Russian authorities can't beat back democracy: Gorbachev

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said on Saturday Russia will face unrest unless society is made more democratic despite President Vladimir Putin's success in cracking down on dissent.

Gorbachev, whose perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) reforms in the 1980s failed to avert the collapse of the Soviet Union, has sympathized with protests, mainly by the rising urban middle class, against alleged ballot fraud and political corruption.

"The authorities have managed to beat down the wave of protest for a while, but the problems have not disappeared. If everything remains as before, they will escalate," Gorbachev was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying in a lecture.

"This means that we face a new attempt by Russian society to move to real democracy and it will be of historic significance."

The warning by Gorbachev, active in public life at the age of 82 and co-publisher of the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, came as Putin, who won a third presidential term a year ago, seeks to consolidate power.

Rather than engaging in dialogue with opponents, Putin has sought to marginalize them, while ratcheting up foreign policy rhetoric to create an atmosphere of a nation under siege.

In the past week, officials searched offices of foreign non-governmental organizations, Putin ordered snap military exercises in the Black Sea and he created a 'hero of labor' honor reminiscent of a Soviet command economy.

Russia's economic growth has more than halved since before the 2008 financial crisis and is now close to stagnating, reflecting its reliance on oil export revenues.

Experts call for long-term structural reforms to reducing the state's role in the economy, addressing pressures caused by an ageing population, and cutting red tape and corruption.

Gorbachev said Russia risked stagnation.

"We have come to the point when we have cut off perestroika. Politics is increasingly turning into imitation. We need a new system of the governance of the country," said Gorbachev.

(Reporting by Maya Dyakina; Editing by Jason Webb)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-authorities-cant-beat-back-democracy-gorbachev-172718835.html

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Texas DA slain in his home; had armed himself

KAUFMAN, Texas (AP) ? Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland took no chances after one of his assistant prosecutors was gunned down two months ago. McLelland said he carried a gun everywhere he went and took extra care when answering the door at his home.

"I'm ahead of everybody else because, basically, I'm a soldier," the 23-year Army veteran said in an interview less than two weeks ago.

On Saturday, he and his wife were found shot to death in their rural home just outside the town of Forney, about 20 miles from Dallas.

While investigators gave no motive for the killings, Forney Mayor Darren Rozell said: "It appears this was not a random act."

"Everybody's a little on edge and a little shocked," he said.

The slayings came less than two weeks after Colorado's prison chief was shot to death at his front door, apparently by a white supremacist ex-convict, and two months after Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was killed in a parking lot a block from his office. No arrests have been made in Hasse's slaying Jan. 31.

McLelland, 63, is the 13th prosecutor killed in the U.S. since the National Association of District Attorneys began keeping count in the 1960s.

Sheriff David Byrnes said Sunday that there was nothing to indicate for sure whether McLelland's slaying was connected to Hasse's. He declined to discuss it further. The sheriff also said he had no indication that white supremacist groups were involved in the killing of the DA.

Colorado's corrections director, Tom Clements, was killed March 19 when he answered the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs, Colo. Evan Spencer Ebel, a former Colorado inmate and white supremacist who authorities suspect shot Clements, died in shootout with Texas deputies two days later about 100 miles from Kaufman.

El Paso County, Colo., sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Joe Roybal said Sunday that investigators had found no evidence so far connecting the Texas killings to the Colorado case, but added: "We're examining all possibilities."

McLelland, in an Associated Press interview shortly after the Colorado slaying, raised the possibility that Hasse was gunned down by a white supremacist gang. McLelland, elected DA in 2010, said that Hasse hadn't prosecuted any cases against white supremacists but that his office had handled several, and those gangs had a strong presence in and around Kaufman County, a mostly rural area dotted with subdivisions, with a population of about 104,000.

"We put some real dents in the Aryan Brotherhood around here in the past year," McLelland said.

McLelland said he carried a gun everywhere he went, even to walk his dog around town, a bedroom community for the Dallas area. He figured assassins were more likely to try to attack him outside. He said he had warned all his employees to be constantly on the alert.

"The people in my line of work are going to have to get better at it," he said of dealing with the danger, "because they're going to need it more in the future."

The number of attacks on prosecutors, judges and senior law enforcement officers in the U.S. has spiked in the past three years, according to Glenn McGovern, an investigator with the Santa Clara County, Calif., District Attorney's Office who tracks such cases.

For about a month after Hasse's slaying, sheriff's deputies were parked in the district attorney's driveway, said Sam Rosander, a McLelland neighbor.

The FBI and the Texas Rangers joined the investigation into the McLellands' deaths.

McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, 65, were the parents of two daughters and three sons. One son is a police officer in Dallas. The couple had moved into the home a few years ago, Rozell said.

"Real friendly, became part of our community quickly," Rozell said. "They were a really pleasant happy couple."

___

Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Michael Graczyk in Houston, Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth and P. Solomon Banda in Denver contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-da-slain-home-had-armed-himself-175942683.html

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Philadelphian jumps on tracks to help fallen man

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A recovering drug addict with a long rap sheet who's being hailed as a hero for jumping onto subway tracks in Philadelphia to rescue a man says he doesn't see himself as heroic.

Thirty-two-year-old Christopher Knafelc (kuh-NAY-ful) told The Associated Press on Friday that he just sees it as doing the right thing.

Knafelc had just sat down to wait for a train at a north Philadelphia station Thursday afternoon when he saw a man fall off the platform and onto the tracks. He jumped down to help the man, knowing that another train would be arriving in a few minutes.

Knafelc says he's struggled with drug addiction since his teens but is getting his life back on track, thanks in part to the birth of his daughter in 2010.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/philadelphian-jumps-tracks-help-fallen-man-135625720.html

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All Eyes on Ophthalmologists this National Doctor's Day - North ...

Vision is our most prized sense. In fact, most people fear losing it more than any other primary sense. Vision loss can threaten your ability drive, work, and live independently. That?s why it?s so important to take care of your eyes and keep them healthy, and to know about the physicians that care for your eyes.?

