Monday, November 28, 2011

Mass immunization with cervical cancer vaccine switched to a more effective variety

By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD

Cervarix, a vaccine that protects cervical cancer, will be replaced by Gardasil which also prevents up to 90 per cent of genital warts.

Campaigners have argued that the wrong vaccine Cervarix is being used in the routine immunization programme for young girls, which is estimated to prevent 400 deaths a year. Cervarix is cheaper than rival Gardasil, but fails to protect against genital warts. Surveys suggested doctors were choosing Gardasil for private vaccination of their own daughters.

Cervarix is currently offered to girls aged 12 and 13 years to protect against strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most cases of cancer of the cervix, the neck of the womb. Cervarix was picked by the Labour government for the first four-year phase of the NHS programme in 2008 because it offered ?best overall value? and more than five million doses have been given.

The vaccine, made by GlaxoSmithKline, beat off its rival Gardasil, made by Sanofi Pasteur MSD, for the lucrative contract worth at least ?100 million, while a two-year catch-up programme for older girls was expected to cost a further ?20 million. Both vaccines are 70 per cent effective against HPV strains 16 and 18, but Gardasil also protects against two other strains responsible for 90 per cent of genital warts.

With 100,000 new cases of genital warts in England each year and condoms only reducing transmission by up to 50 per cent, doctors argue that the safer option is to vaccinate with Gardasil. Data from the Health Protection Agency says genital warts cost the NHS ?17 million a year, some of which could be saved by vaccinating against them. Doctors at the British Association for Sexual Health, which has campaigned for Gardasil, said it expected genital warts to be eradicated within 20 years among heterosexual boys and girls, as long as over 70 per cent of 12 to 13 year-old girls continue to have the full course.

The Department of Health (DH) last night confirmed that Gardasil had been chosen for the next four-year programme starting in September 2012 covering the whole country. The cost of the contract was ?commercially confidential? but updated information about the clinical benefits and pricing had been taken into account.

Professor David Salisbury, DH director of immunization, denied the original choice of vaccine had been wrong, saying it was a clear decision based on criteria at the time ? which had now changed. Latest Department of Health figures show at least three-quarters of girls aged between 12 and 15 have received all three doses. Professor Salisbury said, ?From next September, Gardasil will be the vaccine that we offer to girls to protect them against the HPV infection. It?s not unusual for the NHS to change vaccines or other medicines ? it can happen following competitive tendering exercises or when new research findings come to light.?

?Young women and girls who have already been vaccinated or who are due to be vaccinated before September, do not need to be vaccinated again. They have done exactly the right thing and they can be assured that they are protected against types of HPV virus that cause over 70 per cent of cervical cancer,? he added.

Peter Greenhouse, spokesperson for the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV, said, ?All of us at BASHH are delighted by the news that the next generation of teenage girls will receive a multi-purpose HPV vaccine which will protect them against cervical cancer AND genital warts. The UK-wide school cervical cancer vaccination campaign has produced higher rates of coverage than achieved in any other country - if we can keep this up we should expect to see genital wart infections start to reduce in teenage girls within five years, and slightly later in boys.?

Source: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20111127/Mass-immunization-with-cervical-cancer-vaccine-switched-to-a-more-effective-variety.aspx

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

NASA rover launched to see if Mars can sustain life (Reuters)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) ? An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Saturday, launching a $2.5 billion nuclear-powered NASA rover toward Mars to look for life habitats there.

The 20-story-tall booster built by United Launch Alliance lifted off from its seaside launch pad at 10:02 a.m. EST (1502 GMT), soaring through partly cloudy skies as it headed into space to send NASA's Mars Science Laboratory on a 354-million mile (556 million km), nearly nine-month journey to the 'Red Planet.'

"It has 'phoned home', and it's on the way to Mars," said NASA launch commentator George Diller, describing how tracking stations successfully picked up the traveling probe's signal after launch.

The car-sized rover nicknamed Curiosity is expected to touch down on Aug. 6, 2012, to begin two years of detailed analysis of a 96-mile (154-km) wide impact basin near the Martian equator called Gale Crater.

The mission's goal is to determine if Mars has or ever had environments to support life. It is the first astrobiology mission to Mars since the 1970s-era Viking probes.

Scientists chose the landing site because it has a three-mile (4.8-km) high mountain of what appears from orbital imagery and mineral analysis to be layers of rock piled up like the Grand Canyon, each layer testifying to a different period in Mars' history.

The rover has 17 cameras and 10 science instruments, including chemistry labs, to identify elements in soil and rock samples to be dug up by the probe's drill-tipped robotic arm.

'LONG SHOT'

The base of the crater's mountain has clays, evidence of a prolonged wet environment, said planetary scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology and the mission's lead scientist.

Water is considered to be a key element for life, but not the only one.

Previous Mars probes, including the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, searched for signs of past surface water.

With Curiosity, which is twice as long and three times heavier than its predecessors, NASA shifts its focus to look for other ingredients for life, including possibly organic carbon, the building block for life on Earth.

"It's a long shot, but we're going to try," Grotzinger told reporters before launch.

Launch is generally considered the riskiest part of a mission, but Curiosity's landing on Mars will not be without drama.

The 1,980-pound (898 kg) rover is too big for the airbag or thruster-rocket landings used on previous Mars probes, so engineers designed a rocket-powered "sky-crane" to gently lower Curiosity to the crater's floor via a 43-foot (13-meter) long cable.

"We call it the 'six-minutes of terror,'" said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, referring to the risky landing. "It is pretty scary, but my confidence level is really high."

Curiosity is powered by heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium. It is designed to last one Martian year, or 687 Earth days.

United Launch Alliance is a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin .

(Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111126/india_nm/india607439

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[OOC] The Disowned

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Saturday, November 26, 2011

At least 20 found dead in Mexico's second city (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Mexican authorities found more than 20 bodies in several cars left around a major traffic intersection in the western city of Guadalajara, officials said on Thursday.

Local media reported the bodies were discovered in Mexico's second city alongside a message from drug cartels. The state attorney-general's office said there could be up to 23 dead.

Guadalajara is the capital of the state of Jalisco, home to mariachi music and tequila, and was long spared the beheadings and drive-by shootings that have marked Mexico's war against drugs in other regions.

Known as a stronghold of the Sinaloa cartel, headed by Mexico's most-wanted trafficker Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, Guadalajara saw a spike in killings as other gangs, including the Zetas, started to contest their dominance of the region.

The discovery of the bodies, which local media said were left 500 meters (546 yards) from the auditorium where the Guadalajara International Book Fair will be held from Saturday, follows the dumping of 16 burned corpses in the Sinaloan capital Culiacan on Wednesday.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed the army to crack down on powerful criminal gangs and some 45,000 people have died in the conflict since he took office.

Guadalajara, home to 4.5 million people, hosted athletes from 42 countries last month for the Pan American Games, which were not marred by security incidents.

The U.S. consulate in Guadalajara warned on February 3 of "a marked escalation of criminal activity". It banned U.S. government officials from traveling after dark between the city and its main airport and urged U.S. visitors to follow suit.

Guadalajara is not the only previously safe city to be drawn into the drug war: residents of eastern port of Veracruz were horrified by the dumping of scores of bodies at various points around the city in September and October.

Drugs violence has already engulfed the northern business hub of Monterrey, a city of similar size to Guadalajara, prompting some companies to freeze investment.

(Writing by Dave Graham; editing by Anthony Boadle)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/wl_nm/us_mexico_deaths

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Friday, November 25, 2011

Dreaming takes the sting out of painful memories

ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2011) ? They say time heals all wounds, and new research from the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that time spent in dream sleep can help us overcome painful ordeals.

UC Berkeley researchers have found that during the dream phase of sleep, also known as REM sleep, our stress chemistry shuts down and the brain processes emotional experiences and takes the edge off difficult memories.

The findings offer a compelling explanation for why people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as war veterans, have a hard time recovering from distressing experiences and suffer reoccurring nightmares. They also offer clues into why we dream.

"The dream stage of sleep, based on its unique neurochemical composition, provides us with a form of overnight therapy, a soothing balm that removes the sharp edges from the prior day's emotional experiences," said Matthew Walker, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley and senior author of the study to be published on Nov. 23, in the journal Current Biology.

For people with PTSD, Walker said, this overnight therapy may not be working effectively, so when a "flashback is triggered by, say, a car backfiring, they relive the whole visceral experience once again because the emotion has not been properly stripped away from the memory during sleep."

The results offer some of the first insights into the emotional function of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, which typically takes up 20 percent of a healthy human's sleeping hours. Previous brain studies indicate that sleep patterns are disrupted in people with mood disorders such as PTSD and depression.

While humans spend one-third of their lives sleeping, there is no scientific consensus on the function of sleep. However, Walker and his research team have unlocked many of these mysteries linking sleep to learning, memory and mood regulation. The latest study shows the importance of the REM dream state.

"During REM sleep, memories are being reactivated, put in perspective and connected and integrated, but in a state where stress neurochemicals are beneficially suppressed," said Els van der Helm, a doctoral student in psychology at UC Berkeley and lead author of the study.

Thirty-five healthy young adults participated in the study. They were divided into two groups, each of whose members viewed 150 emotional images, twice and 12 hours apart, while an MRI scanner measured their brain activity.

Half of the participants viewed the images in the morning and again in the evening, staying awake between the two viewings. The remaining half viewed the images in the evening and again the next morning after a full night of sleep.

Those who slept in between image viewings reported a significant decrease in their emotional reaction to the images. In addition, MRI scans showed a dramatic reduction in reactivity in the amygdala, a part of the brain that processes emotions, allowing the brain's "rational" prefrontal cortex to regain control of the participants' emotional reactions.

In addition, the researchers recorded the electrical brain activity of the participants while they slept, using electroencephalograms. They found that during REM dream sleep, certain electrical activity patterns decreased, showing that reduced levels of stress neurochemicals in the brain soothed emotional reactions to the previous day's experiences.

"We know that during REM sleep there is a sharp decrease in levels of norepinephrine, a brain chemical associated with stress," Walker said. "By reprocessing previous emotional experiences in this neuro-chemically safe environment of low norepinephrine during REM sleep, we wake up the next day, and those experiences have been softened in their emotional strength. We feel better about them, we feel we can cope."

Walker said he was tipped off to the possible beneficial effects of REM sleep on PTSD patients when a physician at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in the Seattle area told him of a blood pressure drug that was inadvertently preventing reoccurring nightmares in PTSD patients.

It turns out that the generic blood pressure drug had a side effect of suppressing norepinephrine in the brain, thereby creating a more stress-free brain during REM, reducing nightmares and promoting a better quality of sleep. This suggested a link between PTSD and REM sleep, Walker said.

"This study can help explain the mysteries of why these medications help some PTSD patients and their symptoms as well as their sleep," Walker said. "It may also unlock new treatment avenues regarding sleep and mental illness."

Other co-authors of the study are UC Berkeley sleep researchers Justin Yao, Shubir Dutt, Vikram Rao and Jared Saletin.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Els van der Helm, Justin Yao, Shubir Dutt, Vikram Rao, Jared M. Saletin, Matthew P. Walker. REM Sleep Depotentiates Amygdala Activity to Previous Emotional Experiences. Current Biology, 23 November 2011 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.10.052

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/0H-uR1israg/111123133346.htm

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Hacked 'Climategate' emails 'truly pathetic,' says climate scientist

Penn State professor Michael Mann, who was among the climate scientists whose emails were leaked after the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research?Unit's servers were hacked, called the episode a 'shameless effort to manufacture a false controversy.' ?

