6 Trends You Can Choose From When Acquiring Modern Bedroom ...

Furniture trends have continued to change over the years as consumers look for new styles to suit their desires. The modern look has continued to evolve and new designs come up every day. Some of the new modern furniture looks like it would be at home in outer space, while others look like anything other than what they are.

It is not unusual to see a bed that looks like a space ship, or a hollowed out egg. Young consumers, who are more tech savvy than ever before, are looking for unique items and the more unusual the furniture, the better. Below are some trends that are becoming a common feature in modern homes.

1. Technology inspired furniture
Modern technology is playing a major role in furniture creation, both from a manufacturing and a design perspective. Bedroom furniture that looks like it belongs in the future is not uncommon. The furniture is fitted with smart gadgets that can turn the room into an entertainment or communication center. The new furniture is designed to be both functional, and versatile enough to accommodate all the gadgets that have become part of modern life.

2. Green furniture
Environmental awareness has had a big impact in every area of life, and that includes the creation of modern furniture. Those who are environmentally conscious are looking for modern furniture pieces that have a low carbon footprint and are made with recycled materials. People will spend a lot of money to ensure that they buy environmentally friendly furniture.

Awareness of the impact of environmental degradation and the effect on climate change has led to demand for green furniture. There are manufacturers who are catering to this niche market by producing furniture from recycled and renewable materials. This trend has also led to the shift towards buying locally produced furniture.

3. Multi-purpose furniture

There is a huge demand for multi-functional modern furniture as people look for convenience and versatility. A bed that can serve as a sofa, or a wardrobe that doubles up as a bed, offer consumers the versatility they desire. It allows people to reduce the items they have in the home, while also ensuring that they have everything they need.

Instead of having an extra bed that you rarely use, you can use the furniture for another purpose, only converting it into a bed when you have guests. The desire for furniture that can have multiple uses has also risen out of the smaller living spaces. People are living in smaller apartments than ever before and they are looking for ways to fit all the furniture they need in the small homes. The bedroom furniture pieces come with extra storage space to reduce clutter.

4. Smaller furniture
Another result of the smaller spaces is the demand for smaller pieces of furniture. The standard bedroom in a regular apartment cannot hold too many large pieces and people are looking for ways to get all the furniture they need, while still leaving space to move about in the room.

Modern furniture is less ornate than traditional furniture, and the streamlined designs take up less space. Some of the modern furniture pieces can be folded away when not in use, creating more space in the room. Simple plain headboards are replacing the elaborate headboards that are a common feature in traditional designs.

5. Customized furniture
As people look to infuse their style and individuality into their homes, custom-made furniture is becoming a popular option. This trend allows people to get furniture that is unique and different from anything out there. They are able to combine unusual materials and to create shapes and designs that are unique and in many cases strange.

It is not unusual to find someone with a bedroom set that represents their favorite hobby or activity. Bedrooms with a sports or movie theme are popular choices. Several designers in the market specialize in creating customized furniture for customers looking for that individual unique look.

6. Asian inspired furniture
As the world becomes much smaller, people are adopting cultures from other parts of the globe. One of the most popular modern furniture designs is the Asian inspired design. The Asian furniture, and especially that of the Japanese, has always been very modern with block colors, straight, sleek lines and minimal adornment. This furniture has become very popular with modern design lovers around the world.

Byline

Jayden is an avid interior designer who enjoys writing blog posts about furniture. He writes for Avetex.

Source: http://nevisislandhouse.com/6-trends-you-can-choose-from-when-acquiring-modern-bedroom-furniture/

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KRAS and BRAF mutation screening in metastatic colorectal cancer costly in relation to benefits

KRAS and BRAF mutation screening in metastatic colorectal cancer costly in relation to benefits

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Researchers report that screening for KRAS and BRAF mutations can reduce the cost of anti-EGFR treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer but with a very small reduction in overall survival according to a new study published on November 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Metastatic colorectal cancer patients whose tumors harbor mutations in KRAS (and to a lesser extent, in BRAF) are unlikely to respond to costly anti-EGFR therapies. Screening of patients who are candidates for these therapies for mutations in one of these genes (KRAS) has been recommended, with the goal of providing treatment to those who are likely to benefit from it while avoiding unnecessary costs and harm to those who are not likely to benefit. However, the real-world impact of mutation screening for both KRAS and BRAF is unclear.

To better understand the impact of mutation screening with regard to health outcomes, costs, and value, Ajay S. Behl, Ph.D., M.B.A., of the HealthPartners Research Foundation in Bloomington, Minnesota, and colleagues, performed a cost-effectiveness analysis that took into account the treatments, resection of metastases, and survival for the different types of metastases. They conducted patient-level decision analytic simulation modeling comparing four strategies involving KRAS and BRAF mutation testing to select treatments for metastatic colorectal cancer patients: no anti-EGFR therapy (best supportive care); anti-EGFR therapy without screening; screening for KRAS mutations only (before providing anti-EGFR therapy); and screening for KRAS and BRAF mutations (before providing anti-EGFR therapy).

The researchers found that compared with no anti-EGFR therapy, screening for both KRAS and BRAF mutations showed a very high (ie, unfavorable) incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, meaning it was very costly in relation to its benefits. Compared with anti-EGFR therapy without screening, screening for KRAS mutations saved approximately $7,500 per patient; adding BRAF mutation screening saved another $1023, with little reduction in expected survival.

The authors write, "In general, our results are less supportive of the use of anti-EGFR therapy than previous analyses, and they indicate lower cost savings from KRAS testing than previously reported. Although we cannot confirm that anti-EGFR therapy is a cost-effective use of health care resources, we can affirm that KRAS testing is cost-saving. BRAF testing may offer additional savings."

In an accompanying editorial, Josh J. Carlson, M.P.H., Ph.D., of the Department of Pharmacy, University of Washington, and Scott D. Ramsey, MD, PhD, of the Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, both in Seattle, note two practical points highlighted by the study: that molecular testing is as much about generating cost savings by identifying nonresponders as it is about improving survival by identifying responders, and that good modeling must account for the fact that community practice (as opposed to clinical trials) "is messy." They write, "most importantly, this study of an unusually accurate test raises important issues that should be considered for other molecular tests in other settings."

###

Journal of the National Cancer Institute: http://jncicancerspectrum.oupjournals.org

Thanks to Journal of the National Cancer Institute for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125583/KRAS_and_BRAF_mutation_screening_in_metastatic_colorectal_cancer_costly_in_relation_to_benefits

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Are Mobile Devices Effectively Increasing Our Physical Activity ...

We know using our mobile devices can make fitness fun but can they also change our behavior by effectively increasing our physical activity?? According to an article in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, the answer is yes.

