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Sunday, February 3, 2013
Obama offers faith groups new birth control rule
FILE - In this May 15, 2012 file photo, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speaks in Bethesda, Md. The legal challenges over religious freedom and the birth control coverage requirement in President Barack Obama?s health care overhaul appear to be moving toward the U.S. Supreme Court. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed by faith-affiliated charities, hospitals and universities, against the mandate which requires employers to provide insurance that covers contraception for free. However, many for-profit business owners are also suing, claiming a violation of their religious beliefs. The religious lawsuits have largely stalled, as the Department of Health and Human Services tries to develop an accommodation for faith groups. However, no such offer will be made to individual business owners. And their lawsuits are yielding conflicting rulings in appeals courts around the country. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE - In this May 15, 2012 file photo, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speaks in Bethesda, Md. The legal challenges over religious freedom and the birth control coverage requirement in President Barack Obama?s health care overhaul appear to be moving toward the U.S. Supreme Court. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed by faith-affiliated charities, hospitals and universities, against the mandate which requires employers to provide insurance that covers contraception for free. However, many for-profit business owners are also suing, claiming a violation of their religious beliefs. The religious lawsuits have largely stalled, as the Department of Health and Human Services tries to develop an accommodation for faith groups. However, no such offer will be made to individual business owners. And their lawsuits are yielding conflicting rulings in appeals courts around the country. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Facing a wave of lawsuits over what government can tell religious groups to do, the Obama administration is proposing a compromise for faith-based nonprofits that object to covering birth control in their employee health plans.
Some of the lawsuits appear headed for the Supreme Court, threatening another divisive legal battle over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law, which requires most employers to cover birth control free of charge to female workers as a preventive service. The law exempted churches and other houses of worship, but religious charities, universities, hospitals and even some for-profit businesses have objected.
The government's new offer, in a proposed regulation, has two parts.
Administration officials said it would more simply define the religious organizations that are exempt from the requirement altogether. For example, a mosque whose food pantry serves the whole community would not have to comply.
For other religious employers, the proposal attempts to create a buffer between them and contraception coverage. Female employees would still have free access through insurers or a third party, but the employer would not have to arrange for the coverage or pay for it. Insurers would be reimbursed for any costs by a credit against fees owed the government.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the plan would satisfy the objections of Roman Catholic charities and other faith-affiliated nonprofits nationwide challenging the requirement.
Neither the Catholic Health Association, a trade group for hospitals, nor the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had an immediate reaction, saying the regulations were still being studied.
But the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents about 40 denominations and works with the administration on immigration and other issues, quickly rejected the rule. It said the change didn't create enough of a buffer between faith groups and birth control coverage.
"The Obama administration should have done the right thing and dropped the contraception mandate, or at least should have exempted all religious organizations," said Leith Anderson, the association's president.
Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing religious nonprofits and businesses in lawsuits, said many of his clients will still have serious concerns.
"This is a moral decision for them," Duncan said. "Why doesn't the government just exempt them?"
Some women's advocates were pleased.
"The important thing for us is that women employees can count on getting insurance that meets their needs, even if they're working for a religiously affiliated employer," said Cindy Pearson, executive director of the National Women's Health Network.
Policy analyst Sarah Lipton-Lubet of the American Civil Liberties Union said the rule appeared to meet the ACLU's goal of providing "seamless coverage."
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement that the compromise would provide "women across the nation with coverage of recommended preventive care at no cost, while respecting religious concerns."
The birth-control rule, first introduced a year ago, became an election issue, with some advocates for women praising the mandate as a victory but some religious leaders decrying it as an attack on faith groups.
The health care law requires most employers, including faith-affiliated hospitals and nonprofits, to provide preventive care at no charge to employees. Scientific advisers to the government recommended that artificial contraception, including sterilization, be included in a group of services for women. The goal, in part, is to help women space out pregnancies to promote health.
Under the original rule, only those religious groups that primarily employ and serve people of their own faith ? such as churches ? were exempt. But other religiously affiliated groups, such as church-affiliated universities, Catholic Charities and hospitals, were told they had to comply.