Climate scientist Michael Mann blasted the release of new leaked emails and documents taken from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research?Unit as "truly pathetic" and a "shameless effort to manufacture a false controversy" on Tuesday (Nov. 22)

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Mann, along with other prominent climate scientists, features in the emails, which consists of conversations among researchers about data and public relations. A previous leak in 2009 released more than 1,000 emails in an episode dubbed "Climategate." According to the University of East Anglia (UEA), the current data dump, if genuine, appears to be culled from emails taken at the same time as the original Climategate documents.

Climate-change skeptics have pointed to the emails as evidence that researchers were manipulating data to make global warming look more serious than it is. Multiple investigations by UEA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the British House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, several independent panels and?Mann's home institution, Pennsylvania State University, found no evidence that these claims were true. The House of Commons did criticize the scientists and UEA for not releasing raw data and for handling freedom-of-information requests poorly. A 2011 parliamentary report concluded that it was time to?"move on" from Climategate.

That seems unlikely, given the release of the new emails just days before an annual?United Nations climate summit?set to begin Nov. 28. The?files?are spreading quickly online, including an accompanying text file, which pulls out quotes allegedly from emails between researchers working on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.

"Observations do not show rising temperatures throughout the tropical troposphere unless you accept one single study and approach and discount a wealth of others," reads one quote, supposedly from a climate scientist. "This is just downright dangerous. We need to communicate the uncertainty and be honest."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/HD3CkbyO5b0/Hacked-Climategate-emails-truly-pathetic-says-climate-scientist

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Thursday, November 24, 2011

Soprano Jurinac dies aged 90-Vienna State Opera (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Bosnian-born soprano Sena Jurinac, who made her name at the Vienna State Opera in the 1940s and 50s, has died aged 90, the opera house said on Wednesday.

She passed away on Tuesday at her home near Augsburg in southern Germany, it added in a statement.

"We mourn the passing of a legendary artist who not only had a lasting influence on the Vienna State Opera but on the entire opera world as well," said Dominique Meyer, director of the company.

Jurinac was born in Travnik in 1921, and after training and singing in Zagreb signed up to the Vienna State Opera.

Her debut there came in 1945, in the opera's first performance after the end of World War II, as Cherubino in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro."

Among her most-performed roles in Vienna were Octavian in "Der Rosenkavalier," Mimi in "La Boheme," Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni" and Elisabeth in "Don Carlos." She retired from the opera house in 1982.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/music_nm/us_opera_senajurinac

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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Warner Bros. still wants to make "U.N.C.L.E." (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Despite Steven Soderbergh's exit as director of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." last week, Warner Bros. still remains committed to developing it.

"This is a movie the studio was trying to make before Soderbergh was involved," an individual close to "U.N.C.L.E." told TheWrap. "If he is truly off, it's hard to believe the studio won't want to make it with someone else."

Indeed, Warner's has wanted to adapt the '60s television show as a movie for nearly 20 years. Over the years, Quentin Tarantino, Matthew Vaughn ("X-Men: First Class") and David Dobkin ("Wedding Crashers") have been tied to the film -- and Dobkin remains on board as a producer.

The studio "doesn't think there's millions and millions of rabid 'U.N.C.L.E' fans out there, but they do recognize that the brand has some mythology to it," the individual said. "It's a major franchise they have wanted for over a decade now and a script they're very happy with."

For a short time, the espionage thriller set in the 1960s seemed to be moving at a quick clip. Soderbergh, who has delivered Warner Bros. hits including "Ocean's Eleven," "Ocean's Twelve," "Ocean's Thirteen" and "Contagion," brought a new level of excitement to the movie. There was talk that "Oceans" actor George Clooney -- who also worked with Soderbergh on the 1998 "Out of Sight," the 2002 "Solaris" and the 2006 "The Good German" -- would play the lead role of Napoleon Solo.

But then Clooney decided against it.

The studio acknowledged this fall that it wanted Bradley Cooper to take the part, but talks with the actor fizzled.

An individual close to the studio said that Warner's and Soderbergh couldn't agree on some casting issues and were at odds over budget.

The individual said that the studio continues to look for another director to take on the project -- and noted that despite the buzz, "U.N.C.L.E." hadn't yet been greenlit.

That individual compared "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." to "Akira," another Warner's project that has gone through a succession of directors and writers. Before Jaume Collet-Serra became attached this past July, Ruairi Robinson and Albert Hughes were attached to direct.

(bob.tourtellotte@thomsonreuters.com; 1 213-380-2014))

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/film_nm/us_uncle

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Is Lady Gaga a Satanist Illuminati Slave?

The Illuminati-in-pop meme has tremendous traction. References to the secret society began popping up in hip-hop songs back in the early ?90s, but with the rise of broadband Internet, Illuminati conspiracies have enjoyed the same steroidal super-boost as pornography and cat photography. The theorists occupy music?s margins, and yet their message has splashed into mainstream waters. In late 2009, a CNN reporter saw fit to ask Lady Gaga to address the Illuminati rumors (she balked at the question). Rihanna mockingly acknowledged accusations of Illuminati entanglement in her ?S&M? video. (Fake headlines flash onscreen describing her as a ?Princess of the Illuminati.?) And on a 2011 song with Rick Ross (who may also be under Illuminati control), Jay-Z dedicated a verse to denying his membership in the Freemasons: ?I said I was amazing, not that I?m a Mason.?

