HONOLULU (Reuters) ? A court-martial sentenced a Marine to 30 days of confinement and a demotion after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a fellow Marine who killed himself upon being beaten and hazed in Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Jacob Jacoby entered his plea during the special court-martial proceeding on Monday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe, on the island of Oahu, said Marine Corps spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Curtis Hill.
The sentence came down later on Monday night, reducing Jacoby's pay grade to Private First Class from Lance Corporal for the assault against Lance Corporal Harry Lew, 21.
After Jacoby agreed to plead guilty, charges that Jacoby humiliated Lew and another that he threatened the Marine were withdrawn, Hill said.
Lew shot himself with his automatic rifle in Afghanistan during a patrol in April 2011 after an incident in which military prosecutors said he was beaten and hazed by others in his unit for falling asleep while on sentry duty.
Lew was the nephew of U.S. Representative Judy Chu, a Democrat who represents El Monte, California, and surrounding areas. Chu attended the special court-martial proceeding on Monday in Hawaii, Hill said.
Special court-martial proceedings are pending for two other Marines charged with abusing Lew.
Jacoby pleaded guilty to striking Lew in the back with his foot and hitting the helmeted Marine in the head with his foot and a closed fist.
Jacoby's case on Monday was held before a special court-martial, which typically involves less severe punishment than a general court-martial.
He faced a maximum sentence of one year of confinement.
Captain Michael Regner, the company commander who oversaw Lew and other Marines, testified at a hearing last year he saw Lew asleep on watch as he approached the patrol base the night of the incident, a situation he said would leave the unit more vulnerable to attack.
Cancer sequencing initiative discovers mutations tied to aggressive childhood brain tumorsPublic release date: 29-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Summer Freeman summer.freeman@stjude.org 901-595-3061 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project provides first evidence linking cancer to mutations in genes involved in DNA organization
Researchers studying a rare, lethal childhood tumor of the brainstem discovered that nearly 80 percent of the tumors have mutations in genes not previously tied to cancer. Early evidence suggests the alterations play a unique role in other aggressive pediatric brain tumors as well.
The findings from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) offer important insight into a poorly understood tumor that kills more than 90 percent of patients within two years. The tumor, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), is found almost exclusively in children and accounts for 10 to 15 percent of pediatric tumors of the brain and central nervous system.
"We are hopeful that identifying these mutations will lead us to new selective therapeutic targets, which are particularly important since this tumor cannot be treated surgically and still lacks effective therapies," said Suzanne Baker, Ph.D., co-leader of the St. Jude Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program and a member of the St. Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology. She is a corresponding author of the study published in the January 29 online edition of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.
DIPG is an extremely invasive tumor that occurs in the brainstem, which is at the base of the skull and controls such vital functions as breathing and heart rate. DIPG cannot be cured by surgery and is accurately diagnosed by non-invasive imaging. As a result, DIPG is rarely biopsied in the U.S. and little is known about it.
Cancer occurs when normal gene activity is disrupted, allowing for the unchecked cell growth and spread that makes cancer so lethal. In this study, investigators found 78 percent of the DIPG tumors had alterations in one of two genes that carry instructions for making proteins that play similar roles in packaging DNA inside cells. Both belong to the histone H3 family of proteins. DNA must be wrapped around histones so that it is compact enough to fit into the nucleus. The packaging of DNA by histones influences which genes are switched on or off, as well as the repair of mutations in DNA and the stability of DNA. Disruption of any of these processes can contribute to cancer.
Researchers said that the mutations seem unique to aggressive childhood brain tumors.
"It is amazing to see that this particular tumor type appears to be characterized by a molecular 'smoking gun' and that these mutations are unique to fast-growing pediatric cancers in the brain," said Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and one of the study's corresponding authors. "This is exactly the type of result one hopes to find when studying the genomes of cancer patients."
The results are the latest from the PCGP, an ambitious three-year effort to sequence the complete normal and cancer genomes of 600 children with some of the most poorly understood and aggressive pediatric cancers. The human genome includes the complete set of instructions needed to assemble and sustain human life. The goal is to identify differences that explain why cancer develops, spreads and kills. Researchers believe the findings will provide the foundation for new tools to diagnose, treat or prevent the disease.
For this study, researchers sequenced the complete normal and cancer genomes of seven patients with DIPG. "The mutations were found at such high frequency in the cancer genomes of those seven patients that we immediately checked for the same alterations in a larger group of DIPGs," Baker said. When researchers sequenced all 16 of the related genes that make closely related variants of histone H3 proteins in an additional 43 DIPGs, they found many of the tumors contained the same mistakes in only two of these genes.
Of the 50 DIPG tumors included in this study, 60 percent had a single alteration in the makeup of the H3F3A gene. When the mutated gene was translated into a protein, the point mutation led to the substitution of methionine for lysine as the 27th amino acid in this variant of histone H3 protein. Another 18 percent of the DIPG patients carried the same mistake in a different gene, HIST1H3B.
Researchers are now working to understand how mutations in H3F3A and HIST1H3B impact cell function and contribute to cancer. Earlier research provides some clues. The lysine that is mutated is normally targeted by enzymes that attach other molecules to histone H3, influencing how it interacts with other proteins that regulate gene expression, Baker said. Mutations in the enzymes that target histone H3 have been identified in other cancers, but this is the first report showing a specific alteration of histones in cancer.
H3F3A and HIST1H3B were also mutated in other aggressive childhood brain tumors, glioblastoma, that develop outside the brain stem. Of 36 such tumors included in this study, 36 percent carried one of three distinct point mutations in the genes. The alterations included another single change in the makeup of H3F3A not found in DIPGs.
The histone H3 genes, however, were not mutated in any of the 252 other childhood tumors researchers checked for this study. The list included the brain tumors known as low-grade gliomas, medulloblastomas and ependymomas plus other cancers outside the brain and nervous system. The H3 changes have not been reported in any other cancers, including adult glioblastoma. "This suggests these particular mutations give a very important selective advantage, particularly in the developing brainstem and to a lesser degree in the developing brain, which leads to a terribly aggressive brain tumor in children, but not in adults," Baker said.
