Thursday, January 31, 2013

Cost cuts and poor governance blamed for rail fiasco

LONDON (Reuters) - Cost-cutting, a lack of governance at the Department for Transport and mistakes by ministers contributed to the mishandling of the award of the West Coast Main Line rail franchise, according to a parliamentary report into the fiasco.

The 13-year contract to run the London to Scotland route was awarded to FirstGroup late last year, but the government was forced to pull the award after flaws were found in the bidding process following a legal challenge by the losing bidder Virgin Trains.

"This episode revealed substantial problems of governance, assurance, policy and resources inside the DfT," Louise Ellman, the chair of Britain's transport committee said on Thursday as part of a review into the botched tender.

"Ministers approved a complex, perhaps unworkable, franchising policy at the same time as overseeing major cuts to the Department's resources. This was a recipe for failure which the DfT must learn from urgently."

FirstGroup made a 5.5 billion pounds bid to operate the franchise, while Virgin Trains, a venture between billionaire businessman Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Stagecoach, offered 4.8 billion pounds to continue with the franchise.

The DfT also required bidders to put up a subordinated loan facility (SLF), which they would lose if they failed to fulfil the contract. The size of the SLF depended on the DfT's evaluation of the risk in the respective bids.

The department has since admitted it wrongly calculated the amount of risk capital that bidders would have to offer to guarantee their proposals against default.

The bungled process, which led to the suspension of three DfT employees and the freezing of other franchise competitions, has so far cost taxpayers about 40 million pounds in compensation to the four shortlisted bidders.

As part of its report, the committee called on the DfT to explain why ministers and senior officials were misled about how SLFs were calculated.

The committee also urged the DfT to further investigate whether any officials manipulated the outcome of the competition to ensure First Group was awarded the contract.

Virgin Trains will continue to operate services on the route until a new franchise competition is launched.

(Reporting by Rhys Jones)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cost-cuts-poor-governance-blamed-uk-rail-fiasco-000425046--finance.html

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Nestle Nigeria Plc Jobs: Medical Delegate Lagos

Job Reference: MedDelLag
Position: Medical Delegate Lagos
Department: NUTRITION
Job Details: Applications are hereby required from suitably qualified candidates to fill the vacant position of Medical Delegate in different location

MEDICAL DELEGATES- Lagos

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Promote the Nestle Infant Nutrition range of products in assigned territory with the aim of obtaining prescriptions.
  • Develop relationships / partnerships with medical / paramedical contacts / institutions through effective communication and / or sponsorship of activities in line with WHO Code, local Code or Nestle Instructions.
  • Conduct periodic trade checks to ensure product availability, market hygiene, completeness of product range and report competitive activities, stock level and prices.

PROFILE

  • B.Sc degree or HND in any of these disciplines (Minimum of Second Class lower or Higher Credit Grade) in Food Science & Technology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biology, Human Nutrition & Pharmacy.
  • 1- 2years Ethical & Medical detailing experience.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Excellent Knowledge of Food & Nutrition with emphasis on Infant Nutrition.
  • Ability to develop excellent working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Excellent interpersonal and convincing skills.
  • Possession of a Valid Drivers License and ability to drive long distances (Interstate)
  • Excellent Computer skills- Ms Word, Ms Excel, Ms Power Point
  • Good Planning and Organization Skills.
  • Excellent ability to use initiative and work with minimum supervision.
  • Strong Drive and Passion for business results.

Qualified applicants should send in their applications on or before
08 February 2013.
Nestl? Nigeria Plc upholds the principle of Non- Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities in its recruitment processes.

APPLY NOW

If you have applied for this position with the last one year, please do not bother applying again.

Please note that only short listed candidates will be contacted.


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Source: http://gblcareers.com/2013/01/nestle-nigeria-plc-jobs-medical-delegate-lagos/

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Operation Write Home connects troops, families - Military - The ...

ADAM ASHTON | Staff writer ? Published January 30, 2013 Modified January 30, 2013

Sandy Allnock?s golden retriever Sierra greets daily deliveries to her Federal Way home with a wagging tail and a head just itching to be scratched. The dog sees so many mail carriers that she treats them like familiar friends.

Letters and packages arrive in buckets at Allnock?s house because it?s the hub of Operation Write Home, a nonprofit she launched six years ago to help deployed service members stay in touch with loved ones.

Her efforts enable an average of 1,500 troops a day to write home on intricately crafted cards that Allnock and a network of volunteers send to forward bases and aircraft carriers all over the world.

?They just love them. They love being able to write home on something beautiful,? said Allnock, 39.

This month, Operation Write Home delivered its 2 millionth card since the group was formed in 2007. It was a milestone Allnock could not have imagined when she started sending her extra handmade cards to a nurse at a military hospital in Iraq.

?It?s been amazing to watch this grow,? she said.

Operation Write Home now fills a niche in the bounty of candy-packed care packages service members receive from friends and family in the states. It?s also different from the modern communication tools soldiers take to the battlefield, such as Skype and email.

Allnock?s boxes give troops something special to send home so their loved ones know they?re not forgotten. They carry messages such as ?thinking of you? or ?Happy Mother?s Day,? but with a personal touch.

?I thought it was important that they could hold something I held,? said Maj. Johnpaul Arnold, a public affairs officer from Joint Base Lewis-McChord?s I Corps. He sent Operation Write Home cards to his wife and children while he was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and Afghanistan in 2011-12.

?These cards will last,? said Arnold, 40. ?My children and their children can go back and read them, and understand a different side of these two wars that I?ve been a part of, and that they?ve been a part of.?

Allnock, a graphic designer for the Christian organization World Vision, discovered a need for a group like hers after hearing a radio interview with a craft hobbyist who sent about 1,000 handmade cards to deployed soldiers.

Allnock had a similar stash of unsent cards she created for special occasions, and she thought she could find a group that would forward them to overseas service members.

