An Iraqi woman passes by the scene of a car bomb attack in Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad's Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)
An Iraqi woman passes by the scene of a car bomb attack in Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad's Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)
Civilians inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad?s Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)
Iraqi security forces and civilians inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad?s Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)
Civilians inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad?s Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Iraqi security force members gather at the site of a car bomb attack in front of a crowded popular restaurant in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. Two car bombings in the southern city of Basra, killing and wounding dozens of people, police said. Iraq has seen a spike of attacks, including bombings hitting both Sunni and Shiite civilian targets over the last week. (AP Photo/ Nabil al-Jurani)
BAGHDAD (AP) ? A wave of attacks killed at least 95 people in Shiite and Sunni areas of Iraq on Monday, officials said, pushing the death toll over the past week to more than 240 and extending one of the most sustained bouts of sectarian violence the country has seen in years.
The bloodshed is still far shy of the pace, scale and brutality of the dark days of 2006-2007, when Sunni and Shiite militias carried out retaliatory attacks against each other in a cycle of violence that left the country awash in blood. Still, Monday's attacks, some of which hit markets and crowded bus stops during the morning rush hour, have heightened fears that the country could be turning back down the path toward civil war.
Sectarian tensions have been worsening since Iraq's minority Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government. The mass demonstrations, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23.
Iraq's Shiite majority, which was oppressed under the late dictator Saddam Hussein, now holds the levers of power in the country. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks.
But the renewed violence in both Shiite and Sunni areas since late last month has fueled concerns of a return to sectarian warfare. Monday marked the deadliest day in Iraq in more than 20 months, and raised the nationwide death toll since last Wednesday alone to more than 240 people, according to an AP count.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused militant groups of trying to exploit Iraq's political instability to exacerbate sectarian tensions at home, and blamed the recent spike in violence on the wider unrest in the region, particularly in neighboring Syria. At the same time, he pledged Monday that insurgents "will not be able to bring back the atmosphere of the sectarian war."
Many Sunnis here contend that much of the country's current turmoil is rooted in decisions made by al-Maliki's government, saying his administration planted the seeds for more sectarian tension by becoming more aggressive toward Sunnis after the U.S. military withdrawal in December 2011.
The worst of Monday's violence took place in Baghdad, where 10 car bombs ripped through open-air markets and other areas of Shiite neighborhoods, killing at least 48 people and wounding more than 150, police officials said. In the bloodiest attack, a parked car bomb blew up in a busy market in the northern Shiite neighborhood of Shaab, killing 14 and wounding 24, police and health officials said.
The surge in bloodshed has exasperated Iraqis, who have lived for years with the fear and uncertainty bred of random violence.
"How long do we have to continue living like this, with all the lies from the government?" asked 23-year-old Baghdad resident Malik Ibrahim. "Whenever they say they have reached a solution, the bombings come back stronger than before."
"We're fed up with them and we can't tolerate this anymore," he added.
The predominantly Shiite city of Basra in southern Iraq was also hit Monday, with two car bombs there ? one outside a restaurant and another at the city's main bus station ? killing at least 13 and wounded 40, according to provincial police spokesman Col. Abdul-Karim al-Zaidi and the head of city's health directorate, Riadh Abdul-Amir.
A parked car bomb later struck Shiite worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in the southern city of Hillah, killing nine and wounding 26, according to police and health officials said.
In the town of Balad, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing 13 Iranians and one Iraqi, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but the fact that they all occurred in Shiite areas raised the suspicion that Sunni militants were involved. Also, Sunni insurgents, particularly al-Qaida in Iraq, are known to employ such large-scale bombings.
Monday's violence also struck Sunni areas, hitting the city of Samarra north of Baghdad and the western province of Anbar, a Sunni stronghold and the birthplace of the protest movement.
A parked car bomb in Samarra went off near a gathering of pro-government Sunni militia who were waiting outside a military base to receive salaries, killing three and wounding 13, while in Anbar gunmen ambushed two police patrols near the town of Haditha, killing eight policemen, police and army officials said.
Also in Anbar, authorities found 13 bodies dumped in a remote desert area, officials said. The bodies, which included eight policemen who were kidnapped by gunmen on Friday, had been killed with a gunshot to the head.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
___
Associated Press writer Nabil Al-Jurani in Basra contributed to this report.
There's always glitz and glamour at Cannes, France, during its annual film festival, and it's no different this year. But there's still a heavy infusion of gold to come this week at Thursday's amfAR gala, which will treat its celebrity guests to 40 of the world's top models in "The Ultimate Gold Collection Fashion Show," curated by Carine Roitfeld.
It's the 20th edition of the gala, which raises money for AIDS research, and the "ultimate" show builds on a smaller one that launched last year. This time, Karlie Kloss, Karolina Kurkova, Angela Lindvall and Alessandra Ambrosio will be dripping in gold jewelry and wearing gleaming gowns by Giorgio Armani, Alexander Wang, Marchesa and Louis Vuitton, among others.
"It was really hard to choose a dress for this," said Eva Cavalli, who is donating a mermaid, sequin-covered gown from the Roberto Cavalli archive that Kurkova will wear to open the show.
"Gold for Cavalli is THE color: the color of sun, positivity, warmth, joy," said Cavalli, Roberto's wife and design partner. "But it was hard to choose for this. I also thought of gold leather, but I was thinking that I wanted to give something really special, and this is one of the most beautiful pieces we ever did."
Charity catwalks such as this add a little sense of competition among designers, she said, but "only because everyone wants to do more, give more and be involved more, but in a friendly way."
She bought a Valentino red gown at another amfAR event. "I've never worn it, but it looks good and maybe I will wear it someday."
Years ago, fashion wasn't a big part of the event ? or even the film festival, Roitfeld said, but there were so many beautiful dresses and so many beautiful faces that it was ripe to make a big, bold style statement. "It's so glamorous and generous at amfAR. Why not?"
Roitfeld, who usually has a uniform of black or khaki, said she'll wear gold, "which is a big deal for me."
She'll be mingling with Sharon Stone, Heidi Klum, Jessica Chastain and Harvey Weinstein, among others, and scheduled performers include Duran Duran, Shirley Bassey, Ellie Goulding and Hot Chelle Rae. The event will stream live at the Lovegold.com website.
"We had to make it more fun than other fashion shows. It's not all journalists and the people who go to fashion shows at Cannes. We have to entertain. ... It's more like a Victoria's Secret show, where they create the dream of women to have wings on their back. We're doing the same thing with our girls," Roitfeld said. "We're not there to sell the dress. The models are there more to flirt with the audience."
She added: "Charity is always a good excuse to mix people with models."
Hezbollah steps up Syria battle, Israel threatens more strikes
AMMAN (Reuters) - Lebanese Hezbollah militants attacked a Syrian rebel-held town alongside Syrian troops on Sunday and Israel threatened more attacks on Syria to rein the militia in, highlighting the risks of a wider regional conflict if planned peace talks fail. Activists said it was the fiercest fighting in Syria's two year-old civil war involving Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group backed by Iran which they said appeared to be helping President Bashar al-Assad secure a vital corridor in case Syria fragments.