"This discovery would not have been possible without the unbiased approach taken by the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project," Baker said. "The mutations had not been reported in any other tumor, so we would not have searched for them in DIPGs. Yet the alterations clearly play an important role in generating this particular tumor."
###
The study's first authors are Gang Wu, Alberto Broniscer and Troy McEachron, all of St. Jude. The study's other corresponding authors are Jinghui Zhang and James Downing, both of St. Jude. The other study authors are Charles Lu, Li Ding and Elaine Mardis, all of Washington University; and Barbara Paugh, Jared Becksfort, Chunxu Qu, Robert Huether, Matthew Parker, Junyuan Zhang, Amar Gajjar, Michael Dyer, Charles Mullighan, Richard Gilbertson and David Ellison, all of St. Jude.
The research was funded in part by the PCGP, including Kay Jewelers, a lead project sponsor; the National Institutes of Health, the Sydney Schlobohm Chair of Research from the National Brain Tumor Society; the Cure Starts Now Foundation, Smile for Sophie Forever Foundation, Tyler's Treehouse Foundation, Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, the Noyes Brain Tumor Foundation and ALSAC.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Since opening 50 years ago, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has changed the way the world treats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. No family ever pays St. Jude for the care their child receives and, for every child treated here, thousands more has been saved worldwide through St. Jude discoveries. The hospital has played a pivotal role in pushing U.S. pediatric cancer survival rates from 20 to 80 percent overall, and is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted to children. It is also a leader in the research and treatment of blood disorders and infectious diseases in children. St. Jude was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, who believed that no child should die in the dawn of life. Join that mission by visiting http://www.stjude.org or following us on http://www.facebook.com/stjude and Twitter@StJudeResearch.
Washington University School of Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
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.
Cancer sequencing initiative discovers mutations tied to aggressive childhood brain tumorsPublic release date: 29-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Summer Freeman summer.freeman@stjude.org 901-595-3061 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project provides first evidence linking cancer to mutations in genes involved in DNA organization
Researchers studying a rare, lethal childhood tumor of the brainstem discovered that nearly 80 percent of the tumors have mutations in genes not previously tied to cancer. Early evidence suggests the alterations play a unique role in other aggressive pediatric brain tumors as well.
The findings from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) offer important insight into a poorly understood tumor that kills more than 90 percent of patients within two years. The tumor, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), is found almost exclusively in children and accounts for 10 to 15 percent of pediatric tumors of the brain and central nervous system.
"We are hopeful that identifying these mutations will lead us to new selective therapeutic targets, which are particularly important since this tumor cannot be treated surgically and still lacks effective therapies," said Suzanne Baker, Ph.D., co-leader of the St. Jude Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program and a member of the St. Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology. She is a corresponding author of the study published in the January 29 online edition of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.
DIPG is an extremely invasive tumor that occurs in the brainstem, which is at the base of the skull and controls such vital functions as breathing and heart rate. DIPG cannot be cured by surgery and is accurately diagnosed by non-invasive imaging. As a result, DIPG is rarely biopsied in the U.S. and little is known about it.
Cancer occurs when normal gene activity is disrupted, allowing for the unchecked cell growth and spread that makes cancer so lethal. In this study, investigators found 78 percent of the DIPG tumors had alterations in one of two genes that carry instructions for making proteins that play similar roles in packaging DNA inside cells. Both belong to the histone H3 family of proteins. DNA must be wrapped around histones so that it is compact enough to fit into the nucleus. The packaging of DNA by histones influences which genes are switched on or off, as well as the repair of mutations in DNA and the stability of DNA. Disruption of any of these processes can contribute to cancer.
Researchers said that the mutations seem unique to aggressive childhood brain tumors.
"It is amazing to see that this particular tumor type appears to be characterized by a molecular 'smoking gun' and that these mutations are unique to fast-growing pediatric cancers in the brain," said Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and one of the study's corresponding authors. "This is exactly the type of result one hopes to find when studying the genomes of cancer patients."
The results are the latest from the PCGP, an ambitious three-year effort to sequence the complete normal and cancer genomes of 600 children with some of the most poorly understood and aggressive pediatric cancers. The human genome includes the complete set of instructions needed to assemble and sustain human life. The goal is to identify differences that explain why cancer develops, spreads and kills. Researchers believe the findings will provide the foundation for new tools to diagnose, treat or prevent the disease.
For this study, researchers sequenced the complete normal and cancer genomes of seven patients with DIPG. "The mutations were found at such high frequency in the cancer genomes of those seven patients that we immediately checked for the same alterations in a larger group of DIPGs," Baker said. When researchers sequenced all 16 of the related genes that make closely related variants of histone H3 proteins in an additional 43 DIPGs, they found many of the tumors contained the same mistakes in only two of these genes.
Of the 50 DIPG tumors included in this study, 60 percent had a single alteration in the makeup of the H3F3A gene. When the mutated gene was translated into a protein, the point mutation led to the substitution of methionine for lysine as the 27th amino acid in this variant of histone H3 protein. Another 18 percent of the DIPG patients carried the same mistake in a different gene, HIST1H3B.
Researchers are now working to understand how mutations in H3F3A and HIST1H3B impact cell function and contribute to cancer. Earlier research provides some clues. The lysine that is mutated is normally targeted by enzymes that attach other molecules to histone H3, influencing how it interacts with other proteins that regulate gene expression, Baker said. Mutations in the enzymes that target histone H3 have been identified in other cancers, but this is the first report showing a specific alteration of histones in cancer.
H3F3A and HIST1H3B were also mutated in other aggressive childhood brain tumors, glioblastoma, that develop outside the brain stem. Of 36 such tumors included in this study, 36 percent carried one of three distinct point mutations in the genes. The alterations included another single change in the makeup of H3F3A not found in DIPGs.
The histone H3 genes, however, were not mutated in any of the 252 other childhood tumors researchers checked for this study. The list included the brain tumors known as low-grade gliomas, medulloblastomas and ependymomas plus other cancers outside the brain and nervous system. The H3 changes have not been reported in any other cancers, including adult glioblastoma. "This suggests these particular mutations give a very important selective advantage, particularly in the developing brainstem and to a lesser degree in the developing brain, which leads to a terribly aggressive brain tumor in children, but not in adults," Baker said.