Researchers in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted a study they claim is the ?first to synthesize current research focused on the use of mobile devices for increasing physical activity? (1).

The meta-analysis included studies that involved more than 1,350 subjects.? Of those studies, eight used text messages to offer fitness motivation, four relied on smartphone apps, and two used self-reports on PDAs.? According to the authors, their meta-analysis supports interventions using mobile technology to increase physical activity behavior.

One of the studies the meta-analysis included was a study conducted by King et al that studied the effect of hand-held computer technology for increasing physical activity.? Participants? (healthy, initially underactive adults aged 50 years and older) received an instructional session and a PDA programmed to monitor their physical activity levels twice per day.? The software would provide daily and weekly individualized feedback, goal setting, and support.? The control group received standard, age-appropriate written physical activity educational materials.

The study found that over eight weeks, those who monitored their physical activity and received individualized feedback through the software on their PDAs reported a mean increase in moderate to vigorous physical activity of 177.7 minutes per week, as compared with a mean decrease of 80 minutes in the group given standard written physical activity educational materials (2).

The results indicate that hand-held computers (smartphones) may be effective tools for increasing initial physical activity levels among underactive adults.? This study was conducted in 2007 and serves as just a preview of the influence these devices would be capable of in the health and fitness industry.

The release of Apple?s App Store wasn?t until July 2008, which made the word ?app? mainstream to smartphone users.? Today, there are over 13,600 health and fitness apps in Apple?s AppStore (3). ?While you should research an app before you buy it (see our previous article here), many of these apps influence behavioral changes in their users, promoting healthier lifestyles.

Behavioral changes can include healthier food choices, consistent exercise regimes, and tracking of vital health information.? Mobile devices are being used as a hub for peoples? health and fitness information: food diaries, weight trackers, training tools, exercise videos, and more. These devices provide features and apps that act as motivators.

The authors of the meta-analysis found that the inclusion of advanced sensors, such as integrated accelerometer and GPS devices, hold promise for more accurate assessment of physical activity in real time. These sensors track speed, pace, distance, location, and can spur the users of these devices to push that one more mile, beat their last timed run, or try new routes.

In fact, there are apps (such as MapMyRun) that can tell you running or hiking routes near your location.? If you?re travelling for the weekend, don?t know the area or just want to find a new route where you live, you can simply go to an app to find popular running or hiking routes.? These apps also allow you to create new routes and share them with others.

This ability to share has become extremely popular in the health and fitness industry with mobile devices making it easy to do so.? Many fitness apps include a ?share? button where users can post their completed exercises to Twitter or Facebook, showing their followers how many miles they ran, how fast they ran or a new goal they reached. This ability to set goals and share results motivates users to do more, catering to that competitive streak in all of us.

It?s clear these devices are impacting how people are managing their health and with studies like these we are able to see just how much of a positive influence they have.? The meta-analysis concluded by stating ?Our focus must be on the best possible use of these tools to measure and understand behavior (1).? While previous studies conducted have pointed to mostly positive effects, more studies should focus explicitly on the functions of active technologies, such as interactive education and self-monitoring.? ?By effectively using these devices to measure and monitor our health and fitness information, we not only have the potential to increase our physical activity but to improve our overall health.

?

Articles Mentioned in this Post:

(1) Fanning, Jason, Sean Mullen, and Edward McAuley. "Increasing Physical Activity With Mobile Devices: A Meta-Analysis." Journal of Medical Internet Research. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21 2012. Web. 29 Nov 2012. <http://www.jmir.org/2012/6/e161/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed: JMedInternetRes (Journal of Medical Internet Research (atom))

(2) King, AC, DK Ahn, and et al. " Promoting physical activity through hand-held computer technology." Europe PubMed Central. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25 2007. Web. 29 Nov 2012. <http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/18201644/reload=0;jsessionid=hNt13cL54HjprxHpJ8Wf.0>.

(3) "An Analysis of Consumer Health Apps for Apple's iPhone 2012." MobiHealthNews. Chester Street Publishing, Inc., 11 2012. Web. 29 Nov 2012. <http://mobihealthnews.com/research/an-analysis-of-consumer-health-apps-for-apples-iphone-2012/>.

FORCE Therapeutics designs web and mobile applications for injury rehabilitation and prevention.
FORCE TherEx and FORCE Premium are known to be the BEST EMR and HEP products in Physical Therapy and Rehab.

Please visit our website at?www.forcetherapeutics.com

Source: http://blog.forcetherapeutics.com/?p=705

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How to Start Feeding Wild Birds in Your Yard ? Eagle Hardware ...

How to Start Feeding Wild Birds in Your Yard

Here are proven tips and techniques to help you quickly enjoy beautiful wild birds found around your home.

Most birdfeeders are designed to attract a wide variety of wild bird species but some have features which appeal to certain species such as Goldfinches and woodpeckers. An excellent feeder design to start with is a ?hopper? feeder with wide ledges which presents black-oil sunflower seeds for big and small birds already living around your backyard. This approach ensures that you will attract beautiful wild birds quickly by using the seeds they prefer.

Bird-feeding tips:

Place your feeder so you can view it from a favorite room or chair. Think of a picture window, deck railing, patio, comfortable armchair or breakfast table. Some feeders are designed to attach to your window pane.

Your birds also need to enjoy where your feeder is placed so make sure it?s near plant or tree cover for protection from the weather and safety, yet easily found too.

Take an old, white t-shirt or towel and place it on the ground beneath your feeder (whether mounted on a pole or hanging from a hook or branch). Take a handful of black-oil sunflower seeds and sprinkle them on your ?target?. Birds follow other birds? feeding patterns so when the first bird finds these seeds, you and your feeder are in business!

Re-fill your feeder as often as necessary to encourage your backyard birds to enjoy your feeder every day too.

Get ready for your family to enjoy lots of natural fun! ?

Source: National Bird-Feeding Society

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 at 11:37 am and is filed under News & Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://www.eaglehardwarefarmandranch.com/news-updates/how-to-start-feeding-wild-birds-in-your-yard-2012-11-2858

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Rocket sirens pierce the Tel Aviv 'bubble'

Tel Aviv is a city that symbolizes efforts by Israelis to maintain a sense of normalcy despite the Arab-Israeli conflict. But now the new normal here includes the opening of municipal bomb shelters.

By Joshua Mitnick,?Correspondent / November 18, 2012

Israelis take cover as an air raid siren warns of incoming rockets from Gaza, next to an Iron Dome defense system in Tel Aviv, Saturday. Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes early Saturday, the military said, widening a blistering assault on Gaza rocket operations to include the prime minister's headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels.

Oded Balilty/AP

Enlarge

Israel?s cosmopolitan capital has developed a reputation over the past decade for residents leading lives removed from the rest of Israel and the Middle East, but this weekend's rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip have burst the infamous Tel Aviv bubble.

