PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) ? Actor Sean Penn has been named ambassador at large for Haiti in recognition of his humanitarian work since the 2010 earthquake.
The Hollywood star received the honor from Haitiian President Michel Martelly at a special ceremony Tuesday evening at the National Palace.
Martelly thanked Penn for keeping the spotlight on the Caribbean nation.
The president joked that the "only downside" to Penn's new position is that he can no longer call the actor by his first name. Now Penn will be called "Ambassador."
Penn's J/P Haitian Relief Organization was set up a few months after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake to oversee a settlement camp where thousands of people displaced by the disaster lived.
LOS ANGELES, Jan 30 (TheWrap.com) ? Silent-film star Charlie Chaplin might seem like an unlikely candidate as the subject of a Broadway musical, but it will soon be a reality.
"Becoming Chaplin," based on the life of the mustachioed Hollywood star who became an icon with his Little Tramp persona, will open on Broadway during the 2012-2013 season.
The production -- which began life as "Limelight," which ran at the La Jolla Playhouse in California in 2010 -- will be produced by Bob and Mindy Rich and John and Claire Caudwell, who are responsible for the upcoming production of "Jesus Christ Superstar," with Roy Gabay also producing.
Christopher Curtis is writing the songs, with a book by Thomas Meehan (whose credits include "The Producers" and "Hairspray").
Warren Carlyle ("Finian's Rainbow") will direct and choreograph. Casting has not yet begun on the production.
FILE In this Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006 file photo Vladimir Putin, then Russian President, right, and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad smile as they shake hands in Moscow's Kremlin. Russia defied international efforts to end a crackdown on civilians by Assad regime, shielding it from the United Nations sanctions and providing it with weapons. (AP photo/RIA Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press service, file)
FILE In this Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006 file photo Vladimir Putin, then Russian President, right, and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad smile as they shake hands in Moscow's Kremlin. Russia defied international efforts to end a crackdown on civilians by Assad regime, shielding it from the United Nations sanctions and providing it with weapons. (AP photo/RIA Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press service, file)
FILE In this file photo taken on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009, a Russian Yak-130 training jet is seen at MAKS-2009 (the International Aviation and Space Show) in Zhukovsky, Russia. Russia defied international efforts to end a crackdown on civilians by President bashar Assad regime, shielding it from the United Nations sanctions and providing it with weapons. The respected newspaper Kommersant reported this week that Syria has ordered 36 Yak-130 combat jets worth $550 million. The deal, which officials wouldn't confirm or deny, may signal preparations for even bigger purchases of combat planes. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, file)
MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's defiance of international efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad's crackdown on protests is rooted in a calculation that it can keep a Mideast presence by propping up its last remaining ally in the region ? and has nothing to lose if it fails.
The Kremlin has put itself in conflict with the West as it shields Assad's regime from United Nations sanctions and continues to provide it with weapons even as others impose arms embargoes.
But Moscow's relations with Washington are already strained amid controversy over U.S. missile defense plans and other disputes. And Prime Minister Vladimir Putin seems eager to defy the U.S. as he campaigns to reclaim the presidency in March elections.
"It would make no sense for Russia to drop its support for Assad," said Ruslan Pukhov, head of the independent Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. "He is Russia's last remaining ally in the Middle East, allowing it to preserve some influence in the region."
Moscow may also hope that Assad can hang on to power with its help and repay Moscow with more weapons contracts and other lucrative deals.
And observers note that even as it has nothing to lose from backing Assad, it has nothing to gain from switching course and supporting the opposition.
"Russia has crossed the Rubicon," said Igor Korotchenko, head of the Center for Analysis of Global Weapons Trade.
He said Russia will always be marked as the patron of the Assad regime regardless of the conflict's outcome, so there's little incentive to build bridges with the protesters. The U.N. estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed since the uprising began in March.
"Russia will be seen as the dictator's ally. If Assad's regime is driven from power, it will mean an end to Russia's presence," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs.
Syria has been Moscow's top ally in the Middle East since Soviet times, when it was led by the incumbent's father, Hafez Assad. The Kremlin saw it as a bulwark for countering U.S. influence in the region and heavily armed Syria against Israel.
While Russia's relations with Israel have improved greatly since the Soviet collapse, ties with Damascus helped Russia retain its clout as a member of the Quartet of international mediators trying to negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
After Bashar Assad succeeded his father in 2000, Russia sought to boost ties by agreeing to annul 73 percent of Syria's Soviet-era debt. In the mid-2000s, Putin said Russia would re-establish its place in the Mideast via "the Syria route."
Syria's port of Tartus is now the only naval base Russia has outside the former Soviet Union. A Russian navy squadron made a call there this month in what was seen by many as a show of support for Assad.
For decades, Syria has been a major customer for the Russian arms industries, buying billions of dollars' worth of combat jets, missiles, tanks and other heavy weapons. And unlike some other nations, such as Venezuela, which obtained Russian weapons on Kremlin loans, Assad's regime paid cash.
The respected newspaper Kommersant reported this week that Syria has ordered 36 Yak-130 combat jets worth $550 million. The deal, which officials wouldn't confirm or deny, may signal preparations for even bigger purchases of combat planes.