Catholic bishops, evangelicals and some religious leaders who have generally been supportive of Obama's policies lobbied fiercely for a broader exemption. The Catholic Church prohibits the use of artificial contraception. Evangelicals generally accept the use of birth control, but some object to specific methods such as the morning-after contraceptive pill, which they argue is tantamount to abortion, and is covered by the policy.
Obama had promised to change the birth control requirement so insurance companies ? and not faith-affiliated employers ? would pay for the coverage, but religious leaders said more changes were needed to make the plan work.
Since then, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed by religious nonprofits and secular for-profit businesses contending the mandate violates their religious beliefs. As expected, this latest regulation does not provide any accommodation for individual business owners who have religious objections to the rule.
Questions remain about how the services ultimately will be funded. The Health and Human Services Department has not tallied an overall cost for the plan, according to Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, an HHS deputy policy director.
However, in its new version of the rule, the department argues that the change won't impose new costs on insurers because it will save them money "from improvements in women's health and fewer child births."
The latest version of the mandate is now subject to a 60-day public comment period. The overall mandate is to take effect for religious nonprofits in August.
___
Zoll reported from New York. Associated Press writer David Crary in New York contributed.
Associated PressSaturday, February 2, 2013
Russian Gold Company Merger in the Offing | Gold Investing News
MINING.com reported that a combination of Polyus Gold (LSE:PGIL) and Polymetal International (LSE:POLY) is a likely outcome of last week?s news that Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is selling a 37-percent stake in Polyus to an unnamed group of investors selected by billionaire Suleiman Kerimov?s Nafta Moskva, which holds a 40-percent stake in Polyus.
Kerimov tried unsuccessfully merge the two firms last year. If he succeeds this time, the resulting company will be the world?s fifth- or sixth-largest gold producer (on par with Canada?s Goldcorp), with over 2.7 million ounces predicted for 2013,?according to MINING.com.
Polyus made headlines this week when it announced that its gold output in 2012 rose 12 percent, to a record 1.68 million ounces ? exceeding production targets by 5 percent and bucking the trend plaguing major gold producers like Goldcorp and Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX,TSX:ABX), which have both struggled to bring projects online.
It expects its 2012 gold sales to rise a whopping 22 percent, to $2.8 billion, compared to $2.3 billion a year ago.
?The record double-digit growth rate achieved in 2012 came as a result of ? exceptional performance delivered by our largest mines, Olimpiada and Blagodatnoye, and steady improvements at Kuranakh,? Polyus said in a statement.
The company also said it may hike its 2013 output by 7 percent, to between 1.7 and 1.8 million ounces,?due to rising production in Russia.
Meanwhile, Polymetal also announced?that it produced significantly more gold in 2012 than in 2011 ? 1.06 million gold-equivalent ounces, which is 31 percent more than it put out in 2011 and 6 percent better than its original guidance. The news prompted the precious metals miner to announce a possible disbursement of a special dividend at the end of the year, adding to this month?s payout of US$0.50 per share, which cost the company $191 million, Reuters reported.
Polymetal is on track to pour 1.2 million ounces this year, notwithstanding the risk of a 5-percent shortfall due to delays at one of its facilities, the company said.
Gold rises on continued hopes of money printing
The gold price added over $18, or 1 percent, Wednesday on poor economic news from the United States; that points to continued stimulus on the part of the US Federal Reserve. The yellow metal was changing hands for $1,681 an ounce after the release of economic data showing that the US economy shrunk 0.1 percent during the fourth quarter of 2012; the Fed?s statement that it will continue buying Treasury bills and bonds worth $85 billion a month due to ?downside risk to the economic outlook? also contributed to the uptick.
By Thursday, however, Wednesday?s gains were erased, with the precious metal down over $20, to $1,660 midday, as gold traders sold and took profits. Spot gold closed at $1,664 on the last day of the month, while gold futures (April delivery)?last traded down $17.80 at $1,663.90. On a monthly basis, gold in January booked losses for the fourth month in a row.
Gold, considered a hedge against inflation and currency depreciation, has doubled in value since the US Federal Reserve, under the direction of Chairman Ben Bernanke, started its quantitative easing programs in 2008. These programs are essentially aimed at increasing the supply of money in order to drive down interest rates and stimulate borrowing and consumer spending.