Skip to next paragraph Joshua Mitnick

Correspondent

Joshua Mitnick has reported on Israel and the Palestinian territories for the Monitor since 2004. He lives in Tel Aviv.?

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Video footage showing bathers sprinting from a hotel beach on Saturday?with rocket intercepts overhead served as a jarring contrast to the city?s image as a destination for carefree pleasure seekers. On Sunday, Tel Aviv was targeted by two separate rocket salvos, though all of them were shot down.

Not only does Tel Aviv symbolize Israel?s capital city for business and culture, it?s also a city that symbolizes efforts by Israelis to maintain a sense of normalcy despite the daily feuding of the Arab-Israeli conflict. But now the new normal in Tel Aviv includes the opening of municipal bomb shelters to the public.

"People here hold up the banner of freedom," says Motti Haimovich, the owner of a French bakery in central Tel Aviv. "When there are rockets, then there isn't any freedom."

On the morning after the first siren last Thursday evening, weekend caf? goers at the Le Moulin bakery showed for their usual coffee and croissant to check in with one another, says owner Motti Haimovich. But when a siren sounded at the height of the midday rush on Friday, the caf? emptied quickly.

That type of blow to the daily routine is being held up by Palestinian militants as an achievement. For Hamas and other militant groups in the Gaza Strip the very success of placing Tel Aviv under attack ? even if there are no casualties ? is a symbolic milestone matched by no one else in the region since Saddam Hussein fired Scuds at the Jewish state in the first Gulf War in 1991. Because of that, many Israeli commentators say that the prime minister may want to prolong the fighting.

Israelis derisively refer to the city as "the State of Tel Aviv" to impugn it as a mecca for out of touch armchair liberals who still insist on pushing the peace process with the Palestinians. The plight of rocket attacks could remake the attitudes of Israelis who dismiss the city and its residents as na?ve peaceniks.

"Now maybe we are even," said Israeli author Etgar Keret, referring to the dividing lines between armchair liberals and mainstream Israelis.?"Now we can start talking." (The original version of this story misstated the source of the quote.)

Residents of Tel Aviv often are nostalgic about that period around the first Gulf War, which left the city virtually unscathed. They have more serious and pained memories of the second Palestinian intifada, which unleashed a wave of bombings around the city.

So far, rockets haven?t turned Tel Aviv into a ghost town like Israeli cities in southern Israel. Part of the reason is that none of the rockets have hit buildings so far, giving people more confidence to keep their daily routine.

"Has the world stopped?" asked Madaleine Koger, a retired shopowner, who was forced by a siren to interrupt a bike ride on the sea promenade to take cover in a hotel basement. "For this I should stop all of our life?"

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/xeGQJ1X63F4/Rocket-sirens-pierce-the-Tel-Aviv-bubble

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Derek Hough won't say if he's leaving 'DWTS'

Jason Merritt / Getty Images

By Michael Maloney, TODAY contributor

In the video package shown just prior to his final dance with Shawn Johnson in Tuesday night?s "Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars" finale, Derek Hough said that winning the "All-Star" season would have been a ?perfect ending.?

His use of the word ?ending? begs the question as to whether or not Hough, the all-time "DWTS" champion with three mirror ball trophies, is coming back next season.

?I can?t say right now,? Hough told TODAY on the post-show press line last night.

He says the question posed to him by a segment producer about doing a final dance for the season caught him off guard.

?I was shocked at how I reacted and was sort of overwhelmed. I could barely speak to be honest. All the memories of the show, the people I?ve met and how amazing this family is (overwhelmed me.) I couldn?t describe the feeling," he said.

If he?s not taking part in next season?s show, what does Hough hope to accomplish?

?There is so much more I want to do,? he says. ?It?s just about (finding) the next chapter.?

Departing the show wouldn't be a total departure for Hough: He opted out of competing in season 12. One thing?s for sure, Hough isn?t ready to close any doors just yet.

?I will always want to be a part of the show in some way,? he says, semi-cryptically.

Would you miss Derek if he left? Let us know on Facebook!

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2012/11/28/15511119-derek-hough-not-saying-whether-hell-dance-with-stars-again?lite

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Egyptians gather in Tahrir to protest president's decree

A protester runs to throw a tear gas canister back to riot police during clashes in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Tuesday. President Mohammed Morsi's declaration last week of new powers for himself has sparked days of demonstrations.

By The Associated Press

CAIRO ? Egyptian protesters and police clashed in Cairo on Tuesday just hours ahead of a planned massive rally by opponents of the country's Islamist president demanding he rescind decrees that granted him near-absolute powers.

Police fired tear gas and hundreds of protesters pelted them with rocks at a street between the U.S. Embassy and Tahrir Square, birthplace of the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime nearly two years ago.

The protesters have been staging a sit-in at the square since Friday night to demand President Mohammed Morsi revoke his decrees.

---

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By midday, hundreds were starting to gather in Tahrir, chanting against Morsi's decrees and the Brotherhood. A new banner in the square proclaimed, "The Brotherhood stole the country."

"We are here to bring down the constitutional declaration issued by Morsi," said one protester at Tahrir, Mahmoud Youssef.

Egypt's Morsi, top judges compromise to defuse soaring tensions over decree

Hundreds of lawyers meanwhile gathered outside their union building in downtown Cairo ahead of their march to Tahrir. "Leave, leave," they chanted, addressing Morsi.

The rally planned for later Tuesday, with marches from various parts of Cairo to converge on Tahrir, is to be a significant test of the opposition's ability to bring out supporters and the public against Morsi's edicts issued last week.

The opposition says the decrees give Morsi near dictatorial powers by neutralizing the judiciary at a time when he already holds executive and legislative powers. Key parts of the judicial system have denounced the measures.

After encountering a wave of protests in response to a decree from Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi that would have raised his edicts above judicial review, Morsi moved quickly to contain the damage. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

Morsi, in office since June, says the decrees are necessary to protect the "revolution" and the nation's transition to democratic rule. His declaration made all his decisions immune to judicial review and banned the courts from dissolving the upper house of parliament and an assembly writing the new constitution, both of which are dominated by Islamists. The decree also gave Morsi sweeping authority to stop any "threats" to the revolution.

Morsi's supporters canceled a massive rally they had planned for Tuesday, citing the need to "defuse tension" after a series of clashes between the two camps since the decrees were issued Thursday.

But a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, the fundamentalist group from which Morsi hails, said demonstrations supporting the president could go ahead outside the capital and that supporters would form human chains in some provinces to protect Brotherhood offices. Morsi's supporters say more than a dozen of their offices have been ransacked or set ablaze since Friday.

President within his rights?
On Monday, Morsi met with the nation's top judges and tried to win their acceptance of his decrees. But the move was dismissed by many in the opposition and the judiciary as providing no real concessions.

