Finnish/American sleaze thrashers Tornado, featuring Ex-Gothic Slam vocalist Superstar Joey Severance, will enter 5k Studio in Helsinki, Finland with Amorphis drummer Jan Rechberger to record the sophomore LP "Black President," the follow up to the Listenable Records debut ?Amsterdamn, Hellsinki? (2011). The release is expected for early 2014. Demo tracks of the title track and "David and Goliath" can he heard streaming below.
The band also unveiled its new lineup, consisting of:
Superstar Joey Severance (Ex-Gothic Slam) - Vocals Tuomas Leskinan - Guitar Henri Soisalo (Withered Within) - Bass Timo Ponni (Carnal Demise) - Guitars Jani Neimala - Drums
Commented singer Superstar Joey Severance: ?I am very excited to be finally putting the finishing touches on the songs that will become the next Tornado album. We are working quite hard to write the catchiest, sleaziest and thrashiest material that we can at this time and I am personally stoked to introduce the new members of the band to the world. The guys are young and hungry and together we are aiming to make a dent within the metal community. We hope that these two new songs will hold people over until we do the proper recording."
About the new tracks heard below, Severance said: "Lyrically speaking, 'Black President' is not a pro Obama song as it is an anti-stupidity one while 'David and Goliath' deals with the serious and often unspoken subject of bullying."
Check them out here:
You can get related band news and info in the sidebar and on the respective band pages.
Auckland mayor Len Brown has confirmed he will seek a second term in office in October.
Mayor Len Brown.
RNZ
Mr Brown launched his election campaign on Sunday, promising to continue focussing on transport, housing and economic development.
Mr Brown wants to start the major downtown rail-tunnel project before the 2020 date suggested by the Government, and will continue pushing the same policies he has driven during his first term.
Mr Brown hopes the next year's rate rise for Auckland could be its lowest yet at 2.5%.
Election nominations open on Friday.
Mr Brown already faces three challengers. They are: John Minto of the Mana Party, businessman John Palino and Pacific People's Advisory panel chair Uesfili Unasa.
Source: www.ibtimes.com --- Sunday, July 14, 2013 Community health centres expect to sign up millions of newly insured patients under President Barack Obama's health reform law, but U.S. budget cuts just as they need to beef up services may make it hard to keep the newcomers. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Americans spent more at retail businesses in June, buying more cars and trucks, furniture and clothes. But consumers cut back on many other purchases, a mixed sign for economic growth.
The Commerce Department said Monday that retail sales rose 0.4 percent in June from May, after a 0.5 percent increase the previous month.
Sales rose in June largely because of a 1.8 percent increase in auto purchases, the biggest since November. Higher gas prices also pushed service station sales up 0.7 percent.
Still, excluding the volatile categories of autos, gas and building supplies, so-called core retail sales rose just 0.15 percent. That's the weakest since January.
Americans spent less at department stores and restaurants in June. They bought fewer computers and electronics. And sales at home improvement stores, such as Home Depot, dropped 2.2 percent ? although those sales are up nearly 10 percent over the past year.
Economists pay close attention to core sales because its components are used to calculate overall economic growth. Many said the report shows overall consumer spending has slowed from the start of the year. That should keep economic growth in the April-June quarter at or below an annual rate of 1 percent, they said, down from a subpar 1.8 percent rate in the January-March quarter.
"It is disconcerting that retail sales growth lost more momentum as the second quarter progressed," said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
There were some encouraging signs in the report. Americans continued to buy cars and trucks. Furniture sales jumped 2.4 percent last month, a sign that the housing recovery may be encouraging more home remodeling. And sales rose at clothing stores and general merchandise stores, which include Target and Wal-Mart.
Analysts expect a modest rebound in the second half of the year. The economy is expected to grow at a roughly 2.5 percent annual rate as the effects of federal tax hikes and government spending cuts begin to fade.
The strongest part of the retail economy has been auto sales. Over the past year, car and truck sales are up 11.4 percent, according to the government's data.
Earlier this month the nation's automakers also reported robust sales in June. Sales totaled 7.8 million from January through June, the best first half since 2007. And the outlook for the rest of 2013 is just as strong. Wider credit availability and hot-selling new vehicles are helping to boost sales. Demand for big pickups has been a key factor in higher sales.
Monday's government report comes after some retail chains reported their strongest sales gains since January. Revenue at stores opened at least a year rose 4.1 percent in June compared with the same month a year ago, according to a preliminary tally of 13 retailers by the International Council of Shopping Centers.
June is typically when stores clear out summer merchandise to make room for fall goods. Brisk sales mean that stores probably won't be stuck with piles of summer clothes that need to be cleared as back-to-school sales kick off in late July.
Retail stores are benefiting from more hiring, which gives more people money to spend. Employers added 195,000 jobs in June. Job gains have averaged 202,000 for the past six months, up from 180,000 for the previous six months.
This week was a disappointment for many hoping for a long bull for the AUD/USD. While it was expected as I mentioned in my previous AUD/USD forecast due to the strong support, one must not presume it would last.
China being Australia's largest trading partner struck again as it announces that a growth of 6.5% is fine. Traders saw this as a subtle hint of lowering growth forecast. The AUD/USD dipped back to previous week levels on this.
The National Park Service provides tremendous value for US travelers.?If you?re planning a family summer vacation,?keep our national parks and national forests in mind.
By Trent Hamm,?Guest blogger / July 14, 2013
Stone formations are seen in the Mammoth Dome area of Mammoth Cave during a tour in Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky. Hamm recommends the National Park Service for finding affordable, enriching experiences during US travel.
Ed Reinke/AP/File
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Over the past two weeks, Sarah and I combined a tenth anniversary getaway for the two of us along with a family vacation for ourselves, our children, and Sarah?s parents and youngest sister. This meant almost two full weeks of traveling.
Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm
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Along the way, I kept taking notes on the inexpensive and free stuff I discovered along the way, but when I came home and actually evaluated the list, one giant theme kept coming through.
The National Park Service (and, similarly, the U.S. Forest Service) provide tremendous value for the traveler within the United States.