National Doctor's Day, observed March 30, is a great time to learn more about the?role of ophthalmologists?in helping you maintain a lifetime of healthy vision. As medical doctors and surgeons, ophthalmologists provide specialized eye care, and are the only eye care providers qualified to perform medical-based eye care and surgical procedures.?

The American Academy of Ophthalmology encourages you to make eye care a part of your overall health-maintenance strategy. For example:?

• Have Your Eyes Checked:?At age 40 all adults should have a baseline?eye disease screening, even if your vision seems perfect. If you?re age 65 or older, schedule an eye exam every 1-2 years, or as recommended by your ophthalmologist. Seniors in this age group may qualify for a free eye exam at?www.eyecareamerica.org.?
• Get Plenty of Exercise:?Our eyes need good blood circulation and oxygen intake, and both are stimulated by?regular exercise. Being physically active also helps in maintaining weight in a normal range, which reduces the risk of?diabetes?and?diabetic retinopathy, which is a serious eye complication related to that disease.
• Don?t smoke:?Avoiding smoking or quitting altogether is one of the best investments a person can make in their long-term health. Smoking increases the risks of a variety of diseases, including those that affect the eye such as cataracts and diabetic-related conditions.
• Understand the impact of other diseases on the eyes:?The eyes are a complex organ.? They contain pigmented cells, a rich network of blood vessels, connective tissue, and the eye?s retina is actually a part of the brain. Diseases like diabetes, sleep apnea, hypertension, sickle cell disease, lupus, and many others can affect the eyes and threaten vision.? Your primary care physician may call upon your ophthalmologist to detect and manage these problems.?

?

For National Doctor?s Day, join us in celebrating Eye M.D.s by watching a?series of short videos?in which ophthalmologists speak about their passion for helping patients, the expertise they bring to eye care and their dedication to preserving vision and preventing blindness. The videos are a part of the American Academy of Ophthalmology?s public education program, EyeSmart.?

For more information about eye health, visit?www.geteyesmart.org.?

Source: http://northhaven.patch.com/announcements/all-eyes-on-ophthalmologists-this-national-doctors-day-7e65a537

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Patients of Tulsa doctor line up to get tested

TULSA, Okla. (AP) ? About 150 to 200 patients of a Tulsa oral surgeon accused of unsanitary practices queued outside a health clinic Saturday, hoping to discover whether they had been exposed to hepatitis or the virus that causes AIDS.

Letters began going out in stages Friday to 7,000 patients who had seen Dr. W. Scott Harrington during the past six years ? warning them that poor hygiene at his clinics created a public health hazard. The one-page letter said how and where to seek treatment but couldn't explain why Harrington's allegedly unsafe practices went on for so long.

Testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and the virus that causes AIDS began at 10 a.m. Saturday, but many arrived early and stood through torrential downpours.

Kari Childress, 38, showed up at the Tulsa Health Department North Regional Health and Wellness Center at 8:30 a.m., mainly because she was nervous.

"I just hope I don't have anything," said Childress, who had a tooth extracted at one of Harrington's two clinics five months ago. "You trust and believe in doctors to follow the rules, and that's the scariest part."

Inspectors found a number of problems at the oral surgeon's clinics in Tulsa and suburban Owasso, according to the state Dentistry Board, which filed a 17-count complaint against Harrington pending an April 19 license revocation hearing. According to the complaint, needles were reinserted into drug vials after being used on patients, expired drugs were found in a medicine cabinet and dental assistants administered sedatives to patients, rather than the doctor.

One patient, Orville Marshall, said he didn't meet Harrington until after he had two wisdom teeth pulled about five years ago at the Owasso clinic. A nurse inserted the IV for his anesthesia; Harrington was there when Marshall came to.

"It's just really scary, it makes you doubt the whole system, especially with how good his place looked," said Marshall, 37.

An instrument set reserved for use on patients with infectious diseases was rusty, preventing its effective sterilization, and the office autoclave ? a pressurized cleaner ? was used improperly and hadn't been certified as effective in at least six years, according to the complaint.

Dr. Matt Messina, a practicing dentist in Cleveland and a consumer adviser for the American Dental Association, said creating a safe and hygienic environment is "one of the fundamental requirements" before any dental procedure can be performed.

"It's not hard. It just takes effort," he said.

Weekly autoclave testing can be performed for less than $400 annually, according to the website of the Autoclave Testing Services of Pearl River, New York.

Autoclaves themselves typically can be purchased for $1,000 to $8,000, depending on their size and features. And an average dental practice can expect to pay more than $40,000 a year in equipment, tools and supplies alone, according to several dental organizations.

Attempts to reach Harrington have been unsuccessful. No one answered the door Thursday at his home, which property records show is worth more than $1 million. His practice a few miles away, in a tony section of the city where plastic surgeons operate and locals congregate at bistros and stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, has a fair-market value of around $851,000.

His malpractice lawyer, Jim Secrest II, did not respond to phone messages left Thursday or Friday. A message at Harrington's Tulsa office said it was closed and an answering service referred callers to the Tulsa Health Department.

State epidemiologist Kristy Bradley and Tulsa Health Department Director Bruce Dart sent letters Friday to all 7,000 patients they found in Harrington's records, urging them to be screened. More patients may be at risk, but Harrington's files go back only to 2007.

Nursing student Anisa Lewis, 22, said Harrington had a good reputation in the community, and her friends recommended his practice when she had to get her wisdom teeth taken out in 2005.

"I'm a little nervous because I read the complaints filed against him, and in nursing school, we're taught how to handle and clean our instruments, she said. "It was very shocking to read some of the allegations," which she called "far beyond the pale of the precautions you're supposed to be taking."

Susan Rogers, the executive director of the state Dentistry Board, said her agency has a budget of around $1 million, much of that generated from license renewal fees and dentist certification. It also has only five employees to monitor more than 2,000 dentists.

The state Dentistry Board's website revealed part of the problem.

"With three incoming telephone lines and essentially one person handling the phones, emails, snail mail, renewals, new license/permit applications, walk ins ... we will miss phones calls," the website says.

