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রবিবার, ৩১ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Drones Could Replace Eager Youths On Paper Routes
China: No signs of life in mine landslide
BEIJING (AP) ? No signs of life have been detected at a gold mining site in a mountainous area of Tibet more than 24 hours after a massive landslide buried 83 workers, Chinese state media said Saturday.
The state-run China Central Television said more than 2,000 rescuers have been dispatched to Lhasa's Maizhokunggar county to search for the buried.
About 2 million cubic meters (2.6 million cubic yards) of mud, rock and debris swept through the area as the workers were resting and covered an area measuring around 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles), CCTV said.
The miners worked for a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corp., a state-owned enterprise and the country's largest gold producer. A woman who answered the call at its Beijing headquarters Saturday said she could not provide any information.
The disaster is likely to inflame critics of Chinese rule in Tibet who say Beijing's interests are driven by the region's mineral wealth and strategic position and come at the expense of the region's delicate ecosystem and Tibetans' Buddhist culture and traditional way of life.
The reports said at least two of the buried workers were Tibetan while most of the workers were believed to be ethnic Han Chinese, a reflection of how such large projects often create an influx of the majority ethnic group into the region.
The more than 2,000 police, firefighters, soldiers and medics deployed to the site, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) east of Lhasa, the regional capital, conducted searches armed with devices to detect signs of life and accompanied by sniffer dogs, reports said.
Around 30 excavators were also digging away at the site late Friday as temperatures fell to just below freezing.
The reports said the landslide was caused by a "natural disaster" but did not provide specifics. It was unclear why the first news reports of the landslide came out several hours after it occurred.
China's President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang ordered authorities to "spare no efforts" in their rescue work, Xinhua said.
Doctors at the local county hospital said they had been told to prepare to receive survivors but none had arrived. "We were ordered to make all efforts to receive the injured," said a doctor who gave only her surname, Ge, in the hospital's emergency section.
On Saturday morning, a hospital staff member who gave her surname of Wu said it had received no one from the landslide, dead or alive.
The Chinese government has been encouraging development of mining and other industries in long-isolated Tibet as a way to promote its economic growth and raise living standards. The region has abundant deposits of copper, chromium, bauxite and other precious minerals and metals and is one of fast-growing China's last frontiers.
Tibet remains among China's poorest regions despite producing a large share of its minerals. A key source of anti-Chinese anger is complaints by local residents that they get little of the wealth extracted by government companies, most of which flows to distant Beijing.
In 2008, unhappiness with Chinese rule spilled over into deadly riots that engulfed Lhasa and an anti-government uprising that swept many Tibetan communities. To quell the unrest, Beijing poured security forces into Tibetan areas and has kept them there since, giving the western China region the feel of a military garrison and further alienating many Tibetans.
In recent years, more than 100 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest the stifling security presence and call for greater religious freedom.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-landslide-buries-83-tibet-gold-mine-area-153622033.html
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Online Promotion Done Best Using Submission Works and Net ...
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It says that you will get the chance to have about 20 income-generating websites which you can use to grow your online business. Every month, you will get all these sites plus one website you can use to grow your online business. It says that you will make a lot of profits for joining it.? You can use them to promote your products and services. Plus, you will have the chance to start your affiliate business and start making money from commissions. When you have these websites running, you can make money in real time. You can also build a mailing list to grow your customer base.
If you are looking to increase your earning potentials, then you might have the chance to get that with the use of Net Success Lab. You will just have to learn how to find profitable products and services to promote and use the websites that Net Success Lab. To get started, you would need to pay $19 per month.
Meanwhile, do you wish to promote your sites to millions of people from around the world? If so, then you might want to check an effective advertising service called Submission Works. It?s been used by top online marketers that look to promote their products and services online. It helps market your business using innovative online platforms that include newswires, press release, blogs, websites, social bookmarking, and social sites. With it, you will have an unlimited option of promoting your sites from Net Success Lab.
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শনিবার, ৩০ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Unemployment fell in February in 22 US states
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Unemployment rates fell in 22 U.S. states in February from January, a sign that hiring gains are benefiting many parts of the country.
The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates rose in 12 states and were unchanged in 16.
Nationally, the unemployment rate slid to a four-year low of 7.7 percent in February, down from 7.9 percent in January. Since November, employers across the country have added an average of 200,000 jobs a month, nearly double the average from last spring.
States hit hardest during the recession are showing improvement.
In Nevada, unemployment dropped to 9.6 percent last month, down from 11.8 percent a year ago. That's the biggest year-over-year decrease among states.
One reason for the big drop is that people have stopped applying for jobs. Nevada's work force ? those working or looking for work ? fell nearly 1 percent in the year through February. Only those looking for work are counted as unemployed. But hiring accelerated, too: Jobs in Nevada rose 2 percent over the past year.
Unemployment in California fell to 9.6 percent last month, down from 10.8 percent in February 2012.
California and Nevada are still tied with Mississippi for the nation's highest unemployment rate.
Florida's job market has also rebounded in the past year. The Sunshine State's unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent in February, down from 9 percent a year earlier.
North Dakota once again held the nation's lowest unemployment rate, at 3.3 percent. The state is benefiting from a boom in oil and natural gas production. Nebraska had the second-lowest rate, at 3.8 percent.
Overall, 42 states added jobs in February from January, and just eight lost jobs. The biggest monthly job gains came in Texas (up nearly 81,000) and California (up more than 41,000).
In the 12 months up to February, Texas gained nearly 294,000 jobs, and California 128,000. On a percentage basis, North Dakota reported the fastest job growth over the past year, rising 5 percent.
