JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's benchmark index ended slightly lower on Tuesday as a pull-back in some of the strongest performers this year cancelled out a rebound in recently beaten-down mining shares.
Investors also refrained from making aggressive bets at the start of the U.S. earnings season.
The blue-chip JSE Top-40 index inched down 0.16 percent to 33,930.95 points after setting a 2013 low of 33,774.82 during the session. The wider JSE All-share index edged down 0.11 percent to 38,540.81.
"We are seeing a bit of a sell-off on some of the shares that have actually been holding up nicely this year," said Ferdi Heyneke, a portfolio manager at Afrifocus Securities.
"At the same time, some can see value in mining shares because they have been hit quite a lot this year."
Global brewer SABMiller, one of the four best-performing stocks on the benchmark index this year, lost 2.5 percent.
Private hospital group Mediclinic retreated 1.87 percent to 63 rand, paring this year's gains to just under 15 percent.
Mining shares restricted the downside momentum, boosted by higher commodity prices and Chinese data suggesting sustained demand from the world's biggest consumer of industrial metals.
Base metals producer Assore, the second-worst blue chip performer this year, jumped 7.03 percent to 293 rand.
Gold Fields, the worst blue chip performer year-to-date with a near one-third drop, climbed 5.28 percent to 67.61 rand.
Elsewhere, Tsogo Sun surged 6.08 percent to 25.99 rand after the hotel and casino operator said it would invest $83 million expanding its two flagship casinos.
Here are some things I am doing to lose 30lbs and become healthy! I will be on a 30 day fitness challenge that will progress into a 60 day fitness challenge!?
BEIJING (AP) ? A Chinese pigeon association has decided to temporarily stop racing the prized birds, while advising members to keep their pets caged for up to two months to try to prevent infection with a bird flu virus that has recently been found in people for the first time.
The Hangzhou Carrier Pigeon Association said Monday it will also inoculate up to 90,000 pigeons with a vaccine that protects against types of bird flu other than the new H7N9 strain, since no vaccine exists for it yet. It was unclear what vaccine they would use, and the Xinhua News Agency quoted a pigeon association member as saying the move was primarily meant to ease public concern.
Raising carrier pigeons, also called homing pigeons, is a popular hobby among Chinese.
Pigeons became a source of worry after live birds in Shanghai were found infected with the H7N9 strain. At least 24 people have been sickened by it, and seven have died since the first cases were announced just over a week ago.
The H7N9 virus is believed to circulate in poultry stocks without sickening birds, making it harder for experts to identify and eliminate outbreaks in birds. However, experts say there is no evidence that the virus is spreading from person to person.
Shanghai and the capital cities of neighboring provinces Zhejiang and Jiangsu, which have all reported H7N9 cases, have halted the sale of live poultry. Shanghai also slaughtered all fowl at a market where the virus was detected in pigeons being sold for meat.
McConnell (ABC OTUS News)Liberal news website Mother Jones on Tuesday morning published audio from a private February discussion between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and aides about the Kentucky Republican's 2014 re-election campaign and potential Democratic challenger Ashley Judd.
The audio and transcripts?billed as a "secret tape" by Washington Bureau chief David Corn?show the McConnell camp discussing how to use the actress' religious beliefs and history of depression against her in a potential campaign.
Judd announced March 27 that she would not be a candidate for the Senate, citing family obligations.
But how did the website get its hands on the audio?
McConnell's team believes the tape was obtained illegally and has asked the FBI to investigate.
"Senator McConnell?s campaign is working with the FBI and has notified the local U.S. Attorney in Louisville, per FBI request, about these recordings," Jesse Benton, McConnell's campaign manager, said in a statement. "Obviously a recording device of some kind was placed in Senator McConnell?s campaign office without consent. By whom and how that was accomplished presumably will be the subject of a criminal investigation.?
Benton added, "We?ve always said the Left would stop at nothing to attack Sen. McConnell, but Watergate-style tactics to bug campaign headquarters are above and beyond."
Mother Jones didn't immediately respond to Yahoo News' requests for comment. During the discussion of Judd's mental health on the tape, one individual said, "She's clearly, this sounds extreme, but she is emotionally unbalanced. I mean it's been documented. Jesse can go in chapter and verse from her autobiography about, you know, she's suffered some suicidal tendencies. She was hospitalized for 42 days when she had a mental breakdown in the '90s.
The group also poked fun at a reference Judd made about St. Francis, a revered Catholic saint, and other religious statements.
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Mother Jones also famously revealed secretly recorded comments made by Republican hopeful Mitt Romney where he said 47 percent of Americans were dependent on government and refused to take "personal responsibility" for their lives. Romney later apologized.
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Reliability of neuroscience research questionedPublic release date: 10-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Philippa Walker philippa.walker@bristol.ac.uk 44-117-928-7777 University of Bristol
New research has questioned the reliability of neuroscience studies, saying that conclusions could be misleading due to small sample sizes.
A team led by academics from the University of Bristol reviewed 48 articles on neuroscience meta-analysis which were published in 2011 and concluded that most had an average power of around 20 per cent a finding which means the chance of the average study discovering the effect being investigated is only one in five.
The paper, being published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience today [10 April], reveals that small, low-powered studies are 'endemic' in neuroscience, producing unreliable research which is inefficient and wasteful.
It focuses on how low statistical power caused by low sample size of studies, small effects being investigated, or both can be misleading and produce more false scientific claims than high-powered studies.
It also illustrates how low power reduces a study's ability to detect any effects, and shows that when discoveries are claimed, they are more likely to be false or misleading.
The paper claims there is substantial evidence that a large proportion of research published in scientific literature may be unreliable as a consequence.
Another consequence is that the findings are overestimated because smaller studies consistently give more positive results than larger studies. This was found to be the case for studies using a diverse range of methods, including brain imaging, genetics and animal studies.
Kate Button, from the School of Social and Community Medicine, and Marcus Munaf, from the School of Experimental Psychology, led a team of researchers from Stanford University, the University of Virginia and the University of Oxford.
