CA-BUSINESS Summary

Record Wall Street boosts sentiment, U.S. holds key in Q2

TOKYO (Reuters) - Whether the world's largest economy can sustain momentum will be a primary focus for investors for the next three months after a general recovery trend in the United States helped risk sentiment for broad markets in the first quarter of 2013. Asian shares edged higher and the euro steadied on Friday after banks in Cyprus reopened to relative calm. Overall trade was subdued, with many Asian markets, including Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, closed on Friday for Easter holidays.

Banks lift TSX on Cyprus calm; index up for quarter

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index powered ahead in a late surge on Thursday, led by strength in financial and industrial shares, on relief that banks in Cyprus reopened relatively smoothly following a bailout deal. The market received further support from BlackBerry after the smartphone maker reported a surprise quarterly profit.

More trouble for Cohen's SAC Capital as Steinberg indicted in NY

(Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Friday charged Michael Steinberg, a veteran portfolio manager at Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund, with insider trading in two technology stocks, the most senior SAC Capital Advisors' employee to be indicted in the government's long-running probe. FBI agents arrested Steinberg at his Park Avenue home in New York City at around 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT). Steinberg, wearing a blue sweater, pleaded "not guilty" to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities when he appeared at a late morning arraignment.

Chesapeake names Dixon interim CEO as McClendon set to leave

(Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp appointed Chief Operating Officer Steven Dixon as interim chief executive officer on Friday and made him part of a three-person committee to search for a replacement for Aubrey McClendon. McClendon is expected to step down on Monday.

Monte Paschi says lost billions in deposits after February scandal

MILAN (Reuters) - Customers' deposits at Italian bank Monte dei Paschi fell by "a few billion euros" after a scandal erupted in February over loss-making derivatives trades at the lender, the bank said in a document posted on its web site on Saturday. Monte dei Paschi last week reported a higher-than-expected net loss for the whole of 2012 on the back of a rise in provisions for bad loans and 730 million euros in losses on the derivatives trades, which are at the center of a fraud.

Loeb's Third Point outperforms hedge fund rivals again

BOSTON (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb outperformed his rivals again in the first quarter with returns that kept pace with the stock market's recent rally, a person familiar with Loeb's returns said. The New York-based manager told investors late on Thursday that his flagship Third Point Offshore Fund rose 2.8 percent in March while the Third Point Ultra fund, the leveraged version of the Offshore fund, gained 4.2 percent.

Cyprus details heavy losses for major bank customers

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Major depositors in Cyprus's biggest bank will lose around 60 percent of savings over 100,000 euros, its central bank confirmed on Saturday, sharpening the terms of a bailout that has shaken European banks but saved the island from bankruptcy. Initial signs that big depositors in Bank of Cyprus would take a hit of 30 to 40 percent - the first time the euro zone has made bank customers contribute to a bailout - had already unnerved investors in European lenders this week.

EU, IMF resisting Greek bank NBG's takeover of Eurobank: sources

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's international lenders have asked Athens to halt National Bank's takeover of rival Eurobank, worried that the resulting lender would be too big for the state to deal with, two bankers close to the talks told Reuters on Saturday. The lenders' concerns come as an unexpected twist in the takeover deal, which was launched in October and completed with a share swap. The two banks have already begun integrating operations after getting approval by authorities.

Areva CEO says would be interested in Urenco stake: paper

PARIS (Reuters) - French nuclear group Areva would be interested in taking a stake in uranium enrichment firm Urenco, Areva's CEO was quoted as saying on Saturday. Urenco, owned by the British and Dutch states and Germany's two top utilities, is up for sale and Areva - which already has a partnership with Urenco - is believed to be a leading contender to buy a stake in the firm. Areva so far had played down its possible interest in Urenco.

Exclusive: Indonesia's CT Corp proposes all-cash deal for Bakrie's media unit

TANJUNG BENOA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia's fifth-richest man has proposed to buy a controlling stake in PT Visi Media Asia, valued at up to $1.8 billion, in an all-cash deal that would give him the lion's share of the TV advertising market in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. Chairul Tanjung, the billionaire founder and chairman of CT Corp, a conglomerate with banking and media interests, told Reuters that his company wanted to buy the stake in the media unit of Indonesia's powerful Bakrie family without any partners.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-012952632--finance.html

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IMF team to arrive in Egypt on Wednesday for loan talks

CAIRO (Reuters) - An IMF delegation will arrive in Egypt on Wednesday for talks with the government on a $4.8 billion loan, a government spokesman said on Sunday, as Cairo seeks to conclude a deal vital to easing a deep economic crisis.

Egypt would not seek any emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund and faced no "crisis" in funding the import of essential commodities, spokesman Alaa El Hadidi added.

The most populous Arab country has been seeking a loan from the Fund to ease economic strains after two years of political upheaval. Reserves of foreign currency have fallen to critically low levels, threatening Egypt's ability to import essential supplies of fuel and wheat.

President Mohamed Mursi's government initialed a deal with the IMF last November but postponed final ratification in December in the face of unrest triggered by a political row over the extent of his powers.

Hadidi, seeking to allay public concerns over power cuts and long queues at petrol stations, ruled out an emergency loan, as suggested by the IMF. He added that the country was still able to buy essential imports.

"(The supply) of wheat and loaves of bread is safe," he told reporters. He added that indications of a higher harvest this year meant Egypt would use locally-grown wheat in the place of wheat that would otherwise have been imported.

He played down as "speculation" repeated media reports that Egypt was seeking aid from Arab states Libya and Iraq. "Egypt seeks to boost investment from these countries and an opening of their labor markets (for Egyptians)," Hadidi said.

WEAK CURRENCY

The IMF said last week a technical delegation would visit Cairo in the "first days of April".

Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia department, visited Cairo on March 17, saying the Fund would continue talks aimed at agreeing possible financial aid.

Any deal with the IMF is likely to require Egypt to commit to austerity measures, a very sensitive issue at a time when Mursi is facing protests over his management of the country.

Shortages of subsidized diesel have paralyzed transport in parts of Egypt, as the Egyptian pound has lost 9 percent of its value against the dollar since late last year.

The government is working on an economic program where it plans to cut back on subsidies of fuel. Last year it eliminated subsidies on 95-octane gasoline, the highest grade available, and it raised fuel prices in many sectors last month.

