Mars had the right stuff for life, scientists find

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Tue Mar 12, 2013 6:52pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Seven months after NASA's rover Curiosity landed on Mars to assess if the planet most like Earth had the ingredients for life, scientists have their answer: Yes.

Analysis of powdered samples drilled out from inside an ancient and once water-soaked rock at the rover's Gale Crater landing site show clays, sulfates and other minerals that are all key to life, scientists told reporters at NASA headquarters in Washington and on a conference call on Tuesday.

The water that once flowed through the area, known as Yellowknife Bay, was likely drinkable, said Curiosity's lead scientist John Grotzinger, who is with the California Institute of Technology.

The analysis stopped short of a confirmation of organics, which are key to most Earth-like life. But with 17 months left in the rover's primary mission, scientists said they expect to delve further into that question. Science operations currently are suspended because of a computer glitch, which is expected to be resolved this week.

Whether or not Mars has or ever had life, it should have at one time at least had organic compounds delivered to its surface by organic-rich comets and asteroids. Finding places where the organics could have been preserved, however, is a much trickier prospect than finding the environmental niches and chemistry needed to support life, scientists said.

In May, following a one-month interruption of radio communications caused by the positions of Earth and Mars, scientists plan to drill a second hole into the Gale Crater rock to look for organic compounds.

"If there was organic material there, it could have been preserved," said David Blake, principal investigator for Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy, or CheMin, experiment.

A lack of organics, however, would not rule out the Yellowknife Bay site as suitable for life, scientists added.

"You don't have to have carbon present in a geological environment that's habitable in order to have microbial metabolism occur," Grotzinger said.

Some micro-organisms on Earth, for example, can feed on inorganic compounds, such as what are found inside rocks.

"There does need to be a source of carbon somewhere, but if it's just CO2 (carbon dioxide), you can have chemoautotrophic organisms that literally feed on rocks and they will metabolize and generate organic compounds based on that carbon," Grotzinger said.

'BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LIFE'

Analysis shows the Gale Crater rock contains carbon dioxide, in addition to hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen.

Carbon dioxide provides a key ingredient in the building blocks for life, all of which have now been found in the Mars rock sample, Grotzinger said.

The $2.5 billion, nuclear-powered Curiosity rover landed inside the giant Gale Crater impact basin, located near the Martian equator, on August 6 for a two-year mission.

Scientists were drawn to the area because of a three-mile (5-km) mountain of sediment, called Mount Sharp, rising from the crater floor. But shortly after the rover's landing, the team decided to first explore the Yellowknife Bay area, located in the opposite direction from Mount Sharp.

Observations from Mars orbiters showed three different types of terrain coming together in Yellowknife Bay, plus a low elevation, all hints that water could have once flowed and pooled on the surface.

That hunch was verified with the first chemical analysis of material drilled out from inside what appears to be a slab of bedrock, named John Klein, after a mission manager who died in 2011. Scientists don't know the rock's age, nor how it formed. They suspect, however, that the John Klein rock is at least 3 billion years old and that it spent enough time in non-acidic and not-too-salty water for various telltale clays and minerals to form.

"This rock, quite frankly, looks like a typical thing that we would get on Earth," Grotzinger said. "The key thing here is this is an environment that microbes could have lived in and maybe even prospered in."

The habitable conditions in Yellowknife Bay appear to roughly coincide within a couple of hundred million years of the first evidence for life on Earth.

"On Earth, finding organics in very, very ancient rocks is a difficult proposition," said Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator for Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument.

Finding organics on Mars may be even more challenging. Without much protection from an atmosphere, ultraviolet and cosmic radiation can destroy organics. Mars also apparently is covered with chemicals, known as perchlorates, that consume organics.

"The search for organic carbon is an issue for this mission and you want to do this as deliberately as possible. You don't just want to wander around and try stuff out," Grotzinger said.

Knowing that Mars at least had the ingredients for life, however, makes the search for organics more viable.

"This is not a simple problem, but I think the mission is up to it and we're really excited to get started on that now," Grotzinger said.