Who are the Illuminati, and why are so many pop-music observers obsessed with them? The Illuminati were an actual group, founded in Bavaria in the late 18th century by a philosopher and law professor named Adam Weishaupt. In The Fate of Reason: German Philosophy from Kant to Fichte, the historian Frederick C. Beiser describes the Illuminati as ?a secret society devoted to the cause of political reform and Aufkl?rung?? the German Enlightenment. In Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition, the author Glen Alexander Magee notes that the group was marked by its ?opposition to traditional religion, superstition, and feudalism? and its ?advocacy of scientific rationalism and the rights of man.? It is hard to say precisely why the Illuminati became wedded in the paranoid mind with devil worship, but seeming reasons include Weishaupt?s anticlerical streak and a popular ?history? of Freemasonry written in the late 19th century by Frenchman L?o Taxil, who purported to expose Masons? Satanic rituals. (Taxil later revealed that his ?journalism? was actually a satirical hoax.) The melding of secret societies and occultism persists today, of course, in pop-cultural representations of creepy, chamber-congregating Skull and Bones members or masked, orgy-prone captains of industry in Kubrick?s Eyes Wide Shut.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=9d2b7a2572c60f0d3fdc30eefdd933ed

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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Video: Countdown to Black Friday

Insight on this year's holiday shopping season just four days ahead of Black Friday, with CNBC's Courtney Reagan, and Liz Dunn, Macquarie Group.

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Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45390367/

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PSU taps ex-FBI director Freeh for investigation (AP)

PHILADELPHIA ? Former FBI director Louis Freeh, tapped to lead Penn State's investigation into the child sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach, said his inquiry will go as far back as 1975, a much longer period than a grand jury report issued earlier this month.

Freeh was named Monday to oversee the university board of trustees' internal investigation into the abuse allegations that ultimately led to the ouster of longtime football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier.

Freeh said his goal was to conduct a comprehensive, fair and quick review.

Penn State has faced criticism since announcing that its internal investigation would be led by two university trustees, Merck pharmaceutical company CEO Kenneth Frazier and state Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis.

Faculty members on Friday called for an independent investigation of how the university handled abuse allegations, and the faculty senate endorsed a resolution asking for an investigation to be led by a committee whose chair has no links to Penn State.

In announcing Freeh's appointment, Frazier stressed the former FBI director's independence. Freeh will be empowered to investigate employees up to and including the board of trustees itself, Frazier said.

"No one is above scrutiny," Frazier said.

Retired Air Force Col. and astronaut Guion Bluford also will be part of the investigation, Frazier said. Bluford is a 1964 Penn State graduate.

Freeh's investigation firm, Group International Europe, was hired by soccer's governing body this year to look into the bribery case involving FIFA's presidential election. FIFA banned candidate Mohamed bin Hammam for life for bribing voters. The ruling body also banned 11 Caribbean soccer leaders and disciplined others in the corruption scandal.

Freeh founded Group International Europe after leading the FBI from 1993 to 2001. He previously served six years as a special agent.

Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of molesting eight boys over a 15-year period. Authorities say some assaults happened on campus and were reported to administrators but not to police.

Amid the scandal, Penn State's trustees ousted Spanier and Paterno. The trustees said Spanier and Paterno failed to act after a graduate assistant claimed he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a young boy in a campus shower in 2002.

Paterno, who has the most wins of any major college football coach, has conceded he should have done more. Spanier has said he would have reported a crime if he had suspected one had been committed.

Sandusky has said he is innocent. He has acknowledged he showered with boys but said he never molested them.

Former school administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are charged with not properly alerting authorities to suspected abuse and with perjury. They maintain their innocence.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_sp_ot/us_penn_state_abuse

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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Should employers be allowed to raise insurance rates for smokers or

Unless the plans include a lot of help for people to quit smoking or lose weight, this doesn't sound fair. The thought of charging someone a high premium because of their cholesterol also sounds unfair. I know people who have high cholesterol but are very fit. Once again, companies and the insurance industry do this because they can. New York Times:

But some benefits specialists and health experts say programs billed as incentives for wellness, by offering discounted health insurance, can become punitive for people who suffer from health problems that are not completely under their control. Nicotine addiction, for example, may impede smokers from quitting, and severe obesity may not be easily overcome.

Earlier this year, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association were among groups that warned federal officials about giving companies too much latitude. They argued in a letter sent in March that the leeway afforded employers could provide ?a back door? to policies that discriminate against unhealthy workers.

Kristin M. Madison, a professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, said, ?People are definitely worried that programs will be used to drive away employees or potential employees who are unhealthy.?

Source: http://www.americablog.com/2011/11/should-employers-be-allowed-to-raise.html

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Saturday, November 19, 2011

Unemployment aid applications drop to 7-month low

(AP) ? The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since early April, a sign that layoffs are easing and hiring may pick up.

Weekly applications dropped by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the fourth decline in five weeks.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 396,750. That's the first time the average been below 400,000 in seven months.

Applications need to consistently drop below 375,000 to signal sustained job gains. They haven't been that low since February.

The job market "is still weak but there are hopeful signs of some modest improvement," Steven Wood, an economist at Insight Economics, in a note to clients.

The number of people receiving benefits also fell to the lowest level since Sept. 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and the financial crisis intensified.

Some people may no longer be getting benefits because they've found jobs. But a larger number have likely used up all their benefits, Wood said.

The benefit rolls fell 57,000 to 3.6 million in the week ended Nov. 5. That's one week behind the applications data. The figure is the lowest since Sept. 20, 2008.

That doesn't include about 3 million additional people receiving extended benefits from emergency programs put in place during the recession. All told, 6.8 million people received benefits during the week ended Oct. 29, the latest data available.