Mursi's cabinet has said it plans to implement a subsidized fuel rationing system at the beginning of July, though local media reports have said the plan, already delayed several times, could be pushed back to January.

(Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imf-team-arrive-egypt-wednesday-loan-talks-103424340--business.html

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Are Viral Loops Or Viral ?Oops' Driving Your App's Growth?

Editor?s Note: Nir Eyal writes about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business at NirAndFar.com. Follow him @nireyal. Recently, MessageMe announced it had grown to 1 million users in a little over a week’s time. The revelation captured the attention of envious app makers throughout Silicon Valley, all of whom are searching for the secrets of customer acquisition like it’s the fountain of youth. “Growth hacking” has become the latest buzzword, as investors like Paul Graham profess it’s functionally that matters. Clearly, everyone wants growth. To someone creating a new technology, nothing feels better than people actually using what you’ve built and telling their friends. Growth feels validating. It tells everyone the company is doing things right. At least that’s what we want to believe. Good Growth, Bad Growth Sometimes viral loops drive growth, because the product is truly awesome, while in other cases growth occurs for, well, different reasons. As an example of good growth, it’s hard to top PayPal’s viral success in the late 90s. PayPal knew that once users started sending money to each other, mostly for stuff bought on eBay, they would infect one another. The allure that someone just “sent you money” was a huge incentive to register. PayPal nailed virality. Both sides of the transaction benefited from utilizing the platform and a classic network-effects business was born. In order for users to get what they wanted, they had to open an account and the product spread because it was useful and viral. However, sometimes viral loops are less about the customer?s interests and more about short-term greed. When the product maker intentionally tricks users into inviting friends or blasting social networks, they may see growth, but it comes at the expense of goodwill and trust. When people discover they’ve been tricked, they vent their hatred and stop using the product. Unfortunately, we’ve all encountered the ways companies drive growth in deceptive ways known as “dark patterns.” Viral Oops Good and bad growth is relatively easy to identify. What is harder to decipher is the gray zone in between. A “viral oops” occurs when users unintentionally invite others, but when they look back on what happened, they blame themselves, not the app. When MessageMe pre-selects everyone in my contact list as a default, I’m likely to think that only those who are un-checked will be invited. However, the opposite is true. With two taps, my

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/FEAruHZusuM/

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Irvine Specialist Sales Manager Job - CA, 92602

Job Category: Sales
Location: Irvine, CA, US
Job ID: 830963-107526
Division: Sales

The Specialist Sales Manager is responsible for leading, developing, and managing a team of high performing Solution Sales and Technology Specialists that work directly with Account Team Unit (ATU) Sales Teams, District Business Marketing Officer (BMO), Managed Partner team, and Enterprise Services) for achieving or exceeding all Core Infrastructure (Datacenter and Client) business plan objectives for the District.

In this role they will be expected to:
1. Provide strategic direction as relating to issues such as market place needs, revenue growth opportunities, competitive challenges, emerging technology trends and other issues impacting the Core Infrastructure business.
2. Hire qualified individuals with high potential and technical understanding to successfully sell Microsoft in the enterprise space.
3. Lead and manage a high performance team through the development and integration of individual employees into effective and knowledgeable Solution Sales and Technical Specialists who are motivated and committed to our customers and internal teams.
4. Grow and maintain a valid, healthy Core Infrastructure product pipeline for the EPG business.
5. Design and execute a technical resource allocation strategy that enables effective opportunity engagement (Architectural Design Sessions, Proof of Concepts, etc.) to drive value with velocity for the customers and Microsoft business.
6. Help grow and maintain a healthy partner ecosystem to drive sales, technology adoption, and successful deployment of Microsoft by Enterprise Customers.
7. Work directly with Customers to develop and maintain Business and Technical decision maker relationships and assist in the closing of competitive sales opportunities.

Professional Skills: The successful candidate will bring the following skills to the team:
- Leadership skills, particularly as they relate to managing strategic issues such as revenue growth, competitive challenges and technology trends.
- Executive level communication skills and the ability to mentor others.
- Business skills, per the Executive Conversation training.
- Process orientation, using the GSX, ORE, and other Microsoft methodologies.
- Sales skills, per Integrated Solution Selling and Microsoft Solution Sales Process training and methodologies.
- Continued progress in cultural shift (humility, stewardship, customer satisfaction).
- Combination of business acumen and IT infrastructure expertise (ITIL, Six Sigma) to understand how customer business issues impact their IT environments.
- Coaching direct reports in pipeline management, opportunity management, and planning.
- Facilitating/encouraging cross-team account and resource planning.
- Hiring high potential employees who align with current requirements and can grow into future requirements and roles.

Prior Experiences and Qualifications: A proven track record with people and team management in a technology sales environment with at least 7-10 years of enterprise level experience as an individual contributor and/or lead of teams with sales quotas/targets.
The ideal candidate will have passion for, and at least a 100-200 level of understanding of the related Microsoft technologies (Virtualization, Management & Monitoring, Security, DC Orchestration, etc.) and competitor with previous experience in Systems Integrator (SI) or ISV partner management, complex sales methodology (e.g., MSSP, Michael Bosworth, etc.), GSX, other Line of Business applications (e.g. SAP), or Employee Performance Management systems (e.g. ManagePoint) a plus. A Bachelor?s degree in Computer Science or Management Information Systems or equivalent experience required. Travel necessary (20-30%). Position reports to the STU Director with required residency in one of the major market areas for the District.

SMSG
SALES:EPG
MSUSJOBS
SALES:PPS

Nearest Major Market: Irvine California
Nearest Secondary Market: Los Angeles
Job Segments: Sales Management, Sales, ERP, Information Systems, Computer Science, Technology

Source: http://www.microsoft-careers.com/job/Irvine-Specialist-Sales-Manager-Job-CA-92602/2520462/

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Cell reprogramming during liver regeneration

Friday, March 29, 2013

During embryonic development, animals generate many different types of cells, each with a distinct function and identity.

"Although the identities of these cells remain stable under normal conditions, some cells can be persuaded to take on new identities, through reprogramming," says Ben Stanger, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Researchers have been able to reprogram cells experimentally, but few have shown that cells can change their identities under normal physiological conditions in the body, particularly in mammals.