"This discovery would not have been possible without the unbiased approach taken by the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project," Baker said. "The mutations had not been reported in any other tumor, so we would not have searched for them in DIPGs. Yet the alterations clearly play an important role in generating this particular tumor."
###
The study's first authors are Gang Wu, Alberto Broniscer and Troy McEachron, all of St. Jude. The study's other corresponding authors are Jinghui Zhang and James Downing, both of St. Jude. The other study authors are Charles Lu, Li Ding and Elaine Mardis, all of Washington University; and Barbara Paugh, Jared Becksfort, Chunxu Qu, Robert Huether, Matthew Parker, Junyuan Zhang, Amar Gajjar, Michael Dyer, Charles Mullighan, Richard Gilbertson and David Ellison, all of St. Jude.
The research was funded in part by the PCGP, including Kay Jewelers, a lead project sponsor; the National Institutes of Health, the Sydney Schlobohm Chair of Research from the National Brain Tumor Society; the Cure Starts Now Foundation, Smile for Sophie Forever Foundation, Tyler's Treehouse Foundation, Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, the Noyes Brain Tumor Foundation and ALSAC.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Since opening 50 years ago, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has changed the way the world treats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. No family ever pays St. Jude for the care their child receives and, for every child treated here, thousands more has been saved worldwide through St. Jude discoveries. The hospital has played a pivotal role in pushing U.S. pediatric cancer survival rates from 20 to 80 percent overall, and is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted to children. It is also a leader in the research and treatment of blood disorders and infectious diseases in children. St. Jude was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, who believed that no child should die in the dawn of life. Join that mission by visiting http://www.stjude.org or following us on http://www.facebook.com/stjude and Twitter@StJudeResearch.
Washington University School of Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
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.
January 1942. Guanica, Puerto Rico. "Burning a sugar cane field. This process destroys the leaves and makes the cane easier to harvest."
No, I?m not talking about the fact that Germany and Holland want to take over as the de facto government in Greece, as Noah Barkin writes for Reuters (that they want to do it through Brussels is a mere technicality).
Germany wants Greece to give up budget control
Germany is pushing for Greece to relinquish control over its budget policy to European institutions as part of discussions over a second rescue package, a European source told Reuters on Friday.
"There are internal discussions within the Euro group and proposals, one of which comes from Germany, on how to constructively treat country aid programs that are continuously off track, whether this can simply be ignored or whether we say that's enough," the source said.
The source added that under the proposals European institutions already operating in Greece should be given "certain decision-making powers" over fiscal policy. "This could be carried out even more stringently through external expertise," the source said.
The Financial Times said it had obtained a copy of the proposal showing Germany wants a new euro zone "budget commissioner" to have the power to veto budget decisions taken by the Greek government if they are not in line with targets set by international lenders.
"Given the disappointing compliance so far, Greece has to accept shifting budgetary sovereignty to the European level for a certain period of time," the document said. Under the German plan, Athens would only be allowed to carry out normal state spending after servicing its debt, the FT said.
Ilargi: Nor do I mean the report from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy that Ambrose Evans-Pritchard cites for the Telegraph, and which implies a second bailout for Portugal is looming near:
Investors fear mounting losses in Portugal as second rescue looms
Portugal is fighting a losing battle to contain its public debt and may be forced to impose haircuts of up to 50pc on private creditors, according to a top German institute.
A report for the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said Portugal would have to run a primary budget surplus of over 11pc of GDP a year to prevent debt dynamics spiralling out of control, even in a benign scenario of 2pc annual growth.
"Portugal's debt is unsustainable. That is the only possible conclusion," said David Bencek, the co-author, warning that no country can achieve a primary budget surplus above 5pc for long. "We won't know what the trigger will be but once there is a decision on Greece people are going to start looking closely and realise that Portugal is the same position as Greece was a year ago."
Yields on Portugal's five-year bonds surged on Thursday to a record 18.9pc, reflecting fears that the country will need a second rescue from the EU-ECB-IMF Troika. Three-year yields hit 21pc.
Ilargi: Or even the true meaning behind the steep drop in the Baltic Dry Index, on which Sebastian Walsh reports for Financial News:
Chart of the Day: The Baltic Dry Index
Statistics from the Office of National Statistics this morning showed that the UK went into reverse in the last quarter of 2011, when the economy shrank by 0.2% ? but as the Baltic Dry Index shows, the global economy is looking even more worrying.
The index ? often used as a proxy for the health of the global economy as it reflects the prices charged for shipping commodities such as metals, coal or grain around the world ? has fallen by 61% since October. The index was at 842 at yesterday?s close ? down from its 12-month high of 2173 last October.
Nick Bullman, managing partner at risk consultant Check Risks, said the index is a good way of looking at the risks to the global economy, "as it tends to be where they hit first".
According to Bullman, its initial collapse in October was driven primarily by a fall-off in demand from China, where declining housing prices pushed purchasing managers to cut back on orders for the raw materials whose transport the Baltic Dry Index reflects.
He said: "This collapse looks similar to the falls we saw in the Baltic Dry ahead of the recessions of the late 1970s and early 1990s ? but this drop is actually steeper."
Bullman added that it was also a more direct indicator of global economic health than government-produced statistics. "Personally, I?m not interested in employment data and GDP figures because they?re manipulated," he said. [..]
Bullman said that shipping companies have also been deliberately slowing down their journeys to save fuel, with trips from China to the US going now taking around 50% longer than they were early in 2011.
Instead, he said he was surprised by how long the Baltic Dry took to fall. The NewContex index ? an indicator of prices for transporting products in container ships ? started falling in April last year. Bullman said: "When we saw that happening in April, we realised that risks had returned to pre-2008 levels. We thought the Baltic Dry would start falling too, but it was actually relatively resilient."
"What this is signalling is that the world economy is slowing down much more quickly than people have been thinking."