The pace of hiring over the past few months has been mixed. The economy added only 80,000 jobs in October, the fewest in four months. But the government also said this month that employers added more jobs in August and September than it had initially reported. The unemployment rate dipped to 9 percent.

The economy is growing but not quickly enough to generate many jobs. A series of reports this week shows manufacturers are producing more goods and consumers are spending more in retail stores.

Inflation may be peaking, too, largely because gas prices have fallen. That could help boost consumer spending, which fuels 70 percent of economic activity.

Stronger consumer spending this summer was a key reason the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September quarter. Many economists forecast similar or slightly better growth for the October-December quarter.

The economy needs to grow at nearly double that rate ? consistently ? to make a significant dent in the unemployment rate, which has been near 9 percent for more than two years.

Economists worry that consumers can't sustain their spending growth from this summer without more jobs and higher pay. Consumers spent more in the third quarter while earning less. Many dipped into their savings to make up the difference.

A rebound in manufacturing could lead to more hiring. Factory output grew in October for the fourth straight month, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday. Production of trucks, electronics and business equipment all rose.

One concern is that Europe's debt crisis could worsen and trigger a recession. That could slow demand for U.S. exports and stunt job growth.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-17-Unemployment-Benefits/id-d3b78250a64d44b280b5ac6ac0962654

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Banks closed in Iowa, La; 90 failures in 2011

(AP) ? Regulators have closed small banks in Iowa and Louisiana, lifting to 90 the number of bank failures in the U.S. this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday seized Polk County Bank, based in Johnston, Iowa, with $91.6 million in assets and $82 million in deposits, and Central Progressive Bank, based in Lacombe, La., with $383.1 million in assets and $347.7 million in deposits.

The failure of Polk County Bank is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $12 million; that of Central Progressive Bank is expected to cost $58.1 million.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-18-Bank%20Closures/id-174eb52b49d64795956d50e14410b543

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Friday, November 18, 2011

FDA yanks Avastin as breast cancer drug - Healthy Living : The ...

FDA yanks Avastin as breast cancer drug

November 18th, 2011, 10:33 am ? ? posted by Courtney Perkes

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced that the blockbuster drug Avastin is no longer approved as a treatment for breast cancer because of potentially life-threatening side effects and a lack of benefit to patients.

The FDA said risks include:? severe high blood pressure; bleeding and hemorrhaging; heart attack or heart failure; and the development of perforations in the nose, stomach, and intestines.

The FDA said the drug, made by Genentech, was approved for metastatic breast cancer in February 2008 through an accelerated approval process designed to give patients access to promising drugs while clinical trials are conducted.

Avastin will remain on the market as treatment for other kinds of cancer, including colon cancer.

Read more about the FDA?s decision here.

Text OCRHEALTH to 56654 to get free health news alerts.

Source: http://healthyliving.ocregister.com/2011/11/18/fda-yanks-avastin-as-breast-cancer-drug/42913/

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Italy's Monti to lay out reform plans ahead of vote (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) ? Prime Minister Mario Monti is expected to outline austerity measures aimed at restoring confidence in Italy's strained public finances on Thursday when he goes before the Senate to seek a vote of confidence in his new government.

The former European Commissioner, who took office on Wednesday, will present his program in the Senate at around 1200 GMT before a confidence vote in the evening. He will seek a separate vote of confidence in the lower house on Friday.

With Italy at the heart of the euro zone debt crisis, the measures he announces are unlikely to be enough on their own to rebuild shattered market confidence.

But they will be vital to restoring credibility with international partners who had long lost patience with the repeatedly unfulfilled promises of Monti's flamboyant predecessor Silvio Berlusconi.

Monti took the key economy and finance portfolio himself and appointed Corrado Passera, chief executive of Intesa Sanpaolo, one of Italy's big two banks, as industry minister in an unelected cabinet which contained no politicians.

He gave nothing away when asked about his program on Wednesday, but the broad thrust of the measures is expected to match closely reform demands made by European authorities to Berlusconi's center-right government.

Reforming a system that allows many Italians to claim a pension before the age of standard retirement age of 65 and loosening hiring and firing rules that protect some workers but discourage job creation are among possible measures.

There has also been speculation about a wealth tax on privately held assets, possibly including first homes, a measure that has been strongly opposed by Berlusconi's center-right party but which unions and the left have urged repeatedly.

Monti said on Wednesday he was confident his new government would help restore confidence to panicked financial markets but the task he faces was underlined by the continued surge in Italian bond yields.

Yields on 10-year bonds were over 7 percent, near the levels that forced Greece and Ireland to seek an international bailout, which would overwhelm the euro zone's current financial defenses if it were needed by Italy, the bloc's third largest economy.

WELCOME

The appointment of Monti, a sober and reserved economist and tough negotiator with a decade of experience as European Commissioner, was greeted with palpable relief by foreign leaders exasperated by the scandal-plagued Berlusconi.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed the appointment and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would meet Monti as soon as possible.

Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the euro zone finance ministers group, who said he was particularly pleased that the prime minister had taken the finance portfolio himself and said Monti was "the man for the situation".

"The rapid and implementation of all the measures voted recently by the Italian parliament must be a priority to return the country to the path of political credibility," he said in a statement.

The growing threat that Italy's stagnant economy will slip into recession next year will make it increasingly difficult to keep control of its huge public debt, which amounts to 120 percent of gross domestic product, the second highest in the euro zone behind Greece.

International authorities including the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund have kept up pressure on Italy to cut its debt and reform its economy but Monti will need the backing of parliament.

Monti has said he wants to serve until the next scheduled elections in 2013 but the refusal of the main parties to allow politicians to join his cabinet could make it harder to gain popular support for measures designed by unelected technocrats.