In the cover article of this month's issue of Genes and Development, Stanger, PhD candidate Kilangsungla Yanger, Yiwei Zong, PhD, and their colleagues, did just that in the liver of a mouse. Stanger is also an investigator in the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

The adult liver contains two major cell types ? hepatocytes and biliary cells ? that differ dramatically in appearance and function. Hepatocytes are the main cell type in the liver, where they synthesize proteins and other macromolecules, and detoxify toxic substances. Biliary cells, on the other hand, line the bile ducts, which carry bile from the liver to the small intestine to help digest fats.

Using a sensitive method to tag and track how cells develop and differentiate, the researchers found that conditional expression of an activated Notch1 gene converted hepatocytes into biliary cells. Notch is an important receptor for relaying signals to tell cells how to develop.

What's more, after the researchers injured liver cells with a variety of toxins to stimulate wound healing, they found that over two to three weeks hepatocytes activated a biliary cell program on their own, acquiring the shape and function of biliary cells. These changes were dependent on the activation of endogenous Notch signaling.

"This is direct evidence that cells can be converted from one mature cell type to another in a live animal, as part of a normal response to injury," says Stanger. "We think that augmenting pre-existing cell reprogramming relationships may be another way to engineer cells for the treatment of diseases in which there are not enough bile ducts, such as cholestasis."

###

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 76 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127525/Cell_reprogramming_during_liver_regeneration

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The First Honest Cable Company Commercial

Cable companies are universally regarded as only slightly more popular than evil dictators, and a little less fashionable than certain strains of STDs. How do you fix something like that? Honesty! We're awful; we're unstoppable; you'll hate us; deal with it. That's something you could respect (and which would be applicable basically everywhere in the world but east Asia). Hell, I'd probably switch to this company if it were real. [YouTube] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/rvKV7GrAanw/the-first-honest-cable-company-commercial

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It Is What The Holy One Did For Me When We Came Out Of Egypt (Balloon Juice)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295251773?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Prosecutors not ready to accept Holmes plea

DENVER (AP) ? Prosecutors in the Colorado theater shooting on Thursday rejected an offer from suspect James Holmes to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty and accused defense lawyers of a serious breach of court rules by making the offer public.

In a scathing court document, prosecutors said the defense has repeatedly refused to give them the information they need to evaluate the plea offer, so the offer can't be considered genuine.

No plea agreement exists, prosecutors said, and one "is extremely unlikely based on the present information available to the prosecution."

They also said anyone reading news stories about the offer would inevitably conclude "the defendant knows that he is guilty, the defense attorneys know that he is guilty, and that both of them know that he was not criminally insane."

Neither the defense nor the prosecution immediately returned phone calls Thursday.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the July 20 shootings in a packed theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora. Twelve people were killed and 70 were injured.

Holmes' attorneys disclosed in a court filing Wednesday that their client has offered to plead guilty, but only if he wouldn't be executed.

Prosecutors criticized defense attorneys for publicizing the offer, calling it a ploy meant to draw the public and the judge into what should be private plea negotiations.

Prosecutors did not say what information the defense refused to give them, but the two sides have argued in court previously about access to information about Holmes' mental health.

Karen Steinhauser, a former prosecutor who is now a law professor at the University of Denver, said prosecutors clearly do not want to agree to a plea deal without knowing whether Holmes' attorneys could mount a strong mental health defense.

"One of the issues the prosecution needs to look at is, is there a likelihood that doctors, and then a jury, could find that James Holmes was insane at the time of the crime?" she said.

Prosecutors also criticized comments to The Associated Press by Doug Wilson, who heads the state public defenders' office.

Wilson told the AP Wednesday that prosecutors had not responded to the offer and said he didn't know whether prosecutors had relayed the offer to any victims as required by state law.

Prosecutors said that violated the gag order.

They also said they have repeatedly contacted "every known victim and family member of a victim ? numbering over one thousand" about possible resolutions of the case, including the death penalty and life in prison without parole.

George Brauchler, the Arapahoe County district attorney, is scheduled to announce Monday whether he will seek the death penalty for Holmes. Brauchler hasn't publicly revealed his plans. He has refused repeatedly to comment on the case, citing the gag order.

Pierce O'Farrill, who was shot three times, said he would welcome an agreement that would imprison Holmes for life. The years of court struggles ahead would likely be an emotional ordeal for victims, he said.

"I don't see his death bringing me peace," O'Farrill said. "To me, my prayer for him was that he would spend the rest of his life in prison and hopefully, in all those years he has left, he could find God and ask for forgiveness himself."

A plea bargain would bring finality to the case fairly early so victims and their families can avoid the prolonged trauma of not knowing what will happen, said Dan Recht, a past president of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar.

"The defense, by making this public pleading, is reaching out to the victims' families," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/prosecutors-not-ready-agree-holmes-plea-230908116.html

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S.Africa imports no Iranian crude again in February

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa did not import any crude oil from Iran for a ninth consecutive month in February, data showed on Thursday, as Pretoria steers clear of the shipments because of sanctions.

South Africa used to import a quarter of its crude from Iran but has come under Western pressure to reduce the purchases as part of sanctions aimed at halting Tehran's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In May last year, imports from Iran stood at 285,524 tonnes but since June, Africa's biggest economy has replaced the shipments with crude from other suppliers.

Saudi Arabia was again the major supplier in February with shipments of 719,330 tonnes, data from the South African Revenue Service showed. Other crude imports were from Angola, Nigeria, Russia, Yemen, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea, with shipments totalling 1.75 million tonnes.

While the United States extended South Africa's exemption from financial sanctions in December due to the Iranian cuts, Pretoria is still hampered by European Union sanctions that prevent insurance companies from underwriting Iranian shipments.

The EU has not granted any waivers, even though South Africa has been lobbying Brussels because it has to pay more to source crude from countries other than Iran.

Also, some of the South African refineries are designed to treat Iranian-type crude only and require modifications to accept other products.

Refiners in South Africa include Shell, BP, Total, Chevron, petrochemicals group Sasol, and Engen, which is majority-owned by Malaysian state oil group Petronas .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africa-imports-no-iranian-crude-again-february-150858494--sector.html

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Pope urges Catholic priests to help poor, shun careerism

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Beginning a busy program of Easter events, Pope Francis on Thursday urged Catholic priests to devote themselves to helping the poor and suffering instead of worrying about careers as Church "managers".