Korotchenko said Syria needs the jets to train its pilots to fly the advanced MiG-29M or MiG-35 fighter jets it wants to purchase: "It's a precursor of future deals."
Korotchenko said Syria's importance as a leading importer of Russian weapons in the region grew after the loss of the lucrative Iraqi and Libyan markets.
Russia, whose abstention in a U.N. vote cleared the way for military intervention in Libya, later voiced frustration with what it described as a disproportional use of force by NATO.
The Kremlin has vowed not to allow a replay of the Libyan strategy in Syria, warning that it would block any U.N. resolution on Syria lacking a clear ban on any foreign military interference.
Moscow accuses the West of turning a blind eye to shipments of weapons to the Syrian opposition and warns it won't be bound by Western sanctions.
Earlier this month, a Syria-bound Russian ship allegedly carrying tons of munitions was stopped by officials in Cyprus, an EU member, who said it was violating an EU arms embargo. The ship's captain promised to head to Turkey but then made a dash to Syria.
Asked about the ship, Russia's foreign minister bluntly responded that Moscow owes neither explanation nor apology to anyone because it has broken no international rules.
Nonetheless, Moscow has shown restraint in its arms trade with Damascus, avoiding the sales of weapons that could significantly tilt the military balance in the region.
In one example, the Kremlin has turned down Damascus' requests for truck-mounted Iskander missiles that can hit ground targets 280 kilometers (175 miles) away with deadly precision. While the sale of such missiles wouldn't be banned under any international agreements, Moscow has apparently heeded strong U.S. and Israeli objections to such a deal.
Moscow also has stonewalled Damascus' request for the advanced S-300 air defense missile system, only agreeing to sell short-range ground-to-air missiles.
"Russia has taken a very careful and cautious stance on contracts with Syria," Korotchenko said.
The most powerful Russian weapon reportedly delivered to Syria is the Bastion anti-ship missile complex intended to protect its coast. The Bastion is armed with supersonic Yakhont cruise missiles that can sink any warship at a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles) and are extremely difficult to intercept, providing a strong deterrent against any attack from the sea.
Observers in Moscow said that Russia can do little else to help Assad. The chief of the Russian upper house's foreign affairs committee, Mikhail Margelov, openly acknowledged that this week, saying that Russia has "exhausted its arsenal" of means to support Syria by protecting it from the U.N. sanctions.
Lukyanov said Russia has made it clear it would block any attempts to give U.N. cover to any foreign military intervention in Syria, but wouldn't be able to prevent Syria's neighbors from mounting such action.
"Russia realizes that it has limited opportunities and can't play a decisive role," he said.
Pukhov also predicted that Russia wouldn't take any stronger moves in support for Damascus.
"Going further would mean an open confrontation with the West, and Russia doesn't need that," he said.
BEIJING ? Chinese President Hu Jintao is stressing the ruling Communist Party's ultimate control over China's rapidly modernizing military.
Hu's assertion came Sunday in a statement in the military's Liberation Army Daily newspaper calling on the 2.3 million-member force to develop advanced military culture. That is communist shorthand for retaining a leading role for socialist ideology.
Such calls seek to counter any movement toward nationalizing the force by making it ultimately responsible to the government rather than the party.
The People's Liberation Army has in recent years acquired latest-generation jet fighters and other advanced equipment. Last year it began sea trials for its first aircraft carrier.
FILE - Sens. Charles Schumer of New York, left and Mark Pryor of Arkansas said Sunday Jan. 29, 2012 that federal funding in a pending transportation funding bill be used for research and to train police in identifying drugged drivers, who don't show the same outward signs of intoxication as drunken drivers do, such as slurred speech.
FILE - Sens. Charles Schumer of New York, left and Mark Pryor of Arkansas said Sunday Jan. 29, 2012 that federal funding in a pending transportation funding bill be used for research and to train police in identifying drugged drivers, who don't show the same outward signs of intoxication as drunken drivers do, such as slurred speech.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? The federal government should help police departments nationwide obtain the tools and training needed to attack a rising scourge of driving under the influence, two U.S. senators said Sunday.
Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Mark Pryor of Arkansas proposed that federal funding in a pending transportation funding bill be used for research and to train police. They said police have no equipment and few have training in identifying drugged drivers, who don't show the same outward signs of intoxication as drunken drivers do, such as slurred speech.
"Cops need a Breathalyzer-like technology that works to identify drug-impaired drivers on-the-spot ? before they cause irreparable harm," Schumer said. "With the explosive growth of prescription drug abuse it's vital that local law enforcement have the tools and training they need to identify those driving under the influence of narcotics to get them off the road."
Schumer says drugged driving arrests rose 35 percent in New York since 2001, but he says that's a fraction of the cases.
The Democrats cited a 2009 federal report in which 10.5 million Americans acknowledged that they had driven under the influence of drugs. Schumer said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in a 2007 roadside survey, more than 16 percent of weekend and night-time drivers tested positive for illegal prescription drugs or over-the-counter drugs. Eleven percent of them were found to have taken illegal drugs.
The administration also found that a third of 12,055 drivers tested who died in car crashes in 2009 had used drugs.