(Editing by Tom Brown, Christopher Wilson and Eric Beech)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/bfzPV_EDyVE/us-space-mars-idUSBRE92B0YA20130312

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NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

Mar. 12, 2013 ? An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA's Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon -- some of the key chemical ingredients for life -- in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.

"A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "From what we know now, the answer is yes."

Clues to this habitable environment come from data returned by the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) and Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instruments. The data indicate the Yellowknife Bay area the rover is exploring was the end of an ancient river system or an intermittently wet lake bed that could have provided chemical energy and other favorable conditions for microbes. The rock is made up of a fine-grained mudstone containing clay minerals, sulfate minerals and other chemicals. This ancient wet environment, unlike some others on Mars, was not harshly oxidizing, acidic or extremely salty.

The patch of bedrock where Curiosity drilled for its first sample lies in an ancient network of stream channels descending from the rim of Gale Crater. The bedrock also is fine-grained mudstone and shows evidence of multiple periods of wet conditions, including nodules and veins.

Curiosity's drill collected the sample at a site just a few hundred yards away from where the rover earlier found an ancient streambed in September 2012.

"Clay minerals make up at least 20 percent of the composition of this sample," said David Blake, principal investigator for the CheMin instrument at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

These clay minerals are a product of the reaction of relatively fresh water with igneous minerals, such as olivine, also present in the sediment. The reaction could have taken place within the sedimentary deposit, during transport of the sediment, or in the source region of the sediment. The presence of calcium sulfate along with the clay suggests the soil is neutral or mildly alkaline.

Scientists were surprised to find a mixture of oxidized, less-oxidized, and even non-oxidized chemicals, providing an energy gradient of the sort many microbes on Earth exploit to live. This partial oxidation was first hinted at when the drill cuttings were revealed to be gray rather than red.

"The range of chemical ingredients we have identified in the sample is impressive, and it suggests pairings such as sulfates and sulfides that indicate a possible chemical energy source for micro-organisms," said Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator of the SAM suite of instruments at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

An additional drilled sample will be used to help confirm these results for several of the trace gases analyzed by the SAM instrument.

"We have characterized a very ancient, but strangely new 'gray Mars' where conditions once were favorable for life," said John Grotzinger, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "Curiosity is on a mission of discovery and exploration, and as a team we feel there are many more exciting discoveries ahead of us in the months and years to come."

Scientists plan to work with Curiosity in the "Yellowknife Bay" area for many more weeks before beginning a long drive to Gale Crater's central mound, Mount Sharp. Investigating the stack of layers exposed on Mount Sharp, where clay minerals and sulfate minerals have been identified from orbit, may add information about the duration and diversity of habitable conditions.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project has been using Curiosity to investigate whether an area within Mars' Gale Crater ever has offered an environment favorable for microbial life. Curiosity, carrying 10 science instruments, landed seven months ago to begin its two-year prime mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more about the mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ and http://www.nasa.gov/msl . You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/G_YWgtUBHYQ/130312131746.htm

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Simple Suggestions That Will Take Health and fitness To An ...

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An incredible exercise idea for people individuals looking to get match and make power is weightlifting lighter weights at faster speeds. This leads to your own muscles boost their force than lifting more heavy weights. Select dumbbells that figure to around 50Percent of your highest lift up.

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You have to constantly be sure you are in order to prevent traumas. Attempt wandering vertical and make sure that you draw back shoulders attracted back again. Your elbows ought to then be situated at 90-degree facets. Ensure your biceps and triceps move around in an opposing your forwards feet.

Source: http://www.lemondedelinfo.com/2013/03/13/simple-suggestions-that-will-take-health-and-fitness-to-an-alternative-levels/

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Lawmakers Move to Revive Horse-Meat Ban (WSJ)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/291210879?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Kurdish rebels fighting Turkey release 8 captives

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq freed eight captured Turkish soldiers and officials on Wednesday as part of peace efforts between Turkey and the rebel group aimed at ending a decades-long conflict, a legislator said.

