," Sanusi said.
"There is still an upside risk to inflation in the near to medium term ... while equity prices have been trending upwards."
The corridor for borrowing and lending to the bank was kept at 200 basis points around the base rate.
A shock fall in the naira last week prompted the bank to intervene on Friday to support it by selling dollars. Sanusi only noted that the naira remained within the target range of 3 naira plus or minus 155 to the dollar.
But analysts suspected last week's fall in the local unit may have sealed the decision to hold rather than cut rates.
"In this context, reducing policy rates would have been counterproductive with the potential to lead to further naira weakness," said Standard Bank's Samir Gadio.
Sanusi told Reuters last month that the bank would not be pressured into cutting rates anytime soon, because it "cannot take stability for granted."
The bank has kept rates on hold since November after six successive hikes last year - including a 275 basis point rise in October to 12 percent - to ward off speculation against the naira. The currency rose 1.8 percent against the dollar in 2012.
There's essentially nothing to say about "Badlands," Terrence Malick's first film, that hasn't already been said. The Bonnie and Clyde story of an impressionable young girl and the bad boy who sweeps her away from a quiet life marked the beginnings of Malick's enigmatic career and status as a master, and anyone who has seen [...]
Why do you write? I write to change my world by revising it and giving it a happy ending. I think most write fiction to create new realities and new ways of expressing ourselves. It gives us the power to fix anything we don?t like in the real world. We write to escape, [...]
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Written on March 19th, 2013 Read more articles on Become a writer.
Why do you write?
I write to change my world by revising it and giving it a happy ending. I think most write fiction to create new realities and new ways of expressing ourselves. It gives us the power to fix anything we don?t like in the real world. We write to escape, and to escape we must express ourselves in our writers voices.
Who do you become when you write?
First, you become vulnerable. You must become the characters, all of them ? even the bad guys. For the characters to be compelling I believe they must contain some real part of the writer?s personality. You have all the voices inside you waiting to come out; they only need the right character. Being able to let them each speak for themselves, individually, is your writers voice. You literally must pour yourself into your writing. That isn?t as much a cliche as you may have thought.
Have you ever found an old writing of yours, something you?d written a few years ago, and heard a certain voice that brought up emotions? It will have a tone of realism that could be embarrassing or pleasant, depending on the words and topic you chose, but it?s your real writers voice. It is probably something you wrote on the spur of the moment while in a particular emotional state. Learn to control it by becoming each character. To become each character, you must know them well. Study them, make them individuals by basing them on someone real.
I?ve heard some creative writers say they don?t worry about the characters, because they think the story is more important. They admit throwing card-board characters in as they?re needed to get the story to the finish line. I haven?t read their work so I don?t know if they can pull it off or not, but I wonder who performs the action, how is emotion brought in? I think even if it?s completely narrated, the narrator still needs a strong voice.
I agree with the statement that the story is important, but the characters are at least equally important. Good ones can fool the reader into thinking even a bad story is good. Good, solid characters with consistently strong voices can sell mediocre serial books. Readers read to escape. They don?t know or care that the writer was forced to draw on painful memories and cry buckets of tears to make the characters true-to-life; they just know if they can identify with them or not. They can?t become that particular character or overcome the obstacle, without the true writer?s voice bringing the character to life. Bottom line ? they won?t like your story.
So, to find your writers voice, dig through all the animosity, fear, anger, cruelty, joy and heartbreak of everyday living, past, present and perceived. Twist it, exaggerate it, and give it to your characters to work out. Your readers will love it.
About the Author
Harriet is a reviewer of new writers and has written many newsletters and articles on the subject of novice writing and reviewing with common sense and encouragement. Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/storytime esprit is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Creative Writers.
Written on March 19th, 2013 Read more articles on Become a writer.
Whether or not you live in a house, a, apartment or even a trailer, making changes to your home is definitely a good idea. However, if you are unsure what projects to try or just how to begin them, it is good to have a few ideas and observations before you get going.
To include a unifying effect to your home?s design, consider painting all of the trim white (or another color that enhances every room?s walls). Matching cut throughout the house provides visual continuity as you move from room to room and ties your design together.