She said: "There's a lot of interest at the moment in improving the reliability of science. We looked at neuroscience literature and found that, on average, studies had only around a 20 per cent chance of detecting the effects they were investigating, even if the effects are real. This has two important implications - many studies lack the ability to give definitive answers to the questions they are testing, and many claimed findings are likely to be incorrect or unreliable."
The study concludes that improving the standard of results in neuroscience, and enabling them to be more easily reproduced, is a key priority and requires attention to well-established methodological principles.
It recommends that existing scientific practices can be improved with small changes or additions to methodologies, such as acknowledging any limitations in the interpretation of results; disclosing methods and findings transparently; and working collaboratively to increase the total sample size and power.
###
Paper
'Power failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience' by Katherine Button, John Ioannidis, Claire Mokrysz, Brian Nosek, Jonathan Flint, Emma Robinson and Marcus Munafo in Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
For further information, please contact Philippa Walker in the University of Bristol's Press Office on 0117 928 7777 or philippa.walker@bristol.ac.uk
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Reliability of neuroscience research questionedPublic release date: 10-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Philippa Walker philippa.walker@bristol.ac.uk 44-117-928-7777 University of Bristol
New research has questioned the reliability of neuroscience studies, saying that conclusions could be misleading due to small sample sizes.
A team led by academics from the University of Bristol reviewed 48 articles on neuroscience meta-analysis which were published in 2011 and concluded that most had an average power of around 20 per cent a finding which means the chance of the average study discovering the effect being investigated is only one in five.
The paper, being published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience today [10 April], reveals that small, low-powered studies are 'endemic' in neuroscience, producing unreliable research which is inefficient and wasteful.
It focuses on how low statistical power caused by low sample size of studies, small effects being investigated, or both can be misleading and produce more false scientific claims than high-powered studies.
It also illustrates how low power reduces a study's ability to detect any effects, and shows that when discoveries are claimed, they are more likely to be false or misleading.
The paper claims there is substantial evidence that a large proportion of research published in scientific literature may be unreliable as a consequence.
Another consequence is that the findings are overestimated because smaller studies consistently give more positive results than larger studies. This was found to be the case for studies using a diverse range of methods, including brain imaging, genetics and animal studies.
Kate Button, from the School of Social and Community Medicine, and Marcus Munaf, from the School of Experimental Psychology, led a team of researchers from Stanford University, the University of Virginia and the University of Oxford.
She said: "There's a lot of interest at the moment in improving the reliability of science. We looked at neuroscience literature and found that, on average, studies had only around a 20 per cent chance of detecting the effects they were investigating, even if the effects are real. This has two important implications - many studies lack the ability to give definitive answers to the questions they are testing, and many claimed findings are likely to be incorrect or unreliable."
The study concludes that improving the standard of results in neuroscience, and enabling them to be more easily reproduced, is a key priority and requires attention to well-established methodological principles.
It recommends that existing scientific practices can be improved with small changes or additions to methodologies, such as acknowledging any limitations in the interpretation of results; disclosing methods and findings transparently; and working collaboratively to increase the total sample size and power.
###
Paper
'Power failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience' by Katherine Button, John Ioannidis, Claire Mokrysz, Brian Nosek, Jonathan Flint, Emma Robinson and Marcus Munafo in Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
For further information, please contact Philippa Walker in the University of Bristol's Press Office on 0117 928 7777 or philippa.walker@bristol.ac.uk
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
STANLEY, N.C. (AP) ? A North Carolina man tearfully begged authorities to hurry to his house to rescue his daughter and her cousin, who were buried when the walls of a 24-foot deep pit he dug on his property collapsed.
Jordan Arwood, 31, was operating a backhoe Sunday night in the pit when the walls collapsed and he called 911.
Arwood's desperate voice is heard on a recording released by the Lincoln County communications center on Monday, when the children's bodies were recovered.
"Please hurry ... My children are buried under tons of dirt ... They're buried under tons of clay ... It fell on top of them," he said sobbing.
When the dispatcher asked him if he could see the children, Arwood said he couldn't.
"The entire wall collapsed on them. Get a crane. Get a bulldozer. Get anything you can, please," he said. "There's no way they can breathe."
As the dispatcher began encouraging him ? and with people wailing in the background ? Arwood began praying.
"Lord lift this dirt up off these children ... so the children will be alive and well ... I have to get my kids. Lord, please," he said.
The bodies of the two young cousins, 6-year-old Chloe Jade Arwood and 7-year-old James Levi Caldwell, were dug out Monday.
Later on Monday, sheriff's deputies removed firearms and a marijuana plant from Arwood's mobile home. Arwood is a felon who is not allowed to have guns. He was convicted in 2003 for possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.
The father had been digging with a backhoe on the site Sunday, Sheriff David Carpenter said. Investigators described the pit as 20 feet by 20 feet with a sloped entrance leading down to the 24-foot bottom. The children were at the bottom of the pit retrieving a child-sized pickaxe when the walls fell in on them, Carpenter said.
The sheriff would not say what Arwood was building or whether he had any professional help. He did say that investigators would be looking into reports from neighbors that Arwood had been building some sort of protective bunker.
"It's a very large hole. It would look to be something like that, but I don't know. ... We're going to find out exactly what his intentions were," Carpenter said.
He said deputies would be speaking with county planning and zoning officials about any potential building code violations at the site.
Andrew Bryant, a planner with the Lincoln County Planning & Inspections Department, said no permits had been issued.
On the tape, Arwood said he didn't know what happened.
"They were inside the hole helping to get something and the wall collapsed," he said.
At one point, the dispatcher warned him not to put pressure on the dirt. But Arwood said he had to reach the children.
"If this was you and your children in the dirt, you'd be moving the dirt, too," he said.
Arwood's house was at the end of a gravel-covered road dotted with modular and mobile homes. It's a tight-knit rural community where neighbors sit outside on front porches and look out for each other.
