UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council voiced alarm on Friday at an advance by rebels in Central African Republic that has brought them within striking distance of the mineral-rich nation's capital, and renewed its call for a negotiated solution to the crisis.
Central African Republic President Francois Bozize will refuse to leave power during talks with the Seleka rebel alliance, his spokesman said on Thursday, rejecting the insurgents' main demand and raising the prospect of a return to fighting.
The rebel alliance, which has accused Bozize of reneging on a past peace deal, closed in on the capital Bangui this week before bowing to international pressure to start negotiations.
"The members of the Security Council expressed their concern regarding the 'Seleka' coalition's advance toward Bangui since ... December 27," the council said in a statement.
The 15-nation body also urged "an end to Seleka's military offensive, and said the current situation in CAR cannot be resolved militarily."
"They called again on all parties to seek a peaceful solution by engaging constructively, without preconditions, and in good faith in the negotiations to be held in Libreville beginning January 8 under the auspices of the Economic Community of the Central African States (ECCAS)," the council said.
The advance by Seleka, an alliance of five armed groups, was the latest in a series of revolts in a country at the heart of one of Africa's most turbulent regions. The country remains plagued by poverty and underdevelopment despite its reserves of diamonds, gold and other minerals.
The council also repeated its previous demands that Seleka "cease all hostilities, withdraw from seized cities, and cease attempts to advance further."
It voiced concern about "reports of the targeting of ethnic minorities, arrests, detentions, looting, as well as recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in CAR."
The Security Council urged "all parties to refrain from any acts of violence against civilians and to respect human rights, and emphasized that those responsible for such violations should be held accountable," according to the statement.
(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-security-council-voices-worry-central-african-005942458.html
st louis cardinals Steelers Schedule tory burch Al Smith Dinner Herman Melville Books Kyna Treacy megan fox
Karnal Health - Beauty - Fitness
Our slimming / weight management provides natural weight loss capsules, herbal slimming capsules formulation can be used to effectively manage weight naturally without side effects in a holistic approach.OUR PRODUCTS:Weight loss CapsulesDiabitic ControlSlimming ProductsCall at 9996663216,9354100719,...
Source: http://tuffclassified.com/hydroxatone-has-raced-way-ahead-of-other-anti-wrinkle-products_161184
2013 toyota avalon the secret life of bees full moon aubrey o day masters live johan santana viktor bout
Much has been made of our ancestors "coming down out of the trees," and many researchers view terrestrial bipedalism as the hallmark of "humanness." After all, most of our living primate relatives?the great apes, specifically?still spend their time in the trees. Humans are the only member of the family devoted to the ground, living terrestrial rather than arboreal lives, but that wasn't always the case.
The fossil record shows that our predecessors were arboreal habitu?s, that is, until Lucy arrived on the scene. About 3.5 million years ago in Africa, this new creature, Australopithecus afarensis, appeared; Lucy was the first specimen discovered. Anthropologists agree that A. afarensis was bipedal, but had Lucy and her legions totally forsaken the trees? The question is at the root of a controversy that still rages.
"Australopithecus afarensis possessed a rigid ankle and an arched, nongrasping foot," write Nathaniel Dominy and his co-authors in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). "These traits are widely interpreted as being functionally incompatible with climbing and thus definitive markers of terrestriality," says Dominy, an associate professor of anthropology at Dartmouth.
But not so fast; this interpretation may be a rush to judgment in light of new evidence brought to light by Dominy and his colleagues. They did what anthropologists do. They went out and looked at modern humans who, like Lucy, have feet adapted to terrestrial bipedalism, and found these people can still function as effective treeclimbers.
Co-authors Vivek Venkataraman and Thomas Kraft collaborated with Dominy on field studies in the Philippines and Africa that inform their PNAS paper. Venkataraman and Kraft are Dartmouth graduate students in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology PhD program in the Department of Biological Sciences, and are supported by National Science Foundation graduate research fellowships.