"So follow the instructions on the message," the site says. "We will respond to your request as soon as we can in the order in which it is received, but it will take time. We appreciate your patience."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/patients-tulsa-doctor-line-tested-154913563.html

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Singer India.Arie laughs off skin-lightening talk

NEW YORK (AP) ? India.Arie is laughing off talk that she may have lightened her skin.

The R&B songstress is known for singing about being authentic and celebrating one's true self. But some accused India.Arie of lightening her skin when a publicity photo for her song "Cocoa Butter" released this week made it look as though she were several shades lighter than her dark brown complexion.

But India.Arie took to Twitter on Friday to deny the accusations, saying she has no desire to bleach her skin because she loves herself and her brown skin "more than ever." She also said that "magnificent lighting" is the cause for her "glow."

She added that she'd like to keep the conversation going, though, on the issue of racism and colorism in the black community.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/singer-india-arie-laughs-off-skin-lightening-talk-231340708.html

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Researchers show stem cell fate depends on 'grip'

Friday, March 29, 2013

The field of regenerative medicine holds great promise, propelled by greater understanding of how stem cells differentiate themselves into many of the body's different cell types. But clinical applications in the field have been slow to materialize, partially owing to difficulties in replicating the conditions these cells naturally experience.

A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in.

The research was conducted by graduate student Sudhir Khetan and associate professor Jason Burdick, along with professor Christopher Chen, all of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Bioengineering. Others involved in the study include Murat Guvendiren, Wesley Legant and Daniel Cohen.

Their study was published in the journal Nature Materials.

Much research has been done on how stem cells grow on two-dimensional substrates, but comparatively little work has been done in three dimensions. Three-dimensional environments, or matrices, for stems cells have mostly been treated as simple scaffolding, rather than as a signal that influences the cells' development.

Burdick and his colleagues were interested in how these three-dimensional matrices impact mechanotransduction, which is how the cell takes information about its physical environment and translates that to chemical signaling.

"We're trying to understand how material signals can dictate stem cell response," Burdick said. "Rather than considering the material as an inert structure, it's really guiding stem cell fate and differentiation ? what kind of cells they will turn into."

The mesenchymal stem cells the researchers studied are found in bone marrow and can develop into several cell types: osteoblasts, which are found in bone; chondrocytes, which are found in cartilage; and adipocytes, which are found in fat.

The researchers cultured them in water-swollen polymer networks known as hydrogels, which share some similarities with the environments stem cells naturally grow in. These materials are generally soft and flexible ? contact lenses, for example, are a type of hydrogel ? but can vary in density and stiffness depending on the type and quantity of the bonds between the polymers. In this case, the researchers used covalently cross-linked gels, which contain irreversible chemical bonds.

When seeded on top of two-dimensional covalently cross-linked gels, mesenchymal stem cells spread and pulled on the material differently depending on how stiff it was. Critically, the mechanics guide cell fate, or the type of cells they differentiate it into. A softer environment would produce more fat-like cells and a stiffer environment, where the cells can pull on the gel harder, would produce more bone-like cells.

However, when the researchers put mesenchymal stem cells inside three-dimensional hydrogels of varying stiffness, they didn't see these kinds of changes.

"In most covalently cross-linked gels, the cells can't spread into the matrix because they can't degrade the bonds ? they all become fat cells," Burdick said. "That tells us that in 3D covalent gels the cells don't translate the mechanical information the same way they do in a 2D system."

To test this, the researchers changed the chemistry of their hydrogels so that the polymer chains were connected by a peptide that the cells could naturally degrade. They hypothesized that, as the cells spread, they would be able to get a better grip on their surrounding environment and thus be more likely to turn into bone-like cells.

In order to determine how well the cells were pulling on their environment, the researchers used a technique developed by Chen's lab called 3D traction force microscopy. This technique involves seeding the gel with microscopic beads, then tracking their location before and after a cell is removed.

"Because the gel is elastic and will relax back into its original position when you remove the cells," Chen said, "you can quantify how much the cells are pulling on the gel based on how much and which way it springs back after the cell is removed."

The results showed that the stem cells' differentiation into bone-like cells was aided by their ability to better anchor themselves into the growth environment.

"With our original experiment, we observed that the cells essentially didn't pull on the gel. They adhered to it and were viable, but we did not see bead displacement. They couldn't get a grip," Burdick said. "When we put the cells into a gel where they could degrade the bonds, we saw them spread into the matrix and deform it, displacing the beads."

As an additional test, the researchers synthesized another hydrogel. This one had the same covalent bonds that the stem cells could naturally degrade and spread through but also another type of bond that could form when exposed to light. They let the stem cells spread as before, but at the point the cells would begin to differentiate ? about a week after they were first encapsulated ? the researchers further "set" the gel by exposing it to light, forming new bonds the cells couldn't degrade.

"When we introduced these cross-links so they could no longer degrade the matrix, we saw an increase toward fat-like cells, even after letting them spread," Burdick said. "This further supports the idea that continuous degradation is needed for the cells to sense the material properties of their environment and transduce that into differentiation signals."

Burdick and his colleagues see these results as helping develop a better fundamental understanding of how to engineer tissues using stem cells.

"This is a model system for showing how the microenvironment can influence the fate of the cells," Burdick said.

###

University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127524/Researchers_show_stem_cell_fate_depends_on__grip__

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New study aims to prevent sports-related brain injury in youngsters

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Ice hockey accounts for nearly half of all traumatic brain injuries among children and youth participating in organized sports who required a trip to an emergency department in Canada, according to a new study out of St. Michael's Hospital.

The results are part of a first-of-its-kind study led by Dr. Michael Cusimano that looked at causes of sports-related brain injuries in Canadian youth and also uncovered some prevention tactics that could be immediately implemented to make sports safer for kids.

"Unless we understand how children are getting hurt in sport, we can't develop ways to prevent these serious injuries from happening," said Dr. Cusimano, a neurosurgeon and the lead author of the study. "One would think that we know the reasons why kids are having brain injuries in sports, but until know, it was based mainly on anecdotes."