My list of ?frugal tips? from our travels of the past two weeks was simply loaded with references to these two services, particularly the National Park Service. If you?re going anywhere, look into what these two services have to offer in the area to which you?re traveling.
Here are some specific highlights from our recent travels.
In Boston,?the Freedom Trail was an amazing day-long highlight. Most of?historic Boston?is maintained by the Park Service, the highlight of which is the Freedom Trail, which is a clearly marked route about three miles in length through Boston and Charlestown, which takes you by dozens of different landmarks relevant to the start of the American Revolution.
Not only did they provide us with free maps along the way, they also provided a?free Android/iOS app?that provided a step-by-step guide to the trail. In addition, there were guided tours of the trail led by NPS employees and several regular talks at various points along the trail. We toured the?USS Constitution (?Old Ironsides?)?for free with a tour guide as part of this day-long excursion, as well as the wonderful Bunker Hill Monument which provided a great view of the city.
In Salem,?the Park Service provided a free guided tour of the harbor along with the Customs House.?This was a roughly hour-long tour that highlighted the history of maritime trade in New England as well as highlighting the Customs House where Nathaniel Hawthore worked while writing?The Scarlet Letter. If you miss the tour guide, the Park Service offers a?free downloadable audio tour of the area.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Police have yet to release a motive behind the fatal shootings of two women and the serious wounding of a man at a shopping center in a trendy San Francisco neighborhood.
A bloodied gunman suspected of the shooting was arrested after opening fire on officers Friday afternoon.
Officers encountered the suspect outside the San Francisco GiftCenter and JewelryMart who began shooting at officers while running toward a restaurant. He surrendered after apparently running out of ammunition.
Inside, officers found the women inside the Victoga jewelry shop dead and the man wounded. Witnesses say the women were employees and the man is the owner.
Police Chief Greg Suhr said police didn't know the relationship between the suspect and the victims even though he had previously been seen in the building.
SAN DIEGO?The week began with news that Mayor Bob Filner's fiancee ended their engagement and, by Friday, San Diego's first Democratic leader in 20 years was desperately trying to stay in office amid sexual harassment allegations made public by some of his closest supporters. He apologized, promised to change and begged voters to let him keep his job.
The rapid-fire developments put heavy scrutiny on the personal foibles of Filner, a feisty liberal who was elected in November after 10 terms in Congress marked perhaps most famously by a 2007 run-in with a United Airlines baggage handler at Dulles International Airport that resulted in him pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of trespassing.
Filner has long had a reputation for berating employees and been dogged by rumors of making sexual advances on women, but nothing stuck like a former city councilwoman's comments this week that she had firsthand accounts from more than one woman who was sexually harassed by the mayor.
Donna Frye, who worked briefly for the mayor as his director of open government, didn't provide any specifics at an emotional news conference Thursday, like the nature of the alleged abuse, when it occurred and how often. But she demanded Filner resign, saying, "There is no doubt in my mind that these allegations are true."
Filner, 70, didn't address specifics of his behavior either in an extraordinary video he released hours later that made clear he knew his career was gravely threatened, saying, "I need help."
"If my behavior doesn't change, I cannot succeed in leading our city," he said.
Filner, who is divorced, said he will personally apologize to current and former employees, both men and women.
"It is a good thing that behavior that would have been tolerated in the past is being called out in this generation for what it is: inappropriate and wrong," he said.
In a follow-up statement late Friday, Filner said an email had been sent to all city employees promising a "full, complete and independent investigation in response to any formal complaint against me."
He added, however, that he expects to be exonerated.
"I am confident that a fair and independent investigation will support my innocence with respect to any charges of sexual harassment," Filner said.
Frye, who said she wouldn't seek Filner's job, reaffirmed her demand Friday that Filner resign, according to a tweet by Marco Gonzalez, an environmental attorney who spoke alongside the former councilwoman in urging him to step down.
"Additional information to be provided next week," Gonzalez wrote.
Frye is highly influential with Filner's base, and the mayor needs all the friends he can get after alienating many key players during his brief tenure.
"Bob takes on way too many battles at the same time and doesn't know how fight a one-front war," said Steve Erie, a political science professor at University of California, San Diego. "He's fighting a multi-front war?the City Council, the city attorney, developers, hoteliers."
Filner struck a five-year labor agreement with city unions and opened a city of San Diego office in Tijuana to strengthen ties with the Mexican border city, but his behavior now overshadows those and other accomplishments.
In February, he crashed City Attorney Jan Goldsmith's news conference about tourism marketing revenue, commandeered the podium, and accused the elected official of "unethical and unprofessional conduct" for scrutinizing the mayor's position through the news media. Last month, he ordered a Goldsmith deputy to leave a closed-door City Council meeting, saying the attorney spoke without being recognized and refused to sit down when told.
His deputy chief of staff recently resigned at a staff meeting over what Filner called disagreements about how he was running the office. When Filner asked if anyone else in the room wanted out, his communications director came forward.
In a rare moment last month, Filner questioned his behavior, saying, "Anybody who's intelligent would have to undergo some self-examination." Yet he said during the same regular monthly news conference that the staff defections were normal occurrences under a demanding boss and faulted the news media for its coverage.
"It's a high-pressure, high-tension situation, and some people can adapt, some people can't," he said.
When he was 18, the Pittsburgh native spent two months in a Mississippi jail in 1961 after joining the Freedom Riders in their civil rights campaign against segregation in the South. The history professor went on to serve on the San Diego school board and City Council.
In Congress, he became chair the House Veterans Affairs Committee, launching a profanity-laced tirade against an official in 2007 over a failure to protect veterans' personal data from computer theft. He was never a major player in Washington and, unlike his current job, labored largely outside the media spotlight.
"In order to become a part of the (House) leadership, you've got to get along with people and he's a hard person to get along with" said Chris Crotty, a Democratic political consultant.
Crotty, who has known Filner more than 20 years, said Filner repeatedly wins elections because he delivers services that matter to constituents, like retirement benefits for a large population of Filipino veterans of World War II in his district.