Back then, Allnock concedes, she didn?t spend much time thinking about the wars or the military. She just wanted to put her hobby to good use and clear out her extra cards.

She could not find an organization that would connect her with soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, so she created her own.

?It was an accident, but it was a meant-to-be accident,? she said.

After Allnock posted a message online looking for help, her first bite came from a nurse stationed at a combat hospital in Baghdad who volunteered to distribute the cards. Now, Operation Write Home sends packages with hand-made cards to 120 units across all service branches.

Allnock knows the cards are popular because of the stream of thank-you messages she receives. Her sitting room features six framed flags that flew over forward bases, and a pack of framed certificates signed by officers and senior enlisted soldiers.

These days, the nonprofit consumes about 60 hours a week for Allnock. Much of that time focuses on raising money, finding sponsors, sorting cards from thousands of hobbyists and assembling packages for deployed troops.

Each box gets a few pictures of her golden retriever.

She also makes time to create at least one of her own cards every day.

?I don?t mind putting in this many hours because I think of what they do, and how hard they work,? she said. ?Compared to them, I have nothing to complain about.?

Allnock also considers herself a teacher for other hobbyists. She hosts a regular online show from her home in which she demonstrates how to make different card designs. She invites guests to ?Stump Sandy? by challenging her with seemingly unmatchable materials. Most episodes generate more than 1,000 views.

She recognizes that the war in Afghanistan is ending, but she also sees a role for Operation Write Home in years to come. Bahrain, Djibouti and South Korea are among the current destinations for her packages.

?At some point, there?s going to be another big event, and we?ll ramp up,? she said. ?For now, we?re just staying steady and strong until they all come home.?

Links to the organization

On the Web:

http://operationwritehome.org/

On Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/opwritehome

On Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/colourfulvideo

Adam Ashton: 253-597-8646 adam.ashton@ thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/military

Source: http://www.theolympian.com/2013/01/30/2403243/operation-write-home-connects.html

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Cats killing 'billions of animals'

Cats are one of the top threats to US wildlife, killing billions of animals each year, a study suggests.

The authors estimate they are responsible for the deaths of between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds and 6.9-20.7 billion mammals annually.

Writing in Nature Communications, the scientists said stray and feral cats were the worst offenders.

However, they added that pet cats also played a role and that owners should do more to reduce their impact.

The authors concluded that more animals are dying at the claws of cats in the United States than in road accidents, collisions with buildings or poisonings.

The domestic cat's killer instinct of has been well documented on many islands around the world.

Felines accompanying their human companions have gone on to decimate local wildlife, and they have been blamed for the global extinction of 33 species.

But their impact on mainland areas has been harder to chart.

To find out more, researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service carried out a review of studies that had previously looked at the predatory prowess of cats.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

Our study suggests that they are the top threat to US wildlife?

End Quote Dr Pete Marra SCBI

Their analysis revealed that the cat killings were much higher than previous studies had suggested: they found that they had killed more than four times as many birds as has been previously estimated.

Birds native to the US, such as the American Robin, were most at risk, and mice, shrews, voles, squirrels and rabbits were the mammals most likely to be killed.

Dr Pete Marra from the SCBI said: "Our study suggests that they are the top threat to US wildlife."

The team said that "un-owned" cats, which they classified as strays, feral cats and farm cats, were killing about three times as many animals as pet cats, but that their owners could do more to limit the impact.

Dr Marra said: "We hope that the large amount of wildlife mortality indicated by our research convinces some cat owners to keep their cats indoors and that it alerts policymakers, wildlife managers and scientists to the large magnitude of wildlife mortality caused by cat predation."

A spokeswoman for the UK's animal welfare charity the RSPCA said that a properly fitted collar and bell could reduce a cat's success when hunting by at least a third.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21236690#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Savior One

Savior One

When faced with an overwhelming threat, the great nations of the world present their last hope.

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A Very Bad Sign (Powerlineblog)

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Santa Maria mourns its dead, calls for justice

Girls cry in front of a makeshift memorial outside the Kiss nightclub where a fire killed over 230 people in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. The repercussions of a tragic nightclub fire in southern Brazil widened Tuesday as mayors around the country cracked down on such venues in their own cities and investigators searched two other nightspots owned by a partner in the club that caught ablaze. Most of the dead were college students 18 to 21 years old, but they also included some minors. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Girls cry in front of a makeshift memorial outside the Kiss nightclub where a fire killed over 230 people in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. The repercussions of a tragic nightclub fire in southern Brazil widened Tuesday as mayors around the country cracked down on such venues in their own cities and investigators searched two other nightspots owned by a partner in the club that caught ablaze. Most of the dead were college students 18 to 21 years old, but they also included some minors. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A makeshift memorial that include pictures of the victims of the Kiss nightclub fatal fire is seen inside the gymnasium where a collective funeral was held a day earlier, in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. A fast-moving fire roared through the crowded, windowless nightclub, early Sunday, killing more than 230 people. The first funeral services were held Monday for the victims. Most of the dead were college students 18 to 21 years old, but they also included some minors. Almost all died from smoke inhalation. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A man prays in front of a makeshift memorial outside the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. A fast-moving fire roared through the crowded, windowless nightclub early Sunday, where there was no alarm, no working fire extinguisher, no sprinkler and almost no escape from the nightclub that became a death trap for more than 200 Brazilian college students. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A woman bows her head in front of a makeshift memorial outside the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. A fast-moving fire roared through the crowded, windowless nightclub early Sunday, where there was no alarm, no working fire extinguisher, no sprinkler and almost no escape from the nightclub that became a death trap for more than 200 Brazilian college students. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Marcia Gerhardt, a teacher who lost students in the fire at the Kiss nightclub, prays in front of a makeshift memorial outside the club in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. The repercussions of a tragic nightclub fire that killed more than 230 people in southern Brazil widened Tuesday as mayors around the country cracked down on such venues in their own cities and investigators searched two other nightspots owned by a partner in the club that caught ablaze. Most of the dead were college students 18 to 21 years old, but they also included some minors. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

(AP) ? The young law student sat alone in a pew, clutching a shirt on which she'd written the names of friends she'd lost in a weekend nightclub fire in this Brazilian college town.