The study used data from The Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program to look at the almost 13,000 children and youth aged 5-19 who had a sports-related brain injury between 1990 and 2009. The results appeared in the journal PLOS ONE today.

The researchers categorized injuries by players' ages, what sport they occurred in and what mechanisms had caused them -- "struck by player," "struck by object" (such as net or post), "struck by sport implement" (such as ball or stick), "struck by playing surface" and "other."

Hockey accounted for 44.3 per cent of all injuries and almost 70 per cent of them occurred in children over 10 as a result of player-to-player contact or being hit into the boards.

Dr. Cusimano said they expected to see high numbers in hockey because it's Canada's "national sport."

"This shows that body contact is still an area where we need to make major inroads to preventing brain injuries," Dr. Cusimano said. "For example, enforcing existing rules and making more effective incentives and disincentives about checking from behind could make huge improvements."

Nineteen per cent of the youth who suffered brain injuries got them during soccer, with most in the 10 to 14 or 15 to 19 age group. In these age ranges, the most common cause of injury was being struck by another player, kicks to the head or head-on-head collisions. In the younger group, age five to nine, players were more likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury from striking a surface or a goal post than those in older groups.

"There's a really straightforward solution here," Dr. Cusimano said. "Padding the goal posts could have potentially prevented a large number of these brain injuries in young children."

The results also found that the youngest age group was at the highest risk for getting seriously injured in baseball. Most of the 15.3 per cent of injuries occurred in children under the age of 14, with 45 per cent of them in children under nine.

Ball and bat injuries were most common, with the majority of injuries caused because the players stood too close to the batter or bat and were not supervised by an adult.

"These results give us a very specific prevention message for kids under nine who play baseball: make helmets and supervision a mandatory," said Dr. Cusimano. "The younger the child, the more supervision they need when using things like bats and balls. Simple rules around not being close to the batter can be taught to children and adults."

Football and rugby accounted for 12.9 per cent 5.6 per cent of injuries respectively, and the majority of them were caused by tackling.

Basketball made up 11.6 per cent of injuries, mostly caused by player-to-player elbowing, which increased as players got older.

"There is a real opportunity for prevention here," Dr. Cusimano said. "Having educational programs, proper equipment, rules and other incentives that support a culture of safety in sports should be a mandate of parents, coaches, players, sports organizations, schools, sports sponsors, and other groups like governments."

Funding for the research was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by St. Michael's Hospital, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Michael D. Cusimano, Newton Cho, Khizer Amin, Mariam Shirazi, Steven R. McFaull, Minh T. Do, Matthew C. Wong, Kelly Russell. Mechanisms of Team-Sport-Related Brain Injuries in Children 5 to 19 Years Old: Opportunities for Prevention. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e58868 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058868

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/3M3mmJkKrl8/130329125301.htm

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Mandela responding to treatment : South African government

By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africas-mandela-back-hospital-070540290.html

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Optimism in UN over 1st global arms trade treaty

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? The first global treaty on regulating the multimillion-dollar arms trade appeared to be nearing consensus, supporters said, though worries remained that Iran, India or other countries would back off an agreement that requires approval from all 193 United Nations member states.

Thursday is the deadline for reaching a deal. U.N. diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations have been private, said Wednesday the United States was virtually certain to go along with the latest text.

Hopes of reaching agreement on what would be a landmark treaty were dashed last July when the U.S. said it needed more time to consider the proposed accord ? a move quickly backed by Russia and China. In December, the U.N. General Assembly decided to hold a final conference and set Thursday as the deadline.

"We need a treaty," China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong told The Associated Press. "We hope for consensus."

Iran, Egypt, India and several other countries have had serious concerns about the text.

There has never been an international treaty regulating the estimated $60 billion global arms trade. For more than a decade, activists and some governments have been pushing for international rules to try to keep illicit weapons out of the hands of terrorists, insurgent fighters and organized crime.

"It's important for each and every country in the world that we have a regulation of the international arms trade," Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig told the AP. "There are still some divergencies of views, but I trust we can overcome them."

The draft treaty does not control the domestic use of weapons in any country, but it would require all countries to establish national regulations to control the transfer of conventional arms, parts and components and to regulate arms brokers. It would prohibit states that ratify the treaty from transferring conventional weapons if they would violate arms embargoes or if they would promote acts of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.

The final draft makes this human rights provision even stronger, adding that the export of conventional arms should be prohibited if they could be used in the commission of attacks on civilians or civilian buildings such as schools and hospitals.

In considering whether to authorize the export of arms, the draft says a country must evaluate whether the weapon would be used to violate international human rights or humanitarian laws or be used by terrorists or organized crime. The final draft would allow countries to determine whether the weapons transfer would contribute to or undermine peace and security.

Anna Macdonald, Oxfam's head of arms control, said the scope of the weapons covered in the latest draft is still too narrow.

"We need a treaty that covers all conventional weapons, not just some of them," she said. "We need a treaty that will make a difference to the lives of the people living in Congo, Mali, Syria and elsewhere who suffer each day from the impacts of armed violence."

Ammunition has been a key issue, with some countries pressing for the same controls on ammunition sales as arms, but the U.S. and others opposed such tough restrictions. The draft calls for each country that ratifies the treaty to establish regulations for the export of ammunition "fired, launched or delivered" by the weapons covered by the convention.

The Control Arms coalition, which represents about 100 organizations worldwide campaigning for a strong treaty, and diplomats from countries that support them, said this wouldn't cover hand grenades and mines.

India and other countries had insisted that the treaty have an opt-out for government arms transfers under defense cooperation agreements. The new text appears to keep that loophole, stating that implementation of the treaty "shall not prejudice obligations" under defense cooperation agreements by countries that ratify the treaty.

"Making this treaty was like making a sausage: Everyone has added an ingredient," said Ted Bromund, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

"Unfortunately, that has produced a document that leans much too far towards satisfying the concerns of the Arab Group and Mexico. The former view it as a rebellion prevention plan, while the latter wants a text that edges towards its view that the domestic firearms market in the U.S. should be subject to treaty regulation," he said.