Francis' homily at his first Holy Thursday service as Roman Catholic leader was the latest sign since his surprise election two weeks ago of his determination that the 1.2 billion-member Church should be closer to the poor.

"We need to go out, then, in order to experience our own anointing (as priests) ... to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters," he said during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

The 76-year-old former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina has inherited a Vatican rocked by a scandal in which documents leaked to the media spoke of alleged corruption in its administration and depicted prelates as fighting among themselves to advance their careers.

At the Mass, the start of four days of hectic activities leading up to Easter this Sunday, Francis said priests should not get bogged down in "introspection" but step outside of themselves and concentrate on those who need their help.

"Those who do not go out of themselves, instead of being mediators, gradually become intermediaries, managers. We know the difference: the intermediary, the manager ... doesn't put his own skin and his own heart on the line, he never hears a warm, heartfelt word of thanks," he said.

In the next few weeks, Francis is expected to start making changes in the Curia, the central bureaucracy that was at the heart of the so-called "Vatileaks" scandal.

The new pope delivered his appeal for priests to live simply and closest to the needy on the day when the Catholic Church commemorates when Jesus founded the priesthood at the Last Supper on the night before he died.

Speaking to about 1,600 priests from Rome who attended the Mass, he said those who did not live in humility close to the people risked becoming "collectors of antiques or novelties - instead of being shepherds living with 'the smell of the sheep'"

The pope took the name Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, who is associated with austerity and helping the poor. The new pontiff has already set a clear tone for a humbler papacy and Church.

Later on Thursday, he will wash and kiss the feet of 12 young inmates at a youth prison on the outskirts of Rome, at a Holy Thursday ceremony commemorating Jesus's gesture of humility towards his apostles on the night before he died.

All popes in living memory have held the service either in St. Peter's or the Basilica of St. John in Lateran, which is the pope's cathedral church in his capacity as bishop of Rome.

The four days leading up to Easter are the most hectic in the Church's liturgical calendar.

On Friday Francis will preside at two Good Friday services including the traditional "Via Crucis" (Way of the Cross) procession around the ancient Colosseum in Rome.

He celebrates an Easter eve service on Saturday night and on Easter Sunday, the most important day in the Church's liturgical calendar, he will deliver his first "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message to a large crowd in St. Peter's Square.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; editing by Barry Moody)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-urges-catholic-priests-help-poor-shun-careerism-112315330.html

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Health insurance rates to double as Obamacare ... - Prison Planet.com

J. D. Heyes
Natural News
March 26, 2013

Writing on the blog of the Department of Health and Human Services on the third anniversary of the passage of the?Affordable Care Act, more popularly known as Obamacare, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had this to say about the impact of the law on insurance rates:

As a former state insurance commissioner, I know that for too long, too many hard-working Americans paid the price for policies that handed free rein to health insurance companies. For more than a decade before the Affordable Care Act, premiums rose rapidly, straining the budgets of American families and businesses. And insurers often raised premiums without any explanation. ? The Affordable Care Act is working to bring affordability and fairness to the marketplace by barring insurers from dropping your coverage when you get sick or placing a lifetime dollar limit on coverage.

Sebelius goes on to imply that provisions within the law (requiring more ?transparency? from insurance companies, for instance) will eventually help lower rates (though she never says so directly). In other words, she?s dodging the issue of rising premiums, and with good reason: Premiums under Obamacare are likely to?double for most Americans, according to health insurers who are being forced to comply with Obamacare?s stringent coverage requirements.

Wait ? weren?t premiums supposed to go?down?

?Health insurers are privately warning brokers that premiums for many individuals and small businesses could increase sharply next year because of the health-care overhaul law, with the nation?s biggest firm projecting that rates could more than?double for some consumers buying their own plans,??The Wall Street Journal reported March 22.

Insurers made those projections in sessions with agents and brokers; they provide some of the most damning evidence so far of just how much?Obamacare will force companies to raise rates when major provisions of the law kick in next year ? just as scores of industry experts and economists warned would happen.

Such predictions don?t jibe with the rosy ? and misleading ? rhetoric from Sebelius and her boss, President Obama, the latter of whom said in 2010:

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

?You?ll be able to buy in, or a small business will be able to buy into (government?insurance pools). And that will lower rates, it?s estimated, by up to 14 to 20 percent over what you?re currently getting. That?s money out of pocket. ? Your employer, it?s estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent, which means they could give you a raise.?

Both the president and his team don?t understand free-market economics, or they do and they have been intentionally misleading. Either way, the figures the insurance companies are projecting are the polar opposite of what Americans were promised by Obamacare advocates regarding the future cost of policies (and really, prices for such services have never really gone down).

?There?s no question premiums are still going to keep going up,? Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a research clearinghouse on the?health care system, told?CBS News shortly before Obamacare became law. ?There are pieces of reform that will hopefully keep them from going up as fast. But it would be miraculous if premiums actually went down relative to where they are today.?

Yet another Obamacare lie

The one ace in the hold the government retains; however, is regulatory power over the insurance companies in terms of price increases. Under Obamacare, insurers have to request rate hikes and they must be approved by government bureaucrats, the vast majority of whom have a) never run a business; b) never had to meet a payroll; and c) have never had to cover employees?health insurance and other benefits.

So in this sense, the government very well could keep rates artificially lower than they normally would be, but while requiring insurers to cover more people for less, they won?t be in business long.

And that could well be the administration?s goal.

?Carriers will be filing proposed price increases with regulators over the next few months,??WSJ reported. Time will tell how that goes, but the word is out: What Americans were told about lower premiums under Obamacare, like most of what they were told about the law, was a lie.

Sources:

http://online.wsj.com

http://www.healthcare.gov

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-250_162-6306991.html

This article was posted: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 10:12 am

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Source: http://www.prisonplanet.com/health-insurance-rates-to-double-as-obamacare-fully-kicks-in.html

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Storming the gates: UNC research probes how pancreatic cancers metastasize

Public release date: 25-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: William Davis
william_davis@med.unc.edu
919-966-5905
University of North Carolina Health Care

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered that a protein found in the cells surrounding pancreatic cancers play a role in the spread of the disease to other parts of the body.

In a finding to be published in the March 25 issue of Oncogene, researchers in the lab of Carol Otey, PhD, found that the protein palladin enhances the ability of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to assemble organelles known as invadopodia to break down the barriers between cells and create pathways for tumors to spread throughout the body. Otey is a professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology and a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"There's a growing body of literature that shows that these cells have a role in cancer formation and metastasis," said Otey.