(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones, John O'Donnell in Brussels and Alexandria Sage in Paris; editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111116/wl_nm/us_italy

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Evicted Wall St protesters seek rebound with rally (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Occupy Wall Street protesters hope to rebound on Thursday with a march on the New York Stock Exchange to show their battle against economic inequality still has life after they were evicted from a nearby park.

Most rallies by the two-month-old movement have numbered in the hundreds of people in New York but protesters and city officials expect thousands of demonstrators to pour into the Wall Street area from 7 a.m. to try to stop workers from getting to their desks in the financial district.

It will be a test of whether Occupy Wall Street and the loose-knit global alliance it inspired will flag or grow after police cleared a camp of hundreds of protesters from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan on Tuesday.

"This movement is really not about tents as much as it is about an idea," said spokesman Ed Needham. "There's also going to be events in 100 countries around the world tomorrow."

Occupy Wall Street plans to shut down the home of the New York Stock Exchange and the heart of American capitalism to kick off a day of protests. But the movement acknowledged tight security was likely to prevent protesters from getting close to the stock exchange.

Another protest spokesman, Mark Bray, said "the idea is to inconvenience Wall Street bankers going to work, not to hurt anyone. We are committed to nonviolent civil disobedience."

Authorities were prepared for a possible influx of tens of thousands of protesters and aimed to balance public safety with their right to free speech and assembly, said Howard Wolfson, a New York deputy mayor.

"We take it seriously," he told reporters. "Our forces will be deployed accordingly."

Protesters say they are upset that billions of dollars in bailouts given to banks during the recession allowed a return to huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and a struggling economy.

They also believe the richest 1 percent of Americans do not pay their fair share of taxes.

In San Francisco, police arrested 95 anti-Wall Street demonstrators on Wednesday after protesters entered a Bank of America branch in the city's financial district and set up a tent inside.

"We are the 99 percent," the protesters chanted as they were being arrested.

"NEED A SHOW OF SUPPORT"

The Zuccotti Park camp was set up on September 17 and became the epicenter for the movement, sparking rallies and occupations of public spaces across the United States and elsewhere in the world.

After the police cleared the park and it was cleaned, demonstrators were allowed to return but were banned from setting up camp again. Numbers dwindled to less than two dozen overnight on Wednesday.

"I was dismayed by the number of people who stayed," said Sam DeLily, 23, from the New York borough of Queens. "I was disappointed that more people didn't realize we'd need a show of support last night more than ever."

A couple of dozen protesters took refuge at two Manhattan churches that offered them a place to sleep. Hundreds more were put up by New Yorkers who offered their homes, Needham said.

The clearing of the Occupy camp in New York followed recent evictions in Atlanta, Portland, Oregon, and Salt Lake City. Unlike action in Oakland, California, where police used tear gas and stun grenades, most protesters left voluntarily.

The movement has a large donated space near Zuccotti Park where it has been storing thousands of items such as clothing, medical supplies, canned food and toiletries.

"We're going to sit tight and see what direction this takes," protest spokesman Nathan Stueve said when asked what would happen to the donated goods in the storage space.

The protesters in New York have also raised more than $500,000.

Organizers had allocated that money for food, medical care, laundry and communications. They said on Wednesday they would still use the money for those purposes.

"We're going to occupy this park for a long time," said Jason Holmza, 30, of Washington state. "Right now we've got to figure out where to turn our attention to."

(Writing by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman, Dan Whitcomb and Mary Slosson; Editing by Mark Egan, John O'Callaghan and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111117/ts_nm/us_usa_protests_newyork

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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Google Music Store Images Leaked Ahead Of Official Launch

droidmusic1Well, that didn't take long. Invites to Google's big music-related event only went out this past Friday, but the folks over at TecnoDroidVe have already gained access to Google's new music store on an Inspire 4G and took a few screenshots for the rest of us to pore over. There's no word on how they managed to gain access in the first place (Google Translate tells me it was because of "tricks and beginner's luck"), but the screenshots they managed to grab look pretty legitimate.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/1-6ir4mkQ80/

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Queen leads ceremony honoring war dead

Queen Elizabeth II and other senior members of the royal family Sunday led a tribute to Britain's war dead at the annual Remembrance Day ceremony in central London Sunday.

The solemn memorial at the Cenotaph, held under rare sunny skies on a warmish November day, is a focal point of national observances to honor the nation's war dead. Similar ceremonies were held in dozens of towns and cities throughout Britain.

The queen, wearing a black outfit and hat, was joined by her husband, Prince Philip, along with Prince Charles and Prince William in laying wreaths at the Cenotaph in central London.

The queen, walking steadily, placed the first wreath, then bowed in front of the Cenotaph, with its inscription honoring "The Glorious Dead."

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For the first time, the events took place without a veteran of World War I.

Nationwide remembrance
The nationwide remembrance services were held as British troops continue to face hazardous operations in Afghanistan. Ceremonies were also held at British bases in that country.

The queen was joined by Prime Minister David Cameron and opposition party leaders and several former prime ministers, including Tony Blair and John Major.

Thousands of veterans, many wearing campaign ribbons and medals, marched past the Cenotaph as well-wishers watched, most wearing poppies in their lapels as a show of support for those who have lost their lives in conflicts.

Britain observed two minutes' silence Friday to mark Armistice Day, and the English soccer team Saturday wore poppies on special armbands to show support.

International soccer authorities allowed the poppies to be worn only after intervention by Cameron and Prince William, who argued that the poppies were not political symbols.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45276169/ns/world_news-europe/

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Monday, November 14, 2011

Push for Pacific free trade block gains traction (AP)

HONOLULU ? Leaders working to forge a Pacific free trade bloc plan to announce an outline for achieving that goal at an annual Asia-Pacific summit this weekend, one of many initiatives aimed at fending off recession as Europe struggles to resolve its debt crisis.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk ended a meeting of regional trade ministers with praise for Japan's decision Friday to join negotiations on a U.S.-backed free trade arrangement that is viewed by many in the region as a basic building block for an eventual free trade zone encompassing all of Asia and the Pacific Rim.