The rebels handed over six soldiers, a trainee local administrator and a police officer to a group of pro-Kurdish legislators and human rights activists who traveled to northern Iraq, where the rebels maintain bases, Adil Kurt, one of the lawmakers, told The Associated Press by telephone.

The group crossed into Turkey through Habur, the main border crossing with Iraq, where they were to be reunited with their families.

Five of the captives had been held by the rebels for more than a year, while three others were kidnapped in August. Some were abducted by the rebels who stopped cars in makeshift roadblocks in southeast Turkey, carried out identity checks and took state officials or soldiers hostage.

The rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has been fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984, often using bases in northern Iraq to stage hit-and-run attacks. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and the group is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Turkey's government announced late last year that its intelligence agency was talking to the rebels' jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan with the aim of persuading the group to disarm.

Turkish officials have not disclosed details of the talks but Ocalan reportedly outlined his peace proposal in a letter delivered to rebel commanders in northern Iraq. News reports and officials said under the plan, the rebels would declare a cease-fire this month and lay down arms and begin retreating from Turkey in the summer.

Under the proposal, Turkey would ensure that Kurdish rights are safeguarded in a new constitution and that local administrations are granted increased powers, according to media reports.

Turkish officials welcomed news of their release but renewed a call for the group to end its armed campaign.

"We are happy that our citizens who had been away from their country for so long, and from whom we had not received any news, are returning," the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted President Abdullah Gul as saying during a visit to Sweden.

"If the violence and guns stop, then it will be easier (for Turkey) to move from a security policy to one of reforms," Gul said.

The officials' and soldiers' release follows a call by Ocalan, which was relayed by Kurdish legislators who were allowed to visit him last month on his prison island off Istanbul, as part of the peace process.

"We are handing over these people in response to Mr. Ocalan's call and instructions from (the Kurdish rebels)," Bawer Dersim, a rebel commander said during the handover, according to private Dogan news agency video footage. "We hope that the release will contribute to the process for a democratic solution."

"We are calling on the Turkish people ... to seize on this meaningful effort by our leader and to give support to the process for peace and democracy," Dersim said.

The video showed the freed soldiers and officials, all clean-shaven and wearing similar checkered shirts and casual jackets, standing in a line, while the delegation from Turkey and the rebels sat behind a table and signed and exchanged papers.

None of the captives were tortured or ill-treated, according to Ozturk Turkdogan, the head of the Ankara-based Human Rights Association, who was part of the delegation that traveled to northern Iraq.

Kurt, the legislator, told reporters after crossing into Turkey that the rebels were still holding "a number" of other civilians, including two government-paid village guards, and said he had asked that they be released too.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kurdish-rebels-fighting-turkey-release-8-captives-094608050.html

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The household carbon emission per capita in Northwestern China is only 2.05 tons CO2 per year

Public release date: 11-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: YAN Bei
yanbei@scichina.org
86-106-400-8316
Science China Press

The current international climate policy framework is mainly based on the national and regional level of macroscopic carbon emissions data, such as the regional per capita carbon emissions are often used as the indicator to measure the fairness of carbon emission rights. However, the per capita emissions based on regional macro data can not accurately reveal the low carbon emissions of the poor within the region, and cover up the emission differences among people intra-country and intra-region, the household carbon emission data based on field surveys could compensate for this deficiency well.

The research group for Regional Carbon Emission and Reduction Quotas from Scientific Information Center for Resources and Environment/Lanzhou Branch of the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences undertaked the family interview surveys from the summer of 2011 to the spring of 2012, selecting 1523 urban and rural families in 24 cities and counties of Gansu, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Qinghai in Northwestern China, in order to reveal the pattern of household carbon emissions in Northwestern China. The research paper Household Carbon Emission Differences and their Driving Factors in Northwestern China has been published on Chinese Science Bulletin, 2013, No.3.

Family is the basic unit of social system. Household carbon emission is one of the important sources of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas which is closely related with the family income and household consumption Surveying and assessing the household carbon emissions from the basic family activities, which includes the direct carbon emissions generating from fossil fuel and the indirect carbon emissions caused by household consumption expenditure, could more accurately quantitative analysis the contribution of household activities and find their differences among different regions and families.