But Daryl Kimball, executive director of the independent Washington-based Arms Control Association, said, "The emerging treaty represents an important first step in dealing with the unregulated and illicit global trade in conventional weapons and ammunition, which fuels wars and human rights abuses worldwide."

He said the text could have been stronger and more comprehensive, but it can still make an important difference.

"The new treaty says to every United Nations member that you cannot simply 'export and forget,'" Kimball said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-28-UN-Arms%20Trade%20Treaty/id-b2a9a3aab10942d48edaadedc10511b9

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April Town Hall Call ? Strategies for a Successful Summer | Martial ...

Posted on March 27, 2013 at 1:09 am.

Written by KovarSystems

Our next Martial Arts Business Town Hall Call will be held on April 16th at 10:00 am PST (1:00 pm EST)

Join Dave Kovar for our monthly teleconference where he?ll be covering ?Strategies for a Successful Summer?. If you are a Martial Arts school owner and want to make a splash this Summer for your business, you don?t want to miss this one!

During this session you can expect to learn:

Dave Kovar is offering his personal tips and advice, why not learn from the best?

As always, these teleconference sessions are FREE, but you do have to secure your spot.

Register now?

Tags: Dave Kovar, Martial Arts Business Town Hall, Summer Strategies

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Source: http://www.kovarsystems.com/april-town-hall-call-strategies-for-a-successful-summer/

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Windsor: Marriage 'is magic' (CNN)

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Obama names Julia Pierson as Secret Service director (Washington Post)

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Students challenged to plan manned mission to Mars

NASA / JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

These color-enhanced views of Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars, were taken on Feb. 21, 2009, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Deimos is about 7.5 miles in diameter. Deimos has a smooth surface due to a blanket of fragmental rock or regolith, except for the most recent impact craters. It is a dark, reddish object, very similar to Mars' other moon, Phobos.

By Mike Wall
Space.com

Humanity's quest to send astronauts to Mars may get a boost from a student design competition being held this week.

The Caltech Space Challenge, which runs from Monday through Friday (March 25-29) at the university's campus in Pasadena, asks two teams of students from around the world to design a manned mission to Phobos?or Deimos, Mars' two tiny moons.

"This is a technical feat that, by necessity, will spark innovation the world over," Nick Parziale, a Ph.D. student in aeronautics at Caltech and leader of one of the teams, said in a statement. "We hope the Caltech Space Challenge serves as a reminder that these incredibly difficult problems are tractable, and that these passionate and dedicated students are just the women and men for the job."

A total of 32 graduate and undergraduate students representing 21 universities and 11 different countries are participating in the competition, Caltech officials said. Scientists and engineers from Caltech, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and a number of aerospace firms will advise the student teams and judge their final designs, which will be presented Friday. [Photos: Mars Moon Phobos Up Close]

Many scientists view Phobos and Deimos as potential stepping stones to Mars itself, as well as locations from which astronauts could efficiently operate robots exploring the Red Planet's surface.

The two moons are both tiny, with Phobos measuring 14 miles (22 kilometers) across and Deimos?just 8 miles (13 km). They're probably former asteroids that Mars' gravity captured long ago, researchers say.

NASA is looking into sending astronauts to Phobos or Deimos as part of a broad investigation of manned Mars mission options. In 2010, President Barack Obama directed the space agency to get humans to the vicinity of the Red Planet by the mid-2030s.

Students participating in the design competition hope their work brings a manned journey to Mars a little closer to reality.

"Sending humans to the neighborhood of Mars, and back, is going to be one of the most challenging engineering feats ever attempted," Jason Rabinovitch, another Caltech aeronautics Ph.D. student and leader of the competition's other team, said in a statement.

"The Caltech Space Challenge is our way to continue to support and advance what is bound to be a long process of design, development and?innovation leading to human footprints on Martian soil," Rabinovitch added.

Public lectures associated with the design challenge will be given Monday through Wednesday. The public is also invited to attend the competition's final presentations on Friday afternoon. More details on the student contest are available at the?Caltech Space Challenge website.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall.?Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published on?Space.com.

Copyright 2013 Space.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Anaheim General to close in May - The Orange County Register

ANAHEIM ? Anaheim General Hospital, which made a rare turnaround two years ago after a near-fatal loss of federal funds, will go out of business in May.

The closure will result in the loss of 142 hospital beds at a time when Orange County hospitals are preparing to serve more patients because of the federal Affordable Care Act.

A view of Anaheim General Hospital, which will close in May.

BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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An announcement memo to employees Monday came two weeks after the state Department of Labor Relations fined the hospital's owner, Tustin-based Pacific Health Corp., more than $7 million for failing to pay wages, issuing checks that bounced and collecting insurance premiums but not paying for coverage.

In the memo, administrators gave employees 60 days' notice that the Ball Road hospital would close May 23.

"We would have preferred not to take this step, but all avenues to ensure continued operations have failed," wrote Brian Cotter, chief executive of Anaheim General.

In a letter sent Monday to the California Department of Public Health, Cotter told regulators that Anaheim General's affiliated skilled-nursing facility in Buena Park, which has 31 beds, will also close.

"I understand that anytime a hospital decreases services, the community is impacted," Cotter wrote. He promised that the hospital would work closely with the department "to insure a safe and effective plan of care for all our patients."

On Tuesday, the county's Emergency Medical Services department ordered ambulances to stop transporting patients to Anaheim General. Pacific Health said it would close the emergency department, also effective Tuesday.

The hospital owner issued a statement that cited the "especially challenging economic climate for all health-care providers."

"We issued the layoff notices to our employees with great regret, but we did so in order to comply with the federal regulations that require advance notification of pending loss of employment. It is our intention to resume services at Anaheim General at some time in the future," the statement read.

Anaheim, the county's largest city, has three other hospitals, including West Anaheim Medical Center, which is a little more than a mile from Anaheim General. But the closure comes at a time when the county's other 31 hospitals will need to serve more patients, said Julie Puentes, vice president for the Orange County office of the Hospital Association of Southern California.

