Stanford researchers are on track to begin human trials of a potentially potent new weapon against cancer, and would-be participants are flooding in following the Post?s initial report on the discovery.?The progress comes just two months after the ground-breaking study by Dr Irv Weissman, who developed an antibody that breaks down a cancer?s defense mechanisms in the body.
A protein called CD47 tells the body not to ?eat? the cancer, but the antibody developed by Dr Weissman blocks CD47 and frees up immune cells called macrophages ? which can then engulf the deadly cells.
The new research shows the miraculous macrophages effectively act as intelligence gatherers for the body, pointing out cancerous cells to cancer-fighting ?killer T? cells.?The T cells then ?learn? to hunt down and attack the cancer, the researchers claim.
?It was completely unexpected that CD8+ T (killer T) cells would be mobilized when macrophages engulfed the cancer cells in the presence of CD47-blocking antibodies,? said MD/PhD student Diane Tseng, who works with Dr. Weissman.
The clinical implications of the process could be profound in the war on cancer.?When macrophages present ?killer T? cells with a patient?s cancer, the T cells become attuned to the unique molecular markers on the cancer.?This turns them into a personalized cancer vaccine.
?Because T cells are sensitized to attack a patient?s particular cancer, the administration of CD47-blocking antibodies in a sense could act as a personalized vaccination against that cancer,? Tseng said.
The team of researchers at Stanford plan on starting a small 10-100 person phase I clinical human trial of the cancer therapy in 2014. Via New wonder drug matches and kills all kinds of cancer
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Yahoo is allowing people to place claims on inactive email addresses that are being given a second life.
The opportunity to request the identifications began Monday and will extend through Aug. 7. Up to five different names can be submitted at http://wishlist.yahoo.com .
Yahoo Inc. says a substantial number of old email IDs are being made available, but isn't providing specifics. All the deactivated accounts haven't been used in at least a year.
The dormant email IDs are being released a month after the Sunnyvale, Calif., company notified users that they would have 30 days to log into an inactive account if they wanted to keep it.
People awarded the rights to the recycled email addresses will have a 48-hour period to activate the accounts beginning Aug. 15.
Yahoo is hoping the inactive IDs will be claimed by people who will use them to log into its website and discover a series of changes to its email, home page and other services that have been made since Marissa Mayer became the company's CEO a year ago.
The resurrection of inactive email addresses, however, could be exploited by computer hackers hoping to use the IDs to pry into sensitive information about the former accountholders. There's a risk because many people use their email accounts as logins at a different password-protected websites, including Facebook, Twitter and Amazon.com. That raises the specter of some people trying to use the recycled email IDs to request the passwords of former accountholders.
Yahoo says it has taken a series of security measures to minimize the chances of any mischief. Among other things, Yahoo says emails are now being bounced back from the inactive email accounts. The company says it has also developed a system that will help other websites identify email addresses that have been transferred to new accountholders after the recycling is completed.
Verizon has been awfully quiet about exactly?when it plans to release the HTC One on its network, but a purported Verizon product roadmap obtained by PhoneArena suggests that both the HTC One and the upcoming Motorola Moto X could both launch by the start of September. Specifically, the document supposedly shows that the HTC One will launch on August 1st while the Moto X will be released on August 23rd, which means both devices would be available in time for back-to-school shoppers. Earlier rumors indicated that Verizon wouldn?t have the HTC One on its network until September 5th so it?s a pleasant surprise to hear that the carrier might be supporting the device a little bit sooner.
[More from BGR: High-quality photos of iPhone 5S display leak for the first time]
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Parents who have been fretting over the low levels of arsenic found in apple juice can feel better about buying one of their kids' favorite drinks.
The Food and Drug Administration is setting a new limit on the level of arsenic allowed in apple juice, after more than a year of public pressure from consumer groups worried about the contaminant's effects on children. Nationwide, apple juice is second only to orange juice in popularity, according to industry groups.
Studies have shown that the juice contains very low levels of arsenic, a cancer-causing agent found in everything from water to soil to pesticides. The FDA has monitored arsenic in apple juice for decades and has long said the levels are not dangerous to consumers, in particular small children who favor fruit juice.
But now the agency is putting in place a strict standard on how much arsenic is acceptable in apple juice, limiting the amount to the same level currently permitted in drinking water.
Under the new regulation, apple juice containing more than 10 parts per billion could be removed from the market and companies could face legal action. Agency officials stressed that the vast majority of juices on the market are already below the threshold.
"Overall the supply of apple juice is very safe and does not represent a threat to public health," said FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, in an interview with The Associated Press. "We decided to put forward this proposed action level to give guidance to industry and to assure ongoing safety and quality."
An FDA analysis of dozens of apple juice samples last year found that 95 percent were below the new level.
The standard specifically targets inorganic arsenic ? the type found in pesticides ? which can be toxic and may pose a cancer risk if consumed at high levels or over a long period. Organic arsenic occurs naturally in dirt and soil and passes through the body quickly without causing harm, according to the FDA.
In 2008 FDA regulators set a "level of concern" for arsenic at 23 parts per billion in apple juice. The agency has the authority to seize juice that exceeds that level.
But agency officials played down the significance of the older figure this week, calling it a "back of the envelope" calculation that was used to assess one juice shipment detained at the border.
"It was not a full blown, science-based number," said Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods.
The FDA's new number is based on lifetime exposure to arsenic and the potential for long-term cancer risk. Taylor says the number reflects a very cautious approach, since it's unclear how much arsenic exposure can trigger the disease.
"There isn't a known threshold for the carcinogenic effect, so we assume the possibility of effects all the way down to the lowest dose," Taylor said.
The agency will take comments on the draft regulation for 60 days before making it binding.
Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, last year called for a limit as low as 3 parts per billion. While the FDA didn't go that far, the group still praised the agency for taking action.
"While we had proposed a lower limit, we think this is a perfectly good first step to bring apple juice in line with the current drinking water limits," said Urvashi Rangan, the group's director for consumer safety.
While the Environmental Protection Agency sets arsenic limits for drinking water, there have never been similar standards for most foods and beverages. The FDA is also considering new limits on arsenic in rice, which is thought to have higher levels than most foods because it is grown in water on the ground, optimal conditions for absorbing the contaminant.
"We don't have standards like this in most foods, so it's an important precedent," Rangan said.
Environmental groups like Food and Water Watch have also lobbied the FDA on the issue. And television's Dr. Mehmet Oz made arsenic a national issue in 2011 when he raised an alarm ? some say a false alarm ? over apple juice, based on tests his show commissioned by a private lab.
All of the experts ? including the government and the consumer advocates ? agree that drinking small amounts of apple juice isn't harmful. The concern involves the effects of drinking large amounts of juice over long periods of time.