The study established an evaluation index of Household Carbon Emission. Based on a >1 year's survey of the main domestic energy consumption and consumption expenditure data of urban and rural households in Northwestern China, the group discovered the status of household carbon emissions in Northwestern China. The results showed the household carbon emission per capita in Northwestern China was only 2.05 tons CO2 per year. The direct carbon emissions generating from fossil fuel usage accounted for 39.29%, and the indirect carbon emissions caused by household consumption expenditure on electricity and other activities comprised 60.71%. Household carbon emission was mainly from coal, electricity and food consumption, which accounted for 62.85% which is necessary for the natural human demands, followed by carbon emission generated by oil, education, culture, entertainment and clothing consumption, and carbon emission caused by water and LPG consumption was at the least, only accounting for 1.20% (Figure1). Carbon emissions varied between urban and rural households, as well as between households in different provinces. Household carbon emission was mainly affected by geographic environment, family size and income, and household age structure. Family size had the most prominent effect on the per capita household carbon emission, the bigger the family size, the lower the per capita household carbon emission (Figure2).

The fact, that the household carbon emission in Northwestern China is at a relatively low level, has important reference value for the international discussion on the carbon reduction responsibility which has great influence on the poverty population's rights, and will be helpful for the development of the regional energy-saving emission reduction targets.

###

This study was supported by the "Strategic Priority Research Program Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Related Issues" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences?Grant No. XDA05140100.

Corresponding author
QU Jiansheng jsqu@lzb.ac.cn

Source?
QU J S, ZHANG Z Q, ZENG J J, et al. Household carbon emission differences and their driving factors in Northwestern China (in Chinese). Chinese Science Bulletin, 2013, 58(3): 260-266. linkage?http://csb.scichina.com:8080/kxtb/CN/abstract/abstract510064.shtml

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 11-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: YAN Bei
yanbei@scichina.org
86-106-400-8316
Science China Press

The current international climate policy framework is mainly based on the national and regional level of macroscopic carbon emissions data, such as the regional per capita carbon emissions are often used as the indicator to measure the fairness of carbon emission rights. However, the per capita emissions based on regional macro data can not accurately reveal the low carbon emissions of the poor within the region, and cover up the emission differences among people intra-country and intra-region, the household carbon emission data based on field surveys could compensate for this deficiency well.

The research group for Regional Carbon Emission and Reduction Quotas from Scientific Information Center for Resources and Environment/Lanzhou Branch of the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences undertaked the family interview surveys from the summer of 2011 to the spring of 2012, selecting 1523 urban and rural families in 24 cities and counties of Gansu, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Qinghai in Northwestern China, in order to reveal the pattern of household carbon emissions in Northwestern China. The research paper Household Carbon Emission Differences and their Driving Factors in Northwestern China has been published on Chinese Science Bulletin, 2013, No.3.

Family is the basic unit of social system. Household carbon emission is one of the important sources of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas which is closely related with the family income and household consumption Surveying and assessing the household carbon emissions from the basic family activities, which includes the direct carbon emissions generating from fossil fuel and the indirect carbon emissions caused by household consumption expenditure, could more accurately quantitative analysis the contribution of household activities and find their differences among different regions and families.

The study established an evaluation index of Household Carbon Emission. Based on a >1 year's survey of the main domestic energy consumption and consumption expenditure data of urban and rural households in Northwestern China, the group discovered the status of household carbon emissions in Northwestern China. The results showed the household carbon emission per capita in Northwestern China was only 2.05 tons CO2 per year. The direct carbon emissions generating from fossil fuel usage accounted for 39.29%, and the indirect carbon emissions caused by household consumption expenditure on electricity and other activities comprised 60.71%. Household carbon emission was mainly from coal, electricity and food consumption, which accounted for 62.85% which is necessary for the natural human demands, followed by carbon emission generated by oil, education, culture, entertainment and clothing consumption, and carbon emission caused by water and LPG consumption was at the least, only accounting for 1.20% (Figure1). Carbon emissions varied between urban and rural households, as well as between households in different provinces. Household carbon emission was mainly affected by geographic environment, family size and income, and household age structure. Family size had the most prominent effect on the per capita household carbon emission, the bigger the family size, the lower the per capita household carbon emission (Figure2).