Ilargi: The report I refer to in the title requires a little background info:
In Holland, where I'll be for a few more days, there's a "rogue" right-wing party named PVV (Party for Freedom). It has no cabinet ministers, but the minority moderate right-wing government needs its support to stay in the saddle. The PVV, like other European right-wingers, is, among many other things, against much of what the European Union stands for. It's certainly against the Euro, and the bailouts with Dutch taxpayer money of countries like Greece and Portugal.
A few months ago, the PVV announced they had commissioned a report from British financial consultancy firm Lombard Street Research on the economic consequences of staying in the Eurozone versus returning to the guilder.
That report is about to be published "within days". It will prove to be highly explosive material. And the PVV will do all it possibly can to make sure it receives a lot of media attention. It may tear down the incumbent government, which is a heavy advocate of all things Europe, and which will have to quit once the PVV support dies, but for that party that's not the no. 1 concern.
And if and when Holland has a large scale discussion on the report and the issues it raises, Germany won't be able to ignore it and stay behind. And then, neither will France.
Max Julius of Citywire.uk did a piece on the report, without mentioning it directly, 10 days ago:
Why Germans and Dutch will exit 'suicide pact' eurozone
Germany and the Netherlands are likely to quit the eurozone?rather than swallow?an indefinite number of 'unrequited transfers' to the union?s crisis-stricken nations, according to Charles Dumas, chief economist at Lombard Street Research.
Speaking at an event in central London, he said that before joining the single currency, German incomes had stayed level but their purchasing power had increased as the Deutschmark appreciated. With the weaker euro, the economist said, they have seen 'tremendous' wage restraint, leading to huge growth in German firms? market share but ?no serious growth of the economy? and a?squeeze?on?disposable incomes. Meanwhile, consumption rose elsewhere in the eurozone, he said.
'So what you?re actually dealing with here... is a German population which has had a rotten deal ? and that?s why they?re all so angry' noted Dumas, who is also chairman of the macroeconomic forecasting consultancy. Branding the monetary union a 'suicide pact', he continued: 'So what this exercise in uniting Europe has achieved is to divide Europe.'
Dumas [noted that] the 'Club Med' nations needed about 5% of gross domestic product in annual debt refinancing 'more or less indefinitely'.
This would?amount to ?150 billion a year, of which Germany would have to stump up just over ?60 billion, France a little under ?50 billion and ?15 billion from the Netherlands, he said. And this would be on top of the shortfall in consumer spending, in addition to the fact that wages and consumption may have to be held down in the future, Dumas warned.
Ilargi: This morning, Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad cited Dumas as saying these numbers are "cautious estimates". They are valid only if Greece and Portugal would leave the Eurozone in 2012 - which Dumas expects will happen -. If they don't, the payments will be even higher.
He predicts the costs of a return to the guilder will be much less than for instance the Dutch government's Central Planning Bureau claims, which warns of huge losses if Holland were to leave the Euro.
Dumas: "It's just like in a religion: first they promise you heaven, and if that doesn't work out, they threaten you with hell."
The economist dismissed the notion that the region would be able to turn itself around so as to make such support from its 'core' unnecessary. Citing the example of the persisting transfers from west to east Germany, he pointed out: 'The ones that need the money to flow in carry on needing the money to flow in, or just stay poor.'
Dumas also warned that austerity was only worsening Greece?s budget deficit, and that it was 'difficult to imagine' the deeply indebted state receiving the four quarterly batches of financing it is due this year. ?It?s almost impossible to imagine people continuing to stump up the money, because they simply have not actually gone into this thing with the intention of unrequited transfers to Greece ad infinitum,? he said as the country resumed talks with its creditors over a planned debt swap.
Calling the one-off damage of splitting up the eurozone 'seriously exaggerated', Dumas warned that?as the crisis deepens, he believes 'Germany and the Netherlands will actually realise that they had better call it a day and jump out.'
Ilargi: Sure, the Dutch government, and certainly the EU and the banking system, have formidable PR machineries at their disposal. We?ll see a lot of numbers being floated that contradict Lombard's report. And we'll have to wait a few days to see exactly what numbers Dumas et al. come up with.
But the people of Germany and Holland are already very nervous about the fact that they face austerity and budget cuts while billions of euros are transferred to southern Europe. Up until now, the fear of economic disaster predicted in unison by government leaders have kept them quiet. Now that a reputable economic research firm flatly contradicts these predictions, and states that, instead, it's staying within the Eurozone that will be the far more costly option, the people will grow increasingly restless.
Charles Dumas again, from Algemeen Dagblad:
"The Dutch people have lost thousands of euros in purchasing power per year since the currency was introduced."
Governments in Berlin and The Hague will have a lot of explaining to do. They have to do so against a backdrop of (near-)failing Greek debt swap talks, which will at the very least force them to admit that they have a lost tens of billions in taxpayer money to Club Med countries already.
With a second Portugal bailout waiting in the wings. And lots of negative news on Italy and Spain. And more domestic budget cuts.
They?ll realize that their governments have painted far too rosy pictures about the issues so far. And they?ll expect them to deliver more of the same. This is what we call a receding trust horizon.
It's not the report alone, it's the entire combination of factors. The report will "merely" serve as the catalyst that blows up the powder keg. It may take a few months, but it will happen. The publicity hungry rogue PVV party that commissioned it, followed by anti-Eurozone voices elsewhere, will make sure of that.
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama, fresh from a five-state tour following his State of the Union address, is calling for government reforms to ease gridlock and bar members of Congress from profiting from their position.
In his radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said many people he encountered during his trip were optimistic but remained unsure "that the right thing will get done in Washington this year, or next year, or the year after that."
"And frankly, when you look at some of the things that go on in this town, who could blame them for being a little cynical?" Obama said.
The president reiterated his calls for government reform made in Tuesday's address, saying he wants the Senate to pass a rule that requires a yes-or-no vote for judicial and public service nominations after 90 days. Many of the nominees, he said, carry bipartisan support but get held up in Congress for political reasons.
Without mentioning him by name, the president noted that Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, said he would hold up nominations because he opposed the recess appointment of Richard Cordray to lead a new consumer protection agency, a move that many Republicans have called unconstitutional. Obama said the American people deserve "better than gridlock and games."