North Korea fires short-range missiles for two days in a row
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast on Sunday, a day after launching three of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said, ignoring calls for restraint from Western powers. Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon but, after recent warnings from the communist state of impending nuclear war, such actions have raised concerns about the region's security.
Canadian prime minister's top aide quits over expenses scandal
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The top aide to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper abruptly resigned on Sunday over his role in an mounting expenses scandal which is threatening to undermine the Conservative government. Nigel Wright, Harper's chief of staff, quit after secretly giving a C$90,000 ($87,000) check in February to Mike Duffy, a member of the upper Senate chamber, to help him cover living expenses he had improperly claimed. News of the gift leaked late on Tuesday.
Exclusive: Bangladesh factory banned by Wal-Mart still makes Wrangler shirts
GAZIPUR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - A Bangladesh factory where Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Inditex SA inspectors spotted cracks in the wall this month is still making Wrangler shirts for the world's largest apparel maker, U.S.-based VF Corp. VF confirmed on Saturday it was still using Liz Apparels to make its clothing following an inspection ordered by the factory owner, Nassa Group, on May 12. VF, whose other clothing brands include North Face, Timberland and Nautica, said its philosophy was to "stay and improve" working conditions.
Israel demands French TV correct 13-year-old report on boy's death
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel demanded a French television station on Sunday correct a report from nearly 13 years ago which helped fuel anger across the world and ignite a bloody uprising against the Jewish state. Twelve-year-old Mohammed al-Dura and his father, Jamal, were filmed crouching in terror by a wall in the Gaza Strip in September 2000, bullets whizzing around them, as Israeli forces battled Palestinian gunmen days into an uprising that erupted after failed peace talks.
Insight: Despite curbs, China's vast hot money triangle flourishes
ZHUHAI, China/HONG KONG (Reuters) - In an underground mall just a stone's throw from China's teeming border with Macau, a row of 30 small shops with identical golden plaques does a brisk, though shadowy trade with mainland Chinese visitors, many of them bound for the gambling hub. "Good rates. Better than the banks," shout salespeople jostling to usher clients into shops where thick wads of Chinese 100 yuan ($16.31) and HK$1,000 ($130) bank notes change hands and shuffle noisily through electronic cash-counting machines. Licensed as liquor and dry goods stores with stacked shelves of rice wine and cigarettes, many conduct their real business in back rooms - as underground bankers and remittance agents.
India gripes over border, trade woes on Li's first foreign trip
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told visiting Chinese President Li Keqiang on Sunday a recent military standoff in the Himalayas could affect relations between the two countries as they looked to boost bilateral trade. At a meeting shortly after Li arrived in India on his first foreign trip, Singh said relations were affected when "peace and tranquility" on the border was impacted, a senior government official with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.
Nigeria offers amnesty to insurgents who surrender
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria offered an amnesty on Sunday to Islamist militants who surrender and said 17 people had been killed on the fifth day of a military operation to try to crush the Boko Haram insurgency in the country's northeast. In their biggest offensive since the insurgency began in 2009, Nigerian forces are trying to chase well-armed militants out of territory they control in remote semi-deserts around Lake Chad, along the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Tunisian Islamist protester killed in clash with police
TUNIS (Reuters) - One protester died and several were injured when Tunisian Islamists defied a ban on their demonstration and clashed with police on Sunday. The 27-year-old man was killed in the violence in the capital Tunis which continued into the evening, the state news agency said. A Reuters witness saw several others injured at the protest in support of the Islamist Ansar al-Sharia group.
Protesting Egyptian police block Israel border crossing
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police enraged by the kidnapping of seven of their colleagues by Islamist gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula blocked a commercial border crossing with Israel on Sunday to pressure the Cairo government to help free the men, security sources said. A video posted online on Sunday showed seven blindfolded men, who said they were the hostages, begging President Mohamed Mursi to free political detainees in Sinai in exchange for their own release.
A new Lumia phone from Nokia, this year's Google I/O and BlackBerry World -- yep, it was a pretty hectic week for us, but also a good seven days for tech news. Even if Google didn't have any truly new hardware for us, it's started up its own on-demand music service, gave us more details on Google Glass, redesigned its Maps and, well, it was a very long keynote. Join us after the break for a numerical breakdown of that and the rest of the week's big news.
May 20, 2013 ? People who are consistently exposed to both wood smoke and tobacco smoke are at a greater risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and for experiencing more frequent and severe symptoms of the disease, as well as more severe airflow obstruction, than those who are exposed to only one type of smoke, according to the results of a new population-based study conducted by researchers in Colombia.
The results of the study will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference.
"Although previous studies have shown a definite link between wood smoke exposure and the development of COPD, those studies were case-controls and case series of patients with similar disease or health profiles," said study lead author Carlos Torres-Duque, M.D., director of research at the Fundacion Neumologica Colombiana in Bogota. "This new data derives from a population-based study that looked at wood smoke exposure and the overall prevalence of COPD, as well as the characteristics of the disease and those who suffer from it."
About 40 percent of the world's population uses solid fuels -- especially wood -- for cooking or heating, he noted.
For this study, Dr. Torres-Duque and his colleagues used data from the PREPOCOL (Prevalencia de la Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Cr?nica en Colombia) study which evaluated the prevalence of COPD among the adult residents of five Colombian cities. The study included 5,539 subjects, 8.9 percent of whom were diagnosed with COPD. The study participants were divided into four groups: those who were exposed to wood smoke and who had never smoked tobacco (30.9 percent); those who were exposed to tobacco smoke but had no exposure to wood smoke (18.7 percent); those who had been exposed to both types of smoke (29.8 percent); and those who had exposure to neither type of smoke (20.6 percent).
Patients' lung function was measured using spirometry, a technique used to measure the amount of air a person is able to inhale and exhale, and all patients completed a standardized respiratory questionnaire to identify exposure to smoke.
In their initial review of data, the researchers learned that 53 percent of those diagnosed with COPD had both wood and tobacco smoke exposure; moreover, the prevalence of COPD increased as exposure to wood smoke increased.
After adjusting for specific factors including age, active and passive tobacco smoking, education level, history of TB and altitude, the researchers found that wood smoke exposure of 10 or more years posed a significant risk factor for developing COPD in both men and women and those with both wood and tobacco exposure had poorer lung function scores and more phlegm and coughed more frequently than those who had exposure to only one type of smoke.Among the COPD population, those who were exposed only to wood smoke tended to be women, to have higher BMIs and to be shorter than those exposed to tobacco smoke or to a combination of wood and tobacco smoke.
"In the population we studied, exposure to wood smoke was identified as an independent risk factor for developing COPD, both in women and men," Dr. Torres-Duque said. "In addition, the prevalence of COPD was significantly higher in those who were exposed to both wood and tobacco smoke and those with both exposures had more symptoms and more severe disease than those who were exposed to only one type of smoke."
This result suggests that the combination of wood and tobacco smoke produces an additive effect that causes an increase in COPD prevalence and in the frequency of COPD symptoms, he added.