It was grubby and wrinkled, as Halana Pinheiro Rubim alternately smoothed it out on her knees, tracing out the names, then clutched it and cried.

"Luiza Alves," she said, fingering the first name. "She was one of my closest friends. She was a fantastic cook and made the best lasagna. We'd always go to her house to study, then stay to eat."

"Andressa Brissow, and her sister, Louise Brissow. It was Loulou's birthday. She called all her friends. I should have been there. My name was on the guest list."

Crying, Rubim ran her hands over other names: Sabrina Mendes, Gilmara Oliveira, Pedro Mogental. "There are others in the hospital. There are so many names."

Throughout this college town in a prosperous corner of Brazil, residents seemed stunned on Tuesday, unable to digest the sudden tragedy that claimed the lives of 234 young people in a pre-dawn fire Sunday ? Santa Maria's lost generation.

As police pressed on with their investigation into the devastation at the Kiss nightclub, which had no fire alarm or sprinklers and only one exit, family and friends of the victims stepped beyond their pain to demand answers. What had gone wrong? Who had failed the town's children?

Their grief spilled over Monday night into a march by about 30,000 people who, dressed in white, coursed quietly through town. Every minute or so, a wave of clapping rippled through the river of mourners, starting at one end and running down the length of the street.

By Tuesday, grief had turned to anger. A group of mostly young people gathered in front of the mayor's office. Chanting "We want justice!" they held up placards bearing the faces of victims. Among them was Douglas Dorneles Medeiros, who lost his girlfriend, Thanise Correa Garcia.

Holding a banner with her photos, he said, "It was murder. These corrupt politicians must be held accountable. ... This was not an accident. It was a death foretold."

Images of desolation abounded. The cars of the young revelers who came to hear a local country band and died inside the gutted club early Sunday haunted its parking lot. In a gym where a mass wake had been held, posters with the victims' faces lingered, amid wilting lilies and white roses. Some contained messages of farewell to a friend or child; others simply said "Mourning" in large black letters.

There were also pointed calls for accountability. "No to impunity!" read one; "Why do we pay taxes? What are authorities doing?" said another.

"Families want an answer," said Camila Schreiner, a head of student government at the university's forestry engineering department. "Next week we go back to classes having lost many of our friends. We need an answer."

In the town's largest Catholic church, priests were doing double duty trying to comfort parishioners who waited quietly for their turn to speak privately in the pews or in the confessionals.

"We are on permanent call," said Father Nelson Luiz Pappis. People come for answers, but "a tragedy such as this one has no explanation."

What he offered were reminders. "For those who have faith, life doesn't end. We are in communion with those who have gone," he said. "And to keep on going, we look for solidarity with those who are here with us."

At the Federal University of Santa Maria, classrooms should have been bustling with students preparing for final exams. Instead, footsteps echoed Tuesday in the darkened hallways of the college, which lost 113 students, among them aspiring agronomists, veterinarians and forestry engineers.

Agronomy professor Toshio Nishijina threw up his hands in bewilderment as he walked among the deserted classrooms. "This should be full of students. This is always such a festive environment. It is so strange now," he said.

Some mourners tried to work through their grief by taking refuge in routine. Grasiele Melo Moreira was back at the counter selling jewelry in a small shop just around the corner from the nightclub where her best friend died.

She swallowed back tears as she described Patricia Pazzini Bairro, a friend with whom bonds were as tight as with family. Bairro had been her maid of honor, Moreira said. When Bairro's son, Gabriel, was born, she asked Moreira to be godmother.

Bairro and her husband, Vandelcork Marques Lara Junior, went into the club about 10 minutes before the fire to pick up her 18-year-old sister, Greicy. The teenager had gotten into college and was celebrating with her boyfriend. All died in the fire.

"Pat always took such good care of her sister," said Moreira, shaking her head at the senseless of it all. "She wanted to be sure she got home safe.

"Justice won't bring them back," she said. "But it can prevent other deaths."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-29-Brazil-Fire-A%20Town%20in%20Mourning/id-90d81a56308f4c33bbf050583e6297a8

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Mali to receive $18.4 million loan from IMF

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mali, the strife-torn West African nation, has been approved to receive an $18.4 million loan from the International Monetary Fund to help stabilize its economy over the next 12 months, the IMF said on Monday.

The Fund said approval of the loan, under its Rapid Credit Facility, will not fulfill all the government's needs but should send a signal that Mali's economy is on the right path, prompting other donors to offer financial assistance.

The IMF first announced in November that it had agreed on a loan with Mali, subject to board approval.

"The disbursement ... is designed to help Mali deal with urgent balance of payments need and catalyze financial support from Mali's international partners, which is critical to Mali's economic recovery," the IMF said in a statement.

Other donors that often support Mali include the World Bank, the African Development Bank and France, the IMF said.

The facility is a quick-disbursing fund for poor countries recovering from natural disasters or conflict.

The United States and the European Union are backing a French-led intervention in Mali against al Qaeda-allied militants they fear could use the West African state's desert north as a springboard for international attacks.

"Mali's economy is traversing a particularly difficult period as a result of the 2011 drought, insurgent attacks in the north of the country and political instability in the wake of the military coup in March 2012," the IMF said.

However, the IMF's mission chief to the West African country, Christian Josz, said Mali is making an effort to improve its economy, which should expand by 4.5 percent this year after contracting in 2012, especially if the weather is favorable to crops.

"But of course there are many uncertainties," he told reporters on Monday.

Mali received a $46 million IMF loan in 2011 but canceled it after soldiers toppled the president in March 2012 and al Qaeda-linked militants seized northern cities.

A leading producer of gold and cotton, Mali faces a budget shortfall, especially since the European Union and the United States suspended aid after the coup.