The fact, that the household carbon emission in Northwestern China is at a relatively low level, has important reference value for the international discussion on the carbon reduction responsibility which has great influence on the poverty population's rights, and will be helpful for the development of the regional energy-saving emission reduction targets.

###

This study was supported by the "Strategic Priority Research Program Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Related Issues" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences?Grant No. XDA05140100.

Corresponding author
QU Jiansheng jsqu@lzb.ac.cn

Source?
QU J S, ZHANG Z Q, ZENG J J, et al. Household carbon emission differences and their driving factors in Northwestern China (in Chinese). Chinese Science Bulletin, 2013, 58(3): 260-266. linkage?http://csb.scichina.com:8080/kxtb/CN/abstract/abstract510064.shtml

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/scp-thc031113.php

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Fight Over Mich. Health Insurance Market Not Over Yet ? CBS Detroit

LANSING (AP) - Gov. Rick Snyder?s attempt for legislative approval of a new health insurance market in Michigan has been one-year odyssey ? and it?s not over yet.

The GOP-led Senate quickly got behind his state-run marketplace, or online exchange, in 2011 so the state could have more say in a key component of the federal health care law that will help people shop for required insurance. But House Republicans opposed to the law resisted throughout 2012, even after President Barack Obama?s re-election.

With Plan B, the governor pitched a partnership website controlled almost entirely by the federal government. The House assented to spending $31 million in federal money for the exchange ? reasoning the contentious law is here to stay ? only now support may be fading among Senate Republicans.

?I just won?t play their shell game. I won?t drink their Kool-Aid. I won?t agree to take their funny money,? said Sen. Mike Green, R-Nashville.

It?s an about face for Green, who voted for an exchange in November 2011.

With pressure from conservatives and tea party groups mounting, Senate leadership may have to break with custom to send Snyder the spending measure.

Votes typically are not allowed unless legislation has backing from a majority of the majority party. The first time around, the number of Republicans in support was narrow, 13-12, and it appears more in the GOP now may be against it than for it. All 12 Democrats backed the state-run exchange, too.

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, is considering whether to hold a vote and said he will not be rushed. His caucus heard the pros of partnering with federal officials from a Snyder cabinet member on Thursday, the same day the Obama administration conditionally approved Michigan?s plan. The state has to submit a proposal for consumer outreach and assistance at month?s end, a difficult task without authorization to spend money, according to state officials.

?It?s in a different form,? Richardville said of the partnership market as opposed to a state-run exchange. ?But I think this is a tough thing for any conservative that doesn?t like the idea of some kind of mandated federal Big Brother health care. And so it?s difficult for people to now have to accept that it?s forced upon them and we have to try and make it work.?

The website and accompanying call center are supposed to make it easier for people to shop for the insurance they must have in 2014 ? or pay a penalty. Also open to small businesses, the Expedia-like exchange will be used in part to determine people?s eligibility for Medicaid and, if they buy private insurance through the website, whether they qualify for income-based federal aid to help pay their premiums.

A partnership would let Michigan handle some customer service functions and approve insurers wanting to offer health plans on the exchange, which Snyder argues would save them from an extra layer of regulation and prevent the state from having to spend its own money.

?It is the choice to support our own businesses here in Michigan,? said Sen. Roger Kahn, a Republican from Saginaw Township. ?If we reject this, it is a federal-only exchange. ? We lose our seat at the table on making decisions going forward.?

But Sen. John Pappageorge, R-Troy, who voted for the state exchange in 2011, is having second thoughts.