"It is also possible that the responses of the lungs and airways could vary, based on the pollutants to which they're exposed," Dr. Torres-Duque noted.
Future studies might provide additional data regarding varying responses and help clinicians determine specific treatments based on exposures, he said.
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) ? A simple test could have alerted officials that the drinking water at Camp Lejeune was contaminated, long before authorities determined that as many as a million Marines and their families were exposed to a witch's brew of cancer-causing chemicals.
But no one responsible for the lab at the base can recall that the procedure ? mandated by the Navy ? was ever conducted.
The U.S. Marine Corps maintains that the carbon chloroform extract (CCE) test would not have uncovered the carcinogens that fouled the southeastern North Carolina base's water system from at least the mid-1950s until wells were capped in the mid-1980s. But experts say even this "relatively primitive" test ? required by Navy health directives as early as 1963 ? would have told officials that something was terribly wrong beneath Lejeune's sandy soil.
A just-released study from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry cited a February 1985 level for trichloroethylene of 18,900 parts per billion in one Lejeune drinking water well ? nearly 4,000 times today's maximum allowed limit of 5 ppb. Given those kinds of numbers, environmental engineer Marco Kaltofen said even a testing method as inadequate as CCE should have raised some red flags with a "careful analyst."
"That's knock-your-socks-off level ? even back then," said Kaltofen, who worked on the infamous Love Canal case in upstate New York, where drums of buried chemical waste leaked toxins into a local water system. "You could have smelled it."
Biochemist Michael Hargett agrees that CCE, while imperfect, would have been enough to prompt more specific testing in what is now recognized as the worst documented case of drinking-water contamination in the nation's history.
"I consider it disingenuous of the Corps to say, 'Well, it wouldn't have meant anything,'" said Hargett, co-owner of the private lab that tried to sound the alarm about the contamination in 1982. "The levels of chlorinated solvent that we discovered ... they would have gotten something that said, 'Whoops. I've got a problem.' They didn't do that."
Trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), benzene and other toxic chemicals leeched into ground water from a poorly maintained fuel depot and indiscriminate dumping on the base, as well as from an off-base dry cleaner.
Nearly three decades after the first drinking-water wells were closed, victims are still awaiting a final federal health assessment ? the original 1997 report having been withdrawn because faulty or incomplete data. Results of a long-delayed study on birth defects and childhood cancers were only submitted for publication in late April.
Many former Lejeune Marines and family members who lived there believe the Corps still has not come clean about the situation, and the question of whether these tests were conducted is emblematic of the depth of that mistrust.
Marine Corps officials have repeatedly said that federal environmental regulations for these cancer-causing chemicals were not finalized under the Safe Drinking Water Act until 1989 ? about four years after the contaminated wells had been identified and taken out of service. But victims who have scoured decades-old documents say the military's own health standards should have raised red flags long before.
In 1963, the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery issued "The Manual of Naval Preventive Medicine." Chapter 5 is titled "Water Supply Ashore."
"The water supply should be obtained from the most desirable sources which is feasible, and effort should be made to prevent or control pollution of the source," it reads.
At the time, the Defense Department adopted water quality standards set by the U.S. Public Health Service. To measure that quality, the Navy manual identified CCE "as a technically practical procedure which will afford a large measure of protection against the presence of undetected toxic materials in finished drinking water."
Also referred to as the "oil and grease test," CCE was intended to protect against an "unwarranted dosage of the water consumer with ill-defined chemicals," according to the Navy manual. The CCE standard set in 1963 was 200 ppb. In 1972, the Navy further tightened it to no more than 150 ppb.
In response to a request from The Associated Press, Capt. Kendra Motz said the Marines could produce no copies of CCE test results for Lejeune, despite searching for "many hours."
"Some documents that might be relevant to your question may no longer be maintained by the Marine Corps or the Department of the Navy in accordance with records management policies," she wrote in an email. "The absence of records 50 years later does not necessarily mean action was not taken."
But the two men who oversaw the base lab told the AP they were not even familiar with the procedure.
"A what?" asked Julian Wooten, who was head of the Lejeune environmental section during the 1970s, when asked if his staff had ever performed the CCE test. "I never saw anything, unless the (Navy's) preventive medicine people were doing some. I don't have any knowledge of that kind of operation or that kind of testing being done. Not back then."
"I have no knowledge of it," said Danny Sharpe, who succeeded Wooten as section chief and was in charge when the first drinking water wells were shut down in the mid-1980s. "I don't remember that at all."
Wooten was an ecologist, and Sharpe's background is in forestry and soil conservation. But Elizabeth Betz, the supervisory chemist at Lejeune from 1979 to 1995, was also at a loss when asked about the CCE testing.
"I do not remember any such test being requested nor do I remember seeing any such test results," Betz, who later worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's national exposure branch at Research Triangle Park outside Raleigh, wrote in a recent email.
Hargett, the former co-owner of Grainger Laboratories in Raleigh, said he never saw any evidence that the base was testing and treating for anything beyond e coli and other bacteria.
"That was a state regulation ... that they had to maintain a sanitary water supply," he said. "And they did a good job at that."
Motz, the Marine spokeswoman, told the AP that the method called for in the manual would not have detected the toxins at issue in the Camp Lejeune case.
"The CCE method includes a drying step and a distillation (evaporation) step where chloroform is completely evaporated," she wrote in an email. These volatile organic compounds, "by their chemical nature, would evaporate readily as well," she wrote.
ATSDR contacted the EPA about the "utility" of such testing and concluded it would be of no value in detecting TCE, PCE, or benzene, Deputy Director Tom Sinks wrote in an email to members of a community assistance panel on Lejeune.
"It is doubtful that the weight of their residue would be detectable when subjected to this method," Sinks wrote.
Kaltofen, a doctoral candidate at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, acknowledged that CCE is "a relatively primitive test." But in addition to the water's odor, Kaltofen said, "there are some things that a careful analyst would easily have noticed."
Hargett agreed.
"It would have prompted you to simply say, 'Wow. There is something here. Let's do some additional work,'" he told the AP. Any "reputable chemist ... would have raised their hands to the person responsible and said, 'Guys. You ought to look at this. There's more here.'"
The Marines have said such high readings were merely spikes. But Kaltofen countered that, "You can't get that level even once without having a very serious problem ... It's the worst case."
In a recent interview, Wooten told the AP that he knew something was wrong with the water as early as the 1960s, when he worked in the maintenance department.
"I was usually the first person in in the big building that we worked in," he said. "And I'd cut the water on and let it run, just go and flush the commodes and cut the water on and let it run for several minutes before I'd attempt to make coffee."
Wooten said he made repeated budget requests for additional equipment and lab workers. But as Betz told a federal fact-finding group, "the lab was very low on the priority list at the base."
She said her group ? the Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Department ? was "like the 'red headed stepchild.'"
Even a series of increasingly urgent reports from an Army lab at Fort McPherson, Ga., beginning in late 1980, failed to prompt any real action.
"WATER HIGHLY CONTAMINATED WITH OTHER CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS (SOLVENTS!)" cautioned one memo from the Army lab in early 1981.