For 2013, Mali faces a budget shortfall of $110 million, but it will freeze spending unless it is able to plug the gap with development aid from donors, the IMF said.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani and Anna Yukhananov; editing by Phil Berlowitz and Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mali-receive-18-4-million-loan-imf-220326555.html

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Monday, January 28, 2013

The Decayed & Blooming Blossoms

Megan?s boots hit against the concrete in a rhythmic beat down the alley way as she blasted Dir En Grey music through her headphones. She arrived at a gate, rang the doorbell, and soon after the gate creaked open. Megan continued onwards, making her way to Dais apartment as she walked up metal steps. She had grown pretty close to the band lately, ever since that event that went on in Fuji and Dai had helped fix the ipod her mother had given her. She lightly tapped Dais door with her knuckles and walked in. She was wearing ripped skinny jeans, a black tank top, and her hair had been dyed brown. It had given her a smoother look and toned down how much she stood out when she was around them. She took a seat a bit of ways from Dai and Kyo.

Not only had she been hanging with them recently, but she has been tagging along to things like their rehearsals or concerts, etc. Dai had invited and he had said it was ok, so she never refused. She loved their music and wouldn?t let an opportunity of listening to good music go to waste, or to even see it created.

She hung her head and scrolled through her numerous playlists, remaining quiet. It had finally caught on to her she should at least say hi and looked up.

?Sorry?um?hi,? she said simply in Japanese. She still spoke their language poorly, so when she did talk, she tried to use simple words. Since?those were the only kind she knew. It wasn?t as hard as learning French, she was just scared to get too into the language and become close to people.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/YZyN-iAkraY/viewtopic.php

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Refugees again, Palestinians flee Syria's war

EIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon (AP) ? When Syrian warplanes bombed a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus last December, Umm Sami rounded up her three sons, shut the windows and locked the doors so they could neither hear nor heed the call to arms by rebels and pro-government gunmen fighting in the streets.

Then she told her sons they were leaving their home in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital for neighboring Lebanon, where they would wait out Syria's civil war.

"There will be no more martyrs for Palestine in my family," Umm Sami said, who only gave her nickname for fear of reprisals. "This war is a Syrian problem."

Now safe in Lebanon, the 45-year-old widow and her family have joined thousands of other Palestinian refugees who have found shelter in the country since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad erupted nearly two years ago. The conflict has left more than 2 million people internally displaced, and pushed 650,000 more to seek refuge abroad.

Umm Sami's resolve to keep her sons out of the fight in Syria ties into a deep-rooted sentiment among a generation of Palestinian refugees who say they are fed up with being dragged into the region's conflicts on a promise of getting their own state.

The Palestinian exodus from Syria has also revived a decades-old debate over the refugees' right of return to their homes that are now in Israel. That has added another layer of complexity to a conflict already loaded with sectarian and ethnic overtones that have spilled over into neighboring countries, raising fears of a regional war.

Palestinians living in Arab countries ? including the half-million refugees in Syria ? are descendants of the hundreds of thousands who fled or were driven from their homes in the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948. Having scattered across the Middle East since then, Palestinians consistently have found themselves in the middle of the region's conflicts.

After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam Hussein, hundreds of Palestinians were killed as the Sunni and Shiite militias fought for dominance of the country. Iraq's Shiite majority saw Saddam, who like most Palestinians was a Sunni Muslim, as a patron of the stateless Palestinians, granting them rights the dictator denied his own citizens because they were of the rival sect.

About 1,000 Palestinians fled the 2004-07 sectarian bloodshed in Baghdad, living in a refugee camp near the Syrian border before being resettled in third countries.

During Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, Palestinians played a major role, fighting alongside Muslim militiamen against Christian forces.

Umm Sami, who was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon before the war, was twice forced to flee the fighting, most notably in 1982 when her family escaped the Sabra and Chatilla camps during the notorious massacre of Palestinians there by Christian militias.

She would eventually bury her father, two brothers and her husband ? all fallen fighters ? before leaving for Syria and settling with her four sons in Yarmouk, one of nine Palestinian camps in Syria.

Her youngest son died in a traffic accident while serving in the Palestinian unit of the Syrian army just weeks before the anti-Assad revolt started in March 2011. None of her other sons joined the revolution, she said, because "they don't want to die."

Unlike in Lebanon, where Palestinians are cramped into notoriously lawless camps, banned from all but the most menial professions and barred from owning property, Palestinians in Syria are well integrated and enjoy full citizenship rights, except for the right to vote.

But when the uprising against Assad erupted in the southern province of Daraa in March 2011, some Palestinians living in a camp there joined in the peaceful protests. When the fighting spread to the northern city of Aleppo in last summer, some took up arms against the regime.

In Damascus, most stayed on the sidelines, but as the civil war reached Yarmouk late last year, a densely populated residential area just 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the heart of the capital, most residents backed the rebels. Some groups, however, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, opted to fight alongside Assad's troops.

Palestinian officials say more than 700 Palestinians have been killed in the Yarmouk fighting. Most of the camp's 150,000 inhabitants have fled, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Some of them have found safe haven in areas of Damascus and other Syrian cities, but most have escaped to camps in Lebanon.

"We go from catastrophe to catastrophe, from refugee camp to refugee camp, but at least we are alive," Umm Sami said in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, near the southern port city of Sidon. She and her sons, who are all in their 20s and university graduates, fled Yarmouk with only the clothes on their backs, leaving behind a two-bedroom apartment and jobs that paid the bills.

Now, they are jobless in Lebanon, officially barred from legal employment, and left to live off help from relatives and handouts from the camp's mosques.

Ein en-Hilweh normally houses 65,000 people, but since mid-December, when a flood of refugees from Yarmouk started arriving, the population has steadily grown by several hundred a day, putting a further strain on resources.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon last month to seek Israeli permission to bring Palestinians caught in Syria's civil war to their homeland. Last week, he said that Israel agreed to allow 150,000 Palestinians refugees from Syrian into the West Bank and Gaza ? as long as they relinquished the right of return to what is now Israel. Abbas said he refused.

