(Reuters) - Jason Collins, a veteran center in the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced that he is gay, becoming the first active player from any major U.S. professional sports league to publicly reveal his homosexuality.
Collins, a free agent who played with the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics during the NBA's 2012-13 regular season, made the announcement in an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published on Monday.
"I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation," he said.
"I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, 'I'm different.' If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand."
In the ultra-scrutinized world of U.S. professional sports, there had never been an openly gay player in any of America's major professional sports leagues, although some had revealed their sexual orientation after retiring.
In a country with openly gay politicians, entertainers and even soldiers, professional sports had become a final frontier and questions were being asked why sports, which helped play a key role in changing public opinion on racial discrimination, was out of step with the rest of American society.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose daughter Chelsea was a classmate of Collins at Stanford University, applauded Collins for coming out.
"Jason's announcement today is an important moment for professional sports and in the history of the LGBT community," Clinton said in a statement.
"It is also the straightforward statement of a good man who wants no more than what so many of us seek: to be able to be who we are; to do our work; to build families and to contribute to our communities. For so many members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community, these simple goals remain elusive.
"I hope that everyone, particularly Jason's colleagues in the NBA, the media and his many fans extend to him their support and the respect he has earned."
NBA Commissioner David Stern also issued praised Collins for breaking the barrier.
"Jason has been a widely respected player and teammate throughout his career and we are proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue," Stern said in a statement.
Collins, 34, has played for six NBA teams since entering the league in 2001 and twice appeared in the playoffs. He said he wants to continue playing and hopes to find a new team.
It had seemed like only matter of time until an active player said he was gay after the issue had become one of the hottest topics in North America, no more so than in the National Football League (NFL), the most macho of America's pro sports.
In the days leading up to this year's Super Bowl in New Orleans, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver told reporters he would not welcome a homosexual teammate into the locker room.
He later retracted his comments but reports have since emerged of NFL teams asking college players about their sexuality at a scouting combine in February.
This prompted the New York State attorney general to send a letter to the NFL, urging the league to take action and adopt a formal policy of sexual discrimination.
Culliver's comments are not typical of the attitude of all professional sportsmen. Indeed, there are several high-profile NFL players, most notably Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo, who have advocated for gay rights.
Both believe it was only a matter of time before a professional player came out publicly.
(Reporting by Julian Linden in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - It might sound absurd to talk about normal life in Syria after two years of civil war which have killed more than 70,000 people and left five million more destitute and homeless.
Yet in the neighborhood of Malki, a tree-lined enclave of central Damascus, a wealthy group of elite, pro-government Syrians still enjoy shopping for imported French cheeses, gourmet hand-made chocolates and iPad minis in the well-stocked, recently built Grand Mall and in nearby boutiques.
Such are the parallel realities of a conflict in which, for all the gains made by rebels and the current chatter about U.S. "red lines" crossed that might ultimately draw in Western might, President Bashar al-Assad is holding his ground in the capital, bulwarked by his own foreign allies and by many Syrians who fear his end could prove fatal for them too. And so life goes on.
In Malki, sprinklers water the manicured lawns outside their blocks of million-dollar apartments. Maids and drivers cater to their every whim and birds sing in the trees. Fuel for their BMWs and electricity for their air-conditioning is plentiful and the well-guarded streets are free of loiterers.
"Look at this display and you feel all is well, life is good and everything is here," said an elegantly dressed Hiyam Jabri, 50, as she placed her order at the delicatessen counter in the mall's main supermarket.
Malki residents continue to enjoy material comforts and abundant supplies of imported goods, even as millions of their compatriots subsist on food handouts.
The United Nations World Food Programme estimates it is feeding 2.5 million people inside Syria - a tenth of the population - and a further million who have fled the country, offering them subsistence rations of flour and rice.
"We are trying to keep up with the enormity of the crisis and the impact of the brutality," the WFP's deputy regional emergency coordinator Matthew Hollingworth said in the capital.
Most of those whom his staff help "haven't been displaced once but sometimes twice, three times". Food is so scarce for those uprooted by the fighting that rations intended to feed a family of five are being shared by three families.
ILLUSIONS
Even in Malki, though, the air of normality is an illusion - as unreal as the oft-repeated assertions of government officials that victory is near and Assad still controls almost all Syria.
Scratch the surface of the illusion and the normality quickly becomes anything but.
Pasted to the lamp-post outside the elegant chocolatier Ghraoui, whose interior boasts award certificates from France, is a wad of black and white fliers. They are printed by families and they mourn sons and husbands killed in the war.
It is a war, however, that seems to be going nowhere fast.
Recent days have shown again the reluctance of the United States and its allies, in the face of evidence Assad's troops may have crossed President Barack Obama's "red line" by using chemical weapons, to intervene militarily against him - not least as some rebels have espoused the cause of al Qaeda.
Among the few independent outsiders seeing at first hand the mosaic of opinion and suffering in Syria, many aid workers lament that international discourse has become a monotone debate on supplying weapons, with little push for a negotiated peace.
"We need a political solution for this conflict," said Marc Lucet, the local emergency coordinator for UNICEF, whose fellow humanitarian workers recount grim tales of hungry refugees found cowering in half-built apartment blocks or idle factories.
The surface serenity of Malki contrasts with what aid groups say is a country splintered by ever shifting frontlines and a fragmenting opposition; many fear violence will spread beyond Syria's borders and are baffled by the debate in the West over how far to arm rebels, saying this will only make matters worse.
Stressing the need for a political settlement, however, unpalatable and, so far, unattainable, UNICEF's Lucet said: "The solution is certainly not to give more weapons to either side."
Attempts to bring Assad down by diplomatic means have failed to break the impasse, even if they do make life less comfortable in Malki.
Inside the Ghraoui chocolate boutique, as everywhere else in Syria, sales are strictly cash only - sanctions have forced international credit card networks to boycott transactions here.
Prices on restaurant menus in local currency, the Syrian pound, have been hastily updated with stickers multiple times - a tell-tale sign of rapid inflation.
At the luxury mall supermarket, Eyad al-Burghol says he is selling fewer imported foodstuffs than before because many wealthy customers have left the country.
FIGHTING TALK
A distant thump of artillery fire serves as a reminder that, just a few kilometers (miles) away, fierce street-to-street battles are being fought between government and rebel forces. Some days, Russian-made MiG fighter jets streak across the sky on their way to bomb insurgent positions.
The abundant security in Malki, residents say, is provided by men who speak the Iranian tongue of Farsi, rather than Syrian Arabic. Tehran has long been Assad's sponsor against his fellow Arab leaders and the word on the street - impossible to verify - is that this heavily guarded area of town may be home to the Syrian president himself and to his immediate family.
Assad is not seen in public these days and officials refuse to comment on his movements or whereabouts.
Senior Syrian officials try hard to show visiting reporters a picture of normality in which the government is firmly in control. But even the cocoon in which they live and work is starting to be punctured by the facts of war.