Whether Filner can survive as mayor is a guessing game that may hinge on whether specifics emerge on the harassment allegations. He canceled a weekend appearance at the city's gay pride parade, saying he didn't want to be a distraction.
Crotty thinks Filner's supporters will accept his apology, barring new disclosures. Carl Luna, a political science professor at San Diego's Mesa College, believes there is an 80 percent chance Filner will be forced out.
"Everybody knew he had a tendency to be ... somewhat jerkish and that he was no stranger to female companionship," Luna said. "It just finally caught up with him."
An eight-month-old baby miraculously survived an attack by his mother who stabbed him 90 times for biting her while she was breastfeeding.
The mother stabbed him mostly in the face with a pair of scissors. The incident happened in Xuzhou city, which is the fourth largest prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province, China.
The toddler, identified as Xiao Bao, reportedly required over 100 stitches on his face and other body parts after the attack. Bao, his mother and two uncles live in Xuzhou city and make their living by recycling rubbish.
The baby was found lying in a pool of blood by one of his uncles who immediately rushed him to a nearby hospital. The infant is now recovering from the multiple stab wounds.
Bao's mother confessed she had stabbed her own baby for biting her. But till now she has not been arrested. After the incident neighbours requested the local government to take the baby away from his mother, but they refused to do so.
The local authorities have said that the two uncles are the baby's guardians and there has been no confirmation whether the mother was suffering from mental illness.
This is one of the many such instances to have happened this year of mothers harming their children.?In May, a woman secretly gave birth and flushed the newborn down a toilet. Firefighters and doctors saved the baby by sawing through a section of the sewage pipe in the apartment building. ? ??
Earlier this year, a seven-year-old girl in New Jersey was stabbed by her mother more than 30 times before killing herself. The girl survived the brutal?attack, but her mother died.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republicans received a boost in their attempt to win back the majority in the Senate next year when a former Democratic governor bowed out of Montana's open Senate race, a development that could further hamper President Barack Obama's agenda during his final two years in office.
Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Saturday he would not run for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Max Baucus in 2014, dealing a blow to Democrats who considered the popular ex-governor their best chance of keeping the office. Republicans have not settled on a candidate in GOP-leaning Montana.
Republicans need to pick up six seats to recapture the Senate majority and are trying to take advantage of geography and history in their quest. Democrats must defend 21 seats, including seven in largely rural states that Obama lost in 2012, and the party that controls the White House typically loses seats during the midterm elections of a second-term president.
"For the first time in a couple of years, you can see the Democratic majority has never been on shakier ground," said Rob Jesmer, a Republican strategist and former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Democratic retirements in Republican-leaning states like West Virginia and South Dakota have given Republicans an advantage. The GOP has recruited popular Republicans for those seats, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and former South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds.
In Montana, Republicans hope to persuade Rep. Steve Daines or perhaps former Gov. Marc Racicot to mount a campaign, which could give them an edge in three of the six states they would need to win the majority.
The fate of the Senate could then be decided in four states that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney won in 2012 and are held by Democratic incumbents: Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich of Alaska and Kay Hagan of North Carolina.
Republicans view Rep. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana as a strong challenger to Landrieu, a perennial GOP target, and hope Rep. Tom Cotton, a Harvard-educated lawyer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, will challenge Pryor in Arkansas.
Alaska and North Carolina could offer unpredictable primaries. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee, said she may run for the Senate in the Republican primary against Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and Joe Miller, a tea party favorite. In North Carolina, state House Speaker Thom Tillis and Greg Brannon, a physician with tea party support, want to challenge Hagan, but they could be joined by others, including Rep. Renee Ellmers.
Prominent Republicans have passed up opportunities to run in states like Iowa and Michigan, where Democratic incumbents have announced their retirements. Reps. Bruce Braley of Iowa and Gary Peters of Michigan are seeking the open seats, giving Democrats an edge in keeping them.
Schweitzer's decision surprised many Democrats, who viewed him as their best chance in Montana despite recent reports about the ex-governor's ties to nonprofit groups that Republicans intended to raise in the Senate campaign. It jumbles the primary with a potential field of largely untested candidates that could include state auditor Monica Lindeen, state school Superintendent Denise Juneau, Brian Morris, a Montana Supreme Court justice, and Stephanie Schriock, the president of EMILY's List, the powerful fundraising group for Democratic women.
Democrats said they remained confident they could hold onto Montana's seat and maintained that Republicans would need to pull off major election victories to win back control.
"Only three Democratic incumbents have lost re-election in the last decade," noted Guy Cecil, the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a reference to the defeats of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota in 2004 and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin in 2010.
Obama's party, however, has fewer ways of going on offense. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky remains one of their top priorities for 2014, but Obama is unpopular in Kentucky and McConnell is building a large financial advantage against his likely Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky's secretary of state.
Democrats also view potential success in Georgia, where Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn, may enter the race. Georgia remains a Republican stronghold and several Republicans are vying for an open seat created by the retirement of Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
Fifteen months before the 2014 midterms, Democrats say history could repeat itself. They say Republicans could face more polarizing primaries like the ones that created problems in 2012, when some tea party Republicans won bruising primaries over more mainstream Republican candidates and then faltered against Democrats.
"The map was always going to be a challenge but the Democratic incumbents are seasoned political veterans who have run difficult campaigns before and are not taking anything for granted," said Penny Lee, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "As 2012 proved, those who predict outcomes a year out do so at their own peril."
___
Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas
(Photo: PIB) The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh meeting the Premier of the State Council of the People?s Republic of China, Mr. Li Keqiang, in New Delhi on May 20, 2013.
The incursion of Chinese troops in the Chumar sector in Ladakh last month created an alarming "face-to-face situation" between the troops of the two countries, said official sources on Thursday.
The Chinese patrol transgressed into Indian territory on 17 June and was in a face-to-face situation with the Indian patrol before they returned to their bases.
The China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops entered Chumar sector on 17 June and vandalized and cut wires of high resolution cameras installed in the areas by the Indian army to check movement of the Chinese troops. The damaged cameras were returned to the Indian Army on 3 July at a flag meeting in Chusul area after negotiations between the two sides.