The studies in Uganda compared Twa hunter-gatherers to their agriculturalist neighbors, the Bakiga. In the Philippines, the researchers studied Agta hunter-gatherers and Manobo agriculturalists. Both the Twa and the Agta habitually climb trees in pursuit of honey, a highly nutritious component of their diets. They climb in a fashion that has been described as "walking" up small-diameter trees. The climbers apply the soles of their feet directly to the trunk and "walk" upward, with their arms and legs advancing alternately.
Among the climbers, Dominy and his team documented extreme dorsiflexion?bending the foot upward toward the shin to an extraordinary degree? beyond the range of modern "industrialized" humans. Assuming their leg bones and ankle joints were normal, "we hypothesized that a soft-tissue mechanism might enable such extreme dorsiflexion," the authors write.
They tested their hypothesis using ultrasound imaging to measure and compare the lengths of gastrocnemius muscle fibers?the large calf muscles?in all four groups?the Agta, Manobo, Twa and Bakiga. The climbing Agta and Twa were found to have significantly longer muscle fibers.
"These results suggest that habitual climbing by Twa and Agta men changes the muscle architecture associated with ankle dorsiflexion," write the scientists, demonstrating that a terrestrially adapted foot and ankle do not exclude climbing from the behavioral repertoire of human hunter- gatherers, or Lucy.
In their conclusions, the Dartmouth team highlights the value of modern humans as models for studying the anatomical correlates of behavior, both in the present and in the dim past of our fossil ancestors.
###
Dartmouth College: http://www.dartmouth.edu
Thanks to Dartmouth College 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 28 time(s).
Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126102/Did_Lucy_walk__climb__or_both_
halloween chipotle lsu football lsu football Jessie Andrews bloomberg bloomberg
FILE - In this Oct 9, 2012 file photo, Venezuela?s President Hugo Chavez holds a miniature copy of his country's constitution during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela. The ailing president's health crisis has raised contentious questions ahead of the swearing-in set for Jan. 10, including whether the inauguration could legally be postponed. Officials have raised the possibility that Chavez might not be well enough to take the oath of office, without saying what will happen if he can't. The constitution says that if a president or president-elect dies or is declared unable to continue in office, presidential powers should be held temporarily by the president of the National Assembly and that a new presidential vote should be held within 30 days. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
FILE - In this Oct 9, 2012 file photo, Venezuela?s President Hugo Chavez holds a miniature copy of his country's constitution during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela. The ailing president's health crisis has raised contentious questions ahead of the swearing-in set for Jan. 10, including whether the inauguration could legally be postponed. Officials have raised the possibility that Chavez might not be well enough to take the oath of office, without saying what will happen if he can't. The constitution says that if a president or president-elect dies or is declared unable to continue in office, presidential powers should be held temporarily by the president of the National Assembly and that a new presidential vote should be held within 30 days. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
In this photo provided by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, center, delivers a speech during a visit to "Fama de America" government-run coffee plant in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. Maduro said Thursday that reports of recent contacts between U.S. and Venezuelan diplomats have been distorted and that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez authorized the conversations. (AP Photo/Miraflores Presidential Press Office)
In this photo provided by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro, center, delivers a speech during a visit to "Fama de America" government-run coffee plant in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. Maduro said Thursday that reports of recent contacts between U.S. and Venezuelan diplomats have been distorted and that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez authorized the conversations. At right, Venezuela's National Assembly's President Diosdado Cabello. (AP Photo/Miraflores Presidential Press Office)
A boy plays behind a poster with an image depicting Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. The ailing president's health crisis has raised contentious questions ahead of the swearing-in set for Jan. 10, including whether the inauguration could legally be postponed. The ailing president's health crisis has raised contentious questions ahead of the swearing-in set for Jan. 10, including whether the inauguration could legally be postponed. Officials have raised the possibility that Chavez might not be well enough to take the oath of office, without saying what will happen if he can't. The constitution says that if a president or president-elect dies or is declared unable to continue in office, presidential powers should be held temporarily by the president of the National Assembly and that a new presidential vote should be held within 30 days. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
People walk a mural depicting Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez past in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. The ailing president's health crisis has raised contentious questions ahead of the swearing-in set for Jan. 10, including whether the inauguration could legally be postponed. Officials have raised the possibility that Chavez might not be well enough to take the oath of office, without saying what will happen if he can't. The constitution says that if a president or president-elect dies or is declared unable to continue in office, presidential powers should be held temporarily by the president of the National Assembly and that a new presidential vote should be held within 30 days. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is being treated for "respiratory deficiency" after complications from a severe lung infection, his government said, pointing to a deepening crisis for the ailing 58-year-old president.