Because the base water system drew on a rotating basis from a number of different wells, subsequent tests showed no problems, and officials chalked these "interferences" up to flukes. One base employee told the fact-finding group that in 1980, "they simply did not have the money nor capacity" to test every drinking-water well on the base.
"This type of money would have cost well over $100,000, and their entire operating budget was $100,000," the employee said, according to a heavily redacted summary obtained by the AP from the Department of Justice through the Freedom of Information Act. "However, they did not do the well testing because they did not think they needed to."
So, from late 1980 through the summer of 1982, the former employee told investigators, "this issue simply laid there. No attempts were made to identify ground contamination" at Hadnot Point or Tarawa Terrace, where most of the enlisted men and their families lived.
It wasn't until a letter from Grainger in August 1982 reported TCE levels of 1,400 ppb that any kind of widespread testing began. Though the EPA did not yet enforce a limit for TCE at the time, the chemical had long been known to cause serious health problems.
"That is when the light bulb went off," Sharpe told federal investigators in a 2004 interview, obtained by the AP. "That is when we connected the tests of the 1980, 1981, and 1982 time period where traces of solvents were detected to this finding."
Still, it was not until the final weeks of 1984 that the first wells were closed down. Between the receipt of that 1982 letter and the well closures, the employee told the fact-finding group, "they simply dropped the ball."
Each year of delay meant an additional 10,000 people may have been exposed, according to Marine estimates.
Municipal utilities around the country were using far more sophisticated tests to detect much lower contaminate levels, said Kaltofen, while the people at Camp Lejeune were doing "the bare minimum. And it wasn't enough."
Last year, President Obama signed the Camp Lejeune Veterans and Family Act to provide medical care and screening for Marines and their families, but not civilians, exposed between 1957 and 1987 ? although preliminary results from water modeling suggest that date be pushed back at least another four years. The law covers 15 diseases or conditions, including female infertility, miscarriage, leukemia, multiple myeloma, as well as bladder, breast, esophageal, kidney and lung cancer.
Jerry Ensminger, a former drill sergeant, blames the water for the leukemia that killed his 9-year-old daughter, Janey, in 1985. He and Michael Partain ? a Marine's son who is one of at least seven dozen men with Lejeune ties diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer ? have scoured the records, and he thinks the Corps has yet to accept responsibility for its role in this tragedy.
"If I hadn't dug in my heels," Ensminger said, "this damned issue would have been dead and buried along with my child and everybody else's."
AGA honors distinguished clinicians, researchers and educators with prestigious recognition awardsPublic release date: 19-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rachel Steigerwald newsroom@gastro.org 301-272-1603 American Gastroenterological Association
Orlando, FL (May 19, 2013) Each year, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) recognizes several individuals for their outstanding contributions and achievements in gastroenterology through its esteemed recognition awards.
"AGA is comprised of many distinguished and talented individuals who work tirelessly to advance the science and practice of gastroenterology. Today, we are pleased to announce the 2013 recognition award honorees who have been acknowledged by their colleagues for their tremendous contributions to our field," said Loren Laine, MD, AGAF, president of the AGA Institute. "Through their dedication, knowledge and influence, these individuals have bettered gastroenterology practice, research and education, and have also provided outstanding service to the AGA."
The AGA congratulates the 2013 awardees and thanks them for their exemplary service to the field of gastroenterology.
Julius Friedenwald Medal
AGA's highest honor is awarded to Chung Owyang, MD. The Julius Friedenwald Medal, presented annually since 1941, recognizes a physician for lifelong contributions to the field of gastroenterology. Dr. Owyang has dedicated his distinguished, 34-year career to the field of gastroenterology and to the service of the AGA and its membership. AGA is sincerely thankful for his contributions.
Dr. Owyang's impressive career includes overseeing and building one of the truly elite GI programs in the U.S. at the University of Michigan, where he currently serves as chief of the division of gastroenterology, while making many important discoveries through his own research program that have advanced our understanding of the physiology of pancreatic secretion and gastrointestinal motility. Dr. Owyang has been an active AGA member throughout his renowned career, serving on numerous committees and as chair of the AGA International Committee from 2003 to 2006.
AGA Institute gratefully acknowledges AstraZeneca for making this award possible through a restricted grant.
Read more.
Distinguished Achievement Award
The AGA presents its Distinguished Achievement Award to Pelayo Correa, MD, for his major research accomplishments that have significantly advanced the understanding of the pathology and epidemiology of gastrointestinal cancers. Over his exemplary career, which spans more than 50 years, Dr. Correa has been instrumental in identifying causal pathways in malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract, notably the multistage mechanisms involved in gastric carcinogenesis. Dr. Correa's pathology background, coupled with his rich clinical cancer prevention experience, place him in a rarified atmosphere as a translational researcher and make him highly deserving of this honor. Dr. Correa currently serves as Anne Potter Wilson professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN.
AGA Institute gratefully acknowledges AstraZeneca for making this award possible through a restricted grant.
Read more.
Distinguished Mentor Award
The AGA honors John Thomas Lamont, MD, AGAF, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, with its Distinguished Mentor Award for his achievements as an outstanding mentor. Throughout his 40-year career in academic gastroenterology, Dr. Lamont has shown excellence and leadership in clinical care, teaching and research. He has an international reputation as a clinical scientist and is widely regarded for his integrity, fairness, and humanistic and personal approach to nurturing his students' careers.
Read more.
Distinguished Educator Awards
The Distinguished Educator Award acknowledges exemplary educators in the field of gastroenterology. The AGA is proud to be awarding this honor to two deserving individuals.
Sheila E. Crowe, MD, AGAF, FRCPC, FACP, FACG, professor and director of research for the division of gastroenterology at the University of California, San Diego, is recognized at both a national and international level for her innumerable contributions as an educator, lecturer and mentor, as well as for furthering the general population's awareness of celiac disease. Dr. Crowe has dedicated countless hours to the AGA through her work on the AGA Council and with the AGA Spring Postgraduate Course, and the AGA is proud to honor her accomplishments.
Douglas K. Rex, MD, AGAF, FACG, FASGE, is known as an educator's educator and mentor who has carried out his entire academic career at Indiana University, where he currently serves as a distinguished professor of medicine and chancellor's professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology. He has made critically important educational contributions through a combination of his formal and clinical teaching; his substantial, practical and important clinical research; his numerous authoritative clinical reviews; his widely viewed educational videos; and his major contributions to clinical guidelines and policy in gastroenterology.
Read more.
Research Service Award
The AGA presents Stephen P. James, MD, with its Research Service Award, which recognizes an individual who has significantly advanced gastroenterological science and research. Dr. James is director for the division of digestive disease and nutrition at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, where he has been a critical voice and advocate for the many facets of digestive disease and nutrition research nationwide. His insights and advice into the policy and practice of digestive disease research have been of fundamental importance to the AGA, as well as countless other industry associations.
Read more.
Distinguished Clinician Awards
The AGA recognizes two individuals, one in private practice and one in clinical academic practice, who have exemplified leadership and excellence in the practice of gastroenterology.