The Chinese troops also reportedly threatened the locals in Chumar and asked them to vacate the region claiming that it belongs to China.
The incident happened two months after Chinese troops allegedly intruded into Depsang, Ladakh, which caused tension in the border area. The drama ensued for a few weeks till China withdrew its troops from LAC. India accused Chinese troops of crossing LAC but the latter denied.
FOLLOW IBTIMES
China on Wednesday defended the deeds of its troops in Chumar, claiming that they were patrolling on its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and maintained that both countries should not change the status quo along the LAC till the final settlement on the disputed region is made.
"I have seen the relevant reports but I am not aware of the specific situation. Chinese Defence forces have been patrolling along the Chinese side of the LAC of the China-India border," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters on Wednesday when asked about the reports of the intrusion in June.
"The general situation in the border areas is stable. We have the consensus that pending the final settlement of the boundary question none of us (India and China) should change the status quo along the LAC," she added.
The second incursion happened just 10 days before the 16th round of India-China Special Representatives talks involving India's National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and China's State Councillor Yang Jiechi was held in Beijing. The two-day talk held on 28-29 June was to solve the impending border issue between the countries.
The Special Representatives talk was followed by the visit of Indian Defence Minister AK Antony to China on 4 July (four-day-visit) to discuss varied agendas, including border issues.
India's Defence Minister had said after his visit to Beijing that he was pleased with the talks on the management of the disputed border. He said that a consensus was reached with the military leadership that both countries would maintain peace and tranquility till they find a solution the border dispute and that the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) would help solve the problem.
This article is copyrighted by IBTimes.co.in, the business news leader
Executives at the pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline have been accused of bribing doctors in China, in a long-running campaign to persuade them to prescribe drugs to patients.
Officials from China's Public Security Ministry in an announcement alleged that the employees paid "large bribes," laundered through travel agencies, to doctors, hospitals and others to ""open new sales channels and increase drug revenues". Giving no specific time frame,? the announcement said the scheme had lasted a "long time".
Identifying the GSK employees as "high officials," the ministry said they are also suspected of tax offences involving collusion with travel agencies to issue false invoices, the ministry said. No details were given of the size of payments or who received them.
"After questioning, the suspects confessed to the crime," the statement said.
GSK said it would co-operate with the authorities but said today's announcement was the first official communication it has received about the investigation.
"Corruption has no place in our business," said a company statement. "If evidence of such activity is provided we would of course act swiftly on it."
A police ministry press office spokeswoman said she could not release the GSK employees' names or other details because they have not been charged with a crime.
Police in the central city of Changsha announced two weeks ago that GSK employees had been detained for questioning about unspecified "economic crimes." Today's statement said the investigation also took place in Shanghai and the central city of Zhengzhou.
GlaxoSmithKline?said in June that it had investigated an accusation that its salespeople in China bribed doctors and found no evidence of wrongdoing. The company has said the police investigation might be based on information from the same anonymous source.
GlaxoSmithKline?PLC is headquartered in Britain but has a presence in the United States, which could make it liable to penalties under US anti-bribery laws.
Last week, state media reported the government was investigating production costs for 60 foreign and domestic drug companies in a possible first step toward changing state-set maximum prices. The announcement gave no indication any companies were suspected of wrongdoing.
LONDON (AP) ? A fire aboard an empty 787 at Heathrow Airport spooked Boeing investors Friday, as they feared the re-emergence of battery problems that grounded the plane for months earlier this year.
At one point, a rapid sell-off had knocked $6 billion off Boeing's market value. The stock recovered slightly as speculation about the cause of the fire shifted away from the batteries. Shares closed down $5.01, or 4.7 percent, to $101.87.
The cause of the fire on the Ethiopian Airlines plane ? which broke out more than 8 hours after it had landed ? remained under investigation. Meanwhile, an unspecified mechanical issue caused another 787 flown by Thomson Airways to return to Manchester Airport, adding to concerns about the plane.
Runways at Heathrow were shut down for nearly an hour as emergency crews put out the fire. No passengers were on the plane.
The 787, which Boeing dubs the Dreamliner, was grounded in January following two incidents with its lithium-ion batteries. One 787 caught fire shortly after it landed at Boston's Logan International Airport on Jan. 7.
Boeing marketed the plane to airlines as a revolutionary jet which ? thanks to its lightweight design ? burns 20 percent less fuel to comparable aircraft. Boeing, based in Chicago, has delivered 66 of the planes to customers with another 864 of them on order.
Boeing's stock partially rebounded after photos were circulated showing the section of the plane damaged by the fire ? an area far away from the battery compartment.
The photos show the rear roof of the plane burned, near the jet's vertical stabilizer, often called the tail. That part of the plane houses a set of bunk beds where some of the flight attendants can sleep on very long flights.
The batteries are located in two separate compartments under the floor of the plane. One is near the wings; the other under the cockpit. Friday's fire wasn't near either of those areas.
"Evidence thus far suggests that the battery was not the cause of the fire at Heathrow," Jason Gursky, an aerospace analyst with Citi told investors. "The images out of London are not consistent with the fire at Boston Logan, which prompted the grounding earlier this year."
He added that "aircraft are complex animals such that a fire could come from many places." He added that this incident could highlight a new problem with the 787, causing further problems for Boeing.
The unanswered questions kept the company's stock sharply lower throughout the afternoon. Friday's loss ultimately shaved $3.8 billion from Boeing's market capitalization.
Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said in an email that the company had personnel on the ground at Heathrow and that the company "is working to fully understand and address" the situation.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that they were sending representatives to London to assist British authorities with their investigation of the fire.
There were also few details about the severity of the Thomson Airways incident. The jet had taken off from Manchester, England headed to an airport in Sanford, Fla., near Orlando. The airline said it had returned to Manchester "as a precautionary measure." All 291 passengers disembarked safely and engineers inspected the aircraft, the airline said.
Airplanes routinely return to the airport for minor technical problems. United Airlines recently had several minor problems with oil leaks on the 787, forcing emergency landings. The maintenance issues, which often also happen on other jets, received extra scrutiny because of the 787's problems.