Indian gold traders do brisk trade as wedding season approaches
Indian bullion dealers appear to have stepped up their gold trading last month in anticipation of the hike in the gold import duty announced on January 21.
Mineweb reported that?bullion traders ?cornered most of the precious metal in the first three weeks of the month,? clearly hedging their bets on what will happen after the customs duty on gold imports rises from 4 percent to 6 percent.?
Traders also seem keenly aware of India?s wedding season, which begins next week and continues until May, and is considered the most lucrative time of the year for the gold trade as families purchase gold jewelry to mark weddings and other auspicious occasions.
US produced less gold and silver in 2012
Production of gold and silver?in the United States was down last year even though the total value of minerals produced in the US was up for the third year in a row, according to stats from the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The USGS reported the value of all minerals produced at $76.5 billion in 2012 versus $74.8 billion in 2011, with gold, copper and aggregates comprising the top three sectors. However, US mines only produced 230 tons of gold last year, compared to 234 in 2011, and 1,050 tons of silver, versus 1,120 tons in the prior year.
Ghana starts refining gold, China to offer ETFs
Two countries reached milestones this week in the way they handle or vend gold. Ghana, Africa?s second-largest gold producer, will begin refining gold for the first time since mining began in the country over 100 years ago, Bloomberg reported, beginning with state-owned Precious Minerals Marketing. The country is aiming to add domestic value to its natural resources, most of which are exported unprocessed.
The Chinese government took another step toward encouraging its citizens to buy gold by introducing rules for the operation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), China Daily reported. While no timetable for the introduction of ETFs was announced, the move is ?part of government efforts to boost the development of both the gold market and the capital market,? the article states.
Gold Investing News reported last week that commodity ETFs were dominated by gold in 2012, with assets in gold ETFs totalling $146.6 billion ? and representing the lion?s share of the?$199.8 billion under management in commodity ETFs.
Company news
Oyu Tolgoi?s massive copper-gold-silver complex will reach commercial production by 2013, Rio Tinto (LSE:RIO,ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO) said Thursday in response to a media report stating that the company is considering a temporary halt in construction for political reasons.??The power is secured, first ore produced and the concentrator switched on,? Rio Tinto spokesman Illtud Harri told Reuters. ?We are on schedule for first commercial production in the first half of the year.? Rio was allegedly considering halting the $6.2-billion ?project to protest Mongolia?s demands for a larger stake in the project and new royalty rates, Bloomberg reported.
The government of Kyrgyzstan is once again trying to force Centerra (TSX:CG) to renegotiate its mining license for its Kumtor open-pit mine, EurasiaNet?reported on Monday. The former Soviet republic last year cancelled surface mining rights granted to?the Canadian gold miner on accusations that the company is damaging the environment and stealing the country?s wealth. The mine has produced 8.4 million ounces of gold since 1997 and accounts for 60 percent of the Central Asian republic?s industrial output.
Bloomberg reported that AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) expects to overshoot costs for its Tropicana mine by 13 percent. The company blamed an overheated Western Australian construction market, along with extreme skill shortages and higher labor costs, in explaining the new estimate of between AU$820 million and $845 million. In 2010, the mine?s capex was estimated at $775 million.
Junior company news
On Monday, Atacama Pacific Gold (TSXV:ATM)?released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Cerro Maricunga oxide-gold project in Chile. The PEA targets annual production of 298,000 ounces over the first five years of a 10-year mine life. The Toronto-based company said the project is ?globally?one of the largest oxide gold projects under?consideration for development.??
Guyana Goldfields (TSX:GUY) filed a technical report relating to its Aurora gold project in Guyana. The report outlines an open-pit, underground operation that will yield 194,000 ounces per year over a 17-year life of mine, with 231,000 ounces produced on average in the first 10 years.
Meadow Bay Gold (TSX:MAY)?announced that a resource estimate has been completed for its Nevada-based Atlanta gold project. The company said it has more than doubled the resource since acquiring the property two years ago.
?
Securities Disclosure: I, Andrew Topf, hold an equity position in Goldcorp.