Yet police have no approved equipment to help identify drugged drivers, though saliva tests are being researched.
Pryor wants to create federal grants so police can participate in programs that require up to 200 hours of instruction to detect drugged driving.
Schumer said the effort is prompted in part by two fatal December crashes in the New York City area in which two boys ? one 5 years old and the other, 4 ? died. Prescription drug abuse is being investigated in both cases.
A member of the opposition's Syrian National Council told reporters in Paris that the council is concerned about the increasingly militarized rebel groups taking matters into their own hands.?
A leading Syrian opposition figure says that as rebels become increasingly militarized, it is critical that disparate armed groups be integrated with the political opposition so that they are working in concert.?
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Bassma Kodmani, a Syrian-French member of the Syrian National Council's 10-member executive board and the council's spokeswoman,?spoke in quiet but urgent terms to a group of foreign correspondents last night, framing the opposition's options as two ?sad? alternatives ???greater militarization? of local resistance or foreign intervention.
The request for international assistance may go unanswered for awhile yet. Members of the United Nations Security Council are grappling over an appropriate response to Syria's violent crisis, which began in March 2011 and has resulted in the death of at least 5,500 Syrians, according to the UN. The US, Britain, and France are pushing for more international involvement, but veto-wielding Russia, backed up by China,?has blocked efforts to do more.
Russia has vowed to oppose a draft resolution drawn up by Western council members and the Arab League,?calling for President Bashar al-Assad's resignation. A vote is expected to happen next week.
Ms. Kodmani said Russia ?holds the keys to change, and for peaceful change? in Syria. If?Moscow ?says tomorrow morning that ? we are no longer supporting Assad? he would be forced to?step down in a matter of weeks, she said.
But that is unlikely, despite reassurances from the SNC that Russian ?interests? in Syria would be fully protected if Assad were forced out.
Of the two options facing the opposition, Kodmani said she prefers outside intervention, even if it is unlikely. Most of the Syrian opposition favors this as well, she said. In the absence of intervention, they at least need "inoffensive equipment," such as radios and bulletproof vests.?
?I grew up hating NATO,? she says. ?I was taught it was the devil. It was unimaginable for decades for any Syrian to even think about asking for [help] from the West.? But now people on the ground want humanitarian intervention. They want to be rescued.?
Think the fight over the new rule from the Department of Transportation (DOT) requiring airlines to include all taxes and fees in their posted fares is over?
Think again. Even though the new rule took effect Thursday, it seems the battle is as intense as ever. Consider:
On Tuesday, Spirit Airlines, which is currently contesting the rule in court, launched a website called KeepMyFaresLow.org with the headline: Warning: New government regulations require us to HIDE taxes in your fares.
That brought a swift denunciation from Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group for corporate travel buyers. ?With this ill-considered attack on DOT, Spirit Airlines has reached a new low and no doubt secured the poster-child crown for 2012 for misleading consumers.?
Not so, countered Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza. ?Our view is that fares should be transparent and clear and that you should know what you?re paying your airline and what you?re paying in taxes,? he told msnbc.com.
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And then raising the specter of even higher taxes in these tax-averse times, he suggested the move toward full-fare advertising was ?an insidious way to then raise taxes on consumers? across the board. ?
?If the government is successful with this, it?s coming to everything you buy ? for cars, in restaurants, at big-box stores,? he said.
That ominous warning aside, the bottom line is that the new rule went into effect on Thursday. Airlines are, indeed, ?required to post fares that include all taxes and mandatory government fees. However, they can also post information that shows the breakdown between the airline?s and the government?s respective portions.
?Nothing in our rule will prohibit a carrier from informing consumers that the fare includes a specified amount of taxes and government fees, as long as the stated fare includes those taxes and fees,? said DOT spokesman Bill Mosley. ?The carrier can then break out taxes and fees if it wishes.?
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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.
TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad agreed to increase bank interest rates on Wednesday, hoping to halt a spiraling currency crisis intensified by new Western sanctions.
"The economy minister has announced Ahmadinejad has agreed with the approval of the Money and Credit Council to increase interest rates on bank deposits to up to 21 percent," the official IRNA news agency reported.
Sanctions the United States and the European Union announced over the last month - targeting Iran's vital oil exports and its central bank - exacerbated fears about the economy and worsened a dash for hard currency.
The rial was already losing value since a decision last April to cut interest paid on bank deposits to a range of a 12.5-15.5, below inflation which is currently around 20 percent, prompting many Iranians to withdraw savings and buy gold and foreign currency and pushing up the price of both.
But the dash for those safe havens accelerated sharply after the new sanctions were announced, resulting in the rial losing 50 percent of its value against the price of dollars available on the open market in just one month.
Monday's decision marks a policy U-turn for Ahmadinejad, who faces a political test in March 2 parliamentary election. He previously vetoed efforts by Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani to increase rates.
The rial's slide is a huge risk to already rising inflation as Iran is heavily reliant on imported consumer and intermediate goods whose prices have surged as the rial has depreciated.
BUBBLE
The West hopes the economic pressure will force Iran to curb the nuclear work they fear is aimed at making bombs but which Tehran says is entirely peaceful.