Lawrence R. Schiller, MD, FACP, FACG, founding member of the Digestive Health Associates of Texas, PA, is a highly experienced clinician who is widely known as the top resource for disorders of gastrointestinal motility, diarrhea, constipation and gastroparesis for the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Dr. Schiller is highly appreciated among his peers for his ability to clarify seemingly complex situations and arrive at logical and practical solutions.
Grace H. Elta, MD, AGAF, is a sought-after gastroenterologist who has served for more than 10 years as the medical director of the University of Michigan's medical procedures unit (MPU) and associate chief of clinical programs. Under Dr. Elta's leadership, the MPU is considered by many as a model for all endoscopy units in the nation today, largely due to her vision for providing care that is seamless, thoughtful and comprehensive.
Read more.
Outstanding Service Awards
The AGA is proud to honor two noteworthy individuals with its Outstanding Service Award, which recognizes significant contributions to the field of digestive diseases through public education, literature, philanthropy and personal service.
Joel V. Brill, MD, AGAF, serves the GI community on a daily basis through his persistent work developing guidelines and quality measures, and his efforts to ensure fair coding and reimbursement opportunities for GIs through his involvement with AGA and the CPT Editorial Panel, the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement and the AMA Relative Value Update Committee (RUC), for which he served as the vice chair of the practice expense subcommittee through 2012. Dr. Brill currently serves as medical director of FAIR Health, Inc.; assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix; adjunct assistant professor of medicine at Midwestern University, Glendale, AZ; and chief medical officer of Predictive Health, LLC.
Since being elected to Congress in 2008, Bill Cassidy, MD, R-LA, has worked tirelessly on behalf of gastroenterologists and physicians across the country to ensure patients have access to timely specialty care. He is a dedicated champion of an array of public policy issues critical to the research and practice of gastroenterology, including providing education and treatment on hepatitis C, insuring that ambulatory surgery centers remain viable for physicians and patients, and working to modernize the Medicare physician payment formula, among other important issues.
Read more.
###
About the American Gastroenterological Association
The American Gastroenterological (AGA) Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the American Gastroenterological Association has grown to include close to 17,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programs of the organization. Learn more at http://www.gastro.org.
Follow us on Twitter @AmerGastroAssn. Become an AGA fan on Facebook.
About DDW
DDW is the largest international gathering of physicians, researchers and academics in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. Jointly sponsored by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), DDW takes place May 18 21, 2013, at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL. The meeting showcases more than 5,000 abstracts and hundreds of lectures on the latest advances in GI research, medicine and technology. For more information, visit http://www.ddw.org.
Follow us on Twitter @DDWMeeting; hashtag #DDW13. Become a DDW fan on Facebook.
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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.
AGA honors distinguished clinicians, researchers and educators with prestigious recognition awardsPublic release date: 19-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rachel Steigerwald newsroom@gastro.org 301-272-1603 American Gastroenterological Association
Orlando, FL (May 19, 2013) Each year, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) recognizes several individuals for their outstanding contributions and achievements in gastroenterology through its esteemed recognition awards.
"AGA is comprised of many distinguished and talented individuals who work tirelessly to advance the science and practice of gastroenterology. Today, we are pleased to announce the 2013 recognition award honorees who have been acknowledged by their colleagues for their tremendous contributions to our field," said Loren Laine, MD, AGAF, president of the AGA Institute. "Through their dedication, knowledge and influence, these individuals have bettered gastroenterology practice, research and education, and have also provided outstanding service to the AGA."
The AGA congratulates the 2013 awardees and thanks them for their exemplary service to the field of gastroenterology.
Julius Friedenwald Medal
AGA's highest honor is awarded to Chung Owyang, MD. The Julius Friedenwald Medal, presented annually since 1941, recognizes a physician for lifelong contributions to the field of gastroenterology. Dr. Owyang has dedicated his distinguished, 34-year career to the field of gastroenterology and to the service of the AGA and its membership. AGA is sincerely thankful for his contributions.
Dr. Owyang's impressive career includes overseeing and building one of the truly elite GI programs in the U.S. at the University of Michigan, where he currently serves as chief of the division of gastroenterology, while making many important discoveries through his own research program that have advanced our understanding of the physiology of pancreatic secretion and gastrointestinal motility. Dr. Owyang has been an active AGA member throughout his renowned career, serving on numerous committees and as chair of the AGA International Committee from 2003 to 2006.
AGA Institute gratefully acknowledges AstraZeneca for making this award possible through a restricted grant.
Read more.
Distinguished Achievement Award
The AGA presents its Distinguished Achievement Award to Pelayo Correa, MD, for his major research accomplishments that have significantly advanced the understanding of the pathology and epidemiology of gastrointestinal cancers. Over his exemplary career, which spans more than 50 years, Dr. Correa has been instrumental in identifying causal pathways in malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract, notably the multistage mechanisms involved in gastric carcinogenesis. Dr. Correa's pathology background, coupled with his rich clinical cancer prevention experience, place him in a rarified atmosphere as a translational researcher and make him highly deserving of this honor. Dr. Correa currently serves as Anne Potter Wilson professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN.
AGA Institute gratefully acknowledges AstraZeneca for making this award possible through a restricted grant.
Read more.
Distinguished Mentor Award
The AGA honors John Thomas Lamont, MD, AGAF, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, with its Distinguished Mentor Award for his achievements as an outstanding mentor. Throughout his 40-year career in academic gastroenterology, Dr. Lamont has shown excellence and leadership in clinical care, teaching and research. He has an international reputation as a clinical scientist and is widely regarded for his integrity, fairness, and humanistic and personal approach to nurturing his students' careers.
Read more.
Distinguished Educator Awards
The Distinguished Educator Award acknowledges exemplary educators in the field of gastroenterology. The AGA is proud to be awarding this honor to two deserving individuals.
Sheila E. Crowe, MD, AGAF, FRCPC, FACP, FACG, professor and director of research for the division of gastroenterology at the University of California, San Diego, is recognized at both a national and international level for her innumerable contributions as an educator, lecturer and mentor, as well as for furthering the general population's awareness of celiac disease. Dr. Crowe has dedicated countless hours to the AGA through her work on the AGA Council and with the AGA Spring Postgraduate Course, and the AGA is proud to honor her accomplishments.
Douglas K. Rex, MD, AGAF, FACG, FASGE, is known as an educator's educator and mentor who has carried out his entire academic career at Indiana University, where he currently serves as a distinguished professor of medicine and chancellor's professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology. He has made critically important educational contributions through a combination of his formal and clinical teaching; his substantial, practical and important clinical research; his numerous authoritative clinical reviews; his widely viewed educational videos; and his major contributions to clinical guidelines and policy in gastroenterology.
Read more.
Research Service Award
The AGA presents Stephen P. James, MD, with its Research Service Award, which recognizes an individual who has significantly advanced gastroenterological science and research. Dr. James is director for the division of digestive disease and nutrition at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, where he has been a critical voice and advocate for the many facets of digestive disease and nutrition research nationwide. His insights and advice into the policy and practice of digestive disease research have been of fundamental importance to the AGA, as well as countless other industry associations.
Read more.