Syria's central bank governor Adeeb Mayaleh gave Reuters an interview last week at a headquarters building bearing the scars of a car bomb attack earlier in the month. Blinds hung twisted and useless in front of warped window-frames without glass. A palm tree outside had been reduced to a charred skeleton.
The bank chief insisted that the government had plenty of foreign currency available to guarantee imports and enough cash to pay public employees' wages in advance each month. For how long? Iran and Russia, he said, were about to agree fresh funds.
Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad gave an upbeat assessment of the war in an interview - but a Syrian who works nearby told us that the complex housing the ministry had been attacked four times by rebels in the past few months.
UNICEF regional coordinator Youssef Abdul-Jalil estimated that at least three million children inside Syria now needed humanitarian assistance because of the war: "There is a crisis of the children of Syria," he said. "They are paying a terrible price in their lives, in their surroundings, in their health, in their education and in their lack of protection".
REALITY INTRUDES
Cars still choke central Damascus and traffic police still issue tickets for speeding and even clamp badly parked vehicles. But armed checkpoints snarl progress to a snail's pace.
Travel agents still offer flights and holidays. But the road to the city's airport is considered too dangerous by many and flights are available only to a few, friendly, destinations.
Telephones still work and officials still show up for work in neatly ironed shirts and well-pressed suits - but many scuttle off early to be home before nightfall.
One resident spoke of a distant relative, a Christian from a prosperous family of car dealers, who was kidnapped. Accused of supporting Assad, he was beaten while hanging upside down. His captors then they injected fuel into his veins. Released for a ransom worth over $20,000, the man died a few days later.
While the Syrian elite continue to insist that the military campaign against the rebels is succeeding, aid workers in Aleppo say that the area of the country's biggest city that is now controlled by the government is very small.
The main north-south highway which connects Aleppo to Damascus via the major cities of Homs and Hama now features some 38 checkpoints, about nine of which are manned by various groups of rebels, NGO workers who have traveled along it recently say.
In the capital, the government says it guarantees a "Square of Security" in the center; some locals joke that rebel gains have shorn it to a rather smaller "Security Triangle".
Damascus's walled Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the 7th-century Umayyad mosque, retains its beauty. But these days it is eerily empty. Tourists have long gone and the souvenir sellers have all but given up hope of selling anything.
Inside the mosque's main prayer hall, featuring a shrine said to contain the head of St. John the Baptist, mournful guides tell of how the imam was recently murdered.
At a jewelry shop in the al-Hamidiyeh bazaar, Anas Hallawi, 25, sat looking bored: "People are selling their gold not buying these days," he said. "Our business thrived on foreign tourists and Syrians buying gold for their brides.
"Now the tourists are gone. And nobody is getting married."
At the Al-Naranj restaurant in the Christian Quarter, one of Damascus's finest eateries, diners discussed the relative risks of car bombings versus random mortar attacks and kidnap. Little wonder that so many with the means have left for Lebanon, as life in the capital becomes a kind of ghoulish Russian roulette.
Across the room, a smartly dressed family group celebrated a betrothal with a lavish spread of traditional Syrian food on a table decorated with red roses.
As the strains of the old songs died away and a festive cake was eaten, a fighter jet roared across the sky. Artillery fire thudded in the distance. The family looked upwards through the restaurant's glass roof, eyes suddenly fearful. (Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
Who they got: Round 1: D.J. Hayden, CB, Houston. Round 2: Menelik Watson, OT, Florida State. Round 3: Sio Moore, LB, Connecticut. Round 4: Tyler Wilson, QB, Arkansas. Round 6: Nick Kasa, TE, Colorado. Round 6: Latavius Murray, RB, UCF. Round 6: Mychal Rivera, TE, Tennessee. Round 6: Stacy McGee, DT, Oklahoma. Round 7: Brice Butler, WR, San Diego State. Round 7: David Bass, DE, Missouri Western.
Where they hit: Hayden, who survived a freakish life-threatening internal injury suffered in November, could be the Raiders? top cornerback in short order. With the second-rounder acquired from Miami, the Raiders added Watson, a tackle prospect with upside. Moore is a good scheme fit, and Wilson could prove a very good value if he plays to his best collegiate form.
Where they missed: The Raiders didn?t draft a defensive lineman until Round Six. There?s playing time to be had for ends Bass and Jack Crawford (2012 fifth-rounder) and tackles McGee and Christo Bilukidi (2012 sixth-rounder) behind the Raiders? veteran starters, but Oakland could use a little more help at both line positions. In McKenzie?s defense, the Raiders have numerous needs, and on first analysis, he did quite well to add talent and depth in this draft.
Impact rookies: Given the state of the Raiders? roster, all 10 drafted rookies have a chance to make the team, and several could earn game-day snaps of consequence in Year One, so we?re going to cast a slightly wider net than usual here.
Hayden has the best shot to start. He should compete with Tracy Porter and Mike Jenkins right off the bat. Moore is also a player to watch; the Raiders have revamped their LB corps this offseason but don?t have any standouts. A talented fresh face has a chance to make an impact early at this position. Watson?s best opportunity to start in 2013 is at right tackle, but that?s no sure thing, given his lack of experience.
Rivera is a potential sleeper, given the Raiders? lack of a clear-cut top target at tight end after the departure of Brandon Myers. And then we come to Wilson. Matt Flynn will get first run at the starting job. Wilson will have to be a quick study to challenge Flynn and Terrelle Pryor. However, it?s not out of the realm of possibility.
Long-term prospects: Give McKenzie credit ? this roster has improved at numerous positions compared to where it stood earlier in the spring. In the best-case scenario for the Raiders? Class of 2013, these three things happen: 1) Hayden is a starter-caliber player from the get-go; 2) Watson and Wilson build on their potential; 3) the Day Three picks other than Wilson provide solid depth, with one or two panning out better than Oakland expected.
Make no mistake: the Raiders have a lot of catching up to do in the AFC West. However, there?s vast opportunity for some young players to seize some key roles. The Raiders have to hope more than a few rise to the occasion.
?The Oaks at North Intown Transformation Plan" will be demolishing the low-income housing that?s currently on West Society and rebuilding them to look nicer and make that part of Albany more attractive. / Courtney Highfield
ALBANY, GA -- The?Albany Housing Authority?and Department of Housing and Urban Development have been working for quite some time now on what they?re calling ?The Oaks at North In town Transformation Plan.?
This plan will be demolishing the low-income housing that?s currently on?West Society?and rebuilding them to look nicer and make that part of Albany more attractive.
But the work doesn?t stop there. Dan McCarthy with the Albany Housing Authority says they are working with several community officials to make sure the people who live in these homes will have a better life. They are working with Phoebe Putney to help promote healthiness in their lives, local officials to make sure the area is safe, and they are working with various other organizations to help get people employed and back on their feet.
McCarthy says they already have 18 entities that have provided letters of commitment to the plan, with in-kind commitments over a five year period. The work that these groups are committing totals over $8 million.