?Having read the fine print, I realize that the only thing we?re going to be in charge of is the complaint department of an act we don?t much care for. So it is perfectly consistent to say yes to a state-run Orbitz-type organization and no to one where the feds actually run the store and call it a cooperative arrangement.?

One big reason some senators are hesitating is outside pressure.

Conservative organizations, tea party supporters and other vocal opponents of the federal health law are calling and emailing lawmakers.

One leading the opposition is Jack Hoogendyk, a former state House member and U.S. Senate candidate who runs the Citizens? Alliance for Life & Liberty and the Madison Project Michigan PAC.

He says an exchange will be put in place, but there is no reason Michigan needs to help do it.

?Anytime you take money from somebody, there?s a string attached,? he said, calling the $31 million grant a ?bribe.?

Some speculate that some Republicans are worried about facing 2014 primary challenges if they vote in favor of the insurance market. Yet Hoogendyk said his focus is finding conservatives for open races, not to ?take somebody out because of a couple of bad votes.?

At least 364,000 Michigan residents are expected to get private insurance through the exchange in 2014, with many receiving government help to pay premiums. Depending on how many businesses use the website, a maximum of nearly 1.4 million people could be enrolled next year, according to the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

?We?re getting less and less input every day that goes by that we don?t assert ourselves,? said Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing. ?We have a duty to our constituents. They deserve to have their voice in how this is run.?

? Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/03/10/fight-over-mich-health-insurance-market-not-over-yet/

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Venezuela sets presidential election for April 14

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuelans will vote April 14 to choose a successor to Hugo Chavez, the elections commission announced Saturday as increasingly strident political rhetoric begins to roil this polarized country.

The constitution mandated the election be held within 30 days of Chavez's March 5 death, but the date picked falls outside that period. Critics of the socialist government already complained that officials violated the constitution by swearing in Vice President Nicolas Maduro as acting leader Friday night.

Some people have speculated Venezuela will not be ready to organize the vote in time, but elections council chief Tibisay Lucena said the country's electronic voting system was fully prepared.

Lucena announced the date on state television while a small inset in the picture showed people filing past Chavez's coffin at the military academy in Caracas, where his body has lain in state since Wednesday.

Chavez's boisterous state funeral Friday often felt like a political rally for his anointed successor, Maduro, who eulogized him by pledging eternal loyalty and vowing Chavez's movement will never be defeated. Maduro is expected to run as the candidate of Chavez's socialist party.

Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, coordinator of the opposition coalition, immediately followed the election announcement by offering his bloc's presidential candidacy to Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda state who lost to Chavez in October. A Capriles adviser said the governor would announce his decision Sunday.

David Smilde, an analyst with the U.S.-based Washington Office on Latin America, said the opposition needs to run a candidate in the presidential election even though he believes it will almost certainly lose.

Smilde said he wasn't sure Capriles will accept the candidacy.

"If he says he doesn't want to run I could totally understand that," Smilde said. "He is likely going to lose, and if he loses this election, he's probably going to be done."

In that case the opposition would be wise to run someone such as Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledesma or Henry Falcone, governor of Lara state and one of just three opposition governors, he said.

That would give the opposition an opportunity to clearly articulate its platform and vision.

"Really what this campaign would be about is allowing the opposition to put themselves in position for the future, to show that they have some ideas for the country," Smilde said.

In his speech after his swearing-in Friday, Maduro took shots at the United States, the media, international capitalism and domestic opponents he often depicted as treacherous. He claimed the allegiance of Venezuela's army, referring to them as the "armed forces of Chavez," despite the constitution barring the military from taking sides in politics.

The opposition has denounced the transition as an unconstitutional power grab, while the government moves to immortalize Chavez. Since his death, the former paratrooper has been compared to Jesus Christ and early-19th century Venezuelan liberator Simon Bolivar, and the government announced that his body would be embalmed and put on eternal display.

Edith Palmeira, a 47-year-old Caracas resident at a park Saturday in central Caracas, said she would vote for Maduro, but made clear her allegiance was based purely on her love of Chavez.