Ahmadinejad's representative in parliament - which is already highly critical of the president and may become more so after March 2 - said the new policy would burst what he called the bubble of gold and dollar prices.
"The effects of the new decision will be clear in the market very soon and the bubbles being created for foreign currency and gold will be removed," the ISNA news agency quoted Mohammad Reza Mirtajedini as saying.
The deputy head of parliament's economics committee criticized the government for reacting late to the crisis which he said had "no reasonable, logical basis."
"Increasing the bank deposit interest rates is an appropriate tool for people's investments but doing it in a hasty manner and the current inflamed situation of the market will not solve any problem," Mostafa Motavarzadeh told the semi-official Fars news agency.
The price of 8.133-gram gold coins dropped on the news, local media reported, to 8,500,000 rials, reversing most of last week's 45 percent increase when the price rose to 10,100,000.
The effect on the price of dollars was negligible however with ISNA saying the price had fallen on the news to 22,500 rials from 23,000 rials - still double the central bank's official "reference rate" of 11,293 rials.
However, exchange agencies contacted by Reuters said they had no dollars to sell, reflecting either a shortage of notes or a reluctance to sell in such a volatile atmosphere.
(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Julian Assange has announced that he's going to have his own TV show, where he'll interview "key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries", and it's going to be hitting the screens in spring. Is there anything this man won't do? More »
Restored wetlands rarely equal condition of original wetlandsPublic release date: 24-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Sanders rsanders@berkeley.edu 510-643-6998 University of California - Berkeley
Study shows plant assemblage, carbon resources depleted even after 100 years
Wetland restoration is a billion-dollar-a-year industry in the United States that aims to create ecosystems similar to those that disappeared over the past century. But a new analysis of restoration projects shows that restored wetlands seldom reach the quality of a natural wetland.
"Once you degrade a wetland, it doesn't recover its normal assemblage of plants or its rich stores of organic soil carbon, which both affect natural cycles of water and nutrients, for many years," said David Moreno-Mateos, a University of California, Berkeley, postdoctoral fellow. "Even after 100 years, the restored wetland is still different from what was there before, and it may never recover."
Moreno-Mateos's analysis calls into question a common mitigation strategy exploited by land developers: create a new wetland to replace a wetland that will be destroyed and the land put to other uses. At a time of accelerated climate change caused by increased carbon entering the atmosphere, carbon storage in wetlands is increasingly important, he said.
"Wetlands accumulate a lot of carbon, so when you dry up a wetland for agricultural use or to build houses, you are just pouring this carbon into the atmosphere," he said. "If we keep degrading or destroying wetlands, for example through the use of mitigation banks, it is going to take centuries to recover the carbon we are losing."
The study showed that wetlands tend to recover most slowly if they are in cold regions, if they are small less than 100 contiguous hectares, or 250 acres, in area or if they are disconnected from the ebb and flood of tides or river flows.
"These context dependencies aren't necessarily surprising, but this paper quantifies them in ways that could guide decisions about restoration, or about whether to damage wetlands in the first place," said coauthor Mary Power, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology.
Moreno-Mateos, Power and their colleagues will publish their analysis in the Jan. 24 issue of PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology.
Wetlands provide many societal benefits, Moreno-Mateos noted, such as biodiversity conservation, fish production, water purification, erosion control and carbon storage.
He found, however, that restored wetlands contained about 23 percent less carbon than untouched wetlands, while the variety of native plants was 26 percent lower, on average, after 50 to 100 years of restoration. While restored wetlands may look superficially similar and the animal and insect populations may be similar, too the plants take much longer to return to normal and establish the carbon resources in the soil that make for a healthy ecosystem.
Moreno-Mateos noted that numerous studies have shown that specific wetlands recover slowly, but his meta-analysis "might be a proof that this is happening in most wetlands."
"To prevent this, preserve the wetland, don't degrade the wetland," he said.
Moreno-Mateos, who obtained his Ph.D. while studying wetland restoration in Spain, conducted a meta-analysis of 124 wetland studies monitoring work at 621 wetlands around the world and comparing them with natural wetlands. Nearly 80 percent were in the United States and some were restored more than 100 years ago, reflecting of a long-standing American interest in restoration and a common belief that it's possible to essentially recreate destroyed wetlands. Half of all wetlands in North America, Europe, China and Australia were lost during the 20th century, he said. S
Though Moreno-Mateos found that, on average, restored wetlands are 25 percent less productive than natural wetlands, there was much variation. For example, wetlands in boreal and cold temperate forests tend to recover more slowly than do warm wetlands. One review of wetland restoration projects in New York state, for example, found that "after 55 years, barely 50 percent of the organic matter had accumulated on average in all these wetlands" compared to what was there before, he said.
"Current thinking holds that many ecosystems just reach an alternative state that is different, and you never will recover the original," he said.
In future studies, he will explore whether the slower carbon accumulation is due to a slow recovery of the native plant community or invasion by non-native plants.
###
Coauthors with Moreno-Mateos and Power are Francisco A. Comin of the Department of Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology in Zaragoza, Spain; and Roxana Yockteng of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France. Moreno-Mateos recently accepted a position as the restoration fellow at Stanford University's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.