Ethiopian Airlines was the first airline to resume using the 787, with a flight on April 27 from Ethiopia's capital of Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya, after the battery incidents.
The registration number of the plane at Heathrow ?ET-AOP ? is the same as the aircraft used in the April 27 flight. Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing's commercial unit, was on that initial flight and said at the time that the flight "left on time, landed early and was truly perfect."
The 787 is one of the most unique commercial aircraft in the skies today.
Half of its structure is made of plastics reinforced with carbon fiber, a composite material that is both lighter and stronger than aluminum. In another first, the plane relies on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to start its auxiliary power unit, which provides power on the ground or if the main engines quit.
Problems with those batteries ultimately led to the grounding in January of the 50 Dreamliners flying at the time.
First, a battery ignited on a Japan Airlines 787 shortly after it landed at Boston's Logan International Airport on Jan. 7. Passengers had already left the plane, but it took firefighters 40 minutes to put out the blaze.
Problems also popped up on other planes. There were fuel and oil leaks, a cracked cockpit window and a computer glitch that erroneously indicated a brake problem.
Then a 787 flown by Japan's All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing after pilots were alerted to battery problems and detected a burning smell. Both Japanese airlines grounded their Dreamliner fleets. The FAA, which just days earlier insisted that the plane was safe, did the same with U.S. planes on January 16.
It was the first time the Federal Aviation Administration had grounded a whole fleet of planes since 1979, when it ordered the DC-10 out of the sky following a series of fatal crashes.
The FAA eventually approved a plan by Boeing to better insulate the battery's eight cells and the addition of a new containment and venting system. Once the changes were made, planes started to fly again.
Friday's fire led many to initially question if that solution was not enough.
"For Boeing's sake, I hope it's not the batteries," said Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transpiration. "There was a lot of criticism that the FAA didn't fully understand the battery issues when they certified the batteries. People got over that, and they kind of thought that was behind them."
If this is a battery-caused fire, "It puts the FAA in a very bad spot."
___
Associated Press writers Raphael Satter, Sylvia Hui and James Brooks in London, David Koenig in Dallas and Joan Lowy in Washington contributed to this report.
New gameplay mechanics through 48 all-new levels hit Google Play
Sprinkle is an extremely popular game that has been around since 2011 (yes, that long), and today developer Mediocre has finally released a much-anticipated follow up title: Sprinkle Islands. Known more recently for releasing the also-popular game Granny Smith, the developers haven't been asleep at the wheel when it comes to a sequel to Sprinkle. Islands picks up where the original game left off, adding new game mechanics and improved graphics that were already top-of-the-line.
The latest iteration of Sprinkle hits Google Play today, so let's take a little deeper look at the game after the break.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) ? In a sweeping rejection of Apple Inc?s strategy for selling electronic books on the Internet, a federal judge ruled that the company conspired with five major publishers to raise e-book prices.
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Post Published: 10 July 2013 Found in section: Technology and Science
Marie Haynes spotted two video responses from Google where Google?s John Mueller, said in general, it is best you nofollow links in stories you write, especially when those stories are guest blog posts for the purpose of link building.
In general, that is Google?s advice. If you link to something with the intent that it should help your Google rankings ? then nofollow the link. If you write something without that intent and the link is really natural, then there is no reason to nofollow the link.
Here are the video snippets from Google?s John Mueller, start around 49:56 in:
Generally speaking, if you?re submitting articles for your website, or your clients? websites and you?re including links to those websites there, then that?s probably something I?d nofollow because those aren?t essentially natural links from that website.
If you are journalist, you might be writing about a web site in a natural way? that is of course, okay.
With the second video, start around 31:19 in:
Think about whether or not this is a link that would be on that site if it weren?t for your actions there. Especially when it comes to guest blogging, that?s something where you are essentially placing links on other people?s sites together with this content, so that?s something I kind of shy away from purely from a linkbuilding point of view. I think sometimes it can make sense to guest blog on other peoples? sites and drive some traffic to your site because people really liked what you are writing and they are interested in the topic and they click through that link to come to your website but those are probably the cases where you?d want to use something like a rel=nofollow on those links.
Google?s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, did post an official video on this exact question in October 2012.
In short, if you are guest blogging just to get links, then to be safe, nofollow the link.
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Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Link Building: General | Link Building: Paid Links | Top News
UK Coal collapsed after a devastating fire in March closed its Daw Mill pit in Warwickshire
A deal to save 2,000 jobs at eight UK coal mines has been announced as their owner went into administration.
UK Coal collapsed after a devastating fire that closed its Daw Mill pit in Warwickshire in March but a restructuring has seen the remaining mines taken over with the backing of Britain's pension rescue scheme.
The closure of Daw Mill sees 350 workers being made redundant but another 120 have been transferred to other sites, said the company, which supplies 5% of the UK's energy needs.
The deal also largely protects payments for 7,000 pension fund members. All of those who are already collecting their pension will continue to receive it at the same level while around 3,000 yet to retire will receive 90%, said a spokesman for the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). Other current employees belong to a separate, defined contribution scheme and will be unaffected.
The future of the mines came under threat after the disastrous fire at Daw Mill, which represented around a third of UK Coal's revenues. Under the restructuring, the viable parts of the business will be held in individual companies owned by a new business operated as UK Coal Production. A new employee benefit trust is expected to run the business.
Kevin McCullough, chief executive of UK Coal, said: "Today is very much a day of mixed emotions, but this is the best outcome that it was possible to achieve. Entering administration and the subsequent restructuring was the only way we could preserve any of the business and while I'm delighted we've saved 2,000 jobs, we've also had to make some very difficult decisions.
"I'm pleased that we managed to transfer 120 of our Daw Mill colleagues to our other mines following the fire. Our thoughts today also rest with the 350 colleagues who will now, regrettably, be made redundant as a result of Daw Mill closing."
David Kelly, of administrator PwC, said the deal "guarantees continued supply of electricity to the UK and keeps the lights on".