Another point of agreement is that children under 6 shouldn't be drinking much juice anyway, because it's high in calories. Health experts say children under 6 shouldn't drink any more than 6 ounces of juice a day ? about the size of a juice box. Infants under 6 months shouldn't drink any juice at all.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said Friday children should be encouraged to eat whole fruit adding, "it is not necessary to offer children any juice to have a well-balanced, healthy diet."
____
AP Writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this story.
Mukhanov and Starobinsky to receive $500,000 Gruber Cosmology PrizePublic release date: 11-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lars Lindberg Christensen lars@eso.org 49-893-200-6761 International Astronomical Union
The prize is a recognition for developing theory of Universe's earliest moments
The 2013 Gruber Cosmology Prize recognises Viatcheslav Mukhanov and Alexei Starobinsky for their formative contributions to inflationary theory, an essential component for understanding the evolution and structure of the Universe.
According to the Prize citation, the theoretical work of Viatcheslav Mukhanov and Alexei Starobinsky "changed our views on the origin of our Universe and on the mechanism of its formation of structure". They made a "profound contribution to inflationary cosmology and the theory of the inflationary perturbations of the metric of spacetime. This theory, explaining the quantum origin of the structure of our Universe, is one of the most spectacular manifestations of the laws of quantum mechanics on cosmologically large scales."
Thanks to their contributions, scientists have provided a compelling solution to two of the essential questions of cosmology: Why is the structure of the Universe so uniform on the largest scales? Where did the departures from uniformity -- such as galaxies, planets, and people -- come from?
Mukhanov, full professor of physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt in Munich, and Starobinsky, the principal research scientist at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Moscow, will share the $500 000 award, which will be presented on 3 September 2013 as part of the COSMO 2013 conference at the Stephen Hawking Centre for Theoretical Cosmology in Cambridge, UK.
The work for which they are being honoured began in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during a period of fertile, even fervid, theoretical investigations into the earliest moments of the Universe. In 1965 astronomers had discovered the cosmic microwave background relic radiation dating to an era 13.8 billion years ago, when the Universe was approximately 380 000 years old, during which hydrogen atoms and photons (packets of light) decoupled, causing a kind of "flashbulb" image that pervades the Universe to this day. This discovery validated a key prediction of the Big Bang theory and inspired a generation of theorists.
Among them was Starobinsky, then a senior research scientist at the Landau Institute. His approach was to use quantum mechanics and general relativity to try to address how an expanding Universe might have originated. While he did not resolve that issue, the calculations that he made in 1979-1980 did indicate that the Universe could have gone through an extraordinarily rapid exponential expansion in the first moments of its existence.
The following year Mukhanov (Moscow Physical-Technical Institute) and G. V. Chibisov (Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow; he passed away several years ago), began working on the implications of quantum fluctuations within the Starobinsky model. Quantum fluctuations disturbances in the fabric of space predicted by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle -- are always present in the Universe. But in an extremely small, extremely dense, and extremely energetic newborn Universe they would have had an outsized presence. What's more, the kind of exponential expansion that Starobinsky was proposing would have stretched those fluctuations beyond the quantum scale. In 1981 Mukhanov and Chibisov discovered that these fluctuations could play the role of seeds that would eventually blossom into the present-day large-scale web-like structure of the Universe: galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and superclusters of galaxies.
When this mechanism was first proposed, it looked like a piece of science fiction. Quantum fluctuations usually appear only on tiny subatomic scales, so the idea that galaxies were born from quantum fluctuations seemed totally outlandish. And yet the subsequent developments in theoretical and observational cosmology strongly favour this possibility.
Shortly after Starobinsky's work was completed, the American physicist Alan Guth proposed a brilliant idea that an exponential expansion stage of the early Universe, which he called inflation, could explain the incredible uniformity of our Universe and resolve many other outstanding problems of the Big Bang cosmology. However, Guth immediately recognised that his proposal had a flaw: the world described by his scenario would become either empty or very non-uniform at the end of inflation.
This problem was solved by Andrei Linde, who introduced several major modifications of inflationary theory, such as new inflation (later also developed by Albrecht and Steinhardt), chaotic inflation, and eternal chaotic inflation. A new cosmological paradigm was born. In 2004, Guth and Linde received the Gruber Prize for the development of inflationary theory.
The original goals of the Starobinsky model were quite different from the goals of inflationary theory. Instead of trying to explain the uniformity of the Universe, he assumed that the Universe was absolutely homogeneous from the very beginning. However, it was soon realised that the mathematical structure of his model was very similar to that of new inflation, and therefore it naturally merged into the rapidly growing field of inflationary cosmology.
In 1982, several scientists, including Starobinsky, outlined a theory of quantum fluctuations generated in new inflation. This theory was very similar to the theory developed by Mukhanov and Chibisov in the context of the Starobinsky model. Investigation of inflationary fluctuations culminated in 1985 in work by Mukhanov, who developed a rigorous theory of these fluctuations applicable to a broad class of inflationary models, including new and chaotic inflation.
This theory predicted that inflationary perturbations have nearly equal amplitude on all length scales. An equally important conclusion was that this scale invariance is close, but not exact: the amplitude of the fluctuations should slightly grow with distance. These fluctuations would have equal amplitudes for all forms of matter and energy (called adiabatic fluctuations). The theory also predicted a specific statistical form of the fluctuations, known as Gaussian statistics.
Since then, increasingly precise observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation have provided decisive matches for theoretical predictions of how those initial quantum fluctuations would look after the Universe had been expanding for 380 000 years. Those observations include all-sky maps produced by the Cosmic Microwave Background Explorer (COBE), the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), and the Planck satellite. John Mather and the COBE team received the Gruber Cosmology Prize in 2006; Charles Bennett and the WMAP team received theirs in 2012. Back in 1979, Starobinsky also found that an exponential expansion of the Universe should produce gravitational waves a quantum by-product of general relativity, and a target for the new generation of instruments that are expected to come into operation over the next decade.
###
More information
The IAU is an international astronomical organisation of more than 10 000 professional astronomers from more than 90 countries. Its mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and surface features on them.
The Gruber Foundation honours and encourages educational excellence, social justice and scientific achievements that better the human condition. For more information about Foundation guidelines and priorities, please visit http://www.gruber.yale.edu.
The Gruber International Prize Program honours contemporary individuals in the fields of Cosmology, Genetics, Neuroscience, Justice and Women's Rights, whose groundbreaking work provides new models that inspire and enable fundamental shifts in knowledge and culture. The Selection Advisory Boards choose individuals whose contributions in their respective fields advance our knowledge, potentially have a profound impact on our lives, and, in the case of the Justice and Women's Rights Prizes, demonstrate courage and commitment in the face of significant obstacles.