"It is not good news any time you have an emergency room and acute-care capacity lost right when we're gearing up to serve more people and make sure that the population is able to access services," Puentes said. "It is a loss. And it is disappointing."

On Tuesday afternoon, Anaheim resident Christopher Montiel left the Anaheim General emergency room with his son, who injured his foot while playing at school. He said he was shocked to learn of the closure.

"A lot of people around here use the hospital," Montiel said. "I personally don't use it a lot, but I was glad to know that it was here. They're really courteous, and they were really fast with my son."

Most employees declined to be interviewed, but phlebotomist Rupal Desai said she's looking for another job.

"They had a big employee meeting yesterday, but I missed it," Desai said. "Someone called me last night and told me that they announced the hospital is closing."

The decision comes after years of patient safety violations and financial struggles that were followed by an unexpected recovery for the hospital.

In July 2009, federal officials yanked Medicare and Medi-Cal funding to the hospital after a series of failed inspections. On one occasion, inspectors found the hospital lacked medication in the operating room to treat a potentially fatal reaction to anesthesia and had unsafe medical equipment, including dirty baby warmers.

Such funding is vital to hospitals and is rarely pulled. When it is, hospitals often go out of business, as was the case with Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The withdrawal of funding came after a series of other setbacks for Anaheim General, including loss of accreditation by the Joint Commission and closure of the maternity ward.

In late 2010, after operating without any payment from government insurers, Anaheim General regained federal funding. The turnaround took place after the hospital replaced 18 of 22 managers. The staff of 320 at the time underwent extensive training in infection control, preventing patient falls and medication safety.

But about six months later, in the spring of 2011, the hospital was for sale because it was losing money every month. Pacific Health declined to disclose an asking price or say how much money Anaheim General was losing.

In August 2012, Pacific Health took another financial hit when it agreed to pay the federal government $16.5 million after admitting to recruiting homeless people from Skid Row in Los Angeles to undergo unnecessary medical procedures that were billed to the government.

Prosecutors said Pacific Health admitted that from 2003 to 2008, three of its hospitals paid more than $2.3 million in kickbacks to recruiters who sent homeless people to fill hospital beds. Medicare and Medi-Cal paid nearly $16 million for their treatment.

In Orange County, Pacific Health also owns Newport Specialty Hospital, which provides long-term care in Tustin.

Earlier this month, the Department of Labor Relations fined Pacific Health $524,300 for late payment and payment of wages with nonsufficient funds. It also imposed a $6.5 million penalty on the company for failing to provide complete and accurate itemized wage statements to employees.

Contact the writer: 714-796-3686 or cperkes@ocregister.com

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hospital-501344-anaheim-general.html

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Syria rebels claim Assad forces fired rockets containing 'chemical weapon'

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

Government forces in Syria used chemical weapons against rebels near Damascus, an opposition campaigner told Reuters on Monday.?

Rebels had surrounded an army base in the town of Adra, on the outskirts of Damascus, when soldiers used rocket launchers to fire the weapons at them, killing two fighters and wounding 23, according to activist Mohammad Doumani. The claim could not immediately be verified by NBC News.

/

A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

"Doctors are describing the chemical weapon used as phosphorus that hits the nervous system and causes imbalance and loss of consciousness,? Doumani told Reuters from the nearby town of Douma, where the wounded were transported for treatment.

?The two fighters were very close to where the rockets exploded and they died swiftly. The rest are being treated with Atropine," he added.

There was no independent confirmation of the attack, which follows the death of 26 people in a rocket attack near the city of Aleppo last week. The authorities and rebels accused each other of firing a missile carrying chemicals there.

On Tuesday, both the rebels and the government claimed a chemical weapon was used during fierce fighting, with each side blaming the other for the attack.?

One of the major items on the agenda for President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyhau is the war in Syria - now in its third year. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

Reporting from inside Syria is increasingly difficult, and independent confirmation of the use of chemical weapons was impossible to ascertain.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday announced that the United Nations will launch an investigation into the allegations.

However, the prospects for a quick conclusion to the probe will depend on cooperation from the warring parties and safety for investigators ? problematic conditions in the chaos of the country's civil war, experts say.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

'Suffocating in the streets': Chemical weapons attack reported in Syria

US defense chief: Intel 'raises serious concerns' about Syria chemical weapons

Full Syria coverage from NBC News

?

This story was originally published on Mon Mar 25, 2013 9:23 AM EDT

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Which Side of This Picture Is Real and Which Side of It Is CGI?

One side of this picture is a real photograph, the other side is CGI. With CGI getting better and better, it's almost becoming undistinguishable with real life. Which side do you think is real? The right or the left? More »

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Rove Sees Marriage Support in GOP 2016

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Settlements, not solutions, top agenda for new Israeli government

With pro-settler and right-wing parties holding key ministry posts in the new Israeli government, the two-state solution President Obama praised last week may only grow more distant.

By Joshua Mitnick,?Correspondent / March 24, 2013

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (c.) attends the first cabinet meeting of the new Israeli government, in Jerusalem, last week. Netanyahu's new governing coalition took office after a parliamentary vote last Monday with powerful roles reserved for supporters of settlers in occupied territory.

David Vaaknin/Reuters

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President Barack Obama received glowing praise from Israelis for a Jerusalem speech last week in which he reaffirmed his support for the two-state solution. But with the new Israeli cabinet's first working meeting today, a government that could lower the prospects of an eventual Palestinian state is taking the helm.

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As a result of the strong electoral showing by the nationalist Jewish Home party, which earned it a place in the governing coalition, key ministries and other government positions will be held by settlers and their allies, who are determined to make the Israeli presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem irreversible.

"This is the opposite of a dream team, in every important intersection of authority," says Danny Siedemann, a Jerusalem lawyer and peace activist who monitors Israeli?building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. "All of these people are predisposed to an unprecedented settlement surge, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. All of them are hostile to the two-state solution."