Using both enzymatic action and physical force, the invadopodia create channels for tumor cells to migrate from their point of origin to other organs. Otey said that researchers, using cultured cancer cells suspended between layers of collagen, have been able to observe CAFs tunneling through the collagen layer and record cancer cells migrating through those channels.

In previous studies, researchers in the Otey lab and other labs have shown that CAFs surrounding pancreatic tumors express high levels of palladin. In healthy tissue, fibroblasts are the most common type of connective tissue found in mammals. In cancerous cells, CAFs are the most numerous cells found in the tumor microenvironment.

Researchers have begun focusing significant attention to the tumor microenvironment, as evidence grows that the cells and proteins found outside of cancer cells play a crucial role in tumor formation, growth and metastasis. Understanding the interplay between the microenvironment and the tumors could lead to new targets for treatment and screening, especially in cancers that are resistant to therapies that directly target the cancerous cells.

"Cells seem to be partnering together to form the tumor and promote its growth," said Otey.

Using pharmacological inhibitors and gene-silencing approaches, Otey and the research team discovered that disrupting palladin in CAFs reduced the ability of the cells to form invadopodia. Increasing the level of palladin in CAFs, by contrast, increased the rate of growth and metastasis of tumors in mouse models. Their results indicate that palladin may be part of a molecular pathway that includes two additional molecules, protein kinase C and Cdc42.

"These results demonstrate that the behavior of CAFs plays a very important role in modulating the behavior of tumor cells, and also point to a specific molecular pathway that could be a useful drug target for inhibiting tumor progression," said Otey. Since Otey discovered palladin more than a decade ago, researchers in her lab have examined the protein's role in both healthy and cancerous cells. Citing her own work, research from the Brentnall lab at University of Washington, and corroborating work such as a study from the Cukierman lab at Temple University's Fox Chase Cancer Center that found high levels of the palladin protein correlated strongly with low survival rates in renal carcinoma patients, Otey said that the evidence points toward a strong correlation between palladin expression in CAFs and the aggressiveness of tumor progression.

In future research, Otey plans to examine the levels of palladin in other types of cancer. As the Fox Chase study suggests, the mechanisms that she and her collaborators have discovered may play a role in cancers other than pancreatic.

"Knowing more about this may give us better tools to slow down metastasis," said Otey.

###

Study co-authors from UNC include first author Silvia M. Goicoechea, Rafael Garca-Mata, Judy Staub, Alejandra Valdivia, Lisa Sharek, Jen Jen Yeh and Hong Jin Kim. Other study co-authors are Chris McCulloch from University of Toronto, Canada; Rosa Hwang from University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; and Raul Urrutia from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn.

This study was supported by grants from the NIH (GM081505), the NSF, the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation and the UNC University Cancer Research Fund.

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Public release date: 25-Mar-2013
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Contact: William Davis
william_davis@med.unc.edu
919-966-5905
University of North Carolina Health Care

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered that a protein found in the cells surrounding pancreatic cancers play a role in the spread of the disease to other parts of the body.

In a finding to be published in the March 25 issue of Oncogene, researchers in the lab of Carol Otey, PhD, found that the protein palladin enhances the ability of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to assemble organelles known as invadopodia to break down the barriers between cells and create pathways for tumors to spread throughout the body. Otey is a professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology and a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"There's a growing body of literature that shows that these cells have a role in cancer formation and metastasis," said Otey.

Using both enzymatic action and physical force, the invadopodia create channels for tumor cells to migrate from their point of origin to other organs. Otey said that researchers, using cultured cancer cells suspended between layers of collagen, have been able to observe CAFs tunneling through the collagen layer and record cancer cells migrating through those channels.

In previous studies, researchers in the Otey lab and other labs have shown that CAFs surrounding pancreatic tumors express high levels of palladin. In healthy tissue, fibroblasts are the most common type of connective tissue found in mammals. In cancerous cells, CAFs are the most numerous cells found in the tumor microenvironment.

Researchers have begun focusing significant attention to the tumor microenvironment, as evidence grows that the cells and proteins found outside of cancer cells play a crucial role in tumor formation, growth and metastasis. Understanding the interplay between the microenvironment and the tumors could lead to new targets for treatment and screening, especially in cancers that are resistant to therapies that directly target the cancerous cells.

"Cells seem to be partnering together to form the tumor and promote its growth," said Otey.

Using pharmacological inhibitors and gene-silencing approaches, Otey and the research team discovered that disrupting palladin in CAFs reduced the ability of the cells to form invadopodia. Increasing the level of palladin in CAFs, by contrast, increased the rate of growth and metastasis of tumors in mouse models. Their results indicate that palladin may be part of a molecular pathway that includes two additional molecules, protein kinase C and Cdc42.

"These results demonstrate that the behavior of CAFs plays a very important role in modulating the behavior of tumor cells, and also point to a specific molecular pathway that could be a useful drug target for inhibiting tumor progression," said Otey. Since Otey discovered palladin more than a decade ago, researchers in her lab have examined the protein's role in both healthy and cancerous cells. Citing her own work, research from the Brentnall lab at University of Washington, and corroborating work such as a study from the Cukierman lab at Temple University's Fox Chase Cancer Center that found high levels of the palladin protein correlated strongly with low survival rates in renal carcinoma patients, Otey said that the evidence points toward a strong correlation between palladin expression in CAFs and the aggressiveness of tumor progression.

In future research, Otey plans to examine the levels of palladin in other types of cancer. As the Fox Chase study suggests, the mechanisms that she and her collaborators have discovered may play a role in cancers other than pancreatic.

"Knowing more about this may give us better tools to slow down metastasis," said Otey.

###

Study co-authors from UNC include first author Silvia M. Goicoechea, Rafael Garca-Mata, Judy Staub, Alejandra Valdivia, Lisa Sharek, Jen Jen Yeh and Hong Jin Kim. Other study co-authors are Chris McCulloch from University of Toronto, Canada; Rosa Hwang from University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; and Raul Urrutia from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn.