Riot police use tear gas on protesters during clashes in Tahrir Square on Tuesday.

Presidential spokeman Yasser Ali, said Morsi told the judges that he acted within his rights as the nation's sole source of legislation, assuring them that the decrees were temporary and did not in any way infringe on the judiciary. He underlined repeatedly that the president had no plans to change or amend his decrees.

According to a presidential statement late Monday, Morsi told the judges that his decree meant that any decisions he makes on "issues of sovereignty" are immune from judicial review.

The vaguely worded statement did not define those issues, but they were widely interpreted to cover declaration of war, imposition of martial law, breaking diplomatic relations with a foreign nation or dismissing a Cabinet. Morsi's original edict, however, explicitly gives immunity to all his decisions and there was no sign it had been changed.

Photoblog: Protesters in Tahrir Square hold funeral for activist killed in clashes

The statement Monday did not touch the immunity that Morsi gave the constitutional assembly or the upper chamber of parliament, known as the Shura Council. It also did not affect the edict that the president can take any measures he sees as necessary to stop threats to the revolution, stability or public institutions. Many see that edict as granting Morsi unlimited emergency powers.

The Shura Council does not have lawmaking authorities but, in the absence of the more powerful lower chamber, the People's Assembly, it is the only popularly elected, national body where the Brotherhood and other Islamists have a majority. The People's Assembly was dissolved by a court ruling in June.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/27/15482293-leave-leave-egyptians-gather-in-cairos-tahrir-square-to-protest-presidents-decree?lite

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Cubans to pay taxes for first time in half a century

Greg Kahn / Getty Images, file

A street market sells necklaces and bracelets in Old Havana on November 12, 2012 in Havana, Cuba. Shops like this, until a year ago, were only found in the black market.

By Reuters

HAVANA -- Most Cubans have not paid taxes for half a century, but that will change under new regulations starting January 1.

The landmark move will change the relations of Cubans with their government and are a signal that market-oriented reforms are here to stay.

They were launched after President Raul Castro succeeded his brother, Fidel Castro, in 2008.

The recently published code constitutes the first comprehensive taxation in Cuba since the 1959 revolution abolished just about all taxes.

In the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country's main benefactor, the Cuban government imposed a few scattered taxes, but mostly preferred to maintain low wages so it could fund free social services.

The government's free-market reforms introduced over the last two years are designed to encourage small businesses, private farming and individual initiative. There are also plans to pay state workers more.

Under the new tax code, the state hopes to get its share of the proceeds.

'Major step' toward 21st century
The government also envisions replacing subsidies for all with targeted welfare, meaning that the largely tax-free life under a paternalistic government is on its way out.

"This radically changes the state's relationship with the population and taxes become an irritating issue," said Domingo Amuchastegui, a former Cuban intelligence analyst who lives in Miami and writes often about Cuba.

Traveling to Cuba is now easier for Americans and Cuban exiles because the government has relaxed years of restrictions on who can visit.

A Western businessman who has worked in Cuba for almost two decades told Reuters the reforms would take time, but added, "this is of course a major step forward toward the 21st century and a modern state."

The new code covers 19 taxes, including such things as inheritance, environment, sales, transportation and farm land, various license fees and three contributions, including social security.

Cuba issue deals blow to US stature at 'Summit of the Americas'

A sliding-scale income tax -- from 15 percent for annual earnings of more than 10,000 pesos (about $400) to 50 percent for earnings of over 50,000 pesos (about $2,000) -- adopted in 1994, remains in the new code for the self-employed, small businesses and farms.

It also includes a series of new deductions to stimulate their work. For example, farmers may deduct up to 70 percent of income as costs.

'Can't spare a single peso'
Eventually all workers will pay income taxes as well as a new 2 percent property tax, but both measures are suspended until "conditions permit" them to go into effect.

The government admits, with an average pay of about 450 pesos per month (or $19), many workers do not earn enough to make ends meet.

Cuba to let its people leave the country?

"They collect taxes for all these things around the world, it's normal," said Havana economist Isabel Fernandez.

"But here we face two problems. On the one hand we are not used to paying for anything and on the other our wages are so low we can't spare a single peso," she said.

Under the old system, large and small state-run companies, which accounted for more than 90 percent of economic activity, simply handed over all their revenues to the government, which then allocated resources to them.

Cuba detains 70 'Ladies in White' ahead of Pope visit

The reforms call for large state-run businesses to be moved out of the ministries and become more autonomous.

The state-owned Cuban National News Agency said Cuba had studied the tax systems of a number of other countries, including several with capitalist economies.

"The experiences of China, Vietnam, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain and Mexico were taken into account, but they were refined to the particularities and conditions of the island," the news agency said.?

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/28/15508407-many-cubans-to-pay-taxes-for-first-time-in-half-a-century?lite

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Fantastical Intelligent Calendar On Sale for 50% Off

OS X: Fantastical?the attractive, intelligent calendar tool we've written about before?is now on sale for $9.99. That's half off, and removes our only real qualm with the app: its price.

Fantastical works as a slick front end for your calendars that also pulls data from apps like Outlook and Entourage for a seamless experience. Just pull it up with a keystroke, start typing event details, and Fantastical will figure it all out for you, creating the event and connecting relevant contacts from your address book. No word on whether or not the price will remain slashed after Cyber Monday ends, so you should get it soon if you don't want to pay $20 for a license.

Fantastical | Flexibits

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Trip home smooth for many Thanksgiving travelers

1 day

Phuong Le , The Associated Press

SEATTLE --?Despite a predicted increase in the number of holiday travelers, Americans returning home after the long Thanksgiving weekend found generally good weather, few airport delays and at times manageable conditions on the nation's highways.

Travel appeared to run smoothly Sunday ? typically the busiest travel day of the year ? as millions journeyed home after feasting with family and friends, even though there was little elbow room on packed buses, trains and airplanes.

Many travelers strategically hit the road early in the day or waited until much later to avoid possible bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Craig Haft, 57, left Cincinnati with his wife and daughter around 6:15 a.m. to drive to their home in Fairfax, Va., after visiting family. At midday, he reported smooth driving.

"It went fine on Wednesday and has been good so far today," he said.

Some were upbeat despite long journeys ahead. Andy Harbison, 38, said he didn't mind the 8-hour drive back to Harrisburg, Pa. after visiting family in Michigan.

The roads were good, he said, and he simply enjoyed being with family after being away from them during previous deployments to Iraq and Kuwait while in the National Guard.

Experts had predicted a slight rise in the number of people traveling this Thanksgiving weekend compared to last year. Some 43.6 million Americans were expected to journey 50 miles or more between Wednesday and Sunday, and more of them were likely to be driving while fewer were flying, according to AAA's yearly analysis.