Stay connected to MySouthWestGA.com as stories develop and the FOX 31 Newscast at 10 PM. Visit us on?Facebook?and?Twitter?to join in?on the conversation and connect with FOX 31!
May 7 marks the annual celebration of National Teacher Appreciation Day in the United States. Approximately 3.5 million teachers will be applauded by their communities for the hard work they do and the sacrifices they make each and every day. Staff lounges will be stocked with sweets, treats, and lunch goods. Tokens will be shared, cards written, and banners hung. Teachers will be thanked for the countless hours they labor in classrooms, planning, grading, and doing whatever it takes to make sure that each and every one of their students has what they need in order to succeed.
Sadly, we teachers face seemingly insurmountable odds in helping our students succeed, and much of the struggle does not come from outside influences; it comes from the system that teachers operate within.
If May 7 marks the sixth time you will have celebrated Teacher Appreciation Day, then you?ve fared better than 50 percent of the teachers who started the same year you did. More than likely, the job you were trained for is not the one you entered. And most likely of all, you haven?t received the type of meaningful, targeted professional development that you know you need in order to grow and succeed as a professional.
May 7, today, and every day, teachers should be celebrated, not for what they do, but for the challenges they face on a daily basis.
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To help change this, 5,700 teachers from across the country have raised their voices to demand better of the teaching profession. The U.S. Department of Education recently released the framework ?A Blueprint for RESPECT: Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching? meant to address the challenges the teaching profession faces.
To create the framework, these thousands of teachers pulled together their collective recommendations on how to transform the profession while elevating it to the level of respect usually reserved for law, medicine, and many other occupation.
RESPECT delivers seven actionable and critical components that, while impressive and exciting in isolation, have to exist together. They are interdependent and are not in any ranked order.
Seven Critical Components of the RESPECT Framework
A Culture of Shared Responsibility and Leadership Top Talent, Prepared for Success Continuous Growth and Professional Development Effective Teachers and Principals A Professional Career Continuum With Competitive Compensation Conditions for Successful Teaching and Learning Engaged Communities.
RESPECT details how teachers want a culture of shared responsibility and leadership. Rather than being seen as replaceable widgets, teachers themselves recognize the impact they can make when treated as trusted professionals. Teachers want the best for their students and should be allowed to make decisions they see as being in the interest of students.
As the gatekeepers of our profession, the Department of Education's framework also calls for a higher set of standards for teacher preparation. It demands that those who enter teaching have met a higher bar for entry.
Once these talented professionals are granted entry into the profession, there must be more of a focus on continuous growth and professional development driven by meaningful and fair evaluation systems that accurately reflect our performance in the classroom.
Our job is to nurture student growth, and the way we are evaluated should focus on this. Professional development should be a derivation of the information gained from these evaluations in an effort to help us grow and thereby help our students achieve.
Teachers should know how they are doing and be able to take decisive actions in order to improve their performance. If evaluation systems are well-designed and well-implemented, then effectiveness will begin to emerge.
Study after study shows that the teacher is the single-most important school-based factor in the achievement of students. If they are effective, and if they are led by an effective principal, then student growth will increase at an incredible rate.
Some teachers, including those who are part of the 50 percent who leave in their first five years, enter teaching hoping to make a living wage. Unfortunately, the pay scales and steps that currently dictate our salaries don?t factor in the performance of a teacher. Imagine if the same were true in other professions.
Some teachers want to stay in the classroom for their entire career. Some want to take on leadership roles within their school or district while still teaching. And, some want to take on instructional coaching roles where they can scale their impact. This is why RESPECT calls for the creation of career ladders with competitive compensation for educators.
Communities should embrace their schools and demand that they be high-performing and stocked with effective educators.
And yes, while much of the work to complete the transformation seems focused on the professional teachers, an even greater part of the work has to do with the cultures where they work and the communities that surround schools.
Dysfunctional school and district cultures do not attract effective educators and they certainly do not incentivize them to hang around. Communities should embrace their schools and demand that they be high-performing and stocked with effective educators. Teachers want communities to be involved in their schools.
So, as National Teacher Appreciation Day approaches, rather than cookies, donuts, cards, or balloons, we as an American public could show our appreciation for the millions in our country who teach by asking the simple questions: Why is RESPECT not the reality? And, what can policy makers, voters, business leaders, teachers, principals, superintendents, and others do to make this a reality?
Teachers developed this, teachers want this, and teachers know this is the way to transform the profession.
Related Stories on TakePart:
??Op-Ed: Teacher Development Should Not Be a Luxury?It Is a Must
? Teacher Evaluations: We?ve Got to Come Up With a Better System
? Amazing, Inspiring, and Elderly: 5 of the Oldest Teachers In America
Greg Mullenholz is a Math Content Coach at Greencastle Elementary School in Silver Spring, MD. Mr. Mullenholz is a 2013 Hope Street Group (HSG) National Teacher Fellow. He also served as a 2011-2012 United States Department of Education Washington Teaching Ambassador Fellow who worked on Teacher & Leader Evaluations and Standards & Assessments in the Office of the Secretary. TakePart.com
Epoxide hydrolase inhibition and Thiazolidinediones: A therapy for cardiometabolic syndromePublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Imig jdimig@mcw.edu Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
Epoxide hydrolase inhibition and thiazolidinediones
Scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of California at Davis, led by Dr. John Imig and Dr. Bruce Hammock have determined the synergistic actions of inhibiting soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) with tAUCB (trans-4-(4-[3-adamantan-1-yl-ureid]-cyclohexyloxy)-benzoic acid) and activating peroxisome proliferator-activator receptor? (PPAR?) with the thiazolidinedione rosiglitazone on the pathological progression of cardiometabolic syndrome. Cardiometabolic syndrome occurs with obesity and hypertension increasing the risks for cardiovascular disease and causing significant and rapidly progressive kidney disease. The findings, which appear in the December 2012 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, demonstrate that sEH inhibition and PPAR? activation in combination had the greatest beneficial effects on the multi-disease features and progression of kidney disease associated with cardiometabolic syndrome.
"Inhibitors of sEH have recently reached a point where their ability to combat cardiovascular and kidney diseases can be determined in humans", states Dr. Imig. "In this study we show that when used in combination with a PPAR? agonist therapy for cardiometabolic syndrome that there is a synergistic effect to decrease cardiovascular risk factors and progressive kidney disease. Another potential positive aspect of this combination therapy is that sEH inhibition has beneficial actions to counteract the edema and congestive heart failure that occurs in patients treated long-term with PPAR?agonists."
Future studies would include combinational chemistry approaches to design and synthesize drugs with dual sEH inhibitory and PPAR? agonistic activities. Dr. Hammock states, "these approaches are currently being done by his laboratory and others". He also says "that combining sEH inhibition not just with PPAR? but also with other therapies for cardiovascular, inflammatory, and renal diseases are on the horizon and have therapeutic potential as both drug combinations and dual sEH inhibitors with PPAR? activity for treating cardiometabolic syndrome."
Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine said, " This study by John Imig and Bruce Hammack, performed on spontaneous hypertensive and spontaneous hypertensive obese rat models, suggests that a combined therapy with epoxide hydrolase inhibitors and thiazolidinediones may prove to be efficacious in treatment of the multi-disease characteristics of cardiometabolic syndrome. "
###
Experimental Biology and Medicine is a journal dedicated to the publication of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences. The journal was first established in 1903.
Experimental Biology and Medicine is the journal of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine. To learn about the benefits of society membership visit http://www.sebm.org. If you are interested in publishing in the journal please visit http://ebm.rsmjournals.com.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Epoxide hydrolase inhibition and Thiazolidinediones: A therapy for cardiometabolic syndromePublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Imig jdimig@mcw.edu Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
Epoxide hydrolase inhibition and thiazolidinediones
Scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of California at Davis, led by Dr. John Imig and Dr. Bruce Hammock have determined the synergistic actions of inhibiting soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) with tAUCB (trans-4-(4-[3-adamantan-1-yl-ureid]-cyclohexyloxy)-benzoic acid) and activating peroxisome proliferator-activator receptor? (PPAR?) with the thiazolidinedione rosiglitazone on the pathological progression of cardiometabolic syndrome. Cardiometabolic syndrome occurs with obesity and hypertension increasing the risks for cardiovascular disease and causing significant and rapidly progressive kidney disease. The findings, which appear in the December 2012 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, demonstrate that sEH inhibition and PPAR? activation in combination had the greatest beneficial effects on the multi-disease features and progression of kidney disease associated with cardiometabolic syndrome.
"Inhibitors of sEH have recently reached a point where their ability to combat cardiovascular and kidney diseases can be determined in humans", states Dr. Imig. "In this study we show that when used in combination with a PPAR? agonist therapy for cardiometabolic syndrome that there is a synergistic effect to decrease cardiovascular risk factors and progressive kidney disease. Another potential positive aspect of this combination therapy is that sEH inhibition has beneficial actions to counteract the edema and congestive heart failure that occurs in patients treated long-term with PPAR?agonists."
Future studies would include combinational chemistry approaches to design and synthesize drugs with dual sEH inhibitory and PPAR? agonistic activities. Dr. Hammock states, "these approaches are currently being done by his laboratory and others". He also says "that combining sEH inhibition not just with PPAR? but also with other therapies for cardiovascular, inflammatory, and renal diseases are on the horizon and have therapeutic potential as both drug combinations and dual sEH inhibitors with PPAR? activity for treating cardiometabolic syndrome."
Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine said, " This study by John Imig and Bruce Hammack, performed on spontaneous hypertensive and spontaneous hypertensive obese rat models, suggests that a combined therapy with epoxide hydrolase inhibitors and thiazolidinediones may prove to be efficacious in treatment of the multi-disease characteristics of cardiometabolic syndrome. "
###
Experimental Biology and Medicine is a journal dedicated to the publication of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences. The journal was first established in 1903.
Experimental Biology and Medicine is the journal of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine. To learn about the benefits of society membership visit http://www.sebm.org. If you are interested in publishing in the journal please visit http://ebm.rsmjournals.com.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Wyden could take over as chairman of the Finance Committee, now that Baucus has announced his retirement.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is next in line to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee upon the reported retirement of current Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., at the end of next year.
Wyden is No. 3 in seniority on the panel, but Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who would be in line to take over, has already announced his retirement.
Democrats hold fairly true to their succession rules, particularly given that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is a believer in observing informal seniority rules. Wyden is currently the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the powerful Finance gavel would be his to turn down.
On Tuesday, Wyden declined to comment.
?I?m not up on any press reports,? Wyden told reporters after an Energy hearing. ?I just heard these press reports, and I?m not going to comment on them in any way. All I?ve heard are press reports. I am not going to comment in any way this morning.?
Over the years, Baucus and Wyden have clashed on the Finance panel. The Oregon senator has a history of freelancing bipartisan bills with Republicans that Democrats often find unhelpful for their overall message. That was true last year, when Wyden teamed up with House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., on Medicare, but later distanced himself from the bill when the then-GOP vice presidential nominee it to burnish his bipartisan chops.
The next Democratic senator in line after Wyden is Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. As it stands, Schumer is also high in the order to assume the Senate Banking Committee gavel, just behind Jack Reed of Rhode Island, after Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., announced his retirement last month. Reed is expected to assume the chairmanship of the Armed Services panel.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has fallen by 2 percentage points to 39 percent after a dispute over quotas requiring companies to hire more women executives, an opinion poll published on Sunday showed.
Rebel members of Merkel's centre-right coalition, including Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen, threatened to break ranks and vote with opposition parties that wanted to introduce a female quota from 2018, convinced that voluntary pledges to appoint more women have proven inadequate.
Merkel averted the potentially embarrassing defeat in parliament when the rebels accepted a compromise plan obliging big firms to raise the proportion of women on supervisory boards to 30 percent in 2020.
Emnid said the incident was likely the reason for the conservatives becoming less popular with voters.
The weekly Emnid poll for German newspaper Bild am Sonntag showed the Free Democrats (FDP), the junior coalition partner in Merkel's centre-right government, has 5 percent support, unchanged from last week and enough for the liberal, pro-business party to enter parliament after the next election.
That would give the ruling government 44 percent support, close to the 47 to 48 percent usually needed for a parliamentary majority in a system where parties with less than 5 percent do not get any seats.
The poll showed the main opposition Social Democrats (SPD) remained unchanged at 26 percent support, while the Greens held steady at 14 percent, giving those parties 40 percent combined - not enough to beat the ruling government.
The socialist Die Linke party was also unchanged at 8 percent. The maverick Pirates gained one point to 4 percent.
The poll of 2,410 people was conducted between April 11 and 17.
(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Paul Simao)
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about Google Glass, the Galaxy S4, and the magic of Ubuntu laptops. This time we're joined by Matt Burns, Jordan Crook, Greg Kumparak, and a pair of underwear that vibrates in Australia. Enjoy!
The moulds used to create plastic Lego pieces are engineered with extreme precision so that the bricks stay connected via friction alone. But over time your Lego pieces will wear out with use and eventually stop sticking, and Phillipe Cantin wanted to know exactly when that would happen. More »
Everyone already knew the anthem would be perfect. The Boston Bruins have one of the league's great pregame performers in Rene Rancourt, and even on a median night ? say, some mid-January Tuesday-nighter against the Carolina Hurricanes ? his rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" is a rousing, operatic affair. On a big night ? like a Stanley Cup finals game ? it's booming and frenzied and sublime. And on a night like Wednesday's ? the first Bruins home game since two bombs were detonated at the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing three and injuring more than 100 ? Rancourt's version of the national anthem practically seemed to take flight.
Rancourt began to sing in his usual way; the only difference was the reaction from the crowd of 17,565. Like any great playmaker, he waited just a tiny bit longer than you might have expected ? and then let go of things so smoothly that you barely perceived the handoff. The Boston crowd seemed to be so distracted by the easily-belted-out "proooooooudly" that they didn't even notice that Rancourt wasn't joining them as they hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.