The work was supported by the Spanish Ministry for Innovation and Science, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology and the National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics of the U.S. National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center.
[ | 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.
Restored wetlands rarely equal condition of original wetlandsPublic release date: 24-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Sanders rsanders@berkeley.edu 510-643-6998 University of California - Berkeley
Study shows plant assemblage, carbon resources depleted even after 100 years
Wetland restoration is a billion-dollar-a-year industry in the United States that aims to create ecosystems similar to those that disappeared over the past century. But a new analysis of restoration projects shows that restored wetlands seldom reach the quality of a natural wetland.
"Once you degrade a wetland, it doesn't recover its normal assemblage of plants or its rich stores of organic soil carbon, which both affect natural cycles of water and nutrients, for many years," said David Moreno-Mateos, a University of California, Berkeley, postdoctoral fellow. "Even after 100 years, the restored wetland is still different from what was there before, and it may never recover."
Moreno-Mateos's analysis calls into question a common mitigation strategy exploited by land developers: create a new wetland to replace a wetland that will be destroyed and the land put to other uses. At a time of accelerated climate change caused by increased carbon entering the atmosphere, carbon storage in wetlands is increasingly important, he said.
"Wetlands accumulate a lot of carbon, so when you dry up a wetland for agricultural use or to build houses, you are just pouring this carbon into the atmosphere," he said. "If we keep degrading or destroying wetlands, for example through the use of mitigation banks, it is going to take centuries to recover the carbon we are losing."
The study showed that wetlands tend to recover most slowly if they are in cold regions, if they are small less than 100 contiguous hectares, or 250 acres, in area or if they are disconnected from the ebb and flood of tides or river flows.
"These context dependencies aren't necessarily surprising, but this paper quantifies them in ways that could guide decisions about restoration, or about whether to damage wetlands in the first place," said coauthor Mary Power, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology.
Moreno-Mateos, Power and their colleagues will publish their analysis in the Jan. 24 issue of PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology.
Wetlands provide many societal benefits, Moreno-Mateos noted, such as biodiversity conservation, fish production, water purification, erosion control and carbon storage.
He found, however, that restored wetlands contained about 23 percent less carbon than untouched wetlands, while the variety of native plants was 26 percent lower, on average, after 50 to 100 years of restoration. While restored wetlands may look superficially similar and the animal and insect populations may be similar, too the plants take much longer to return to normal and establish the carbon resources in the soil that make for a healthy ecosystem.
Moreno-Mateos noted that numerous studies have shown that specific wetlands recover slowly, but his meta-analysis "might be a proof that this is happening in most wetlands."
"To prevent this, preserve the wetland, don't degrade the wetland," he said.
Moreno-Mateos, who obtained his Ph.D. while studying wetland restoration in Spain, conducted a meta-analysis of 124 wetland studies monitoring work at 621 wetlands around the world and comparing them with natural wetlands. Nearly 80 percent were in the United States and some were restored more than 100 years ago, reflecting of a long-standing American interest in restoration and a common belief that it's possible to essentially recreate destroyed wetlands. Half of all wetlands in North America, Europe, China and Australia were lost during the 20th century, he said. S
Though Moreno-Mateos found that, on average, restored wetlands are 25 percent less productive than natural wetlands, there was much variation. For example, wetlands in boreal and cold temperate forests tend to recover more slowly than do warm wetlands. One review of wetland restoration projects in New York state, for example, found that "after 55 years, barely 50 percent of the organic matter had accumulated on average in all these wetlands" compared to what was there before, he said.
"Current thinking holds that many ecosystems just reach an alternative state that is different, and you never will recover the original," he said.
In future studies, he will explore whether the slower carbon accumulation is due to a slow recovery of the native plant community or invasion by non-native plants.
###
Coauthors with Moreno-Mateos and Power are Francisco A. Comin of the Department of Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology in Zaragoza, Spain; and Roxana Yockteng of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France. Moreno-Mateos recently accepted a position as the restoration fellow at Stanford University's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.
The work was supported by the Spanish Ministry for Innovation and Science, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology and the National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics of the U.S. National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center.
[ | 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.
There?s been greater attention in this issue in latest years, however would it be well worth investing in bio diesel? There is certainly no hesitation that will governing bodies and people about the world are under better pressure than in the past to generate clean energy, that?s, energy that?s not produced from non-renewable fuels since of the damaging influence they?ve on the setting.
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ISLAMABAD (AP) ? A government health official says bad drugs are suspected of killing at least 25 heart patients over the last month in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
Javed Akram said Monday that 100 other heart patients who had taken the same medicine have been admitted to hospitals in the city and 50 of them are in critical condition.
Akram is leading a probe into the deaths set up by the government of Punjab province, where Lahore is the capital. He said the suspected drugs were given free to patients by the state-run Punjab Institute of Cardiology.
Akram said patients developed red spots on their skin within days of taking the medicine that is suspected of killing them.
As hope fades for the successful rescue of the 20 people still missing a week after the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, the focus of operations on the Italian island of Giglio is shifting towards the prevention of future catastrophe and the allocation of blame for that which has already occurred. With some 500,000 gallons of fuel oil still sloshing around in the hull of the ship, "We need to prevent an environmental disaster," says Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's civil protection agency, who is coordinating the emergency response. He added that while the agency wasn't giving up rescue attempts, the risk of rupture of the ship's fuel tanks was becoming an increasingly important worry.