Mauro Scappa and his wife, Chris, and their two children were among those who chose not to take to the skies. They braced themselves for delays as they waited at New York's Penn Station for a train back to Washington, near their home in Falls Church, Va. But their train was expected on time Sunday morning.

"We definitely wanted to avoid the airport on Thanksgiving weekend, for sure," Scappa said.

Renee Kerns, her husband Mike and their two children left about 30 minutes earlier than usual to catch a flight to home to California. They anticipated longer lines at the Washington-area Dulles International Airport, but sailed through security in about 10 minutes and were at their gate for their 8:30 a.m. flight to Oakland, Calif., more than an hour before their flight.

"It was fine," Renee Kerns said of getting through security. Added her husband: "Easy, but we're early."

Helped by dry weather and mostly clear skies, both O'Hare and Midway international airports in Chicago reported normal operations Sunday with no delays.

Leonard Reddick, 29, waited near downtown Chicago for a bus back to Flint, Mich. He traveled on Thanksgiving day to see his sister in the Chicago area, explaining that it's his trick for avoiding the huge crowds on the day before the holiday. He also liked the $84 roundtrip fare.

Reddick, who works at General Motors, was rethinking one decision as he was gearing up for the five-hour trip back home to Michigan: He had declined the turkey and mac and cheese leftovers because he thought it might mess up his luggage.

The tens of millions of holiday travelers also included a few thousand users of Megabus, the ultra-cheap inter-city network popular among students and the creative class. Shane Dillon, 26, a librarian now living and seeking work in Chicago, joined the throng waiting to board at Detroit's Rosa Parks Transit Center for the return trip to the Windy City. He was in the area visiting relatives in Allen Park, Mich.

"It was great to see family and friends. The food was good," Dillon said. A few days, though, was enough. "I'm glad to be going home."

Dense fog greeted travelers at Union Station in Los Angeles early Sunday, but it didn't appear to cause problems.

Mike Lansing, 63, and his wife Kay, 60, opted to take Amtrak for the first time to their home in the San Francisco Bay area after weighing high gas prices. They spent a week in LA with their daughter, son-in-law and new grandson.

He said he's relieved not to have to get behind the wheel. "I don't know if we're really saving any money, but it's an adventure!" said Kay Lansing.

At the Boise Airport, Charles Beyer, 59, waited for luggage after having just arrived from Portland, Ore., where he visited his son and daughter. He said he found most of his fellow passengers complacent about the challenges of traveling during the holiday weekend through packed airports.

"The good old days of pulling up to the curb and getting onto the airplane in five minutes are long gone," he said.

AP reporters David N. Goodman in Detroit, Keith Ridler in Boise, Idaho; Pam Ramsey in Charleston, W.Va.; Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Jennifer Peltz in New York; Chris Weber in Los Angeles; Jessica Gresko in Sterling, Va.; Kristi Eaton in Sioux Falls, S.D; and Bob Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report.?

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/trip-home-smooth-many-thanksgiving-travelers-1C7208007

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Egypt's president stands by his decrees

Egyptians carry the body of Gaber Salah, who was who was killed during clashes with security forces in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Thousands of Egyptians on Monday gathered into Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last week and died Sunday night. (AP Photo/Hussein Tallal)

Egyptians carry the body of Gaber Salah, who was who was killed during clashes with security forces in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Thousands of Egyptians on Monday gathered into Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last week and died Sunday night. (AP Photo/Hussein Tallal)

A general view of Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Thousands of Egyptians on Monday marched into Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of Gaber Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last week and died Sunday night. (AP Photo/Ahmed Abdel Fattah)

Egyptians attend the funeral of Gaber Salah, who was who was killed in clashes with security forces in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Thousands of Egyptians on Monday gathered into Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last week and died Sunday night. (AP Photo/Hussein Tallal)

Egyptians stand on police vehicles during the funeral of Gaber Salah, who was who was killed in clashes with security forces in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Thousands of Egyptians on Monday gathered into Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last week and died Sunday night. (AP Photo/Hussein Tallal)

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi struck an uncompromising stand Monday over his seizure of near absolute powers, refusing in a meeting with top judicial authorities to rescind a package of constitutional amendments that placed his edicts above oversight by the courts.

Morsi's supporters, meanwhile, canceled a massive rally planned for Tuesday to compete with a demonstration by his opponents, citing the need to "defuse tension" at a time when anger over the president's moves is mounting, according to a spokesman for the president's Muslim Brotherhood.

The opposition rally was going ahead as scheduled at Cairo's Tahrir square, birthplace of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime nearly two years ago.

The meeting between Morsi and members of the Supreme Judiciary Council was a bid to resolve a four-day crisis that has plunged the country into a new round of turmoil, with clashes between the two sides that have left one protester dead and hundreds wounded.

Morsi, according to a presidential statement, told the judges that while the constitutional declaration he announced Thursday grants him immunity from any oversight, he intended to restrict that to what it described as "sovereignty issues."

The vaguely worded statement did not define those issues, but they were widely interpreted to cover declaration of war, imposition of martial law, breaking diplomatic relations with a foreign nation or dismissing a Cabinet.

The statement did not touch on the protection from oversight Morsi has extended to two bodies dominated by his Brotherhood and other Islamists: The 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new constitution and parliament's mostly toothless lower chamber, or the Shura council.

The Shura Council does not have lawmaking authorities but, in the absence of the more powerful lower chamber, the People's Assembly, it is the only popularly elected body where the Brotherhood and other Islamists have a majority. The People's Assembly was dissolved by a court ruling in June.

The judiciary has pushed back, calling the decrees a power grab and an "assault" on the branch's independence. Judges and prosecutors stayed away from many courts in Cairo and elsewhere on Sunday and Monday.

A spokesman, Yasser Ali, said Morsi told the judges that he acted within his rights as the nation's sole source of legislation, assuring them that the decrees were temporary and did not in any way infringe on the judiciary.

Two prominent rights lawyers ? Gamal Eid and Ahmed Ragheb ? dismissed Ali's remarks.

Eid said they were designed to keep "Morsi above the law," while Ragheb said they amounted to "playing with words."

"This is not what Egyptians are objecting to and protesting about," Ragheb said. "If the president wanted to resolve the crisis, there should be an amendment to his constitutional declaration."

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke Monday by telephone with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr to "register American concerns about Egypt's political situation," according to spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Clinton stressed that the U.S. wanted to "see the constitutional process move forward in a way that does not overly concentrate power in one set of hands, that ensures that rule of law, checks and balances, protection of the rights of all groups in Egypt are upheld," Nuland said.