"One senator gumming up the works for the whole country is certainly not what our founding fathers envisioned," the president said.
Obama said he also wants Congress to pass legislation to ban insider trading by lawmakers and prohibit lawmakers from owning securities in companies that have business before their committees.
In addition, the president is seeking to prohibit people who "bundle" campaign contributions from other donors for members of Congress from lobbying Congress. Obama urged the public to contact their member of Congress and tell them "that it's time to end the gridlock and start tackling the issues that really matter."
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., delivering the GOP address, said Obama's address to Congress lacked much discussion of the president's achievements "because there isn't much."
"This president didn't talk about his record for one simple reason," Rubio said. "He doesn't want you to know about it. But you do know about it, because your feel the failure of his leadership every single day of the week."
Rubio accused the president of driving up the national debt, failing to reduce high unemployment across the country and offering divisive economic policies.
The Florida senator said there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor but the best way to solve the problem is by embracing the American free enterprise system. Rubio said he hopes 2012 "will be the beginning of our work towards a new and prosperous American century."
This week solar flares sent a huge blast of X-rays and charged particles screaming towards the Earth. Solar astronomer David Hathaway and physicist Doug Biesecker discuss the sun's explosive behavior, and how that 'space weather' affects satellites, airplanes and the electric grid.
When an Indiana judge tossed "Teen Mom" Amber Portwood in jail for allegedly violating probation in her domestic violence case in December, things did not look good for the reality personality. She was accused of two new felonies and was ordered to remain in jail until at least Jan. 27.
The new charges? Battery and possession of a controlled substance.
Today, the troubled young mother has reportedly struck a deal, according to TMZ. Law enforcement told the gossip site that Portwood would plead guilty to violating probation and possession,?and will complete a court-ordered drug rehab program. Assuming she holds up her end of the bargain, her case will be dismissed. If she makes any more legal stumbles or fails to complete the program, she'll be sent to prison immediately to serve a five-year sentence, according to TMZ.
But it's not a done deal yet. The website reports that the judge still has to OK the deal. The hearing is set for Feb. 6.
The legal trouble began for Portwood when MTV aired a season two episode of its popular docuseries "Teen Mom" showing her repeatedly punching and slapping then-fiance Gary Shirley, who is the father of her toddler, Leah. She pled guilty last June to two counts of felony domestic violence in that case, and was given a two-year suspended sentence and placed on two years of probation.
Do you think she'll comply to the terms of her plea deal? Tell us what you think on our Facebook page.
FILE - In this March 30, 1993 file photo, actress Catherine Deneuve poses with Eiko Ishioka as she holds her Oscar for best costume design for "Bram Stoker's Dracula" backstage at the 65th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Ishioka, who worked in advertising and other graphic arts and won the 1992 Academy Award for Best Costume Design, died Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, of pancreatic cancer. She was 73. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
FILE - In this March 30, 1993 file photo, actress Catherine Deneuve poses with Eiko Ishioka as she holds her Oscar for best costume design for "Bram Stoker's Dracula" backstage at the 65th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Ishioka, who worked in advertising and other graphic arts and won the 1992 Academy Award for Best Costume Design, died Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, of pancreatic cancer. She was 73. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
FILE - In this May 10, 1996 file photo, U.S. film director Francis Ford Coppola who heads the jury of the 49th International Cannes Film Festival poses with jury member Eiko Ishioka in Cannes, Southern France. Ishioka, who worked in advertising and other graphic arts and won the 1992 Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the film "Bram Stoker's "Dracula," died saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, of pancreatic cancer. She was 73. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, file)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Eiko Ishioka, a bold, Academy Award-winning visual artist whose surreal and sensual costumes were worn by Broadway actors, Olympic athletes, Cirque du Soleil performers and movie stars like Jennifer Lopez, has died in Tokyo. She was 73.
Her studio manager, Tracy Roberts, said Thursday that the designer died of pancreatic cancer.
Ishioka, who also worked in advertising and other graphic arts, won the 1992 Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the film "Bram Stoker's 'Dracula,'" directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Her dreamlike, billowing designs were featured in the 2001 film "The Cell," staring Lopez.
She won a Grammy Award in 1986 for her cover design of Miles Davis' album "Tutu" and she directed the music video for the single "Cocoon" from Bjork's album "Vespertine." She also won the 1985 Cannes Film Festival Award for Artistic Contribution for her production design work on the Paul Schrader film "Mishima."
Ishioka, who died Saturday, was the director of costume design for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and designed racing uniforms and outerwear for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
A graduate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, she became the first woman to be elected a member of the Tokyo Art Directors Club. She opened her own design studio in 1970 and was known for a bold, thought-provoking style even when advertising Japanese shopping complexes.
In 1983, she published a retrospective of her graphic design and art direction work entitled "Eiko by Eiko." She also wrote the book "Eiko on Stage," which focuses on her stage and screen work.
On Broadway, she made the sets and costumes for David Henry Hwang's 1988 Tony Award-winning drama "M. Butterfly," which earned her two Tony Award nominations for scenic design and costume design. She also tried her hand at opera with her costume design for Richard Wagner's "Ring Cycle" at the Netherlands National Opera.
She designed over 130 costumes for the Cirque du Soleil show "Varekai" and was the visual artistic director for a David Copperfield show on Broadway in 1996. Her comic book inspired costumes can currently be seen in "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark."
"Her work will continue to touch audiences for years to come," said "Spider-Man" producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris said in a joint statement, adding that Thursday's performance would be dedicated to her memory.
She was honored in 1992 to be named to the Hall of Fame by the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. Her work can be seen at museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
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Entertainment Writer Frazier Moore contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stock index futures rose on Thursday, adding to gains from the previous session when the Federal Reserve boosted equities by saying it was likely to keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014.
S&P 500 futures rose 3.7 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 17 points, and Nasdaq futures rose 4.75 points.
The newly revealed tapes provide a window into the final months of the 35th president's life.
Final recordings President John F. Kennedy secretly made in the Oval Office include an eerie conversation about what would become the day of his funeral.
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In talking to staffers while trying to arrange his schedule, Kennedy remarked that Nov. 25 was shaping up to be a "tough day" after his return from Texas and time at Cape Cod.