When word spread about the disaster, they ran to Arwood's house and began helping. On Monday, they were somber, saying they were heartbroken for the family. They said Arwood told them it happened without warning and that he tried to grab the children, but they were just beyond his reach.
It was no secret that Arwood was digging a two-story deep hole. Neighbors said it wasn't unusual to see children in the pit when the girl's father was working there.
Neighbor Bradley Jones, who works in construction, said there was no structure to support the pit's tall dirt walls and that there was some concrete on a ledge on top of the hole.
In recent days, the hole was muddy from the rain. He said he warned his daughter, Chelsea, who babysits for the children, not to go in.
"It was dangerous. There was nothing to reinforce those walls," he said.
Chelsea said Arwood told her that he was building the structure to "protect his family" - it was going to be a bunker.
"It's so sad," she said.
___
Biesecker reported from Raleigh. Associated Press news researcher Monika Mathur in Washington contributed to this report.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) ? U.N. experts are ready to move into Syria immediately to investigate reported chemical weapons attacks but President Bashar Assad's government still has not approved their entry, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.
Ban told reporters in The Hague that an advance team is already waiting on Cyprus while the U.N. negotiates "technical and legal" issues with Damascus.
All reports of chemical attacks "should be examined without delay, without conditions and without exceptions," Ban said. "The longer we wait, the harder this essential mission will be."
His comments appeared aimed at increasing the pressure on Assad's regime and ensuring that U.N. inspectors are given access to all sites of reported chemical weapons attacks in the country's bloody civil war and not just those that Assad's regime wants them to see.
Ban said it is "a matter of principle" to investigate all allegations and not just a case in which Syria alleges that the rebels used poison gas.
"I am hopeful we will be able to finish this as soon as possible, and I urge the Syrian government to be more flexible so this commission can be deployed as soon as possible," Ban said. "We are ready."
The U.N. says over 70,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war since it began as an uprising against Assad's regime two years ago.
A man prays at the grave of a Free Syrian Army fighter at a cemetery at al-Karak al-Sharqi in Deraa March 30, 2013. Picture taken March 30, 2013. REUTERS/Thaer Abdallah (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST ... more? A man prays at the grave of a Free Syrian Army fighter at a cemetery at al-Karak al-Sharqi in Deraa March 30, 2013. Picture taken March 30, 2013. REUTERS/Thaer Abdallah (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST RELIGION) less? Syria asked the United Nations last month to investigate an alleged chemical weapons attack by the rebels on March 19 on Khan al-Assal, a village in northern Aleppo province. The rebels have blamed regime forces for the attack.
Syria is widely believed to have a large stockpile of chemical weapons, but it is one of only eight countries in the world that have not signed up to the chemical weapons convention. That means it does not have to report any chemical weapons to the Hague-based organization that monitors compliance with the treaty.
Britain and France have followed up by asking the U.N. chief to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use in two locations in Khan al-Assal and the village of Ataybah, in the vicinity of Damascus, all on March 19, as well as in Homs on Dec. 23.
The delay in getting to the scene of alleged chemical attacks will hamper investigators, said Amy Smithson, a chemical weapons expert with the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in the United States.
"It is going to make it a bigger challenge. But it doesn't mean you should throw in the towel," Smithson said in a telephone interview.
Investigators will likely go after two key sources of evidence ? environmental samples and samples taken from survivors and possibly also victims of suspected chemical attacks.
"It's a site of hostilities, so when the environment has changed that makes it that much more challenging to get a clean environmental sample," Smithson said.
Ban was speaking at the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, which is sending a team of 15 experts to join the commission, along with World Health Organization staff.
The team is led by Ake Sellstrom, a Swedish professor who was a U.N. chemical weapons inspector in Iraq and now works at a research institute that deals with chemical incidents. Ban said he spoke to Sellstrom on Sunday night and he was now heading to join the advance party in Cyprus.
Apr. 8, 2013 ? Several studies have examined the impact of stress on a pregnancy -- both chronic stress, such as workload, and acute stress associated with traumatic events like the 9/11 terrorist attacks. They conclude that stress can lead to adverse birth outcomes, including miscarriage and premature birth.
Few studies, however, assess the impact of continuous military or political stress throughout a pregnancy, says Prof. Liat Lerner-Geva of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Women and Children's Health Research Unit at The Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research Ltd, Tel Hashomer. Now her new study, conducted with PhD student Tamar Wainstock and Prof. Ilana Shoham-Vardi of Ben Gurion University, Prof. Eyal Anteby of the Barzilai Medical Center, and Saralee Glasser of Gertner Institute, Tel Hashomer, reveals that living under these sustained stresses significantly increases the risk of miscarriage.
Following the pregnancies of women from the Israeli town of Sderot, which is constantly under threat of rocket bombings from Gaza, and women from nearby Kiryat Gat, which is outside of Gaza's rocket range, the researchers demonstrated that those living under rocket fire were 59 percent more likely to miscarry than their neighbors.
These results, published in the Psychosomatic Medicine Journal of Biobehavioural Medicine, should be a call-to-action for practitioners, advises Prof. Lerner-Geva, who suggests making intervention readily available to pregnant women in stressful and threatening situations.
Studying stress under fire
Sderot has been a constant target of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since 2001. Rocket attacks are preceded by an alarm warning residents to take shelter. The alarms themselves are loud, sudden, and themselves stress-inducing -- once they sound, Sderot residents have only seconds before the rocket hits. Between 2001 and 2008, more than 1,000 alarms were sounded in the vicinity of Sderot. Since 2001, rockets exploding in the town have killed at least 13 residents, wounded dozens, and caused extensive property damage.
To study the impact of such sustained stress on pregnancy, researchers turned to the medical records at Barzilai Medical Center, a hospital which serves both Sderot and Kiryat Gat. They followed the pregnancies of 1,345 women from Sderot who were exposed to alarms and subsequent rocket fire, and 2,143 residents of Kiryat Gat who live out of missile range. The medical records were then cross-referenced to local municipal databases that track the number and location of rocket attacks.