Morsi's aides have repeatedly emphasized that the president has no intention of amending his decrees, meaning the near absolute powers they give him will stand. Morsi also issued a law to "protect the revolution" that rights activists maintain is effectively a declaration of emergency laws designed to combat poorly defined threats to the nation or to public order.

Opposition activists have denounced Morsi's decrees as a blatant power grab, and refused to enter a dialogue with the president before the edicts are rescinded.

Morsi says he wants to retain the new powers until the new constitution is adopted in a nationwide referendum and parliamentary elections are held, a time line that stretches to the middle of next year.

Many members of the judiciary were appointed under Mubarak, drawing allegations, even by some of Morsi's critics, that they are trying to perpetuate the regime's corrupt practices. But opponents are angry that the decrees leave Morsi without any check on his power.

Morsi, who became Egypt's first freely elected president in June, was quoted by Ali as telling his prime minister and security chiefs earlier Monday that his decrees were designed to "end the transitional period as soon as possible."

The dispute is the latest crisis to roil the Arab world's most populous nation, which has faced mass protests, a rise in crime and economic woes since the initial euphoria following the popular uprising that ousted Mubarak after nearly 30 years of autocratic rule.

Morsi's decrees were motivated in part by a court ruling in June that dissolved parliament's more powerful lower chamber, the People's Assembly, which was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and ultraconservative Islamists.

The verdict meant that legislative authority first fell in the hands of the then-ruling military, but Morsi grabbed it in August after he ordered the retirement of the army's two top generals.

Morsi's decrees saved the constitutional panel and the upper chamber from a fate similar to that of the People's Assembly because several courts looking into the legal basis of their creation were scheduled to issue verdicts to disband them.

Secular and Christian politicians have withdrawn from the 100-seat panel tasked with drafting the charter to protest what they call the hijacking of the process by Morsi's Islamist allies. They fear the Islamists will produce a draft that infringes on the rights of liberals, women and the minority Christians.

The dispute over the decrees has taken a toll on the nation's already ailing economy. Egypt's benchmark stock index dropped more than 9.5 percentage points on Sunday, the first day of trading since Morsi's announcement. It fell again Monday during early trading but recovered to close up 2.6 percentage points.

It has also played out in street protests across the country.

Thousands gathered in Damanhoor for the funeral procession of 15-year-old Islam Abdel-Maksoud, who was killed Sunday when a group of anti-Morsi protesters tried to storm the local offices of the political arm of the Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political group.

The Health Ministry said 444 people have been wounded nationwide, including 49 who remain hospitalized, since the clashes erupted on Friday, according to a statement carried by the official news agency MENA.

Morsi's office said that he had ordered the country's top prosecutor to investigate the teenager's death, along with that of another young man shot in Cairo last week during demonstrations to mark the anniversary of deadly protests last year that called for an end to the then-ruling military.

Up to 10,000 people marched through Tahrir Square for the funeral procession of 16-year-old Gaber Salah, who died Sunday of head wounds suffered in clashes with police. Salah was a member of April 6, one of the key rights groups behind the anti-Mubarak uprising, and a founder of a Facebook group called "Against the Muslim Brotherhood."

___

Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Cairo, Robert H. Reid in Berlin and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-26-Egypt/id-055500a54f8d4d3f9d829acc182441ad

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Gastric bypass surgery helps diabetes but doesn't cure it, study suggests

ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2012) ? After gastric bypass surgery, diabetes goes away for some people -- often even before they lose much weight. So does that mean gastric surgery "cures" diabetes? Not necessarily, according to the largest community-based study of long-term diabetes outcomes after bariatric surgery. For most people in the study, e-published in advance of print in Obesity Surgery, diabetes either never remitted after gastric surgery or relapsed within five years.

Among the two thirds of the study's patients whose diabetes at first went away, more than a third re-developed diabetes again within five years after gastric surgery. After adding in the one quarter of patients whose diabetes never remitted after surgery, most (56 percent) of the study's patients had no long-lasting remission of their diabetes following gastric surgery. However, when diabetes did go away, the research team extrapolated, it stayed away for a median of eight years.

Which kinds of obese people with type 2 diabetes are likely to get the most benefit from gastric surgery? "Our results suggest that, after gastric surgery, diabetes stays away for longer in those people whose diabetes was less severe and at an earlier stage at the time of surgery," said principal investigator David E. Arterburn, MD, MPH, a general internist and associate investigator at Group Health Research Institute. "Gastric surgery isn't for everyone," he said. "But this evidence suggests that, once you have diabetes and are severely obese, you should strongly consider it, even though it doesn't seem to be a cure for most patients."

The multi-site study tracked 4,434 adults at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, and HealthPartners for 14 years: from 1995 to 2008. The research arms of all three of these integrated health care delivery systems -- and Group Health Research Institute, where the study's results were analyzed -- belong to the HMO Research Network. The patients had type 2 diabetes that was either controlled with medication or else uncontrolled, and they were also obese enough to be candidates for gastric bypass surgery.

"Diabetes is an increasingly common disease that tends to keep getting worse relentlessly," Dr. Arterburn said. More than 25 million American adults have diabetes -- and as populations age and keep gaining weight, 50 million are predicted to have it by 2050. Already, diabetes accounts for 5 percent of all U.S. health care spending. And it raises the risk of blindness, kidney disease, heart attacks, strokes, and deaths.

"Prevention is by far the best medicine for diabetes," Dr. Arterburn said. "Once you have diabetes, it's really hard to get rid of. Attempts to treat it with intensive lifestyle changes and medical management have been disappointing." For instance, the National Institutes of Health recently halted the Look AHEAD study of intensive lifestyle changes for people with diabetes. Despite improvements in risk factors like body weight, fitness, and blood pressure, sugar, and lipids, that study showed lifestyle changes did not lower the outcomes that matter most: heart attacks, strokes, and deaths.

"No wonder so many were excited to learn that diabetes can remit after gastric surgery -- even, in some cases, before any significant weight loss -- and many were hoping that gastric surgery might be a 'cure' for diabetes," Dr. Arterburn said. "Our study is the first major evidence that diabetes often recurs after gastric bypass surgery." Still, he added, even after diabetes comes back, having had a long period of post-surgery remission is likely to have many positive effects, such as fewer complications of diabetes: less damage to eyes and kidneys, and fewer heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. The researchers are now funded by the National Institutes of Health to study that possibility in this same population. Dr. Arterburn is also leading a randomized controlled pilot trial of intensive behavioral treatment vs. gastric surgery at Group Health with colleagues from the University of Washington.

It's still not clear whether diabetes relapse happens because of gaining weight back or because of underlying the progression of diabetes. But patients' weight -- before and after surgery -- was not strongly correlated with remission or relapse of diabetes in this population.