In 2000, the Gruber Foundation and the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced an agreement by which the IAU provides its expertise and contacts with professional astronomers worldwide for the nomination and selection of Cosmology Prize winners. Under the agreement, The Gruber Foundation also funds a fellowship programme for young astronomers, with the aim of promoting the continued recruitment of new talent into the field.
Links
Contacts
Lars Lindberg Christensen
IAU Press Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 320 06 761
Cell: +49 173 38 72 621
Email: lars@eso.org
A. Sarah Hreha
The Gruber Foundation, Yale University
New Haven, USA Tel: +1 (212) 247-8484
Email: sarah.hreha@gruber.yale.edu
[ | 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.
Mukhanov and Starobinsky to receive $500,000 Gruber Cosmology PrizePublic release date: 11-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lars Lindberg Christensen lars@eso.org 49-893-200-6761 International Astronomical Union
The prize is a recognition for developing theory of Universe's earliest moments
The 2013 Gruber Cosmology Prize recognises Viatcheslav Mukhanov and Alexei Starobinsky for their formative contributions to inflationary theory, an essential component for understanding the evolution and structure of the Universe.
According to the Prize citation, the theoretical work of Viatcheslav Mukhanov and Alexei Starobinsky "changed our views on the origin of our Universe and on the mechanism of its formation of structure". They made a "profound contribution to inflationary cosmology and the theory of the inflationary perturbations of the metric of spacetime. This theory, explaining the quantum origin of the structure of our Universe, is one of the most spectacular manifestations of the laws of quantum mechanics on cosmologically large scales."
Thanks to their contributions, scientists have provided a compelling solution to two of the essential questions of cosmology: Why is the structure of the Universe so uniform on the largest scales? Where did the departures from uniformity -- such as galaxies, planets, and people -- come from?
Mukhanov, full professor of physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt in Munich, and Starobinsky, the principal research scientist at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Moscow, will share the $500 000 award, which will be presented on 3 September 2013 as part of the COSMO 2013 conference at the Stephen Hawking Centre for Theoretical Cosmology in Cambridge, UK.
The work for which they are being honoured began in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during a period of fertile, even fervid, theoretical investigations into the earliest moments of the Universe. In 1965 astronomers had discovered the cosmic microwave background relic radiation dating to an era 13.8 billion years ago, when the Universe was approximately 380 000 years old, during which hydrogen atoms and photons (packets of light) decoupled, causing a kind of "flashbulb" image that pervades the Universe to this day. This discovery validated a key prediction of the Big Bang theory and inspired a generation of theorists.
Among them was Starobinsky, then a senior research scientist at the Landau Institute. His approach was to use quantum mechanics and general relativity to try to address how an expanding Universe might have originated. While he did not resolve that issue, the calculations that he made in 1979-1980 did indicate that the Universe could have gone through an extraordinarily rapid exponential expansion in the first moments of its existence.
The following year Mukhanov (Moscow Physical-Technical Institute) and G. V. Chibisov (Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow; he passed away several years ago), began working on the implications of quantum fluctuations within the Starobinsky model. Quantum fluctuations disturbances in the fabric of space predicted by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle -- are always present in the Universe. But in an extremely small, extremely dense, and extremely energetic newborn Universe they would have had an outsized presence. What's more, the kind of exponential expansion that Starobinsky was proposing would have stretched those fluctuations beyond the quantum scale. In 1981 Mukhanov and Chibisov discovered that these fluctuations could play the role of seeds that would eventually blossom into the present-day large-scale web-like structure of the Universe: galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and superclusters of galaxies.
When this mechanism was first proposed, it looked like a piece of science fiction. Quantum fluctuations usually appear only on tiny subatomic scales, so the idea that galaxies were born from quantum fluctuations seemed totally outlandish. And yet the subsequent developments in theoretical and observational cosmology strongly favour this possibility.
Shortly after Starobinsky's work was completed, the American physicist Alan Guth proposed a brilliant idea that an exponential expansion stage of the early Universe, which he called inflation, could explain the incredible uniformity of our Universe and resolve many other outstanding problems of the Big Bang cosmology. However, Guth immediately recognised that his proposal had a flaw: the world described by his scenario would become either empty or very non-uniform at the end of inflation.
This problem was solved by Andrei Linde, who introduced several major modifications of inflationary theory, such as new inflation (later also developed by Albrecht and Steinhardt), chaotic inflation, and eternal chaotic inflation. A new cosmological paradigm was born. In 2004, Guth and Linde received the Gruber Prize for the development of inflationary theory.
The original goals of the Starobinsky model were quite different from the goals of inflationary theory. Instead of trying to explain the uniformity of the Universe, he assumed that the Universe was absolutely homogeneous from the very beginning. However, it was soon realised that the mathematical structure of his model was very similar to that of new inflation, and therefore it naturally merged into the rapidly growing field of inflationary cosmology.
In 1982, several scientists, including Starobinsky, outlined a theory of quantum fluctuations generated in new inflation. This theory was very similar to the theory developed by Mukhanov and Chibisov in the context of the Starobinsky model. Investigation of inflationary fluctuations culminated in 1985 in work by Mukhanov, who developed a rigorous theory of these fluctuations applicable to a broad class of inflationary models, including new and chaotic inflation.
This theory predicted that inflationary perturbations have nearly equal amplitude on all length scales. An equally important conclusion was that this scale invariance is close, but not exact: the amplitude of the fluctuations should slightly grow with distance. These fluctuations would have equal amplitudes for all forms of matter and energy (called adiabatic fluctuations). The theory also predicted a specific statistical form of the fluctuations, known as Gaussian statistics.
Since then, increasingly precise observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation have provided decisive matches for theoretical predictions of how those initial quantum fluctuations would look after the Universe had been expanding for 380 000 years. Those observations include all-sky maps produced by the Cosmic Microwave Background Explorer (COBE), the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), and the Planck satellite. John Mather and the COBE team received the Gruber Cosmology Prize in 2006; Charles Bennett and the WMAP team received theirs in 2012. Back in 1979, Starobinsky also found that an exponential expansion of the Universe should produce gravitational waves a quantum by-product of general relativity, and a target for the new generation of instruments that are expected to come into operation over the next decade.
###
More information
The IAU is an international astronomical organisation of more than 10 000 professional astronomers from more than 90 countries. Its mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and surface features on them.
The Gruber Foundation honours and encourages educational excellence, social justice and scientific achievements that better the human condition. For more information about Foundation guidelines and priorities, please visit http://www.gruber.yale.edu.