With no end to the Syria conflict in sight, residents of Ein el-Hilweh have started building a camp within a refugee camp for their compatriots escaping the violence across the border.

They've converted the camp's children's library into housing for dozens of families. Reading rooms, offices, hallways and even bathrooms have been partitioned with makeshift walls, boards and even blankets as families try to carve out space to cook, eat and sleep.

In the library's front yard, a new structure is being built to house at least 10 more families.

"We do what we can to help and find them a home, because they are not going back to Syria soon," said Sheik Jamal Khatab, who oversees the registration of refugees and distribution of aid.

The biggest challenge facing the Palestinian refugees, Khatab said, is not to be dragged into the Syrian civil war ? on either side. He also warned that the hardship awaiting Palestinians after the war ends will be tougher than the one they have been living as stateless people.

"It's in our interest not to interfere in this conflict, even though the Syrian regime is a tyrannical regime," he said. "We are not Syrians, and any side that will win this war will consider us enemies."

___

Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/refugees-again-palestinians-flee-syrias-war-063528290.html

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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Guild gold: Actors gather for SAG's big night

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A puzzling Academy Awards season will sort itself out a bit more on Sunday with the Screen Actors Guild Awards, where top performers gather to honor their own in what often is a prelude for who'll go home with an Oscar.

Among nominees for the 19th annual guild awards are Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones for the Civil War epic "Lincoln"; Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway for the Victor Hugo musical adaptation "Les Miserables"; and Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Oscar recipient Robert De Niro for the oddball romance "Silver Linings Playbook."

De Niro and Jones are in an exclusive supporting-actors group where all five nominees are past Oscar winners. The others are Alan Arkin for the Iran hostage-crisis thriller "Argo," Javier Bardem for the James Bond adventure "Skyfall" and Philip Seymour Hoffman for the cult drama "The Master."

Honors from the actors union, next weekend's Directors Guild of America Awards and Saturday night's Producers Guild of America Awards ? whose top honor went to "Argo" ? typically help to establish clear favorites for the Oscars.

But Oscar night on Feb. 24 looks more uncertain this time after some top directing prospects, including Ben Affleck for "Argo" and Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty," missed out on nominations. Both films were nominated for best picture, but a movie rarely wins the top Oscar if its director is not also in the running.

Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" would seem the Oscar favorite with 12 nominations. Yet "Argo" and Affleck were surprise best-drama and director winners at the Golden Globes, and then there's Saturday's Producers Guild win for "Argo," leaving the Oscar race looking like anybody's guess.

The Screen Actors Guild honors at least should help to establish solid front-runners for the stars. All four of the guild's individual acting winners often go on to receive the same prizes at the Academy Awards.

Last year, the guild went just three-for-four ? with lead actor Jean Dujardin of "The Artist" and supporting players Octavia Spencer of "The Help" and Christopher Plummer of "Beginners" also taking home Oscars. The guild's lead-actress winner, Viola Davis of "The Help," missed out on the Oscar, which went to Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady."

The guild also presents an award for overall cast performance, its equivalent of a best-picture honor. The nominees are "Argo," ''The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," ''Les Miserables," ''Lincoln" and "Silver Linings Playbook."

Yet the cast prize has a spotty record at predicting the eventual best-picture recipient at the Oscars. Only eight of 17 times since the guild added the category has the cast winner gone on to take the best-picture Oscar. "The Help" won the guild's cast prize last year, while Oscar voters named "The Artist" as best picture.

Such past guild cast winners as "The Birdcage," ''Gosford Park" and "Inglourious Basterds" also failed to take the top Oscar.

Airing live on TNT and TBS, the show features nine television categories, as well.

The SAG ceremony also includes awards for film and TV stunt ensemble. The film stunt nominees are "The Amazing Spider-Man," ''The Bourne Legacy," ''The Dark Knight Rises," ''Les Miserables" and "Skyfall."

Receiving the guild's life-achievement award is Dick Van Dyke, who presented the same prize last year to his "The Dick Van Dyke Show" co-star, Mary Tyler Moore. Van Dyke's award will be presented by his 1960s sitcom's creator and co-star, Carl Reiner, and Alec Baldwin.

___

Online:

http://www.sagawards.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/guild-gold-actors-gather-sags-big-night-162112454.html

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Measuring the consequence of forest fires on public health

Measuring the consequence of forest fires on public health [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Hilary Glover
hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com
44-020-319-22370
BioMed Central

Pollution from forest fires is impacting the health of people with asthma and other chronic obstructive lung diseases, finds a study in Biomed Central's open access journal Environmental Health. This study uses data from pharmacies and dispensaries to measure the increase in drugs needed to alleviate symptoms associated with pollution.

Forest fires burn nearly 1000 km2 of trees in British Columbia every year. The Ministry of Environment keeps a close watch on levels of particulate matter in the air caused by these fires but it is harder to measure the impact of this pollution on the health of people unless they are admitted to hospital.

Researchers from British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and University of British Columbia used dispensary records to find out if forest fires caused an increase in use of short acting beta agonist (SABA) such as salbutamol. Salbutamol sulphate is typically used as an inhaler to relive symptoms of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other obstructive lung diseases.

What they found was that pollution due to forest fires increased the need for salbutamol for up to 4 days after the fire even a relatively small increase in smoke (10g/m3 increase in PM2.5) was associated with a 6% increase in salbutamol dispensations.

Dr Catherine Elliott, who led this study commented, "Our study shows that forest fires and pollution are impacting the health of people with chronic lung diseases. It also shows that it is possible to measure public health by monitoring dispensary databases, and that dispensary data shows effects in small populations, that have not been found in studies on other health measures such as visits to physicians' offices. This information is often routinely collected, and available for the entire population, consequently it is possible to perform more meaningful analysis."