"It's a hell of a day, Mr. President," a staffer agreed.
The exchange was among the last 45 hours of private recordings Kennedy made, tapes The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum released Tuesday. They provide a window into the final months of the 35th president's life.
They include discussions of conflict in Vietnam, Soviet relations and the race to space, plans for the 1964 Democratic Convention, and re-election strategy. There also are moments with his children.
The tapes are the last of more than 260 hours of recordings of meetings and conversations Kennedy privately made before his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
David Coleman, the professor who leads the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia, on Tuesday called the final recordings significant because while?JFK?didn't tape himself regularly, he chose to preserve important moments.
The university's Miller Center of Public Affairs already has published three volumes of Kennedy transcripts and is working on another two volumes from recordings that previously went public, Coleman said.
"Kennedy did not tape as systematically as Johnson or Nixon. But what he did tape was often very important discussions," he said.
"What you have is an unusually rich collection of decisions being made in real time."
The recordings also are valuable because they're a raw look inside the Kennedy White House, Coleman said.
"It's all unfiltered," he said. "It hasn't been massaged by committees or by the White House press machine."
Historians may gravitate most to Kennedy's recordings about Vietnam to see where his policy was heading when his presidency ended, Coleman said.
Kennedy kept the recordings a secret from his top aides. He made the last one two days before his death.
Kennedy library archivist Maura Porter said Monday that?JFK?may have been saving them for a memoir or possibly started them because he was bothered when the military later gave a different overview of a discussion with him about the Bay of Pigs.
The latest batch of recordings captured meetings from the last three months of Kennedy's administration. In a conversation with political advisers about young voters, Kennedy asks, "What is it we have to sell them?"
"We hope we have to sell them prosperity, but for the average guy the prosperity is nil," he says. "He's not unprosperous, but he's not very prosperous. ... And the people who really are well off hate our guts."
Kennedy talks about a disconnect between the political machine and voters.
"We've got so mechanical an operation here in Washington that it doesn't have much identity where these people are concerned," he says.
On another recording, Kennedy questions conflicting reports military and diplomatic advisers bring back from Vietnam, asking the two men: "You both went to the same country?"
He also talks about trying to create films for the 1964 Democratic Convention in color instead of black and white.
"The color is so damn good," he says. "If you do it right."
Porter said the public first heard about the existence of the Kennedy recordings during the Watergate hearings.
In 1983,?JFK?Library and Museum officials started reviewing tapes without classified materials and releasing recordings to the public. Porter said officials were able to go through all the recordings by 1993, working with government agencies when it came to national security issues and what they could make public.
In all, she said, the?JFK?Library and Museum has put out about 40 recordings. She said officials excised about 5 to 10 minutes of this last group of recordings due to family discussions and about 30 minutes because of national security concerns.
Porter has supervised the declassification of these White House tapes since 2001, and she said people will have a much better sense of the kind of leader?JFK?was after hearing them. While some go along with meeting minutes that also are public, she said, listening to?JFK's?voice makes his personality come alive.
She said he comes across as an intelligent man who had a knack for public relations and was very interested in his public image. But she said the tapes also reveal times when the president became bored or annoyed and moments when he used swear words.
The sound of the president's children, Caroline and John Jr., playing outside the Oval Office is part of a recording on which he introduces them to Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.
"Hello, hello," Gromyko says as the children come in, telling their father, "They are very popular in our country."
JFK?tells the children, mentioning a dog Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev gifted the family: "His chief is the one who sent you Pushinka. You know that? You have the puppies."
JFK?Library spokeswoman Rachel Flor said the daughter of the late president has heard many of the recordings, but she wasn't sure if she had heard this batch.
"He'd go from being a president to being a father," Porter said of the recordings. "... And that was really cute."
COMMENTARY | There is a doctored Washington Post front page making the rounds on Facebook with an image of President Barack Obama laughing with the headline "Gingrich Wins S.C. Primary." Clearly this is not a real headline from The Post, but it has probably been seen by even more people than if it were.
The reason so many people are sharing this faux front page is because it mimics exactly how many Democrats felt when they heard that Newt Gingrich handily beat Mitt Romney in last week's primary in South Carolina. Seriously; do Republicans really think that Gingrich is their best option? Are the pigs flying or do these folks just have their head buried extra deep along their lovely coastline?
As a Democrat, I have watched the Republican primaries with interest. Even though I will not be participating in the vote for the Republican nominee, it is important to me to be knowledgeable regarding the candidates as one of them will be running for the office of President.
It seemed clear early on that Mitt Romney would be the most formidable opponent for President Obama. Romney is conservative, but not so conservative that he would turn off independents. With so many people concerned about the economy, Romney has a wealth of real-world business experience that would seem to make him particularly qualified to deal with economic issues and possibly lead our country down the road to prosperity. He has been married to the same woman for many years, and seems to have raised a lovely family.
So, why, oh why, are so many Republicans choosing Newt Gingrich? Are they poorly informed or just dim? Newt Gingrich claims to have strong family values, but he is currently married to his third wife, who he began relations with while still married to his second wife, who he asked to marry him while he was still married to his first wife, who was battling cancer at the time. Is this a man that people actually believe puts a priority on family values?
Based on a 1997 ethics report, Newt Gingrich was sanctioned by an overwhelming bipartisan vote which forced him to pay back $300,000 in costs due to ethics violations. Gingrich later stepped down as Speaker of the House when he was told that as many as 30 Republicans would refuse to vote for him on the floor of the House. Those were members of his own party, Republicans, who refused his leadership of the House. Yet some people think he would make a good president?
The Republicans that are working to make Newt Gingrich the Republican nominee, if successful, will be handing President Obama his second term on a silver platter. As Republican political consultant Mike Murphy said on Meet the Press this Sunday, "Newt Gingrich cannot carry a general election swing state it if was made of feathers." He's exactly right, and the heads of Republicans leaders are spinning.
The reasons Mitt Romney would appeal to many who don't vote strictly along party lines are the same reasons he isn't conservative enough for tea party Republicans. However Newt Gingrich isn't the guy they are looking for, he's just pretending to be. Gingrich is the dream Republican nominee from a Democrat's perspective. It is truly astonishing that those who are voting for him are blind to this.