The Gruber International Prize Program honours contemporary individuals in the fields of Cosmology, Genetics, Neuroscience, Justice and Women's Rights, whose groundbreaking work provides new models that inspire and enable fundamental shifts in knowledge and culture. The Selection Advisory Boards choose individuals whose contributions in their respective fields advance our knowledge, potentially have a profound impact on our lives, and, in the case of the Justice and Women's Rights Prizes, demonstrate courage and commitment in the face of significant obstacles.
In 2000, the Gruber Foundation and the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced an agreement by which the IAU provides its expertise and contacts with professional astronomers worldwide for the nomination and selection of Cosmology Prize winners. Under the agreement, The Gruber Foundation also funds a fellowship programme for young astronomers, with the aim of promoting the continued recruitment of new talent into the field.
Links
Contacts
Lars Lindberg Christensen
IAU Press Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 320 06 761
Cell: +49 173 38 72 621
Email: lars@eso.org
A. Sarah Hreha
The Gruber Foundation, Yale University
New Haven, USA Tel: +1 (212) 247-8484
Email: sarah.hreha@gruber.yale.edu
[ | 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.
BURY, England (Reuters) - Hundreds of Britons turned out on Thursday to mourn Lee Rigby, a soldier whose murder on a London street made international headlines in May and heightened community tensions in parts of Britain.
Soldiers and red-uniformed drummers escorted Rigby's flag-draped coffin through his battalion's hometown of Bury in northern England to a ripple of applause from the crowd.
Killed near army barracks in Woolwich, London, in broad daylight, the death of Rigby, 25, was described by Prime Minister David Cameron in May as a "betrayal of Islam". Two men will stand trial in November.
Locals were joined by well-wishers from Rigby's nearby hometown of Middleton and elsewhere, holding flowers and British flags, and paying tribute to the 25-year-old father of one.
"He shouldn't have died where he died," said Stacey Walsh, 29, a volunteer support worker, clutching a single rose.
"He served twice in Afghanistan, and he died on British soil, on his homeland," she said, visibly upset.
The crowd fell silent as the coffin reached the church before a private vigil attended by close friends and family.
"I'm a fusilier, and that's why we're here, he's one of us," said Ken Kendrick, a 74-year-old army veteran.
"It should never have happened, should it ... He didn't deserve that," he said, wearing a regimental beret.
Rigby's funeral will be held on Friday morning..
"We should all pay tribute to drummer Lee Rigby for his service to our country," Cameron told parliament on Wednesday.
Rigby's murder sparked anti-Islamist protests in several English cities and some charities reported a surge in attacks on Muslim targets. Far-right groups stayed away on Thursday.
2010 Toyota Prius (credit: Toyota Motor Corporation)
DETROIT (AP) ? Is that new set of wheels out of your price range? Used cars have gotten more affordable, especially if you?re looking for a small car or a hybrid.
Used car prices have been falling since 2011, and they?re expected to decline gradually for the remainder of this year. That?s good news for those joining or re-entering the workforce, or anyone else who might find a payment on a new car too steep.
There is some volatility. Prices for used cars are typically higher at the start of the year, when dealers buy cars at auctions in advance of the spring selling season. They decline as the year goes on. The price of a 3-year-old car fell 4 percent between April and June, estimates Alex Gutierrez of car-pricing company Kelley Blue Book.
Used-car dealers get many of their cars from auctions run by companies like Manheim, a division of Cox Enterprises of Atlanta. The average price for a used car at auction was $11,031 in June, down 6 percent from its peak in May 2011, Manheim reported this week. The 2011 peak was the highest price Manheim had seen since 1995, when it began collecting data.
At Manheim-run auctions, banks and auto company financing operations sell cars that have come back after leases expire. Rental car companies and car dealers also sell cars there. Dealers buy the cars, mark them up and sell them for a profit.
Auction values also help set prices for individuals who want to sell their cars at the market rate.
In 2009, new vehicle sales fell to a 30-year low of 10.4 million. Two years later, used cars were in short supply and prices got so high that it made sense for consumers to buy new.
Things have turned around. New car sales picked up starting in 2010 and now there are far more used cars in the pipeline. Buyers shopping for a 3-year-old used car can expect to pay 25 or 30 percent less than the manufacturer?s suggested retail price for a current new model.
The average retail price of a used car fell by $1,000 per car in the last half of 2012. Gutierrez expects a similar decline in the second half of this year. Keep in mind that used car prices vary widely based on the age of the car and the miles it has been driven.
The price declines will be gradual. While more inventory is helping to lower prices, demand is rising as more people get jobs and need vehicles for work.
Gutierrez estimates that a 3-year-old car cost an average $19,000 in June. By comparison, a new car averaged $31,663 last month. That?s up $307 ? or around 1 percent ? from April.
Used cars are big business. Every year around 40 million are sold in the U.S., compared with 14 or 15 million new cars.
If you?re looking for a used car, check prices online and then decide whether you want to go through a dealer or through an individual. Private sellers will often give you a better deal, but dealerships offer certified pre-owned cars that have gone through inspections and may offer better warranties.
Here?s what you can expect to pay right now for 2010 model-year vehicles, according to Kelley Blue Book:
SMALL CARS: Prices on the smallest and most fuel-efficient used vehicles fell rapidly between April and June as gas prices moderated and carmakers enticed buyers with deals on new models. The price of a 2010 Toyota Prius fell 15 percent over the last three months, from $18,600 to $15,800. Prices of small cars like the Honda Civic and Ford Focus are down 8.5 percent. The average price of a 3-year-old small car was $13,000 in June.
MIDSIZE CARS: The value of midsize cars like the Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata have been hurt by the arrival of several new or redesigned models that hit the market in the last year, including the Ford Fusion, Honda Accord and Nissan Altima. Prices for used midsize cars are down 6.9 percent to $14,503.
LUXURY CARS: Luxury cars held steady, with used-car prices falling just 1 percent to $28,692. But Gutierrez expects a steeper drop in July, when luxury vehicle values tend to fall as owners anticipate new models coming in the fall.
SMALL AND MIDSIZE SUVS: Prices of hot-selling midsize SUVs like the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ford Explorer are down just 4 percent, to an average of $20,581. Small SUVs like the Ford Escape and Honda CR-V are down 7 percent to an average of $17,548.
TRUCKS: Pickup trucks are in demand, as small businesses replace older trucks. Prices for used full-size pickups like the Chevrolet Silverado stayed flat between April and June, at $21,854. Prices of small pickups like the Toyota Tacoma are down 1 percent to $17,119.
(? Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Cars clog a highway on a smoggy day in Beijing January 29, 2013. China plans to restrict car sales in eight more cities to counter air pollution
China, struggling to cope with worsening smog problems as roads in Shanghai and Beijing become choked with traffic, plans new restrictions on vehicle sales in some key cities.
Such limits are already in place in four major cities, and another eight will be added to the list, according to reports published Thursday by China?s state media. It?s not clear if the expanded list will make exceptions for those buying lower-polluting battery-cars, as has been the case in the past.