As part of the Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions about Effectiveness (DEcIDE) program, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded this project under contract HHSA290-2005-0033-I-TO10-WA1, led by Dr. Arterburn.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Group Health Research Institute.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. David E. Arterburn, Andy Bogart, Nancy E. Sherwood, Stephen Sidney, Karen J. Coleman, Sebastien Haneuse, Patrick J. O?Connor, Mary Kay Theis, Guilherme M. Campos, David McCulloch, Joe Selby. A Multisite Study of Long-term Remission and Relapse of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Following Gastric Bypass. Obesity Surgery, 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s11695-012-0802-1

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/rmyeHWJJJb0/121126142957.htm

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Get Social with Home Brew to Satisfy Your Curiosity & Win Our ...

The prizes!

We?re getting really excited about next week when Art Basel and myriad satellite fairs hit town. It?s our busiest week of the year, and this one will be the most hectic ever, with the addition of our first cafe at Design Miami/ on Miami Beach and our new beer, Michael?s Genuine Home Brew, popping up all over town. ?To celebrate and say thanks for your support, we?re giving away a selection of special passes to our events. ?To be entered, all you need to do is follow @MGHomeBrew on Twitter or like us on Facebook?by 12 noon tomorrow, Tuesday, November 16 when we?ll pick two Twitter followers and one Facebook fan at random who will each win one of the following:

• Design Miami/ Vernissage: One invitation grants you and a guest access to the Vernissage preview day/grand opening from 6-9 p.m. on Tuesday, December 4 OR one day admission during general show hours December 5 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., December 6-8 from 12 to 8 p.m. or December 9 from 12 noon to 6 p.m. (Meridian and 19th Street)
• Design Miami/ Collector?s Breakfast: One invitation grants you and a guest access to a private breakfast and the gallery exhibition outside regular fair hours on Thursday, December 6 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. (Meridian and 19th Street)
• General Fair Admission: Two complimentary passes granting two people access one day from December 5-9 during general show hours. ?The Michael?s Genuine Food & Drink Cafe is popping up with this menu?and the Home Brew will be flowing!

Also, in addition to its current availability, Home Brew will be on-draft courtesy of Drink Like a Local?in the new Basel Biergarten?at?Wynwood Cigar Factory (101 NW 24th Street) from ?2 to 11 p.m. from Thursday, December 6 ?through ?Saturday, December 8, and until 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Regardless of if you win, we hope to see you out at the tents! ?Drink up, connect with us online, and good luck!

This entry was posted in Food Arts, Giveaway, MGFD_MIA, MGHomeBrew, Mmm beer, On the Menu Now, Special Event and tagged Art Basel, Basel Biergarten, Design Miami/, Drink Like a Local, pop-up, Wynwood Cigar Factory. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://thegenuinekitchen.com/2012/11/26/get-social-with-home-brew-to-satisfy-your-desire-win-our-design-miami-ticket-giveaway/

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Gaza cease-fire raises hopes for reconstruction

A Palestinian boy looks from the rooftop of a destroyed house in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. A leading Islamic cleric in the Gaza Strip has ruled it a sin to violate the recent cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that governs the Palestinian territory according a religious legitimacy to the truce and giving the Gaza government strong backing to enforce it. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A Palestinian boy looks from the rooftop of a destroyed house in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. A leading Islamic cleric in the Gaza Strip has ruled it a sin to violate the recent cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that governs the Palestinian territory according a religious legitimacy to the truce and giving the Gaza government strong backing to enforce it. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) ? Mohammed Falah Azzam has been through this before.

His mother's home was bombed in the 2008-09 Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which left hundreds dead and thousands of homes destroyed. In renewed fighting last week, an entire block of buildings housing his extended family was badly damaged in an airstrike that Israel said was aimed at a militant.

While none of his relatives was hurt, the 61-year-old retired schoolteacher once again has to worry about providing shelter for his family. Some relatives are sleeping in an empty shop, squeezed in with other family members. Others are spending their nights in rooms covered in plastic wrap to shield them from the winter rain because all the windows were blown out.

"This is going to cost thousands," Azzam said. "The longer I wait, the more damage will happen," he added, pointing to a heavily damaged building sitting atop tilting concrete columns.

Azzam finds himself caught again in a pile of paperwork to seek assistance, trying to secure hard-to-get construction materials. This time, he hopes the process will be smoother, thanks to both Israel's pledges to ease its longstanding border blockade and the newfound political clout of Gaza's Hamas rulers in the region.

Israel promised to ease the blockade as part of a cease-fire last week that ended eight days of intense fighting. But difficult negotiations lie ahead, and there is no firm timeline for lifting the restrictions.

Israel launched its offensive Nov. 14 in response to months of rocket fire out of Gaza. It carried out some 1,500 airstrikes during the fighting, while Palestinian militants lobbed a similar number of rockets into Israel.

The damage to buildings in Gaza appears less extensive than it was four years ago. The United Nations estimates 10,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, while Hamas has put the number at about 8,000, including 500 that were destroyed or heavily damaged. In comparison, U.N. relief agencies said as many as 40,000 homes were affected in the earlier round of fighting.

Israel says its airstrikes are aimed at militants, and it blames Hamas for the damage, accusing the group of using residential areas for cover.

Reconstruction since the 2008-9 fighting has been slow, in large part because of Israel's blockade. Israel imposed the restrictions in 2007, after Hamas, a militant group sworn to its destruction, wrested power over the coastal strip from the government of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Under international pressure, Israel loosened the blockade in 2010 but maintained tight restrictions on imports of glass, cement, metal and other construction materials, saying they could be diverted for military use. Only U.N agencies and international organizations in the Palestinian territory are allowed to import such material from Israel for their own projects.

To make up the shortage, a bustling smuggling industry through underground tunnels along the Egyptian border has sprung up. While prices for key construction goods have come down, they still remain expensive for the majority of the population in Gaza, where the unemployment rate is over 30 percent and 80 percent of the people rely on U.N. handouts.

"The blockade in terms of housing impacts us primarily ? the U.N. ?and the people who are most vulnerable who don't have access to jobs or economic opportunity," said Scott Anderson, deputy director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. "People who have money, it is easily available."

In the short term, there is no relief in sight. During the recent offensive, Israel heavily targeted the tunnels, which are also used to bring weapons into Gaza. Residents along the border say that smugglers and tunnel owners are still inspecting the damage but that many of the tunnels still operate, though at reduced capacity.

An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, estimated that half the tunnels are not functioning.

With a sullied face and wearing only his undergarments, Azzam gave up his search for valuables in the rubble of his destroyed home on a recent day. He sat down to take a break and do some math.

His mother's house was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in 2009. Since then, he has barely managed to rebuild one of its two floors. A $25,000 grant he received from an Arab fund did not cover the costs, and materials for the project have been hard to come by.