The so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership is intended to complement other efforts to promote freer trade, and other countries can join if they are willing to meet the very high standards required, Kirk said.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation agenda has gained urgency with warnings from the European Union that its debt crisis could trigger a "deep and prolonged recession" next year. Such a recession would be felt sharply in the U.S., where growth is already anemic, and in Asia, which relies on Europe as a big market for its cars, clothing, consumer electronics and other exports.

But China, which some economists say is on course to overtake the U.S. as the world's biggest economy this decade, has been lukewarm about the Pacific trade pact.

Kirk said the ministers expect leaders of the countries involved in the so-called TPP to announce the broad outlines of a "high-standards, ambitious 21st-century trade pact."

"Of course, many of us believe that the Trans-Pacific Partnership can be the basis for a long-term APEC goal of a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific," he said.

At their summit, the leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum also will endorse a range of "meaningful steps which will strengthen regional economic integration and expand trade," he said.

Such strategies include better food security, increased trade and investment in environmental products and services, better access to financing for small and medium-size companies, faster customs clearance and greater harmony in regulatory standards.

The aim is to make it "cheaper, faster, and easier to do business in the APEC region," according to a statement released by the ministers.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the ministerial meeting that by agreeing on something as rudimentary as shared safety standards for televisions, countries in the region saw exports of TVs jump by nearly half in three years.

By removing barriers and bottlenecks that slow business, APEC members hope to re-energize growth at a time when the world economy most needs dynamism in the Asia-Pacific region to offset the malaise spreading from crisis-stricken Europe. At the same time they are working toward a broader agreement, countries are continuing to forge separate free-trade deals.

"In the coming 12 months there is quite a strong likelihood that things will go worse," Hong Kong's chief executive, Donald Tsang, told a gathering of business leaders on the sidelines of the APEC meetings. "Global performance will be dragged down and then there will be an awakening, I hope," he said.

Overall, given APEC's lack of negotiating power ? all decisions are by consensus ? prospects for major changes are slim. But over the years the group's incremental efforts have helped build support for closer economic ties and freer trade.

The U.S. recently clinched long-sought free trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama ? agreements that if ratified will bring to 20 the number of countries that have free trade agreements with the U.S.

On Friday, Vietnam and Chile signed a free trade agreement on the sidelines of the APEC meetings that will further boost the already thriving trade between the two in Chilean copper and steel and Vietnamese garments, rice and coffee.

Japan has announced no timetable for joining the trans-Pacific free trade group, only its intention to join, a senior Japanese government official said Friday.

But the inclusion of the world's third-largest economy would vastly expand the reach of the trade pact, which now includes the smaller economies of Chile, New Zealand, Brunei and Singapore. The U.S., Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Peru are negotiating to join.

To participate, Japan will have to eliminate tariffs on imports from all member economies ? a reciprocal move that its major manufacturers say will improve access to foreign markets and help keep the country from falling behind regional trading rivals.

Japan's trade minister, Yukio Edano, backed the decision to join and said his government was well aware of the challenges it will face. But he has argued that by delaying further, Tokyo would lose the opportunity to help shape the trading bloc from the start.

China, the world's second-biggest economy, has appeared tepid toward the plan, with an official saying in Beijing earlier this week that it might be "overly ambitious."

Asked its stance, Chen Deming, the trade minister, said China expected Japan to live up to earlier pledges to promote regional integration through various forms. Moves toward closer regional economic ties should be "open and transparent," he said.

"Up to now, we have not yet received any invitation. If one day we receive such an invitation we will seriously study it," Chen said.

Kirk emphasized that the trans-Pacific bloc is meant to be open, though it requires members to meet high standards for openness and free trade.

"You should not wait for an invitation," he said. "If they are willing meet the highest standard then any country is welcome to make the same decision the others have done."

___

Associated Press writer Jaymes Song contributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111112/ap_on_re_as/apec

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China sentences 3 to death for deadly hotel fire (AP)

BEIJING ? Three people have been sentenced to death for setting fire to a bar that spread to a budget hotel in northeastern China, killing 11 people and leaving two others severely injured.

Xinhua News Agency says a court in Jilin province convicted five people of arson Saturday. Three were given the death sentence.

It says the Tonghua city court found that the suspects had set fire to a basement bar in the early hours of May 1 because they were in dispute with its owner.

But the fire spread to a karaoke bar and upstairs to guest rooms belonging to the hotel owned by Home Inns, China's biggest budget hotel operator.

Xinhua says the 11 victims included hotel guests and firefighters. It says the fire caused about 1.8 million yuan ($280,000) in losses.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111113/ap_on_re_as/as_china_fire

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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Boxing: Pacquiao's Ready for His Third Round with Marquez (Time.com)

Manny Pacquiao trains in a Hollywood gym called the Wild Card Boxing Club, which sits above a laundromat and a Thai restaurant in a run-down strip mall. The Filipino boxer does early-morning runs in the Hollywood Hills and then goes to the Wild Card to plot and work on strategy with his trainer and the gym's owner, Freddie Roach. For the past several weeks, Pacquiao, who is also a Congressman and game-show host in his native Philippines, has been preparing for Saturday's megafight, his third meeting against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. Near the gym's speed bag is a photo of Marquez wearing a T-shirt that declares, "Marquez beat Pacquiao twice." Pacquiao sees that photo every day. It irritates him ? and gets him working.