But once the Boston crowd realized what was really going on ? an earnest, emotional, arena-wide sing-along ? it was like watching a child experience that first mind-blowing bike ride without Mom or Dad gripping the back of his seat: the sudden grasp of freedom, the waver of uncertainty, the surprise at one's might, and then the propulsive release of simply pedaling, pedaling, pedaling full steam ahead. "It's the quite audibly dropped 'r' in 'stars' that really chokes up this Beverly native," Slate editor John Swansburg pointed out on Twitter. For me, it was the rockets' red glare.
"You do get a bit choked up," Chris Kelly later said. "It's something that you try to fight back some tears and when you go to swallow, it feels like you've got something in your throat."
"It was extremely emotional. I was definitely fighting back tears," Brad Marchand said after the game, the first major sporting event in the city since the bombing.
"My hair was standing up on the back of my neck," Shawn Thornton, who sang along with the national anthem just like everyone in the stands, told NHL Network. "It was very emotional."
Thornton and Kelly grew up in Ontario; Marchand is from Nova Scotia. The Bruins have only two Americans on their roster, and both were healthy scratches Wednesday night. But it didn't matter, because by the wonderfully fuzzy transitive properties of sports, they are all Bruins, therefore they are all Bostonians, therefore we are all in this together.
Jim Rogash/Getty Images
A few minutes into the game, the TV crew pointed out that the crowd was chanting "Let's go, Boston!" instead of the customary "Let's go, Bruins!" On Twitter, I saw two different reports: one that everyone was yelling "We love Boston!" and another that it was actually "We are Boston!" I like to think that all three interpretations were equally correct, that they're just three different facets of the same precious gem. It's a bit like translating something from English to a foreign language and then back again: All the nuance disappears, but the raw intentions remain.
"Duly, the shows of solidarity with Boston have been expressed through sports," wrote the New Republic's Marc Tracy, "which has meant dipping into the sappy language of Boston fandom" ? like how the New York Yankees played "Sweet Caroline," or how Tracy has seen signs of support that use the Red Sox logo as shorthand for the town. It's a testament to the link between people and place, between city and sport, between the projected and the personal. And so it seems almost appropriate to admit that the most resonant moment of proud mourning we've seen all week has maybe come during the pregame ceremonies for a freaking hockey game.
The problem with relying on sports, though, is that you can't. The Sabres, down all game, unapologetically tied it with less than 30 seconds remaining. In the shootout, neither Tyler Seguin, Patrice Bergeron, nor Brad Marchand could score on Ryan Miller, and Buffalo came away with the 3-2 win. It was ostensibly a disappointing ending to what had been a genuinely uplifting night ? until it became clear that most of the fans were still at their seats, loudly chearing, and that all the players on both teams still lingered proudly on the ice.
They raised their sticks, all of them, and saluted the fans, and that's when it became so obvious: It didn't matter that the Bruins lost, because this game was never about the Bruins. It was, always, about Boston.
Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Lighting the Lamp: The Week's Sickest Snipes
Look, I know the Minnesota Wild use Joe Satriani's "Crowd Chant" for their goal celebration song, too, but I'd like to start a petition that it belong solely to the New York Islanders forevermore. It was during this Matt Moulson goal the other day that the celebratory suite just really, no pun intended, sang to me. It feels so Nassau Coliseum. It sounds like it belongs in an ?ber-competitive Guitar Hero competition that takes place out in the concourse. It's so much better than the old song. It's so much more Long Island.
Moulson's goal was his 14th in 42 games this season; the 29-year-old forward is averaging a career-high 0.95 points per game, and what's most impressive is that he's doing so despite registering a career-low shooting percentage. (Last season 16.4 percent of his shots went in; this year it's 9.8 percent.) He's part of an Islanders team that has a dangerous young corps, a defiant old goalie, and serious first-round upset potential. If I'm Pittsburgh or Boston ? the two teams that have the best odds of facing the Islanders in the playoffs ? I'm a little antsy right about now.
John Tavares, who has generated Hart Trophy buzz and who has one of the greatest value contracts in the league through 2018, is third in the NHL in goal scoring. And Michael Grabner has provided production, too; his two goals against Florida on Tuesday put his on-the-year total to 15. Sure, it was the Panthers, but it doesn't matter when it looks like this:
Also, the spotlight shining down on the orange-and-blue uniform reminds me of how they do things at Rexall Place. Can you imagine how incredibly awesome an Oilers-Isles Stanley Cup rematch could be in a couple years?
Other runners-up this week: Ryan Kesler is back; Thomas Vanek is not of this world; and the good people of Winnipeg have been tricked into falling in love with an American boy.
Piling on the Pylons: The Week's Worst Performers
Go home, Edmonton Oilers, you're drunk. No, seriously: The goings-on in and around Edmonton's front office lately have been so genuinely loopy that they reminded me of an essay I read years ago on some website called Modern Drunkard Magazine about the virtues of blacking out. (Hey, we all found material for our AIM profiles in our own ways.) I have no doubt that for Oilers president Kevin Lowe, the series of events that culminated in Monday's press conference to announce the firing of GM Steve Tambellini was like an unplanned, streaking-the-quad kind of bender. The kind that winds up like this ?
It happens to even the most moderately accomplished drinkers. In addition to an above-average hangover, you wake up with a vague feeling of unease and the sense that your memories of last night are a lot sparser than they should be.
Kevin Lowe stirs; stretches. Winces at a few tweaks here and there. These old bones, he thinks. He smiles. These old six-time Stanley Cup?winning bones. At that, something catches in his mind ? a distant memory, visible only if he doesn't look directly at it, like a star in the clear Alberta prairie night sky after a night spent celebrating another Stanley Cup win. Six Stanley Cups. A press conference. Reporters. Those goddamn reporters. Six Stanley Cups. Winners. Celebrating in front of the fans. All the fans. There was something about the fans ?
As you begin to piece your identity back together, a sordid tale emerges from the disjointed scraps of evidence around your room. The half-eaten economy-size bag of Chili Cheese Fritos and four melted ice cream bars suggest you stopped by a convenience store on the way home, but the shopping cart in your doorway is from Safeway, and that's a mile and a half down the road.
Kevin Lowe is startled when he goes into the kitchen and finds Gary Bettman smoking a cigarette like he's Betty Draper. "Sit down, Kevin," Bettman says. With one hand he snaps open an attach? case and withdraws a lengthy document.
"You said a lot of things yesterday, Kevin," he begins. "You said, and I quote: 'We have two types of fans. We have paying customers and we have people that watch the game that we still care about. But certainly the people who go to the games and support, we spend a lot of time talking to them, delivering our message.'" He takes a long drag.
A slow tour of the house reveals the lights are all on, the door is wide open, the CD player is looping Air Supply at full volume, your roommate is missing and there's a strange dog on his bed.