Although newly-appointed Israeli Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, the charismatic leader of Jewish Home, exchanged pleasantries with US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro at a dinner to honor Mr. Obama, he speaks openly about doubling the number of settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem?to 1 million and annexing much of the West Bank. As trade minister, he can award permits to Israeli businesses seeking to set up premises in West Bank industrial zones and exert influence on decisions made by other ministries.

With Jewish Home members also leading Israel?s housing ministry,?which oversees construction in the West Bank as well as Israel,?and the Israeli parliament?s finance committee, Mr. Bennett and allies are well-positioned to push that agenda. Shortly after Obama?s speech, Mr. Bennett posted a response?(Hebrew) on his Facebook page.

"A Palestinian state isn?t the correct path," he wrote. "It's about time for new and creative solutions to the conflict in the Middle East. Moreover, there?s no such thing as an occupier in his own land."

The coming lovers' quarrel?

To be sure, in the immediate afterglow of Obama's first state visit to Israel ??almost universally recognized as a success if the measure is his ability to reassure Israel of his support???this line of criticism seems to be in the minority.

After Obama emerged from Israel?s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Israel?s former chief Ashkenazi rabbi, Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor who served as an escort on the stop, told Israel Radio that Obama had been moved by the museum. "If anyone did think he was an?enemy," he said, "they?now know he is a lover."

The visit was a success, in part, because Israel?s government was on its best behavior. The army largely ignored rocket attacks from Gaza and an encampment of Palestinians in a controversial tract of land just to the east of Jerusalem. And unlike three years ago, when a new building project in East Jerusalem was announced during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the country, similar discussions of new Israeli building projects ? like a military academy in East Jerusalem ? were dropped from the agenda of planning boards.

But Uri Ariel, the new housing minister from Jewish Home, is likely to bring those projects ? and many more ? back on the agenda.?The far-right parliamentarian who resides in the settlement of Kfar Adumim knows about building?in the West Bank?from years of experience: he once headed the Amana Movement, a 34-year-old settler organization that oversaw home building and the organization of new communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.?He was also director general of the settlers' umbrella leadership, the Yesha Council, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when settlement activity surged.

In an interview with the pro-settler weekly "Eretz Yisrael Shelanu"?(Our Land Israel),?he invoked?the Messianic theology of the religious settler movement, saying his appointment marks "another stage on the path to redemption."

He also cited his career of advancing building "in all parts of our holy land." "With God?s help, I will continue on this path,"?he told the newspaper.

Bracing for bad news

Obama said during his central address in Israel that settlement construction threatens a two state solution: "Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable with real borders that have to be drawn.???

But?now that?the glare of the presidential spotlight?has abated and Mr. Ariel is heading the ministry that prepares government building tenders in the West Bank, settlement watchdogs?are?bracing for new announcements about controversial projects like East Jerusalem's Kidmat Tziyon, a 300-unit planned housing development located near a Palestinian Jerusalem neighborhood next to the Mount of Olives.??

Sidemann said that in the next couple of weeks, the "logjam" of building projects in the West Bank and Jerusalem is liable to burst.?

The international community will also be focused on the fate of E-1, a land tract Israel?s government has slated for housing, but is seen by critics as driving a wedge between the northern and southern West Bank. New building projects in far-flung settlements beyond Israel's separation wall will also be watched closely.

Mr. Ariel is a "man who gets things done," says Gil Hoffman, the political reporter for The Jerusalem Post. That said, Mr. Hoffman insists that Ariel is a pragmatist and will seek to maintain the pace of building under previous governments rather than a provocative building surge.

Normalization?

Many?Israelis?expect that Jewish Home?will use its?leadership of the Knesset finance committee, which prepares the annual budget, to channel?additional?funds to the settlements.

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has perhaps the most power?after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The hardline member of Likud who is considered sympathetic to the settlers' goals?has far-reaching powers to authorize building in the West Bank and has publicly said that an accord with the Palestinians is unrealistic in the near future.

The US is hoping that Obama's positive first trip will reinvigorate peace efforts, though most settlers are not worried. They see the composition of the new Israeli cabinet as a reassurance that Israeli policy will move away from peace negotiations. Yisrael Meidad, a resident of the settlement of Shilo, says the new government could normalize Israeli perceptions of the setters;?many?non-settler Israelis are generally not enthusiastic about the settlements and believe that many should be returned to the Palestinians for peace. If attitudes changed, Israel could be headed?toward a starkly different vision than that laid out by Obama.

"[The new government] might bring us in from the cold," Mr. Meidad says. "We?ve graduated from being cautiously optimistic to looking forward to its ability to consolidate what I think is the latent willingness of Israel?s population to be comfortable with right-wing or nationalist Zionism."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/r7cRy4ldUXk/Settlements-not-solutions-top-agenda-for-new-Israeli-government

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NFL Free Agency 2013: Steelers were in pursuit of QB Brian Hoyer

The Cardinals may have been wise to place a second-round tender on Hoyer.

Last week, Brian Hoyer signed his second-round tender with the Arizona Cardinals, meaning that unless the team decides to trade or cut him, he will be one of the quarterbacks on the roster next season. No team is allowed to negotiate with Hoyer now that he has signed the tender and he is no longer considered a free agent, which is bad news for the Steelers, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via NFL.com).

Bouchette states that the Steelers had interest in signing Hoyer to be the backup to Ben Roethlisberger before signing his tender with the Cardinals.

The Steelers were not willing to part with a second-round pick for a backup quarterback (obviously), so it became moot. The Cardinals were obviously aware that teams were going to have interest in him, which is why they placed such a high tender on him instead of hoping for the best.

The oddest part about all of this is that the Cardinals actually signed Hoyer last season after he was released from the Steelers. If they would have kept him on their roster, they would have had the option of tendering Hoyer instead of the Cardinals.