In the unexposed group in Kiryat Gat, miscarriage rates were 4.7 percent, which accords with predictions from existing medical research literature. In the exposed group in Sderot, however, 6.9 percent of women miscarried -- a statistically significant increase. The results were controlled for other risk factors for miscarriage, such as age and other medical conditions.
Within the exposed group, the researchers also analyzed the intensity of exposure. Not every neighborhood in Sderot was subject to the same number of attacks, notes Prof. Lerner-Geva, and the researchers originally hypothesized that women in higher stress areas would have a higher probability of miscarriage. However, the results indicate that women in both high-intensity and low-intensity areas were at the same risk. One explanation is that the constant fear of attack is as stressful as the attacks themselves, she concludes.
Prevention through intervention
One advantage that healthcare providers have in dealing with populations under constant threat is that they can make use of early intervention, says Prof. Lerner-Geva. "Most of the Sderot pregnant women receive prenatal care through community health clinics. This presents an opportunity to run preventive interventions to reduce stress or even provide one-on-one counseling."
Currently, she and her fellow researchers are conducting further studies on the same population to determine whether sustained stress had an impact on other negative birth outcomes, such as preterm delivery or low birth weights.
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Journal Reference:
T. Wainstock, L. Lerner-Geva, S. Glasser, I. Shoham-Vardi, E. Y. Anteby. Prenatal Stress and Risk of Spontaneous Abortion. Psychosomatic Medicine, 2013; 75 (3): 228 DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e318280f5f3
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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.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Federal Reserve's annual "stress tests" of major U.S. banks have become better able to detect risks, Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday night. He said the tests show that the banking industry has grown much healthier since the financial crisis.
Speaking in Atlanta, Bernanke noted that this year's tests showed that 18 of the biggest banks had collectively doubled the cushions they hold against losses since the first tests were run in 2009. He says the tests are providing vital information to regulators.
The latest test results were released last month. They showed that all but one of the 18 banks were better prepared to withstand a severe U.S. recession and an upheaval in financial markets. The tests are used to determine whether the banks can increase dividends or repurchase shares.
Bernanke's comments came in a speech to a financial markets conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He said he viewed the first stress test conducted in 2009, months after the financial crisis struck, as "one of the critical turning points in the crisis."
"It provided anxious investors with something they craved: credible information about prospective losses at banks," he said.
Bernanke said that in the ensuing years, the Fed has worked to improve the stress tests so they could serve as a resource for banking regulators to monitor and detect threats to the financial system.
During a question period after the speech, Bernanke was asked what kept him up at night.
"Let me assure you, there are no major problems you haven't heard about," he said in response. He said his list of concerns include whether the recovery will gain momentum and when the country will get back to full employment.
He said the economic situation in Europe also remains complex, as that region struggles to deal with its debt crisis. He said in the United States, a major issue remains how to deal with high budget deficits without compromising the economic recovery.
Bernanke made no comments during his appearance that suggested he was ready to modify the low-interest rate policies the Fed is pursuing in an effort to boost economic growth and lower unemployment.
The stress tests have been criticized by some banks because the central bank has kept secret the full details of the computer models it is using to evaluate each bank. The Fed has defended this practice. It has argued that it is similar to teachers not giving students specific questions that will appear on a test to guard against students memorizing the answers.
"We hear criticism from bankers that our models are a 'black box' which frustrates their efforts to anticipate our supervisory findings," Bernanke said. He said that over time, the banks should better understand the standards the tests are measuring.
In this year's test, the Fed approved dividend payment plans and stock repurchase plans for 14 of the 18 banks outright.
Two of the banks, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, were told by the Fed that they could proceed with their plans but would need to submit new capital plans. Two other banks, Ally Financial and BB&T, were forbidden by the Fed to go through with their dividend increases and share buybacks.
Ally Financial, the former financing arm of General Motors, fared the worst on the stress test. The Fed's data showed that Ally's projected capital level was below the minimum the Fed thinks a bank would need to survive a severe recession. Ally officials said they believed the Fed's testing models were unreasonable.
BB&T, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., said it would resubmit its capital plan and that it believes that it will be able to address the factors which had led to the Fed's objections.
___
Associated Press reporter Ray Henry in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Margaret Thatcher?s long twilight has come to an end, and most Americans will view her through the lens of her ties to Ronald Reagan. After all, the relationship between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher is probably the best-known and most-revered tie between an American president and a foreign leader, outside of the one between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Anglo-American ties have been called ?the special relationship,? and the personal bond between the Gipper and the Iron Lady was particularly strong, although not entirely in the way that it's remembered and perhaps in ways that offer some insight for our times.
There were obvious parallels and affinities between Reagan and Thatcher. Both were champions of the free market and small government; both favored a more aggressive posture toward the Soviet Union; and both pushed their center-right parties to the right.
But there were differences. Reagan faced an ailing America, Thatcher a dying Britain. It?s hard to imagine now the way coal strikes by the nation?s powerful miners unions plunged Britain into darkness. It?s hard to believe that nationalized industries included gas, electricity, television, and airlines. British newsrooms famously banned computers. Really. The printer?s union, the National Typographical Association, had a monopoly on keyboards. Journalists could use typewriters, but computers were the province of printers.?The top tax rate was 83 percent,?the Telegraph notes,?and the tax on unearned income was 98 percent.
Thatcher slashed, but there was no Reaganesque free candy. She lowered the rates, but she also raised other taxes, such as the value added tax. She was about sacrifice, cutting government subsidies and programs in a way that Reagan never matched. Millions of people went on the dole because of her cuts, whereas the recession in the U.S. did not result from Reagan cutting the budget but from Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker tightened money dramatically in order to wring inflation from the economy. (To be fair, Reagan did reappoint Volcker once.)