"You said some other stuff, too, Kevin," Bettman says. "Again, here I quote: 'I'll say that there's one other guy in hockey today that is still working in the game that has won more Stanley Cups than me. So I think I know a little bit about winning, if there's ever a concern.'" Bettman rubs his temple. "Again with the Stanley Cups thing, Kevin? I mean, Nail Yakupov wasn't even born yet."
Lowe reddens; the thunder rolls. "He would have been eight and a half months old during the last one!"
The last thing that anyone should ever do is feel ashamed of blacking out. You were trying to get drunk last night and, goddamnit, mission accomplished. Sometimes we must close our minds to the horrors of the world, especially if we happen to be the father of those horrors. Do not, under any circumstances, explain yourself or apologize to anyone for your actions.
"Get that computer graphics guy in here," Lowe hollers. "I want to make a YouTube." He fixes his sweater, he speaks. He isn't sure what he says, but he knows it's all good stuff. Winning. Six-time Stanley Cup winning. The fans will get it. His fans. The phone rings.
"Next time you record an apology YouTube video to Oilers fans, Kevin," Bettman says, his voice crisp. "You may want to take the framed New York Rangers photo down off your wall first."
Taking It Coast-to-Coast: A Lap Around the League
? Justin Bourne wrote a list of the NHL's 10 best players through the neutral zone. Considering the importance of good zone entries with respect to generating offense [PDF] this is a pretty solid list to be on. (To it I'd add Erik Karlsson.)
? Here's a nice interview ? worth it just for the photo alone ? of Alexei Yashin, former Senators star and Islanders saga. Yashin is retired from the NHL and is now the GM of the Russian national women's hockey team, which hopes to stand up to the North American powerhouse teams when they host the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi next February. Speaking of stand up, who else wasn't expecting the kind comments about Mike Milbury? Whatta guy.
? The Buffalo Sabres' John Scott is giving the Keslurker a creeparound for his money. Listen to the way the kids giggle here: We've got a new generation of hockey fans, folks! You know John Collins just inked a 12-year merchandising deal with the purveyors of that fine brown fur robe.
? The Globe and Mail's James Mirtle wrote as clear-eyed and dispassionate a piece as one possibly could on this year's meteoric rise of young Maple Leafs sensation Nazem Kadri. The 22-year-old center has scored 41 points in 43 games this season and could play a key part, in the eyes of many a Toronto fan, in the glorious revolution of the franchise. But will he be able to repeat his success? Spoiler: If he does, it will be without precedent. Mirtle displays two great charts that put Kadri's season in the context of the NHL and show what has happened to past players who have had similarly puck-lucky seasons. (Random takeaways from chart no. 1? Taylor Hall is a beast, and poor Brian Boyle.)
? I got a kick out of this tweet from The Score's Rob Pizzo: "Word emphasis now in playoff talk is key. 'NOT mathematically eliminated' = Still hope. 'Not MATHEMATICALLY eliminated' = Plan tee times." In that vein, here are some teams who are NOT mathematically eliminated: the Winnipeg Jets, the Detroit Red Wings, and the Dallas Stars. And, sorry to say, some that are not MATHEMATICALLY eliminated: the Buffalo Sabres, the Phoenix Coyotes, and the rest of you know who you are.
? With that in mind, here are a few big games to watch over the next few days. On the Eastern Conference bubble, the Winnipeg Jets and Islanders will play a game with major playoff implications Saturday, while the New York Rangers are scheduled to take on every trap game on the planet. (Safer in the standings but not free from trouble are the Montreal Canadiens, who have lost three straight and may well take out all their frustrations tonight against poor Tampa Bay.) Out West, the only way a team like Dallas could even conceivably make a playoff push would be to win a game like the one they have at St. Louis on Friday. And the Detroit Red Wings, meanwhile, can reverse their recent skid ? and save their 21-year playoff streak ? with a Saturday win over Vancouver. And tonight ? oh my god, would you two please stop flirting and just make out already?!
? I hope Alex Ovechkin does end up getting a championship ring for his old Dynamo Moscow team winning the KHL's Gagarin Cup ? "Im gonna get the champion ring )))haha," he wrote on Twitter ? and I hope when he does, the jewelry is fashioned in the exact fashion of that unbelievable chalice. It makes the Stanley Cup look like a Monopoly piece.
? Here's the latest NHL commercial, which I think is pretending to showcase the weird and wacky world of players while secretly serving as some sort of strobe-lit Rorschach test in which the league is extracting your personal information through your looks of confusion. (What, you thought this was unsettling?) I wonder if they could flash those player photos over a nightclubbishly hypnotic remix of Jason Spezza's laughter any faster? I feel weak; I feel drugged. I've entered a hallucinatory state in which Steve Ott slowly licked Jeff Halpern's visor and Geno Malkin's alabaster skin was rumored to be seared to an unplayable crisp.
And a Beauty! The Week's Nicest in Net
Halfway through the first period of the Columbus Blue Jackets' game against the Wild on Saturday, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped an attempt by Zach Parise on the Minnesota power play that frustrated the Minnesota left wing and kept the score at 0-0. Parise smacked his stick into the boards in frustration. The Blue Jackets, despite being outshot 41-22, won the game 3-2 in a shootout in which Bobrovsky would stop Parise again.
In Columbus's next game, a Monday tilt in Colorado, the Blue Jackets fought their way into overtime with an R.J. Umberger goal in the final minutes. Less than a minute into OT, though, Avalanche winger Gabriel Landeskog cut in alone on a shorthanded breakaway, and it looked as though all the Blue Jackets would get would be one point. But Bobrovsky denied the young captain, and later ? with just 29 seconds to play in the extra session ? Nick Foligno's goal would give the Blue Jackets the win.
It's all been part of a five-game winning streak for #LUMBUS, who haven't lost since a 3-0 stinker at home against the Wild on April 7 and now find themselves, at least briefly, in the last Western Conference playoff spot. The Blue Jackets' run goes back even further than that, too: Of their last 25 games, dating back to February 26 against Dallas, they've lost only four in regulation. And so increasingly, the question has become: Should Bobrovsky be a contender for the Hart Trophy, given to the league's MVP?
In goal this season, the beanpolish 24-year-old has put up even-strength numbers that are nearly identical to those of a Henrik Lundqvist or a Tuukka Rask: 51 goals allowed on 777 shots, or an even-strength save percentage of .938. No goalie who has played at least 20 games this season has amassed better numbers than "Bob." (What's more, he's enchanted a Blue Jackets fan base once unfairly stereotyped as being hostile to Russian players.)
Bobrovsky's Hart case, according to his staunchest advocates, boils down to this: The "player most valuable to his team" should be the one that you simply can't take out of the lineup, or else. Bobrovsky would ostensibly fit that bill ? particularly if you remember some of Steve Mason's more recent seasons ? as would a player like John Tavares. Hart contenders like Sidney Crosby or Jonathan Toews, these people point out, are on teams so good that removing them isn't going to make things appreciably worse. (The flip side to this argument is that the best player in the league is by definition the most valuable player a team can have.)