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Andrei Arlovski?s camp says timing error in New Jersey caused him to take ?huge blow? late
Arlovski lost to Anthony Johnson in a World Series of Fighting bout on Saturday. Jackson's MMA posted on their Facebook about the timekeeping problem:
The NJ athletic commission was worried about the World Series of Fighting getting a new canvas and new corner pads for the cage they almost canceled the fight Saturday night. Unfortunately they forgot to get a time keeper that was trained properly. 1st round 5min 8 sec in the Andrei fight. A devastating blow was landed after the 5min mark. It's amazing how so much time is spent with over regulating but the simple things can cost dearly.
WSOF had to bring in a new canvas and pads when the ones they originally had were unsuitable. But the timing error is much worse. Check out this video via MMA Fighting, and listen to the wood clacking at the 10-second mark. The clock disappears from the screen at seven seconds. Even a generous countdown shows the fight went past the five-minute mark.
The worst part is that the damage Johnson caused came after the time should have expired. His jaw was broken, and it needed surgery for repair. It also raises questions on if the fight result would have been different if Arlovski wouldn't have been hurt late in the first round.
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শুক্রবার, ২৯ মার্চ, ২০১৩
The Engadget Podcast is live at 3:30PM ET!
Hey you! We're back! Join Tim, Brian, Peter a bunch of mics and maybe a stuffed animal or two for this latest episode of the Engadget Podcast. Chat and video after the break!
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/_LuCWUqXDLs/
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Robotic ants successfully mimic real colony behavior
Mar. 28, 2013 ? Scientists have successfully replicated the behaviour of a colony of ants on the move with the use of miniature robots, as reported in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. The researchers, based at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark, USA) and at the Research Centre on Animal Cognition (Toulouse, France), aimed to discover how individual ants, when part of a moving colony, orient themselves in the labyrinthine pathways that stretch from their nest to various food sources.
The study focused mainly on how Argentine ants behave and coordinate themselves in both symmetrical and asymmetrical pathways. In nature, ants do this by leaving chemical pheromone trails. This was reproduced by a swarm of sugar cube size robots, called "Alices," leaving light trails that they can detect with two light sensors mimicking the role of the ants' antennae.
In the beginning of the experiment, where branches of the maze had no light trail, the robots adopted an "exploratory behaviour" modelled on the regular insect movement pattern of moving randomly but in the same general direction. This led the robots to choose the path that deviated least from their trajectory at each bifurcation of the network. If the robots detected a light trail, they would turn to follow that path.
One outcome of the robotic model was the discovery that the robots did not need to be programmed to identify and compute the geometry of the network bifurcations. They managed to navigate the maze using only the pheromone light trail and the programmed directional random walk, which directed them to the more direct route between their starting area and a target area on the periphery of the maze. Individual Argentine ants have poor eyesight and move too quickly to make a calculated decision about their direction. Therefore the fact that the robots managed to orient themselves in the maze in a similar fashion than the one observed in real ants suggests that a complex cognitive process is not necessary for colonies of ants to navigate efficiently in their complex network of foraging trails.
"This research suggests that efficient navigation and foraging can be achieved with minimal cognitive abilities in ants," says lead author Simon Garnier. "It also shows that the geometry of transport networks plays a critical role in the flow of information and material in ant as well as in human societies."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Simon Garnier, Maud Combe, Christian Jost, Guy Theraulaz. Do Ants Need to Estimate the Geometrical Properties of Trail Bifurcations to Find an Efficient Route? A Swarm Robotics Test Bed. PLoS Computational Biology, 2013; 9 (3): e1002903 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002903
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Britain's domestic spy agency names new director
LONDON (AP) ? Britain's domestic spy agency has chosen a new director, a 50-year-old ornithologist with counter-terrorism experience in the Middle East and Northern Ireland.
Andrew Parker, one of the youngest MI5 directors in recent history, has worked for the service for 30 years and led the agency's response to the July 7 London transit bombings in 2005 that killed 52 people.
Parker said Thursday he's "extremely proud of the extraordinary work the men and women of MI5 do to keep the country safe in challenging circumstances," and is looking forward to his "next chapter."
Besides his work in the fields of Middle East terrorism, counter- espionage and Northern Ireland terrorism, Parker also has experience in serious and organized crime prevention, protective security and strategic planning. He also had a liaison posting in the United States in 1991.
Parker was appointed MI5's director of international terrorism prevention in 2005, the same year that suicide bombers attacked during London's rush-hour.
In 2006, his teams played a key role disrupting al-Qaida's attempt to attack multiple airliners with bombs hidden in drink bottles.
Parker, who starts his job April 22, has been the deputy director general of the agency since 2007. In that role, he has been responsible for leading all the service's investigative and operational work.
Parker holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and is married with two children.
He succeeds Jonathan Evans, who is leaving MI5 after 33 years of service.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britains-domestic-spy-agency-names-director-165931622.html
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Sean 'Diddy' Combs to perform at WrestleMania
STAMFORD, Conn.?? Three-time Grammy Award winner Sean ?Diddy? Combs will perform live April 7 at WrestleMania 29 in front of more than 70,000 fans in attendance at MetLife Stadium with millions watching worldwide on pay-per-view.
How to watch WrestleMania 29
Combs will also co-host the?Superstars for Sandy Relief party with WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon as part of the?WrestleMania Week festivities and serve as an ambassador for WWE?s?Be a STAR anti-bullying initiative.
?WrestleMania is one of the biggest spectacles in the world and I?m looking forward to performing in front of millions on April 7,? Combs said. ?I?ve always been a fan of WWE and I?m excited to support these two important causes, Superstars for Sandy Relief and the Be a STAR anti-bullying initiative.?
It?s not Combs' first appearance at a WWE event. At WrestleMania XXVIII, he introduced Bad Boy recording artist and prot?g? Machine Gun Kelly, who performed ?Invincible.? And at Tribute to the Troops 2010, Diddy performed "I'll be missing you."
What does Diddy have in store for the WWE Universe at this year's Show of Shows?