The Hamas government has given him $1,000 to find a place to live for now, and each member of the extended family received a similar amount. With housing in tight supply and rents skyrocketing, Azzam said the money will not last long.

"As we look there are no places to begin with," he said. "If we find a place, rent will be around $300 or $400. Before it was $200."

Yasser al-Shanti, deputy of the ministry of public works and housing in the Hamas government, said construction materials will start flowing into Gaza again once the tunnels are up and running again.

But Hamas' real hope is that Israel and Egypt will lift border restrictions to allow large quantities of goods into the territory through proper border crossings. Hamas has high hopes for Egypt's new Islamist government, which is far more sympathetic to the Islamic group than the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is currently limited to foot traffic. Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood, wants Egypt to turn the crossing into a bustling cargo terminal.

"We expect that international and Arab institutions are ready to help. We don't expect to have a problem," al-Shanti said.

Hamas has put the damage to Gaza's civilian infrastructure at roughly $750 million, a sum that will probably have to be raised through special U.N. emergency appeals and donations from wealthy Arab countries.

The future of the crossing will be a central issue in indirect, Egyptian-brokered negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Under the cease-fire, Israel made a vague commitment to ease its closing of Gaza. But the details must be negotiated.

With Hamas rejecting Israel's key demand ? that arms smuggling into Gaza be halted ? it remains far from certain whether Hamas will get what it wants. Egypt also has not been clear how far it is willing to open its border, fearing that this will allow Israel to "dump" Gaza on Egypt and undermine hopes for reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas' rival government in the West Bank.

Ayman el-Kholi, whose two-story home was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike aimed at militants, said Hamas government representatives and fighters, including Hamas strongman Mahmoud Zahar, visited him and promised compensation.

"They promised that after things calm down, they will begin to reconstruct all homes destroyed and not just ours," he said.

In the meantime, the 41-year-old banker has sent his six children to sleep at various relatives' homes, and he is staying with a friend. The rubble from the destroyed building was still in a heap on Sunday as he waited for the only government tractor to come remove it.

The entire block was damaged by airstrike. Shops were buried and a nearby workshop for electrical appliances was severely damaged.

"We don't save in banks. All my money was in the house. All of it is now under the rubble, around $10,000 plus my wife's gold," el-Kholi said. "We are waiting for an opening of the crossing. We are waiting for donor countries, from Arab countries, to help us rebuild the house again."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-25-Palestinians-Rebuilding%20Gaza/id-92022b1aea614820bb0dd91caeb64a42

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Is the third time the charm? | Forex Crunch

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Is the third time the charm? ?European finance ministers will attempt for a third time to agree on an aid package for Greece as they meet in Brussels today. ?The main focus today is to come up with an additional EUR 10 billion to fill the finance gap that has come about as the EU gave Greece two extra years to meet deficit ?reduction targets.

Some thoughts on how to fund this extra amount include reduction of interest rates on rescue loans, arranging a debt buyback with bailout funds, as well as applying profits the central bank has received on Greek bond holdings.

One of the main bones of contention here are disagreement over a plan to reduce interest rates. ?It is possible that cutting rates wold put these rates below the cost of funding for some of the 17 Euro area countries. ?Another problem concerns the disagreement between the EU finance ministers and the IMF. ?The IMF wants Greece to hold their debt target at 120 percent of GDP by 2020, while the EU ministers feel the target main need to rise as high as 124 percent. ?These continuing tensions as significant as the IMF has provided about 50 billion EUR of the 150 billion EUR of loans delivered to Greece since 2010.

Adding to early morning pressure on the EUR today was a vote in the Spanish province of Catalonia as independence parties won a majority , adding pressure for a referendum on secession. ?The vote was called to force debate on independence.

In other currency news, the BOJ released minutes from their October 30 meeting showing that two board members were in favor of stronger wording on the bank?s commitment to easing. ?It was suggested that easing continue ?until it judges that 1% inflation has been steadily maintained?. ?This was rejected by the other members of the BOJ. ?For the first time in history, the BOJ and and the Japanese government issued a joint statement pledging to work together to get Japan ?out of deflation?, as soon as possible.

USD/JPY has trading to the lower end of its overnight range, remaining above the 82.00 level this morning after dipping to 81.92 overnight. ?The USD/JPY had reached a high of 82.62 during overnight trading. ?Support remains at 81.85.

The latest trading data from the CFTC, shows that traders are once again expecting the EUR to trade lower as net short positions rose to 83,600 contracts, from 67,100 contracts the previous week. ?Japanese Yen short contracts fell to 30,400 from 40,100. ?Once again the divergence between the Australian and Canadian Dollars continues. ?AUD long contracts rose to 68,100 compared with 38,400 in October, while CAD long contracts declined to 66,110 compared to 111,900 in September. ?Traders remain concerned that discussions in the US over the fiscal cliff could negatively affect the Canadian Dollar if agreement by US lawmakers does not happen by year end.

Speaking of the fiscal cliff, all the ?hugging and smiling? that occurred after the Presidential elections seems to have disappeared as Republicans and Democrats differ on how tax revenue will help solve the problem. ?Republican lawmakers advocate raising federal tax revenue by limiting deductions, while Democrats feel higher tax rates for higher income earners is the way to go. ?Unless an agreement is made in the next few weeks ahead of the new year, we will ?fall over the cliff?, triggering $607 billion in tax increases and spending cuts beginning in January.

Look for the markets to keep their eyes on Brussels today as traders return en masse for the first time since the Thanksgiving holiday. ?EUR resistance is at 1.2985, then 1.3010. ?Support for the single currency appears at 1.2950 and 1.2920.

Further reading:?GOLD Elliott Wave Analysis ? Bullish on the Long Term

Source: http://www.forexcrunch.com/is-the-third-time-the-charm/

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Inheritance Cycle Roleplay?

I almost never come here anymore, but I was just curious. Would any of you Gateway dwellers be remotely interested in a roleplay set inside the world of Alagasea, aka the world of Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and inheritance? I dunno why, but recently I've been wanting to an rp within this world, following its rules and stuff like that. Would anyone be interested?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/p3h5Efvz3Gc/viewtopic.php

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parsi divination: jamainai: HEALTH and FITNESS | Disability ...

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Source: http://eugenegrove.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/health-and-fitness-disability-benefits-explained-ebook.html

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Source: http://jamainai.blogspot.com/2012/11/health-and-fitness-disability-benefits.html

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Source: http://betriobiberz.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/jamainai-health-and-fitness-disability-benefits-explained-ebook.html

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Source: http://parsi-divination.blogspot.com/2012/11/jamainai-health-and-fitness-disability.html

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Source: http://lambertmarvin.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/parsi-divination-jamainai-health-and-fitness-disability.html

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Top Five Myths about Filing Bankruptcy in Texas | business computing

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