###

Media Contact

Dr Hilary Glover
Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central
Mob: 44-778-698-1967

Notes

1. Time series analysis of fine particulate matter and asthma reliever dispensations in populations affected by forest fires
Catherine T Elliott, Sarah B Henderson and Victoria Wan
Environmental Health (in press)

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request on the day of publication.

2. Environmental Health is an open access, peer-reviewed journal devoted exclusively to Environmental Health, and thus serves the important objective of making reliable and important scientific information widely and easily available, without charge, to readers worldwide.

3. BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector. @BioMedCentral


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Measuring the consequence of forest fires on public health [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Hilary Glover
hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com
44-020-319-22370
BioMed Central

Pollution from forest fires is impacting the health of people with asthma and other chronic obstructive lung diseases, finds a study in Biomed Central's open access journal Environmental Health. This study uses data from pharmacies and dispensaries to measure the increase in drugs needed to alleviate symptoms associated with pollution.

Forest fires burn nearly 1000 km2 of trees in British Columbia every year. The Ministry of Environment keeps a close watch on levels of particulate matter in the air caused by these fires but it is harder to measure the impact of this pollution on the health of people unless they are admitted to hospital.

Researchers from British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and University of British Columbia used dispensary records to find out if forest fires caused an increase in use of short acting beta agonist (SABA) such as salbutamol. Salbutamol sulphate is typically used as an inhaler to relive symptoms of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other obstructive lung diseases.

What they found was that pollution due to forest fires increased the need for salbutamol for up to 4 days after the fire even a relatively small increase in smoke (10g/m3 increase in PM2.5) was associated with a 6% increase in salbutamol dispensations.

Dr Catherine Elliott, who led this study commented, "Our study shows that forest fires and pollution are impacting the health of people with chronic lung diseases. It also shows that it is possible to measure public health by monitoring dispensary databases, and that dispensary data shows effects in small populations, that have not been found in studies on other health measures such as visits to physicians' offices. This information is often routinely collected, and available for the entire population, consequently it is possible to perform more meaningful analysis."

###

Media Contact

Dr Hilary Glover
Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central
Mob: 44-778-698-1967

Notes

1. Time series analysis of fine particulate matter and asthma reliever dispensations in populations affected by forest fires
Catherine T Elliott, Sarah B Henderson and Victoria Wan
Environmental Health (in press)

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request on the day of publication.

2. Environmental Health is an open access, peer-reviewed journal devoted exclusively to Environmental Health, and thus serves the important objective of making reliable and important scientific information widely and easily available, without charge, to readers worldwide.

3. BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector. @BioMedCentral


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/bc-mtc012513.php

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AP Interview: Haiti eyes tourism, other businesses

(AP) ? Haiti's prime minister says his deeply poor country is aiming to attract high-end tourists and multinational investors ? instead of constant handouts ? to get on its feet after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe recognizes that's an ambitious dream for a country where 52 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and infrastructure is desperately lacking.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Lamothe said Saturday that "Haiti is open for business." He's pushing that idea ? and a bid to build up Haiti's tourism industry ? in meetings with CEOs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Haiti still has huge humanitarian needs, but Lamothe says the Caribbean nation does not want to live on international handouts forever.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-26-Davos%20Forum-Haiti/id-bee8cb7334cf44c2a9a5f63a791e66b2

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News in Brief: Drug restores lost hearing

Loud noises can damage sensitive inner ear cells

By Laura Sanders

Web edition: January 25, 2013
Print edition: February 9, 2013; Vol.183 #3 (p. 8)

Enlarge

Credit: K. Mizutari et al/Neuron 2013

A new drug may be able to combat noise-induced hearing loss. Loud noises can damage sensitive inner ear cells called hair cells (mouse hair cells shown), which in mammals don?t grow back. That?s why rock musicians, factory workers, carpenters and other people who are surrounded by loud sounds often suffer hearing loss. A study in mice may point out a way to reverse the effects of this acoustical trauma. The compound LY411575, a type of molecule called a gamma-secretase inhibitor, got these hair cells growing again. After receiving an injection of the drug in the ear, mice with cochleas damaged by loud white noise sprouted new hair cells. What?s more, these newborn cells partially restored the animals? hearing, researchers led by Albert Edge of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston report in the Jan. 9 Neuron. A similar drug may one day reverse hearing loss in people.?


K. Mizutari et al. Notch inhibition induces cochlear hair cell regeneration and recovery of hearing after acoustic trauma. Neuron. Vol. 77, January 9, 2013. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.10.032. Available online: [Go to]

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/347807/title/News_in_Brief_Drug_restores_lost_hearing

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Gretzky's Mansion For Sale, Paulina Not Included

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/gretzkys-mansion-for-sale-paulina-not-included/

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Factory activity gains speed, jobless claims drop

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Factory activity grew the most in nearly two years in January and the number of new claims for jobless benefits dropped to a five-year low last week, giving surprisingly strong signals on the economy's pulse.

Financial information firm Markit on Thursday said its preliminary Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing rose to 56.1 this month, its best showing since March 2011. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 5,000 to 330,000, the lowest since January 2008 when the 2007-2009 recession had just begun.

Together, the data suggest the economy entered the new year with some underlying momentum despite an ongoing political battle in Washington over fiscal policy.

"The economy is structurally doing a little bit better," said Michael Strauss, an economist at Commonfund in Wilton, Connecticut.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected Markit's "flash" factory gauge to slip and looked for claims to rise to 355,000.

The unexpectedly strong U.S. data helped U.S. stocks to rise, reversing early declines caused by disappointing revenues reported by Apple Inc. Better-than-expected economic news from the euro zone and China also supported stocks.

Economists have cautioned about reading too deeply into this month's figures on jobless claims, which tend to be volatile around this time of the year because of large swings in the model the government uses to iron out seasonal fluctuations.

Still, claims have fallen for two straight weeks, suggesting employers do not yet see tax hikes enacted this month as a big threat to consumer demand.