Find out how you can watch Diddy perform on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
View CommentsSource: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/29/sean-diddy-combs-to-perform-at-wrestlemania-29
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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৮ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Raspbmc's March update brings XBMC 12.1, fixes to Raspberry Pi
Just because you have a Raspberry Pi, and the know-how to change the world, doesn't mean you want to do everything the hard way. For those who haven't already applied the 12.1 update to XBMC running on their Raspberry Pi, the Raspbmc team is now eager to handle the dirty work for you. Wondering how easy it is to upgrade? Just reboot your Pi and wait about 15 minutes. Seriously, that's all the elbow grease required to receive a litany of fixes and enhancements in the latest version of XBMC as well as a number of specific patches for Raspbmc. Specifically, there is a newer version of HDMI-CEC, improved support for internet streams and third-party modules, and finally, a few security fixes.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Raspbmc.com
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/1XBniZ0W7xI/
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Former Florida Republican Party chief gets 18-month prison term
By Barbara Liston
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The former chairman of the Florida Republican Party was sentenced on Wednesday to 18 months in prison for money laundering and stealing party funds.
Jim Greer, who resigned as state party chief shortly before his 2010 indictment, also was ordered to serve a year of probation.
Greer, 50, pleaded guilty last month to five charges, averting a trial that threatened to reveal potentially embarrassing details about the state party organization.
As part of his plea deal, an organized fraud charge against him was dropped.
Greer made restitution to the Florida Republican Party on Monday via a $65,000 wire transfer, party spokesman Steven Dobson confirmed to Circuit Judge Marc Lubet before the sentence was imposed.
While serving as the party's paid chairman, Greer concealed his partial ownership of a company hired by the party to handle fundraising duties in exchange for 10 percent of all major contributions.
Greer said then-Governor Charlie Crist knew about the arrangement, which Crist denied in an affidavit.
Prosecutor Michael Williams urged the judge to sentence Greer to 42.6 months, the amount of time recommended under sentencing guidelines.
Greer's lawyer, Damon Chase, argued for probation.
The judge said Greer had "egregiously violated a position of trust."
But he said he also took into consideration the fact that Greer's co-conspirator, Delmar Johnson, who cooperated with prosecutors, was not charged at all. Johnson also was ordered to pay $65,000 in restitution but "has not paid back a dime," the judge said.
(Editing by Jane Sutton and Kenneth Barry)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-florida-republican-party-chief-gets-18-month-192327484.html
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Google Glass will reportedly be built in America, at least initially
That $1,500 price tag for Google Glass Explorer Edition? Perhaps it makes a bit more sense considering that US labor will be used to manufacturer it. According to unnamed sources cited by Financial Times, the first run of production-quality Glass headsets will be built in Santa Clara, California. The reason? A lot is riding on the quality of Glass, and it's likely that Google just wants to keep a close eye on every single prototype that leaves the lab. In fact, it's not exactly uncommon -- the outfit did the same for its ill-fated Nexus Q, and Apple is building some of its iMacs here in the states as well.
It's also important to note that the initial batch of Glass headsets won't be high yield, so there's little reason for Google to look overseas with so few units slated for production. Whether or not the lines in NorCal will continue to hum once these things hit critical mass remains to be seen, but it is interesting that Hon Hai Precision (read: Foxconn) will reportedly manage the facility that cranks 'em out.
Filed under: Wearables, Google
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Financial Times
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/27/google-glass-made-in-usa/
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Ohio budget director says income tax cut to remain | The Galion ...
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ? The state bud?get direc?tor says the admin?is?tra?tion of Ohio Gov. John Kasich (KAY?-sik) wants to cut income tax rates and small busi?ness tax rates, and it?s open to sug?ges?tions from law?mak?ers about how to do?it.
Bud?get Direc?tor Tim Keen told The Asso?ci?ated Press Tues?day he believes the income tax cuts will remain.
Keen made his com?ments as the Ohio House is prepar?ing its changes to Kasich?s two-year state bud?get proposal.
Repub?li?can lead?ers and the Ohio Cham?ber of Com?merce have raised con?cerns about Kasich?s plan to extend the state sales taxes to help pay for income-tax reductions.
House Finance Chair?man Ron Amstutz (AHM?-stuts) has said he antic?i?pates the House bud?get plan will replace the governor?s pro?posed sales-tax expan?sion as a way of pay?ing for the income tax?cuts.
Source: http://galioninquirer.com/2013/03/ohio-budget-director-income-tax-cut-remain/
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Italy 5-Star Movement refuses to back center-left government
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement on Wednesday flatly rejected overtures from center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who is trying to muster the numbers to form a government after last month's deadlocked general election.
The refusal by the group led by fiery ex-comic Beppe Grillo to accept Bersani's request was expected as the group had repeatedly said it would not back any of the big parties it blames for Italy's social and economic crisis.
"There are no conditions that would allow us to give a confidence vote to a government made up of these parties because they have no credibility," the group's Senate leader Vito Crimi said after meeting Bersani.
The rejection means Italy remains in political stalemate after the election, in which Bersani's alliance won a majority in the lower house of parliament but not in the Senate, leaving it unable to govern on its own.
The impasse, at the same time as the bank crisis in Cyprus, is being watched closely by European partners and investors mindful of the market turmoil which brought down former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's government in 2011.
Bersani has already ruled out forming a coalition with Berlusconi's center-right bloc, the second largest force in parliament, which says a broad alliance is the only way to give Italy a government.
Bersani had hoped to gain support from the 5-Star Movement for a limited platform of institutional and economic reforms but prospects of any accord are fading fast.
Crimi and his colleague Roberta Lombardi, the 5-Star leader in the lower house, also ruled out indirectly supporting a government by allowing some measures to pass in the Senate without voting themselves.
Italian media and commentators have speculated that 5-Star Movement senators could agree to leave the chamber, where under Senate rules an abstention vote counts as a 'no', to allow certain key votes, including confidence motions, to succeed.