Thatcher called Reagan ?the second most important man in my life.? And both drew strength from the other. It helped at home. It was hard for Americans or Britons to dismiss their leader as a crazy outlier if your most important ally had an elected leader with a similar worldview. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair would mutually reinforce each other in the same way as they took on their own party?s established interests.?When Thatcher and Reagan differed, as on the Falklands war, where the Reagan administration had coddled the ?authoritarian? regime in Buenos Aires, it strained the relationship but never broke it.?
In all, though, Thatcher was more about sacrifice than easy victories. Reagan invaded Grenada?a move that Thatcher?s government denounced. Taking on the Falklands was a much bigger challenge. Thatcher was about cuts and upheaval. When she said during one of her most despised periods that??the lady does not turn,??she embodied her principled determination. There was no ?Aw, shucks? charm like Reagan, just castor oil.
In only one sense did she have it easier than Reagan. The Democratic Party may have been a mess, but it was nothing like Britain?s Labor Party, which became more socialist after her victory. Labor?s 1983 platform under leader Malcolm Foot was described by one wag as ?the world?s longest suicide note.?
Thatcher famously warned George H.W. Bush before the first Persian Gulf War, ?Don?t go wobbly on us, George.? ?But Bush and Thatcher?s successor, John Major, were seen by conservatives as wobbly short-timers facing revived opponents from the left in the form of Clinton and Blair. Blair finally crushed any hopes of renationalization of industries or a return to pre-Thatcher Britain, not that the embers burned particularly bright. Thatcher was eventually pushed out of office like Churchill, the price of victory one supposes. Being indispensable is a guarantee, it seems, of becoming dispensable when the work is done. Thatcher's legacy, too, is Churchillian??maybe not bigger than Reagan?s because her nation was smaller, but arguably more impressive.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Macy's Inc and rival J.C. Penney Co Inc are due back in court Monday in their battle over Martha Stewart home goods after a month-long mediation effort appeared to have failed.
The trial is set to resume in New York state court over whether Macy's has an exclusive right to sell certain Martha Stewart products.
The legal battle has hampered a key part of turnaround plans for J.C. Penney, which opened the first of its in-store boutiques on Friday with only some of the Martha Stewart goods it had originally planned.
Justice Jeffrey Oing last month ordered Macy's, J.C. Penney and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc into mediation in the hopes of resolving the dispute while the non-jury trial was in recess because of scheduling conflicts.
But, as of Friday, no deal had been struck and witnesses were scheduled to testify on Monday and Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the case.
Among the witnesses are J.C. Penney marketing executives, according to the person, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly and did not want to be identified.
"We're all reconvening Monday morning," said Jim Sluzewski, a spokesman for Macy's. "The trial is scheduled to resume at ten o'clock."
A spokeswoman for J.C. Penney declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Macy's sued Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia last year after it signed an agreement to sell Martha Stewart-branded products at J.C. Penney. Macy's claims the agreement breaches its contract to sell certain products exclusively at Macy's.
Macy's also sued J.C. Penney over the deal, which includes plans to create Martha Stewart boutiques in J.C. Penney stores.
Martha Stewart is the No. 1 home brand at Macy's, while J.C. Penney views the brand as vital to its turnaround strategy.
LINGERING BATTLE
The lingering battle has been a blow to Penney, which agreed to hold off on its plan to sell Martha Stewart bedding, cookware and bath items, which are covered in the Macy's deal, until at least the April 8 court date.
Steven Gursky, a New York attorney who specializes in branded products, said he did not have high hopes the dispute could be resolved through mediation.
"If I was sitting in Macy's shoes, I'm not sure I'd be willing to compromise," said Gursky. "Unless Martha Stewart and J.C. Penney realized they couldn't take what Martha had already given away to Macy's, and fold their tents, I don't know what they have to offer."
Martha Stewart, 71, Macy's Chief Executive Terry Lundgren and J.C. Penney chief Ron Johnson all have testified in the case.
Lundgren testified that Stewart did not tell him she was doing a deal with J.C. Penney until the night before it was announced publicly. He said the news made him sick to his stomach, and he hung up the phone on Stewart.
Stewart, 71, said she was "flabbergasted" that Lundgren reacted so strongly. "It didn't occur to me that there weren't enough customers to go around," she said.
Johnson, who built up Apple Inc's retail business before moving to Penney in 2011, testified that Martha Stewart was part of his plan to re-invent the retailer. He said the brand would help to drive sales and increase market share.
The company's turnaround plan, criticized for missteps on pricing policies, has been "very close to a disaster," hedge fund manager William Ackman, the J.C. Penney board member who handpicked Johnson, said on Friday. Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management is Penney's largest shareholder, spoke at an investment conference sponsored by Thomson Reuters.
J.C. Penney opened the first of its new home goods boutiques in some locations last week. It can still sell Martha Stewart-branded window coverings and other product categories not claimed by Macy's.
The cases are Macy's Inc v Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc, 650197/2012, and Macy's Inc v J.C. Penney Corp, 652861/2012, New York State Supreme Court, New York County.
Wild soil mites that were captured and put in a research lab adapted to their new environment within five generations, a new study shows.
By John Roach, Contributing Writer, NBC News
Critters can evolve over just a handful of generations to survive whatever environmental maladies humans toss their way, from climate change to over fishing, suggests a new study.?
"That is the first take-home message, and it is a positive message," Thomas Cameron, a biologist at Umea University in Sweden, told NBC News as he explained his new findings reported Tuesday in the journal Ecology Letters.
The findings overturn the common assumption that evolution only occurs gradually over hundreds or thousands of years, he said. Rather, it happens quickly and is intertwined with ecological change.
The research was based on the speed wild-caught soil mites adapted to a life of poking and prodding in a research lab. Within five generations, the wild mites genetically evolved their life-history traits to reverse a downward spiral toward extinction.
They did this by doubling the amount of time they spent as juveniles. That is, they delayed entry to adulthood.
"Those mites with the genes selecting for the slowest growth had the highest fecundity and so we see that, in the long term, the reason that the population recovered was that there was selection for increased fecundity, increased number of offspring per individual," Cameron said.
More offspring translates to a bigger population.