China is now the world?s largest automotive market but the rapid growth ? which neared triple digits during parts of the past decade and was running at over 9 percent on an annualized basis during the first half of 2013 ? has come at a cost.
Beijing and Shanghai, for example, now face some of the world?s worst traffic snarls. The number of vehicles on the road in the capital city alone has jumped to 5.18 million, up more than 2 million since 2008, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
(Read more: China Now GM's Biggest Market)
While the federal government has rapidly increased the level of emissions control equipment mandated for new vehicles, automobiles are still catching blame for China?s worsening air pollution problems, especially along the industrialized Pacific coast. In recent months, Beijing has repeatedly seen pollution levels near or exceed the current limits on reporting systems.
Regulators have tried to deal with both the pollution and traffic problems by enacting vehicle lotteries in Beijing, Shanghai and two other large cities. That has limited the number of motorists who can register new vehicles to just 20,000 each month. To put that into perspective, there are 1.53 million potential buyers waiting to be chosen, according to the Associated Press.
That said, the restrictions on car ownership in Beijing "failed to achieve what the government wanted to see because the restrictions only slowed the growth in the number of cars. They didn?t reduce the numbers of cars,? Zhao Jian, a transport expert at Beijing?s Jiaotong University?s School of Economics and Management, told the news service.
(Read more: Toyota Sells 3 Millionth Prius - But a Flood of New Competitors Want to Topple it)
Nonetheless, Chinese regulators appear to be caught in a bind. The automotive industry is one of the stars of the country?s manufacturing sector and not something that Beijing?s bureaucrats feel they can shut off. They continue trying to limit vehicle sales in already crowded cities while encouraging growth in regions of the country that are only beginning to catch up with the economic boom along the coast.
For example, Volvo, the Swedish automaker now owned by Chengdu-based Geely, plans to target so-called Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities for much of its anticipated growth in the coming years. China has more than 200 cities with a population of over 1 million people, and the secondary markets are seen by many as the real growth opportunity for the auto industry in the years ahead.
By several recent estimates, including one from General Motors, Chinese annual car sales could top 35 million by 2022 ? more than demand in North American and Europe combined.
But there are growing concerns about whether the country can handle that boom in traffic ? or emissions. Jun Ma, chief Chinese economist for Deutsche Bank, warned earlier this year that the government could take several steps that include ?constraining auto ownership growth.?
(Read more: Secret Service Orders up New Armored "Beast" for President's Next Limo)
The report from state media indicates that is likely to happen, at least in eight more cities reported to include Tianjin, Chongqing, and Shenzhen, the major manufacturing center near Hong Kong.
According to a separate report in the China Daily newspaper, the new restrictions could reduce Chinese vehicle sales by 2 percent or as much as 400,000.
What remains to be seen is whether regulators will slip a loophole into the new rules, as they have with existing lottery programs in Beijing and Shanghai. China has set a goal of making a major shift to battery power in the coming years but has struggled to get consumers to go along. The government hopes that desperate motorists will purchase just about anything in order to get their own wheels.
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Climb inside the 2008 Ford Mustang. This 2 door, 4 passenger coupe still has fewer than 60,000 miles! Ford made sure to keep road-handling and sportiness at the top of it's priority list. Smooth gearshifts are achieved thanks to the 4 liter 6 cylinder engine, providing a spirited, yet composed ride and drive. Top features include a split folding rear seat, variably intermittent wipers, front bucket seats, tilt steering wheel, power windows, remote keyless entry, cruise control, and air conditioning. You and your passengers will enjoy the stereo system, which includes a CD player with AM/FM radio, and 4 speakers, providing excellent sound throughout the cabin. Ford also prioritized safety and security by including: dual front impact airbags with occupant sensing airbag, front SIDE impact airbags, ignition disabling, and 4 wheel disc brakes. A Carfax history report indicates just one previous owner. You will have a pleasant shopping experience that is fun, informative, and never high pressured. Please don't hesitate to give us a call.
Kampala ? New players in the oil production sector in Africa are exposed to what has been termed the oil curse, because of the selfish interest of some long-serving African leaders, a Ugandan policy analyst has said.
Godber Tushabe, executive director of the anti-corruption NGO Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE), warned that most African countries with newly discovered oil resources are unlikely to experience the improvement in wellbeing that those minerals represent because most presidents will not want to cede control of that wealth to a successor.
"Only countries with political and economic freedom are going to maximize benefits from these mineral resources ? without proper governance systems, that money is not only worthless, it is dangerous," Tushabe said on Thursday, June 13, while speaking to a group of African journalists in Kampala, Uganda, at an event organized by Thomson Reuters.
"It is really two things - democracy and leadership - that determine how a country may use mineral resources, and to avoid oil curse," Tushabe said.
Pointing at Uganda, a new actor in the oil industry that expects to start oil production in 2016, is "vulnerable to the oil curse because of President Museveni's regime survival system of rule".
"The Presidents will focus on how to stay in power and when populations demand for freedom and accountability, they will opt to be as ruthless as possible," Tushabe said, arguing that the prospect of controlling massive oil revenues will tempt many leaders to hold onto power.
The oil curse, or Dutch disease, is a phenomenon where a country, after discovering oil resources, abandons all other sectors of the economy, including governance, accountability and environmental protection, with the result that the benefits of increased revenue do not transform into improved wellbeing for citizens. The term was coined in 1977 by a London publication, The Economist, to describe the decline of manufacturing in the Netherlands after the discovery of natural gas in 1959.
Tushabe cited Equatorial Guinea as an example of how badly oil wealth might go for African countries. An oil-producing country ranked as "middle income" due to its high GDP, half of Equatorial Guinea's 700,000 people live below the poverty line.
Describing Cameroon's head of state, Paul Biya as an "absentee President", Tushabe told journalists that Congo is the victim of its undemocratic neighbours - notably Uganda and Rwanda - and so is susceptible to the curse. "Rwandan President, Paul Kagame has been there for about 19 years and Yoweri Museveni in Uganda, for over 20 years. So how do they help Congo?" he asked rhetorically.
"What these countries lack are not these documents, but leadership. If you give these [strategy] documents to some other countries, they will exploit them wonderfully but our economic and political context does not permit us to succeed in this."
Cameroon in West Africa is currently developing the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper (GESP) in view of attaining a 2035 emergence vision, while in East Africa, Uganda's Vision 2040 projects that the country will be a First World country in 20 years, thanks to oil.
The policy analyst however said Africa has some good examples to learn from, notably Botswana and Ghana. Botswana has avoided the curse due to good leadership and democracy in the country. "They have used their mineral resources [diamonds] very well," observed Tumushabe. Ghana, a newly oil-producing country, is currently one of Africa's fastest and most stable economies, due to good governance.