Whether or not Bobrovsky actually earns Hart support ? and I'd say that if the Blue Jackets remain in the playoffs, he'll deserve to be in exactly these sorts of conversations ? remains to be seen, but perhaps we're already seeing the guy's impact on the ice. Fine, fine: I know David Steckel didn't deploy this wacky "time release" goal intentionally Wednesday night, but it's fun to think that maybe it was done on purpose, because he couldn't figure out how to score on Bobrovsky any other way.
Other notable stops: Brian Elliott continues to improve after a disastrous early season (with three straight shutouts in April, he's allowed seven goals in his last seven games); Antti Niemi stuffs Mike Richards; and Justin Peters takes that Niemi save and basically Dikembe Mutombos it.
Chirping Like a Champ: The Best Mouthing Off
Sometimes a week begins to go by without too much controversial NHL chaos of note and I start wondering how I'm going to finesse this part of the column, and then, reliably, there comes along a headline like this: "David Backes Mocks Zack Kassian's Hairline: 'Are You Going Bald?'"
Love it. The thing about Backes is, despite his occasional on-ice mischief, he's always fundamentally branded as a Nice Guy ? I mean, he pilots planes to rescue puppies ? that you wonder if what we're seeing here may actually be some of his darkest material. I'm doing it, I'm going for the bald stuff. (As Sean Gentille points out, it's doubly meaningful because he's projecting.) Meanwhile, Kassian appears completely unaffected by the sick burn, which should surprise no one. The guy is an agitator who is pretty much operating with one working tooth. He's probably been hearing hair-loss material since Mites.
Hockey Haiku
You like outdoor games? We'll smother you in whimsy. Your last words: CHA-CHING.
'Who ever heard of Samuel L. Jackson?' MTV's Pre-Show co-host jokes during a sneak peek at Sunday night's seating chart. By Driadonna Roland, with reporting by Christina Garibaldi
VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Francis marked his first month as pope on Saturday by naming nine high-ranking prelates from around the globe to a permanent advisory group to help him run the Catholic Church and study a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy ? a bombshell announcement that indicates he intends a major shift in how the papacy should function.
The panel includes only one current Vatican official; the rest are cardinals and a monsignor from Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia and Australia ? a clear indication that Francis wants to reflect the universal nature of the church in its governance and core decision-making, particularly given the church is growing and counts most of the world's Catholics in the southern hemisphere.
In the run-up to the conclave that elected Francis pope one month ago, a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy was a constant drumbeat, as were calls to make the Vatican itself more responsive to the needs of bishops around the world. Including representatives from each continent in a permanent advisory panel to the pope would seem to go a long way toward answering those calls.
In its announcement Saturday, the Vatican said that Francis got the idea to form the advisory body from the pre-conclave meetings. "He has formed a group of cardinals to advise him in the governing of the universal church and to study a revision of the apostolic constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia," the statement said.
Pope John Paul II issued Pastor Bonus in 1988, and it functions effectively as the blueprint for the administration of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, meting out the work and jurisdictions of the congregations, pontifical councils and other offices that make up the governance of the Catholic Church, known as the Roman Curia.
Pastor Bonus itself was a revision of the 1967 document that marked the last major reform of the Vatican bureaucracy undertaken by Pope Paul VI.
A reform of the Vatican bureaucracy has been demanded for decades, given both John Paul and Benedict XVI essentially neglected in-house administration of the Holy See in favor of other priorities. But the calls for change grew deafening last year after the leaks of papal documents exposed petty turf battles within the Vatican bureaucracy, allegations of corruption in the running of the Vatican city state and even a purported plot by senior Vatican officials to out a prominent Catholic as gay.
Francis' advisory group will meet in its inaugural session Oct. 1-3, the Vatican said in a statement.
The members of the panel include Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Vatican city state administration ? a key position that runs the actual functioning of the Vatican, including its profit-making museums. The non-Vatican officials include Cardinals Francisco Javier Err?zuriz Ossa, the retired archbishop of Santiago, Chile; Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo; Sean Patrick O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston; George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia; and Oscar Andr?s Rodr?guez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, bishop of Albano, will be secretary while Maradiaga will serve as the group coordinator.
Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Chinese officials in Beijing Saturday, with tensions spiraling ever higher in the region as North Korea threatens to carry out a ballistic missile test.
By Howard LaFranchi,?Staff writer / April 12, 2013
Secretary of State John Kerry (third l.) is greeted by US Ambasador to South Korea Sung Y. Kim (l.), and Deputy Director General of the Foriegn Ministry Seoung-hyun Moon (c.) upon arrival at Seoul Air base in Seoul, Friday. Kerry meets with Chinese officials in Beijing on Saturday.
Paul J. Richards/AP
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With the North Korea crisis continuing to spiral to ever-higher tensions, Secretary of State John Kerry faces the first major test of his short tenure as he meets with Chinese officials in Beijing Saturday.
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The North is threatening to carry out a ballistic missile test that Secretary Kerry warned Friday would be ?a big mistake.? Against that backdrop, the chief US diplomat will seek to persuade Pyongyang?s only important ally to do more to rein in the North and help quiet the region?s alarm bells.
Kerry and other US officials made it clear Friday that the United States expects China to use its leverage as North Korea?s economic lifeline and diplomatic partner.
?China has an enormous ability to help make a difference here, and I hope that in our conversations when I get there tomorrow, we?ll be able to lay out a path ahead that can defuse this tension,? Kerry said at a press conference Friday in Seoul, South Korea. China would be key in ?moving this in the right direction,? he added, ?which is towards negotiations and towards a reduction in the current level of tension.?
Although Kerry hinted that diplomacy with the North remains possible, any diplomatic hopes are likely to be drowned out, at least initially, as North Korea?s provocations ratchet up further before presumably receding, many regional experts believe.
North Korea?s young leader, Kim Jong-un, could hold off on what appears to be an imminent missile test while Kerry is in Beijing, to avoid embarrassing Pyongyang?s closest ally, some say. But he could order a launch of several intermediate-range ballistic missiles Sunday, when Kerry will be in Tokyo, the last stop of his first trip to Asia as secretary of State.
Another possible date is Monday ? the birthday of North Korea?s founder, the late Kim Il-sung.
The North is likely to test a missile with a range of more than 2,000 miles, which means it could reach all of South Korea, Japan, and even Guam ? where the US has decided to station missile-defense batteries in response to North Korea?s recent bellicose threats.
Not all North Korea analysts are as optimistic as the Obama administration seems to be about prospects for enlisting Beijing?s help in pressuring Pyongyang. But even some skeptics say Kerry must lean in hard on the Chinese ? in particular by laying out how the North?s escalating threats are forcing the US to respond with security measures that can?t be to Beijing?s liking.
?The message to China has to be very clear and forceful,? says Bruce Klingner, senior Northeast Asia fellow at the Heritage Foundation?s Asia Studies Center in Washington. ?