Martin Clarke, PPF's executive director for financial risk, said: "By taking on the scheme, we will now protect the pensions of its 7,000 members and they will receive PPF compensation, either now or in the future, to provide them security in retirement.
"The agreement also means that we will receive regular payments from the company which we expect to produce a higher return in the long run than if the company had simply been allowed to collapse into insolvency. This is good news both for our members and our levy payers."
Although dietary supplement use is widespread among athletes, many of them are not using supplements correctly.
According to research, as many as 90 percent of US college athletes use some type of sport supplement, while surveys taken at the Olympic Games revealed 69 percent of athletes in Atlanta and 74 percent in Sydney used them.
According to Kimberly Mueller, a sports dietitian and top expert on supplements, even though exercise may not be a problem for most athletes, a perception remains that dietary supplementation can help offset the consequences of a diet rich in nutritionally empty foods.
?Dietary supplements are often perceived as sticking plaster for poor lifestyle choices, including imbalanced nutrition, lack of exercise and deficient sleep patterns,? Mueller says.
With a growing number of athletes using dietary supplements, many sport governing bodies are laying down ground rules to minimise health and safety risks to athletes.
Although it has been suggested that athletes should avoid dietary supplements altogether, Mueller says this approach is unrealistic and unnecessary. ?There are a variety of legitimate reasons for an athlete to use supplements in coordination with a well-balanced diet,? she explains.
In her forthcoming book, The Athlete?s Guide to Sports Supplements, Mueller offers five tips that all athletes should follow when taking a supplement. 1. Talk with your healthcare provider before making a decision. ?A trip to the gym may lead to a sales pitch for a variety of supplements,? says Mueller. ?Many fitness professionals are pressured to meet a specific sales quota for a supplement line the gym is carrying or are merely looking for additional income.? According to Mueller, athletes must be selective about where and from whom they are gathering information. She encourages athletes to speak with a healthcare provider, such as a doctor or pharmacist, about dietary supplements before taking anything at all. Health care providers can discuss the potential benefits as well as safety risks.
2. Become familiar with reputable online resources for supplements. ?A single online search of dietary supplements will lead to a plethora of information, often conflicting and usually generated by unqualified parties,? says Mueller. In her book, she provides a quick reference guide of credible websites for information on important issues involving dietary supplements.
3. Look for clean supplements. ?Unfortunately, a legitimate risk to an athlete is a failed doping test due to use of contaminated nutritional supplements, despite ongoing efforts to improve relatively ineffective or nonexistent regulatory and manufacturing guidelines,? Mueller says. ?Several reviews of supplements available from the Internet and retail stores have confirmed that many supplements are laced with steroids and stimulants, which are prohibited for use in sports.? Thus, any athlete thinking about using a dietary supplement should make sure that there has been a stamp of approval garnered from an independent testing lab. Independent testing via third-party organizations ensures that the contents of dietary supplements actually match what is printed on the label, there are no ingredients present in the supplement that are not openly disclosed on the label, and there are no unacceptable levels of contaminants present in the supplement.
4. Learn how to read supplement labels.The dietary supplement label lists essential information about the product in the bottle. ?Prior to using any supplement, it is critical to always read the label and follow directions for use,? Mueller advises.
5. Know how to report fraudulent supplements or adverse reactions. Any athlete who experiences an adverse reaction to a dietary supplement should immediately contact his or her health care provider, after which the problem can be reported directly to the FDA.
?It?s impossible to ignore the prevalence of dietary supplement use in athletics,? Mueller concludes. ?Thus, it?s important for athletes, coaches, and sport performance professionals to be educated on how supplements are regulated and what to look for in a dietary supplement.?
The Athlete?s Guide to Sports Supplements, available August 2013, covers 120 of the most popular supplements and gives readers the tools they need to assess, evaluate, and purchase supplements that fit their specific muscular, cardiovascular and psychological needs.
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BANGKOK (AP) ? The price of oil extended gains above $103 a barrel Monday after a stronger-than-expected jump in U.S. hiring suggested demand for fuels will increase.
Benchmark crude for August delivery was up 18 cents at $103.40 at early afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract on Friday jumped $1.98 to close at $103.22 in New York after the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers added a robust 195,000 jobs in June and many more in April and May than previously thought. The job growth suggests a stronger economy.
Oil has also been pushed higher by instability in Egypt where Mohammed Morsi was ousted as president by the military last week.
Egypt is not an oil producer, but its control of the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, gives it a crucial role in maintaining global energy supplies.
Brent crude was up 28 cents at $108 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:
? Wholesale gasoline was up 0.2 cent at $2.899 per gallon.
? Natural gas added 2.1 cents to $3.638 per 1,000 cubic feet.
? Heating oil gained 0.2 cent to $2.992 per gallon.
San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said Wanda Podgurski sent that taunting tweet after skipping trial in January while facing charges of insurance of fraud.
Read the whole story at AP
But then authorities did catch her.
Podgurski, 60, was captured on the Fourth of July in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, a popular retirement spot for American expatriates only 15 miles south of San Diego. She pleaded not guilty Monday to failure to appear while free on bail.
Podgurski was sentenced in absentia last month to more than 20 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in fines and restitution.
Three weeks after her initial tweet on June 5, Podgurski's feed read, "'Help find me before I con anyone else." Two other posts were links to stories about her vanishing act.
Podgurski's Twitter profile reads, "On the run possibly in Iran."
Her account follows 32 people and agencies, many of them FBI branches and other law enforcement authorities. Dumanis' office said the district attorney was the only one Podgurski followed while on the run.
The district attorney's office declined to say how authorities tracked down Podgurski, saying only that information from the Twitter account was turned over to its Computer and Technology Crime High-Tech Response Team, known by the acronym Catch.
Podgurski's attorney, Philip Kent Cohen, declined to comment.
The district attorney's office said Podgurski received $664,555 in disability payments when she was charged. While earning $44,000 a year as a clerk for Amtrak, she allegedly held six insurance policies with premiums that topped $60,000.