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Gold: King of Commodity ETFs in 2012
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Egyptians march in protest in restive canal city
CAIRO (AP) ? Thousands of Egyptians are marching in protest in the restive Suez Canal city of Port Said, calling for retribution a week after they saw the worst of street violence that left up to 60 dead across the country.
Egypt's opposition has called for rallies on Friday to pressure President Mohammed Morsi to accept their demands to form a national unity government and amend the constitution, moves they say would prevent the Islamist from governing solely in the interest of his Muslim Brotherhood group.
The protest marches come a day after the Brotherhood and the opposition National Salvation Front met under the aegis of Egypt's premier Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, and signed a joint statement denouncing violence. It was the two groups' first ever meeting.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egyptians-march-protest-restive-canal-city-120144225.html
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VESA outs latest DisplayPort Dual-Mode 1.1 standard with 4K HDMI support
As manufacturers ramp up the pixels for TVs, that tech will soon trickle over to the computer side of things. As such, the VESA standard body's just announced a new DisplayPort version that'll work with the highest HDMI 1.4a resolutions like Ultra HD (4k), 3D 1080p60 and 1080p with deep (billions or more) colors. It'll be able to output those modes through a new DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter, version 1.1, once new graphics cards and devices arrive "later this year" with the standard, according to VESA. As it stands, DisplayPort already supports all those resolutions natively (and more), including UltraHD at 60Hz or even four simultaneous 1080p60 monitors. However, the new standard, along with a compliant adapter, will let you drive HDMI 1.4 TVs or displays using a single cable at the higher resolutions (if supported) -- rather than the 1080p60 it was limited to before. If you need a higher res version of things, check the PR after the break.
Filed under: Desktops, Displays, Laptops, HD
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/01/vesa-outs-latest-displayport-dual-mode-standard-with-4k-hdmi/
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Fluorescent protein lets us read a fish's thoughts
The zebrafish spots its lunch. What goes through its brain? Now, for the first time, we can see exactly what it is thinking, thanks to a new way of studying single neurons that lets researchers track patterns of brain activity in a live animal.
A standard way to achieve detailed imaging of cellular activity is by genetically altering cells to express green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) which light up when calcium concentrations rise ? such as occurs when neurons are activated.
To try to see activity in individual neurons, Koichi Kawakami at the National Institute of Genetics in Shizuoka, Japan, and colleagues created a super-sensitive GFP and tested it in zebrafish larvae between four and seven days old, when they are transparent.
The researchers focused on capturing activity in the zebrafish's tectum ? a region of the brain that processes vision. They set up an LCD screen that displayed a blinking dot to one side of an immobilised zebrafish larva. As the dot appeared and disappeared, they saw corresponding flashes of light from the tectum, reflecting neural activity.
When the team moved the dot from left to right and top to bottom, they saw horizontal and vertical movement of brain signals in the tectum, revealing what is known as the visuotopic map. Visual information from each eye is processed in the opposite hemisphere of the brain, so movement seen by the right eye was replicated in the left side of the tectum and vice versa.
Magnification factor
The difference in scale between the brain map and the actual movement showed that the magnification factor was larger in the vertical direction than the horizontal, but why this should be is unclear. "I think fish eyes and our eyes could be better at finding differences in height rather than those in the horizontal direction," says Kawakami. "It's an interesting question."
The team then introduced a live paramecium ? a tiny single-celled organism eaten by zebrafish ? near the larva's head. There was no response when the paramecium was motionless, but when it started swimming, signals in the zebrafish brain matched the movement of its prey.
Finally, the team observed brain signals while the zebrafish larva and prey both swam freely. Just before the larva caught its prey, the signals converged in the front of the tectum, suggesting that activation of this area could be connected with subsequent activation of the larva's motor pathways.
"This is very exciting work," says Martha Constantine-Paton, who studies brain development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She hopes that it will soon be possible to watch how neural circuits grow as a zebrafish matures.
That will be the next big hurdle, she says, and since the fish are only transparent as larvae, it would require a cranial window or especially sensitive optical reagents. But we might not be far off. "The sensitivity resolution of this new green fluorescent protein is amazing," she says.