A four-week moving average for new claims, meant to provide a better sense of underlying trends, fell 8,250 to 351,750, the lowest since March 2008.

The data helped the dollar extend gains versus the yen, while U.S. Treasury debt prices fell.

PRE-RECESSION LEVEL

Claims are now at roughly the same level they were in much of 2006 and 2007. They started trending higher around December 2007, the month the recession began.

However, while employers have pulled back on layoffs, they have only added jobs at a lackluster pace.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect the government's employment report due on February 1 will show 165,000 jobs were added to payrolls this month, up from 155,000 new positions in December. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 7.8 percent.

Like the claims data, Markit's factory report also offered support for the idea that the labor market recovery was gaining traction with new jobs in the sector being created at the fastest pace in nine months.

A Markit subindex showed factory output grew at its fastest pace since March 2012, while new orders also rose. The new orders gauge hit 57.7, its highest level since May 2010.

Improved economic conditions in China and some parts of Europe helped boost orders from abroad, but firms largely tied the growth surge to higher demand from U.S. customers.

"It is the domestic market that is clearly providing the main impetus to the upturn," said Markit chief economist Chris Williamson.

Aggressive monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve and a last-minute deal by Congress to reduce the size of the tax hike gave a boost to business confidence, Williamson said.

A third gauge of economic health released on Thursday also beat analysts' forecasts. The private Conference Board's Leading Economic Index gained 0.5 percent to 93.9 last month, pointing to an improvement in growth.

(Additional reporting by Steven C. Johnson and Richard Leong in New York; Writing by Jason Lange and Tim Ahmann; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jobless-claims-drop-five-low-labor-market-healing-133257002--business.html

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Love triumphs over hate to make exotic new compound: Compound could be useful in batteries, semiconductors, memory devices

Jan. 24, 2013 ? Northwestern University graduate student Jonathan Barnes had a hunch for creating an exotic new chemical compound, and his idea that the force of love is stronger than hate proved correct. He and his colleagues are the first to permanently interlock two identical tetracationic rings that normally are repelled by each other. Many experts had said it couldn't be done.

On the surface, the rings hate each other because each carries four positive charges (making them tetracationic). But Barnes discovered by introducing radicals (unpaired electrons) onto the scene, the researchers could create a love-hate relationship in which love triumphs.

Unpaired electrons want to pair up and be stable, and it turns out the attraction of one ring's single electrons to the other ring's single electrons is stronger than the repelling forces.

The process links the rings not by a chemical bond but by a mechanical bond, which, once in place, cannot easily be torn asunder.

The study detailing this new class of stable organic radicals will be published Jan. 25 by the journal Science.

"It's not that people have tried and failed to put these two rings together -- they just didn't think it was possible," said Sir Fraser Stoddart, a senior author of the paper. "Now this molecule has been made. I cannot overemphasize Jonathan's achievement -- it is really outside the box. Now we are excited to see where this new chemistry leads us."

Sir Fraser is the Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern. In the late 1980s, he was one of the early pioneers to introduce an additional type of bond, the mechanical bond, into chemical compounds.

The new Northwestern compound has attractive electronic characteristics and can be made quickly and inexpensively. Down the road, it may be possible to expand this first linked pair into a longer chain-like polymer where this methodology could be useful in new technologies for batteries, semiconductors and electronic memory devices.

Driven by curiosity, Barnes only began to look at the radical chemistry of the ring cyclobis (paraquat-p-phenylene) two years ago, nearly 25 years after the ring was first made.

"I wondered what would happen if we took it all the way to the max," said Barnes, the paper's first author and a member of Stoddart's group. "Can we take two of these rings, each with four positive charges, and make them live together?"

The rings repel each other like the positive poles of two magnets. Barnes saw an opportunity where he thought he could tweak the chemistry by using radicals to overcome the hate between the two rings.

"We made these rings communicate and love each other under certain conditions, and once they were mechanically interlocked, the bond could not be broken," Barnes said.

Barnes' first strategy -- adding electrons to temporarily reduce the charge and bring the two rings together -- worked the first time he tried it. He, Stoddart and their colleagues started with a full ring and a half ring that they then closed up around the first ring (using some simple chemistry), creating the mechanical bond.

When the compound is oxidized and electrons lost, the strong positive forces come roaring back -- "It's hate on all the time," Barnes said -- but then it is too late for the rings to be parted. "That's the beauty of this system," he added.

Most organic radicals possess short lifetimes, but this unusual radical compound is stable in air and water. The compound tucks the electrons away inside the structure so they can't react with anything in the environment. The tight mechanical bond endures despite the unfavorable electrostatic interactions.

The two interlocked rings house an immense amount of charge in a mere cubic nanometer of space. The compound, a homo[2]catenane, can adopt one of six oxidation states and can accept up to eight electrons in total.

"Anything that accepts this many electrons has possibilities for batteries," Barnes said.

"Applications beckon," Stoddart agreed. "Now we need to spend more time with materials scientists and people who make devices to see how this amazing compound can be used."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Northwestern University. The original article was written by Megan Fellman.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. J. C. Barnes, A. C. Fahrenbach, D. Cao, S. M. Dyar, M. Frasconi, M. A. Giesener, D. Benitez, E. Tkatchouk, O. Chernyashevskyy, W. H. Shin, H. Li, S. Sampath, C. L. Stern, A. A. Sarjeant, K. J. Hartlieb, Z. Liu, R. Carmieli, Y. Y. Botros, J. W. Choi, A. M. Z. Slawin, J. B. Ketterson, M. R. Wasielewski, W. A. Goddard, J. F. Stoddart. A Radically Configurable Six-State Compound. Science, 2013; 339 (6118): 429 DOI: 10.1126/science.1228429

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/XJ_pqCmMTeI/130124150756.htm

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Islamists destroy bridge near Niger border in Mali