This study was supported by grants from the NIH (GM081505), the NSF, the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation and the UNC University Cancer Research Fund.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uonc-stg032513.php

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AP sources: SD Sen. Johnson won't seek re-election (The Arizona Republic)

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Heat set to hit the road riding 26-game win streak

Miami Heat's LeBron James celebrates after the Heat defeated the Charlotte Bobcats during a NBA basketball game in Miami, Sunday, March 24, 2013. The Heat won 109-77 for their 26th victory in a row. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Miami Heat's LeBron James celebrates after the Heat defeated the Charlotte Bobcats during a NBA basketball game in Miami, Sunday, March 24, 2013. The Heat won 109-77 for their 26th victory in a row. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Charlotte Bobcats' Bismack Biyombo (0) blocks Miami Heat's LeBron James (6) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Sunday, March 24, 2013. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra signals his team during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Bobcats in Miami, Sunday, March 24, 2013. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Charlotte Bobcats' Jeff Taylor (44) defends against Miami Heat's LeBron James during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Sunday, March 24, 2013. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Miami Heat's Chris Anderson (11) hangs onto the rim after dunking during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Bobcats in Miami, Sunday, March 24, 2013. The Heat won 109-77. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

MIAMI (AP) ? Dwyane Wade's only on-court contribution of the night was grabbing a microphone for LeBron James' postgame interview. Chris Bosh was twice regaled by "Happy Birthday" singing from fans. Juwan Howard got his first minutes of the season.

Sunday was about fun for the Miami Heat.

A much bigger test ? a four-game trip that could bring them to the cusp of catching the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers ? starts on Monday.

James finished with 32 points on 11 for 14 shooting, 10 assists and eight rebounds, Bosh scored 15 points and the Heat won their 26th straight game, topping the Charlotte Bobcats 109-77 on Sunday night.

The chance for No. 27 comes Monday against Orlando, a team that has taken the Heat to the limit twice already this season.

"It's an opportunity just to treat it as a business trip," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "That's what we talked about. This is a business trip. Let's take care of (Monday) night. It's not about the story line. It's not about anything else."

Norris Cole scored 15 points and Ray Allen added 14 for the Heat, who played without Wade, held from the lineup because of right knee soreness the team believes is minor. And after yet another slow start, Miami is now seven victories shy of matching those Lakers of Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich ? and a reserve named Pat Riley ? for the NBA record.

After facing the Magic, Miami will visit Chicago, New Orleans and San Antonio.

"We have to continue to play well on the road," said Bosh, who turned 29 Sunday. "We have some huge challenges ahead of us. A lot of places where you can't just come in and mosey in and think you're going to win the game."

That being said, the Heat have done their share of moseying lately, Sunday being yet another example.

For the fourth straight game, Miami got into a double-digit deficit. Charlotte led by 11 in the early going and was within five in the third quarter, but two huge spurts by the Heat were more than enough to put the game away.

Miami used a 31-6 run in the first half to erase the deficit, and a 26-5 blitz in the second half finished the job.

Kemba Walker led Charlotte with 20 points, and Gerald Henderson had 18. Charlotte finished the night 5 for 25 from 3-point range, while the Heat was 13 for 30 beyond the arc.

"We ran into some dry spells and we settled for way too many 3's," Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap said. "At the end of the game we had 25 and that's not who we are."

According to STATS, Miami became the seventh team in the last decade to trail a game by double figures and win by at least 32 points.

James departed with about 8 minutes left, after perhaps the highlight of the night. Chris Andersen blocked a layup try by Walker, doing so with such force that the ball caromed right back into play and basically started a Miami fast break on its own. James capped the sequence with a spectacular dunk, his final points of the night.

Some of the world's best athletes, all seated courtside, didn't hold back their approval.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic clapped and smiled. Golf's Rory McIlroy ? who could lose his No. 1 ranking if Tiger Woods holds on and wins at Bay Hill on Monday ? turned toward Heat owner Micky Arison and grinned. World heavyweight boxing champ Wladimir Klitschko's facial expression was one of disbelief.

"I think it's very humbling that you can have some of the greats from other sports come to see your team play, come to see you play," James said. "You try to leave an impression on them, as a team and as an individual, absolutely. So it was great to have them in the building, for sure."

The Bobcats and Heat played three times during 2012, and Charlotte never led for a single second in any of those contests. The Bobcats did lead by five when the teams played in Miami this past Feb. 4, but hadn't held a double-digit lead over the Heat since December 2011.

That is, until Sunday.

Just like Boston, Cleveland and Detroit did before them in the past week, the Bobcats were able to get the early jump on Miami. Charlotte hit eight of its first 14 shots, grabbed a speedy 19-8 lead and had Spoelstra calling a quick timeout.

"That's kind of been their M.O. lately, they've gotten off to slow starts," Henderson said. "We wanted to come out and jump on them just like the other teams have. Once they got settled in, starting making plays, they got back into the game and we also when on a long drought where we couldn't score the ball."

Whatever Spoelstra said in that huddle seemed to be effective.

Miami closed the first quarter on a 15-0 run, taking the lead back on a 60-foot alley-oop from Cole to James, who pointed to the rim and then found a way to catch the long pass from the second-year guard. By the time the Heat's burst was over, an 11-point deficit turned into a 39-25 lead ? making it a 31-6 swing for Miami, which forced the Bobcats into missing 20 of 22 shots during that stretch.

The outcome was never really in doubt again.

"We've been having slow starts," James said. "But it's not how we start. It's how we finish."

NOTES: Play was briefly delayed in the third quarter because of some power-outage issues involving the scoreboard and game clock. ... The Bobcats needed a police escort to get to the arena from their hotel, since that particular section of downtown Miami also had a large crowd of people clogging streets for an outdoor electronic music festival. ... Heat F Juwan Howard was in uniform, his first time on an active roster since Game 5 of last season's NBA Finals, and played the final three-plus minutes for the debut appearance of his 19th season. He made his only shot.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-25-BKN-Bobcats-Heat-Folo/id-52cf7c864943463fbadc770948fc2e14

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Global companies beware: Rude customer treatment depends on culture

Mar. 25, 2013 ? A new UBC study reveals that North American service workers are more likely to sabotage rude customers, while Chinese react by disengaging from customer service altogether.

"Our research shows that culture plays a significant role in how frontline workers deal with customer abuse," says UBC Sauder School of Business Professor Daniel Skarlicki, a co-author of the study.