Distinguished Clinician Awards
The AGA recognizes two individuals, one in private practice and one in clinical academic practice, who have exemplified leadership and excellence in the practice of gastroenterology.
Lawrence R. Schiller, MD, FACP, FACG, founding member of the Digestive Health Associates of Texas, PA, is a highly experienced clinician who is widely known as the top resource for disorders of gastrointestinal motility, diarrhea, constipation and gastroparesis for the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Dr. Schiller is highly appreciated among his peers for his ability to clarify seemingly complex situations and arrive at logical and practical solutions.
Grace H. Elta, MD, AGAF, is a sought-after gastroenterologist who has served for more than 10 years as the medical director of the University of Michigan's medical procedures unit (MPU) and associate chief of clinical programs. Under Dr. Elta's leadership, the MPU is considered by many as a model for all endoscopy units in the nation today, largely due to her vision for providing care that is seamless, thoughtful and comprehensive.
Read more.
Outstanding Service Awards
The AGA is proud to honor two noteworthy individuals with its Outstanding Service Award, which recognizes significant contributions to the field of digestive diseases through public education, literature, philanthropy and personal service.
Joel V. Brill, MD, AGAF, serves the GI community on a daily basis through his persistent work developing guidelines and quality measures, and his efforts to ensure fair coding and reimbursement opportunities for GIs through his involvement with AGA and the CPT Editorial Panel, the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement and the AMA Relative Value Update Committee (RUC), for which he served as the vice chair of the practice expense subcommittee through 2012. Dr. Brill currently serves as medical director of FAIR Health, Inc.; assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix; adjunct assistant professor of medicine at Midwestern University, Glendale, AZ; and chief medical officer of Predictive Health, LLC.
Since being elected to Congress in 2008, Bill Cassidy, MD, R-LA, has worked tirelessly on behalf of gastroenterologists and physicians across the country to ensure patients have access to timely specialty care. He is a dedicated champion of an array of public policy issues critical to the research and practice of gastroenterology, including providing education and treatment on hepatitis C, insuring that ambulatory surgery centers remain viable for physicians and patients, and working to modernize the Medicare physician payment formula, among other important issues.
Read more.
###
About the American Gastroenterological Association
The American Gastroenterological (AGA) Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the American Gastroenterological Association has grown to include close to 17,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programs of the organization. Learn more at http://www.gastro.org.
Follow us on Twitter @AmerGastroAssn. Become an AGA fan on Facebook.
About DDW
DDW is the largest international gathering of physicians, researchers and academics in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. Jointly sponsored by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), DDW takes place May 18 21, 2013, at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL. The meeting showcases more than 5,000 abstracts and hundreds of lectures on the latest advances in GI research, medicine and technology. For more information, visit http://www.ddw.org.
Follow us on Twitter @DDWMeeting; hashtag #DDW13. Become a DDW fan on Facebook.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won't step down before elections and that the United States has no right to interfere in his country's politics, raising new doubts about a U.S-Russian effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country's civil war.
In the capital Damascus, a car bomb killed at least three people and wounded five, according to Syrian state TV. It said bomb experts dismantled other explosives in the area.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said eight people were killed, including four members of the security forces. Discrepancies in death tolls are common in the chaotic aftermath of bombings in Syria.
Assad's comments to the Argentine newspaper Clarin were the first about his political future since Washington and Moscow agreed earlier this month to try to bring the Syrian regime and the opposition to an international conference for talks about a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The U.S. and Russia have backed opposite sides in the conflict, but appear to have found common ground in the diplomatic push.
The White House and the Kremlin envision holding the meeting next month, but no date has been set. Neither Assad nor the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed coalition group, has made a firm commitment to attend.
In the interview, Assad seemed to play down the importance of such a conference, saying a decision on Syria's future is up to the Syrian people and that the U.S. has no right to interfere. He also said a decision on his political future must be made in elections, and not during such a conference.
"We said from the beginning that any decisions having to do with reform in Syria or any political doing is a local Syrian decision," he said. "Neither the U.S nor any other state is allowed to intervene in it. This issue is dealt with in Syria."
"That's why this possibility is determined by the Syrian people themselves; you go to the elections, you nominate yourself, there's a possibility you win and a possibility you don't," Assad added, hinting he might seek another term.
"This is the possibility. The possibility is not to enter the conference predetermined on something that the people did not determine themselves," he said.
Clarin posted a video of the interview, dubbed into Spanish, on the newspaper's website. The president's Facebook page later posted Arabic subtitles.
The Syrian president's remarks highlight the difficulties the U.S. and Russia face in getting the two sides to agree on the terms of negotiations themselves, let alone brokering a resolution to the civil war itself. The Western-backed Syrian National Coalition has said any transition talks should lead to Assad's ouster.
More than 70,000 people have been killed and several million displaced since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011 and escalated into a civil war.
Assad has dismissed those trying to topple him as foreign-backed terrorists. Many in the political opposition say the Syrian president and his inner circle cannot be expected to negotiate in good faith after they brutally suppressed peaceful protests.
In the interview, Assad compared himself to the skipper of a ship riding Syria's turbulent seas, saying "the country is in a crisis and when a ship faces a storm, the captain does not flee."
"The first thing he does is face the storm and guide the ship back to safety," Assad said. "I am not someone who flees from my responsibilities."
Meanwhile, divisions among rebel groups were on display in the country's largest city, Aleppo, where two Islamic militant groups engaged in tit-for--tat kidnappings of each other's fighters.
From the start, Syria's political opposition has been dogged by infighting, while the armed rebel groups have been unable to unite under a unified command.
The tensions in Aleppo involve a coalition of rebel groups known as the Judicial Council and another faction, Ghurabaa al-Sham. The confrontation began earlier this week when the Judicial Council accused the second group of looting factories in an industrial neighborhood of Aleppo.
The city of 3 million is split between rebel and government control.
Members of the two groups clashed in the area earlier this week, leaving four members of the Judicial Council dead, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the Observatory.
The Judicial Council then seized dozens of members of the rival group and is still holding them, he said. Ghurabaa al-Sham also took hostages from the Judicial Council, but has since released them, according to Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed.
"The situation is very tense in Aleppo," said Abdul-Rahman, who relies on a network of activists around the country. He said Ghurabaa al-Sham has warned it will bring in some of its fighters from outside the city to take on the Judicial Council if its members are not freed.
Islamic militants fighting in the rebel ranks have become increasingly dominant, often taking up frontline positions. They share the objective of setting up an Islamic state, though some are more nationalistic, while others more religious. One of the most powerful of the Islamic groups, Jabhat al-Nusra, is linked to al-Qaida.
Bilal Saab, a political analyst, said infighting among rival Islamic militant factions is inevitable.
"The scene is so polarized and chaotic, it's ripe for competition and positioning now and after the regime falls," said Saab, director of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, North America.
"The Islamist groups have always been the dominant and most capable, but they have never really been operating under one single umbrella," he added.
In another sign of the chaos bred by the civil war, gunmen abducted the elderly father of Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, his office said. Mekdad's father, who is in his 80s, was seized Saturday in the village of Ghossom in the southern Daraa province, Mekdad's office said.