Kawakami and colleagues are now attempting to observe activity across the whole brain. "We will explore neurons that work while the fish learns and thinks," he says. "This will lead to an understanding of the fundamental neuronal circuits at work during human thought."
Journal reference: Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.12.040
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?He'd do anything for anybody?: family remembers Robert Dagley ...
R.I.P. Robert Wendell Dagley (Submitted)
Robert ?Bobby? Wendell Dagley of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, passed away in the early hours of January 14, due to complications with heart and diabetes. It was his 72nd birthday.
Robert grew up in a crowded house in Chester, Nova Scotia. He was the third of 16 children. The family didn?t have much, but they made due.
?There was actually thirteen of us home at one time. It was testy, but interesting. My mom had nerves of steel and she worked hard to provide for us,? said Robert?s brother Randy.
Robert?s sister Joan Brown said they ?all got along great.? Despite the family?s size, Brown said fighting ?never seemed to happen to my family.?
Their father died in 1964 after a prolonged battle?with lung cancer. Robert moved to Ontario with his brother Ronald shortly after. ?According to Randy, he?didn?t?have much choice.
?There was no employment here. There was very low wages. Back then a real good wage for around here was a dollar an hour, if you could get a job that paid that much,? said Randy. ?Ontario was fast moving at the time, with lots of job opportunities.?
Robert spent nearly all his working life in Ontario. He married in his early twenties. Unfortunately the marriage?didn?t?last. By the mid-seventies it was over and Robert was left with the hardest decision of his life.
He came home for Ontario briefly with his wife. But she took a bus back to Ontario during their stay and that was that. She?didn?t?want anything to do with their six children. Robert?s mom looked after them briefly, but she still had to work to support her own children.
Robert?couldn?t?take care of them by himself. The children were put in foster care; something Robert never got over.
?His family was very important to him. He was always concerned about them,? said Randy.
?He loved his kids, and he always talked about them,? said Brown. ?He always felt that he?didn?t?do enough for them.? Brown said that Robert was never one to complain, except to see his children more.
Robert moved back to Nova Scotia when he retired and lived in Bridgewater until his death. He kept himself occupied. He loved western movies, puzzles and playing cards.
Randy, along with other friends and family, would often meet with Robert at the Bridgewater Mall. He loved to go to the mall, sitting and talking with friends while drinking coffee. Brown said he loved to torment people for a laugh.
?Bobby was a good guy. If there was trouble he always tried to settle it. He was pretty easy going. He was direct, he told you what was on his mind, but he was easy going,? said Randy.
Flea markets were another passion of his. Every weekend he would set up a table and sell items his friends had given him. He also helped run a small antiques shop until ten years ago, when his health deteriorated too much for him to continue.
Robert?s diabetes was severe. Last year he also had heart bypass surgery. He was in the hospital for slightly over a week before his death. A friend forced him to check in when he got sick.
?Things just started to cave in on him, and he knew it. He was courageous enough to say that he knew it,? Randy said.
Robert?s siblings said he was content at the end. They all visited him the day before his death, many spending the day with him. He remained lucid the entire time, comforting his friends and family.
?He had a good life and he was very contented. He told me he loved me and for me not to do any crying. I dearly loved him,? said Brown.
?He said ?There?s nothing you can do, or anyone else can do to help me. I?m sick. I?m dying,?? said Randy. ?He said, ?Randy, listen. I?m ready to go right now.? He said ?I don?t want to wait around suffering like dad did.??
Robert told the doctors he did not want any medicine, except to ease the pain if necessary. In the late afternoon he grew uncomfortable and was given some morphine.
Randy finally left the hospital at 10 p.m., after a close friend of Robert?s said she would stay with him and call if his condition changed.
?The last thing I said to him was ?Bobby,?you?ve?not only been a friend, but?you?ve?been a dear brother to us. God bless you, and I hope you don?t have pain.? That was it,? said Randy.
Randy and Brown were both woken up around 5:45 a.m. by a phone call from this friend telling them that Robert was gone.
?People should know Robert was a very caring person. He put more concern out for other people than he did himself, always,? said Randy, remembering his brother.
Source: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/28716/hed-family-remembers-robert-dagley/
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