The previous Pacquiao-Marquez bouts were controversial and close. Back in 2004, in their first meeting, the men were fighting for a featherweight (126-lb. limit) title. Pacquiao knocked down Marquez three times in the first round, but the Mexican slugger popped up off the canvas each time and fought on to salvage a come-from-behind draw. In 2008 they met again for a super-featherweight title (130-lb. limit). It was a back-and-forth thriller in which Pacquiao received a Round 2 left hook to the chin that teetered him, and Marquez went down in Round 3, but both men were able to fight until the end. Pacquiao won the fight in a controversial split decision. (See photos of the rise of Manny Pacquiao.)

Marquez has been bitter about the conclusion since, and has been begging for a rematch. The T-shirt is his version of history.

Everyone else's history has been kinder to the Filipino fighter. Pacquiao went on to fight and vanquish other boxers (including Oscar De La Hoya), win a congressional seat, visit President Barack Obama at the White House, get featured on a 60 Minutes segment, make a hit single ("Sometimes When We Touch"), introduce his own fragrance (Scent of the Champion), and sign lucrative endorsement deals with Nike, Hewlett-Packard and Hennessy. Under the tutelage of Roach, Pacquiao kept improving as a boxer. He says that since his last fight with Marquez, he has learned how to better combat counterpunching, the Mexican's specialty. Pacquiao, a southpaw, developed a devastating right hand and refined his already mesmerizingly quick footwork. (After studying film of Marquez's most recent fight, Pacquiao, who at 32 years old is six years younger than his opponent, concluded, "He is slower than before.")

To challenge fighters in heavier weight classes and create an even larger legacy, Pacquiao spent the intervening three years adding muscle weight to increase the force of his punches. He successfully fought larger men ? one victim outweighed him by 17 lb. at fight time. He has been able to increase his power while maintaining his rabbit-like speed, and this brutal combination of speed, power and boxing intellect has helped him win an unprecedented eight world titles in eight different weight classes (a swing of about 40 lb.), and earn the title of boxer of the decade. "I know Marquez has got off the canvas four times [from Pacquiao punches in the past], but I don't think he's going to be able to get up from the power Manny has now," says Roach.

See "Boxing Icon Manny Pacquiao Now Belts Out Love Songs."

See Manny Pacquiao's reaction to the Philippines' reproductive-health bill.

Since his last meeting with Pacquiao, Marquez has fought six times, losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2009. Marquez, a naturally slight man, fights his best at around 130 lb. In boxing, the weight classes were developed to combat physics: bigger men create more force in their punches. While Pacquiao is an exception, smaller men adding weight to compete in higher weight divisions usually run into problems because they lose quickness and struggle with the power and reach of larger-framed men. When Marquez ? known as Dinamita for his explosive counterpunches ? fought Mayweather, he had been forced to rise two weight classes and weighed 142 lb. He looked uncomfortable throughout the fight.

Saturday's bout ("Pacquiao-Marquez III") at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas will favor Pacquiao because it is at a welterweight catchweight of 144 lb., near Pacquiao's ideal heft. Taking a page from Pacquiao's regimen, Marquez has spent his training camp adding muscle to his frame. He hired Angel Hernandez, a strength-and-conditioning coach, who put him on an intense weight-lifting program. Many boxers shy away from the weight room because they feel like weight-lifting techniques don't give them "functional muscles." Hernandez also raised eyebrows in the boxing community when it was reported that he supplied steroids to track stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery and later became the key government witness in the case against the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative. Marquez insists, however, that he is not juiced. "Whatever testing they want to do, blood or Olympic, I am ready to do it," says the Mexican boxer. "We'll do it, no problem, as long as he does it too." (See "Where Manny Pacquiao Is the Underdog: Philippine Politics.")

Pacquiao's trainer does not have good reviews for the new Marquez. Says Roach: "Marquez looks old and slow. He has gotten worse." Roach, a five-time trainer of the year, has trained 31 world champions. He says his fighter has developed into one of the greatest champions the world has seen and predicts that Pacquiao will knock out Marquez by Round 6. Roach says the fight is deeply personal to Pacquiao. "Manny's not going to be kind in this fight," says Roach. "I don't have to motivate him to knock this guy out."

Roach said training camp was more intense than normal, and they were having difficulty persuading $1,000-a-week sparring partners to return every day because Pacquiao had been inflicting so much daily punishment. Roach says Pacquiao hit one boxer so hard that the opponent's legs buckled, and the sparring mate suffered an ankle sprain.

Roach has Parkinson's disease, resulting in tremors and foot drop, but when he gets into the ring with Pacquiao, he moves fluidly and the tremors disappear when he works the mitts. It's as if the two men are making music: pat, pat, pat, pat ? pat, pat, pat, pat. "That's it, Manny, that's it," he says, as they work on different combinations and footwork to counter the counterpuncher. Roach is considered a master cornerman psychologist too. Pacquiao has been pushing himself so hard in camp to train against Marquez that Roach bent the truth during a recent session in order to get him to let up a bit. He told Pacquiao that he needed to slow down because a Mexican television station was in the gym filming and he didn't want any of the footage to be seen by Marquez. Pacquiao believed the white lie and eased up.

One day recently, as Pacquiao wrapped his own hands before a sparring session in the cramped dressing room of the Wild Card, he told me, "Marquez was screaming that he wanted this fight. That's why I train hard, because, you know, I want to end this and end the doubts." He gave a sly smile and let out a knowing giggle. Pacquiao abhors trash-talking, but Marquez had obviously gotten under his skin. Quietly, he said, "He talks too much. It's not good for a fighter to talk a lot without action. I don't talk a lot. Just action."

See "The Meaning and Mythos of Manny Pacquiao."

See "When Will Manny Pacquiao Fight the Right American?"

View this article on Time.com

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111111/wl_time/08599209923700

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