"Imitations are never as good as the original," Palmeira said. "But I think he must have grown as a person during so much time at the president's side. He must have learned to be a president."

Elvira Orozco, a 31-year-old business owner, said she planned to sit out the vote to protest Maduro's swearing-in Friday.

"What they want is to say that here there's a democracy, but here they violate the constitution and there's no authority who says anything," Orozco said.

Observers voiced mounting concern about the deep political divide gripping Venezuela, with half of it in a near frenzy of adulation and the other feeling targeted.

"Everything that happened yesterday (with the funeral and Maduro's speech) are outward signs of a fascistic aesthetic, complete with armbands," said Vicente Gonzalez de la Vega, a professor of law at Caracas' Universidad Metropolitana. "It is the cult of the adored leader, an escape from reality. ... They are trying to impose on the rest of the country a new pagan religion."

He said the ruling party was playing with fire with its strong nationalistic rhetoric and the implication that a vote against Maduro was somehow subversive.

Capriles, too, has used emotionally charged language in his public comments. On Friday he denounced Maduro as a shameless liar who had not been elected by the people, and condescendingly referred to him as "boy."

Opposition figures have said they are concerned about the election's fairness, particularly given the public vows of allegiance to Chavez from senior military officials. Capriles lost to Chavez in Oct. 7 elections, but he garnered 45 percent of the vote, which was the most anyone had ever won against the late president.

A boycott of 2005 legislative elections was widely seen as disastrous for the opposition, letting Chavez's supporters win all 167 seats and allowing him to govern unimpeded by any legislative rivals.

___

Associated Press writers Frank Bajak, Jorge Rueda and Vivian Sequera contributed to this report.

___

Paul Haven on Twitter: www.twitter.com/paulhaven

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-sets-presidential-election-april-14-220201019.html

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Source: http://culturapopulara.ro/?p=30249

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Italy and Greece confirm hostages killed in Nigeria

Sunday Alamba / AP

People read local newspapers with the headline 'We've killed 7 foreign hostages' on a street in Kano, Nigeria, on March 10.

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By Gavin Jones and Renee Maltezou, Reuters

ROME/ATHENS ? Seven foreign hostages kidnapped last month by a Nigerian Islamist group from a construction firm's compound have been killed, the Italian and Greek Foreign Ministries said on Sunday.

Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansaru said on Saturday it had killed the hostages seized on February 7 in the northern state of Bauchi because of attempts by Nigerian and British forces to free them.

It published grainy photos purporting to show the bodies of a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers snatched from the Lebanese firm Setraco.

Foreign governments had not been able to confirm the killings until Sunday. Italy and Greece denied any attempt to rescue them had been made by any of the governments involved. Nigeria had no confirmation of the killings.

"Our checks conducted in co-ordination with the other countries concerned lead us to believe that the news of the killing of the hostages seized last month is true," an Italian Foreign Ministry statement said.

"There was never any military attempt to rescue the hostages by any of the governments concerned," it said, adding the president had sent his condolences to the Italian's family.

Security has become a top concern for oil and infrastructure companies across the region after gunmen loyal to al Qaeda's north African franchise stormed an Algerian gas plant in January. Up to 37 foreigners died during an attempted rescue mission by Algerian forces.

The risk posed by Islamists across west and north Africa has greatly increased since France sent troops to Mail to wrest control of its northern territory from al Qaeda linked rebels.

Islamist groups have also spread across the north and centre of Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, where they have become the main security threat after an amnesty ended an uprising by armed groups in the oil-producing southeastern Niger Delta.

Britain said it was "likely" the Briton was killed along with the six others, with Foreign Secretary William Hague saying: "This was an act of cold-blooded murder, which I condemn in the strongest terms."

Greece confirmed its citizen was dead, adding the Foreign Ministry had informed his family. Lebanon declined to comment.

Nigerian authorities continued to say they had no evidence, after doubting the veracity of the Ansaru statement on Saturday.

"We have launched a full investigation to find out what has really happened, but for now we really cannot way whether this report is true or not," police spokesman for Bauchi state Hassan Mohammed Auyo said by telephone.