"Nigeria is like a huge train that is turning. It's not there yet, but it has the opportunity to become the engine that drives this continent," he said of Africa's largest and most populous economy, whose oil resources have in the past been a magnet for civil conflict and instability.
Jude Fuhnwi took part in a Thomson Reuters Foundation/Norad advanced financial reporting workshop in Kampala in June 2013.
Common compounds produced by gut microbes quench colitis in mice
By Jessica Shugart
Web edition: July 9, 2013
Common molecules made by bacteria in the gut may act as chill pills for the immune system. Molecules secreted by intestinal bacteria work to prevent misplaced immune attacks in inflammatory bowel diseases like colitis, a new study finds.
?It is a huge advance,? says Sarkis Mazmanian of Caltech. ?This opens up the notion that a very easy and potentially very safe therapy for inflammatory bowel disease could exist.?
Decades of research have hinted that microbes play a role in immune-related diseases such as obesity, allergy, inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer. But scientists have had difficulty pinpointing direct links between the bacteria in the gut and the army of immune cells that live there. ?
Some researchers have focused on individual microbial species among the gut?s teeming hordes to see how they affect the immune system. But Wendy Garrett?s team at Harvard University decided to look instead for possible immune tamers among the various molecules that many different bacteria make. The team chose to investigate short-chain fatty acids because bacterial species that make large amounts are in short supply in some people with inflammatory bowel disease.
To see whether the microbial molecules play a role in quieting the immune system, the researchers added them to mice?s drinking water. The animals developed elevated levels of inflammation-dousing regulatory T cells in their colons, the team reports July 4 in Science. The cells work like wet blankets, dampening autoimmune flare-ups before they burn out of control.
The team also found that those short-chain fatty acids protected the mice from an experimental form of colitis, an immune disease that destroys the colon.
Garrett hopes that the acids play the same role in tamping down inflammation in people. Many bacterial species that inhabit the guts of humans also produce the acids. And people might not even have to take the fatty acids as drugs. Eating higher amounts of dietary fiber might also do the trick because the microbes consume fiber to make the acids.
Studies have shown that, compared with people in some developing countries, westerners tend to consume lower amounts of dietary fiber and have lower amounts of short-chain fatty acids in their guts. They also have higher ? and increasing ? levels of inflammatory bowel disease.
The study suggests that a lack of dietary fiber could reduce levels of short-chain fatty acids in the gut and might explain that elevated prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease, says gut microbiologist Justin Sonnenburg at Stanford University. ?A really good hypothesis at this point is that reduced short-chain fatty acid production over time is bad for colonic health.?
Suggested Reading
T. Saey. Inside Job. June 18, 2011, Vol. 179, p. 26 [Go to]
G. Dickey. Gut bacteria reflect dietary differences. Vol. 178, August 28, 2010, p. 9?http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/61754/title/Gut_bacteria_reflect_dietary_differences
C. De Filippo. Impact of diet shaping gut microbiota revealed by a comparative study in children from Europe and rural Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol. 107, August 17, 2010. p. 33, doi:10.1073/pnas.1005963107 [Go to]
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AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Nearly four years after 13 soldiers were shot to death at Fort Hood, jury selection may begin on Tuesday in the murder trial of Major Nidal Hasan, who is accused of the largest massacre on a U.S. military base in history.
Hasan, 42, an American-born Muslim who faces the death penalty if convicted by a military panel, is mounting his own defense at his court martial in Fort Hood, an Army base near Killeen, Texas.
The case has been delayed by unusual turns including arguments over whether Hasan could keep his beard, the firing or attempted firing of two legal teams and the removal of a military judge.
Hasan has said that he opened fire at the base on November 5, 2009 to protect Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan from American aggression.
"Hasan seems to want to turn this into a kind of show trial where he doesn't deny committing the crime but argues it was justified," said Aitan Goelman, one of the government prosecutors in the trial of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.
The jury, a panel of at least 12 officers, must be chosen from military members who outrank the accused, and must be unanimous when it comes to a decision on guilt or innocence.
If he gets the death penalty, Hasan would go to the military version of Death Row, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. No man court martialed by the military has been executed since 1961.
He could also be sentenced to life without parole, or be found guilty on lesser charges.
The jury selection from an Army-wide pool is expected to last several weeks.
Hasan, who was shot and paralyzed from the chest down during the attack, faces 13 charges of premeditated murder and 32 charges of attempted premeditated murder.
Hasan has told the court he spends hours reading the Koran in his cell every day. As he was firing the gun in 2009, witnesses say, he yelled out the Arabic words "Allahu Akbar," which translates as "God is great."
(Additional reporting by Jim Forsyth; Editing by Greg McCune and Steve Orlofsky)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The stock market is rising Monday, ahead of the start of earnings season and on increasing confidence that the economy can support profit growth for U.S. companies.
Aluminum producer Alcoa, the first company in the Dow to announce earnings, will report its second-quarter results after the market closes. Banks JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are also among companies that will report earnings this week.
Analysts predict that earnings growth for companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3 percent in the second quarter. While growth is down from 5 percent in the first quarter, earnings are expected to remain close to record levels.
Like in the first quarter, investors and traders will search for evidence that companies are increasing revenues, not just cutting costs to boost profits. Sales growth is predicted to fall 0.3 percent in the second quarter.
"We'll be looking to see where revenue comes in," said Jim Dunigan, an executive vice president of investments at PNC.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 61 points, or 0.4 percent, to 15,196.81, as of 12:53 p.m. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained six points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,637. The Nasdaq composite fell three points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,481.
Eight of 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose, led by utilities.
In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year government note pulled back from a two-year high of 2.74 Friday. It fell to 2.66 percent on Monday.
The yield had jumped after the government reported strong U.S. hiring for June on Friday. Investors believe that the improving jobs market will prompt the Federal Reserve to ease back on its bond-buying program. The Fed is buying $85 billion in bonds each month to keep interest rates low and spur borrowing and investing.
In commodities trading, the price of oil was little changed at $103.16 a barrel. The price of gold rose $21.50, or 1.8 percent, to $1,235.20 an ounce.
Among stocks making big moves today;
Dell rose 37 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $13.40 after an advisory firm recommended that company shareholders vote to allow Dell's founder and an investment firm to take the computer company private. Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners have offered to buy Dell for $13.65 a share, for a total price of $24.4 billion.
Priceline rose $26.13, or 3 percent, to $880.70 after investment bank Morgan Stanley raised its price target for the online bookings company. Analysts at the bank believe that Priceline can climb as high as $1,010 as it continues to grow internationally and worries about shrinking profits dissipate.