She made claims with all six insurance companies after reporting that she fell at her home in August 2006, prosecutors said. Private investigators working for the insurers reported seeing her walk stairs without assistance and drive to the store.
Recently, more than 100 different brokers attended the second annual Palm Beach Real Estate Forecast for 2013. Held at the Ritz-Carlton Residences on Singer Island, and hosted by Lionheart Capital (the developer of the residences), its purpose was to discuss the changing real estate market, new trends being seen and to give brokers the opportunity to talk face-to-face with experts in the field.
James Gardner, a Wall Street Journal analyst, opened the forecast with a presentation about national survey results of Wall Street Journal readers and their real-estate-buying trends. Following the opener, a panel discussion talked about the current trends in both the national and Palm Beach real estate markets. The expert panelists included Peter Zalewski (principal of CondoVultures), Carolyn Block-Ellert (co-owner of Premier Sales Group, and Robert Kanjian (president of Building Solutions LLC). The South Florida Business Journal real estate reporter Oscar Musibay moderated the discussion. It discussed the new mindset of buyers in an ever-changing market, what buyers are looking for, who the buyers are and where they?re coming from, cash deals versus financing trends, increased prices, increased demand in the market for furnished apartments, and what is ahead on the horizon.
Today, more people are looking for readied apartments, and the Ritz-Carlton Residences on Singer Island has beautiful models to choose from.
Overall, it was shown that the real estate market is incredibly active, and it hopes to stay that way. By having the ability to ask questions to experts in the field, every broker left the real estate forecast better informed than before. Exciting things are ahead for the national and Palm Beach real estate markets.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, visited Baghdad on Sunday for the first time in more than two years, in a step towards resolving long-running disputes between the central government and the autonomous region over land and oil.
The visit follows an equally rare trip by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who met Barzani in Kurdistan last month, easing tensions between leaders who have repeatedly accused each other of violating the constitution.
There was little concrete progress then, and officials on both sides said any major breakthrough on Sunday was unlikely, but the focus would be on how committees formed to resolve the disputes should work.
"The main thing the (Iraqi) prime minister and the Kurdistan region's president will discuss is how to activate the committees they agreed to form last time, and decide the mechanisms by which these committees work," Maliki's media adviser, Ali al-Moussawi, said.
The last time Barzani was in Baghdad was in 2010, during protracted negotiations that eventually produced the "Arbil agreement", under which a power-sharing central government was formed between Shi'ite Muslims, Sunnis and ethnic Kurds.
That bargain, like others thereafter, was never fully implemented, and the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish region have since been at odds over oil and disputed territories along their internal boundary.
In recent years, the Kurds have signed contracts on their own terms with the likes of Exxon Mobil, Total and Chevron Corp, antagonizing Baghdad, which insists it alone is entitled to control exploration of Iraq's oil.
A senior Kurdish official said the two sides would discuss Iraq's deteriorating security situation, the administration of areas over which they both claim jurisdiction, and a national hydrocarbons law that has been held up for years in parliament.
Differences are rooted in a fundamental disagreement about the degree to which power should be centralized in Baghdad, based on divergent interpretations of Iraq's federal constitution, which was drawn up following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
Better relations with the Kurds would help insulate Maliki from the fallout of the civil war in neighboring Syria, which has inflamed sectarian tensions, spurring Sunni insurgents to take on Iraq's Shi'ite-led central government.
(Reporting by Suadad al-Salhy; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Alison Williams)
SANTA ROSA ? Santa Rosa City Schools is preparing to offer a new district-wide career readiness program this fall, partnering with the nonprofit Tomorrow?s Leaders Today to offer a 10-week course capped by a 40-hour internship with a regional employer.
With some additional funding earmarked by the Sonoma County Office of Education ? the course will roll out with an inaugural two classes and be available by application to any junior or senior in the district.
It is the latest effort to connect students with regional employers in Sonoma County, with a goal of fostering ?soft skills? needed to function in the workplace and help strengthen the pathway connecting companies with a local talent pool.
?It?s another example of a public-private partnership, bringing more organizations together to support work-based learning,? said Stephen Jackson, director of career development and workforce preparation at the Office of Education.
The yet-to-be-named program is the second for Tomorrow?s Leaders Today, after a leadership course offered for more than two decades to high school juniors in Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Windsor and Petaluma.
Students will receive academic credit for completing the entire course, which has two distinct phases. In the first eight-week portion, instructors will focus on work skills like collaboration, communication and organization. The second two-week phase will involve the internship.
By scheduling the internship portion after the soft-skills course, students are expected to be prepared for the workplace environment, said Katie Barr, executive director of Tomorrow?s Leaders Today. Even for college and high school graduates, those skills are often lacking, she said.
?We?re focused so heavily on the academia part of it, we don?t focus on the soft skills,? Ms. Barr said.
Leaders in the program are currently lining up industry partners to serve as hosts for internships, with the Sonoma County Alliance looking within its own membership for participants, Ms. Barr said.
While a number of companies in the North Bay business community have shown a proclivity towards education initiatives, connecting with those companies can be a challenge for the limited resources of school districts, Mr. Jackson said. The new course will include a business liaison to help develop those connections, along with an instructor.
?Teachers, quite frankly, don?t usually have the time to meet with organizations, set up workplace learning and job shadows,? he said. The county office itself is considering staff that would be dedicated to that role, he said.
The Tomorrow?s Leaders Today approach takes cues from the School to Career summer work-based learning course offered by the Marin County Office of Education, which has grown to involve more than 200 partner businesses and more than 2,000 students per year, Ms. Barr said.
While the Sonoma County program will be smaller at its onset, Ms. Barr said that the program is expected to grow over time and could incorporate more than 200 students per year by the end of its current three-year funding window. It could grow further and extend across the county over time, as school districts incorporate the course into their own programs.
?Our goal is to pilot this and track it,? she said.
The majority of that early growth is expected to be incubated within Santa Rosa City Schools, though Healdsburg High School has plans to augment its existing work-based learning programs with the soft skills education component from Tomorrow?s Leaders Today this fall, Ms. Barr said.