The picture he says Kerry must lay out: China has ?looked the other way? as North Korea has made steady progress in its nuclear and missile programs ? and recently as Pyongyang has issued increasingly specific and violent threats against US allies South Korea and Japan, as well as against the US itself. ?That reticence [on the part of the Chinese] has emboldened North Korea,? Mr. Klingner says.
But Kerry must go further, he adds, and remind the Chinese that in response to unrestricted belligerence by the North, ?the US and its allies in the region will be doing things? ? such as missile defense and flights by nuclear-capable B-52s, among other measures ? ?that the Chinese won?t like.?
Administration officials took it as a promising sign that Beijing ended up allowing approval (instead of using its veto) in March of a United Nations Security Council resolution, which outlined new and toughened sanctions in response to the North?s February nuclear test.
Beijing?s cooperation, Klingner says, came at the price of a watered-down set of sanctions. But others say the approved sanctions, if fully enforced, could be effective in eventually modifying Pyongyang?s behavior.
That appears to be the thinking behind what some administration officials say will be Kerry?s efforts to persuade the Chinese to fully enforce the recent sanctions, in particular the measures targeting Pyongyang?s access to financial assets.
Kerry will lay out for the Chinese how North Korea?s access to funds, despite Security Council resolutions, is allowing Pyongyang to pursue its illicit and destabilizing nuclear and missile programs, US officials say. The message will be that it is just as much in Beijing?s interests to enforce the resolutions as it is in Washington?s, Seoul?s, or Tokyo?s.
In his comments in Seoul, Kerry also indicated that any missile test by Pyongyang would be a violation of existing Security Council resolutions and thus would prompt a return of the North Korea issue to the Council.
That could mean a new round of measures against the North.
Kerry said in Seoul that the US favors a diplomatic solution to the current crisis ? but he also insisted that the US will not follow the old pattern of rewarding North Korea with aid and direct talks in exchange for promises that are never carried out.
Talks can only resume, Kerry suggested, when the North demonstrates that it is ?serious? about denuclearization.
That condition would seem to fly in the face of recent declarations from Mr. Kim that the North considers itself a nuclear power and will never give up nuclear weapons. But what the North really seeks, many North Korea analysts say, is international recognition of its nuclear status ? something the US says it is determined to deny the Kim regime.
Denying Kim the nuclear mantle remains the US long-term goal, but before that can be tackled is the matter of North Korea?s growing ability to periodically throw the region and beyond into high-anxiety jitters.
Kerry?s test in Beijing will be whether he can coax China to do more to address both the immediate and longer-term North Korea challenges.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa ? Discussing what will happen to the country once its iconic leader Nelson Mandela dies has long been a culturally and politically taboo subject in South Africa. Out of respect for the 94-year-old former president, government officials never publicly refer to plans for what happens after his death, and in private, they often use cryptic synonyms to discuss the inevitable.
View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.
But Mandela?s frequent trips to the hospital ? most recently to be treated for pneumonia ? have forced the question of ?what happens next?? further into the public domain.
Of course, no one knows what democratic South Africa will look like without Mandela.
Some believe the frail freedom fighter is somehow holding the disparate parts of the ?Rainbow Nation? together from his sick bed, and fear an outbreak of racial violence once he dies. Others disagree and think the young nation is still struggling ? but that it has moved beyond the apartheid-era issues.??
?It genuinely frightens me? ?I am not a racist, but?? -- It sounds like an ominous opener.
Elaine was about to outline her prediction ? an unpopular one ? of what will happen when South Africa loses Mandela. She feels the need to declare her belief in racial equality before setting out her fear that South Africa?s delicate social harmony might be torn apart when the ?Father of the Nation? is gone.
?I am really scared that the country will explode. There are a lot of people out there who are just holding themselves back until he dies. It genuinely frightens me,? said Elaine, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic. ?
?I will be mourning like everyone else, but I will be mourning at home. I won?t be leaving my house that day because I?m concerned about what will happen,? she said. ?I don?t know what they will do. But I feel that they have a right to be angry.? ?They? are South Africa?s 40 million black people who, a generation after the end of apartheid, are disproportionately enduring its economic legacy. Largely, they remain the ?have-nots? of what the World Bank has called the world?s most unequal society.
Rohit Kachroo/ NBC News
Georgina Sefara is a 20-year-old student in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Elaine, a 26-year-old white woman, is certainly one of the ?haves.? Born into a rich family, she now works as a well-paid financial advisor in Johannesburg?s northern suburbs. ?I may be paranoid,? Elaine admitted, ?but there are lots of people who think like me.? A ?patronizing? view Georgina Sefara is a 20-year-old student. A black woman, born after Mandela?s 1990 release from prison, she has never truly known racial segregation and resents the view that violence will erupt after Mandela?s death.
?Many white South Africans think that there will be apartheid in reverse. That?s what they?re afraid of. You hear many whites saying they will move to Australia when that happens.
?But [the violence] will never happen? It?s patronizing and outdated to think that it will.?
?Most of my parents? generation are still angry,? said Georgina's classmate Carol Phago, an English student from Johannesburg. ?Many still hold a grudge,? she said, referring to the former apartheid era.
?But maybe there are different enemies now. People are angry with the government, not with their fellow South Africans.?
Dissatisfaction with government Rage is certainly building over the government?s inability to improve the lives of the millions of black South Africans who live in impoverished townships.
Nelson Mandela was discharged on Saturday from the hospital where he had been undergoing treatment for pneumonia, South Africa's presidency said in a statement. NBC's Ron Allen reports.
In addition, there is anger over the country?s inability to shake off the title as ?the rape capital of the world.??
According to a 2012 World Health Organization report, more than one in five men reported raping a woman who was not a partner and 14.3 percent of men reported having raped their current or former wife or girlfriend.
The issue of rampant domestic violence in South Africa gained international attention recently with the fatal shooting of Reeva Steenkamp by Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius.
Rohit Kachroo / NBC News
Geoffrey Manulake, is a 32-year-old security guard in Johannesburg, South Africa.
There is frustration with a police force that is faced with constant accusations of corruption and incompetence. The shooting death of 34 striking miners by police officers last August has amplified the recurring claim that the behavior of the state under democracy has become too similar to that of the apartheid government.
It is one reason why security guard Geoffrey Manulake, 32, has rejected a career in the police force. He feels disillusioned with the public institutions of his country and worries about how they will develop in the post-Mandela period.
?Politicians feel the need to satisfy themselves. They just want to line their own pockets,? said Manulake. ?I look around at our leaders and feel that we cannot lose this icon. Nelson Mandela is the one who united our country and united the world.?
?But we have come a long way since ?94,? he said, referring to the year Mandela was elected president in South Africa?s first multi-racial elections. "People who talk about violence are wrong.?
Related links:
Nelson Mandela is discharged from South Africa hospital
Mandela hospitalized again, South Africa leader asks world to pray for him
'Who is my Mandela?' South Africans consider icon's place in a changing world
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Public release date: 23-Apr-2013
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