Rescuers have been investigating whether the ship can be chained to the rocks on which it capsized last week, to halt its slow slippage towards deep waters, which would dramatically complicate further salvage efforts. The consequences of an oil spill would be disastrous. The mayor of Giglio has called the ship an "ecological time bomb." The potential for pollution puts at risk not only the area around the tiny Mediterranean island, but also the entirety of the nearby coast of Tuscany, one of the engines of Italian tourism. On Saturday, light oil was discovered floating near the Concordia, but rescue workers speculated it may have been diesel from rescue boats or lubricant from some of the on board machinery, not the heavy engine oil that could spell environmental devastation. (Photos: The Sinking of the Costa Concordia)
The plan is to extract the fuel oil and replace it with water, to avoid destabilizing the ship. Experts estimate that draining even those tanks closest to the outside of the hull could take as much as month -- providing storms don't cause delays -- and that the inner tanks could prove harder to reach. Still, "there is a very good chance that the fuel oil can be removed," says Paul Wright, associate director of the Marine Institute at Britain's Plymouth University. Contamination from the kitchen oils, chemicals, sewage, and personal belongings of the crew and passengers are likely to be contained using booms. What could prove more challenging is the salvage operation of the $450 million ship itself. "I would be very surprised if she is righted and floated off," says Wright. "The most likely solution is that she will be cut up and dismantled in position." It's an operation that could take months.
Meanwhile, the legal process is gearing up as Italian authorities work to establish the criminal liability for what some experts predict will produce the most expensive insurance claims in maritime history. As of Saturday, the death toll for the accident stands at 12 and is likely to rise; the Costa Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest and facing charges of manslaughter. At the heart of the investigation will be determining what happened in the 70 minutes between the moment the ship tore itself open on the rocks and Schettino's first formal call for help. In the interval, the coast guard was misinformed by a member of the Concordia's crew about the condition of ship, even as it was taking on water. And passengers were told by an apparently confused or oblivious crew that the problem had been resolved and that they should return to their rooms. (History's Greatest Cruise Ship Disasters)
Lawyers for civil plaintiffs will be eager to show that responsibility for the tragedy extends beyond the incompetence of the captain. "You have an incentive to find the deep pockets," says Luca Melchionna, a professor at St. John's University School of Law. Was the Costa Concordia's dangerous approach to the island part of a pattern that the cruise company had previously sanctioned or tolerated? To what extent did company policy contribute to the disarray in the early minutes when lives could have been saved? How well prepared were the crew for the event of an emergency?
For now, the cruise company has joined the criminal case against the captain as a civil party, formally putting itself among the injured and (not coincidentally) forestalling civil action in Italy while the criminal trial plays out, something that could take months of years. "It's a strategic legal move that protects them, at least for a while," says Melchionna. But such maneuvers won't protect the company in other jurisdictions. While lawyers for potential plaintiffs have complained that the waivers their clients were asked to sign have ruthlessly limited the cruise line's liability, at least two law firms have announced they plan to file a class action lawsuit in the U.S. next week. Meanwhile, several passengers have already sought representation with the British law firm Irwin Mitchell. "With thousands of passengers and crew on board this huge vessel, their safety should have been the first and only priority," Clive Garner, the head of the firm's international law team, said in a statement. "Tragically, it seems that this was not the case and passengers and their families have paid a very heavy price."
Transcript: 'Go On Board!' Coast Guard Tells Cruise Ship Captain
WATCH: Crew Tells Passengers, 'Return to Your Cabin'
BANGKOK ? Police have seized 3.8 million methamphetamine tablets in Thailand's largest drug bust in years.
The haul was estimated as worth more than one billion baht ($31.7 million).
Police Maj. Gen. Comronwit Toopgrajank said the pills and 71 kilograms (156 pounds) of crystal meth were found hidden in an empty house in Bangkok's northern outskirts.
Police raided the house Saturday after tracking down a driver who abandoned his vehicle after a car chase.
Thailand is a leading market and transit point for methamphetamine, much of which is produced in neighboring Myanmar.
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Under duress two days before the pivotal South Carolina primary, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney acknowledges he has part of his millions invested in the Cayman Islands, although his aides say he never used the location as a tax haven.
Neither Romney nor his campaign is providing details, including how much he has invested there, or why, or if any of his money is invested elsewhere outside the United States.
Responding to a question shouted at him Thursday morning, Romney reiterated that he plans to release the returns ? but not until April, possibly long after the party has chosen a nominee. "You'll hear more about that. April," he said.
In another blow to his campaign, officials say Texas Gov. Rick Perry is suspending his presidential campaign and throwing his support behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, winnowing the conservative opposition and increasing Gingrich's strength heading into Saturday's voting.
Speaking to supporters on a conference call Thursday morning, Romney made no mention of Perry's decision or of his tax returns, instead attacking Gingrich's claims that he helped President Ronald Reagan create jobs. Romney said Gingrich is living in "fantasyland."