Flooring could be a relatively simple do it yourself project even for a novice. Give attention to putting tile in your kitchen and bathrooms and change your rug with hardwood flooring. Diy stores have a wealth of information regarding steps to make this technique simple for one to complete.
Should you not are already a really strong person changing a tire can be difficult. Loosening the lug nuts, in particular, usually takes more energy than most of us have. Use a spouse club! A yard long bit of pipe that?s just large enough to fit over the end of your haul wrench will give you that extra leverage to obtain the work done.
Generally speaking, when painting an area, you should apply a to the walls, to permit for better adherence by the paint. However, now there is definitely an choice that you may desire to try. Many hardware stores now sell products and services which have a mix of paint and primer. This reduces the primer stage and boosts the method of painting.
It?s never a bad idea to purchase portable fire extinguishers for your home. Take a moment to learn the presentation for home elevators intended use, before you buy an extinguisher. Some extinguishers are effective only against certain forms of fires. Essentially, an extinguisher should be suitable for paper, fat, wood, electric, and trash fires. This will also be into consideration as you decide which locations could have extinguishers at hand.
Replacing the equipment in your home such as for instance doorknobs, hinges, draws, light fixtures, and so on, could convert a home in one age to another. It is a quick and easy solution to help your house be look newer and more updated by simply switching out these small details. Covered nickel and copper are new developments that?ll enhance your look.
Copper is definitely the most attractive building material for robbers, so exercise care when installing copper tube and wiring. Wherever possible these installations shouldn?t be achieved before house, ultimately the whole property, may be protected by key and lock. Thieves are skilled at stripping copper from a building site rapidly. Protect your copper items, so that you do not end up buying it twice.
Constantly closed doors could make a hallway or corridor look uninviting and uncomfortably thin. Replace your strong door with a French door, that includes a series of clear glass panels framed by wood. Decide for transparent glass or a glue to offer a ?frosted? search to the glass, If you?re worried about privacy. Home Depot and Lowe?s take adhesive screen films at under twenty pounds.
Landscapes add to the beauty of your house. Consider replacing or adding someone to your home for anyone who is preparing to sell. Landscapes help the buyer to see greater opportunities with the home and allows them to imagine all the things they can do to the house themselves.
If a drastic change is needed by you to the surface of your house, simple gardening could work miracles. You will see that applying a yard or two around the trees, pruning bushes and home, and cleaning the yard really makes a fantastic search around the home that doesn?t even take much to accomplish.
Remember, record is generally a temporary fix! Taping something could be convenient to do in a pinch, but record will degrade and or tear with time. Do not allow a vintage task come back to haunt you! When you have a while do the project right. The only real time that tape is a means to fix a problem is all through electrical work, when you?re able to use electrical tape to insulate the wiring from water (and even then heat-shrink strips certainly are a better choice).
Be sure to get multiple offers for the project, If you?re hiring someone to conduct your house improvement work. This method ensures that you are getting the best deal on your task, and it helps you be much more acquainted with a and what to expect from your builder, although it can be quite a very little time consuming.
When increasing the outdoor of your home, replace your garage door. When someone is considering your home from the surface, the garage door is just a major feature. You can put in a new garage door to offer your home with a new and beautiful function which will attract focus on your home.
If you are not used to do it yourself begin with the simplest task. If you are beginning with a task, the knowledge is not likely to be as exciting or successful. To make certain you acquire the training you need, you need to start small, learning the tougher techniques as you go on to larger projects.
First consider putting crown molding or applying a new coat of paint to the walls, If you like to enhance the look of the areas in your home with decorative objects. Crown molding can allow it to be look more finished and elegant and add a little extra to the space. If your ceilings are very low, this may maybe not be a wise decision nevertheless.
An effective way to add value to your home is always to add a sun room to the back of your dwelling. Any moment you put square footage to your house, you?re increasing its price. Also, a sun room looks great, offering your house more interest a consumer.
when you have some clear ideas on what to complete and how to start them as previously mentioned earlier in this specific article, home developments happen best. Simply take the tips using this part and use them to your residence today. In no time at all you could will find yourself living in a happier, healthier home. affordable contracting services reviews
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