The delayed maturity adaptation held in populations of mites that had either 40 percent of their juveniles or adults harvested once a week, though the harvested populations changed in other ways as well.?
For example, in the case of the adult-harvested mites, the populations delayed maturity even longer, since adulthood was akin to a death sentence. And when they reached adulthood, they were bigger than the non-harvested populations and thus able to lay even more eggs.
Mites are commonly used to study broad biological questions and the findings from the lab have implications for the management of animal populations that humans hunt and fish, noted Cameron. For example, management plans may need to take rapid evolution into account, and even nudge it along.
Instead of natural selection, think of it as managed selection. In the case of land animals such white-tailed deer, game wardens could select which animals are harvested in order to nudge deer evolution itself in one direction or another. With fish, where population loss has raised concern around the world, such management may not be possible, however.
"It is certainly not very easy for fisheries to harvest small individuals but leave the big ones," Cameron noted, in one hypothetical scenario for increasing the size of fish in a population. "That's because it's not the way the nets work."
John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, visit his website.?
Is it that time of year again when you?re going through your things and decide to make some money off of those you don?t need anymore? Sadly this time seems to roll back around a lot quicker than it should do, however it?s a great opportunity to empty out your jewellery box and make some money so you can refill it again! The only problem is that when it comes to selling jewellery people often don?t know where to begin, meaning in the end they often lose out on time, and more importantly, money. Luckily however there are a number of tips you can follow to get maximum profit from your unwanted jewellery without too much effort!
Get it Assessed
One of the most common problems when people sell their jewellery is that they don?t know it?s worth. This often results in the seller losing out on money as they list it at too low of a price. On the other hand, some people list their jewellery at too high of a price for the item and so it doesn?t sell and they?re stuck with it. If you have any family or friends who are interested in antiques or jewellery you can simply ask them for a ball park figure regarding what your piece is worth. If you aren?t lucky enough to know someone in the business have no fear, you can easily take your item to a local jeweler or antiques dealer who should be happy to evaluate it for you! Try to use people that you?ve associated with before, or get a recommendation from a friend or reviews online to make sure you get the most accurate and reliable value.
Find Somewhere to Sell
There?s a huge number of places you can sell your antiques nowadays, ranging from antique fairs to online forums! Some of the most reliable and popular options include:
Online Auction Sites
Forums
Antique Fairs
Through an Antique Dealer
Auction Houses
Obviously it is dependent upon what kind of piece your jewellery is as to where you should sell it. For example, if you?re selling a generic gold chain necklace you may want to post it online such as on a bidding site or a forum as this is where it will collect most interest. However, if your piece is a collectible or if it?s a particular designer?s piece you may want to sell it through an auction house or an antique dealer. These only attract certain audiences and customers who have a specialized interest, meaning you?re more likely to get a fair price for your item, and it?s more likely to be sold.
Advertise Properly!
It?s surprising what a difference advertising can make to the final price of your item. This is a particularly important factor if you?re selling on an auction website or a forum as your customer most likely won?t be able to see the item in the flesh until they?ve paid for it. This means that you need to write an apt description of the piece, listing any flaws or faults to avoid the sale falling through, so the customer can make an informed decision. Luckily if, you?re selling through an auction house, they?ll write the description for you, helping to maximize its final selling price. If you?re struggling to write a description you can search for your item online and read other people?s descriptions. For example if you?re trying to sell an antique Rolex, search for ?Rolex watches in Sydney? and see what people in your area are advertising them like.
Photographs are also an extremely important factor when it comes to selling and advertising your piece online. IF you don?t have a high quality camera available you can either hire one or borrow from a friend or family member. Although it may seem like an awful lot of trouble just for a photograph, it is extremely important to get a picture showing the true color and quality of your item. The larger the number of photos you have, and the higher the quality of said photos, the more likely your item is to sell for a higher price. This is because it makes your advert look a lot more professional and trustworthy than one with a single, blurry photo.
This article was written by?Misty Angel?for Kalmar Antiques. Misty is an extreme antique enthusiast, with a particular interest in antique jewellery. She loves buying and selling?antique jewellery online, and also enjoys writing articles about how to get the most out of your pieces when selling.
Remember the Facebook experiment that'd let you pay to send messages to strangers inboxes? According to several reputable sources, not only will you be able to inflict your opinions on members of the general public, but for a premium you'll also be able to abuse celebrities. According to The Sunday Times, figures such as Michael Rosen, Tom Daley and Salman Rushdie can all be reached if you splash out around £10.68 ($16) -- with the fees on a sliding scale based on how many followers they have. According to prolific twitterer Rosen, he wasn't asked about being charged for access, and won't receive a penny of the paid fan mail. In an effort to test it out, we sent a cheery Monday morning missive to Snoop Dogg Snoop Lion, who is meant to be on the price list, but strangely we weren't charged a penny -- so we're not sure how far this has been rolled out. Either way, that's a tenner saved right there.
Last week I wrote about the battle for words and need to reclaim the language. We have to make sure words have meaning, no matter who how offensive a tiny slice of people find some of them.
No sooner had the ink dried on that piece than the Associated Press stepped up and declared the term ?illegal immigrant? dead. ?The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term ?illegal immigrant? or the use of ?illegal? to describe a person. Instead, it tells users it assumes another option will ?evolve.? Can?t you just imagine hundreds of ?senior fellows? at various George Soros-funded Flying Monkey Brigade ?think tanks? typing endlessly in the hope of creating a new, misleading term (before they write Shakespeare, naturally) to foist upon the public, through the media, to make what ?is? what it is not?
The AP opted against (for now) the current preferred phrasing of progressives ? ?undocumented immigrant? ? as imprecise because ?A person may have plenty of documents, just not the ones required for legal residence.? In many cases, these illegal aliens have documents that are stolen from actual citizens and legal immigrants, which is part of the problem.
This move, cheered by those wishing to rid the United States of its horrible, horrible sovereignty and borders, begs a few questions for the AP and proponents of ?comprehensive immigration reform.?