Malian troops man an observation post outside Sevare, some 620 kms (400 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida-linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French airstrikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Malian troops man an observation post outside Sevare, some 620 kms (400 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida-linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French airstrikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

French soldiers fill up their tank at a local petrol station in Sevare, some 620 kilometers (385 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The French currently have some 2,400 forces in the country and have said that they will stay as long as needed in Mali, a former French colony. However, they have called for African nations to take the lead in fortifying the Malian army's efforts. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

French soldiers man an observation post outside Sevare, some 620 kms (400 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida-linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French airstrikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Adama Drabo, 16, stands in the police station in Sevare, some 620 kilometers (385 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Drabo, who said he was captured traveling without papers by Malian troops and eventually handed over to Gendarmes in Sevare, was arrested on suspicion of working for Islamic militant group MUJAO and caught trying to flee south, police said. A farmer's son from Niono, he admitted to having worked in the kitchens of a jihadist training base in Douentza for the past month. Drabo said his only motivation in joining the Islamic militant group had been to earn a wage, having struggled to find work at home, and that he was one of the youngest recruits on the base. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Adama Drabo, 16, sits in the police station in Sevare, some 620 kilometers (385 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Drabo, who said he was captured travelling without papers by Malian troops and eventually handed over to Gendarmes in Sevare, was arrested on suspicion of working for Islamic militant group MUJAO and caught trying to flee south, Police said. A farmer's son from Niono, he admitted to having worked in the kitchens of a jihadist training base in Douentza for the past month. Drabo said his only motivation in joining the Islamic militant group had been to earn a wage, having struggled to find work at home, and that he was one of the youngest recruits on the base. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

SEVARE, Mali (AP) ? Islamic extremists based in the Malian town of Ansongo have destroyed a bridge near the Niger border, officials said on Friday, marking the first use of explosives by the insurgents since the start of a French-led military intervention exactly two weeks ago.

The explosion shows that the extremists remain a nimble and daunting enemy, despite gains by the French, who have recaptured three towns from the insurgents and on Friday pushed toward the Islamist stronghold of Gao, one of three provincial capitals controlled by the al-Qaida-linked rebels.

Djibril Diallo, the village chief of Fafa, located 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the bridge, said by telephone on Friday that residents of his town had called him to confirm that members of the Movement for the Oneness and Jihad in West Africa had traveled toward the border with Niger to the outskirts of Tassiga on Thursday, before destroying the bridge crossing into the town. The rebel group, also known as MUJAO, traveled from the locality of Ansongo, roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Tassiga.

"That's exactly right. They exploded it. It was last night at around 9 p.m. The Islamists left their barracks in Ansongo after the airstrikes, and headed toward Niger. They caused the collapse of the bridge near the town of Tassiga, not far from Niger," said Diallo.

Julie Damond, a spokeswoman with aid group Doctors Without Borders, which has a team in Ansongo, said no injuries were directly related to the explosion. However, several people were being treated in the Ansongo hospital after a bus they were riding in fell into a hole in the bridge caused by the blast, she told The Associated Press by telephone from Bamako, the Malian capital.

The attack recalls insurgent tactics used in Iraq and Afghanistan. It appeared aimed at stopping the advance of African troops, stationed in neighboring Niger, who are expected to travel by road into Mali past Tassiga in order to retake the strategic town of Gao. However, the bridge is not the only way to cross the body of water, said Ibrahim Ag Idbaltanate, a former deputy in Mali's parliament from the district where Tassiga is located.

"It's a bridge that is especially used to cross the canyon during the rainy season, when there is a lot of water. But you can make a detour of 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 kilometers) and find another way to continue on the Niger-Gao road," he said.

However, the bombing of the bridge in Tassiga should cause concern about the strategic bridge leading into the city of Gao itself, said several officials.

An elected official from northern Mali, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisal, said that fighters belonging to MUJAO were seen on the bridge leading to Gao overnight, and there were reports that they planned to bomb it. They then abandoned the idea.

"Their intention was to dynamite it. But finally they decided not to. I don't know why they abandoned their plan to do so," the official said.

Despite these setbacks, Mali's military and French forces pushed toward Gao on Friday, in their farthest push north and east since launching an operation two weeks ago to retake land controlled by the rebels, residents and a security official said Friday. The soldiers were seen in the town of Hombori, according to residents, who said they stayed several hours in the area before heading back westward.

"They were in eight all-terrain vehicles and two armored vehicles," said Maouloud Daou, a resident of Hombori. "They asked us if there were Islamists in the town and we told them they had left. People were very happy to see the Malian and French military."

A Malian security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, confirmed the advance.

Hombori is located 93 miles (150 kilometers) beyond the current line of control in Douentza, which came back under government forces earlier in the week. The northeastward push puts them just 155 miles (250 kilometers) away from Gao, one of the three main northern cities held by Islamists since last April when the rebels took advantage of the chaotic aftermath of a coup in Mali's capital to seize Mali's northern half, an area larger than Afghanistan.

Since France began its military operation two weeks ago with a barrage of airstrikes followed by a land assault, the Islamists have retreated from three cities in Central Mali, including Diabaly, Konna and Douentza. The Islamists still control the majority of the territory in Mali's north, most importantly the three provincial capitals in the north, including Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.

The French currently have some 2,400 forces in the country and have said that they will stay as long as needed in Mali, a former French colony. However, they have called for African nations to take the lead in fortifying the Malian army's efforts. There are currently some 1,750 troops from countries in the region, including Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Senegal, Niger and Chad.

Britain's Ministry of Defense on Friday said it was deploying a spy plane, a Sentinel R-1 aircraft, to Mali to help with the military intervention. The specially modified jet's radar can be used to hunt ground targets. Britain already has deployed two C-17 cargo planes to aid the offensive.

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Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Mopti, Mali, Jamey Keaten in Dakar, Senegal, and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-25-Mali-Fighting/id-1a39656912574d71b5ae8431040a1ce4

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