"We rule out leaving the chamber," Crimi said.
Bersani is expected to see to President Giorgio Napolitano later this week to report on the meetings he has held with rival parties this week.
If he cannot reach an agreement, Napolitano may appoint a respected outsider to try to form a technocrat government or a broad cross-party coalition. If that fails, Italy faces the prospect of a return to the polls within months.
An auction of medium and long-term bonds on Wednesday saw less-than-stellar demand as investors reacted warily to the political confusion.
"Risks for the Italian debt remain very high in the coming weeks," said Annalisa Piazza, a market economist with Newedge in London.
"Although Bersani's consultations with other political leaders might lead to a grand-coalition government, markets are aware that such a government will not last long," she said.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Barry Moody and Angus MacSwan)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-5-star-movement-refuses-back-center-left-111140582.html
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Most Recent Grand Theft Auto Games
Violent video games promote, so as extended as men and women are ready to get them, people will be eager to make them, and as know-how retains receiving far better than the truth of online games and the violence included in them will keep obtaining much more real. Go to EA Sports' recreation house by hopping on your race car at its exhilarating mini racing sport or beating your buddies in a competitive sport of poker. Give it a shot and enable it rock you out! Major Video game Mini is one of the really effectively-identified Nintendo DSi game titles and it is a shooter that is actually difficult to set down for most men and women who make a decision to try out it out.
An individual who is a fantastic match developer can truly acquire their own game. With the functionality melting from working day to aid night time, you get the distinct perception of currently being in a hectic, rewarding city, not some thing that is merely created to support you get from A to B currently being a issue of comfort. You may well also will need an precise legal lawyer to handle the courtroom circumstance. With the GTA 5 launch date predicted in the initial quarter of 2013, a lot of video clip recreation lovers are anticipating this most up-to-date title from Rockstar Video games to strike the marketplace. On December twelve, 2011, Contemporary Warfare 3 officially de-throned the number a single motion picture of all time - Avatar, as the swiftest amusement media to achieve the $one billion mark.
Parental neglect is potentially the largest aspect in juvenile delinquency. If you have gotten oneself into financial debt with the casinos, no subject how far, it is achievable to get your money counter back to zero very rapidly. #2: Toyota Camry: Now in excess of 6 generations previous the Toyota Camry is a mid-dimensions auto assembled by Toyota. The controversy over the recreation resulted in it being subsequently pulled off the cabinets.
Generally referred to as go here by police departments, the act of stealing motor motor vehicles has quite a few motivations. Although it is very similar in composition to the past Grand Theft Auto sport, the San Andreas is more substantial than lifestyle in prospects. They need to turn out to be additional educated and go on that training so that regulation enforcement can get the needed assist to quit theft. I are unable to play that sport any more mainly because the reality of that reality is also genuine for me. Unfortunately even insurance plan is not often ample.
The term 'Grand Car Theft' caught my awareness as it is searched more than four million occasions for every thirty day period globally. They do nothing at all to quit the qualified thief who is aware how to bypass these systems. When you get bored from all the virtual sightseeing, you can constantly head to the themed video game areas delight in the mini-video games in saved for you. "Grand Theft Automobile: Vice Metropolis was at first launched to the Playstation 2 in 2002 and follows mobster Tommy Vercetti as he would make the transfer from Liberty Town to Vice City, which is centered on Miami, Florida. Criticized by a lot of all over the entire world for its violent material and potential to commit nearly any crime, GTA: San Andreas includes quite a few appealing strategies not observed by the normal player.
Nor does it mean tha you need to have to get a new recreation console or up grade your PC's components just to engage in all the game titles. If that occurs, all bets are off and if it truly is a significant non-videogaming participant guiding it, you can count on to see EA truly having the gloves off, and this battle getting truly messy. Was this a excellent match for their kids? Just not too long ago I was working with Google's Cost-free Adword Device looking for key phrases bordering vehicle theft.
Nonetheless numerous international locations exhibit a declining trend in motor car or truck thefts. Even searches for 'auto' and 'car theft protection' get a paltry few hundred lookups for each thirty day period globally. The incident caused intercontinental uproar as violent films and online video video games were mainly deemed the culprits for raucous teenager behaviour. They ought to also have crafting capabilities since they will be the kinds making the story strains in addition coming up with the dialogue.
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New Home Sales Took a Tumble in February | AOL Real Estate
Sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell more than expected in February after hefty gains the previous month, but steady gains in home prices suggested the housing market recovery remains intact. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday sales dropped 4.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 units. Last month's decline followed a 13.1 percent jump in January.
Though January's sales pace was revised down to 431,000 units, it was still the highest level since September 2008. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales to fall to 422,000-unit rate last month. Compared with February 2012, sales were up 12.3 percent, indicating the housing market recovery was on course. Sales are being hampered by a lack of supply of homes on the market in some major parts of the country.
While the inventory of new homes on the market rose 1.3 percent to 152,000 units, it was not far from record lows. According to recent government data, groundbreaking for single-family homes intended for sale continues to lag sales. Economists at Moody's Analytics warn that builders could struggle to keep up with demand, which could cause the new home market recovery to be uneven over the next several months.
The home resales market is also experiencing lean inventories. The recovery in the sector is being supported by record-low mortgage rates, which have been held down by the Federal Reserve's very accommodative monetary policy stance. New homes account for about 8 percent of the overall market.
At February's sales pace it would take 4.4 months to clear the houses on the market, up from 4.2 months in December. A supply of 6.0 months is normally considered as a healthy balance between supply and demand. The low months' supply should drive up new home prices.
The median sales price for a new home increased 3.0 percent to $246,800 and was up 2.9 percent from a year ago. Sales last month were dragged down by a 13.3 percent plunge in the Northeast and a 9.7 percent fall in the South. Sales only rose in the Midwest, touching the highest level since December 2011.
Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; editing by Neil Stempleman.
See also:
6 Cost-Saving Reasons to Buy New Construction
U.S. New-Home Sales Jump to Highest Since July 2008
More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
See celebrity real estate.
Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.
Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/26/new-home-sales-fell-february/
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Early number sense plays role in later math skills
WASHINGTON (AP) ? We know a lot about how babies learn to talk, and youngsters learn to read. Now scientists are unraveling the earliest building blocks of math ? and what children know about numbers as they begin first grade seems to play a big role in how well they do everyday calculations later on.
The findings have specialists considering steps that parents might take to spur math abilities, just like they do to try to raise a good reader.
This isn't only about trying to improve the nation's math scores and attract kids to become engineers. It's far more basic.
Consider: How rapidly can you calculate a tip? Do the fractions to double a recipe? Know how many quarters and dimes the cashier should hand back as your change?
About 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. lacks the math competence expected of a middle-schooler, meaning they have trouble with those ordinary tasks and aren't qualified for many of today's jobs.
"It's not just, can you do well in school? It's how well can you do in your life," says Dr. Kathy Mann Koepke of the National Institutes of Health, which is funding much of this research into math cognition. "We are in the midst of math all the time."
A new study shows trouble can start early.
University of Missouri researchers tested 180 seventh-graders. Those who lagged behind their peers in a test of core math skills needed to function as adults were the same kids who'd had the least number sense or fluency way back when they started first grade.
"The gap they started with, they don't close it," says Dr. David Geary, a cognitive psychologist who leads the study that is tracking children from kindergarten to high school in the Columbia, Mo., school system. "They're not catching up" to the kids who started ahead.
If first grade sounds pretty young to be predicting math ability, well, no one expects tots to be scribbling sums. But this number sense, or what Geary more precisely terms "number system knowledge," turns out to be a fundamental skill that students continually build on, much more than the simple ability to count.
What's involved? Understanding that numbers represent different quantities ? that three dots is the same as the numeral "3'' or the word "three." Grasping magnitude ? that 23 is bigger than 17. Getting the concept that numbers can be broken into parts ? that 5 is the same as 2 and 3, or 4 and 1. Showing on a number line that the difference between 10 and 12 is the same as the difference between 20 and 22.
Factors such as IQ and attention span didn't explain why some first-graders did better than others. Now Geary is studying if something that youngsters learn in preschool offers an advantage.
There's other evidence that math matters early in life. Numerous studies with young babies and a variety of animals show that a related ability ? to estimate numbers without counting ? is intuitive, sort of hard-wired in the brain, says Mann Koepke, of NIH's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. That's the ability that lets you choose the shortest grocery check-out line at a glance, or that guides a bird to the bush with the most berries.
Number system knowledge is more sophisticated, and the Missouri study shows children who start elementary school without those concepts "seem to struggle enormously," says Mann Koepke, who wasn't part of that research.
While schools tend to focus on math problems around third grade, and math learning disabilities often are diagnosed by fifth grade, the new findings suggest "the need to intervene is much earlier than we ever used to think," she adds.
Exactly how to intervene still is being studied, sure to be a topic when NIH brings experts together this spring to assess what's known about math cognition.
But Geary sees a strong parallel with reading. Scientists have long known that preschoolers who know the names of letters and can better distinguish what sounds those letters make go on to read more easily. So parents today are advised to read to their children from birth, and many youngsters' books use rhyming to focus on sounds.
Likewise for math, "kids need to know number words" early on, he says.
NIH's Mann Koepke agrees, and offers some tips:
?Don't teach your toddler to count solely by reciting numbers. Attach numbers to a noun ? "Here are five crayons: One crayon, two crayons..." or say "I need to buy two yogurts" as you pick them from the store shelf ? so they'll absorb the quantity concept.
?Talk about distance: How many steps to your ball? The swing is farther away; it takes more steps.
?Describe shapes: The ellipse is round like a circle but flatter.
?As they grow, show children how math is part of daily life, as you make change, or measure ingredients, or decide how soon to leave for a destination 10 miles away,
"We should be talking to our children about magnitude, numbers, distance, shapes as soon as they're born," she contends. "More than likely, this is a positive influence on their brain function."
___
EDITOR'S NOTE ? Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/early-number-sense-plays-role-later-math-skills-173349630--politics.html
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মঙ্গলবার, ২৬ মার্চ, ২০১৩
N. Dakota abortion law challenges Roe v. Wade
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) ? Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed legislation Tuesday that that would make North Dakota the nation's most restrictive state on abortion rights, banning the procedure if a fetal heartbeat can be detected ? something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
The Republican governor also signed into law another measure that would makes North Dakota the first to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome, and a measure that requires a doctor who performs abortions to be a physician with hospital-admitting privileges.
The measures, which would take effect Aug. 1, are fueled in part by an attempt to close the state's sole abortion clinic in Fargo. Dalrymple, in a statement, said the so-called fetal heartbeat bill is a direct challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.
"Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade," Dalrymple said. "Because the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed state restrictions on the performing of abortions and because the Supreme Court has never considered this precise restriction ... the constitutionality of this measure is an open question."
Abortion-rights advocates have promised a legal fight that they say will be long, costly and unwinnable for the state.
Dalrymple's statement said the Legislature "should appropriate dollars for a litigation fund" before the session ends in early May.
Arkansas passed a 12-week ban earlier this month that prohibits most abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected using an abdominal ultrasound. That ban is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the Arkansas Legislature adjourns.
A fetal heartbeat can generally be detected earlier in a pregnancy using a vaginal ultrasound, but Arkansas lawmakers balked at requiring women seeking abortions to have the more invasive imaging technique.
North Dakota's legislation doesn't specify how a fetal heartbeat would be detected. Doctors performing an abortion after a heartbeat is detected could face a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Women having an abortion would not face charges.