"In North America, employees tend to retaliate against offensive customers -- doing things like giving bad directions or serving cold food. In China, workers are more likely to reduce the general quality of service they provide to all customers -- nasty or nice."

In a paper to be published in the journal Personnel Psychology, Skarlicki and former Sauder PhD student Ruodan Shao studied how frontline employees at a luxury hotel with locations in Vancouver and Beijing reacted to customer mistreatment.

Although the level of abuse was consistent in both locations, North Americans resorted 20 per cent more often to sabotage to get revenge. Abused Chinese workers were 19 per cent more likely to feel a lack of enthusiasm in their jobs, responding negatively to statements like, "I voluntarily assist guests even if it means going beyond job requirements."

"North Americans take a surgical approach to abuse, zeroing in on individuals who mistreated them," says Skarlicki, noting that managers must be mindful of these cultural differences when expanding operations across the Pacific. "Chinese don't blame the transgressor. They blame the system -- the company or customers they serve."

Skarlicki says the implications are clear: "When service-oriented companies go global, they need to heighten their sensitivity to how culture in a new market can influence the performance of frontline staff and tailor their customer service operations accordingly."

Backgrounder:

For the study, the researchers held focus groups with small groups of hotel employees in Beijing and Vancouver to identify a set of common abusive situations and methods workers used to sabotage ill-mannered guests.

Using this information, they conducted a series of surveys with more than 200 employees -- 132 in Beijing and 82 in Vancouver. Participants reported the frequency they experienced abuse, the frequency of customer-directed sabotage as a result of customer abuse, and the level to which people felt an affinity toward their jobs.

Skarlicki notes that the study is responding to the ongoing trend of North American service industries expanding operations to China and increasingly Chinese companies doing likewise in North America.

He says the differing cultural responses observed in the study are in line with established traits of the two cultures, with North Americans tending to be more individualistic and Chinese more collectivistic.

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Musharraf Returns Home Amid Death Threats (Voice Of America)

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Push for Assad's ouster in Syria weakened

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Foes of Syrian President Bashar Assad are distracted by fragmentation within their ranks, foreign meddling and new finger-pointing over chemical weapons as the regime more firmly entrenches itself, giving no sign of stepping down any time soon.

With the two-year civil war slogging on, the United States appears closer than ever to sending military support to Syrian rebels in hopes of breaking the bloody impasse that has left more than 70,000 dead and forced more than 1 million refugees to flee their homes. Beyond at least the threat of military intervention, there is growing consensus among the U.S. and its allies that little can be done to put new pressure on Assad to go.

New allegations this week ? almost as quickly debunked ? that chemical weapons may have been used against neighborhoods outside Damascus and in Syria's north spooked the White House and Congress and ratcheted up demands for the U.S. to hamper what one Democratic lawmaker described as Assad's "killing spree."

On his first foreign trip of his second term, President Barack Obama this week maintained his long-standing view that "Assad must go, and I believe he will go." He repeated his caution about sending military assistance to Syrian opposition forces, which could prolong the fighting and unintentionally put U.S. weapons in the hands of Islamic extremists.

But Obama also held firm to his stance that Assad would cross a red line if he were to use his suspected stockpile of chemical weapons ? including nerve agents and mustard gas ? against the Syrian people.

"It's tragic, it's heartbreaking, and the sight of children and women being slaughtered that we've seen so much I think has to compel all of us to say, 'What more can we do?'" Obama said Friday during a news conference in Amman, Jordan. "And that's a question that I'm asking as president every single day."

Secretary of State John Kerry travels to Paris on Wednesday to meet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius for talks expected to focus on arming Syrian rebels. The discussion also is expected to touch on the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria, according to French officials.

On Thursday, a U.S. official cited strong indications that chemical weapons were not used in an attack Tuesday in northern Aleppo province, but could not rule out the possibility. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter involved intelligence-gathering. At the same time, the U.N. said it would investigate whether chemical weapons were used and specifically is looking at the regime's claim that rebel forces launched the deadly agents.

But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the investigation "will not happen overnight" ? meaning that the debate over whether the deadly agents were used almost certainly will drag out. And State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Friday acknowledged difficulties of the U.S. launching its own probe, largely because American investigators cannot visit the sites of the alleged attacks.

The chemical weapons quandary is the newest of several issues that have distracted the Syrian opposition and international community, while Assad digs in even deeper against disjointed plans on how to oust him.

Assad "has not yet decided that his days are numbered and that he's going to have to leave," Ambassador Robert Ford, Obama's envoy to Syria, told a House Foreign Affairs hearing this week.

Ford also told the panel that the Obama administration is reviewing U.S. policy against giving military aid to the Free Syrian Army's leadership. "We do regularly review this ? I'll be very clear about that," he said.

The Assad regime is receiving arms and other military assistance from Iran, Russia and Lebanese Hezbollah. Ford also cited indirect help from Iraq and Iraqi fighters that "is absolutely prolonging the conflict," although Baghdad denies being involved on either side of the Syrian war.

House delegate Eni Faleomavaega, a nonvoting Democrat from American Samoa, described the foreign aid to the regime more bluntly. "It's all military hardware that Assad needs to continue his killing spree," Faleomavaega said.

France and Britain are lobbying the European Union to lift an arms embargo on Syria to raise the possibility of sending weapons to rebel fighters as early as May. So far, the U.S. has joined Germany and other EU nations in resisting supplying arms to opposition forces. But Kerry said this week that the U.S. would not stand in the way of other nations that decide to arm the rebels.

Congress increasingly is pushing the White House to send military aid to anti-regime fighters. On Thursday, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and the panel's top Republican, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, asked Obama to deploy Patriot missiles near the Syrian border in southern Turkey to deter Assad's air forces and destroy regime aircraft. The senators stopped short of asking for arms for rebels, but they encouraged stronger aid to vetted groups, including intelligence, communications equipment and humanitarian assistance, like food and medical care.

"Over the past two years that the horrific conflict in Syria has pressed on, both Syrians on the ground and key allies across the region have made clear their hope for stronger American support," wrote Levin and McCain. "We urge you to take steps to ease the suffering of the Syrian people and protect U.S. national security interests."

Disarray within the opposition forces also has stymied the move to unseat Assad, although rebels control territory in Syria's north and east. Ford described the opposition as divided into political and military wings, and "both are not entirely unified."