The Observatory said regime forces arrested relatives of an alleged suspect in the kidnapping.
Mekdad has become one of the main faces of the regime to the outside world.
___
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
The announcement of the Acer Aspire R7 was the best example of the company's assertion that it was moving from computers designed with touch to computers designed for touch. But if having a fancy, even unprecedented, hinge is what defines a touch-optimized notebook, Acer is a bit late to the party.
Last October, Switched On discussed the role that laptop-tablet hybrids -- namely convertibles and detachables -- would play in the differentiation of Windows 8 devices. Both types have seen their share of support. Detachables have included HP's Envy x2, ASUS' Transformer-inspired VivoTab and Microsoft's Surface. (Dell's XPS 10 is available only with Windows RT.)
We’ve all by now heard about how Yahoo is trying to get some “cool” with a supposed $1 billion purchase of hip blogging platform Tumblr, but it may be a?moot point if Tumblr’s users fail to stick around post-sale. Microsoft and Facebook may be trying to make a move ahead of Yahoo, Tumblr may be?inching ever closer to running out of cash, and (despite that) may not be afraid to play a little hardball. But here’s something you’re not hearing much about: Tumblr’s users are almost universally unhappy with the news that the site might get sold to Yahoo. And they may let their fingers do the talking, and the walking. Do a search on Tumblr for “yahoo” and you get a stream of distress, interspersed with the occasional bit of helpless resignation, and some calls for activism. The voices of reluctant?acceptance?(usually because of the aforementioned cash situation)?or anything like positivity are few and far between. No outright enthusiasm. (Daddy!)?See for yourself. It’s a problem that extends to some of Tumblr’s oldest users. “If Tumblr goes to Yahoo, I will seriously consider moving my personal blog to Medium, if that’s possible,” Alexia, co-editor over here at TC, told me. She’s had a blog on Tumblr since June 2009, and, while not part of that coveted?18-24 age bracket, is a significant representative of that other cadre of important users: digital influencers. “I don’t know exactly why, but my Tumblr is a part of my identity. And for whatever reason, I don’t want to identify with Yahoo.” Some have tried to start a petition, with a goal of 5 million signatures, although others are cynical about whether this will actually have any effect. User attrition is not something to be dismissed, especially when it appears to be underpinned by wider usage trends on the site. When I wrote a post in January about what might come next for Tumblr as a business (it focused on how it could make money; not how it might need to get sold because it doesn’t), I noted that in the prior month, December 2012, it had?167 million visitors and nearly 18 billion pageviews worldwide (Quantcast figures). The trend over the last six months are down, however: in the U.S. page views are down 21% to 5.3 billion, and uniques down 5% to 76 million. Worldwide the picture is better but still not growing: pageviews are down
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The most feared and effective rebel group battling President Bashar al-Assad, the Islamist Nusra Front, is being eclipsed by a more radical jihadi force whose aims go far beyond overthrowing the Syrian leader.
Al Qaeda's Iraq-based wing, which nurtured Nusra in the early stages of the rebellion against Assad, has moved in and sidelined the organization, Nusra sources and other rebels say.
Al Qaeda in Iraq includes thousands of foreign fighters whose ultimate goal is not toppling Assad but the anti-Western jihad of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri - a shift which could extend Syria's conflict well beyond any political accord between Assad and his foes. The fighting has already cost 90,000 lives.
The break-up of an important part of Syria's opposition, already splintered into hundreds of armed groups, worsens the dilemma faced by the West as it debates whether intervention to support the rebels will result in arms being placed in the hands of hostile Islamist militants. And if the West were to intervene, it may now be under pressure to attack al Qaeda opposition forces rather than Assad.
"Nusra is now two Nusras. One that is pursuing al Qaeda's agenda of a greater Islamic nation, and another that is Syrian with a national agenda to help us fight Assad," said a senior rebel commander in Syria who has close ties to the Nusra Front.
"It is disintegrating from within."
Others said that Nusra's Syrian contingent has already effectively collapsed, with its leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani keeping a low profile and his fighters drifting off to join other rebel groups.
Nusra fighters have claimed responsibility for the deadliest bombings of the two-year-old Syrian conflict and their brigades have led some of the most successful rebel offensives against Assad's forces.
The group was formally designated a terrorist organization by the United States six months ago, a step which Washington said was vindicated by a declaration in April that it was merging with al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq. Washington now says Nusra is little more than an al Qaeda front.
A U.S. official said on Friday: "We continue to be concerned about the influence of extremist groups, including al Qaeda in Iraq. This is why we have been coordinating and discussing with partners the need to continue to strengthen the moderate opposition and channel any assistance through the moderate opposition, including the Supreme Military Council."
The U.S. moves to isolate Nusra have drawn criticism from Syrian rebels and opposition leaders, reflecting the fact that Nusra was able to win grudging support beyond its core Islamist base because of its fighters' discipline and battlefield successes.
Many Syrians turned a blind eye to the growing presence of foreign and Arab jihadi fighters in its ranks because Nusra fighters cooperated with other rebel brigades, worked to curb looting and provided help for displaced Syrians.
By contrast the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has moved into northern Syria to take tighter control over al Qaeda operations in the country, has few admirers among Syrian fighters.
They see him as a brutal figure with little time for the intricacies of Syria's struggle, focused less on toppling Assad and more on imposing a radical Islamist rule including religious courts and public executions. Many accuse him privately of hijacking their revolution.
"We reject his presence here on the ground. He should take his fighters and go back to Iraq," said a Nusra source who is close to Nusra leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani. "We are not happy with the way he operates nor with his methods."
BAGHDADI STEPS IN
Baghdadi's announcement in early April that his Islamic State of Iraq was formally merging with Nusra to form the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant clearly took the Syrian Nusra rebels by surprise.
Golani said he had not been consulted and, while swearing allegiance to al Qaeda's Zawahri, insisted his fighters would continue to operate under their own Nusra Front banner.
"Golani pledged religious allegiance to Zawahri, but not political or military (allegiance)," said the Nusra source close to Golani. "It was an attempt by Golani to keep his distance from Baghdadi."
But the move did not help. Soon after, in a direct challenge to Golani, Baghdadi traveled from Iraq to a town in Syria's Aleppo province, where he was joined by Arab and foreign jihadis who had formerly fought for Golani's Nusra.
Rebels say the rift continued to widen and the foreign and Arab wing is now operating formally under the banner of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, while many Syrian Nusra fighters have dispersed to join other Islamist brigades.
"The situation has changed a lot. Baghdadi's men are working but Nusra is not working formally anymore," said another Nusra source. "Those with Baghdadi are the fiercest fighters of all. The brothers are trying to avoid them as much as possible."
The source, and other Syrian Nusra fighters who spoke to Reuters, said they feared Baghdadi's supporters would alienate Syrians in the same way that their hardline agenda turned Iraqis against them, paving the way for U.S.-backed Sahwa militias to turn the tide against al Qaeda in western Iraq in 2007.
"A TRAP FOR GOLANI"
Nusra sources said they were waiting for Zawahri to settle the issue, hoping he would call on Baghdadi to return to Iraq.