SECURITY THREAT

Western security officials say growing links between Nigerian Islamists and Saharan groups such as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has led them to increasingly seek Western targets, rather than local security forces or civilians.

French intervention in Mali has also heightened the risk to Western interests in Nigeria, analysts say, and French oil major Total moved its staff from the Nigerian capital Abuja, where the main insurgent group Boko Haram operates, in January.

Kidnappings - including some targeting foreigners - have been rife in the southeast for many years, but the gangs there usually seek a payout and hostages tend to be released quickly, while Islamist kidnappings in the north are often fatal.

The hostage-taking at the compound in the remote town of Jama'are was the largest number of foreigners seized in the mostly Muslim north since an Islamist insurgency intensified two years ago.

Ansaru declared itself a separate group from Boko Haram in January, although security officials believe them to be closely linked.

Its full name is Jama'atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan or "vanguards for the protection of Muslims in Black Africa".

Ansaru was suspected of being behind the killing of a British and Italian hostage a year ago in northwest Nigeria during a botched attempt to rescue them by British and Nigerian forces. Britain has labeled it a terrorist organization.

It also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in December of a French national, still missing.

Nigerian authorities are still looking for a French family of seven kidnapped in northern Cameroon and moved over the border by militants who said they were from Boko Haram.

Additional reporting by Inusa Jaba in Bauchi and Tim Cocks in Lagos

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/10/17258913-italy-and-greece-confirm-hostages-killed-in-nigeria?lite

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U.S. Cardinals accept Vatican secrecy

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? The Vatican's penchant for secrecy has won out over American-style transparency.

The U.S. cardinals in Rome for the conclave to elect the next pope canceled their popular daily press briefings Wednesday after some details of the secret proceedings under way ahead of the election were purportedly leaked to Italian newspapers.

The Vatican denied it had exerted any pressure on the American cardinals to keep quiet. But the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, made clear that the Holy See considered this week's pre-conclave meetings, in which cardinals are discussing the problems of the church, to be secret and part of a solemn process to choose a pope.

"The College (of Cardinals) as a whole has decided to maintain a line of an increasing degree of reserve," he said.

The spokeswoman for the U.S. cardinals, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, said Wednesday's briefing was canceled after concern was expressed by other cardinals Wednesday morning "about leaks of confidential proceedings reported in Italian newspapers."

She said as a precaution, all interviews had been canceled.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Walsh said Italy's La Stampa newspaper had on Monday and Tuesday reported details of comments individual cardinals made in the closed-door meetings that were cited as a violation of their oath of secrecy. That prompted the decision to observe a media blackout.

She dismissed speculation that the Vatican and cardinals from other countries simply didn't appreciate the openness of the Americans, saying: "I don't think anyone was angry at the Americans, they were angry at La Stampa."

"In true old-style Catholic school teacher fashion, someone talks and everybody stays after school," Walsh said. She added that the Americans had been assured that the Vatican was pleased with their briefings.

Italian newspapers and international media, including The Associated Press, have reported on the unique briefings the Americans were providing, and how they contrasted with the near-silence from other cardinals and the comparatively sedate Vatican briefings.

In a press conference Tuesday, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Texas and Sean O'Malley of Boston held a lively and informative 30-minute chat with some 100 reporters and two dozen television crews from around the globe.

They revealed no details of their closed-door discussions. But they nevertheless provided journalists with insight about the process from two people actually involved.

"We're trying to help people have a greater understanding of what the process is and the procedures and background information," O'Malley told reporters. "Right now that's about all we can share with you but we're happy to try to do it."

The Americans were the only cardinals who were holding daily briefings; other individual cardinals have given occasional interviews to individual media.

Separately Wednesday, the Vatican said only one voting-age cardinal remained absent, Vietnamese Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man. Lombardi said he was expected Thursday, meaning a date for the start of the conclave could be decided then.

____

Associated Press reporter Rachel Zoll contributed to this report.

_____

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/americans-nix-conclave-briefing-concern-leaks-133851337.html

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