The legislation to ban abortions based on genetic defects also would ban abortion based on gender selection. The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws throughout the country, says Pennsylvania, Arizona and Oklahoma also have laws outlawing abortion based on gender selection.
The Republican-led North Dakota Legislature has endorsed a spate of anti-abortion Legislation this year. North Dakota lawmakers moved last week to outlaw abortion in the state by passing a resolution defining life as starting at conception, essentially banning abortion in the state. The measure is likely to come before voters in November 2014.
Representatives also endorsed another anti-abortion bills last week that is awaiting Dalrymple's signature. It would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the disputed premise that fetuses feel pain at that point.
Dalrymple said the measure requiring abortion doctors to have hospital-admitting privileges also likely will be challenged in court.
"Nevertheless, it is a legitimate and new question for the courts regarding a precise restriction on doctors who perform abortions," he said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-dakota-governor-approves-6-week-abortion-ban-161115751.html
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Cleverly designed vaccine blocks H5 avian influenza in animal models
Mar. 25, 2013 ? Until now most experimental vaccines against the highly lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus have lacked effectiveness. But a new vaccine has proven highly effective against the virus when tested in both mice and ferrets. It is also effective against the H9 subtype of avian influenza. The research is published online ahead of print in the Journal of Virology.
The strength of the new vaccine is that it uses attenuated, rather than "killed" virus. (Killed viruses are broken apart with chemicals or heat, and they are used because they are safer than attenuated viruses.) Killed virus vaccines against avian influenza are injected into the bloodstream, whereas this vaccine is given via nasal spray, thus mimicking the natural infection process, stimulating a stronger immune response.
The danger of current attenuated virus vaccines is that they might exchange dangerous genetic material with garden variety influenza viruses of the sort that strike annually, potentially rendering a lethal but very hard to transmit influenza virus, such as H5, easily transmissible among humans. To mitigate those dangers, the study authors, led by Daniel Perez of the University of Maryland, came up with an ingenious design. Influenza viruses carry their genetic material in eight "segments," explains coauthor and University of Maryland colleague Troy Sutton. When viruses reassort, they exchange segments. But each segment is unique, all eight are needed, and the viruses are unfit if they contain more than eight segments.
The vaccine is based on an attenuated version of the H9 virus, with an H5 gene added into one of the H9 virus' segments, to confer immunity to the H5 virus. Segment 8, which is composed of the so-called NS1 and NS2 genes, was split apart, and the NS2 gene was moved into segment 2, adjacent to the polymerase gene, which copies the virus' genetic material during replication. Placing NS2 next to the polymerase gene slowed its function, interfering with the virus' replication. That makes the vaccine safer.
The next step was to engineer the H5 gene into the vaccine. It was inserted into segment 8, where the NS2 gene had been.
Another aspect of the new vaccine's design makes it safer still, by rendering successful reassortment less likely. Both NS1 and NS2 are needed for viral replication. Since the two genes are now separated into different segments, any reassortment will have to include both segments, instead of just segment 8, in order for a reassortant virus to be viable. This greatly reduced the probability of successful reassortment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes avian influenza subtypes H5, H7, and H9 as potential pandemic viruses, because they all have in rare instances infected humans, and because they circulate in wild birds. Single reassortants could be sufficient to breach the species barrier, and since they do not circulate among us, we lack any immunity. Moreover, H5 is unusually lethal, having killed roughly half of those few it is confirmed to have infected.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Society for Microbiology.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- L. Pena, T. Sutton, A. Chockalingam, S. Kumar, M. Angel, H. Shao, H. Chen, W. Li, D. R. Perez. Influenza viruses with rearranged genomes as live-attenuated vaccines. Journal of Virology, 2013; DOI: 10.1128/JVI.02490-12
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/mfBeja0RPaM/130325125649.htm
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Hon Hai shows record profits, keeps making money from making iPhones
Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn Technology, has reported its earnings for the year and notched a net income of $3.2 billion according to the Financial Times. Most familiar as the manufacturing muscle behind Apple's iPhones, iPads and the like, the Taiwan-based manufacturer beat analyst predictions on high margins for those products. Its subsidiary, Foxconn International Holdings, is the world's largest cellphone maker and produces devices for companies including Nokia and Motorola, but suffered a net loss of $316.4 million. As a result, some are concerned about Foxconn's heavy reliance on Apple as a customer going forward. Still, the company is reportedly continuing a plan to increase vertical integration, by manufacturing the parts for devices and not just putting them together -- we'll see if anyone notices changes in the final product anytime soon.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/hon-hai-profits/
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Could that cold sore increase your risk of memory problems?
Mar. 25, 2013 ? The virus that causes cold sores, along with other viral or bacterial infections, may be associated with cognitive problems, according to a new study published in the March 26, 2013, print issue of Neurology?, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study found that people who have had higher levels of infection in their blood (measured by antibody levels), meaning they had been exposed over the years to various pathogens such as the herpes simplex type 1 virus that causes cold sores, were more likely to have cognitive problems than people with lower levels of infection in the blood.
"We found the link was greater among women, those with lower levels of education and Medicaid or no health insurance, and most prominently, in people who do not exercise," said author Mira Katan, MD, with the Northern Manhattan Study at Columbia University Medical Center in New York and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. The study was performed in collaboration with the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami in Miami, FL.
For the study, researchers tested thinking and memory in 1,625 people with an average age of 69 from northern Manhattan in New York. Participants gave blood samples that were tested for five common low grade infections: three viruses (herpes simplex type 1 (oral) and type 2 (genital), and cytomegalovirus), chlamydia pneumoniae (a common respiratory infection) and Helicobacter pylori (a bacteria found in the stomach).
The results showed that the people who had higher levels of infection had a 25 percent increase in the risk of a low score on a common test of cognition called the Mini-Mental State Examination.