This week, the Syrian National Coalition elected American-educated Ghassan Hitto as its prime minister but almost immediately witnessed a walkout by about a dozen of its members, who protested they were sidelined from the decision. The coalition is recognized by the U.S. as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people, but some of its members complain it is dominated by fundamentalists from the Muslim Brotherhood, a conservative Islamist movement.

Additionally, the rebels have been joined by what Ford described as a small minority of fighters known as Jabhat al-Nusra, a powerful offshoot of al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Nusra has claimed responsibility for most of the deadliest suicide bombings against regime and military facilities and, as a result, has gained popularity among some rebels. However, the group has alienated secular-minded fighters, which is one reason the U.S. has not equipped the rebels with weapons. The Obama administration designated al-Nusra as a terrorist organization last December.

Western nations worry that al-Nusra or other rebels will get their hands on Syria's chemical weapons stockpile ? but are as concerned that Assad will use them against his people, although he has vowed not to. Ford declined to discuss how the White House would retaliate if Assad crosses Obama's red line and deploys the deadly chemicals, but he said the regime might be more tempted to do so as it loses ground.

Ban said he was aware of charges that Assad's military used chemical weapons against the rebels in the Aleppo attack. But the secretary-general did not make clear whether the rebels' claim also would be part of the new U.N. probe. Obama, meanwhile, has said he is "deeply skeptical" that opposition forces used the chemical weapons.

Because of the risks getting investigators to the war zone, it likely will be difficult to prove whether chemical weapons were used, said Ralf Trapp, a chemical and biological weapons scientist formerly at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He said evidence is best collected at least within several miles from the site at the time of the attack.

"You really have to be on the ground," Trapp said in a telephone interview from France. "You need to be where the event occurred and you need to speak with the victims. In a civil war, that's not easy."

Ford said the rebels have begun to outmatch the regime's military and captured key cities and officials while controlling Syria's land borders with Turkey and Iraq. Heavy fighting near Assad's palaces in Damascus recently "would have been rattling his windows," Ford said.

But Assad could remain in power at least through the end of the year. For one, there are few places he could flee to without fearing prosecution or assassination. "Assad has very little impetus to do anything but stay there," said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.

Without more foreign pressure and aid, it's unlikely Assad would leave for months or even years, said Ken Pollack, a Mideast expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington and a member of the National Security Council during the Clinton administration.

"The situation has degenerated into a bloody, but potentially very durable stalemate," Pollack said.

___

Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper in Washington and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

___

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at https://twitter.com/larajakesAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/push-assads-ouster-syria-weakened-070316682.html

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Air France: Man found in cockpit not an employee

This undated photo provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Philippe Jernnard of La Rochelle, France. Jernnard, 61, was arrested Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at Philadelphia International Airport and charged with impersonating a pilot after airline officials found him in the cockpit of a plane scheduled for takeoff. (AP Photo/Philadelphia Police Department)

This undated photo provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Philippe Jernnard of La Rochelle, France. Jernnard, 61, was arrested Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at Philadelphia International Airport and charged with impersonating a pilot after airline officials found him in the cockpit of a plane scheduled for takeoff. (AP Photo/Philadelphia Police Department)

In this undated photo released by the Philadelphia Police Department, Philippe Jernnard of La Rochelle, France is shown. Jernnard, a 61-year-old French man was arrested Wednesday March 20, 2013 at Philadelphia International Airport and charged with impersonating a pilot after airline officials found him in the cockpit of a plane scheduled for takeoff. (AP Photo/Philadelphia Police Department)

A 61-year-old French man was arrested at Philadelphia International Airport and charged with impersonating a pilot after airline officials found him in the cockpit of a plane scheduled for takeoff, police said Friday.

The crew of a US Airways flight bound for West Palm Beach, Fla., found Philippe Jernnard of La Rochelle, France, in the jump seat behind the pilot on Wednesday evening, removing him after he was unable to produce valid credentials and became argumentative, police said.

Jernnard, who was a ticketed passenger, was wearing a white shirt with an Air France logo and had a black jacket with epaulets on the shoulders, police said. Officer Christine O'Brien said police found him in possession of a counterfeit Air France crew member ID card.

Air France said Jernnard is not one of its employees and was not wearing the airline's uniform.

It's not clear how Jernnard got into the cockpit, but one security expert said he didn't view it as a breach.

Pilots can typically ride for free in the jump seat of another airline, but they must make arrangements ahead of time and their presence would be noted on a passenger manifest. That manifest is reviewed by the pilot before takeoff ? meaning that Jernnard didn't have a chance of remaining, said Douglas Laird, former security director for Northwest Airlines.

"The guy can't do any harm sitting up there. He has no access to the controls sitting there. I think the system worked," said Laird, who now runs an airline security consultancy in Reno, Nev.

Police said there's no indication Jernnard meant any harm. A US Airways spokeswoman referred questions to the FBI, which confirmed it is investigating but declined to comment Friday.

O'Brien said Jernnard initially became upset at the gate when he asked to be upgraded to business class.

"The (US Airways) employee gate agent told the male there was no space left in business class. He became irate," O'Brien said.

Jernnard then boarded the plane and made his way to the jump seat.

He was charged with criminal trespass, forgery, records tampering, false impersonation of a person privately employed, and providing false identification to law enforcement. He was jailed on $1 million bail pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 5. Federal charges are also expected.

Jernnard is represented by the Philadelphia public defender's office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In France, police in La Rochelle as well as the national police declined to comment, saying they are not allowed to disclose information about individuals.

Jernnard's stunt mirrored one by con man Frank Abagnale Jr., whose exploits were chronicled in the 2002 hit film "Catch Me If You Can." In the movie, Abagnale, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is able to make his way into a plane's cockpit, bluffing his way past security and distracting the FBI by donning a pilot's uniform.

Laird said he can recall a few other cases before the Sept. 11 attacks in which civilians talked their way into the cockpit and were not discovered until the planes had actually taken off.

"If you are civilian, you can't pass yourself off as an Air France pilot because within about 30 seconds the pilots go, 'This guy has not a clue,'" Laird said. "It would be like you and I passing ourselves off as surgeons."

___

Rubinkam reported from northeastern Pennsylvania. Associated Press Writer Greg Keller in Paris contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-22-US-Man-Impersonates-Pilot/id-fea3e93c14c04070840ca261254f1f3a

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