Intel fell 90 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $23.15 after Citigroup cut its estimates on the chipmakers earnings.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's opposition conservatives were heading for victory in a regional election early on Monday, leaving a fragile national pact forged to broker economic reforms looking slightly stronger.
Nearly half of Mexico's 31 states held elections for a mix of local parliaments and municipal governments, but all eyes were on the race for governor in the state of Baja California, a stronghold of the conservative National Action Party (PAN).
Both the PAN and President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) claimed victory in the state shortly after polls closed at 6 p.m. local time on Sunday, but an initial vote count showed the conservatives maintaining a consistent early lead.
With votes from over half of polling stations counted in Baja California, the PAN had a lead of over 4 percentage points over the PRI, or nearly 48 percent of the vote, preliminary results from the local electoral authority showed.
The Baja California vote is being closely watched because a defeat for the PAN was expected to rattle the 'Pact for Mexico' Pena Nieto made with opposition leaders to strengthen his hand in Congress, where the PRI has no majority.
A win for the PAN could prove more useful to Pena Nieto than a win for his own party if it helps strengthen the pact he unveiled in December.
The PAN lost control of Mexico in last year's presidential elections, and it is now the third force in Congress. But Pena Nieto needs to keep the conservatives on board to push through planned overhauls of state oil giant Pemex and the tax system.
Baja California was one of the PAN's few remaining bastions, and the first state it wrested from the PRI 24 years ago. It proved a major stepping stone to the PAN claiming the presidency in 2000 after 71 consecutive years of rule by the PRI.
During the campaign in Baja California, PAN lawmakers repeatedly accused the PRI of trying to steal the election by buying votes, and they warned that any sign of fraud could scuttle the national pact.
Both PAN chairman Gustavo Madero and his PRI counterpart said on Sunday evening that their candidate had won the governor's office, but there was no independent projection.
A few hours before the polls closed Madero was asked how he viewed the future of the Pact, and said: "the need to reach agreements is still there, it's still imperative for Mexico."
A poll late last month gave the PAN an eight-point lead over the PRI in Baja California, which borders the U.S. state of California.
VIOLENCE
The PAN's image has been hurt by public infighting since last year's national election defeat, when voters punished the party for failing to curb violence between warring drug cartels that has claimed more than 70,000 lives since 2007.
The bloodshed has continued under Pena Nieto's rule and the campaign for the July 7 elections was marred by the murder of a number of candidates.
Jesus Zambrano, chairman of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the other main party in Pena Nieto's pact, demanded authorities clear up the killings, which have also claimed the lives of his party activists.
"In a big part of the states, organized crime is acting in favor of the PRI candidates," Zambrano said.
The PRI has persistently rejected such accusations.
Two more activists were killed over the weekend in Veracruz state, one belonging to the PRI and another to the PRD.
The Baja California election was deemed to be crucial for Madero's continuing leadership of the party. Any battle for control of the party could threaten the pact - a fact not lost on Mexicans looking to Pena Nieto to revive the economy.
"The most convenient thing would be for the PAN to win," said Pedro Feria, 32, an out-of-work lawyer who supports the PRI. "What I want is for them to focus on creating job opportunities. I've been looking for a year now."
The pact has already pushed education reforms and a shake-up of competition in the telecoms sector through Congress.
But the central planks of Pena Nieto's hopes to raise economic growth to 6 percent a year from an average of barely 2 percent since the millennium began are reforms to bolster tax revenues and open up Pemex to more private investment.
Those measures may be in doubt if the pact falls apart.
The PAN's Madero had laid the ground for a post-electoral fight, pinning accusations of vote buying, fraud and corruption against the PRI on a giant map of Mexico during the campaign.
(Additional reporting by Luc Cohen and Tomas Sarmiento; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by John Stonestreet)
At the beginning of June my Mom, sister, and childhood best friend threw me a beautiful baby shower at home just days after my brother's wedding.
Months ago, we debated about a shower so close to the wedding but in the end decided that it would be special to have the shower while my aunts and other extended family were able to be in town for the wedding.
Having them there was so special, and my Aunt Lanie took all these photos (thanks, Auntie!)
Husband has been joking lately that all the big events in my life have been blessed with exceptionally beautiful weather (my wedding day and backyard reception, this garden baby shower, and then my rooftop baby shower in Chicago).
On such an off summer weather-wise, a beautiful day is especially appreciated and this morning was just that.?
? It reminded me so much of my wedding day held under that very pergola almost seven years ago, and I just love that the two are now connected in my mind's eye.
The brunch my mom and sister made for the shower is one of the best meals I've ever had.?
I mean, you guys, those two are the two best cooks I know and they went above and beyond!
(Of course they did, that's who they are.)
The faces you see in the pictures are the faces that raised me and watched me grow through every stage of life before I moved to Chicago.
I'm so grateful all these women gave up their Tuesday morning to come support me and celebrate with me yet another life transition, even though I've been grown up and living away in the city for so many years now.
One of the sweetest moments was my mom bursting into tears when she saw me come in all dressed up for the shower.
Thank you Tiff, Mom, and Alissa for giving me and the little mister such a special morning!
ZANU PF launched its manifesto at a poorly attended event held at Zimbabwe Grounds in Harare Friday, with the MDC-T set to launch theirs on Sunday. The party, through its mouthpiece the Herald newspaper, tried to drum up attendance by making reference to the crowds that gathered at the same Highfields venue in 1980 to welcome the country's nationalist heroes. Reports suggest that 150 ...
Zimbabwe Parties Work Out Strategy to Defeat Mugabe
All Africa - Saturday 6th July, 2013
A grand coalition that will see five political parties agreeing to field just one presidential candidate against ZANU PF's long term ruler Robert Mugabe is expected to be announced next week, sources said. MDC-T, MDC, ZAPU, Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) and ZANU Ndonga went to great lengths to conceal the fact they have been having secret talks. They also devised a strategy to deceive the ...
World Mugabe predicts 90 poll victory
Standard Digital - Saturday 6th July, 2013
The election will mark the end of a coalition government, which has stabilised the country's economy. He is standing for president against his long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been serving as prime minister. The 61-year-old leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) pulled out of the second round of the 2008 presidential election, accusing the security forces and ...
Cricket Rasool Unadkat Mohit Rayudu in India squad for Zimbabwe
KeralaNext - Saturday 6th July, 2013
Cricket News: Offspinner Parvez Rasool has become the first cricketer from Jammu & Kashmir to earn an Indian national cricket team call-up. He is part of the ODI squad to tour Zimbabwe, which will be led by Virat Kohli in the absence of the injured MS ...
World Briefing | Africa Zimbabwe Mugabe Vows to Fight
International Herald Tribune - Friday 5th July, 2013
President Robert Mugabe said Friday that his ZANU-PF party will have to fight hard to win elections scheduled for July 31. Mr Mugabe, 89, said, ...