First, if ?illegal immigrant? is an unusable, imprecise term, what do we call ?legal immigrants?? Presumably ?documented immigrant? would be acceptable since they both have the proper documents to show they?ve followed the law and the documents are in their name. But that seems unlikely because the converse of that would be the ?imprecise? term the AP has rejected.
Maryland Gov. Martin O?Malley, a Democrat, has dubbed illegal aliens ?new Americans? and pushed for driver?s licenses and in-state college tuition for them, which begs the second question: Why would anyone bother to come here legally when you can get such benefits without the wait times and paperwork hassle?
Of course O?Malley, whom I ?affectionately? call ?Tommy Carcetti? from HBO?s The Wire (mutual acquaintances assure me it?s an accurate portrayal), is less interested in enforcing the law than he is in the 2016 Democratic Party nomination. But most Americans are interested in enforcing the law and, sadly, they have no champion or voice in the current debate happening in Washington.
I've been posting Jim the Realtor videos for years. The earlier videos were very funny as Jim toured REOs and drug houses. He also posted videos about short sale fraud, and recently on the buying frenzy in San Diego.
Peter Hong at the LA Times called Jim "The Hunter S. Thompson of real estate" and?Nightline Truth in Advertising: One Realtor's Strategy to Sell Foreclosed Homes
Here is another story on Jim from Karen Weise at BusinessWeek: The 'Hunter S. Thompson of Real Estate' Chronicles the Bust?and Boom
Jim Klinge sighed as he made his way through a foreclosed home littered with empty bottles of rum and mattresses. It was 2008, and Klinge, a real estate agent, was filming a YouTube (GOOG) video for his blog documenting the housing crash in the cul-de-sacs and condos north of San Diego. As he opened a closet, daylight illuminated walls splattered with black mold spores, like a tie-dye project gone awry. ?Oh, lovely,? Klinge said. ?People were living in here like this, looks like. They were lucky to make it out alive.?
Five years later, Klinge?s videos tell a different story, one of limited inventory and jampacked open houses, bidding wars, and quick sales. ... He made the videos to shock sellers into lowering their unrealistic asking prices, but most clung to their illusions. Buyers, on the other hand, ate it up, as did economists and the press. The economics blog Calculated Risk began embedding Klinge?s videos, and in April 2009 the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page story calling Klinge ?The Hunter S. Thompson of real estate.?
There is much more in the article.
Here is an REO tour from Jim back in early 2009 (check on the difference in the MLS photos and Jim's video):
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, pins a Combat Infantrymen Badge on an unidentified soldier at Forward Operating Base Sharana in Afghanistan's Paktika province during his visit to the base Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, pins a Combat Infantrymen Badge on an unidentified soldier at Forward Operating Base Sharana in Afghanistan's Paktika province during his visit to the base Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
This image made from AP video shows Afghan National Army soldier rushing to the scene moments after a car bomb exploded in front the PRT, Provincial Reconstruction Team, in Qalat, Zabul province, southern Afghanistan, Saturday, April 6, 2013. Six American troops and civilians and an Afghan doctor were killed in attacks on Saturday in southern and eastern Afghanistan as the U.S. military's top officer began a weekend visit to the country, officials said. (AP Photo via AP video)
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) ? The United States accepts that a diminished but resilient Taliban is likely to remain a military threat in some parts of Afghanistan long after U.S. troops complete their combat mission next year, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday.
In an Associated Press interview at this air field north of Kabul, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he is cautiously optimistic that the Afghan army will hold its own against the insurgency as Western troops pull back and Afghans assume the lead combat role. He said that by May or June, the Afghans will be in the lead throughout the country.
Asked whether some parts of the country will remain contested by the Taliban, he replied, "Yes, of course there will be."
"And if we were having this conversation 10 years from now, I suspect there would (still) be contested areas because the history of Afghanistan suggests that there will always be contested areas," he said.
He and other U.S. commanders have said that ultimately the Afghans must reach some sort of political accommodation with the insurgents, and that a reconciliation process needs to be led by Afghans, not Americans. Thus the No. 1 priority for the U.S. military in its final months of combat in Afghanistan is to do all that is possible to boost the strength and confidence of Afghan forces.
Shortly after Dempsey arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, the Taliban demonstrated its ability to strike.
It claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed five Americans ? three soldiers and two civilians, including Anne Smedinghoff, a foreign service officer and the first American diplomat killed overseas since the terrorist attack Sept. 11 in Benghazi, Libya.
A fierce battle between U.S.-backed Afghan forces and Taliban militants in a remote corner of eastern Afghanistan left nearly 20 people dead, including 11 Afghan children killed in an airstrike, Afghan officials said Sunday.
There are now about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. That number is to drop to about 32,000 by February 2014, and the combat mission is to end in December 2014. Whether some number ? perhaps 9,000 or 10,000 ? remain into 2015 as military trainers and counterinsurgents is yet to be decided.
Dempsey spent two days talking to senior Afghan officials, including his counterpart, Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, as well as top U.S. and allied commanders.
He also visited a U.S. base in the volatile eastern province of Paktika for an update on how U.S. troops are balancing the twin missions of advising Afghan forces and withdrawing tons of U.S. equipment as the war effort winds down.
Paktika is an example of a sector of Afghanistan that is likely to face Taliban resistance for years to come.
Bordering areas of Pakistan that provide haven for the Taliban and its affiliated Haqqani network, Paktika has been among the more important insurgent avenues into the Afghan interior.
While the province has a functioning government, Taliban influence remains significant in less populated areas, as it has since U.S. forces first invaded the country more than 11 years ago.
"There will be contested areas, and it will be the Afghans' choice whether to allow those contested areas to persist, or, when necessary, take action to exert themselves into those contested area," he said.
Dempsey said he is encouraged by the recent development of coordination centers, including one in Paktika, where a wide range of Afghan government agencies work together on security issues. He called it a "quilt" of government structures that links Kabul, the capital, to ordinary Afghans in distant villages.