Romney was set to address supporters outside his Charleston headquarters Thursday morning, though it wasn't clear if he would answer questions about his tax returns, the Cayman Islands or Perry's decision.
"Gov. and Mrs. Romney's assets are managed on a blind basis. They do not control the investment of these assets," campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an emailed response to questions Wednesday night. Romney has not personally addressed the issue, although it's likely to come up at a candidates' debate Thursday night.
Scrutiny of Romney's private-sector background couldn't come at a worse time ? just as he is riding high on back-to-back victories in Iowa's caucuses and New Hampshire's primary. He came into South Carolina with anti-Romney conservatives unwilling or unable to coalesce behind a single challenger.
Details about the personal fortune of the multimillionaire former businessman have been a nagging issue for his campaign for more than a week. On Tuesday, Romney disclosed that he pays an effective tax rate of about 15 percent, lower than what he would pay if he earned a regular paycheck like many Americans. He also called "not very much" the amount he earned in speechmaking fees, though it turned out to be $373,327.62 for 12 months in 2010 and early 2011.
Those details followed verbal miscues related to his views of work. Last week in New Hampshire, Romney told an audience he knew what it was like to worry about being "pink-slipped" and losing a job. A day later, he said, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me" ? a comment about health insurance companies that his rivals used to paint a picture of Romney as a wealthy businessman who is out of touch with ordinary Americans.
Romney hasn't been willing to elaborate on his pledge Tuesday to release his federal tax return in April. His rivals are prodding him to do it immediately, before South Carolina's primary, a potentially decisive turn in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
At an event in Rock Hill, S.C., Romney kept away from the issue of his taxes, but he criticized Newt Gingrich and other Republicans who "jumped on that bandwagon" of criticizing free enterprise. "My goodness, I listened to Speaker Gingrich the other night talk about the enterprises I've been associated with," he said. "I'm proud of the fact that I worked in the private sector, that I've achieved success."
Romney disclosed for the first time Tuesday that, despite his wealth of hundreds of millions of dollars, he has been paying taxes in the neighborhood of 15 percent, far below the top maximum income tax rate of 35 percent, because his income "comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past." During 2010 and the first nine months of 2011, the Romney family had at least $9.6 million in income, according to a financial disclosure form submitted in August.
Romney had been consolidating GOP support before Saturday's South Carolina primary, in which a victory could all but seal his nomination. The focus on his wealth is an unwanted distraction for him as he seeks to win votes in a state where the unemployment rate, at 9.9 percent, is among the highest in the nation, and amid rising public concern over income inequality.
President Barack Obama's campaign advisers contend voters are unlikely to back a wealthy Republican with financial-industry ties at a time of lingering economic distress.
The maximum marginal U.S. income tax rate of 35 percent applies ? in theory more than practice ? to households with taxable income of over about $388,500.
Like many wealthy people, the Romneys have been helped by changes in federal tax policy that have placed much lower tax rates on investment income ? from dividends, interest and capital gains from the sale of stocks and other assets ? than on wages and salaries, the source of income for most Americans.
Under the Bush-era tax cuts strongly supported by most Republicans, such investment income, including gains on securities held for a year or longer, is subject to a tax rate of 15 percent.
According to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, an average federal tax rate of 15 percent ? including both income and payroll taxes ? would apply to households with taxable incomes of from $75,000 to $100,000.
Obama and his wife paid federal taxes of just over 25 percent of their 2010 income of $1.7 million, mostly from the books he's written.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry and his wife paid roughly 24 percent of their 2010 income of $217,447.
Have you voted for your favorite startups of 2011? Well what are you waiting for? Vote NOW. The Crunchies Awards are only a week away and we have been hustling behind the scenes getting ready for the big event. For those of you who do not know what the Crunchies Awards are about, think of them as the Oscars for technology. We host the awards show every year with our co-hosts GigaOm and VentureBeat and every year it's a smash hit with all-star guests and winners. We have categories ranging from Best Technology Achievement, to CEO of the Year, all the way to Best Startup of the Year. For this year's awards show, you can take a look at all of the final nominees up for the award here.
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) ? Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday it will pay $158 million to settle a Texas lawsuit accusing the drugmaker of improperly marketing its Risperdal anti-psychotic drug to state residents on the Medicaid health program for the poor.
The settlement fully resolves all Risperdal-related claims in Texas, the company said. The agreement is specific to the state of Texas and does not involve other ongoing state or federal Risperdal litigation.
The deal settles claims brought by Texas in 2004 and involves alleged Medicaid overpayments during the years 1994 to 2008 "and will circumvent potentially lengthy and costly appellate activities," according to a statement from J&J's Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit.
The settlement will be paid to the original plaintiff, his attorneys, the state of Texas and the federal government, which provides Medicaid reimbursements, the company said.
The complaint against J&J and several of its units filed in U.S. district court in Texas had alleged company representatives "targeted every level of the Texas Medicaid Program with misrepresentations about the safety, superiority, efficacy, appropriate uses and cost effectiveness of Risperdal."
"Janssen ran amok," Allen Jones, the Pennsylvania-based whistleblower on J&J's marketing practices who was a plaintiff along with state of Texas, told reporters in the Austin courthouse.