The memory and thinking skills were tested every year for an average of eight years. But infection was not associated with changes in memory and thinking abilities over time.
"While this association needs to be further studied, the results could lead to ways to identify people at risk of cognitive impairment and eventually lower that risk," said Katan. "For example, exercise and childhood vaccinations against viruses could decrease the risk for memory problems later in life."
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Leducq Foundation.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Academy of Neurology (AAN).
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- M. Katan, Y. P. Moon, M. C. Paik, R. L. Sacco, C. B. Wright, M. S. V. Elkind. Infectious burden and cognitive function: The Northern Manhattan Study. Neurology, 2013; 80 (13): 1209 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182896e79
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/kVuFu0Oj-hQ/130325183813.htm
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Washington Post accused of censorship
The Washington Post has been accused by a journalist of spiking a piece he was commissioned to write about the US media's failures in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
Greg Mitchell, a veteran journalist and author (see here), claims his assigned piece for the Post was killed and replaced by an article that defended the media's coverage.
Headlined "On Iraq, journalists didn't fail. They just didn't succeed", it was written by Paul Farhi.
If Mitchell is right, then the Post is guilty of censorship because his own submission attacked the media coverage. That should not have been too surprising to the Post's editors given that Mitchell's latest book, So wrong for so long, is a detailed critique of the failures of US press, including the Washington Post, over Iraq. So what did the Post expect?
Mitchell tears into Farhi's article as a "misleading, cherry-picking" piece "claiming the media did NOT fail." He writes:
"I love the line about the Post in March 2003 carrying some sceptical pieces just days before the war started: 'Perhaps it was too late by then. But this doesn't sound like failure.'"
You'll find Mitchell's original on his own blog here and also on The Nation website here.
Amazon reviews of Mitchell's book - which has a preface by Bruce Springsteen - are full of praise. "Read this book. Twice", writes former White House press secretary and TV commentator Bill Moyers. "Read it and weep; read it and get enraged; read it and make sure it doesn't happen again," says Arianna Huffington.
Sources: Greg Mitchell/Washington Post/The Nation/Wikipedia
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2013/mar/25/washington-post-censorship
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Hyperkin Retron 5 plays the cartridges of nine classic consoles (video)
Hyperkin has developed a reputation for modern takes on legendary game consoles that are often better than the real thing. If true, its just-unveiled Retron 5 is a nostalgia singularity. The hardware emulator can use its namesake five cartridge slots to play original games from no less than nine vintage consoles, including the Genesis (Megadrive), NES (Famicom), SNES (Super Famicom) and GameBoys from the original through to the GameBoy Advance. It keeps going: there's a custom Bluetooth controller that can handle every system, mix-and-match original controller support, save states and upscaling for both video (to 720p, through HDMI) as well as audio. While we'll have to see just how well the Retron 5 works whenever it exists as more than a conceptual graphic, that opportunity may come quickly when Hyperkin is tentatively shooting for a July release at less than $100. About all that's left for a follow-up Retron are Jaguar and Turbografx 16 slots -- pretty please?
Via: Slashdot
Source: Hyperkin
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Byn5tnAxAiw/
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সোমবার, ২৫ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Court: Can drug companies pay to delay generics?
FILE - In a Jan. 7, 2008, file photo then-Attorney Donald Verrilli talks to media outside the Supreme Court. Now President Barack Obama's top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General Verilli will argue before the Supreme Court this week whether it is legal for patent-holding pharmaceutical companies to pay rivals, who make generic drugs, to temporarily keep those cheaper versions of their brand-name drugs off the market. The Obama administration is taking the position that the agreements are illegal if they?re based solely on keeping the generic drug out of consumer's hands. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - In a Jan. 7, 2008, file photo then-Attorney Donald Verrilli talks to media outside the Supreme Court. Now President Barack Obama's top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General Verilli will argue before the Supreme Court this week whether it is legal for patent-holding pharmaceutical companies to pay rivals, who make generic drugs, to temporarily keep those cheaper versions of their brand-name drugs off the market. The Obama administration is taking the position that the agreements are illegal if they?re based solely on keeping the generic drug out of consumer's hands. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2011 file photo, Jeremy Lazarus, president-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA) speaks in Portland, Oregon. The Supreme Court will struggle this week with whether it?s legal for patent-holding pharmaceutical companies to pay rivals, who make generic drugs, to temporarily keep those cheaper versions of their brand-name drugs off the market. Now AMA President, Lazarus said in a statement,"The AMA believes that pay-for-delay agreements undermine the balance between spurring innovation through the patent system and fostering competition through the development of generic drugs. Pay for delay must stop to ensure the most cost-effective treatment options are available to patients." (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
This March 2011 photo provided Actavis Inc. shows Actavis CEO Paul Bisario at the pharmaceutical company's corporate headquarters in Parsippany, N.J. On Monday, March 25, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments of pharmaceutical company interests in recouping billions of dollars spent developing new drugs pitted against the government's desire to get cheaper generic drugs on the market earlier to save American consumers money. "By doing what the FTC wants, you're going to hurt consumers rather than help them," said Bisaro. Fighting between generic and brand-name drugmakers in court is risky and time consuming, he said, while settlements bring certainty, allow generic drug sales years before patents expire and reduce legal costs. (AP Photo/Actavis, Maryanne Russell)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Federal regulators are pressing the Supreme Court to stop big pharmaceutical corporations from paying generic drug competitors to delay releasing their cheaper versions of brand-name drugs. They argue these deals deny American consumers, usually for years, steep price declines that can top 90 percent.
The Obama administration, backed by consumer groups and the American Medical Association, says these so-called "pay for delay" deals profit the drug companies but harm consumers by adding 3.5 billion annually to their drug bills.
But the pharmaceutical companies counter that they need to preserve longer the billions of dollars in revenue from their patented products in order to recover the billions they spend developing new drugs. And both the large companies and the generic makers say the marketing of generics often is hastened by these deals.