In all, it was a good move by the Cardinals as they were able to secure their backup (and possible starter) by paying him just $800,000 more for the season.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Source: http://www.revengeofthebirds.com/2013/3/24/4142312/nfl-free-agency-2013-steelers-were-in-pursuit-of-qb-brian-hoyer

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Nokia accuses Google of 'forcing' VP8 video codec on the world, uses patent system to resist it

Just when Google thought everything was going swell with its open source VP8 video standard for the web, up pops one last hurdle. And it's a big one: Nokia has suddenly decided to use the patent system to try to prevent VP8 from being adopted as a free (or at least free-er) alternative to the license-laden H.264. Why would it do such a thing? Because, according to a statement given to FOSS Patents, the Finnish manufacturer believes VP8 isn't truly open. It describes the codec as a "proprietary technology" that offers "no advantages" over H.264 and that Google is "attempting to force" on others as part of its WebM project. What's more, Nokia claims VP8 infringes on its own intellectual property and says it isn't prepared to license any patents that may be required to let VP8 flourish. Oh dear. This problem may now need even more money thrown at it.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Nokia, Google

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Rove sees potential support for gay marriage (The Arizona Republic)

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Key decision soon on Cuba terror designation

HAVANA (AP) ? A normally routine bit of Washington bureaucracy could have a big impact on U.S. relations with Cuba, either ushering in a long-stalled detente or slamming the door on rapprochement, perhaps until the scheduled end of the Castro era in 2018.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry must decide within a few weeks whether to advocate that President Barack Obama should take Cuba off a list of state sponsors of terrorism, a collection of Washington foes that also includes Iran, Syria and Sudan.

Cuban officials have long seen the terror designation as unjustified and told visiting American delegations privately in recent weeks that they view Kerry's recommendation as a litmus test for improved ties. They also hinted the decision could affect discussions over the release of jailed U.S. subcontractor Alan Gross, whose detention in 2009 torpedoed hopes of a diplomatic thaw.

Inclusion on the list means a ban not only on arms sales to Cuba but also on items that can have dual uses, including some hospital equipment. It also requires that the United States oppose any loans to Cuba by the World Bank or other international lending institutions, among other measures.

U.S. officials agree the recommendation, which Kerry must make before the State Department's annual terror report is published April 30, has become ensnared in the standoff over Gross. The American was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he was caught bringing communications equipment onto the island illegally while working for a USAID-funded democracy-building program.

Cuba has been on the terror list since 1982, and is also the target of a 51-year U.S. economic embargo ? the reason why the island of beaches, music and rum is the only country Americans cannot visit as tourists. Removal from the list would not change that.

Critics say Cuba's inclusion on the list has little to do with any real threat posed by the Communist-run Caribbean island, and they say the list has become so politicized it's useless. North Korea was removed in 2008 during nuclear negotiations that ultimately failed, and was never put back on. Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden had been hiding out, is not on the list in large part because of its strategic importance.

Longtime Cuba analyst Philip Peters of the Virginia-based think tank the Lexington Institute said removing Cuba from the list "makes sense ... just because it's been a specious allegation that the United States has repeated for many years ... It would improve the atmosphere."

Others argue against rewarding Havana unless it releases Gross.

"I have long believed it's in our interest to see an improvement in relations with Cuba," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Gross's home state of Maryland who traveled with a congressional delegation to Havana last month. But "the first step needs to be resolving Alan Gross's situation."

Voices calling for a change in the policy are growing louder, however.

Last month, The Boston Globe cited administration sources saying high-level diplomats determined Cuba should be dropped from the list. That prompted State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland to say there were "no current plans" to do so, though she did not explicitly rule out the possibility.

Last week, a Los Angeles Times editorial called for Cuba's removal from the list, and other newspapers have voiced similar opinions. The Cuba Study Group, a Washington-based exile organization that advocates engagement to promote democratic change, issued a white paper in February calling for an "apolitical" reexamination of the terror designation.

While Kerry can review the designation even after the State Department's report comes out, Cuba's continued inclusion on the list in April would almost certainly rule out its chances of removal in 2013.

A U.S. official involved in deliberations told The Associated Press that Kerry will ultimately decide and nobody under him is in a position to predict what will happen. "It's very much up in the air," he said.

But another administration official said that lifting the terror designation will be a hard sell while Gross remains imprisoned.

"It's very unlikely," the second official said. "There is no consensus. And if you are on (the list), you stay on as long as there is no consensus on taking you off."

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Ostensibly, Cuba has been designated a terror sponsor because it harbors members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group, the Basque militant organization ETA and a handful of U.S. fugitives, many of whom have lived here since the 1970s.

But much has changed in recent years.

Late last year, peace talks began in Havana between Colombia and the FARC, and even Washington has voiced hope that the negotiations will end Colombia's half-century old conflict.

ETA announced a permanent cease-fire in 2011, and Madrid has not openly called for the return of any Basque fugitives. Cuba has enjoyed improved relations with Spain and Colombia in recent years, and both countries routinely vote at the U.N. against continuing the U.S. embargo.

Under President Raul Castro, Cuba has freed dozens of dissidents and has begun opening its economy and society, though it remains a one-party political system that permits no legal opposition. Castro announced in February that he would step down in 2018 and signaled a likely successor.

The time might also be ripe in terms of U.S. politics.

While in the Senate, Kerry was an outspoken critic of America's policy on Cuba, saying it has "manifestly failed for nearly 50 years." He called for travel restrictions to end and held up millions of dollars in funding for the type of programs Gross worked with.

His boss, President Obama, no longer has to worry about reelection or pleasing Cuban-Americans, an all-important voting bloc in the crucial swing state of Florida.

Ann Louise Bardach, a longtime Cuba observer and the author of "Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington," said all the political winds would seem to point toward a reboot in relations ? except for Havana's decision to hold Gross and try to swap him for five Cuban agents in the U.S.

"In a way they cooked their goose with Alan Gross," she said. "The Cubans thought, 'Gee what a brilliant idea, we'll have a chit to trade.' Little did they know that they would be at this moment where you have considerable momentum to move on in Washington, and politically, because of the Gross mess, Washington can't act."

___

Associated Press reporters Bradley Klapper and Jessica Gresko in Washington, and Peter Orsi in Havana contributed to this report.

___

Follow Paul Haven on Twitter: www.twitter.com/paulhaven

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/key-us-decision-cuba-terror-designation-coming-074500998.html

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