"They trashed the Johnson & Johnson credo and they misused Texas and, I believe, well-meaning officials, to further their marketing aims," Jones said. "They subverted science and they induced others to betray the people they were supposed to be taking care of. To me that is reprehensible."
The deal marks the first Risperdal settlement with any U.S. state, Janssen spokeswoman Teresa Mueller said.
J&J's once sterling reputation has been battered in the past two years over quality control problems at several of its plants and manufacturing errors that led to massive recalls of a wide variety of its products, including hip replacements, contact lenses, insulin cartridges and heart devices.
Its biggest black eye came from its McNeil consumer healthcare unit, which in a series recalls was forced to pull hundreds of millions of bottles and packages of popular medicines, such as Children's Tylenol, Motrin, Rolaids and Benadryl.
J&J shares were down 28 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $65 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; additional reporting and writing by Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson in New York; editing by Michele Gershberg, Lisa Von Ahn, Gunna Dickson and Andre Grenon)
This undated photo provided Jan. 4, 2012 by the Delaware Department of Correction in Smyrna, Del., shows 49-year-old Robert Gattis. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell has decided to accept a recommendation from the state Board of Pardons that he commute Gattis' death sentence to life in prison without parole. Gattis was scheduled to die by lethal injection Friday for killing Shirley Slay in 1990. (AP Photo/Delaware Department of Correction)
This undated photo provided Jan. 4, 2012 by the Delaware Department of Correction in Smyrna, Del., shows 49-year-old Robert Gattis. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell has decided to accept a recommendation from the state Board of Pardons that he commute Gattis' death sentence to life in prison without parole. Gattis was scheduled to die by lethal injection Friday for killing Shirley Slay in 1990. (AP Photo/Delaware Department of Correction)
DOVER, Del. (AP) ? Gov. Jack Markell, in an apparent first for Delaware, has spared the life of a man whose execution had been scheduled later this week for the shooting death of his former girlfriend.
Until the governor intervened, inmate Robert Gattis, 49, had been scheduled to die by injection Friday for the killing of Shirley Slay, 27.
The Democratic governor on Tuesday accepted a recommendation from the state Board of Pardons to commute Gattis' 1992 death sentence to life in prison without parole. The board considered disturbing accounts of physical and sexual abuse that Gattis claims to have suffered as a child and which his attorneys argued the courts had never properly weighed.
Markell said he gave great weight to a 4-1 recommendation of the pardons board. Yet Delaware's governor said granting clemency was one of the most difficult decisions he has made as a public official.
"I have spent substantial time considering the harm endured by Ms. Slay and her family, Mr. Gattis' history, and the merits of the clemency application. I have prayed," Markell said.
He added: "At the end of the day, although I am not free from doubt, I believe moving forward with the execution of Mr. Gattis is not appropriate."
The governor met with members of Slay's family before announcing his decision. The victim's parents did not immediately return a telephone message left at their Georgia home seeking comment.
Markell spokesman Cathy Rossi said administration officials are unaware of any previous case in which a governor received or approved a pardons board recommendation for commutation of a death sentence. Prosecutors have said Gattis shot Slay in a jealous rage after years of physically abusing her. His attorneys argued at trial that the death was an accident.
Under Delaware law, a governor cannot grant commutation unless a majority of the five-member pardons board recommends that step.
Markell has supported the imposition of the death penalty in the past. As state treasurer, he had previously sat on pardons boards that rejected clemency requests for condemned killers Tanzil Hameen in 2001 and Brian Steckel in 2005. Both were executed.
WASHINGTON?? U.S. industrial output rose in December as manufacturing rebounded at its strongest pace in a year, countering a weather-related decline in utilities, Federal Reserve data showed on Wednesday.
Industrial production increased 0.4 percent last month, the Federal Reserve said, after falling 0.3 percent in November.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected industrial production to increase 0.5 percent last month after a previously reported 0.2 percent drop.
For the fourth quarter as a whole, industrial output rose at an annual rate of 3.1 percent, increasing for the 10th consecutive quarter.
The report indicated the production side of the economy ended the year on a firmer footing, with manufacturing output rising 0.9 percent after contracting 0.4 percent in November.
The increase in manufacturing output last month was the largest since December 2010 and the sector saw gains across the board.
Manufacturing has been one of the main drivers of growth in the U.S. economy since the end of the 2007-09 recession. The economy is expected to have expanded at an annual pace of at least 3 percent in the fourth quarter.
But with the euro zone expected to slide into recession in the first half of the year, slowing export growth is seen taking some edge off manufacturing.
Last month, mining output rose 0.3 percent after advancing 0.5 percent in November.
Unseasonably warm winter weather saw utilities output plunging 2.7 percent after a 0.6 percent decline the prior month. It was the fifth consecutive month of declines for utilities.
Capacity utilization, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, rose 78.1 percent from 77.8 percent the prior month. That was 2.3 percentage points below the 1972-to-2010 average.
Analysts were expecting capacity use to rise to 78.1 percent. Capacity use in manufacturing rose to 75.9 percent, the highest since June 2008.
Officials at the Fed tend to look at utilization measures as a signal of how much "slack" remains in the economy -- how far growth has room to run before it becomes inflationary.
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