"We have two choices now. Either Zawahri announces the separation of Syria's Nusra from Iraq's Islamic State, or he orders Baghdadi to stay (in Syria) and if this happen then its a disaster," said one Nusra source. "Baghdadi has harmed the Nusra Front. He caused great damage and broke up the front."
But the Syrian rebel commander, who is from a Western-backed rebel group, said that Baghdadi already had Zawahri's blessing when he moved in.
"They set a trap for Golani," he said. "They wanted a foot inside (Syria) and helping Golani at the start with men and arms provided that, until they became stronger so they took over."
In a telling video published this week, masked fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant executed three men they said were officers from Assad's Alawite minority sect in the eastern town of Raqqa.
After the shootings there were only muted chants of support for the fighters and activists said that small protests broke out at night condemning the execution and calling on the fighters to fight Assad instead of executing people.
Several Nusra fighters said they feared that if Baghdadi's influence continued to grow, his ultra-radical agenda would see the Iraqi Sahwa phenomenon played out again in Syria.
"We as Syrians do not want a repeat of that. The Baghdadi men have declared the Nusra fighters who left him... as infidels. We still reject his state, if Zawahri does not put an end to this then the situation will get worse," one said.
The senior rebel commander said he even expected the growing clout of Baghdadi's fighters would finally end the West's reluctance to intervene militarily in Syria - not against Assad, but his hardline enemies.
"We expect soon drone attacks, like Yemen, to begin against al Qaeda members," he said.
GOLANI GOES TO GROUND
Meanwhile Golani, who was formally declared a terrorist by Washington on Thursday, is now in hiding. "He has gone to ground until the problem is solved," said a source close to Golani.
Even though few people even know what Golani looks like, and fewer still have met him, he has gained popularity among Syrians and songs have been written to celebrate his exploits.
His real name is not known even to some of his fighters and many people long suspected that he was a fictitious fighter created to give a Syrian 'front' to the Iraqi al Qaeda.
Sources say he is Syrian and in his 40s, roughly the same age as Baghdadi. He is currently in rural Damascus province, they say, accompanied by some of his remaining fighters.
Baghdadi, an Iraqi, helped fund Nusra fighters, who also had financial support from private donors in Arab Gulf countries. The Iraqi wing is financed from al Qaeda's global support network.
One Nusra fighter said he believed Baghdadi held a personal grudge against Golani because of his standing in Syria.
Golani, a radical Sunni Muslim, won popularity in Syria even among some Christians, according to the Nusra fighter. "Baghdadi did not like this," the fighter said.
"Baghdadi and the (al Qaeda) leadership consider the Muslim Brotherhood, the Free Syrian Army and other factions including Christians as infidels and when they saw Golani was on good terms with them they were not happy."
"That is why he announced the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant without any consultation with Golani, and he is in charge to operate in his old failed way."
(Editing by Dominic Evans, Giles Elgood and Peter Graff)
TORONTO (AP) ? A video purportedly of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack has caused an uproar in Canada. Ford on Friday called the allegations "ridiculous."
The video has not been released publicly, and there is no way to verify whether it is authentic. Reports by gossip website Gawker and the Toronto Star said it was taken by a man who claimed he had sold crack to Ford. The Associated Press hasn't seen the video.
The conservative mayor of Canada's largest city emerged from his house on Friday and called the allegations "ridiculous."
Ford refused to take questions. In brief comments outside his office, he said it was "another story with respect to the Toronto Star going after me. And that's all I've got to say for now."
A lawyer for Ford didn't respond to messages seeking comment. Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said investigators were "monitoring the situation closely."
The Star reported that two reporters watched a video that appears to show Ford, sitting in a chair, inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe. The Star said it did not obtain the video or pay to watch it.
The Star also reported that Ford made an anti-gay slur against the leader of the federal Liberal Party of Canada, Justin Trudeau.
Ford later appeared Friday at a previously scheduled ceremony marking International Day Against Homophobia.
Ford has been embroiled in controversies about his behavior since being elected in 2010, but these are the most serious allegations he's faced yet. The Toronto Star reported earlier this year that he was asked to leave a gala fundraiser for wounded Canadian soldiers because he appeared intoxicated.
He has also been accused of flouting conflict of interest rules and making obscene gestures at residents from his car, and he has had high-profile shouting altercations with a Toronto Transit worker as well as a Toronto Star reporter.
Ford, a city councilor for years, once said Toronto would be better off if it didn't accept more immigrants. Half of the city's population was born outside Canada.
Toronto deputy mayor Doug Holyday questioned the authenticity of the video, saying "video can be altered" and "drug dealers can't be trusted."
Holyday said he has not spoken to Ford or his staff since the allegations surfaced, but noted he still believes in the mayor "at this point."
"I wouldn't want my career or my credibility resting on the word of drug dealers," Holyday said.
The controversy has drawn comparisons to the 1990 arrest of then-Washington Mayor Marion Barry, who was videotaped smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room during an FBI sting operation.
Barry served six months in federal prison on a misdemeanor drug possession conviction and later won a fourth term as mayor in 1994.
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Public release date: 19-May-2013
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We’ve all by now heard about how Yahoo is trying to get some “cool” with a supposed $1 billion purchase of hip blogging platform Tumblr, but it may be a?moot point if Tumblr’s users fail to stick around post-sale. Microsoft and Facebook may be trying to make a move ahead of Yahoo, Tumblr may be?inching ever closer to running out of cash, and (despite that) may not be afraid to play a little hardball. But here’s something you’re not hearing much about: Tumblr’s users are almost universally unhappy with the news that the site might get sold to Yahoo. And they may let their fingers do the talking, and the walking. Do a search on Tumblr for “yahoo” and you get a stream of distress, interspersed with the occasional bit of helpless resignation, and some calls for activism. The voices of reluctant?acceptance?(usually because of the aforementioned cash situation)?or anything like positivity are few and far between. No outright enthusiasm. (Daddy!)?See for yourself. It’s a problem that extends to some of Tumblr’s oldest users. “If Tumblr goes to Yahoo, I will seriously consider moving my personal blog to Medium, if that’s possible,” Alexia, co-editor over here at TC, told me. She’s had a blog on Tumblr since June 2009, and, while not part of that coveted?18-24 age bracket, is a significant representative of that other cadre of important users: digital influencers. “I don’t know exactly why, but my Tumblr is a part of my identity. And for whatever reason, I don’t want to identify with Yahoo.” Some have tried to start a petition, with a goal of 5 million signatures, although others are cynical about whether this will actually have any effect. User attrition is not something to be dismissed, especially when it appears to be underpinned by wider usage trends on the site. When I wrote a post in January about what might come next for Tumblr as a business (it focused on how it could make money; not how it might need to get sold because it doesn’t), I noted that in the prior month, December 2012, it had?167 million visitors and nearly 18 billion pageviews worldwide (Quantcast figures). The trend over the last six months are down, however: in the U.S. page views are down 21% to 5.3 billion, and uniques down 5% to 76 million. Worldwide the picture is better but still not growing: pageviews are down