"Gingrich stuns Washington by stepping aside," cnn.com
Heidi Pryzbyla, "Gingrich's Ex-Wife Says He Sought 'Open Marriage' to Keep Affair," Businessweek
The Clackamas River runs fast Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, near where 6-year-old Vinesa Snegur on Sunday had fallen into the stream and was swept on downriver in Mount Hood National Forest, near Estacada, Ore. The water temperature Monday morning was just above freezing, and the river is carrying a heavy load of trees and roots, imperiling rescue workers, police said. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
The Clackamas River runs fast Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, near where 6-year-old Vinesa Snegur on Sunday had fallen into the stream and was swept on downriver in Mount Hood National Forest, near Estacada, Ore. The water temperature Monday morning was just above freezing, and the river is carrying a heavy load of trees and roots, imperiling rescue workers, police said. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
A member of the Multnomah County Sheriff Search and Rescue team searches along the Clackamas River for 6-year-old Vinesa Snegur, who on Sunday had fallen into the stream and was swept on downriver, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Mount Hood National Forest, near Estacada, Ore. The water temperature Monday morning was just above freezing, and the river is carrying a heavy load of trees and roots, imperiling rescue workers, police said. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
A member of the Multnomah County Sheriff Search and Rescue team searches along the Clackamas River for a 6-year-old who on Sunday had fallen into the stream and was swept on downriver Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Mount Hood National Forest, near Estacada, Ore. The water temperature Monday morning was just above freezing, and the river is carrying a heavy load of trees and roots, imperiling rescue workers, police said. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Members of the Multnomah County Sheriff Search and Rescue team search along the Clackamas River for a 6-year-old who had fallen into the stream and was swept on downriver Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Mount Hood National Forest, near Estacada, Ore. Rescue workers looked for Vinesa Snegur on Sunday afternoon and resumed their search Monday along the waterway that's running fast and cold from a recent winter storm. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
ESTACADA, Ore (AP) ? An Oregon man raced along the rain-swollen Clackamas River but couldn't keep up with his 6-year-old daughter who had fallen into the stream and was swept downriver, authorities said.
Rescue workers searched without success Monday for Vinesa Snegur, who fell into the river Sunday afternoon. The waterway is running fast and cold from a recent winter storm.
About 50 ground searchers and divers suspended their search at nightfall Monday. A helicopter with thermal imaging equipment also was used to scan the river.
The Clackamas County sheriff's office said the search would resume Tuesday.
"It was just a second of inattention," sheriff's Sgt. James Rhodes said of the little girl's fall, explaining that her father turned away, "then splash, and she fell in. He ran and tried to keep up with her, but he was unable to."
Rhodes said the girl and her parents, Igor and Marina Snegur, are from southeast Portland and drove Sunday to play in the snow. They parked near Austin Hot Springs in the Mount Hood National Forest where a road is close to the stream.
The spot is about 60 miles southeast of Portland. There's no cell service, and the family couldn't call for help until they got to a phone at a ranger station an hour later, Rhodes said.
The water temperature Monday was just above freezing, and the river is carrying a heavy load of trees and roots, imperiling rescue workers, he said.
At Vinesa's Mill Park Elementary School, about 140 students visited a special 21-person crisis counseling team Monday, The Oregonian reported. Barbara Kienle, students services director, said half a dozen employees, including some of Vinesa's teachers, also talked to counselors.
"She has many friends," Principal Rolando Florez told the newspaper. "There were lots of sad kids in her class today."
Like many streams in western Oregon, the Clackamas River is swollen by heavy rain that fell late last week as a winter storm moved into the region. The storm caused flooding in many communities in the Willamette Valley.
A mother and her 1-year-old son died after a creek swept away their car from an Albany, Ore., parking lot. A father and his son were able to escape.
Most streams have receded, but more rain is been forecast this week in western Oregon, raising the possibility of more floods.
In this image from video, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels delivers the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/APTN)
In this image from video, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels delivers the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/APTN)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama has resorted to "extremism" with stifling, anti-growth policies and sought to divide Americans, not unite them, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said Tuesday in the formal Republican response to the president's State of the Union address.
Eight months after deciding against a bid for his party's presidential nomination, Daniels used his nationally televised speech to lash out at Obama and cast the GOP as compassionate and eager to unchain the country's economic potential.
He took particular aim at Obama's efforts to raise taxes on the rich and castigate them for not contributing their fair share to the nation's burdens. Joined by Republicans on Capitol Hill and the presidential campaign trails, the GOP goal was to both blunt and shift the focus away from Obama's theme on Tuesday of fairness, which included protecting the middle class and making sure the rich pay an equitable share of taxes.
"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant effort to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said, speaking from Indianapolis. "As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat."
"This election is going to be a referendum on the president's economic policies," which have worsened the economy, said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The politics of envy, the politics of dividing our country is not what America is all about."
Also drawing frequent GOP attacks were Obama's proposed tax increases, which included making sure millionaire earners pay at least a 30 percent tax rate.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said Obama's proposals to boost taxes on the wealthy and give tax breaks for domestic U.S. manufacturers and others were "nothing more than the usual Washington game that has led to a tax code already littered with lobbyist loopholes."
Daniels is a rarity in the GOP these days ? a uniting and widely respected figure, contrasting with the divisiveness emanating from the contest for the presidential nomination being waged among former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others.
President George W. Bush's first budget chief and a two-term Indiana governor, Daniels often rails against wasteful spending big budget deficits, though critics note he served during the abrupt shift from fleeting federal surpluses to massive deficits early in Bush's term.
"When President Obama claims that the state of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true," Daniels said. He added that while Obama did not cause the country's economic and budget problems, "He was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse."
The night's rhetoric come at the dawn of a presidential and congressional election year in which the defining issues are the faltering economy and weak job market and the parties' clashing prescriptions for restoring both. Obama and congressional Democrats have focused on the more populist pathway of financing federal initiatives by taxing millionaires, while Republicans preach the virtues of less regulation and smaller government.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Obama's address "a campaign speech designed to please his liberal base," and warned that he should keep legislation advancing his priorities "free from poison pills like tax hikes on job creators."