The justices will hear the argument Monday.
Such pay-for-delay deals arise when generic companies file a challenge at the Food and Drug Administration to the patents that give brand-name drugs a 20-year monopoly. The generic drugmakers aim to prove the patent is flawed or otherwise invalid, so they can launch a generic version well before the patent ends.
Brand-name drugmakers then usually sue the generic companies, which sets up what could be years of expensive litigation. When the two sides aren't certain who will win, they often reach a compromise deal that allows the generic company to sell its cheaper copycat drug in a few years ? but years before the drug's patent would expire. Often, that settlement comes with a sizeable payment from the brand-name company to the generic drugmaker.
Numerous brand-name and generic drugmakers and their respective trade groups say the settlements protect their interests but also benefit consumers by bringing inexpensive copycat medicines to market years earlier than they would arrive in any case generic drugmakers took to trial and lost. But federal officials counter that such deals add billions to the drug bills of American patients and taxpayers, compared to what would happen if the generic companies won the lawsuits and could begin marketing right away.
A study by RBC Capital Markets Corp. of 371 cases during 2000-2009 found brand-name companies won 89 at trial compared to 82 won by generic drugmakers. Another 175 ended in settlement deals, and 25 were dropped.
Generic drugs account for about 80 percent of all American prescriptions for medicines and vaccines, but a far smaller percentage of the $325 billion spent by U.S. consumers on drugs each year. Generics saved American patients, taxpayers and the healthcare system an estimated $193 billion in 2011 alone, according to health data firm IMS Health.
But government officials believe the number of potentially anticompetitive patent settlements is increasing. Pay-for-delay deals increased from 28 to 40 in just the last two fiscal years and the deals in fiscal 2012 covered 31 brand-name pharmaceuticals, Federal Trade Commission officials said. Those had combined annual U.S. sales of more than $8.3 billion.
The Obama administration argues the agreements are illegal if they're based solely on keeping the generic drug off the market. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, speaking at Georgetown Law School recently, noted that once a generic drug gets on the market and competes with a brand-name drug, "the price drops 85 percent." That quickly decimates sales of the brand-name medicine.
"These agreements should actually be considered presumptively unlawful because of the potential effects on consumers," Verrilli said.
In the case before the court, Brussels, Belgium-based Solvay ? now part of a new company called AbbVie Inc. ? reached a deal with generic drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals allowing it to launch a cheaper version of Solvay's male hormone drug AndroGel in August 2015. Solvay agreed to pay Watson an estimated $19 million-$30 million annually, government officials said. The patent runs until August 2020. Watson agreed to also help sell the brand-name version, AndroGel.
AndroGel, which brought in $1.2 billion last year for AbbVie, is a gel applied to the skin daily to treat low testosterone in men. Low testosterone can affect sex drive, energy level, mood, muscle mass and bone strength.
The FTC called the deal anticompetitive and sued Watson, now called Actavis Inc.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected the government's objections, and the FTC appealed to the Supreme Court.
The federal district and appellate courts both ruled against the government, AbbVie, which is based in North Chicago, Ill., said. "We are confident that these decisions will be upheld by the Supreme Court."
The Generic Pharmaceutical Association's head, Ralph Neas, said the settlements are "pro-consumer, pro-competition and transparent." He said every patent settlement to date has brought a generic drug to market before the relevant patent ended, with two-thirds of the new generic drugs launched in 2010 and 2011 hitting the market early due to a settlement.
"By doing what the FTC wants, you're going to hurt consumers rather than help them," said Paul Bisaro, CEO of Actavis of Parsippany, N.J.
Bisaro said consumers will save an estimated $50 billion just from patent settlements involving Lipitor, the cholesterol-lowering drug made by Pfizer Inc. of New York that reigned for nearly a decade as the world's top-selling drug.
Lipitor's patent ran until 2017, but multiple generic companies challenged it. Pfizer reached a settlement that enabled Actavis and a second company to sell slightly cheaper generic versions starting Nov. 30, 2011 and several other generic drugmakers to begin selling generic Lipitor six months later. The price then plummeted from Pfizer's $375 to $530 for a three-month supply, depending on dosage, to $20 to $40 for generic versions.
Because generic companies tend to challenge patents of every successful drug, the FTC's position would impose onerous legal costs on brand-name drugmakers and limit their ability to fund expensive research to create new drugs, said the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents brand-name drugmakers.
According to the 2010 RBC Capital Markets study, when trial victories, settlements between drugmakers and dropped cases are combined, generic companies were able to bring their product to market before the brand-name drug's patent expired in 76 percent of the 371 drug patent suits decided from 2000 through 2009.
Consumer, doctor and drugstore groups have lined up to support the Obama administration in this case.
"AARP believes it is in the interest of those fifty and older, and indeed the public at large, to hasten the entry of generic prescription drugs to the marketplace," said Ken Zeller, senior attorney with the AARP Foundation Litigation. "Pay-for-delay agreements such as those at issue in this case frustrate that public interest."
The American Medical Association, the giant doctors' group, believes pay-for-delay agreements undermine the balance between spurring innovation through patents and fostering competition through generics, AMA President Dr. Jeremy A., Lazarus said. "Pay for delay must stop to ensure the most cost-effective treatment options are available to patients."
Drugstores also believe pay-for-delay deals "pose considerable harm to patients because they postpone the availability of generic drugs which limits patient access to generic medications," said Chrissy Kopple of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.
Eight justices will decide this case later this year. Justice Samuel Alito did not take part in considering whether to take this case and is not expected to take part in arguments.
___
The case is Federal Trade Commission vs. Actavis, Inc., 12-416.
AP Business Writer Linda A. Johnson in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.
___
Follow Jesse J. Holland on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jessejholland
Follow Linda A. Johnson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma
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