Students will be expected to assemble a portfolio of their work, something that could serve as an asset for employment or college application, she said. The nonprofit is currently in talks with the University of California system to have the course be eligible as a so-called ?a-g? prerequisite for enrollment.
In general, career technical education and work-based learning has been a topic of increased focus both in the North Bay and nationally. The administration of President Barack Obama has proposed making that education a stronger federal mandate, echoing talks on the state and regional level, Mr. Jackson said.
?With the education and training that is required in our information economy, the gap is closing between what it means to be college ready and what it means to be career ready,? he said.
Second door discovered in war against mosquito-borne diseasesPublic release date: 8-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Layne Cameron layne.cameron@cabs.msu.edu 517-353-8819 Michigan State University
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- In the global war against disease-carrying mosquitoes, scientists have long believed that a single molecular door was the key target for insecticide. This door, however, is closing, giving mosquitoes the upper hand.
In this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers led by Michigan State University has discovered a second gateway that could turn the tide against the mosquitoes' growing advantage.
For many years, pyrethroid insecticides have been deployed in developing countries to fend off diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and more. They're so effective that they are the only insecticides the World Health Organization uses with their mosquito nets they distribute around the globe.
"Pyrethroids are effective because they eliminate mosquitoes while having few if any side effects on humans," said Yuzhe Du, MSU electrophysiologist and one of the lead authors. "Our discovery of a second receptor in the mosquitoes' sodium channel gives us a better understanding of how the insecticide works at a molecular level as well as could lead to ways to stem mosquitoes' resistance to pyrethroids."
Receptors on sodium channels act as doorways. Pyrethroids work by propping open the sodium channel. Mosquitoes don't die from the toxin, per se. They die from sodium overdose. With the door jammed wide open, their cells gulp down sodium, which overexcites their nervous system and eventually leads to paralysis and death.
In the last decade, growing resistance in mosquitoes has been detected in many countries. At the molecular level, resistance appears as mutations in the primary receptor in the sodium channel that allow mosquitoes to survive exposure to the insecticide. The discovery of the second receptor in the sodium channel, however, opens up more avenues to increase pyrethroids' effectiveness.
"One of the keys to the success of this research was our cloning of a mosquito sodium channel for the first time," said Ke Dong, MSU insect toxicologist and neurobiologist and the paper's senior author. "Another lead author of this study, Yoshiko Nomura, dedicated nearly one year to make this happen, which allowed Dr. Du to perform electrophysiological experiments with the clone."
The team then spent nearly two years to discover the new pyrethroid-binding site, she added.
The revelation not only explains much of pyrethroid resistance found in mosquito populations worldwide, but also helps answer why they affect insects but not humans and other mammals. Since this is a growing issue with cockroaches, bedbugs, fleas, potato beetles and other crop pests, the discovery could lead to benefits for the pest-control industry and farming.
"Our finding may ultimately improve global prediction and monitoring of pyrethroid resistance in mosquitoes and other arthropod pests," Dong said. "It could have broad impacts in agriculture and medicine that affect people's lives, especially in developing countries."
###
Sheng Yang He, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Investigator and an MSU University Distinguished Professor in the DOE Plant Research Laboratory and Plant Biology, contributed to the study. Additional co-authors include researchers from McMaster University (Canada), the Russian Academy of Sciences and Bayer CropScience (Germany).
The research was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Second door discovered in war against mosquito-borne diseasesPublic release date: 8-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Layne Cameron layne.cameron@cabs.msu.edu 517-353-8819 Michigan State University
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- In the global war against disease-carrying mosquitoes, scientists have long believed that a single molecular door was the key target for insecticide. This door, however, is closing, giving mosquitoes the upper hand.
In this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers led by Michigan State University has discovered a second gateway that could turn the tide against the mosquitoes' growing advantage.
For many years, pyrethroid insecticides have been deployed in developing countries to fend off diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and more. They're so effective that they are the only insecticides the World Health Organization uses with their mosquito nets they distribute around the globe.
"Pyrethroids are effective because they eliminate mosquitoes while having few if any side effects on humans," said Yuzhe Du, MSU electrophysiologist and one of the lead authors. "Our discovery of a second receptor in the mosquitoes' sodium channel gives us a better understanding of how the insecticide works at a molecular level as well as could lead to ways to stem mosquitoes' resistance to pyrethroids."
Receptors on sodium channels act as doorways. Pyrethroids work by propping open the sodium channel. Mosquitoes don't die from the toxin, per se. They die from sodium overdose. With the door jammed wide open, their cells gulp down sodium, which overexcites their nervous system and eventually leads to paralysis and death.
In the last decade, growing resistance in mosquitoes has been detected in many countries. At the molecular level, resistance appears as mutations in the primary receptor in the sodium channel that allow mosquitoes to survive exposure to the insecticide. The discovery of the second receptor in the sodium channel, however, opens up more avenues to increase pyrethroids' effectiveness.
"One of the keys to the success of this research was our cloning of a mosquito sodium channel for the first time," said Ke Dong, MSU insect toxicologist and neurobiologist and the paper's senior author. "Another lead author of this study, Yoshiko Nomura, dedicated nearly one year to make this happen, which allowed Dr. Du to perform electrophysiological experiments with the clone."
The team then spent nearly two years to discover the new pyrethroid-binding site, she added.
The revelation not only explains much of pyrethroid resistance found in mosquito populations worldwide, but also helps answer why they affect insects but not humans and other mammals. Since this is a growing issue with cockroaches, bedbugs, fleas, potato beetles and other crop pests, the discovery could lead to benefits for the pest-control industry and farming.
"Our finding may ultimately improve global prediction and monitoring of pyrethroid resistance in mosquitoes and other arthropod pests," Dong said. "It could have broad impacts in agriculture and medicine that affect people's lives, especially in developing countries."
###
Sheng Yang He, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Investigator and an MSU University Distinguished Professor in the DOE Plant Research Laboratory and Plant Biology, contributed to the study. Additional co-authors include researchers from McMaster University (Canada), the Russian Academy of Sciences and Bayer CropScience (Germany).
The research was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.
[ | 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.