Chavez hasn't spoken publicly or been seen since his Dec. 11 operation in Cuba, and the latest report from his government Thursday night increased speculation that he is unlikely to be able to be sworn in for another term as scheduled in less than a week.
"Chavez has faced complications as a result of a severe respiratory infection. This infection has led to respiratory deficiency that requires Commander Chavez to remain in strict compliance with his medical treatment," Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Thursday night, reading the statement on television.
The government's characterization raised the possibility that Chavez might be breathing with the assistance of a machine. But the government did not address that question and didn't give details of the president's treatment.
"It appears he has a very severe pneumonia that he suffered after a respiratory failure. It is not very specific," said Dr. Alejandro Rios-Ramirez, a pulmonary specialist in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, who is not involved in Chavez's treatment. "It does imply the gravity of his pulmonary infection that led to a respiratory failure. It doesn't mean yet that he is breathing with a machine."
Dr. Michael Pishvaian, an oncologist at Georgetown University's Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington, said such respiratory infections can run the gamut from "a mild infection requiring antibiotics and supplemental oxygen to life threatening respiratory complications."
"It could be a very ominous sign," Pishvaian said.
The government expressed confidence in Chavez's medical team and condemned what it called a "campaign of psychological warfare" in the international media regarding the president's condition. Officials have urged Venezuelans not to heed rumors about Chavez's condition.
The statement didn't point to any particular rumors but said "this campaign aims ultimately to destabilize the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ... and end the Bolivarian Revolution led by Chavez."
Venezuela's opposition has demanded that the government provide more specific information about Chavez's condition.
Chavez has undergone four cancer-related surgeries since June 2011 for an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer. He also has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
He was re-elected in October to another six-year term, and two months later announced that the cancer had come back. Chavez said before the operation that if his illness prevented him from remaining president, Vice President Nicolas Maduro should be his party's candidate to replace him in a new election.
This week, the president's elder brother Adan and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello joined a parade of visitors who saw Chavez in Havana, and then returned to Caracas on Thursday along with Maduro.
"In the past hours, we've been accompanying President Hugo Chavez and taking him the courage and strength of the Venezuelan people," Maduro said on television. Appearing next to Cabello visiting a government-run coffee plant in Caracas, he said they had been with Chavez together with the president's brother, his son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez and Attorney General Cilia Flores.
Chavez's health crisis has raised contentious questions ahead of the swearing-in set for Jan. 10, including whether the inauguration could legally be postponed and what will happen if Chavez can't begin his new term. The plans of Chavez's allies remain a mystery.
The Venezuelan Constitution says the presidential oath should be taken Jan. 10 before the National Assembly, and officials have raised the possibility that Chavez might not be well enough to do that, without saying what will happen if he can't.
The constitution says that if a president or president-elect dies or is declared unable to continue in office, presidential powers should be held temporarily by the president of the National Assembly, who is now Cabello. It says a new presidential vote should be held within 30 days.
Opposition leaders have argued that Chavez, who was re-elected to a six-year term in October, seems no longer fit to continue as president and have demanded that a new election be held within 30 days if he isn't in Caracas on inauguration day.
But some of Chavez's close confidants dismiss the view that the inauguration date is a hard deadline, saying Chavez could be given more time to recover from his surgery if necessary.
Aristobulo Isturiz, a state governor and leader of Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela, said Thursday that if Chavez's swearing-in isn't held Jan. 10, it will be up to the Supreme Court to determine the place and date of the ceremony.
"The president has a right to recover," Isturiz said in remarks published by the state-run Venezuelan News Agency.
Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, an opposition politician, proposed on Thursday that a commission travel to Cuba to determine the state of Chavez's health. He said the delegation should be made up of doctors, lawmakers and other officials such as state governors, including opposition leader Henrique Capriles.
"I'm not asking for permission to go to Cuba. I think it's our right to go there and see what's going on," Ledezma said in comments reported by the television channel Globovision. "Enough mysteries. Venezuela isn't a colony of Cuba."
Some of the brewing disagreements could begin to be aired Saturday, when the National Assembly, which is controlled by a pro-Chavez majority, convenes to select legislative leaders. That session will be held just five days before the scheduled inauguration day.
___
Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda and Christopher Toothaker in Caracas and Adriana Gomez Licon in Mexico City contributed to this report.
___
Ian James on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ianjamesap
Associated Pressjetblue michelle malkin october baby sugarland 16 and pregnant ludwig mies van der rohe jamie lynn sigler
My recent blogging hiatus was caused by a splendid family vacation in Key West, rendered yet more enjoyable by a chance encounter with our dear friends, Nick and Mary Eberstadt. Our temporary abodes were separated by a single block of Duval Street, occupied by a liquor store, a wonderful French bakery, and a raucous transvestite bar. (Mrs. Eberstadt professed to ?resent these people. Their nail polish is so much better than mine.?) A good time was had by all.
In an approximation of work, I zipped through Thomas K. McCraw?s The Founders and Finance, a magnificent, just-published book on ?How Hamilton, Gallatin, and Other Immigrants Forged a New Economy.? Familiar ground to be sure, but McCraw?arguably the country?s finest business historian?covers it elegantly, judiciously, and with a keen eye for the telling detail. His big detail is the amazing extent to which the nation?s young economy and institutions were shaped by immigrants?Hamilton and Gallatin, but also many others (Robert Morris). The recent arrivals lacked a connection to any particular state; thus, they were predisposed to think on a national, continental scale. And they lacked any deep connection to land and the peculiar institution that in many states went along with it; thus, they were anti-slavery, and they understood the ism in capitalism and its lifeblood, credit. As McCraw acknowledges, you can find non-immigrant Founders with those sensibilities (Gouverneur Morris is a fine example). But the basic point stands, and it?s worth pondering.
McCraw?s Hamilton comes across as the genius that he was. His Jefferson, by contrast, looks like the Joe Biden of his day: a blowhard and false friend of the people who managed to get it wrong on every single question of moment. (McCraw tries to soften the blow: finance, he says, was Hamilton?s strongest suit and Jefferson?s weakest. Well, yes. But then, Jefferson the statesman? fought the Barbary pirates with Hamilton?s Navy, and he bought Louisiana on Hamilton?s constitutional theory and on the credit Hamilton had established.) Beyond that, McCraw?s masterful account reminds one of a few points of current salience:
It?s a different world now, in many ways. Still, just as a thought experiment, do the Hamiltonian thing. First, add up all the public debts?not just the ?headline? debt of $16.4 trillion but also intergovernmental debts, agency debts (like Fannie and Freddie), unfunded obligations (which we can always renege on but then, no one forced the great Hamilton to redeem the bad debts at par), and state debts of various kinds: you end up north of $90 trillion, as against less than $3 trillion in federal revenues. (The exact numbers don?t matter; the order of magnitude does.) Not quite Hamilton land yet, but we?re getting there.
Federal receipts are now a much bigger piece of the economy than they were back when, and enhanced federal tax capacity?beyond nickeling and diming ?billionaires??isn?t on the agenda. Little of the cash is available for servicing the debt (forget reducing it): some 40 million Americans insist on their inalienable right to play bingo and visit doctors on someone else?s nickel from age 65 to eternity, and keeping them in shoes consumes more than 40 percent of the budget. That leaves growth as the only means of debt management. Where, pray tell, is it going to come from? And who is going to bet on it?
Maybe we should hand the country over to immigrants, or the IMF.
Source: http://libertylawsite.org/2013/01/03/the-founders-finance-and-ours/
mc hammer houston texans houston texans pecan pie recipe Hector Camacho Jill Kelly McKayla Maroney