Zimbabwe Court Rejects Mugabe Bid to Delay Elections
Hispanic Business Magazine - Friday 5th July, 2013
Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court unanimously rejected five appeals to delay elections that are set for July 31, court officials said Friday. Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said reasons for rejections would be announced later, The Herald reported. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was one of the appellants who asked for the elections to be postponed, the BBC said. Tsvangirai had ...
Zimbabwe Mugabe Hits Out at Regional Leaders
All Africa - Friday 5th July, 2013
President Robert Mugabe warned Friday that if the Southern African Development Community (SADC) 'decides to do stupid things' in connection with Zimbabwe's elections then the country will move out of the regional body. Mugabe was addressing ZANU PF supporters at the launch of the party's manifesto in Harare on Friday. He was speaking a day after the Constitutional Court ...
Funding for Hasty Zimbabwe Elections Still Elusive
VOA - Friday 5th July, 2013
WASHINGTON -- Finance Minister Tendai Biti says Zimbabwe is still struggling to raise money for this year?s general election despite President Robert Mugabe?s hasty move to have the polls on July 31. Biti says Harare needs US$132 million for the elections. "We are working on a budget of $130 million. We do not have this money at all. We have been doing a number of things and ...
Mugabe Threatens to Pull Zimbabwe Out of SADC
VOA - Friday 5th July, 2013
HARARE -- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe launched his campaign to extend his 33 years in power on Friday by threatening to pull his country out of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), accusing the group of bias after it recently asked him to postpone the election. "We are in SADC voluntarily," Mugabe said, warning the 15-nation group against interfering in ...
Mugabe warns Zimbabwe could exit bloc
News.com.au - Friday 5th July, 2013
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has launched his re-election campaign with a fiery warning to a 15-member southern African regional bloc that Zimbabwe could pull out amid demands for a free and fair ...
Zimbabwes President Mugabe vows to put up the fight of our lives in crucial upcoming polls
Canada.com - Friday 5th July, 2013
A child views an armed soldier as a crowd of supporters gathers to listen to a speech by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at the launch of his party election campaign in Harare, Friday, July, 5, 2013. Mugabe who is set to contest against his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai in aN election set for July 31 urged his party supporters to Vote for him in the crucial election. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi ...
Cornered MDC-T Candidate Vows to Take Part in Elections
VOA - Friday 5th July, 2013
MUTARE -- Former Mutare mayor Brian Leslie James says he will not pull of this year?s election following a letter purportedly written by the party?s secretary general, Tendai Biti, asking him to withdraw his nomination papers for Mutare?s Murambi Ward 12 council seat. James told VOA Studio 7 on Friday that he is not going back on his decision to stand as a candidate for the ...
FIFA Pushes ZIFA to Trim 13 Member Board
VOA - Friday 5th July, 2013
HARARE -- The international football controlling body, FIFA, has ordered the cash-strapped ZIFA to trim its board to make it more efficient. The ZIFA board is made up of 13 members and the international football controlling body feels such a huge board cannot operate efficiently and have ordered ZIFA to trim the board to required levels. James Johnson, FIFA point person responsible for ...
Mugabe warns Zimbabwe could leave SADC
Mail and Guardian - Friday 5th July, 2013
"Let it be known that we are in SADC [the Southern African Development Community] voluntarily. If SADC decides to do stupid things, let it be known that we can withdraw from SADC," he told a rally on Friday. The regional bloc had pressed Mugabe to roll back his decision to hold elections on July 31, in order to allow time for reforms to the electoral roll and that would limit the ...
Zimbabwes Mugabe launches fight for life poll campaign
General Sources - Friday 5th July, 2013
View Photo Reuters/Reuters - Supporters cheer Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as he arrives to launch his ruling ZANU PF party's election manifesto in the capital Harare July 5, 2013. REUTERS/Philimon ...
MDC Zapu Strike Election Pact Ahead of General Polls
VOA - Friday 5th July, 2013
BULAWAYO -- The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formation led by Professor Welshman Ncube and Dumiso Dabengwa?s Zapu on Friday announced an election pact in which they have agreed, among other concessions, to support each other?s candidates where one party has not fielded anyone and drop some candidates to remain with one where possible. Addressing a press conference in ...
Mugabe makes SADC threat
iafrica.com - Friday 5th July, 2013
President Robert Mugabe launched his re-election campaign Friday with a warning to a 15-member southern African regional bloc that Zimbabwe could withdraw amid demands for a free and fair vote."Let it be known that we are in SADC (the Southern African Development Community) voluntarily. If SADC decides to do stupid things, let it be known that we can withdraw from SADC," he told a ...
Zimbabwe court upholds date of elections
Middle East Times - Friday 5th July, 2013
Constitutional Court unanimously rejected five appeals to delay elections that are set for July 31, court officials said Friday. Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said reasons for rejections would be announced later, The Herald reported. Prime ...
Kohli named India captain for Zimbabwe tour
eTaiwan News - Friday 5th July, 2013
India team on a limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe this month.Kohli is captain of the team currently playing in a tri-series in the Caribbean in the absence of regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who went home after the first match due to a hamstring ...
New Telecel Promo Rewards Suspended Subscribers for Reactivating Lines
All Africa - Friday 5th July, 2013
Telecel has introduced yet another promotion, the Sim Card Reactivation promo which gives suspended subscribers a total of $20 in bonuses for reactivating their dormant lines. The promotion, which was launched today (Friday) is giving a $10 welcome bonus to subscribers who reactivate their dormant lines and an additional $10 bonus for on-net calls immediately after they have recharged and used ...
Virat Kohli to lead Team India in Zimbabwe
Times of India - Friday 5th July, 2013
Virat Kohli will lead Team India during the five-match ODI series in Zimbabwe, starting July 24, as regular captain MS Dhoni has been ruled out due to injury. Dhoni had suffered hamstring injury during the tri-series clash against West Indies at Kingston. The selectors on Friday announced the Indian team for ...
Zanu-PF Rolls Out Poll Campaign Manifesto Today
All Africa - Friday 5th July, 2013
ALL roads today lead to the historic Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield, Harare, the cradle of nationalist politics where President Mugabe will launch the Zanu-PF manifesto and election campaign for harmonised elections due end of this month. Addressing his party's Central Committee and Election 2013 candidates at the Zanu-PF national headquarters in Harare yesterday, the President described ...
Stanford researchers are on track to begin human trials of a potentially potent new weapon against cancer, and would-be participants are flooding in following the Post?s initial report on the discovery.?The progress comes just two months after the ground-breaking study by Dr Irv Weissman, who developed an antibody that breaks down a cancer?s defense mechanisms in the body.
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