In some parts of the country, Afghan villagers have shown their dissatisfaction with Taliban influence by taking up arms against the insurgents, even without being pushed by the U.S. or by Kabul. This has happened in recent weeks in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province, a traditional stronghold of the Taliban. The Andar district of Ghazni province has seen a similar uprising.
"We should encourage it, but we shouldn't be seen as hijacking" these local movements, he said.
Dempsey said he discussed the uprisings with Karimi, the army chief, and the Afghan defense minister, Bismullah Khan Mohammadi. They told him they "appreciated that they should allow this to occur (and) they should probably nurture it. They don't necessarily feel at this point as if they should tangibly support it."
The Afghan government's concern, Dempsey said, is that influential warlords could embrace these local movements and eventually leverage them to threaten the armed forces of the central government.
In a separate interview Sunday with al-Hurra, the Arabic-language satellite TV channel funded by the U.S. government, Dempsey was asked whether he worries that Syria, in the midst of a civil war, could become another Afghanistan.
"I do. I have grave concerns that Syria could become an extended conflict" that drags on for many years, he said.
Seven-year-old Jack Hoffman befriended Rex Burkhead during his battle with brain cancer. On Saturday, Nebraska brought him on the field to run for a touchdown wearing Burkhead?s No. 22 during their Spring Game. Sports can be awful, but they can also bring moments like this.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, pins a Combat Infantrymen Badge on an unidentified soldier at Forward Operating Base Sharana in Afghanistan's Paktika province during his visit to the base Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, pins a Combat Infantrymen Badge on an unidentified soldier at Forward Operating Base Sharana in Afghanistan's Paktika province during his visit to the base Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
This image made from AP video shows Afghan National Army soldier rushing to the scene moments after a car bomb exploded in front the PRT, Provincial Reconstruction Team, in Qalat, Zabul province, southern Afghanistan, Saturday, April 6, 2013. Six American troops and civilians and an Afghan doctor were killed in attacks on Saturday in southern and eastern Afghanistan as the U.S. military's top officer began a weekend visit to the country, officials said. (AP Photo via AP video)
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) ? The United States accepts that a diminished but resilient Taliban is likely to remain a military threat in some parts of Afghanistan long after U.S. troops complete their combat mission next year, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday.
In an Associated Press interview at this air field north of Kabul, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he is cautiously optimistic that the Afghan army will hold its own against the insurgency as Western troops pull back and Afghans assume the lead combat role. He said that by May or June, the Afghans will be in the lead throughout the country.
Asked whether some parts of the country will remain contested by the Taliban, he replied, "Yes, of course there will be."
"And if we were having this conversation 10 years from now, I suspect there would (still) be contested areas because the history of Afghanistan suggests that there will always be contested areas," he said.
He and other U.S. commanders have said that ultimately the Afghans must reach some sort of political accommodation with the insurgents, and that a reconciliation process needs to be led by Afghans, not Americans. Thus the No. 1 priority for the U.S. military in its final months of combat in Afghanistan is to do all that is possible to boost the strength and confidence of Afghan forces.
Shortly after Dempsey arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, the Taliban demonstrated its ability to strike.
It claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed five Americans ? three soldiers and two civilians, including Anne Smedinghoff, a foreign service officer and the first American diplomat killed overseas since the terrorist attack Sept. 11 in Benghazi, Libya.
A fierce battle between U.S.-backed Afghan forces and Taliban militants in a remote corner of eastern Afghanistan left nearly 20 people dead, including 11 Afghan children killed in an airstrike, Afghan officials said Sunday.
There are now about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. That number is to drop to about 32,000 by February 2014, and the combat mission is to end in December 2014. Whether some number ? perhaps 9,000 or 10,000 ? remain into 2015 as military trainers and counterinsurgents is yet to be decided.
Dempsey spent two days talking to senior Afghan officials, including his counterpart, Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, as well as top U.S. and allied commanders.
He also visited a U.S. base in the volatile eastern province of Paktika for an update on how U.S. troops are balancing the twin missions of advising Afghan forces and withdrawing tons of U.S. equipment as the war effort winds down.
Paktika is an example of a sector of Afghanistan that is likely to face Taliban resistance for years to come.
Bordering areas of Pakistan that provide haven for the Taliban and its affiliated Haqqani network, Paktika has been among the more important insurgent avenues into the Afghan interior.
While the province has a functioning government, Taliban influence remains significant in less populated areas, as it has since U.S. forces first invaded the country more than 11 years ago.
"There will be contested areas, and it will be the Afghans' choice whether to allow those contested areas to persist, or, when necessary, take action to exert themselves into those contested area," he said.
Dempsey said he is encouraged by the recent development of coordination centers, including one in Paktika, where a wide range of Afghan government agencies work together on security issues. He called it a "quilt" of government structures that links Kabul, the capital, to ordinary Afghans in distant villages.
In some parts of the country, Afghan villagers have shown their dissatisfaction with Taliban influence by taking up arms against the insurgents, even without being pushed by the U.S. or by Kabul. This has happened in recent weeks in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province, a traditional stronghold of the Taliban. The Andar district of Ghazni province has seen a similar uprising.
"We should encourage it, but we shouldn't be seen as hijacking" these local movements, he said.
Dempsey said he discussed the uprisings with Karimi, the army chief, and the Afghan defense minister, Bismullah Khan Mohammadi. They told him they "appreciated that they should allow this to occur (and) they should probably nurture it. They don't necessarily feel at this point as if they should tangibly support it."
The Afghan government's concern, Dempsey said, is that influential warlords could embrace these local movements and eventually leverage them to threaten the armed forces of the central government.
In a separate interview Sunday with al-Hurra, the Arabic-language satellite TV channel funded by the U.S. government, Dempsey was asked whether he worries that Syria, in the midst of a civil war, could become another Afghanistan.
"I do. I have grave concerns that Syria could become an extended conflict" that drags on for many years, he said.
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Public release date: 10-Apr-2013
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