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who heads large group of House conservatives, said Obama's speech was riddled with "the ridiculous idea that America isn't fair because successful people get to keep too much of the money they earn."
Republicans fired back at Obama's vision of "an economy built to last," saying it was their party that understood the best way to trigger economic growth was to get the government out of the way.
"The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly sane pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy," Daniels said.
Obama has halted, for now, work on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to Texas' Gulf Coast. Republicans say the project would create thousands of jobs, a claim opponents say is overstated. The administration has also pursued policies aimed at reducing pollution and global warming.
To underscore Obama's decision on Keystone, Boehner invited three officials from companies he said would be hurt by the pipeline's rejection to watch the speech in the House chamber, along with a pro-pipeline legislator from Nebraska, through which the project would pass.
Obama was delivering his address during a rowdy battle for the GOP presidential nomination that has ended up providing ammunition for Obama's theme of fairness.
That fight has called attention to the wealth of one of the top contenders, Romney, and the low ? but legal ? effective federal income tax rate of around 15 percent that the multimillionaire has paid in the past two years. Romney, in Florida campaigning for that state's Jan. 31 primary, released his tax documents for the two-year period on Tuesday.
"The president's agenda sounds less like 'built to last' and more like doomed to fail," Romney said in Tampa, Fla.?"What he's proposing is more of the same: more taxes, more spending, and more regulation."
Romney's chief rival at this point, Gingrich, said in a written statement that the top question about Obama's speech was whether he "will show a willingness to put aside the extremist ideology of the far left and call for a new set of policies that could lead to dramatic private sector job creation and economic growth."
LITTLE ROCK, Ar (Reuters) ? A twister touched down 70 miles south of the Arkansas state capital late Sunday, as forecasters warned that tornadoes and heavy storms could mete out punishment to several southeast states into Monday.
The tornado tore into an area outside of Fordyce, in Dallas County, Ark, around 8:00 p.m. local time, damaging houses and felling trees and power lines as it moved, according to Accuweather.com.
An unnamed official at Dallas County sheriff's department told Reuters that emergency responders rescued a woman resident after she become trapped in her home.
The potential for severe storms overnight and into Monday stretched from the Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi to southern Indiana and Ohio, according to AccuWeather.com.
"A few destructive, long-track tornadoes are quite possible," AccuWeather.com meteorologist Bill Deger said, warning that the severe storms created "an especially dangerous situation given the veil of night."
Heavy rain fell on state capital Little Rock, while parts of the state were pelted by golf-ball sized hailstones and buffeted by winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour.
Funnel clouds were spotted within 20 miles of state capital Little Rock, according to a national weather service alert.
Roughly 11,600 homes were without power across Arkansas as the storms intensified, according to utility provider Entergy Arkansas, Inc.
Roughly one third of Arkansas tornadoes occur at night and are difficult to see in the darkness, the national weather service said, recommending residents in the state to take cover as a precaution.
VERY HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS
In Alabama, residents were bracing for storms that could hit after dark on Sunday or overnight with a strong cold front from the west combining with warm moist air flowing up from the Gulf of Mexico, said Mary Keiser, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama.
"The best dynamics for this are going to be across the northwest part of the state and lesser so as you move to the southeast part of the state," Keiser said of the forecast for severe weather to strike in Alabama.
The weather service said thunderstorms could bring wind gusts up to 80 mph, tornadoes or gulf ball-sized hail in Mississippi. Farther west, the weather service warned of a high fire danger in Texas with wind gusts of up to 50 mph.
Weather.com said the greatest tornado threat appeared to be in eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, northern Louisiana and northern Mississippi.
A second stormfront expected to hit California late Sunday night will bring significant snowfall to the mountain regions, according to the National Weather Service, before rolling into the southern United States later in the week.
Parts of central and southern California were under a winter weather warning as a storm system was expected to sweep into the area late Sunday into Monday morning, with the weather service predicting 6 to 12 inches of snow.
The Sierras and the Rockies may accumulate as much as 3 feet of snow, the weather service said, and driving in mountain passes will be "very hazardous" due to low visibility, gusting winds and heavy snowfall.
In Reno, Nevada, meanwhile, snowfall provided welcome relief to firefighters who were monitoring remaining hotspots from a blaze that raged near the outskirts of the city beginning Thursday, destroying 30 houses and prompting thousands of people to flee their homes.
"As long as we keep on getting snow instead of rain, it looks like we'll be okay, at least for the next couple of days," said Mark Regan, spokesman for the Sierra Fire Protection District.
Rain had threatened the area with flash flooding on Friday night. Emergency responders had the blaze 100 percent contained as of Saturday, and all residents have been allowed to return to their homes, Regan said.
In the upper Midwest, freezing drizzle was expected to make roads and sidewalks slippery from southeastern Minnesota into Wisconsin, changing to snow later Sunday, the weather service said. Up to 4 inches of snow was expected farther north in southeast North Dakota and west central Minnesota.
In the northeast United States, a fast-moving storm from central Pennsylvania eastward dropped up to a foot of snow in parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts on Saturday.
(Additional reporting By David Bailey and Mary Slosson; Writing by Mary Slosson; Editing by Tim Gaynor)
BATA, Equatorial Guinea - Police used tear gas to try and slow a crush of fans forcing their way into the Bata Stadium complex for Saturday's opening match of the African Cup of Nations.
Police tried to check fans' tickets one-by-one at the main gate to the complex ahead of Equatorial Guinea's match against Libya. But several times the crowd proved too much and Israeli security advisers ordered the gates opened to allow scores of people through without being checked.
On at least one occasion, tear gas was used on the crowd.
The gate opens onto a road leading to the stadium. Fans will still need a ticket to get inside.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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First American EPL hat trick
??Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick in England's Premier League, helping Fulham rally from a halftime deficit to rout Newcastle 5-2 Saturday.
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Best of the US
Abby Wambach and Clint Dempsey are voted top players by the U.S. Soccer Federation.
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Public release date: 29-Jan-2012
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